Click here for audio: |
Consider the "Division
of Labor" (Romans 12; 1 Corinthians 12).
There is not a single person on planet earth
who can build a pencil
from scratch. This is because all the labor and skills required to extract the raw materials
from God's Creation and assemble them into a pencil are divided among many human beings, no
one of them possessing all the skills and knowledge needed to plant and harvest trees, extract and
refine chemicals, and build the equipment which fabricates a pencil. While Faber-Castell
might get credit for making pencils, many other companies had a hand in the task. Previous
generations saw the global human economy as being overseen by an "Invisible
Hand." Also called "Providence,"
about which we'll see more below.
Ultimately, only God can get credit for building the New Jerusalem, but man is commanded to do the work.
Imagine the construction of a large apartment. I mean really large, like 432 Park Avenue, the tallest residential building in New York. Or five of the ten tallest buildings in the world, found in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. One of these buildings can house 25,000 human beings. Who gets "credit" for building one of these buildings? Maybe the architect -- except it was a team of architects. Maybe the CEO of the Construction firm, but he personally does not know how to build a cement mixer. Suppose your vocation is being a plumber, and you were hired to install a unique sink in one of the residences on the 32nd floor during the construction of one of these buildings. Do you get credit for building the building? Of course not. You knew very little about what kind of building was being constructed. You were just fulfilling your individual calling as a plumber. Should you say, "This is not my building, so I'm not going to contribute to its edification?" That would be disobedient.
|
Each human being has a calling to build part of the Kingdom of God. It is man's job to build the kingdom. God gets all the credit.
Man's divine purpose on earth is to create a flourishing anarchist society, overseen only by an Invisible Hand.