The Cultural Mandate PT.1

AND GOD BLESSED THEM. AND GOD SAID TO THEM, "BE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY AND FILL THE EARTH AND SUBDUE IT, AND HAVE DOMINION OVER THE FISH OF THE SEA AND OVER THE BIRDS OF THE HEAVENS AND OVER EVERY LIVING THING THAT MOVES ON THE EARTH." - GENESIS 1:28

Humans are deeply flawed individuals in need of a savior. Enter Jesus Christ. So why do we selfishly believe that we have the power and authority to dictate the purpose of work and business? The answer is we don't. The only person worthy of giving a proper mandate on work and business is God the Father. You might be thinking to yourself, did God actually give a mandate for work? He did. Let's explore this mandate in Genesis 1:28.

And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

Scholars refer to this mandate from God as the "Cultural Mandate" or "Creation Mandate." Pay very close attention. There are some extremely powerful concepts that set up God's purpose for man, the earth, and the concept of work. The order of how this scripture is written is not by coincidence. Before God commands mankind, He blesses them! Pause for a second. The God of the universe gave forth blessing before He gave us instruction! Our heavenly Father loves us deeply and passionately. God is good and gives good gifts. James 1:17 says, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change."

God then follows up the blessing with a command: "Be fruitful and multiply..." Let's talk about the significance of the words fruitful and multiply. In order to understand their significance, we must understand their meaning. Dictionary.com defines fruitful as "producing good results; beneficial; profitable:" This is God's call for procreation, that men and women have children. A fruitful entity is one that yields a good return of fruit. Jesus Christ talks about bearing fruit in John 15:5. "I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." Whether it be the fruit of procreation (Genesis 1:28) or the fruit of the Spirit that Jesus references in John 15, fruitfulness comes from God.

If we're called to be fruitful (effective) and bear fruit, we must be connected to the Source. The good news is that we were connected to the Source from the beginning! When man fell out of fellowship with God through sin, we became disconnected from the Source. Jesus' sacrifice on the cross once again gave us access to the Source by saving our souls by grace through faith. Our ability to be effective doesn't exist without Jesus. Apart from Jesus, we are branches that wither away.

In our being fruitful, what kind of fruit are we to bear? The apostle Paul tells us in Galatians 5:22-23, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law." Paul interestingly admonishes us about the works of the flesh just prior to giving the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:19-21. "Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God."

Whether you're an entrepreneur or an employee, you've more than likely seen versions of the spiritual fruit and fleshly works lived out in the workplace. When you compare the works of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit, you can easily see why they conflict with each other. The fruit produced by our effectiveness (fruitful) should bring a harvest of the Spirit, not the sinful flesh. The flesh, whose wages produce death, prevent multiplication from going forth.

This has been an excerpt from my book, "Fortify: Being Rooted in God's Plan For Work And Business." Find the book HERE and the companion workbook/journal HERE.

For more about integrating faith and business, listen to The Fortified Life Podcast HERE. Live Wednesday nights @ 8:30pm ET and On Demand (Apple, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, Audible, Google Podcasts, Spreaker).