October 13, 2020

You Have Dominion. Now What?

You Have Dominion. Now What?

You Have Dominion. Now What?

October 13, 2020
October 13, 2020

You Have Dominion. Now What?

You Have Dominion. Now What?

You are made in the image of God and you have been given dominion. What that means is that you have been given rule/control over the things God has given you.

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You are made in the image of God and you have been given dominion. This means is you have been given rule/control over the things God has given you. In the beginning, as humans, we were given dominion from our Creator (Genesis 1:26-28). King David, in an offering of praise back to God, put it this way:

You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet. Psalm 8:5-6 (NIV)

What do you want to do with the authority, control, and resources you have been given? The way you define success for yourself and for your stakeholders will determine the way you approach life’s opportunities and challenges.

Stakeholders are the people a leader serves and can include; family members, coworkers, employees, customers, friends, neighborhood/community, etc. In an organization, stakeholders are customers/members, employees/coworkers, stockholders/investors. Every opportunity or problem you face impacts a set of stakeholders. To put it simply, everything you do effects those you love and serve.

What you want for your stakeholders ultimately determines your approach to every situation you face. Praxis, a creative engine for redemptive entrepreneurship, has created a framework to help leaders and organizations understand three basic ways to approach any endeavor.

The Redemptive Frame helps define and explore the possibilities for redemptive action in any domain.

Exploitative

The people and ventures following the Exploitative way do whatever it takes to win. They pursue every opportunity to take advantage, extract value at others’ expense, tilt and optimize all things in their favor, leverage the letter of the law, and suppress or amplify truth to gain an edge.

Its doctrine is “Win at Any Cost.”

Ethical

The people and ventures following the Ethical way reject the Exploitative, and instead seek to do good through their work. They want to address problems, do no harm, operate fairly, create sustainable value, be morally enlightened, raise the bar, win clean, and improve the world.

Its doctrine is “Doing Good and Doing Well.”

Redemptive

The people and ventures following the Redemptive way also seek to do good through their work. Yet they push beyond the Ethical, even inverting it in places—seeing the world as broken and in need of God’s ultimate renewal; recognizing all persons as God’s image-bearers, worthy of blessing; and knowing themselves as fallen and in need of grace.

Its doctrine is “Creative Restoration Through Sacrifice.”

This redemptive framework from Praxis helps us see things as God does. We see examples of all three approaches (exploitative, ethical, redemptive) around us daily.

We know when we have been exploited by someone—rather than valued as an equal image-bearer of God. Each of us can be exploitative when we put our needs ahead of others and consider our talents, resources, and relationships as things to be used for personal advantages rather than gifts for honoring God and blessing others. We want to be careful when we consider where our gifts come from. As the Apostle Paul warned, “For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich!” (1 Corinthians 4:7-8).

We also see ethical approaches to endeavors every day. This occurs when someone does what is right by the law or other human standards. Often, those with an ethical framework see the world as it is meant to be. Even, at times, more so than those within the church. This was true as it related to civil rights in the 1960s. Those in politics and those who thought deeply about what it meant to be human were oftentimes ahead of those in the church. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote from the Birmingham Jail to ask Christian leaders to join him in what was way beyond simple ethics. He asked them to join him in the spiritual battle to honor God’s design that all men are created in the image of God. He wrote reminding people that “It is just as wrong ... to use moral means to preserve immoral ends.”

We see the redemptive approach playing out when we see someone who knows they are loved by God, and is encouraged to be united with Christ, sharing their gifts and considering the needs of others before their own (Philippians 2:1-5). We see this in the checkout line when someone lets a stranger go first, and we see this on the battlefield when a soldier risks his life to fight for the rights of others. In putting others needs above our own, we have a chance to bless stakeholders everyday. The redemptive approach can be used in every part of our lives—in everything we approach and in every job we are given.

In order to understand how to see every situation within a redemptive framework, we must first understand the key truth of the Gospel of our Lord, Jesus Christ. The Gospel is power for those who believe (Romans 1:16) to not live for themselves, but to follow the example of Jesus on how to love others (John 15:13). The Gospel not only saves us, it puts us to work as redemptive agents, allowing us to follow the command of our Savior to “go and do likewise” (Luke 10:37).

We cannot take a truly redemptive approach without having Christ at the center of our lives. It’s Jesus who gives us the power to approach every endeavor the way He did. At The Center - Memphis, we call this “living with a Kingdom Mindset.”  

Kingdom Mindset

The Kingdom of God is coming and is now here (Mark 1:15). God is making all things new (Revelation 21:1). The Gospel of Jesus means that God is reclaiming everything that is his. We are called to repent, believe, and follow our Savior and King. Trust Him with your life as you engage in His work to make disciples of all nations. Use your gifts — design, build, invest, communicate, teach, lead, and spend your life and resources blessing others as you spread the love of Christ.

For more on the Praxis Redemptive Frame, visit redemptive.is/frame/

Howard Graham
Howard Graham
Executive Director

You are made in the image of God and you have been given dominion. This means is you have been given rule/control over the things God has given you. In the beginning, as humans, we were given dominion from our Creator (Genesis 1:26-28). King David, in an offering of praise back to God, put it this way:

You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet. Psalm 8:5-6 (NIV)

What do you want to do with the authority, control, and resources you have been given? The way you define success for yourself and for your stakeholders will determine the way you approach life’s opportunities and challenges.

Stakeholders are the people a leader serves and can include; family members, coworkers, employees, customers, friends, neighborhood/community, etc. In an organization, stakeholders are customers/members, employees/coworkers, stockholders/investors. Every opportunity or problem you face impacts a set of stakeholders. To put it simply, everything you do effects those you love and serve.

What you want for your stakeholders ultimately determines your approach to every situation you face. Praxis, a creative engine for redemptive entrepreneurship, has created a framework to help leaders and organizations understand three basic ways to approach any endeavor.

The Redemptive Frame helps define and explore the possibilities for redemptive action in any domain.

Exploitative

The people and ventures following the Exploitative way do whatever it takes to win. They pursue every opportunity to take advantage, extract value at others’ expense, tilt and optimize all things in their favor, leverage the letter of the law, and suppress or amplify truth to gain an edge.

Its doctrine is “Win at Any Cost.”

Ethical

The people and ventures following the Ethical way reject the Exploitative, and instead seek to do good through their work. They want to address problems, do no harm, operate fairly, create sustainable value, be morally enlightened, raise the bar, win clean, and improve the world.

Its doctrine is “Doing Good and Doing Well.”

Redemptive

The people and ventures following the Redemptive way also seek to do good through their work. Yet they push beyond the Ethical, even inverting it in places—seeing the world as broken and in need of God’s ultimate renewal; recognizing all persons as God’s image-bearers, worthy of blessing; and knowing themselves as fallen and in need of grace.

Its doctrine is “Creative Restoration Through Sacrifice.”

This redemptive framework from Praxis helps us see things as God does. We see examples of all three approaches (exploitative, ethical, redemptive) around us daily.

We know when we have been exploited by someone—rather than valued as an equal image-bearer of God. Each of us can be exploitative when we put our needs ahead of others and consider our talents, resources, and relationships as things to be used for personal advantages rather than gifts for honoring God and blessing others. We want to be careful when we consider where our gifts come from. As the Apostle Paul warned, “For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich!” (1 Corinthians 4:7-8).

We also see ethical approaches to endeavors every day. This occurs when someone does what is right by the law or other human standards. Often, those with an ethical framework see the world as it is meant to be. Even, at times, more so than those within the church. This was true as it related to civil rights in the 1960s. Those in politics and those who thought deeply about what it meant to be human were oftentimes ahead of those in the church. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote from the Birmingham Jail to ask Christian leaders to join him in what was way beyond simple ethics. He asked them to join him in the spiritual battle to honor God’s design that all men are created in the image of God. He wrote reminding people that “It is just as wrong ... to use moral means to preserve immoral ends.”

We see the redemptive approach playing out when we see someone who knows they are loved by God, and is encouraged to be united with Christ, sharing their gifts and considering the needs of others before their own (Philippians 2:1-5). We see this in the checkout line when someone lets a stranger go first, and we see this on the battlefield when a soldier risks his life to fight for the rights of others. In putting others needs above our own, we have a chance to bless stakeholders everyday. The redemptive approach can be used in every part of our lives—in everything we approach and in every job we are given.

In order to understand how to see every situation within a redemptive framework, we must first understand the key truth of the Gospel of our Lord, Jesus Christ. The Gospel is power for those who believe (Romans 1:16) to not live for themselves, but to follow the example of Jesus on how to love others (John 15:13). The Gospel not only saves us, it puts us to work as redemptive agents, allowing us to follow the command of our Savior to “go and do likewise” (Luke 10:37).

We cannot take a truly redemptive approach without having Christ at the center of our lives. It’s Jesus who gives us the power to approach every endeavor the way He did. At The Center - Memphis, we call this “living with a Kingdom Mindset.”  

Kingdom Mindset

The Kingdom of God is coming and is now here (Mark 1:15). God is making all things new (Revelation 21:1). The Gospel of Jesus means that God is reclaiming everything that is his. We are called to repent, believe, and follow our Savior and King. Trust Him with your life as you engage in His work to make disciples of all nations. Use your gifts — design, build, invest, communicate, teach, lead, and spend your life and resources blessing others as you spread the love of Christ.

For more on the Praxis Redemptive Frame, visit redemptive.is/frame/

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