RE: “Garden of Eden farming was just receiving. Harvest.”

Could life before the Fall have included the joyful activity of propagating plants without toil, cultivating and fertilizing them without drudgery, and then marveling at how they responded with flowers and fruit? Why did God tell Adam and Eve that he gave them seeds through the plants (Gen. 1:29)? Might Adam and Eve and their offspring have creatively reshaped and expanded the Garden as their numbers grew?

RE: “They were not entrusted with the created order to do with as they pleased. It was to be brought under subjection in the very same way that the Lord would have done it.”

God was glad indeed to allow Adam and Eve a great deal of liberty as to how to shape their habitat to fulfill richly the purpose and vision that God had given them. He didn't say just, "Pick fruit." He said, "Be fruitful."

Wasn’t there more than one way for them to live and flourish in accord with God’s will for them? And since they were human beings, how could they even have grasped precisely how “the Lord would have done it”, let alone accomplish “in the very same way” what God with his almighty power and perfect knowledge would have accomplished?

RE: “We work the Gospel by receiving it.”

I see the Good News as bringing a twofold reason for joy: It announces that an entrance into the Kingdom of God has been established by the atoning work of Christ, and it conveys what a life of blessedness and fruitfulness for citizens of that Kingdom entails. So if we are faithful disciples we will not only receive the Good News, but also take it to heart and cheerfully aspire to be fruitful according to it (2 Peter 1:3-11, James 1:22-25), thereby fulfilling the purposes for which God has redeemed us and still gives his gifts (Eph. 2:10, Titus 2:14, 2 Cor. 5:15).

RE: ”We keep, that is we stand guard, over the Word.”

Yet Jesus' Parable of the Sower depicts the Word as being like seed that is broadcasted widely and liberally. So out of an interest in being fruitful as God counts fruitfulness (John 15:8), we want to protect the quality of the seed but not constrain its distribution in any way.

Fundamentally, God does not need anything from us. Yet, as in the Garden, he gives us the opportunity to be fruitful in relationship with him. He grants us :
• the joy of hearing his loving message,
• the rewards of believing and living accordingly,
• the privilege of conveying the message to others, and
• the delight of seeing it bear fruit wherever God “gives the growth” (1 Cor. 5:7).