It s a Wonderful World Caring for God s Creation Why? Genesis 1:1-28

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1 It s a Wonderful World --- Engaging God s Creation Page 1 of 8 It s a Wonderful World Caring for God s Creation Why? Genesis 1:1-28 INTRODUCTION TO THE SERIES This is the final challenge of our two-year initiative to Engage. Do you remember how we began? With the challenge to Engage God s Word. We worked our way through the 10 Fence Posts of the Bible. Let s say those together. Creation, Covenant, Exodus, Monarchy, Exile. Then in the New Testament, Incarnation, Life and Teaching, Crucifixion, Resurrection, Pentecost and then I ll Be Back or the Second Coming. Next, the challenge was to Engage the Holy Spirit. We learned that the Holy Spirit was amazing, uncontrollable, surprising, and inclusive. This past September, the focus was on Engaging the Church by using our spiritual gifts. Do you remember that series? It had three components: Gifts to Know, Promises to Keep, and Fruits to Show. As we begin this fourth and final challenge, I want to thank Rev. Monica and her team of lay leaders who have formed the strategy team leading us through this effort to more fully Engage. And I want to share with you the goal I have every time I preach. It s actually part of my job description here at Williamson s Chapel: to offer sermons that are Bible based, prayer drenched, spirit powered and relevant for everyday Christian living. The sermon series we begin today is one more effort to be faithful to that responsibility and achieve that goal: It s a Wonderful World. The challenge is to engage our wonderful world by caring for God s creation. I want to be very clear from the beginning about our motives. For Christians, Caring for Creation is not political; it s theological. It s not an agenda; it s an act of faithfulness. It s not a cultural suggestion; it s a biblical mandate. That s why we are devoting these five weeks to an exploration of what it would mean to Engage God s Creation to be truly faithful in matters of caring for this wonderful world. Not so that we can promote a specific set of opinions or statistics. Not so that we can convince anyone to support the stances of this or that political party. We offer this sermon series and this time of focus on Caring for Creation for the same reason we offer every sermon series and every new initiative because we feel called by God to do so. I ve read books and articles, watched videos, listened to lectures on all sides of the issue. When it comes to the predictions of the future, actual causes of current developments, or the right political action, you can find convincing arguments from every angle. So, we will make no attempt to tell you what is going to happen in matters of the climate, what should be done by governments or give you the definitive statistics. If that is what you were hoping for, you will be disappointed. We will of course be sharing information. You will agree with some of what we say and disagree with some. That s okay, my goal is never to get you to agree

2 It s a Wonderful World --- Engaging God s Creation Page 2 of 8 with me but rather to reflect, to open your mind and heart to what God might lead you to think, believe, and act upon. There will be three components in this challenge to Engage God s Good Creation. I hope you will be open to and benefit from all three. First, theological reflection. That will primarily happen through the sermons offered. But you can take it one step further. At the end of every printed sermon, there will be a set of life application questions. Answering those questions on your own or with others will provide an opportunity for you to engage the sermon at a deeper level and come to your own conclusions about what God expects from you. You could even do this in your small groups or Sunday School classes. You can find the full sermon and the questions on the website or the next Sunday at the back. The second component will be our attempt to give you accurate information. Now, the truth is that we are dependent upon others to provide such data. Still, we will do our best to ensure that the information we offer you is accurate and helpful. But as always, we just offer you the information; you decide if and how to use it. Finally, there will be a component of practical application. Primarily this will be about Williamson s Chapel doing a better job of Creation Care but we will also suggest ways you might act in your own lives to do a better job of caring for God s good creation. We will suggest more things than any one household or person could possibly do. You just pick and choose. If it makes sense to you and seems like a faithful response, do it. If not, find something else that does. Remember our little bit, when given to God, can make a big, big difference. INTRO TO SERMON And my job in this first sermon of the series is to answer the question: Why? There are lots of answers to this floating around out there in scientific and societal reform circles. But for people of faith, it seems to me, our first answers our most important answers need to come to us from Scripture. That s where I found my answer to that question. I ve got three answers for you actually, any one of which should be sufficient on its own. And, my suspicion is that none of these answers will come as a surprise. I suspect I m just reminding you of what you already know and asking you to think about it in a slightly new way. BECAUSE WE LOVE GOD Why care for God s good creation? Because we love God. When we love someone, we also love what they create.

3 It s a Wonderful World --- Engaging God s Creation Page 3 of 8 This is a very special communion platter. I have it on display in a prominent place in my office where I can see it easily and often. I use it when I am serving communion to small groups. But I am always very careful in the way that I handle it. I have several special communion sets. One from the Holy Land, one from Iona (where Christianity first came to the British Isles), one from Ireland, one from Africa, but this is the one I love the most. Why do I love it the most? Because it s the most expensive? No. Because it came from the furthest away? No. Because it is the most beautiful? Well, it is to me but probably not to anyone else. I love this communion plate the most because I love the creator. You see, my son Riley made this for me one summer at camp when he was 10 years old. I love this communion plate because I love the one who created it. That is why it is so special to me; why I love to look at it and share it with others. That s why I take such good care of it. Because I love the creator. And if we truly love God then we will also love His creation, delight in it with Him, and take good care of it. You see, our God is the Creator God. The first fence post in Scripture the first key event was what? Creation. It is the first chapter in this remarkable story of God s love and salvation for His people. And I think that s where we need to begin with this sermon series on Caring for God s Creation. Let s begin at the beginning. The very first verse of the very first book of the Bible. Genesis 1:1 In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth This single verse is itself a statement of faith. You will notice as we move through this series that we always use the word creation not nature, not natural world. In fact, I ll do my best to stay away from the word environment. We use the word creation as a statement of our faith. Our God is the creator God. This world and everything in it did not just happen. It was created. Everything begins with God. That s a faith statement. Let s keep reading. Genesis 1:2-5 2 the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. 3 Then God said, Let there be light ; and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

4 It s a Wonderful World --- Engaging God s Creation Page 4 of 8 God creates the sky and the waters and the two great lights and the stars and the swarms of living creatures, the birds, the sea monsters, the plants and every living creature that moves. And with each act of creation, God looked upon what He had done and called it Good. God delights in His creation all of it. Later, the Gospel writer John reflects this divine attitude with those familiar words: God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whosoever believeth in him should not die but have life everlasting. That act of salvation was motivated by what? By God s love of what does the verse say? Love of humanity? No. Love of Male and Female? No. God so loved the world. I ve had people object to my using this verse in this context saying that the verse actually means God so loved humanity or people. Well maybe, but that s not what it says. John uses the word cosmos, a Greek word that primarily was used for the world. The Creator loves His creation all of it. And if we love our Creator God, then we will love His Creation too and demonstrate that love by the way we delight in that creation and take care of it. Why Care for Creation at All? Because we love God. BECAUSE WE LOVE OTHERS Secondly, we care for creation because we love others. You know the two great commandments Love God and love your neighbor. Jesus told us that. And Paul said that if we truly honor the law of love, we don t really have to worry about all the other laws. They kind of take care of themselves once we get the love thing worked out. (Romans 13:8) Our problem is that we like to limit our love. That was a problem from the very beginning. Remember when a smart aleck lawyer asked Jesus to define who our neighbors were who we had to treat with love? That s when Jesus told the story we call The Good Samaritan. That story declares that we are to give and receive love even from those people we despise. There are no boundaries when it comes to God s neighborhood. Ok, but what does that have to do with creation care? Well, how we treat this world we all share is, my friends, a crystal-clear indicator of how much we love or fail to love each other. Everyone is dependent on creation everyone living now AND everyone yet to live on this earth. We can say all we want about loving others, put little plaques around and memorize Bible verses, wear crosses around our necks and Christian T-Shirts but, as always, our actions speak so loudly, they are in danger of drowning out our words. By any study or evaluation, we Americans use far more than our fair share of energy. I could quote all kinds of percentages related to populations, etc. but the most interesting presentation of this that I found was in Dr. Matthew Sleeth s book, Serve God, Save the Planet. Listen to this. If we assign weights based on the amount of energy we use, the nations weigh in like this:

5 It s a Wonderful World --- Engaging God s Creation Page 5 of 8 The average person in China would weigh 100 pounds. The Swiss, even with their high standard of living, would be 450. Italians about 400, the British 500. But we Americans would tip the scales at an average of 1000 pounds (p. 185). Now I don t know exactly what that means about when fossil fuels will run out or the planet will get too hot. I just know that we are not doing a good job of loving our neighbors as ourselves when we take such a big slice of the pie. As Christians, folks, we don t need scare tactics to cause us to reduce our energy consumption. Or at least we shouldn t. We should be more careful about the way we use the resources of creation because we love others those we are sharing this earth with now AND those yet to come. I ve referred to this text before in another context but I think it applies here too. I can remember as a teenager reading a couple of verses from John 17 and having one of those light bulb moments (the compact fluorescent kind of course.) Jesus is praying for His followers as they together face the reality of His coming death: John 17: I ask not only on behalf of these (the disciples there with him) but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word 21 that they may all be one. I guess I d heard that text before but in that moment, sitting on the edge of my parents bed, I realized that as Jesus faced His death, He prayed for me. And He prayed for you. He prayed for those who would believe in Him because of His followers testimony. Jesus prayed for the believers who would live in the generations yet to come. He prayed that we might all be one. Friends, when we use more than our share of creation s resources and more importantly waste those resources using more than we need we are not living as one. And we are not reflecting the same love and concern for those yet to come on this earth that Jesus models for us. Why Care for Creation? Because we love others. THE BIBLE TELLS US SO We care for creation because we love the Creator, because we love others, and finally, because the Bible tells us to. The Bible tells us we are the designated caretakers for God s creation. For anyone who honors this Book as the very Word of God, that s reason enough. Let me read a little more from the book of Genesis. As I said, the writer of Genesis recites one act of creation after another and then pauses to record God s evaluation. And God saw that it was good. It pleases Him. There are not that many details of how or when. The Bible s record of creation is more about who and why. God is the Creator. He creates for the very joy of it. And the crown of that creation is the human.

6 It s a Wonderful World --- Engaging God s Creation Page 6 of 8 I m reading at Chapter 1, beginning with verse 26: Genesis 1: Then God said, Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, [d] and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. 27 So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. 28 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 air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth. There are two parts involved in the creation of humanity. First is creation in the image of God which sets the human creature apart and gives the human a unique capacity. Then there is the blessing by God, which gives the human particular privileges and responsibilities. It is here at the beginning, when the human is created that we receive our first mandate to care for creation. Let s take a closer look. God created human kind in His image, male and female He created them. Being made in the image of God gives us the unique capacity in creation to now listen -- actually be like God, to mirror the behavior of the Creator, to bring order to our world, just as God brought order to chaos through His creating. When we moved to England, our boys were just 2 and 4. Daddy was terrified that they were going to forget their Big Tom and Mama B before he could get over for a visit. So, Daddy sent along all kinds of pictures of himself and Mama with clear instructions to me that they be put in prominent places and that I regularly point to them saying, Remember, this is your Mama B and Big Tom. They love you and you love them. Since Daddy would not be there himself, in Wade s and Riley s day-to-day world, he wanted to have his image there. (And by the way, yes, I ve done the same thing with Lochlan.) Well, that s what God decided to do with humanity God gave us the capacity to be His image only the word image in Genesis means much more than a picture. To get the idea of an image, remember how other religions of the time had physical idols or images of their gods? Well the folks first hearing this would understand an image as that through which the deity s work could be accomplished. When our Creator God created us in His own image, He determined that we would be the ones who would continue to do His work in and through creation. We would be His representatives. We would act on

7 It s a Wonderful World --- Engaging God s Creation Page 7 of 8 His behalf. Why take Care of Creation? Because we can. God gave us that capacity when He gave us His image. The Bible tells us so. But there s more. God also blesses His human creatures. Now before we get too cocky, please know we are not the only part of creation to receive a blessing. It s a bit humbling to realize that God s first blessing comes to the animals. In verse 22, God blesses them saying, Be fruitful and multiply. But His blessing of the human creatures goes much further. Remember, it s His image in us that gives us the capacity to care for creation. But it is this blessing that gives us the privilege and the responsibility. Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth. In other words, you humans have the privilege of enjoying all the riches of this creation AND you have the responsibility of caring for it. There are those who read those words subdue and dominion and interpret them to mean that creation was made for humanity. Well, folks, to interpret this text that way, you have to pull this verse completely out of context. Long before the human was created, God was delighting in His creation the lights, the sky, the waters, creepy crawlies, birds in the air, animals of every kind. And God saw that it was good. Then God creates the human with the capacity, the privilege, and the responsibility to keep it that way to keep creation good. Creation is not for the sake of the human. Creation is for God s sake. God is the center of it all. And just as stars and seeds and sea monsters and wild animals bring delight to their Creator by simply being what they were created to be, so the human brings delight to the Creator by being what we were created to be the stewards of this world, the caretakers of the earth, God s representatives bearing His image in creation. Why take care of creation at all? Because God gives us that job. The Bible tells us so. CONCLUSION Three simple answers. Why take care of creation? Because we love God, we love others, and the Bible tells us to. That s a little different from the arguments made by most secular environmentalists. Their argument for taking care of the world is primarily based on self-interest. We need to reduce, reuse, and recycle if we know what s good for us. That s why all the stats and figures and predictions of gloom and doom are used. They believe people have to be frightened, have to feel that they and their children are at risk in order to do the right thing in these matters. And that may be true for non-believers. I don t know. In fact, I ve read so many different facts and figures, that when it comes to predictions of the future, I m mostly just confused. But listen to me Beloved, it s not fear of the future that compels the Christian to care for creation. It s faith faith based on the past, the present, and the future. You see we know the Creator Who was, Who is, and Who will

8 It s a Wonderful World --- Engaging God s Creation Page 8 of 8 be and we know how much He loves His creation, how much He loves every person who lives, has lived, and will live and we know we know that He is counting on us to do the same. Why care for creation, Christian? It s not that complicated. Because we love God, we love each other, and after all the Bible tells us to. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Life Application Questions: 1. What was your first reaction when you heard about this sermon series? What was the basis of that reaction? How do you feel about it now? 2. How is the use of the word creation a faith statement? What do we declare with the use of that word instead of words like nature, cosmos, environment, etc.? 3. Think for a moment about your own prized possessions. Is there something you own that you love because you love its creator? Share that story with someone maybe even the one who created it for you. 4. The sermon asserts that how we use the resources of creation reflects our love for others or our failure to love others. Do you believe this is true? Why or why not? What are you doing/what could you do to show your love for others through creation care? 5. What do you think God meant when He blessed humans to subdue the earth and have dominion over it? Are we doing a good job? Are you? How could you/we do a better job? 6. What new act of creation care might you embrace? Are you willing to commit to that? What s the first step toward making it happen?