WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:02.000 Turn to Genesis chapter 2. 00:00:02.399 --> 00:00:04.480 Hopefully you have a Bible with you. 00:00:04.559 --> 00:00:08.880 And if not, you're welcome to grab one from the pew there in front of you. 00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:13.119 Genesis chapter 2. 00:00:17.199 --> 00:00:21.679 We're going to read verses 8 down through verse 15. 00:00:22.399 --> 00:00:23.760 This is God's word. 00:00:26.160 --> 00:00:33.119 The Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man he had formed. 00:00:33.359 --> 00:00:42.640 The Lord God caused to grow out of the ground every tree pleasing in appearance and good for food, including the tree of life in the middle of the garden, as well as the tree of the knowledge, good and evil. 00:00:43.520 --> 00:00:46.240 A river went out from Eden to water the garden. 00:00:46.799 --> 00:00:50.640 From there it divided and became the source of four rivers. 00:00:51.039 --> 00:00:56.880 The name of the first is Pishon, which flows through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. 00:00:57.119 --> 00:00:58.960 Gold from that land is pure. 00:00:59.200 --> 00:01:01.280 Delium and Onx are also there. 00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:06.079 The name of the second river is Gihon, which flows to the entire land of Cush. 00:01:06.239 --> 00:01:14.159 The name of the third river is Tigris, which runs east of the Euphrates, east of Assyria, and the fourth river is the Euphrates. 00:01:15.200 --> 00:01:24.799 The Lord God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to work it and watch over it. 00:01:25.680 --> 00:01:26.959 Let's pray. 00:01:27.599 --> 00:01:42.640 God, we come to you again acknowledging we we need you, and we want to attend to all of your word, even parts of your word that may seem more removed to us or not on the front of our minds, yet it's given by your inspiration. 00:01:42.719 --> 00:01:49.439 And we want to know all of our responsibilities and privileges and joys as people made in your image. 00:01:49.599 --> 00:01:51.920 So help us to understand that even more tonight. 00:01:52.079 --> 00:01:53.680 In Jesus' name, amen. 00:01:55.680 --> 00:02:06.560 The title for the message tonight, if you happen to look on the bulletin, is Cultivating the Garden, Stewards of Creation. 00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:09.039 That's the title for the message tonight. 00:02:16.400 --> 00:02:21.280 Now, some of you might come away a little disappointed tonight. 00:02:22.400 --> 00:02:24.800 If you came thinking, this is great. 00:02:25.439 --> 00:02:37.280 I'm going to find out once and for all whether fracking is glorifying to God or whether it is a sinful degradation of God's good earth. 00:02:37.599 --> 00:02:39.439 You're going to be disappointed. 00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:50.240 Sometimes people hear that phrase, creation stewardship, but all they can think about is public policy. 00:02:50.479 --> 00:02:57.840 Well, those questions are important, but we want to first set the groundwork by looking at the bigger picture from God's Word. 00:02:58.080 --> 00:03:04.319 And the bigger picture is God does call us to be stewards of His creation. 00:03:04.719 --> 00:03:06.879 The verses I read explain that. 00:03:06.960 --> 00:03:09.039 We'll see that theme in Scripture. 00:03:09.360 --> 00:03:13.120 But God calls us to be His stewards. 00:03:13.680 --> 00:03:17.840 We're going to look first tonight at the basis of our stewardship. 00:03:18.639 --> 00:03:22.159 Then we'll look at the essence of our stewardship. 00:03:23.360 --> 00:03:26.879 Third, we'll consider the priority of our stewardship. 00:03:26.960 --> 00:03:31.840 And then fourth, we'll look at what I'm calling the place of our stewardship. 00:03:32.560 --> 00:03:34.879 So let's let's start first. 00:03:35.360 --> 00:03:37.599 What's the basis of our stewardship? 00:03:38.240 --> 00:03:42.560 The basis of our stewardship is that we're made in the image of God. 00:03:44.080 --> 00:03:45.680 Turn back to Genesis chapter 1. 00:03:45.759 --> 00:03:49.039 I know I had you read from Genesis 2, but just turn back one chapter. 00:03:51.039 --> 00:03:55.439 Genesis 1, verses 26 to 28. 00:03:56.319 --> 00:04:00.879 God said, Let us make man in our image according to our likeness. 00:04:01.120 --> 00:04:07.280 They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth. 00:04:08.159 --> 00:04:10.240 So God created man in his own image. 00:04:15.199 --> 00:04:22.079 God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. 00:04:22.319 --> 00:04:27.120 Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth. 00:04:29.040 --> 00:04:32.480 Basis of our stewardship is that we're made in the image of God. 00:04:32.879 --> 00:04:37.839 And that's where we tie into this whole series, because this whole series is on the image of God. 00:04:38.560 --> 00:04:51.120 If you can remember, this is going back a few weeks now, when Pastor Doug first introduced the series, he talked about how people have different ideas and emphases about what it means to be made in the image of God. 00:04:52.240 --> 00:05:00.720 Some people stress human reason, that we have a capacity to reason that is godlike in a way that animals don't have. 00:05:01.680 --> 00:05:05.519 Other people stress righteousness. 00:05:05.680 --> 00:05:15.600 We as humans have a moral capacity to make moral and ethical choices that reflect God in a way that animals and the rest of creation doesn't. 00:05:16.560 --> 00:05:19.680 Some people stress relationship. 00:05:19.920 --> 00:05:29.600 We can relate to God and to others in deep and meaningful ways that move beyond the kinds of relationships that animals have. 00:05:30.079 --> 00:05:32.560 And some people stress rule. 00:05:33.600 --> 00:05:35.759 God rules and we rule. 00:05:36.959 --> 00:05:44.319 Now, those those four different, if you want to think of them as the four Rs, they're not mutually exclusive. 00:05:44.480 --> 00:05:46.160 You could combine those. 00:05:46.399 --> 00:05:58.079 And while the image of God might not be directly identical to any one of those categories, the image of God has implications for all of those categories. 00:05:58.319 --> 00:06:08.879 And what I want to show you in connection with our message tonight is that idea of rule and how the image of God has implications for our rule in the world. 00:06:09.199 --> 00:06:24.240 So, verse 26, if you look in your Bible, again, Genesis 1, we have God saying, Let us make man in our image, then it immediately says, and let them have dominion. 00:06:25.279 --> 00:06:29.360 Some suggest this should be translated so that they may have dominion. 00:06:29.519 --> 00:06:31.680 We won't track that down tonight. 00:06:31.920 --> 00:06:34.079 But the point is there's a very close connection. 00:06:34.319 --> 00:06:42.399 Verse 27 repeats the idea that God created man in his image, and then verse 28 repeats the command to rule. 00:06:43.120 --> 00:06:44.079 Do you see that there? 00:06:44.399 --> 00:06:49.759 So we've got image of God, rule, image of God, rule. 00:06:50.079 --> 00:06:55.040 It's not a coincidence that those ideas are so closely intertwined together. 00:06:56.560 --> 00:07:09.040 If we think about a call to reflect God's glory, to image something of his glory as our destination, as our purpose, how can we do that? 00:07:09.120 --> 00:07:10.639 There's a lot of ways we can do that. 00:07:11.040 --> 00:07:21.120 One of the ways we can do that is to reflect the way that He rules in the universe by the way that we rule over planet Earth. 00:07:21.600 --> 00:07:23.120 Have you thought about that before? 00:07:23.759 --> 00:07:28.720 We sometimes think of reflecting God's glory as uh our characteristics. 00:07:28.959 --> 00:07:31.199 God is gracious, so we should be gracious. 00:07:31.360 --> 00:07:33.279 God is loving, so we should be loving. 00:07:33.439 --> 00:07:35.120 And that's absolutely true. 00:07:35.839 --> 00:07:40.800 But one of the ways we reflect God's glory is doing what He does. 00:07:41.279 --> 00:07:43.120 Not in the exact same way. 00:07:43.279 --> 00:07:45.439 God spoke and worlds came into existence. 00:07:45.600 --> 00:07:49.040 We can't speak and just worlds come into existence. 00:07:49.360 --> 00:07:56.639 But we get to model what our Heavenly Father does and the way that we rule in His world. 00:07:58.399 --> 00:08:00.160 Turn over to Genesis chapter 5. 00:08:00.399 --> 00:08:01.279 Genesis 5. 00:08:02.560 --> 00:08:04.639 We're gonna be mostly in Genesis tonight. 00:08:05.439 --> 00:08:10.959 This is one of the few places that the Bible explicitly mentions the image of God. 00:08:13.040 --> 00:08:15.279 Genesis 5, verses 1 to 3. 00:08:15.360 --> 00:08:18.079 This is the document containing the family records of Adam. 00:08:18.879 --> 00:08:23.600 On the day that God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. 00:08:24.079 --> 00:08:26.720 He created them male and female. 00:08:27.680 --> 00:08:31.839 When they were created, he blessed them and called them mankind. 00:08:32.720 --> 00:08:44.159 Adam was 130 years old when he fathered a son in his likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth. 00:08:46.399 --> 00:08:50.639 So God created humans in his likeness. 00:08:50.799 --> 00:08:52.559 There's our image category. 00:08:52.799 --> 00:08:58.399 And the writer tells us Adam had a son named Seth in his image and his likeness. 00:08:58.639 --> 00:09:08.799 So there's something about the father-son relationship of Adam and Seth that teaches us about the relationship we have as image-bearers to God who made us. 00:09:10.080 --> 00:09:14.480 So, how does a child image their parents? 00:09:15.519 --> 00:09:17.840 We tend to think of physical features. 00:09:18.320 --> 00:09:21.919 He's got his daddy's nose. 00:09:22.559 --> 00:09:25.360 She's got her mother's eyes. 00:09:25.919 --> 00:09:31.519 Or as the child begins to grow, we sometimes think of character qualities. 00:09:32.480 --> 00:09:35.679 She's so happy and joyful, just like her mother. 00:09:36.799 --> 00:09:40.799 He's so ornery, just like, well, we'll leave that alone for now. 00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:55.360 Realize that in the ancient world, and really in most cultures throughout history, one of the ways that children image their parents is by taking on their vocation. 00:09:56.639 --> 00:10:05.600 The idea that a kid just chooses to do whatever they want to do independent of what their parents do, that's a pretty modern and Western idea. 00:10:06.639 --> 00:10:11.039 In most of world history, if your dad's a potato farmer, guess what? 00:10:11.200 --> 00:10:12.639 You get to be a potato farmer. 00:10:13.440 --> 00:10:17.759 If your dad's a blacksmith, hope you enjoy being a blacksmith. 00:10:18.080 --> 00:10:21.200 And I'm not making a comment on that morally good or bad. 00:10:21.279 --> 00:10:33.759 I'm just pointing out that in this in this framework here of the way the Bible was first given and would have been received by the people, they would have understood that part of this Seth imaging his father is by doing the kind of things his father did. 00:10:35.200 --> 00:10:45.360 So we image God, just as the Bible says, Daniel 4.17, the Most High is ruler over human kingdoms. 00:10:46.080 --> 00:10:51.279 We get to be like our Father in heaven by ruling in the world he made. 00:10:53.919 --> 00:10:56.720 That's the basis of our stewardship. 00:10:56.879 --> 00:10:58.480 We're made in God's image. 00:10:58.720 --> 00:11:01.279 How about the essence of our stewardship? 00:11:01.440 --> 00:11:03.039 Um, what exactly is it? 00:11:03.360 --> 00:11:06.240 Genesis 1 uses the word rule. 00:11:06.559 --> 00:11:10.240 Adam and Eve were called to rule over the earth. 00:11:10.480 --> 00:11:14.240 Take dominion, some of your translations use that term as well. 00:11:14.559 --> 00:11:17.919 So why am I using the word stewardship? 00:11:18.879 --> 00:11:23.200 Well, because that's the word that Doug gave me for the title of this message tonight. 00:11:25.440 --> 00:11:35.200 And no, here's how the word stewardship helps us to understand something very important about the kind of rule that God's calling us to. 00:11:35.600 --> 00:11:36.639 Let me give you an example. 00:11:37.279 --> 00:11:38.960 Let's say the summertime rolls around. 00:11:39.519 --> 00:11:43.679 And I look out at the youth group and they've all got their video games and their phones. 00:11:43.919 --> 00:11:45.200 I'm like, what do you guys do in the summer? 00:11:45.279 --> 00:11:46.720 Doesn't anyone have a job around here? 00:11:46.879 --> 00:11:48.480 You guys need to get some responsibility. 00:11:48.639 --> 00:11:53.759 Look, what someone how about how about how about how about how about how about Aaron? 00:11:54.240 --> 00:11:56.240 Can you clean you gotta clean the organ once a month? 00:11:56.320 --> 00:11:56.879 That's your job. 00:11:57.039 --> 00:11:57.600 Can you do that? 00:11:58.559 --> 00:12:00.240 I gave him responsibility, gave him a job. 00:12:01.440 --> 00:12:03.600 Now let's say something different happens. 00:12:04.080 --> 00:12:06.879 Let's say Ted comes to visit the youth group. 00:12:07.200 --> 00:12:15.840 And he says, Listen, I'm going away to Kentucky for a month, and I need someone to help me take care of that organ while I'm gone. 00:12:16.240 --> 00:12:18.799 This is something that's helped our church worship for many years. 00:12:18.879 --> 00:12:19.759 It's something I love. 00:12:19.840 --> 00:12:21.200 And who can I give this? 00:12:21.600 --> 00:12:23.440 Aaron, can you help me with this? 00:12:24.960 --> 00:12:26.000 Do you see what happened? 00:12:27.360 --> 00:12:31.679 A job became a stewardship. 00:12:32.960 --> 00:12:40.080 God is not just giving Adam and Eve a job so that they can learn about taking responsibility. 00:12:40.399 --> 00:12:43.759 He's entrusting something very precious to them. 00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:46.639 He's entrusting his own creation to them. 00:12:49.200 --> 00:12:56.320 It's a little bit, you know, if your parents they're trying to get the house clean and they say, now you go clean your bedroom. 00:12:56.399 --> 00:12:57.200 That's your domain. 00:12:57.360 --> 00:12:58.480 Go be like us. 00:12:58.799 --> 00:13:00.639 That's how we're going to do it in this household. 00:13:00.720 --> 00:13:06.960 That's that's a kind of stewardship, it's an apprenticeship, it's a training for how we can live in life. 00:13:08.159 --> 00:13:09.600 Turn to Genesis 2. 00:13:09.679 --> 00:13:12.080 If you go back to Genesis 2, those are the verses we read at the beginning. 00:13:15.279 --> 00:13:16.799 Verse number 15. 00:13:18.879 --> 00:13:27.360 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and watch over it. 00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:35.039 Here's how I'm going to try to summarize the essence of our stewardship with the word cultivation. 00:13:36.639 --> 00:13:44.240 Again, when we hear the word rule, it's a very appropriate word, but we might think of that only as giving commands. 00:13:44.720 --> 00:13:46.159 Like, what does that look like? 00:13:46.480 --> 00:13:49.519 All right, sharks, no more taking advantage of the minnows. 00:13:49.600 --> 00:13:51.759 You mind your own business, I'm going to be watching you. 00:13:53.039 --> 00:13:54.320 We don't rule like that. 00:13:54.960 --> 00:13:58.399 God has called us to cultivate the earth. 00:13:59.120 --> 00:14:03.039 Um, look there at verse number 11 to develop his world. 00:14:03.279 --> 00:14:10.799 Verse number 11 tells us about a place called Havilah where there is gold. 00:14:11.360 --> 00:14:14.320 And I think it says uh pure gold in the CSB. 00:14:14.399 --> 00:14:16.399 It's literally good gold. 00:14:16.559 --> 00:14:18.399 There's some good gold in Havilah. 00:14:19.519 --> 00:14:20.639 How do you get gold? 00:14:23.120 --> 00:14:24.559 You have to mine it. 00:14:25.360 --> 00:14:28.960 I mean, I maybe there were gold bars just lying on the ground in the Garden of Eden. 00:14:29.120 --> 00:14:29.440 I don't know. 00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:31.120 But probably not. 00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:34.399 God created Adam and Eve to work. 00:14:35.039 --> 00:14:43.279 And how can we find the beautiful and rich things in God's world and put them to beautiful and good uses? 00:14:43.600 --> 00:14:49.759 That's a stewardship from our Father in heaven given to our original parents, Adam and Eve. 00:14:51.679 --> 00:14:54.960 To work the garden and watch over it. 00:14:55.679 --> 00:15:00.480 God has called us to be his royal priests. 00:15:01.200 --> 00:15:26.000 The specific Hebrew words there for work and watch over or guard and keep, maybe different translations, those two words are only used together in the Old Testament when it's talking about the job of the priests in the tabernacle or in the temple, to work it and keep it, to guard it and watch over this holy sanctuary of the Lord. 00:15:26.799 --> 00:15:32.559 That's a pretty amazing sacred privilege and trust that God has given to us. 00:15:33.600 --> 00:15:44.240 And God wants Adam and Eve, and by implication, humanity, to extend that rule and reign in the world, to expand. 00:15:44.799 --> 00:15:50.480 It's not enough simply to guard, we have to cultivate. 00:15:51.120 --> 00:15:52.960 Remember the parable of the talents? 00:15:53.519 --> 00:15:57.039 The man who said, Oh yeah, I kept this one talent here. 00:15:57.600 --> 00:16:03.600 And the Lord didn't say, Great job, as long as you just kept it the way it was, that's all that I was expecting. 00:16:03.919 --> 00:16:08.960 He wanted him to take what he had and cultivate it, to put it to use. 00:16:09.840 --> 00:16:15.600 So that's how God wants us to rule in the world, to cultivate his world. 00:16:18.159 --> 00:16:21.919 Third, what's the priority of our stewardship? 00:16:22.080 --> 00:16:31.519 If the basis is that we're made in the image of God and the essence of our stewardship is cultivation of God's good world, how do we that's that sounds really big and grand and glorious? 00:16:31.840 --> 00:16:34.879 How can we prioritize what that looks like? 00:16:35.200 --> 00:16:42.080 I'm gonna summarize the priority of our stewardship as a priority of human beings. 00:16:42.480 --> 00:16:44.080 And let me explain what I mean by that. 00:16:45.919 --> 00:16:53.440 First, the work of cultivating God's created world is a big task. 00:16:53.840 --> 00:16:57.679 It's a big task that needs a lot of people. 00:16:58.720 --> 00:17:06.400 The Bible says that God formed man from the dust of the ground, and then he formed Eve to be Adam's helper. 00:17:07.359 --> 00:17:18.000 Some people hear that and they think it only means, or they tend to emphasize, Eve was only a romantic companion for Adam. 00:17:18.559 --> 00:17:21.519 Like they just sat around all day looking in each other's eyes. 00:17:22.240 --> 00:17:26.640 That's a part, a significant part of the beauty of that relationship. 00:17:26.960 --> 00:17:28.559 But they had a job to do. 00:18:01.759 --> 00:18:07.680 Having and raising children is a great way to carry out God's stewardship. 00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:14.480 God doesn't give everyone children, but for those who have children, this should be a huge priority in life. 00:18:14.799 --> 00:18:17.359 And it's a beautiful opportunity from the Lord. 00:18:18.559 --> 00:18:20.079 I think it's maybe more the case. 00:18:20.240 --> 00:18:30.079 Sometimes mothers are made to feel bad that they're not doing more things, you know, like amidst all of the diaper changing, you couldn't also become the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. 00:18:30.160 --> 00:18:31.440 What's wrong with you? 00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:43.440 Raising little ones, cleaning up their mess, and helping them learn how to clean up their mess so they can go out into the world and help clean up the world's mess, that's a big job. 00:18:44.559 --> 00:18:54.960 Nourishing little ones so that they can go out and grow up and be a part of a world and bring wholeness, hopefully, and order to a world, that's a big job. 00:18:55.920 --> 00:19:01.359 So it's it's not about, you know, um just having children merely for the sake of having children. 00:19:01.440 --> 00:19:08.079 You know, if you're if you're bragging about your five kids or your 15 kids, you're not actually raising them and instructing them. 00:19:08.240 --> 00:19:09.200 That's key here. 00:19:09.680 --> 00:19:11.119 But it's a glorious calling. 00:19:12.720 --> 00:19:18.480 So if we're going to prioritize human beings, we do have to prioritize human life. 00:19:18.720 --> 00:19:24.000 We should want to protect human life in the womb, on the streets, in the nursing home. 00:19:24.240 --> 00:19:26.160 And I don't want to get too far ahead of us. 00:19:26.319 --> 00:19:27.680 There's this is a free preview. 00:19:27.759 --> 00:19:31.759 We've got a whole nother message on defending the dignity of every human life. 00:19:31.920 --> 00:19:34.000 So I'm just wanting to flag that now. 00:19:34.240 --> 00:19:42.319 So many of these application points for life connect into these early pages of Genesis and the role that God's called us to as his stewards. 00:19:43.920 --> 00:19:50.000 When I say that humans are a priority, uh, I don't just mean human life and raising children. 00:19:50.720 --> 00:19:58.079 I also mean that God has called humans to be the capstone and pinnacle of his created order. 00:19:58.799 --> 00:20:05.839 It's humans alone that are said to be made in the image of God, not the rest of his creation. 00:20:07.279 --> 00:20:11.599 Look at chapter 1 of Genesis, verse 29. 00:20:14.960 --> 00:20:28.640 God also said, Look, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the surface of the entire earth, and every tree whose fruit contains seed, this will be food for you. 00:20:29.680 --> 00:20:38.480 Genesis 9, God tells Noah, Every creature that lives and moves will be food for you, as I've given the green plants, I've given you everything. 00:20:40.160 --> 00:20:43.759 God it's a it's grace, we not that we deserved it. 00:20:44.079 --> 00:20:54.079 God has designed the world for us, not designed us to have the world be elevated above humanity. 00:20:54.319 --> 00:20:56.319 That inverts God's created order. 00:20:58.400 --> 00:20:59.680 So what about PETA? 00:21:02.559 --> 00:21:07.039 You have to say they they were very shrewd to get that domain name, right? 00:21:07.519 --> 00:21:09.680 People for the ethical treatment of animals. 00:21:09.920 --> 00:21:14.720 Who's going to stand up and say, you know, actually, I'm for the unethical treatment of animals? 00:21:14.960 --> 00:21:17.519 The more unethical treatment of animals, the better, right? 00:21:17.599 --> 00:21:19.119 So they they got us on the name there. 00:21:20.240 --> 00:21:31.359 If you go on the website, right at the right at the about page, PETA opposes speciism, speciesism, a human supremacist worldview. 00:21:32.400 --> 00:21:35.519 Now anything with supremacists on the end, very bad, obviously. 00:21:36.319 --> 00:21:40.240 I I wasn't familiar with the term species ism, but it's good to learn some things, right? 00:21:40.400 --> 00:21:41.599 So you keep you keep reading. 00:21:42.240 --> 00:21:47.039 Speciesism is the misguided belief that one species is more important than another. 00:21:48.799 --> 00:21:54.720 So maybe someone here tonight works for PETA and you're like, look, I'm just I'm trying to stop undercover dog fighting. 00:21:54.880 --> 00:21:56.079 Can you cut me a break here? 00:21:56.880 --> 00:21:57.759 That's a good thing to do. 00:21:58.319 --> 00:21:59.759 So there's there's good things that PETA is. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:00.400 Doing. 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:01.839 That's not my intent. 00:22:02.079 --> 00:22:07.359 My point is that our way of viewing the world has consequences for our life. 00:22:08.079 --> 00:22:20.000 And that organization has made it very clear that their worldview, their way of looking at the universe, is to say animals and humans are just two different species that are equivalent. 00:22:20.240 --> 00:22:24.559 That runs fundamentally contrary to what Scripture itself says. 00:22:26.240 --> 00:22:29.440 God told Adam to name the animals. 00:22:30.880 --> 00:22:35.200 God didn't go to the hippos and say, hey, I'm making this dude with two legs. 00:22:35.279 --> 00:22:36.000 What should I call him? 00:22:39.039 --> 00:22:42.559 Sometimes you hear thank you for that laugh. 00:22:42.640 --> 00:22:44.160 I appreciate that, Audrey. 00:22:45.599 --> 00:22:51.039 Sometimes you hear people talk in glowing terms about Mother Nature. 00:22:51.359 --> 00:22:53.119 And that's not a wrong expression. 00:22:53.200 --> 00:23:05.920 I've used it before, but sometimes when people say that, they say it in a kind of sacred way, as if to suggest that nature is a person that must be honored as a person. 00:23:06.480 --> 00:23:11.200 Or even that nature is God, has some divine-like quality. 00:23:13.359 --> 00:23:16.319 No, God didn't make trees in his image. 00:23:22.480 --> 00:23:26.960 Now, let's let's go to the other side of that of that idea. 00:23:27.599 --> 00:23:32.480 So we have to prioritize humans because the Bible prioritizes humanity. 00:23:33.119 --> 00:23:37.119 But that doesn't take away our responsibility and stewardship. 00:23:38.000 --> 00:23:49.039 Sometimes, some some Christians, whenever they hear the word creation, cultivation, or stewardship, they have this allergic reaction and they they just want to rush to their favorite verse on the subject. 00:23:49.519 --> 00:23:50.960 2 Peter 3 10. 00:23:52.079 --> 00:23:52.960 Anyone know what that is? 00:23:53.119 --> 00:23:55.279 The day of the Lord will come like a thief. 00:23:55.839 --> 00:24:04.319 On that day, the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, the elements will burn and be dissolved, and the earth and the works on it will be disclosed. 00:24:04.640 --> 00:24:06.880 It's all gonna burn up, anyways. 00:24:07.359 --> 00:24:09.279 You can only do so much to save the world. 00:24:09.359 --> 00:24:10.160 It's gonna burn. 00:24:11.279 --> 00:24:17.359 Yes, it's gonna burn, but that doesn't mean that we can help it burn, and that's what God would desire, right? 00:24:18.160 --> 00:24:20.559 We live in a world of hot takes and extremism. 00:24:21.519 --> 00:24:29.680 The only two options you have are not worship nature as divine or treat it like your personal trash can. 00:24:29.920 --> 00:24:32.640 There's other options besides those two options. 00:24:32.880 --> 00:24:38.559 Let's say that Doug gives his eight-year-old son Ben a$200 Schwin bicycle. 00:24:38.720 --> 00:24:49.039 He says, I want you to take care of this, I want you to keep it running, I want you to work at it, and when you turn 18, I'm gonna get you a$10,000 Cannondale racing bicycle. 00:24:50.160 --> 00:24:53.039 Doug's like, maybe for myself, not for Ben. 00:24:56.960 --> 00:24:58.400 But think about this. 00:24:59.039 --> 00:25:10.079 Would Father Doug want his son Ben to conclude, well, yeah, I have this bike, it's okay, but he said he's gonna get me a brand new one anyway, so I might as well ride this thing into the ground. 00:25:11.519 --> 00:25:13.519 That's that's not the point. 00:25:13.759 --> 00:25:17.920 He entrusted the stewardship of the small thing temporarily. 00:25:18.400 --> 00:25:21.200 Yes, we've got a new heavens and a new earth coming. 00:25:21.359 --> 00:25:22.000 Hallelujah. 00:25:22.079 --> 00:25:28.160 This world's not eternal, but it's still valuable, and God calls us to care for it. 00:25:30.720 --> 00:25:35.039 Psalm 19, the heavens declare the glory of God. 00:25:35.680 --> 00:25:38.559 The expanse proclaims the work of his hands. 00:25:38.720 --> 00:25:41.359 Day after day they pour out speech. 00:25:41.680 --> 00:25:45.200 Night after night they communicate knowledge. 00:25:45.519 --> 00:25:48.720 Psalm 104, my soul blessed the Lord. 00:25:48.880 --> 00:25:50.160 Lord, you are very great. 00:25:50.240 --> 00:25:52.640 You're clothed with majesty and splendor. 00:25:52.880 --> 00:26:07.359 He wraps himself in light as if it were a robe, spreading out the sky like a canopy, laying the beams of his palace on the waters above, making the clouds his chariots, walking on the wings of the wind and making the winds his messengers. 00:26:07.599 --> 00:26:12.799 He established the earth on its foundations, it will never be shaken. 00:26:15.039 --> 00:26:22.880 That's how much God cares for the world, and he's told humans, you're my royal priest to guard this good possession. 00:26:25.440 --> 00:26:28.720 Lastly, the place of our stewardship. 00:26:29.119 --> 00:26:30.640 What does this look like in our lives? 00:26:30.799 --> 00:26:32.799 Again, I know it's a little abstract. 00:26:33.359 --> 00:26:36.720 Think, well, I'm not a marine biologist in the Amazon. 00:26:36.960 --> 00:26:39.440 Like, okay, what does this look like in our lives? 00:26:39.839 --> 00:26:41.440 Here's some suggestions. 00:26:42.000 --> 00:26:45.440 First, we need to enjoy God's creation. 00:26:46.400 --> 00:26:48.400 Yes, God's given us a job. 00:26:48.640 --> 00:26:50.880 He wants us to enjoy that job. 00:26:51.279 --> 00:26:58.240 God made the world, and he took time to rest on the seventh day and contemplate his good works. 00:26:58.799 --> 00:27:05.920 Yes, he's embarking on keeping the world moving on its foundations, ruling among the galaxies. 00:27:06.880 --> 00:27:12.240 Creation gives him delight, and it should give us delight that will help us do our job better. 00:27:12.960 --> 00:27:16.640 Listen to the birds, marvel at sunsets, take a walk in the woods. 00:27:16.720 --> 00:27:18.960 This is an amazing world that God has given us. 00:27:20.880 --> 00:27:32.000 Second idea about the place of our stewardship, we need to show charity to Christians who may not always agree on every single application of policy questions. 00:27:32.240 --> 00:27:35.119 And this ties into a few things I've been saying. 00:27:35.680 --> 00:27:47.920 If humans are alone made in God's image, if they have a priority, then think about to go back to the earlier comment, is our opinion on fracking? 00:27:48.799 --> 00:27:59.519 Is that so clear and urgent that we need to treat people who disagree with us like they're complete idiots rather than people that are made in the image of God? 00:28:00.400 --> 00:28:05.200 And especially if there are brothers and sisters in Christ, we'll be spending eternity with them. 00:28:05.440 --> 00:28:09.839 So we can show, we can show charity in some of those areas. 00:28:10.400 --> 00:28:22.640 Yes, God gives us principles that speak into every single domain of life, but we don't have every detail in God's word spelled out with perfect clarity. 00:28:22.799 --> 00:28:27.039 So we want to be thoughtful and loving in how we engage others. 00:28:31.599 --> 00:28:33.440 What's the place of our stewardship? 00:28:34.079 --> 00:28:38.799 Start by cultivating the place God has you in right now. 00:28:40.720 --> 00:28:42.640 1 Corinthians 7 17. 00:28:43.440 --> 00:28:50.160 Let each one live his life in the situation the Lord assigned when God called him. 00:28:50.559 --> 00:28:53.440 This is what I command in all the churches. 00:28:54.799 --> 00:29:03.119 The internet world makes us think if you're not involved in so many different things, then you're failing. 00:29:03.839 --> 00:29:08.400 If you're not giving to world hunger organizations, you don't care about world hunger. 00:29:08.640 --> 00:29:14.319 If you don't sign this petition to help protect wallabies in New Zealand, you don't care about God's world. 00:29:15.119 --> 00:29:17.039 Start wherever God has you. 00:29:18.000 --> 00:29:24.000 Start in your own home, your own church, your own place of work, your own neighborhood. 00:29:24.240 --> 00:29:30.240 How can you bring some order out of chaos the way God brought order to the world? 00:29:30.480 --> 00:29:37.279 How can you nourish and cultivate your home, people in your church, your neighborhood? 00:29:37.519 --> 00:29:39.519 Some of you have a garden in your backyard. 00:29:39.759 --> 00:29:40.079 Great. 00:29:40.240 --> 00:29:47.920 You're not obligated to have a garden in your backyard, but that's a place that you can start and say, I love God and I want to do this for his glory. 00:29:52.160 --> 00:30:05.519 We encourage you, brothers and sisters, to do this even more, to seek to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands as we commanded you. 00:30:07.440 --> 00:30:17.599 There's a pastor who tells the story about church, a lot of young people and some young guys in his church were you know on him that God tells us to take dominion in all the world. 00:30:17.759 --> 00:30:20.640 We've got to do a better job taking dominion in the government and places like that. 00:30:21.359 --> 00:30:25.839 And he said, you know, some of these guys, a lot of them, they're living with their parents. 00:30:26.079 --> 00:30:31.440 Some of them don't even have jobs, and you know, they want to argue the fine points of theonomy with me. 00:30:31.599 --> 00:30:35.759 And I told him, look, why don't you start by taking dominion of your own bedroom? 00:30:36.720 --> 00:30:47.440 Get a job, get some responsibility, and then you can come back and talk about how Christians can go out in the government and you know change the world and all that kind of thing. 00:30:47.839 --> 00:30:49.839 There's something biblical about that, right? 00:30:50.720 --> 00:30:54.559 Lead a quiet life, work with your hands in the place where God has you. 00:30:54.720 --> 00:30:56.000 Start right then and there. 00:30:57.680 --> 00:30:58.799 Last suggestion. 00:31:00.400 --> 00:31:09.200 And think with me, and I'm just gonna sound a little bit uh out of the box here, but participate in disciple making near and far. 00:31:10.720 --> 00:31:16.720 How do we get from you know naming the animals to evangelizing for Jesus? 00:31:17.759 --> 00:31:28.880 Well, there's some key parallels between what Christ tells his disciples when he leaves and what's called sometimes the Great Commission, go into all the world. 00:31:29.039 --> 00:31:36.079 There's some interesting parallels between that instruction of Jesus and the original command here in the garden. 00:31:36.880 --> 00:31:40.720 Both of those instructions have the idea of multiplication. 00:31:41.839 --> 00:31:44.000 Go into all the world and make disciples. 00:31:45.279 --> 00:31:47.039 Be fruitful and multiply. 00:31:47.759 --> 00:31:54.559 So in the original command, there's an emphasis on biological multiplication, having children, bear the image of God. 00:31:54.960 --> 00:32:02.400 In Jesus' words, there's an emphasis on spiritual multiplication, giving people the gospel, helping build others up in the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:32:02.480 --> 00:32:13.920 But there's multiplication, there's a geographical expansion impulse in both cases, fill the earth and subdue it, go into all the world and make disciples. 00:32:14.799 --> 00:32:23.759 Now, I'm not saying that that great commission replaces entirely those instructions in the garden. 00:32:24.640 --> 00:32:32.880 Those instructions in the garden about being fruitful and multiplying and cultivating God's world in a lot of ways, those are still valuable and good for us. 00:32:33.279 --> 00:32:40.160 But Jesus gives us that target as the people of God that we must include in our lives. 00:32:40.640 --> 00:32:48.960 So you can reflect God's image by planting a tomato plant in your backyard. 00:32:49.119 --> 00:32:49.359 You can. 00:32:50.160 --> 00:33:00.559 You can, and people do, helpfully reflect God's image by going into a company that is in total disarray and helping get the books in order. 00:33:01.119 --> 00:33:03.279 Those are good ways to reflect God's image. 00:33:03.440 --> 00:33:05.200 That's that's a good thing. 00:33:05.839 --> 00:33:13.680 If we're the people of God, we can do those things, and some will be more called to certain realms and walks of life than others. 00:33:13.839 --> 00:33:21.279 Again, this is a free preview because we've got a whole nother message on the dignity and calling of every line of work. 00:33:21.759 --> 00:33:24.880 So if you're a dishwasher, don't think I'm just washing dishes. 00:33:25.200 --> 00:33:34.400 No, you're helping clean up a mess under God's kind providence in his world to make his world a cleaner place. 00:33:34.559 --> 00:33:35.920 So we got a whole message on that. 00:33:36.960 --> 00:33:41.599 But if we're children of God, we can do any number of those things. 00:33:42.000 --> 00:33:48.000 We must, on some level, be engaged in cultivating people for Christ. 00:33:48.559 --> 00:34:02.880 So I'm not saying the only way to glorify God is passing out a track or going through a Bible study with someone, but that should be a significant part of what we want to do to make eternal disciples. 00:34:03.359 --> 00:34:06.559 Because yes, this world is good, it is temporary. 00:34:06.720 --> 00:34:08.639 Human souls will last forever. 00:34:09.519 --> 00:34:13.679 So participate in disciple making near and far. 00:34:14.880 --> 00:34:24.320 Part of our heart should be that we want to see multiplication and expansion and cultivation, just like we prayed earlier for Sasha, right? 00:34:24.400 --> 00:34:28.880 For more elders to help lead the church that it can grow and multiply. 00:34:29.039 --> 00:34:30.400 That's a good desire. 00:34:32.320 --> 00:34:39.519 Seth, Adam and Eve's son, he wasn't obligated to immediately move to Alaska and start a botanical garden. 00:34:40.639 --> 00:34:46.880 But he was part of a call on humanity to extend into the world and do that. 00:34:47.840 --> 00:34:52.159 We are not all obligated to pick up and move to Azerbaijan. 00:34:52.480 --> 00:34:54.159 Well, maybe some of you want to do that. 00:34:54.400 --> 00:34:58.000 But we are called to be about the process of making disciples. 00:34:58.239 --> 00:35:00.159 Now, this is preview night. 00:35:00.239 --> 00:35:05.119 I've got to stop because once again, we've got a whole message on to every tribe and tongue. 00:35:05.360 --> 00:35:17.519 But I hope you see that as royal priests called to work and watch over the garden, there's a whole lot in scripture and a whole lot in our lives, and a whole lot more in this series. 00:35:19.199 --> 00:35:20.719 That's all we have for tonight. 00:35:21.280 --> 00:35:31.599 Want to encourage you as we pray and as we sing this week, how can you cultivate God's world for good and for his glory? 00:35:31.840 --> 00:35:32.400 Let's pray. 00:35:35.360 --> 00:35:51.679 Lord, there's there's just so much here, and it is easy for us to feel overwhelmed, but help us to start where we are, to look for that next way that we can see the good and beautiful things in your world and put them to use. 00:35:52.320 --> 00:35:57.280 Lord, help us to do that with a special eye for humans, for those that are made in your image. 00:35:57.599 --> 00:36:08.320 And what a wide variety of talents and gifts and places of work and opportunities you put, even within this one small room. 00:36:08.639 --> 00:36:13.119 And this one small room is only one small part of your created world. 00:36:13.360 --> 00:36:15.039 This is our Father's world. 00:36:15.360 --> 00:36:18.000 We rest our hearts in that thought. 00:36:18.159 --> 00:36:28.400 And we want to be motivated earnestly to be your faithful stewards, that you might say to us, Well done, good and faithful servant. 00:36:28.639 --> 00:36:30.400 In Jesus' name, amen.