“Take your Bible and take your newspaper and read both. But interpret newspapers from your Bible.” – Karl Barth
If you read or watch the news, it won’t be very long before you come across issues on “Climate Change” and the environment. Our commitment as a nation to be carbon neutral by 2050, millions of students across the world standing up to governments and policy makers by striking school and the general outcry of a generation for us to simply do better.
A lot of the feeling around this message of provocation is of ‘fear’ and ‘panic’ about the future of our planet. The issue is real, but how do we respond from a Biblical perspective? How do we bring the light and life of Jesus into the way we engage with our world and the real issues it faces? How do we live out the Gospel message as part of God’s wonderful creation? As the famous theologian says, we look to the Bible.
God said His creation is Good!
Seven times in Genesis chapter one, God declares the Earth that He made is good. Creation reveals the glory of God, His wisdom, His majesty. It belongs to Him and He is King over all.
“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have t heir being.”
Revelation 4:11
“For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land.”
Psalm 95: 3-5
“Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it. Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them; let all the trees of the forest sing for joy. Let all creation rejoice before the LORD, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his faithfulness.”
Psalm 96:11-13
God thinks His creation is pretty amazing, we should too.
Our God given mandate to rule and reign
As we read on, Genesis 1:28 tells us how God blesses mankind and commands him to rule and reign over creation. In Genesis 2:15, God tells man to work and take care of the Garden of Eden. The word here for ‘work’ is to ‘serve’ and ‘take care of’. To keep something safe, with care and watching over it. To treat as worthy of devoted attention.
We are given authority to make the earth look like Heaven, to extend the rule and reign of the Kingdom of God in this domain. Jesus has all authority, and the way he exercised this authority was to lay His life down and serve us. To give His life as a ransom for many. We follow in His example as we exercise authority in the earth by serving and looking after His wonderful creation.
God redeems everything through Jesus amid panic and fear of the world “exploding” we know the truth is that He is coming back to make all things new! This is our hope, this is our declaration, this is our message. God through Jesus is set ‘ to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross’ (Colossians 1:20). We can prophetically declare this message, as we steward God’s creation well.
“Let us rediscover that the Gospel, the good news, does not begin with Jesus’ birth. It begins with the good earth that God made through Jesus. Let us celebrate again that creation in all its richness is the wonderful gift of a good God.”
Pioneer Core Team | Kings Church Leadership Team
Recommended Reading:
‘L is for Lifestyle’ by Ruth Valerio
‘Planetwise’ by Dave Bookless