Happy Earth Day

Hey, it is Earth Day everyone, so Happy Earth Day to you, hope it's a good one! 

As a Christian I think this day is worthy of a little reflection, especially since there are so many crazy messages out there when it comes to care for the earth and environmentalism etcetera.

I think it makes sense first to highlight why the earth is important from a Christian perspective. 

First the earth is important because God created it and called it good!  Genesis 1:26 summarizes God's perspective on the creation he had carried out: "God saw all that he had made, and it was very good."  This includes the sun, moon and stars, but especially the earth.  Consider that God created the earth at the first, in the very 'beginning' (Gen. 1:1).  If you read the entire chapter it is astonishing how the creation narrative centers nearly entirely around our planet.  

Further the earth is important because creation clearly displays the glory of God:

"For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse." (Romans 1:20)

Indeed -

 "The heavens declare the glory of God;
    the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
    night after night they reveal knowledge.
They have no speech, they use no words;
    no sound is heard from them.
Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
    their words to the ends of the world."

(Psalm 19)

 The Christian's argument regarding the importance of the earth starts something like this:

1. God is of ultimate importance to man.
2. God created the earth.
3. The earth is important to God.
4. The earth ought to be important to man.

 But the argument doesn't end there.  Though the above presents a cogent case for honoring the earth the argument can and should be extended.  Consider Psalm 8:

  Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory
    in the heavens.
Through the praise of children and infants
    you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
    to silence the foe and the avenger.
When I consider your heavens,
    the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
    which you have set in place,
what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
    human beings that you care for them?
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:
all flocks and herds,
    and the animals of the wild,
the birds in the sky,
    and the fish in the sea,
    all that swim the paths of the seas.
Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

God has specifically put the earth under our care as rulers over the works of his hand, with everything placed under our feet.  The environmentalist may think that we emerged from the primordial ooze and through time and chance have proceeded to rise to the top of the food chain, but this is not the case.  Humans are the crown of God's creation, the climax, made in his image to rule the earth with the care and concern that is intrinsic to God himself.  The creation story bears this out:

"So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
God blessed them and said to them,

'Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.

Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky

and over every living creature that moves on the ground.'"

(Genesis 1:27,28)

"The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it."

(Genesis 2:15)

 As biblical scholar Peter Gentry has put it :
and crowned them with glory and honor.
You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under their feet:
all flocks and herds,
and the animals of the wild,
the birds in the sky,
and the fish in the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.

Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!" (Psalm 8)
and crowned them with glory and honor.
You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under their feet:
all flocks and herds,
and the animals of the wild,
the birds in the sky,
and the fish in the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.

Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!" (Psalm 8)

"Man is the divine image. As servant king and son of God mankind will
mediate God’s rule to the creation in the context of a covenant relationship with
God on the one hand and the earth on the other. Hence the concept of the kingdom of God is found on the first page of Scripture. Indeed, the theme is kingdom through covenant. No wonder the Mosaic Covenant, which seeks to implement this in Abraham’s Family, can be summarized as providing divine direction concerning (1) a right relationship to God, (2) how to treat each other in genuinely human ways, and (3) how to be good stewards of the earth’s resources."

(Dr. Peter Gentry from "Kingdom Through Covenant: Humanity as the Divine Image")

Christians understand that proper care of the earth, and stewardship of the earth's resources is part of the creation mandate given to man by God.  As bearers of the divine image our intended role is to treat others and our world in the way God would, mirroring his faithful love and care. 

Consider Jesus words in Matthew 10- "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care."  or again in Matt 6 - "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them".  Consider God's law given to Israel  "You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain." (Deuteronomy 25:4).  Throughout the bible it is clearly revealed that God loves and cares for the animals therefore we ought to do so also.

Further consider Psalm 65:
"You care for the land and water it;
    you enrich it abundantly.
The streams of God are filled with water
    to provide the people with grain,
    for so you have ordained it.
You drench its furrows and level its ridges
    you soften it with showers and bless its crops. 
You crown the year with your bounty,
    and your carts overflow with abundance.
The grasslands of the wilderness overflow;
    the hills are clothed with gladness. 
The meadows are covered with flocks
    and the valleys are mantled with grain;
    they shout for joy and sing. (v.9-13)

God cares about the earth itself, the Bible teaches that Jesus "sustains all things by his powerful word".  Have a look at the picture of God's loving care over the earth painted through Psalm 104 -

He makes springs pour water into the ravines;
    it flows between the mountains.
They give water to all the beasts of the field;
    the wild donkeys quench their thirst. 
The birds of the sky nest by the waters;
    they sing among the branches.
He waters the mountains from his upper chambers;
    the land is satisfied by the fruit of his work.
He makes grass grow for the cattle,
    and plants for people to cultivate—
    bringing forth food from the earth:
     wine that gladdens human hearts,
    oil to make their faces shine,
    and bread that sustains their hearts.
 The trees of the Lord are well watered,
    the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
 There the birds make their nests;
    the stork has its home in the junipers.
 The high mountains belong to the wild goats;
    the crags are a refuge for the hyrax. (v.10-18)

What a beautiful image of God's sustaining power and providential care for the earth.

And so the argument for Christian's care of the earth can be extended -

1. God is of ultimate importance to man.

2. God created the earth.
3. God created man in his image to govern the earth with compassion and care.
4. God exemplifies this care in the way he sustains and provides life for all creatures.
5. Man ought to care for the earth as God does.

We started earlier to look at Jesus words in Matthew 6 and Matthew 10.  Consider the full statement of Jesus in Matthew 10: "...even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows."   Jesus loves, cares for and sustains all of his creation, but he has special concern for His image bearers, therefore any view that minimizes the importance of humans or relegates them is the same level as the earth and the animals is mistaken.  I created the image below which I think biblically bears out the order of importance and significant aspects of a right relationship between God, Man and the Earth.

I hope that, like me, you find this to be a beautiful picture.  Unfortunately though, when we look at the world this is not typically what we see.  Man does not typically look after the earth with management and care or with oversight and loving rule.  A more suitable description, though vulgar, is probably the description of 'rape': abrasively marring the earth's beauty for the purpose of self gratification.

So what happened that the image above became so skewed?  In short God was removed from the picture.  Man decided to live autonomously spurning the divine image and creation mandate.  We fell into sin, and the negative effect of that sin has been passed to the entire earth. 

Consider the picture without God.  No longer can his sovereign sustenance and providential care be relied upon.  Instead we imagine that the universe is subject to impersonal laws, time and chance, none of which have a care whether the earth is preserved or not.  This brings an instability that rocks us to our core and can provoke one of two reactions. 

1. Nihilistic Hedonism - given that God's sovereign sustenance and providential provision are removed we recognize that our breath of life is brief and devoid of meaning.  The ship may sink at any time, enjoy the ride while you can.

2. Anxious Environmentalism - given that God's sovereign sustenance and providential provision are removed we recognize our precarious position and attempt to set up controls to bring order.  Hence radical environmentalism.  Note that control requires a limiting of variables, thus the push to limit human population (which also negates the impact from those in group one).

I don't think that every person will necessarily shoe-horn into either of these groups.  Likely, due to busyness, lack of insight, or disinterest in thinking things through modern individuals waver between these two ways of thinking on an unstable emotional roller-coaster.  Others may obviously appear to be sold full out to one view of the other.

Put God back into the picture and both of these views are negated, however we are still left with a world that needs care.  Who will solve the problem?  As Christians we believe that Jesus Christ has shown the path that needs to be followed.  Where Adam failed at the fall, the second Adam succeeded.  Jesus the true son of God brings those who receive him back to a right relationship with God; to be God's children (John 1:12-13). The divine image is restored, partially now and fully in the future.  It is through Jesus that all of creation will ultimately be restored -

"..the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.  For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God."  (Romans 8:20,21)

As Christians we ought to care about the earth, to be concerned for it and to steward creation with foresight and intelligence.  But, the curse of sin will not be reversed simply by care of a creation that is in 'bondage to decay'.  It is as the glory of the children of God is revealed, that is: as the divine image is revealed through God's children who have received "new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ" that the new creation emerges.

God will restore the creation, with a new and revitalized earth that will function perfectly as the image above had illustrated.  In Jesus Christ we enjoy a taste of the new creation now, and we will ultimately rule it when it fully arrives - "If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!"...  "He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created." (2 Cor. 5:17, James 1:18). 

And in all this God will get the glory because it is only through his son Jesus Christ: 
"To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood,  and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power forever and ever! Amen." (Rev 1:5,6)

For those of you who love creation, who love animals, who love the beauty of the outdoors.  Put your hope in Jesus Christ.  Jesus will do better than sustain a world with briars, thorns, death and disease.  Jesus says "Behold I am making all things new" (Rev. 21:5), it is through him that the earth will be renewed to what it was always meant to be. 

And on that day:

You will go out in joy
    and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
    will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
    will clap their hands.
 Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper,
    and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.
This will be for the Lord’s renown,
    for an everlasting sign,
    that will endure forever.  (Isaiah 55)

and -

The wolf will live with the lamb,
    the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
    and a little child will lead them.
The cow will feed with the bear,
    their young will lie down together,
    and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
The infant will play near the cobra’s den,
    and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.
They will neither harm nor destroy
    on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord
    as the waters cover the sea.  (Isaiah 11)

Lord hasten that day!

In the meantime, as Christians we need to take care and be concerned for our world.  To not be wasteful, to use resources wisely, to care for forests and animals and rivers and streams.  Not for their own sake, but for the glory of the one who created them.  Let's give him glory by mirroring his attributes, intelligently caring for and faithfully loving and stewarding the world he has placed us in.

              

              

      
You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under their feet:
all flocks and herds,
and the animals of the wild,
the birds in the sky,
and the fish in the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.

Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!" (Psalm 8)