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| “The nature of a paradigm is such that it cannot change unless it is replaced" - Sarah Sumner |
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| Thursday, April 22, 2010 |
| Why the Earth Should Matter to Christians |
To follow up my previous post, "Why the Earth (unfortunately) hasn't mattered to Christians", it is only right on this Earth Day 2010 to lay out for you why I think we as Christians should be leading the way in caring for the Earth. As has already been mentioned, many of us as Christians have not shown the same level of care for the Earth that others in our world have, but we should be caring more deeply than anyone. Caring for the Earth should matter to us. Why?
Because it Matters to God: We have to go back to Genesis 1 to begin to see God's attitude toward his creation and when we do we see that after creating the Earth and everything in it, he looked at it and said it was "good". It can not be over-emphasized that God sees his Creation as good. Yes, I know that the story doesn't end there but the "crown jewel" of his creation (humanity) rebelled against him and brought sin into this world; the sin that has distorted, tainted, and turned upside down his created order, but we are incorrect to think that God stopped caring for his created world at that point or that he was ready to discard it. The opposite is actually true.
Because Saving the Earth is a part of God's Plan: After the fall of man, God did not give up on his Creation, rather, he set in motion a great rescue plan to redeem his Creation (humanity and the created world) from the grips of sin. You see, God's original intent for his Creation is still his final intent. God did not change his mind, or reconsider what he was trying to do when he created the world and man within it. He gave us free will, so that He could have a loving relationship with us, and when we rebelled against him, he lovingly didn't give up on us or his Creation project. Many times in the church we have focused solely on God's desire to save one part of his creation, namely humanity. Human salvation should have the central piece in our understanding of God's salvation/redemption but we should not stop there. God's plan was to, as the Apostle Paul puts it, "reconcile all things in heaven and on Earth under Christ." (Eph. 1:10)
God's plan has never been to discard this world and create another place for him to dwell with his people. God did not desire to save man to live in a "cloud city" in the sky somewhere, but to live with Him in the place he created for them in the beginning. By taking on the sin of the world, Jesus redeemed the world, the whole world, from the eternal affects of sin. In John chapter 20 we read the the Gospel writer's account of the resurrection of Jesus. In this story we see Mary at the tomb distraught over Jesus' body being seemingly stolen. She sees who she thinks is the "gardener" and it turns out to be Jesus. Interestingly enough, Mary wasn't that far off in her identifying Jesus as the gardener, because in a real tangible and cosmic way he was. Through his resurrection, "new creation" or the redemption of God's creation had been accomplished. Some day we will see it completed, which leads us to...
God has saved us to be a part of His "World Saving Plan": So, if God's plan has always been to redeem all of his creation, us included, then the question is, "shouldn't we be about the same business God is?" I hope your answer to this question is "yes". And I hope that our answer does not just consist of getting people to place faith in Jesus. Again, I can not stress strongly enough that leading people to follow Jesus should be the central piece to the message of the church to the world. However, it can not be the only piece, because if it is we are displaying to the world only part of the Gospel of Jesus, that God is only interested in saving humans, not his creation. Jesus said, "as I am to Israel, you are to be to the world", so the question is, what was the message Jesus told the world? When we read the New Testament we see that the key to his message was, "The kingdom of God is present". That is basically saying, God has reclaimed his creation through the life death and resurrection of Jesus, and that is all of his creation. As he was separated from his creation when the first humans rebelled and brought sin into this world, so he has reclaimed his Creation through Jesus. As his people we are to now enact what he has already done. We should be living out the reclaiming of his creation from the effects of sin. We should be reversing the trend of selfishly using the resources of the world without thinking of others or future generations. We should be leading the way in supporting things like clean air/water initiatives, the discover of safe sustainable energy, and the responsible use of natural resources.
So as the people of God, desiring to live out the plan and the heart of God, let us this Earth Day rededicate to having God's heart for his Creation, and be the leaders in restoring his Earth!Labels: creation, Earth, Earth Day, eschatology, restoration |
posted by Unknown @ 11:51 AM   |
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| Tuesday, April 06, 2010 |
| Jesus and New Creation |
How many Easter sermons have you heard that go something like this..."because Jesus rose from the grave, we have hope of eternal life...because Jesus rose from the grave we have the hope of Heaven." Let me say at the outset that I agree with these statements, however, I want to deal with what I feel might be a grave mistake in allowing the story of Jesus' resurrection to be kept at such a limited view.
Let me start by laying my thoughts out in a sentence...the story of Jesus' resurrection is at its heart the story of new creation, or the reclaiming of creation by a God who did not give up on what he created. Yes Heaven is a part of that story of new creation, as it is a promise that we will be with Jesus when we die, however, in the words of N.T. Wright, "heaven is not the end of the world". Jesus rising on that first Easter morn was the beginning (or firstfruits as Paul put it) of what is the new creation that is transforming all things. It is the remedy to the sickness of sin that has distorted the creation of God. In rising from the grave Jesus overcame the ultimate result of sin...death.
Remember back to the book of Genesis when our fore-parents made the decision attempt to be like God. They brought sin into this world and that sin distorted, tainted, and twisted God's good creation, including us. In Gen. 3 there were a number of consequences given to Adam and Eve for their actions, but the ultimate and overarching result of sin was death. Jesus (who is correctly labeled by Paul as the "second Adam") rose from the grave after dying on the cross and in doing so overcame the ultimate result of sin. He is the remedy for the sickness of sin. He is new creation within the old dying creation. He did not come to evacuate his people from a world burning and going to hell, he came as the remedy to cure the sickness that infected humanity and all of creation. He is the New Creation, and now when we place our faith in him, we too are new creation and a part of new creation. This is the story of Easter. Let the story go further than just Heaven, because if it doesn't it is not telling the real "Good News."Labels: creation, heaven, Jesus, resurrection |
| posted by Unknown @ 2:28 PM |
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| Sunday, March 29, 2009 |
| Nature as a witness |
I have been spending the last view days in Arizona; specifically in the Sedona, Flagstaff, and Grand Canyon areas. As we have traveled through these areas, I wonder again, how can anyone look at these beautiful scenes that we see in nature and not believe there is a creator?
While we were in Sedona we visited the Chapel of the Holy Cross. It is a Roman Catholic Chapel built in the Red Rocks. It is pictured to the right. The chapel overlooks one of the most magnificent views I have ever seen. As a pastor, I jokingly told my wife that If I pastored the Chapel of the Holy Cross I would not need to ever preach, I would just say, "Everyone look outside....Amen!"
Joking aside, nature preaches to the presence of a loving and holy God. I am more and more convinced of this as I travel the scenic routes of Arizona.Labels: creation, God, natural theology, nature, sedona |
| posted by Unknown @ 9:13 PM |
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| Wednesday, November 28, 2007 |
| Impromptu Prayer |
| God, creator of all things, thank you. Thank you for who you are, for your immeasurable goodness; for your unending patience; for your inviting grace. I do not deserve to speak your name, yet you call me to be closer than the dearest friend. I know myself and the things that distract me, the sins that entangle me, and the desires that are misleading. I recognize that every day I must give these things to you, putting to death the "me" that is not really me at all. Giving up to you so that I can truly be me; the me you intended from before my birth. But it is difficult. Sin surrounds me at times. Different stories of how to live life compete with your story of grace and love. I pray "your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven" and I know that will begin in me, so that I can be a part of it happening cosmically. You are remaking me and all of creation, "reconciling all things through Jesus Christ". Yet the daily reconcile in my life at times feels like torture. Help me to rest in your love as I stand in the purifying fire. Labels: creation, prayer, reconciliation., sin |
| posted by Unknown @ 8:10 AM |
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