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- Everything the light
touches...belongs to someone else!
- The Bible teaches that everything
belongs to someone else.
- This morning we're going to explore
what Moses taught his readers in Genesis 1, regarding humanity's control of and
place in this world.
- I want to start by asking the
question: what does the creation mandate
mean? What does it mean that everything belongs to someone else?
- To answer that question we need to
explore the meaning of a few key phrases in Genesis 1:28-30.
- First, "Be fruitful and
multiply"
- We often assume the command of God
to be fruitful and multiply means having many children, but is that all it
means?
- God gave the same command to the
plant life on day three, but we all know that life is more than food.
- God designed human reproduction to
occur in the context of intimate relationship involving desire and that desire
includes leaving a legacy that changes
the future for God's perfect purposes.
- E.g., God's promises to Abram,
later Abraham, reflect the creation mandate.
- He would become the father of a
great nation, the father of many nations, and through his offspring all the
nations of the earth would be blessed.
- Through Abraham's descendents all
the nations would be blessed, as his children and his household obey him; that
they "keep the way of the Lord by
doing righteousness and justice, so the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has
promised him." Genesis 18:19, ESV
- Fulfilling God's promise to Abraham
and in keeping with the creation mandate, Jesus gave the Great Commission: All authority in heaven and on earth has
been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching
them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you
always, to the end of the age. Matthew 28:18-20
- Jesus invites his followers to bear
fruit that lasts. John 15:16
- God is concerned about his children
leaving a legacy for humanity which has the power to align the future with
God's plans.
- The fruitfulness and multiplication
God is looking for is righteousness and justice in humanity; the fruit of the
spirit of God, the character of Christ.
- Second, "Fill the earth"
- God's command to fill the Earth
means more than reproduction because the
Bible frequently shows God as the chief filler, the one in charge of all
filling.
- E.g., like when the homes of Egypt were filled by the
plague of locusts, which was one of the 10 plagues God poured out on Egypt
before Pharaoh let the people go.
- Or after the "fullness" of time, a biblical prophecy is "fulfilled."
- Such things are God's doing.
Fulfillment is God's job.
- God is normally always in charge of
filling, so there is nothing random purposeless about human, animal or plant
reproduction or even the rise and fall of nations. It is all God ordered.
- Third, "Subdue the earth"
- God's command to subdue the earth
is an invitation for humanity to conquer
the earth and bring it into subjection under
human power and influence.
- This power and influence must fit within the mandate to be fruitful and
multiply made, in part, by doing righteousness and justice.
- Subduing the earth is for the good of others and the glory of God,
rather than unlimited selfish gain.
- Subduing the
earth involves gaining knowledge about
the earth, using that knowledge productively, and sharing or spreading that
productivity for the good of all.
- Fourth, "Have dominion"
- Just like subduing the earth does not
imply abusing it, neither does having dominion.
- The authority to subdue the earth
and the authority to have dominion over all living creatures are gifts from God.
- The Hebrew for dominion always means rule and it can be used negatively or
positively, referring to an evil rule or a good rule.
- "The way one rules is determined by the character of the one who
rules" (Morris, Beginnings, 153).
- Human authority to rule the earth comes from the Creator, and
everything belongs to Him.
- Well, what we have to say for
ourselves about this? Does this sound
true? Do we believe it? Does it work?
- The Bible is
quite clear about what we ought to think.
- The psalmist, David, wrote: "The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it. The world
and all its people belong to him. For he laid the earth's foundation on the
seas and built it upon the ocean depths." Psalm 24:1-2, NLT
- The prophet Isaiah wrote: "This is what the Lord says – the Holy
One of Israel, and your Creator: 'Do you question what I do for my children? Do
you give me orders about the work of my hands? I am the one who made the earth
and created people to live on it. With my hands I stretched out the heavens.
All the stars are at my command.'" Isaiah 45: 11-12, NLT
- Again, the psalmist wrote: "For all the animals of the forest are
mine, and I own the cattle on thousand hills. I know every bird on the
mountains and all the animals of the field are mine." Psalm 50:10-11,
NLT
- God also spoke through the prophet
Ezekiel: "Behold, all souls are mine;
the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who
sins shall die." Ezekiel 18:4, ESV
- One either accepts the Bible's
claims or rejects them.
- Either everything belongs to God or
it does not.
- If I reject the Bible's claims,
then I am making claims of my own invention.
- If I am my own person, and nothing really belongs to God, then I can
live how I want, do as I please, and make up the rules as I go.
- But to those who live this way the
infamous Dr. Phil question must be asked: "How
is that workin' for ya?
- If your life can be summed up with
the live how I want, do as I please, make up the rules as I go mentality, then
eventually you're going to have to be honest with yourself and when you are you
will soon discover the answer to the Dr. Phil question, "How is that
workin' for ya?
- The truthful answer is: it's not working.
- Those who spend their lives looking
out for number one leave an empty legacy of selfishness.
- Everything belongs to someone else; that someone is God!
- If I recognize that everything
belongs to God, then that will impact my character and my behavior.
- Here are five kingdom principles
from the Creation Mandate that God uses to transform our lives as we live them.
- I will look for ways to bear fruit that lasts;
- John 15:16, "You didn't choose
me but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that
lasts." Fruit that lasts multiplies.
- I will look for God's filling purposes, everywhere;
- God is
looking to fulfill his purposes and grow his kingdom in our lives, in his
church and in the world, and he has given us the great privilege of being
channels for fulfilling his mission.
- I will look for just and right ways to be productive for the good of
all;
- God is
building a kingdom of justice and goodness and he wants us to have a productive
role.
- I will look to God's authority and ownership as I rule what he has
given me;
- God alone is
ruler of his kingdom. As we submit to him, he accomplishes his plans which are
always for the good of all and for the sake of his kingdom.
- I will look for ways to grow relationships that encourage my
accountability to God's authority.
- We need the
power of mutual accountability which comes from honest & trusting
relationships.
- God is owner and just and when we
are accountable, God transforms us.
- Everything belongs to someone else; that someone is God!
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