Sermon Tone Analysis

I want to welcome you today with the words of Psalm 24:1 “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.

The world and all its people belong to him.”

Psalm 24:1, NIV

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Today, no matter what you may be feeling or experiencing, take hope and take heart that nothing is beyond the Lord’s reach, nothing is beyond the Lord’s knowledge.

He knows you, he loves you, and in Christ, he calls you his own.

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Today, we're asking for a friend, “Does Jesus care about creation?”

As Christians, what is our responsibility, if any, to the environment, the climate, this planet, and, even, beyond?

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How does God’s Word speak to this question?

Did Jesus give any insight into caring for creation?

Does this question even matter?

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According to a Pew Research poll released this past November, about half of you just answered “not really.”

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Last November, the Pew Research group released a nationwide survey that found 61% of deeply convicted people of faith do not believe that present day environmental issues concern them or their faith.

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Several other voices, however, state the contrary.

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In a January 2023 global survey conducted by the World Economic Forum, respondents ranked the most significant global risks threatening humanity over a 2-year and 10-year period of time.

The following list shows the results:

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[[[show World Economic Forum pic]]]

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What do you see in this graphic?

Overwhelmingly, environmental issues rank among the greatest threats to global society, while 61% of deeply committed Christians in the United States do not even believe that environmental issues matter to them or their faith, which means a wide chasm exists right now between American Christians and people across the world on this issue.

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Today, my aim is to show that among any social, political, or religious groups in the world, Christians have the clearest mandate of all to lead the world on caring for creation.

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How do I make that claim?

Let’s begin in the beginning.

Genesis chapters one and two open with two similar but distinct creation narratives.

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In the first creation narrative, God created male and female, blessed them, and then charged them twice in verses 26 and 28 “to rule over all creation” NIV.

Other translations might say ‘reign’ or ‘have dominion,’ but the meaning is the same.

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Underneath the English translation of ‘rule over’ is the Hebrew term ‘radah.’

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This term appears in several places throughout the Old Testament.

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In Leviticus 25, the author speaks to the master-servant relationship, saying: Do not rule over them ruthlessly, but fear your God.

Leviticus 25:43.

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In Psalm 72, the Psalmist foreshadows the Messiah, writing: May the king’s rule be refreshing like spring rain on freshly cut grass, like the showers that water the earth.

Psalm 72:8.

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In Genesis chapter 1, God grants human beings 'radah’ — ruling — authority over all creation.

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According to this first narrative, God clearly gave humanity the keys to the kingdom‌, and based on the definition of ‘radah’ authority, one could argue that God grants human beings his full permission to use the earth’s natural resources for any means necessary to advance society.

By itself, radah authority permits humanity to rule over creation however we desire.

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In the second creation narrative, however, the author records a very different word to describe how God invites humanity to relate with his good creation.

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Unlike ‘radah’ meaning ‘to rule,’ God calls humanity to 'abad’ creation in Genesis 2:15, “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, NIV

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Other translations might say ‘to tend,’ but the most literal translation of ‘abad’ means ‘to serve.’

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God doesn’t repeat the same charge from Genesis chapter 1 like we might expect in chapter 2.

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Rather, God compliments his charge to rule over by equally calling his people to serve.

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On the surface, the terms radah and abad appear in opposition to one another, but when held together, both creation accounts portray the image of a master embodying the ethos of a servant, or a king embracing the heart of a subject.

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Sounds impossible, right?

Who would do that?

Oh yeah, Jesus did that.

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In Philippians chapter 2, the Apostle Paul wrote,

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In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!

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That’s ABAD!

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Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:5–11.

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And that’s RADAH!

He ruled from his rightful place as king.

He embodied the heart of a servant and the rule of a king.

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Amazing, right?

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From the beginning, God formed humanity with the same character of radah and abad as the Son.

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Though the commands ‘to rule’ and ‘to serve’ might seem incompatible on the surface, God calls us to hold them in tension together as stewards.

A steward is a person charged with the full authority and responsibility to care for something that belongs to someone else.

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You are a steward.

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You have been given authority over priceless value that does not belong to you, such as:

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God’s world.

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Your life - You are not your own; you were bought at a price.

Therefore honor God with your bodies. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, NIV

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Your family.

Every parent knows that their child is a gracious gift from above!

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And your gifts, for God formed them in you.

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As God’s steward over the world, you have been charged to radah and to abad, to rule and to serve.

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If we lean too far on the radah side of God’s charge, then we risk believing a lie that we own creation, including our very lives.

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If we lean too far on the abad side, then we risk becoming passive and aloof to the needs of creation and one another.

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Instead, we are like lessees to our God who is our lessor, and because of his great love for us, he has given us permission to shape and help realize the potential of his creation.

God gave us a mind like his own to imagine ideas and bring them forth into reality, not as god but as creatures in his creation.

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This is one the most difficult realities for us to grasp because the loudest and most authoritative voices in our culture consistently tell us that we are autonomous, powerful, and smart enough to bend the world to meet our desires, but when we live like owners in a house that does not belong to us, we not only usurp God’s role but we also do harm to God’s creation, including ourselves as inhabitants of the same ecosystem that God’s creatures depend on us to protect.

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This is why the laws that God gave about stewarding creation in Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy were so specific to the times back then, and why the spirit of that same law is timeless for us today.

Nearly every book of the Old Testament harkens back to God’s stewardship charge in Genesis 1 and 2, but what does Jesus and the New Testament say about creation care, if anything at all?

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As a matter of fact, Jesus’s very first words in ministry revealed his heart and intention for all creation.

He said, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

Luke 4:18–19, NIV.

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In the phrase, “to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,” Jesus referred to a command that God gave to Israel in Leviticus chapter 25 called the year of Jubilee, which provided a perfect sabbath year at the end of seven, 7-year cycles.

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Every 50 years, all of God’s people and their land rested.

No work, no harvest, no slave, no debt, no war.

Slaves and servants returned home.

Debts were canceled.

The land fallowed.

And the nation lived at peace.

Everyone and everything rested and reset.

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It was like a year long siesta, hang up and hang out.

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How many times do you think Israel obeyed this command over a 1500 year period of time between God giving the law and Jesus’s ministry?

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The obvious answer would be 30.

1500 divided by 50 equals 30, but the true answer is… 0

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Never once did Israel celebrate the year of Jubilee!

Not one single time in nearly 1500 years of history.

God gave Israel the ultimate test of trust with the ultimate reward of rest and provision, but the people just couldn’t obey it.

It was too demanding, which made Jesus’ words all the more inspiring for those self aware to their own needs, but awfully terrifying to others who placed their hope in the economy, their vocations, or the nation.

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In this declaration from Luke chapter 4, Jesus announced that he came to free us from sin AND to restore the earth and everything in it back to God’s living garden of delight.

Jesus didn’t come to free us from the world.

He came to free us from sin so that we might live fully in this world.

We read Luke 4 today with so much hope, but how do you suppose the crowd of Israelites felt after hearing Jesus speak Isaiah’s words about the Messiah?

A few verses later, Luke tells us that they tried to throw him off the mountainside.

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Why?

Because they knew what 'the year of the Lord’s favor’ meant, and they feared that Jesus would disrupt their livelihoods, personal desires, and national identity, and two millennia later, many still hold the same fears about Jesus.

If Jesus’ way feels disruptive to you—your livelihood, personal desires, and national identity—then perhaps, those fears might be indicating areas that Jesus desires to release from you to give you freedom.