Stewardship of God’s Creation – Rev. Simon J. Oriedo

A Sermon Preached at the ACK St. Hellen’s Church Githurai in the English and Kikuyu Services during the farewell organised for me on Sunday 14^th April, 2013.

Texts:

• Genesis 1-2:4a
• Revelation 21:1-7

Introduction

Stewardship is a very wide subject that includes all responsibilities required of a person. There is stewardship of almost everything that involves creation and particularly humanity. Stewardship is of both the external and internal; both the spiritual and the material. This morning, Stewardship will be understood as the ability to exercise moral responsibility to care for the environment in a manner to sustain it. Therefore, Stewardship is a Christian principle that relates to the use of God’s creation. The earth does not belong to us to use selfishly:

Psalm 24:1-2 “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.”

Talking of stewardship, therefore, we are talking of “given responsibility”. We are talking of “given power, authority or permission to manage – managing on another person’s behalf, managing for somebody; in this case, managing on behalf of God. Therefore, the “Stewardship of God’s Creation” means three things:

1. God  is the Owner of all Creation

God is the owner because He created all that is called creation!

Genesis 1:1-2 “¹In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ² Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.”

God began by created the heavens and the earth. But after that, both the heavens and the earth were empty. We are informed that “…the earth was formless and empty…”

At the end of it all, the Bible informs us that:

Genesis 1:31-2:4a “³¹ God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning —the sixth day. ¹ Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. ² By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. ³ And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. ⁴ This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created.

It should be understood with all clarity that God created all that is seen and unseen! The philosophical, biological and any other theory cannot overrule the creation theme.

• The entire created order has its origins in the sovereign, creative and sustaining power of God. In other words, creation is centered on God; in other words creation is theocentric.
• As the Creator, God is the primary author of the meaning and value of creation. We are only stewards!
• Moreover, creation discloses both the nature of God and the human vocation within God’s world. God is transcendent yet also immanently present within creation. Thus singer summarized all: “Oh Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder…”

The climax of creation was that:

1. All that God created was good and is still good
2. God completed creation

Nothing God created is bad even though we have been in a mission to recreate to destroy that we feel is bad or recreate what we feel we don’t like.

2. God’s Creation is for Man’s Preservation and Enjoyment

Man is to preserve and enjoy God’s creation but not to destroy it!

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.”

American Standard Version: “…to dress it and to keep it.”

Derby Bible: “…to till it and to guard it.”

New American Standard Version Bible Update: “…to cultivate it and keep it.”

The Amplified Bible: “…to tend and guard and keep it.”

As Stewards, we are called to be responsible towards creation – it is a symbiotic co-existence; we preserve it; we work it and take care of it; we dress it and keep it; we till it and guard it; we cultivate and keep it; and we tend and guard it and in turn, we survive. The inter-depended between man and creation and the wider sense among creation is a means of the survival of the whole creation. In this inter-depended equation, you wipe out one, the other will not survive.

In Genesis 1:1-2:4a, God gave humans dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and the animals of the land unfortunately; Christians have misunderstood the mandate given in:

Genesis 1:28 “God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

We have misunderstood “…fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea… to mean that creation was made for human beings and that we have a right to negatively dominate and exploit creation for our own wants. This has led to immense abuses and destruction of nature. Today, we have put profits above creation or nature. Much of our contemporary global economy is based upon the most efficient ways to strip resources from the land. We have reduced land and people to commodities that serve financial markets. We have pursued a standard of living without regard to its impact on nature and people.

Ecological disasters have the greatest impact on people. As Christian stewards, we must not be engaged in cutting down trees for quick or immediate gains and therefore cause environmental degradation. We should rather see the value of tree planting for various reasons. There is the stewardship of the way trees help to support the earth and maintain the environment. We should be responsive to anti-desertification measures such as over-grazing, tree planting and soil conservation.

Prof. Wangare Maathai had the following to say about nature and environment:

• If we can send man to the moon, why can we not plant a tree?
• I am working to make sure we don’t only protect the environment, we also improve governance.
• In a few decades, the relationship between the environment, resources and conflict may seem almost as obvious as the connection we see today between human rights, democracy and peace.
• It’s a matter of life and death for this country. The Kenyan forests are facing extinction and it is a man-made problem.
• It’s the little things citizens do. That’s what will make the difference. My little thing is planting trees.
• There’s a general culture in this country to cut all the trees. It makes me so angry because everyone is cutting and no one is planting.
• We are very fond of blaming the poor for destroying the environment. But often it is the powerful, including governments that are responsible.
• We need to promote development that does not destroy our environment.
• “Mother Nature is very unforgiving, if you do not take care of it, it will destroy you.”

• The environment is very important in the aspects of peace because when we destroy our resources, they become scarce and we fight over that.

• We have a special responsibility to the ecosystem of this planet. In making sure that other species survive we will be ensuring the survival of our own.
• “If you destroy the forest then the river will stop flowing, the rains will become irregular, the crops will fail and you will die of hunger and starvation.”

According to Genesis 1, exercising responsibility as part of God’s creation is the main reason humans were created. Caring for creation represents our proper human relationship to Earth. This puts us in a caretaker position in regard to environmental stewardship. God wishes for all species, not simply human beings, to survive and to thrive. Sustainability of the environment is a key aspect of Christian Stewardship. Failure in our responsibility has resulted in the following in Kenya:

• Floods and flush floods
• Endangered species of animals
• Rivers have dried up and lakes are drying
• Ethnic conflicts of the remaining natural resources
• Over harvesting of sand and over use of natural resources
• Diminishing bumper harvests
• Increase in diseases

The Israelites, on their journey to the Promised Land, were given regulation on the care of the environment:

Deuteronomy 20:19-20 “¹⁹ When you lay siege to a city for a long time, fighting against it to capture it, do not destroy its trees by putting an ax to them, because you can eat their fruit. Do not cut them down. Are the trees of the field people, that you should besiege them? ²⁰ However, you may cut down trees that you know are not fruit trees and use them to build siege works until the city at war with you falls.”

The Israelites were warned against wanton destruction of the environment. They are not to destroy the trees, for the sake it but to remember that, “…you can eat their fruits…” Today in Kenya, even the trees, which have been beneficial for fruits, have been cleared to give way for mining, real estate, and timber. The only permission given to the Israelites in this passage for cutting trees was “…trees that you know are not fruit trees and use them to build siege works…” Even though the reason for cutting the non-fruit trees could appear to be genuine, it was not economical. However, cutting of the non-fruit trees had an over-rider; it was not to be a continuous destruction; the time limit was “…until the city at war with you falls.”

Finally,

3. The Consummation of God’s Creation

Creation is God’s and God has the final say. The creation might be destroyed and plundered due to Satan’s plan but God will deliver His creation and establish a new order. Paul captures this well when he wrote to the Romans:

Romans 8:18-23 “¹⁸ I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. ¹⁹ The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. ²⁰ For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope  ²¹ that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. ²² We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.  ²³ Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.”

Revelation 21:1-7

The Bible says unequivocally that God’s purpose is to restore all creation. In Jesus Christ, God become flesh to bring about the salvation of creation. Jesus became flesh to bring “new creation” (Galatians 6:15). This is what Paul alludes to when he claims that “the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains” ready to “be set free from its bondage to decay,” as it “waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God” (Romans 8:18-23). We are called now to be those children of God who exercise stewardship in relation to all creation.

In Revelation 21:1-7, we see the vision of the end-time in whereby God will come to a renewed heaven and Earth, where God will dwell among His people. The vision of the New Jerusalem is a vision in which nature is in the midst of the city. In the New Jerusalem, there is restoration of creation. The river of life flows right down the middle of the city streets. The river is as clear as crystal and is available to all, so that none may be deprived of fresh water.

And the tree of life is thriving on either side of the river; and it yields fruit twelve months of the year, so that no person will be hungry. God will dwell here with them and will wipe away every tear from their eyes. As we lean toward the salvation of God, this is the vision that we as stewards are called to live out in our lives and to foster in others.

Conclusion: So what Next?

So what does this mean for us today? God told the Israelites to observe the cleanliness of their environment.

Deuteronomy 23:12-14 “¹²Designate a place outside the camp where you can go to relieve yourself. ¹³As part of your equipment have something to dig with, and when you relieve yourself, dig a hole and cover up your excrement. ¹⁴ For the LORD your God moves about in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you. Your camp must be holy, so that he will not see among you anything indecent and turn away from you.”

Clearly, it means that we need to embrace stewardship of Earth-community at a collective and at personal level. We need to change the systems that destroy creation and we need to change our personal behavior towards our relationship with creation. We should be preservers rather than plunderers as creation belongs to God’s, to whom we must give an account.

3^rd Sunday of Easter – 14^th April 2013

 

Rev. Simon J. Oriedo; (BSc, BD (Hons.), PGD (Ecumm.), MABS, MEd.)

P.O. Box 14814 – 00100, Nairobi – Kenya

Tel: +254 722 838 023 / 735 621 172 / 772 838 023 / 752 660620

E-Mail: sjoriedo@gmail.com, sjoriedo@yahoo.com