The other great commission

Jesus left his followers with a big responsibility which is known as the Great Commission: "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." (Matthew 28:19, NIV) We have a divine mandate to bring the message of hope and reconciliation to God to every age, every race, every culture. With varying degrees of enthusiasm and success, Christians have responded to His challenge and the message about Jesus Christ has spread to the ends of the earth.

The Bible opens with another divine mandate, much misunderstood, often even forgotten. His words are spoken in the context of Creation, to humans which were the last of His works. "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.” (Genesis 1:28, NIV)

“Rule” and “subdue” are provocative words, aren’t they? Some read that as God’s permission to exploit Creation, extracting what we want from the natural world. We are given, they claim, God’s authority, to do as we wish with the resources of this planet. What happens to human authorities who govern in that manner? Does a good king care nothing for his subjects? Does he exploit those he rules only for his own pleasure? A good king governs to benefit the people he leads, not serving himself, but serving them. The Bible speaks of those who have authority as having a responsibility to seek the best for those who are under their direction.

Romans 13 reminds us that authority and leadership flows from the plan of God Himself. “The authorities are God’s servants,” to bring order and to punish wrong-doing. By implication, those who rule have a responsibility to create a place of safety that benefits those who are subject to them. When they govern well, they bring glory to God! "When the godly are in authority, the people rejoice. But when the wicked are in power, they groan." (Proverbs 29:2, NLT)

So let me ask you if you are ‘ruling Creation’ as a good authority or a bad one?
Are you exploiting the earth or managing it for God’s glory?
Is your attitude towards this wonderful Earth one of reverence, seeing it as God’s gift, handed to you as a sacred trust? Or, do you see it as something from which you can take what you want for your own pleasure?

No, we must not worship Creation as some do. God made the world. It is not eternal. Someday, He will write, “The End,” to this Creation and Peter says that it will all perish ‘in fervent heat,’ to be replaced with a new Heaven and a New Earth. What mystery that is!  Until then, we are given a sacred responsibility to care for Creation in a way that makes the earth fruitful, that causes greater beauty to emerge, even as she yields the benefit of her resources to our husbandry. This is the other great commission!

The issue of caring for the environment is not a Democratic or Republican cause. It is a Christian issue. I am convinced, disciple, that the Lord will ask each of us to give an accounting for the way we used the resources He put in our care. Will we be able to say, “Lord, I left it a better place than I found it, carefully using her resources, investing in making her a place that would sustain the next generation. I ruled well!”?

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This is my Father's world,
And to my listening ears;
All nature sings and round me rings
The music of the spheres.
This is my Father's world;
I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas;
His hand the wonders wrought.

This is my Father's world;
The birds their carols raise.
The morning light, the lily white,
Declare their Maker's praise;
This is my Father's world;
He shines in all that's fair;
In the rustling grass I hear Him pass,
He speaks to me everywhere.

This is my Father's world,
O let me ne'er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the Ruler yet.
This is my Father's world;
The battle is not done;
Jesus, who died, shall be satisfied,
And earth and heaven be one.

This Is My Father's World
Babcock, Maltbie D. / Sheppard, Franklin

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