How important is our environment? What is the message we find in the environment?
The environment sustains all aspects of our being: mental, physical and spiritual. God spent 5 days preparing the environment to nurture man. Inherent in the environment is not only the sustenance to nurture man but the beauty and wonder that intrigue our minds: the behavior of the animals, the growth cycle of plants, the host of the heavens, and the myriad of geographical features that attract our attention. In our environment we find the activities we perform that exercise our bodies in both work and recreation and provides the context for our social natures as well. The Bible tells us that nature is also speaking to us of the existence of the Creator. The world around us tells us of his inexhaustible nature, its vastness is marvelous in our eyes as is its simultaneous capacity for uniqueness and individuality. In this way nature informs us of God’s values. We find another reminder in His presence in our own bodies in their natural capacity to heal themselves. The environment manifests the same inherent capacity to heal. The natural forces of the environment themselves are also agents of healing. The message of the environment is: God loves us and has provided for all of our needs. He gives us a natural capacity to heal, delights all of our senses, provides the means for us to make a living, intrigues our minds, and gives us a sense of meaning and purpose in the stewardship of our environment.
Do we have more than one environment?
We also have an inner environment. Reading God’s Holy Word turns our eyes upon our inner landscape. Connecting securely to the Spirit of God in prayer, remembering the promises of hope and the reassurance of His love turn our eyes upon the inner landscape. We are blessed when we get our inside world, our minds and our hearts, put right. It is then that we can see God in our outside world.
In his sermon on the mount, Jesus taught blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God. When we learn to see God in others, we learn to cooperate and help others. As a result we find our place in God’s family, and in our community and we begin to have a beneficial affect on our environment.
Genesis 1-2:7 psalms 19:1 Haggai 2:8
Questions related to Genesis 1-2:7
In what ways does man have a spiritual likeness to God? Man has the capacity to reason, have moral discernment, emotional experience, self-awareness, ability to communicate through language, and to find meaning and purpose in relationships.
What comes as a consequence of being created in His image? If we are being transformed into His image, we also are being given the responsibility of being good stewards. As we are restored we will naturally begin to resume true dominion over the earth. God wants us to care for all the resources he gives us. What scriptures come to mind?
According to Genesis 1: 26 what is God’s purpose in our lives today? God’s purpose in our lives today is to conform us to the image of Christ. As such, his purpose is also for us to be good stewards of the earth and all its creatures especially the lost people are to be led to the Good Shepherd by his disciples. We are to care for the earth and one another until Christ returns.
How did the creation of humans differ from the rest of creation?
God formed man from the earth. He “built in” to man an intimate connection to the earth, that is to the material world, which is an outward expression of His creative nature. But, God gave man a personal touch by forming him with his own hands. If that was not enough, He also imbued him with his own breath. Therefore, man has an inward sense of the divine. Man is the intersection of the material and the spiritual. As the crowning act of creation God bound us to Himself in such an intimate way that we shall never be fully happy or satisfied without a true and living knowledge of Him. We will not realize our own identity without a living knowledge of Him. God went one step further by giving man the special gift of Holy matrimony and with it the gift to procreate. By having a family we can understand how God feels about us. What more could we ever desire. God truly provided beyond what we could ever ask or think. Man could find satisfaction in learning of God through his experience of the environment.
How great a gift is the environment?
Genesis 2: 2, 3
What can we infer from the fact that God rested on the Sabbath?
God is a composer. In music, it is said that a pause or rest is more important than the sounds in between. A rest is pregnant as it were. It is like a seed that contains with in itself the unfolding of many seasons. Silence punctuates and orders what follows. The silence that follows a symphony is the time in which it’s meaning sinks into the core of our understanding. It is the time in which its imprint is made and we experience the ennobling quality of the sounds that came before. If you follow the analogy, that silence is an integral part of the piece. In the absence of work on the Sabbath we find closure to our weekly activities, allowing us to savor the true meaning and purpose of life, our relationship to the creator and his children. It gives us a sense of a fresh start and a new direction for the week ahead. Contemplating the love of our God helps us “retool” for the challenges ahead. It helps us gladly take up our responsibilities to the creation.
Mark 2: 27, 28 Mark 3: 4 What was Jesus’ understanding of the Sabbath?
In the Sabbath God is teaching us about the importance of using our creativity in assuming the responsibility God has given us to be good stewards of the precious environment he has entrusted to our keeping. Jesus gave us the example of many miracles of healing and putting things right. Remembering our duties toward the creation help us renew our creative focus. We are not to get lost in survival, nor or we to be stressed by being overburdened. We are to exercise discernment and find meaning in service to those in need.
Genesis 3: 7, 17-19
Let’s consider how Adam and Eve experienced the consequences of their disobedience. What was the first indication and image how they might of experienced it?
I image that their vibratory level changed as the consequences of sin began to take its affect. The balance between the spiritual and material was lost. Their physical aspect became more prominent. As their robes of light dissolved, they began to feel cold and exposed where as before they felt comfortable and confident in their relationship to their environment. Before they probably did not experience such a division between themselves and their environment. Now they felt separated from it, and they suddenly felt uncomfortably self-conscious. Suddenly they experienced their environment as hostile. As their dominion over the animals was lost, the animals began to fear them and also became hostile. They were no longer interdependent as God had planned but the Darwinian principle of the survival of the fittest came forth and even snow balled into exploitation. Humans became more and more materialistic so that the earth’s resources began to be used as personal possessions of aggrandizement. Today we are no strangers to the pollution of air and water. Just this last week, news of another great oil spill, this time in the Gulf of Mexico, made the news. We are also no strangers to the pollution of a lack of integrity in business affairs that cause economic recession and the loss of many beneficial programs to help those who are in need in our communities.
What do you think about the statement: “ We don’t have to worry about the environment because Jesus is coming back soon.”
My response is we don’t know exactly when that might be and we have responsibilities to the future generations. This idea goes against the principle of stewardship.
Psalms 24:1
What implications do these verses have for us? “ What if anything can we do to improve the environment? We can conserve water in the use of cisterns that collect and store rainwater from our roves. We can lower the carbon footprint by eating a vegetarian diet thus avoiding the over production of beef. We can be more conscientious about recycling. We can make compost piles and plant trees for the use of birds and other wildlife as well a adding to the oxygen supply of the planet. We can choose to support sustainable agriculture and support efforts to grow and purchase local produce thus eliminating excess transportation and use of fossil fuels. We can choose to learn more about perma-culture and the use of native plants that take less water. There is much to learn about working with ecosystems. We can also support communal gardens and conserve natural areas in city planning.
Matthew 25: 34-46
How might our stewardship of the earth play a role here in doing what Jesus asks us to do in these verses?
We can seek to take part in efforts to supply clean water where the need is great and we can seek to educate about health practices and water conservation. We can also make efforts to teach about and support sustainable agriculture, and introduce economically healthy cottage industries as well. There is so much that can be done along these lines with such a variety of settings that we are probably not tapping in to.
How can and should the Sabbath play a role in our concern for the environment? How does Sabbath keeping help us be better environmentalist? The creation of the Sabbath was a time created by God to appreciate and savor the wonder and beauty of the creation. It was to stand as a memorial of creation. The love that God has for men and women is manifested in the care he took in preparing our environment. As a symbol of His love and as the provision God has made to meet the very needs of our existence, we understand even more than others the absolute importance of caring for the environment and the creatures that fill it. If we keep the true spirit of the Sabbath we will realize our responsibilities to exercise good stewardship and help others do so as well.
What are some of the negative health effects that damage to the environment is causing in our community? What role could and should our church take in this area.
One example is some unacceptable levels of pollution in our water reservoirs. Also chemicals needed to treat our water supply may in themselves cause health concerns. Another cause of concern in our community and in the country at large is the prevalence of obesity, diabetes heart disease and cancer. This is largely due to fast foods, reliance on fat laden meat and sweets as mainstays of diet and lack of regular exercise.
Many young people turn to drugs in our community? How can we provide ways to meet their needs and help them find more productive and fulfilling activities to participate in? How can we as a church impact our environment for good?
