The current conversation surrounding the issue of the environment...

At the church where I serve, we are in the midst of a sermon series entitled “Vote for Jesus”. During this series, our hope and our prayer is to accomplish three specific goals. First, our hope and our prayer is to demonstrate that Jesus is not a republican and Jesus is not a democrat. Instead, Jesus is God and as God Jesus is the one that we are to place our hope in, not a political party.

Second, our hope and our prayer is to equip and empower us to think critically and Biblically when it comes to the issues that our culture is faced with that often find themselves expressed in the political process. And third, our hope and prayer is to provide a framework from the message and teachings of Jesus when it comes to how we as followers of Jesus are to engage in the government and in the political process in way that reveals and reflects Jesus to those around us.

This week, I would like for us to address another issue that would be a part of the political platform of Jesus if He was running for office. In other words, if Jesus was running for political office, what position would Jesus hold to when it comes to this specific issue that is in the forefront of the political conversation today? This week, the issue that I would like for us to examine is the issue of the environment.

Specifically, I would like for us to ask and answer two questions. And the two questions are “What policy would Jesus promote when it comes to the issue of the environment? And what would Jesus say we should do as a country about the care and concern for the environment?”However, before answering these questions, I would like for us to spend a few minutes examining the current discussion in our country when it comes to the issue of the environment.

Similar to the issue of immigration, in our current political climate, the conversation surrounding the issue of the environment can best be described as emotionally charged. At one end of the conversation when it comes to the issue of environment are politicians and others who advocate environmental protectionist policies and are referred to as environmentalists. Environmentalism advocates the lawful preservation, restoration and/or improvement of the natural environment, in an attempt to control pollution or protect plant and animal diversity.

For example, The National Resource Defense Council, per its website, is an organization that “works to safeguard the earth—its people, its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends. We combine the power of more than two million members and online activists with the expertise of some 500 scientists, lawyers, and policy advocates across the globe to ensure the rights of all people to the air, the water, and the wild.” Many in the environmental movement, who would be viewed in our culture as being on “the left” often paint those who are against their policy proposals as being driven by materialism and greedy corporate interests.

On the other end of the conversation when it comes to the issue of the environment would be politicians and others who are often referred to, for a lack of a better word, as anti-environmentalists. There are politicians, who would be viewed in our culture as being on “the right”, who reject some aspects of environmentalism for economic reasons, and focus on job creation, wage enhancement, and industry. Other politicians reject some aspects of environmentalism by arguing that the Earth is not as fragile as some environmentalists maintain. They portray environmentalism as overreacting to the human contribution to climate change or opposing human advancement.

What makes this political issue so heated and controversial is that the measuring of the health of the environment can be done in many different ways, often producing differing outcomes that produce the controversy. In addition, while some view environmentalism as being sensationalized, several causes of the environmental movement are legitimate and genuine.

Now, with all that background in mind, let’s take a look at what the message and teachings of Jesus have to say when it comes to the issue of the environment. Specifically, what do the letters that make up the Bible reveal about the environment and humanities role and responsibility when it comes to the environment? We discover the answer to this question by looking at a section of the very first letter that is recorded for us in the Bible, called the book of Genesis. So let’s look at this section together, beginning in Genesis 1:26-31:

Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth." Then God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food"; and it was so. God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

In these verses, we see revealed for us the Triune God’s design and desire for the creation of humanity: “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness”. As we discovered a few weeks ago, to be created in the image of God means that every human being bears the thumbprint of God. We were created in God’s relational image. We were created for relationships. Just as God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit live in relationship with one another, we were created for relationships. We were created for a relationship with God vertically and for relationships with one another horizontally.

But not only were we divinely designed for relationships. Here we also see that we were divinely designed to rule over the earth as God’s representative. When God uses the phrase “let them rule” this phrase literally means to have rule or dominion. You see, God created humanity to be responsible and to be His representative here on earth. We have been divinely designed to live in relationship with God and one another and have been given responsibility to rule over the earth as His representative here on earth.

It is important to understand that not every creature on the earth is of equal value and worth in God's sight. While God cares for all of the creation, only humanity has been created in the image of God.  Unlike the position of radical environmentalists, who view human and non human life as being of equal value and worth and that the human interference in the nonhuman world is excessive, the letters that make up the Bible teach us that humanity has been given a special place within creation above every other aspect of creation. Your dog, your cat, or even the most magnificent race horse is not nearly as valuable in God's sight as any human being.

In addition, in these verses we see the reality that for humanity to fully represent Him on earth and to fully take responsibility over the earth, God commanded humanity to be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it. You see, God's Divine design is for humanity to have the responsibility to gain mastery over the resources of the earth for the flourishing of the earth and all of the creatures that live on the earth.

And to be in a position to represent God all over the earth and fulfill the responsibility we have been given to gain mastery over the earth and the all of the creatures that live on the earth, humanity was commanded to populate the earth. In verses 29-30, we see God follow up His command to populate the earth by providing humanity the necessary resources to populate the earth.

Now a natural question or objection that could arise here is "Well Dave, what about the issue of overpopulation? I mean we can't seem to be able to feed the people who are already here on earth. Shouldn't we be trying to decrease population?"

This is actually the position of many in the environmental movement. Many in the environmental movement promote policies of population control with the belief that the planet is unable to sustain such a population. But is that the case? Are we in danger of overpopulating the planet?

We will discover the answer to that question tomorrow...