Oil aint oils.

Today I mowed the grass. Somehow the oil cap flew off the lawn mower. As a result oil was spewing out of the mower like a fine mist in the air. As a result oil was spraying onto me and I didn't realise it. As a result, I looked like I had just discovered some black gold. Texas tea. Yuk.

The Art of Forgiveness

I'm doing a 3 week series on the topic of forgiveness. Here's how it goes:

1. How God forgives
2. How we forgive
3. ???

I haven't come up with the title of the 3rd week. Any ideas? Please?

Is God a Greenie?

Here is an article I wrote for our local newspaper (bascially its my environment sermon rehashed, attempting to present the gospel in the light of the environment). I'd be interested to know what you think. David.

Is God a Greenie?

If God were to go shopping would he use plastic or green shopping bags? If God owned a car, what would he drive? A gutsy Commodore V8 or a piddly Daihatsu Charade? Does God care about the environment? Would you find God singing with Midnight Oil ‘Your dream world is just about to end?’

There are many reasons why God should be a greenie. Look at our world. What happens when all the oil runs out (and it will)? How do we dispose of used uranium? What about the hole in the ozone layer and global warming? And the drought in our country? Does God care about these things?

The story of the Bible is that God does care about these things. Indeed, the Bible explains the environmental mess our planet is in. Consider are 3 Inconvenient Truths from the Bible about the state of our planet (apologies to Al Gore).

Inconvenient Truth #1: Planet Earth is God’s

The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. (Psalm 24:1)

One general rule in life is if you create something from scratch, you own it. Since God created planet earth from nothing, it’s His. The local valley, the local soccer field, the local rotary park- it’s all His. And He made this world to bring glory to Himself.

Inconvenient Truth #2: We are Caretakers of God’s Planet Earth

You see this in the creation account in Genesis 1.

God created man in his own image…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 1:27-28)

Humans are given 2 commands- fill the earth and subdue it. We have done pretty well at the first command (6.7 billion people so far and counting!) But we are also told to rule the earth under God. But ruling the earth does not mean ruining the earth. The earth is on lease to us as rental property. We are merely the caretakers. As the caretakers, we must manage it responsibly. We can’t do with the world what we like.

Inconvenient Truth #3: Planet Earth is ‘Sick’ because of Human Rebellion

However, instead of choosing to rule under God, we staged a coop and took control of God’s earth. We ignored our Creator. God, being the perfect gentleman that He is, allows us to rebel against Him. And the results are catastrophic.

For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it. (Romans 8:20)

Our world is now ‘frustrated’. Because of human self-centredness, the world is in ecological disaster. Human greed cuts down forests to make money but that damages the environment. Killing whales to make a buck drives them to extinction. Now there are Hurricane Katrina’s and Cyclone Tracey’s. There are floods and fires, droughts and diseases.

So what will God do about our environment? Here are 2 reasons why God is a greenie.

1. God will Fix up Planet Earth

The creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. (Romans 8:21)

Creation is waiting to be freed from its decay. God is going to do something amazing in the future. He is not going to throw this world away over his shoulder like an empty can. He is going to renovate it. God will dismantle the creation and build it again. He will make a new heavens and a new earth (Revelation 21:1).

Because of this, Christians have a huge respect for this planet. We believe not only that God made it, but he is also going to restore it. We want God’s plans for this world to be our plans for this world.

Not that we will achieve utopia now- that’s for the future. But in the meantime Christians work for justice and environmental care because we want the world to head towards what it one day will properly be- a restored world.

2. God is now Fixing up People

Before God saves the planet, he is now saving people. He fixes up people by making them new creations.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17)

He is transforming humans, through Christ, into what we were created to be. Now we can have a new relationship to God, and a new relationship to each other. This includes a new relationship to our world. Now we can rule God’s creation the way we were made to rule it.

God sent His Son to pay for the fact that we ignore Him and run His world our own way. His Spirit transforms people’s hearts into people that want to serve Him and love others. Selfish people and God-ignorers become new creations. We can now live as the proper caretakers of the earth that God has rented out to us.

This means caring for the planet. It means using our world’s resources properly. It means preventing selfish pollution and needless wastage. It means giving up on materialism at the expense of being eco-friendly. It means recycling and being responsible. It means loving others by caring for the environment.

God cares for His planet and how it is used. He will fix up the mess one day, but in the mean time, he is fixing up people. Is God a greenie? Yes!

Author’s endnote- no forests were cut down in the process of writing this article.

Cause for Environmental Concern #3

(For the start of this sermon on the environment, see previous 2 blog entries)

2 Reasons Why You Should Care:

i) ‘Not Yet’- Planet Earth will be Renovated

Romans 8:19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.

Romans 8:21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

Our future is linked to the future of this planet. When we are glorified, creation will be glorified. When we are resurrected in physical bodies, planet earth will be resurrected as well. He will make a home fit for us to live in.

God will dismantle the creation and build it again. Creation is waiting eagerly to be what it should be. It’s waiting to be freed from its decay.

The future is physical.

God is going to rebuild this world into a new heavens and a new earth. We read in Isaiah 24 the horrible state that the world is in because of the sin of Israel. But by the end of Isaiah we read of God’s better homes and gardens plan.

Isaiah 65:17 17 "Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.

God is going to do something amazing in the future. He is not going to throw this world away over his shoulder like an empty can. He is going to renovate it. Recreate it. Make it new. A new heavens and a new earth!

Christians above all are people who have a huge respect for the earth because we believe not only that God made it, but he is going to remake it. God’s plans for this world should be our plans for this world. Too often you hear Christian’s say ‘why be concerned about this world- its all going to be destroyed anyway’.

But God plans to restore his creation. That gives you every reason to work for justice and to make creation what it one day will properly be.

We shouldn’t think we can achieve a greenie paradise now. It’s arrogant to think that we can achieve some kind of greenie paradise by changing our lifestyle. We won’t end the pains of the earth by science or technology. God is the one who will create a new heavens and a new earth. Not us.

Christians should be the ones who lead the way in wanting the world to be what God wants the world to be. The ‘not yet’ drives us to care for the environment.

ii) ‘Already’ – Planet Earth is reconciled to Christ.

The ‘now’ is that the world is being reconciled to Christ. Paul says this about Jesus:

Colossians 1:19-20 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

God has reconciled everything to His Son. From Bono to Peter Garrett, from my dog to the devil- all things are being reconciled. God has brought his entire rebellious creation back under the rule of his sovereign power.

That includes planet earth. God has claimed back this planet as his very own, through the death of His Son. It can now do its job- praise its Creator.

But more than that- God has claimed back people.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

God is in the process of making new creations- he transforming humans, through Christ. We have a new relationship to God, and a new relationship to each other.

Christians are now, what we were created to be. Now we can rule God’s creation the way we were created to rule it. We are God’s image bearers, and we can rule creation the way God intended. We will live as caretakers of the earth that God has rented out to us. And as his image bearers, we can help our world be what it was created to be- a world which praises God.
Planet earth is already reconciled to Christ. It can right now live for the praise of His glory. And we Christians can be involved in that right now!

So, let me give you some principles to live by:-

3. Some Principles to Live by-

i) Love

Someone once asked Jesus which was the greatest command.

Matthew 22:37-39 Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'

Christians are people who love God and love others. We care for all people- whether they live in India or Ethiopia, or Australia.

The best way to love someone is to share Jesus with them. That’s our top priority. Saving people is more important that saving whales.

But in today’s world, one way to love others is to care for the environment.

We are to love those people who in Fiji might lose their islands if global warming becomes real.
We are to love our children so we aren’t dumping all the environmental problems on them but coming up with solutions for our own mistakes. Love is the key.

ii) Wisdom

Wisdom in the Bible is working out how to live in the world under God. We must listen to what God says about the world. And look at the way the world works. The Bible doesn’t tell us how deal with global warming. So we need to listen to scientists and environmental engineers. Listen to those who are studying God’s creation to see if we can come up with a solution to fix the mess of the environment.

iii) Transformation

Romans 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

This problem is a spiritual one. And Christians have got to stand against the greed and materialism of this world, by being transformed ourselves. We are transformed by the Holy Spirit.

So many of our environmental problems are due to selfish hearts. We must repent of selfish pollution. We must repent of double standards. If we insist on the protection of African rain forests then we have to be willing to do something in our own backyard.

Love, wisdom and transformation.

May God give us the strength to live this way. Amen.