We live in a beautiful world that doesn’t belong to us. We think it does, but it is God’s. This devotion looks at how we are stewards of the earth.
Nuggets
- We have to take it on faith how the heavens and earth were created by God.
- Since God made the earth, it is His.
- God allows us to live on His earth.
- The land was a reward for obeying the covenant.
This year, we are looking at self-discipline. We are using Vincent’s The Lesson of Ripeness sermon to look at the need to grow in our relationship with God. We morphed learning enough to be a teacher into determining some areas we need to grow so we can be mature disciples.
Resource
We have been looking at solidifying what we believe. When we witness, we need to be prepared to explain what we believe and why we believe it. We have looked at the Scriptures; the Trinity (God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit); man; salvation; grace; the church; divine ordinances; worship; God’s kingdom; end times; and evangelism and missions. Now, we are going to look at stewardship.
All the Earth is God’s
Expectations of a Steward
Stewards Who Are Ready
A Steward Gone Bad
Let's Put It into Context #1
According to the Holman Bible Dictionary, stewardship is “utilizing and managing all resources God provides for the glory of God and the betterment of His creation.”
Resource
Stewardship entails more than just managing finances. We are also stewards of the earth.
Let's Put It into Context #2
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1: 1 CSB)
A simple sentence. It says so much without saying much at all.
No, it doesn’t tell us the scientific process. Instead, it gives us an overview. It doesn’t tell us dates and what the definition of a “day and an evening” is before night and day are created.
Most of all, the account of creation focuses, as Parker says, on religion. We have to take it on faith how the heavens and earth were created by God. Faith is the belief that the doctrines stated in God’s Word are true, even if we do not understand all aspects of them.
God wanted — from the beginning — for us to put our trust in Him. We aren’t supposed to try to figure things out ourselves.
Still, we are given enough to see the majesty of the creation. We are told God spoke and lifted His hand and gave the orders. We have no idea how those orders were carried out.
Maybe everything suddenly appeared before God. Maybe it was a reverse-Avengers snap, where things drifted together over an undetermined period of time. Shore explained that this way: “Are there not clear indications that the creation of the world was not the result of the omnipotent act of a moment, but of the Divine creative energy working (as we ever still see it working) through gradual processes, through successive gradations?”
What does all this tell us? We don’t need to know the how. We have to focus on the Who.
It is obvious that God created the heavens and earth.
Creation is when the heavens and earth were brought into existence for His glory by the will of the Omnipotent and Omniscient God from materials that did not exist.
He Made It — It’s His
“The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him” (Ps. 24: 1 NLT)
God is Sovereign God. The Holman Bible Dictionary defined sovereignty “… means that God is in all and over all.”
Since God made the earth, it is His. He didn’t create the heavens and earth, pack His bags, and leave. He sustains it.
God has control over the earth. As Watkinson wrote, “… the earth never comes to ruin.” As we seek God, we see his wisdom and power in His rule of His creation.
I hear you. How can I say God is in control when there are so many disasters occurring? We have hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, fires, and plagues. Then there is poverty, crime, disease, death just to name a few.
That list is the results of sin. If Adam and Eve would not have sinned, we wouldn’t have those.
Notice the psalmist said that everything in the earth belongs to the Lord. All of the land and animals — and us — belong to the Lord.
We are just stewards.
Earth Is Ours?
“The highest heavens belong to the LORD, but the earth he has given to mankind” (Ps. 115: 16 NIV)
If God has given earth to mankind, doesn’t that mean we have control over it? No.
My landlady has given me one of the units in the fourplex to live in, but she still owns it. My rent money does not go towards purchasing it.
Remember, we said God didn’t create the heavens and earth, pack His bags, and leave. He is a very hands-on God.
God allows us to live on His earth. We are to take care of it. He has made us stewards of the earth.
Have Dominion
“And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth’” (Gen. 1: 28 ESV)
One of the orders we received was to subdue the earth. That goes along with the curse put on the earth as consequences for the original sin. “… The ground is cursed because of you. You will eat from it by means of painful labor all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field” (Gen. 3: 17-18 CSB).
If we don’t work the land, it becomes overgrown and reverts to its natural state. Think about what the pioneers found as they moved out west in the 1800s. Here they would have found tall prairie grass and trees.
God gave us dominion over fish, birds, and animals. He allows us to rule them.
McGill cautioned that we don’t want to take this ruling too far. “A right to rule is not a right to tyrannize; and a right to service extends only to such duties as are consistent with the powers of the servants, and with the place which is assigned to them.”
God gave us dominion over some of the animals, but we still have to exercise that rule according to His plan.
Listen
“Now if you will carefully listen to me and keep my covenant, you will be my own possession out of all the peoples, although the whole earth is mine, and you will be my kingdom of priests and my holy nation.’ These are the words that you are to say to the Israelites” (Ex. 19: 5-6)
Since all the earth is God’s, He can gift it to us as He chooses. We’ve talked before how land was a component of the covenant with Israel.
The land was a reward for obeying the covenant. We know there were many times that the Israelites broke their end of the covenant through disobedience. They had their land taken away from them.
Making the Connections
Exell made an interesting point. He said that, while the earth doesn’t belong to man, neither is it Satan’s.
Satan has been called the ruler of this world. “Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out” (Jn. 12: 31 ESV). But this world isn’t his.
Isn’t that encouraging these days when we see Satan causing so much chaos?
We are stewards of the world, not owners. That means nothing we do or do not do will totally destroy this world.
Oh, yes. This heaven and this earth will go away. “… Earth and heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them” (Rev. 20: 11 CSB). Only God can destroy this planet.
Making the Connections to Self-Discipline
We’ve been looking at defending our beliefs when we are witnessing. That means we have to be secure enough to convince someone to accept our beliefs.
Believing we own the world rather than being stewards might be a challenging discussion we have with those to whom witnessing if we haven’t thought about our response.
Our questions should still serve us to determine on what we need to focus.
- What does the Scriptures say?
- What do I believe?
- Why do I believe the same/differently than the Scriptures?
- What are the talking points when witnessing to a non-believer?
Related Links
I have created a worksheet of the questions above. Click on the button below to access it.
How Do We Apply This?
When we think we own the earth rather than are just stewards, we are inflating our importance. We are not gods. We need to submit to the One true God.
In order to submit, we need to seek God.
Searching for and Seeking God
Hearing His Word (Rom. 10: 17).
Reading His Word (Rev. 1: 3).
Praying to Him (Heb. 4: 16).
Studying His Word (Ac. 17: 11).
Meditating on His Word (Ps. 1: 1-2).
Memorizing His Word (Ps. 119: 11).
God has entrusted us to look after His creation. We need to do His Will.
Father God. Thank You for creating this beautiful world in which we live. Lord, we take our job as stewards seriously. We pledge to look after Your creation in the way You want. Amen.
What do you think?
Leave me a comment below (about this or anything else) or head over to my Facebook group for some interactive discussion.
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