SERMON
NOTES

August Sermon Series: Christ in a Complex World
Sermon 2: Christians and the Natural Environment
Working Title: A Gospel for All Creatures
REv. Anthony Hita

Anchor Scripture: Genesis 1: 1, 20-31
Other Important Passages: Genesis 9:8-16; Colossians 1:15-20; Isaiah 11:1-9; Luke 12:6;

Key Themes:
  • · God cares deeply for all Creation
  • · Human’s were given stewardship over Creation—authority to manage and use, not to destroy.
  • · Non-human life is a part of God’s plans and has a place in the Kingdom.

Sermon Points:
  • · The natural world was created before humanity. Before God created humanity, God had already created the creatures of the sea, air, and land and declared them “good”. Both humans and animals have been given the Spirit of Life, the difference is that humans have additionally been granted the Image of God. The Image of God places a responsibility on us, it does not give us a blank check to do whatever we want. We are given dominion over Creation in the same way a renter is given stewardship over a house—we are expected to care for it, allowed to use and modify it, but we do not own it and are not permitted to destroy it. This is one of the very first commands God gave humanity. 
  • · Scripture focuses heavily on humanity’s relationship with God, but it also consistently affirms God’s relationship with the rest of creation, something modern Christians largely gloss over. Both the Old and New Testament contain stories and teachings that affirm that God values animal life. God put them on the ark and after the flood explicitly includes them in the Noahic covenant. When Jesus says that God provides for the birds and the grass, he is speaking literally and making an analogy, not a metaphor. Jesus’s death included ALL things in its redemptive scope, and all Creation participates in worshipping Christ. 
  • · Animals are not capable of sin, yet inordinately suffer the consequences of it along with the rest of the natural world. Sin is not “wrong action” it is a state of brokenness in a correct relationship with God—human destruction of the natural environment and abuse of animal life is a sin as it is a fundamental violation of the very first commandment God gave us. We need not subscribe to any modern politically-oriented environmentalist movement to see that dumping plastic in our oceans, killing coral reefs and forests, and driving species to extinction is not good for the planet or part of God’s plans. The Bible says that Creation itself groans under the weight of our sin and eagerly awaits Jesus’s return.
  • · The Bible begins and ends with both humans and animals at a state of perfect peace with each other and God. So, concern for the natural world is a fundamental Christian virtue that we must rediscover and respect as it is a fundamental part of God’s plans.