EXPLORING CHRISTIANITY: THE CHURCH - The church and creation

EXPLORING CHRISTIANITY - THE CHURCH

THE BIBLE
Can we trust a book written 2000 years ago?

EYEWITNESS
Did the writers of the New Testament get their picture of Jesus right?

GOD - MAN
Is Jesus really God?

RESURRECTION
Did Jesus really rise from the dead?

RELIGIONS
With so many religions, why Christianity?

SUFFERING
If there is a God, why is there so much suffering?

TRINITY
Understanding the Trinity.

SCIENCE
The complementary nature of Science & Christianity.

FORGIVENESS
What it is and why it matters?

GUIDANCE
How does God guide?

REPENTANCE
What it is and why you can't get to heaven without it.

BORN AGAIN
What does it mean to be converted and born again?

SAVING FAITH
The kind of faith that will get you to heaven

ASSURANCE
Can I know for sure that I am going to heaven?

TRUTH
What is truth and does it matter?

MORALITY
Does it matter how we live? A Christian view of morality.

THE CHURCH
God's vision for his family, the Church. A call to the churches of the new millennium.

PURPOSE
How can I find a great purpose for living?

IDENTITY
Who am I; Finding my true identity as a human being and as a child of God.

SELF-ESTEEM
How can I feel good about my self? The Christian basis for proper sel-esteem.

LIFE AFTER DEATHChristianity's Hope & Challenge.

THE CROSS
Why did Jesus Die? What the Bible says about the Cross.

Grace
The importance of grace in the New Testament.

The church and creation

We share God's creativity

Richard Kew, Director of Anglican Forum for the Future, says:

We in the church have abandoned creativity and imagination to the Disney organisation. Most great imaginative ideas come out of entertainment. We rarely see them in the life of the church.

"In the body of the risen Christ, the Creator and his Creation are linked, never to be separate in all eternity"

However, if God is such a creative God as this vast and varied universe so eloquently declares, then his people should be the most creative people on earth. We only have to look at the variety of living forms to see something of the amazing creativity of God. We are told that approximately 1,750,000 species of life have been formally described since 1753 and 1758, the starting years for plant and animal names respectively. That is when the Swedish naturalist Carl von Linne published seminal works listing biological names. Currently, some 13,000 new species are formally described each year. At this rate it will take the next millennium to complete the task of recording the estimated 13 million yet to be listed. God's delight in his creation, which the psalmist obviously shares, is beautifully spelt out in Psalm 104. The death of the sparrow is meaningful to him (Matthew 10:29).

Surely, being created "in the image of God" means that we share his creative desire. We are, as J R R Tolkien said, "sub-creators". We cannot start from nothing as God did, but he has given us plenty of raw material to work with. Whether it be in dance, song, music, poetry, art, decoration, writing, storytelling, drama, craft, imaginative worship, education, philosophy, science or whatever, the church should be at the forefront of creativity. And this should apply to our work and ministry in the secular world, much as in church-centred activities. James Torrance, in Community & the Triune Grace of God says:

Our chief end is to glorify God, and creation realises its own creaturely glory in glorifying God through human lips.

Surely, also, God's creation may glorify him through the creative work of human minds and human hands where that is our intention.

God's attitude to his material creation

This brings us to the question of what our attitude should be towards the material creation itself. It is significant that seven times in Genesis 1 God declares that what he had created was "good". The final statement is: "God saw all that he had made, and it was very good" (Genesis 1:31). This is in sharp contrast to the view of some religions that this material world is not good and is something we have to try to escape from. However, there are two other great events recorded in Scripture, one in the past, the other yet in the future, that particularly underline the goodness of creation.

First, God himself has chosen to become personally involved in his creation in the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus. When Jesus was conceived in the womb of Mary, in some way we can barely imagine, far less understand, Mary's material DNA became joined with the divine. As someone has put it, though Jesus was still as much God as if he had never become man, he became as much man as if he had never been God. He fully shared our human nature. For thirty years he lived as the God-Man. He died a human death. And then, after something like 36 hours a further miracle happened. His human body was raised to life. This is one of the reasons that the story of the empty tomb is so important. At his ascension to heaven from the Mount of Olives he took back into heaven part of his creation. In the body of the risen Christ, the Creator and his Creation are linked, never to be separated in all eternity. In this sense Jesus is now different to what he was before his coming. Humanity has been added to the Godhead.

It is true that Jesus' risen body was in some sense different from what it was before his resurrection. He could appear to his disciples behind locked doors. But, though transformed, his body was real. He could say to his frightened disciples: "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have" (Luke 24:38, 39).

"We have limited the power of God in spiritualising the Biblical view of heaven too much"

The other relevant event, that the whole Bible looks foreward to, is the final redemption of this material creation. Paul refers to this significant event in Romans 8:18-27. He speaks of the present creation as "groaning in pain, like a woman about to give birth" (v. 21, 22). You will notice in this passage that not only the creation groans, but also we groan (v. 23) and the Spirit groans (v. 26). Not only humans, but somehow the whole of creation was affected by the intervention of the Evil One and the rebellion of men and women against God. However, Satan does not have the last word. Somehow, what Christ achieved for us by his death and resurrection has its effect on the whole of creation. "The creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God" (v. 21). No doubt it is partly this transformation of God's created universe that Paul had in mind when he declared that "God will bring all things in heaven and earth together under one head, even Christ" (Ephesians 1:10) and that he has reconciled to himself all things "whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross" (Colossians 1:20).

We have a beautiful picture of this in the fifth chapter of Revelation. In the centre of the picture, on the throne, is God, together with Jesus, the "Lamb, looking as if he had been slain." Immediately around the throne are the four living creatures, perhaps angelic beings who are guardians of the throne. In the next circle are the twenty-four elders, representing the church of the Old Testament (the 12 tribes of Israel) and the church of the New (the 12 apostles). They bow down in worship. In the next circle are angels, "numbering thousands upon thousands" who sing: "Worthy is the Lamb..." Finally, in the outer circle, John, in his vision, sees "every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them" singing praises to God. All creation will join in praise to God in that day.

I believe we have limited the power of God in spiritualising the Biblical view of heaven too much. After all, three time the Bible tells us that God will create a new heaven and a new earth (Isaiah 65:17; 2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1). I often wonder if Isaiah's vision of the wolf living with the lamb, the leopard with the goat, the calf with the lion, the cow with the bear, and all being led by a little child (Isaiah 11:6-9; 65:25), is only to be taken as a symbol of the peace that will exist among humans. It is the earth that will be "full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:9). How much of the sea is covered by water?! Maybe this is one area where the Jehovah's Witnesses have got a little nearer the truth than we have! Christopher Sugden, in Radical Discipleship, says of the Kingdom of God:

The Kingdom is God's programme of total redemption for every aspect of creation.

This is one of the reasons that our own bodily resurrection is so important in the New Testament. Maybe our soul and spirit will be separated from our decaying earthly body. The Bible speaks of "the spirits of those good people who have been made perfect" (Hebrews 12:23). But this is only a temporary arrangement. Paul calls it being "unclothed", with a view to being "clothed with our heavenly dwelling" (2 Corinthians 5:2-4). As 1 Corinthians 15 so clearly spells out, at the return of Jesus, we will get our new bodies. "These bodies will die, but the bodies that are raised will live forever. These ugly and weak bodies will become beautiful and strong...And our physical bodies will be changed into spiritual bodies" (v. 42-44). Though spiritual bodies, they are nevertheless bodies. "We are citizens of heaven and are eagerly waiting for our Saviour to come from there. Our Lord Jesus Christ has power over everything, and he will make these poor bodies of ours like his own glorious body" (Philippians 3:20, 21). It is his giving of the Spirit to us that guarantees this transformation (2 Corinthians 5:5). Through Jesus' becoming human and through his resurrection, the Creation was forever joined to the Creator. In giving us his Spirit the Creator is forever joined to his Creation. We "participate in the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4).

I sometimes think that people have an idea of heaven similar to the view expressed of the afterlife of the ancient Sumerians by archeologist Kramer. In his book The Sumerians he sums it up as "but a dismal, wretched reflection of life on earth." The Saviour who created us out of love, and died for our eternal salvation, has something better than that to offer. Moltmann, in The Trinity and The Kingdom, sums up the biblical view well:

The unity of the Trinity is constituted by the Father, concentrated round the Son, and illuminated through the Holy Spirit...To throw open the circulatory movement of the divine light and the divine relationships, and to take men and women, with the whole of creation, into the life-stream of the triune God: that is the meaning of creation, reconciliation and glorification.

Our responsibility to creation

"It is surely the church's first responsibility to demonstrate something of this peace to the world"

If God values his creation as much as we have been describing, then surely we ought to as well. In the Genesis 1 account of creation, men and women are told to "fill the earth and subdue it" (v. 28). The Hebrew word for "subdue" means literally what it says, and to use force if necessary. It implies that creation will not do our bidding gladly or easily. Because of the twistedness in humanity, too often we do it destructively rather than creatively. We need God to "subdue our iniquities" (Micah 7:19 - where the same word is used). The positive aspect of our attitude to creation comes out more clearly in the alternative account of the creation of humans in Genesis 2. Here the picture is symbolic rather than chronological - to illustrate the purpose of creation rather than the order of events. The creation of man comes first as the rest of creation is primarily for the benefit of humans. Then the creation of the garden is described in which man is put "to work it and take care of it" (v. 15).

The Bible is clear that this world belongs to God. "To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it" (Deuteronomy 10:14). "The earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it" (Psalm 24:1). That being the case, then he is the landlord and we the tenants*, responsible for caring for it for him. A relevant passage is Luke 16:10-12 where Jesus indicates that our handling of material possessions is a test of our faithfulness to him.

*See the parables of the Unfaithful Tenants in Matthew 21:33-41 and of the Talents in Matthew 25:14-28.

I find helpful a model suggested by Brian Hathaway.

In this diagram God is a personal God, distinct from both his material creation and his people. Some religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism and New Age, blur this distinction. They tend to bring God down to the bottom line. We ourselves and the rest of creation share in this divinity*. However, as we have seen, the Christian view of God is very different. Jesus did indeed come down to the bottom line, but without losing his distinction as the Creator-God. God relates to us on a person to person level and longs to enjoy fellowship with us. Through Jesus we can enjoy that relationship both now and in his future eternal kingdom.

*I have spelt out some of these differences further in the booklet What Is Truth and Does It Matter?.

God's relationship with his material creation is that of ownership. The land and its resources belong to him. Our relationship to that creation is that of stewardship. We are responsible to the Owner for what we do with it. If this model is the true one, and it is the one given to us in the Bible, then it has implications for all sorts of issues we are facing in today's modern world. May I suggest just a few:

How we treat the environment.

How we use and share the earth's resources - issues such as poverty, justice, the use of our personal possessions and money.

Economics.

Our profession or work.

Political involvement.

Respect for life - abortion, capital punishment, euthanasia.

No doubt we could add significantly to the list.

Maybe it would be appropriate to sum up all we have been saying by referring to the biblical concept of "peace". The Hebrew word shalom in the Old Testament, and the Greek eirene in the New, mean a lot more that the mere absence of anxiety or of war. The primary and basic idea of the biblical word is completeness, soundness, wholeness. It is a favourite biblical greeting and is found at the beginning or end of all the New Testament letters except James and I John. Friendship between companions is expressed by it (Genesis 26:29; Psalm 28:3), as well as friendship with God through a covenant (Numbers 25:12; Isaiah 54:10). Contentment, or anything working toward safety, welfare, and happiness, is included in the concept (Isaiah 32:17, 18). Peace has reference to health, prosperity, well-being and security from outward enemies (Isaiah 26:12), as well as calm of heart for those trusting God (Job 22:21; Isaiah 26:3)*.

*Summerised from Bakers Dictionary of Theology ed. Geoffrey W. Bromiley.

Jesus' first spoken word to his gathered disciples after his death and resurrection was: "Peace be with you" (John 20:19). Though we will never experience the full outworkings of this peace, that Jesus purchased for us at such tremendous cost, until we gather in "a new heavens and a new earth" (Revelation 21:1), it is surely the church's first responsibility to demonstrate something of this peace to the world, in our relationship with the triune God, our commitment to and care for one another, and in our relationship to the created universe. Our second responsibility is to share this peace with a lost and confused world, whatever this may involve, "so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God" (2 Corinthians 4:15).

If you have read through this booklet thus far and still have doubts about whether you have received the Holy Spirit and have indeed become a member of "God's forever family", then I would like to make some suggestions. Read through one of the gospels, perhaps John, in a good modern translation and ask yourself questions such as: "Who is Jesus? What is he offering me? What does he require of me? There are other booklets in this series you may find helpful.

If you have come to the point where you want to make a real commitment, then make a clean breast of your sins to him. Thank him for dying for those sins on the cross. Invite him to come into your life and make you one of his own. Ask him to guide you to a branch of his family where you can grow and make a useful contribution. Tell him you want to be a part of his plan for bringing life to the world. Then get into your New Testament to find out more about the great things he has in store.

And may peace be with you.