The Planet, the People and Papa.
The Planet
God gave us this planet. We reach back to Genesis and can see that He built the planet from scratch. In fact, put a lot of effort and creativity in it. Don’t believe me? Look around at all that has come from His imagination! Let’s think about crickets for a moment. Can you name a few types of crickets? There are lots of varieties of crickets house crickets, field crickets, cave crickets, ground crickets, camel crickets, mole crickets, snowy tree cricket and the northern mole crickets. Honestly, I didn’t know all those names of crickets, but google is a handy tool and it turns out there are over 900 varieties of crickets! Just knowing that God designed 900 different types of crickets is enough to make you stop and go, whoa! God used his best efforts when He created this planet!
Anyone know what God told us to do with His earth? Are we supposed to use it up? Abuse it? Trash it? Ignore it?
Well, let’s see what scripture has to say about it.
Genesis 1:28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.”
So God told us to fill it, right? Be fruitful and multiply. Make babies, fill up the earth. And man, we are doing a great job. We just hit the population point of 7 billion people on the planet about 2 weeks ago.
The next part of the verse tells us to subdue the earth. Subdue means to bring under control or overcome. Another translation, the Message says be responsible for the earth. God wants us to care for His planet. He’s put it on loan to us and you and I are to be caretakers, or stewards of.
Pastor Rob used to be a caretaker of a church camp while he was in Bible college. (we always joked that the job title caretaker sounded like a horror movie title) His job consisted of yard maintenance, pool care, keeping the plumbing working, and just overall upkeep. The camp belonged to our church, so he was very diligent because he knew that really, the camp belonged to God.
Our planet is the same way. God has allowed us to live here. We need to properly care for this treasure that He has created. Taking care of the earth is wonderful way to say ‘thank you’. What are some simple things that you can do to care for His planet?
Not littering is a big one. Shutting off the water while you brush your teeth. Some of you might think ‘take less showers’ but let me promise you, everyone around you needs you to take a shower every day, so don’t cut any corners there. But say with food - you can take what you need and eat what you take. Or even with napkins and ketchup packets at your favorite fast food restaurant. Shut off the lights when you leave a room. Shut the door when you walk out of the house. You don’t want to air condition the state, right?
An easy way to tell God ‘I love you’ is by taking care of this planet. Another one is to thank Him for it regularly. Take a walk and just enjoy the sights and sounds of all that He created and say ‘thanks’.
The People
We also have a social responsibility to people. What do I mean by that? Well, you can’t just do whatever you want whenever you want wherever you want. Hopefully you guys have already begun to figure that out on your own.
See, God placed us in homes and families and schools and communities according to His time and purposes. Scripture tells us so.
From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. Acts 17:26
And in living according to His purpose for our lives, we have certain responsibilities or duties to the people around us. Can anyone tell me what God says about how we are supposed to treat our neighbor?
Luke 10:27 says ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
We need to love the people around us. We have a responsibility to get our heads out of the sand in our lives and start paying attention to the people in our world.
How do we love the people around us? Let’s start with your family. When we first start talking about this you may think ‘well, I don’t even know if I like my siblings, or my parents’ but let’s pretend for a moment that your cell phone just rang. It’s the police chaplain and he’s calling to tell you that your whole family had taken the car down to HEB to get a few things before church. But as they rounded the corner in the grocery store parking lot an explosion took place at the gas pumps and your entire family was proclaimed dead at the scene. I bet if you had the phone in your hand and heard that in the receiver you’d change your mind real quick about how much you love your family.
Why do people wait until it’s too late to love the people God placed in their lives? Decide right now that you genuinely love your family. Start treating them with love; honoring them, speaking kind words, avoiding arguments or tantrums.
Romans 12:18 tells us “In as much depends on you, live peaceably with all men.”
God wants you to get along with your family. And a lot depends on you. The truth of the matter is that it takes two people to argue. You are in control of your end of that relationship.
But that verse doesn’t just apply to family. It says ‘all men’. God means everyone you come in contact with, everywhere you go; at school, at practice, at church. Get along with people, don’t pick fights, don’t stir up drama. Obey your teachers, listen to them, you might actually learn something! Respect the authority that God has put over you. Remember, He set you exactly in the life you have to form you into the person He wants you to be.
And as special as you are, He uniquely and lovingly designed the people around you too. Treat them like they are the God creations that they are, because you have a responsibility to them as well.
The Papa
You have a social responsibility to the Papa. Papa is another word for daddy, or father. And I’m not talking about your earthly dad, we covered him in the last section when we talked about loving people. I’m talking about your spiritual father, your creator. You have a responsibility to God.
God created us as objects of His affection. Meaning, He loves us. He longs for us to return His love. Deuteronomy 6:5 tells us “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”
In fact, Jesus tells us 1200+ years later that this commandment is the greatest commandment God has given us. God told us to do or not do a lot of things, but Jesus (His son) told us that this is the most important, this loving the Lord with all your heart, soul and strength. Probably because Jesus knew that if we got our relationship with God in proper perspective, all the other things would come into place.
If you love God with everything you have, it’s hard to sin. God probably knew that, since He knows all things. His goal isn’t only to keep you from sinning, but to help you become everything He’s created for you to be.
We don’t love God out of compulsion, it’s not because we have to. You and I have a choice. Each person on the planet has that choice. But the best for your life and mine comes when we choose to love God with everything we have to offer.
God loved us so much that He did what?
John 3:16, God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son.
Right? Can you imagine with me for a moment that you have liver cancer. It’s killing you, slowly but for sure, unless you receive a new liver, you are going to die, a long, drawn out painful death. And my son, Eli, is a perfect match (actually,the only match) for your liver. Of course, keep in mind that he is currently using his liver and needs it to live. But I decide, because I love you so much, that Eli will give you his liver. Even though, if Eli give you his liver, he will die.
That is exactly what God did for you, to cover your salvation. You were dying of a disease called sin. And Jesus was the only cure, because He was the only one without sin. So God offered up his only son to cure your disease. Wow. He loves us.
So there’s that, and also a couple hundred other verses in the Bible tell us that God loves us. God knows we need to hear it often, I guess. So how should we react to His love?
We respond with love in return, and gratitude. Take a moment and think of three reasons to be grateful for God…
That’s easy, right? Especially this time of year, we are all thinking about what we are thankful for anyway. For me, it’s actually hard to just stop at three. The first three that pop into my brain are my savior, my Rob and my kids. But then I start thinking about how I have good health, and a job I love and hair on my head and a happy life and chocolate and it just starts blowing up from there. Wow, God, You are so good!! To me!!
You can see how just having an attitude of gratitude grows your love for God, right?
So as we wrap up this evening we have a couple things to consider. First off, are you showing God your love by the way you treat His planet? Are you being respectful? Are you showing Him gratitude or thanks by being a good caretaker?
The next question is how are you treating His people? Are you loving and kind, slow to anger? Or are you quick-tempered and mean spirited? Do you need to get a better grasp of how God views the people around you?
The last but probably the most important question of the evening; are you being responsible to the Papa? Because honestly, you can be the biggest tree-hugger on the planet, so green that your hybrid car runs on sunshine and lollipops, but if you don’t know God, what good is it? Or maybe you love people really well, you’re a huge people person and you have an infectious personality and tons and tons of friends but you don’t give God the time of day. Hell is going to be a really lonely place if you are people person who didn’t know God.
We need to love God with all our heart, our soul and our strength. We need to love Him when we wake up in the morning and when we lay our heads down at night. We need to realize that every tiny detail in our life from the sun streaming across your desk in study hall to the best friend that shares your exact sense of humor is a gift from Him. When you start to wrap your mind around that, you will find all kinds of reasons to thank Him, and love Him.
If that sounds a little far fetched to you right now, just begin to ask Him to show Himself in your life. Take a few moments in your chair and ask Him to help you love Him more. Remember that He is faithful and He longs to be in right relationship with you if you will open your eyes and see His fingerprints all around you.
(altar - Fingerprints of God)
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