Jesus and Creation

It’s Earth Day!!!
What does this have to do with Following Jesus?
Well, nothing or maybe everything depending on what you identify as the purpose of Jesus and our desire to follow.
The important bit is how we come to understand the Kingdom of heaven that Jesus is talking about and the life-everlasting that Jesus mentions.
If Jesus is just about getting us into heaven and this world passing away, then creation care really doesn’t matter. If the Gospel (Good News) is just about an eject button and we are able to be transported away from Earth then the heck with trying to remember to sort out my recycling or putting my blue bin out on collection days.
However if Jesus was pointing to a life that was bigger and more than Just a way out of this word we might have something to say about going green as Jesus followers. Throughout scripture we see a larger picture of heaven and the future of creation. In the beginning God declared that creation was good. I would say that it is still good (maybe not as perfect at it once was). We see in the last chapters of scripture that God is going to bring about restoration to the Earth rather than crumple it up and totally start over. Revelation 21 talk of a new heaven and a new earth coming down. Jesus talks about the coming of the Kingdom of God as a reality that is more than just a future hope but a present reality.
God is in the business of resurrection, not tossing it all away and giving up hope. God is in the business of bringing restoration to all of creation. One of the most gracious acts of the Creator is an invitation for us (part of the created order) to set things back and bring about the kingdom of God here and not rather than wait for some future where we will be beamed up to a cosmic creation in the sky (insert Star Trek joke here).
Heaven is where God is storing the Earth’s future. From time to time we are able to partner with god through the Holy Spirit to drop the veil or distance between Earth and the Kingdom and catch a glimpse of the Kingdom Jesus Speaks about.
Some of my most Kingdom-filled has been in some of the most remote parts of creation.
As we walk through the book of Acts during our current worship series, last week we talked about the way God is the one with all authority, and we have been given power by God. Your call then, as a people with power, is to fill the earth with the things of heaven. This would include showing mercy, and seeking out peace and do the things of justice and caring for the least the lost and the lonely. Knowing that our planet will be restored rather than tossed away bringing about the kingdom means working toward the kind of restoration that would bring life-abundant to all.
So as Jesus followers earth day is a day to celebrate God’s creative hand at work in all the world (I mean just open up a National Geographic to see the definition of creative).
Earth day is a day where we can be reminded that creation is good and we (humanity) were labeled as very good.
It is a an opportunity for us to partner with God to bring about restoration of creation and celebrate the participatory physicality of not just growing spiritually but also physically as we work the land, restore the brokenness and give hope and life to places that have been marked with hurt and neglect.
To wrap up, Earth day is a critical both/and reminder to Jesus followers of the two-fold hope we have in the Good news. It is a future hope of restoration and an invitation to partner with God now to bring about the Kingdom here and now.
So go out and be green as a witness to God’s promise of restoration.