““26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it (my emphasis); and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.””
Genesis Chapter 1 verses 26-28 NASB Version
The website dictionary.com has the definition of Appeasement as:
- A political policy of conceding to aggression by a warlike nation.
Appeasement in the Christian world is the same as on the world.
I keep hearing how Christians should not get involved in this sinful thing and that sinful thing. That we are to stay away from politics because we are just to preach the Word of God. That the world is going to be destroyed soon and that we must be about our Father’s business.
The above all sound so good and holy on the surface.
I. But that is not what God intended for us as Christians to do:
- Yes, we are to take the spiritual things as priorities.
- Yes, we are bound by our Great Commission of sharing the gospel to all nations and making them disciples of Christ. This priority is a given and should be done by all of us.
- Then there are those who are called to be teachers of the scriptures. They too are bound above all by the Word of God and the His scriptures.
- All of us fall into this category. Whether you teach to a thousand on Saturdays or Sundays, or you teach your wife and kids. You are bound to teach. Deuteronomy chapters 4:9 and 11: 19, Isaiah 38:19, Proverbs 22:6, Ephesians 6:4, 1 Corinthians 14:34
- Before I get into what the New Testament says about this, I quoted scriptures above. They are the earliest and most direct verses of the Bible when it comes to God telling humans what He wants from them for this earth, while living in it.
Take care of and be proactive
II. Dominion:
Strong’s Lexicon H7287 translates the word dominion as:
(râdâh, raw-daw’) a primitive root; to tread down, i.e. subjugate; specifically, to crumble off:—(come to, make to) have dominion, prevail against, reign, (bear, make to) rule,(-r, over), take.
This Definition is taken from Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon from BlueLetterBible.com
III. So as human beings, we are to:
rule over the earth.
- We are to be part of the earth.
- We are dominate the earth.
- We are to take care of the earth.
- We are to be the ones dictating the earth’s health.
- We are to be Proactive with things of the earth
IV. We as Christians have failed to take care of the earth.
- Keeping God’s creation in a well-balanced state.
- Keeping God’s creatures- The fish of the sea, the birds of the air and the land animals in a well-balanced state.
- This includes humanity.
- We were the ones to subdue the earth in a Godly and wonderfully made way.
- We have forgotten that this commandment was given to us before the 10 Commandments were given to Moses.
V. We have allowed the non-believing world to take the earth (and everything in it) and mold it into the dark infested cesspool it has become.
There are too many Athenians appeasing the Medo-Persian hordes tormenting them at their doors. There are too many Neville Chamberlain’s pretending that the Hitler’s of the world are going to be pacified. There are too many Obama’s hiding their heads in the sand, looking the other way while thousands of Christians, Yasidi’s and their lands are being obliterated by the evil that is sweeping over their nations.
VI. The encouragements I would like to give those who say, that we are not of this world are:
- We don’t know when Christ is coming back for us. So live as if He is coming back today but responsibly enough that the future generations will have a place to live not in comfort but in the ways of the Lord. It is irresponsible to drop everything and pretend that the world will no longer be your responsibility.
- We may not be spiritually of this world and that is the reason we hold to a higher power and higher standard.
That is why we must not look the other way when it comes to villains on this earth. - We should not be afraid to pray for those that are being persecuted.
- We should also not be afraid to stand up for the Orphans and plead for the widows(Isaiah 1:17) this is our duty.
- It is our duty as Christians, to be responsible for this earth like God intended us to originally.
It is our duty to change the world for Christ, both Spiritually and Physically.
I challenge all of us to be good stewards of this place we call our temporary home…
