Let
Them Have Dominion
Then
God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let
them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the
air,
and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every
creeping thing that creeps upon the earth."
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created
him; male and female he created them.
And God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply,
and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of
the sea
and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves
upon the earth." Genesis 1:26-28
Today is Canada Day and I hope you enjoy the privilege of either being
born in such a favored nation or are still happy with your choice to
move here.
Canada is not perfect; but as a citizen of this country, and having
traveled abroad, I am glad to be a citizen and enjoy its many benefits.
I wonder how often any of us reflect on the name of our country. It is
called the Dominion of Canada--and incidentally when that name was
decided, it is the first time the word "Dominion" was ever given to a
sovereign nation.
The name was chosen from its use in Psalm 72:8 "and he shall have
dominion from sea to sea".
In fact this is the latin motto on Canada's coat of arms: "Ad mari
usque ad mare", from sea to sea.
Genesis first establishes the use of the term dominion when God says,
"let them have dominion."
So our founders named us to reflect the words of God, and our creator's
intentions about mankind.
So how are we doing one hundred and forty years later?
By any measure, our success is mixed.
For some, the word "dominion" just raises hackles because it seems to
imply dominance in its ugliest form.
When I see barren clear-cut mountainsides or strip mined landscapes, I
may tend to agree.
But when I hear word of a pandemic in the wind and know there are
researchers working on a vaccine that could spare us, I want to
encourage them in their dominion over viruses.
When God created the world, humanity was placed in it and given
extraordinary ability for good or evil--dominion over the natural realm.
Something we should notice though. Genesis one pronounces God's
creation good several times and God's prize creation, humanity is
called "very good"...in spite of the fall and all that has come with
our broken image.
But we know that creation needs redeeming, and it is God's pleasure
that we should be a part of the redeeming.
This takes nothing away from God's sovereignty.
A sovereign God has made us partners in redeeming creation.
The apostle Paul writes in Romans 8 how even creation itself groans in
frustration, waiting for completion or redemption.
What he is saying so poetically is that the natural world is waiting
for completion of God's great plan--a world where everything works and
is in total harmony.
Our dominion is broken.
Not just the place we call Canada, but the realm we call earth. Our
dominion is broken. It is not invalid, but it needs redeeming.
That is obvious in an ecological sense.
It is also true in an ethical sense.
Our world groans in slavery because of our indifference to the task God
has given to us and because of our pre-occupation with gratifying our
self interests.
God has given us the world, this nation, this community and has said to
us, "now in my name redeem it."
Not redeem it in our own power, but following the calling of God, see
where it is broken and get about the business of fixing it.
Apply the gospel.
The gospel is more than just a ticket to heaven.
It is medicine for our broken world and God has given us dominion so
that we can apply the gospel.
But how?
One of the great writers on Christian ethics is the late Lewis Smedes,
professor of Christian ethics at Fuller Seminary in California.
Here what he says was important in his transformation:
In his autobiography, Dr. Smedes writes of his early years in the
faith. A turning point came as a freshman at college. He writes:
The first class of the first day of my first semester was English
composition. The teacher ... introduced me that day to a God the likes
of whom I had never even heard about—a God who liked elegant sentences
and was offended by dangling modifiers. Once you believe this, where
can you stop? If the Maker of the Universe admired words well put
together, think of how he must love sound thought well put together;
and if he loved sound thinking, how he must love a Bach concerto; and
if he loved a Bach concerto, think of how he prized any human effort to
bring a foretaste, be it ever so small, of his Kingdom of justice and
peace and happiness to the victimized people of the world. In short, I
met the Maker of the Universe, who loved the world he made and was
dedicated to its redemption. I found the joy of the Lord, not at prayer
meeting, but in English Composition 101."1.
In other words, the process of redemption begins in doing the best you
can with the tools at hand.
In not being lazy about our role. If you fix cars, fix them as if you
are restoring a work of art.
If you are a teacher, teach as if eternity depended on how you do your
work.
If you are a senior, God has not retired you, just given you the
privilege of investing yourself in something for God's glory.
Do every task to the glory of God.
That's one way.
But God has not called us to act alone.
We are a community and a church.
God and the Presbyterian Church in Canada have not given us this church
just to meet our own needs and wants.
We have been given this church as a vehicle to repair the world we live
in. This church is here to exercise Godly dominion.
To remind us we are citizens of a larger world and to give us a vehicle
in which our collective efforts are more powerful than working alone.
But Smedes lesson applies to us.
Are you a greeter or an usher. Then greet or usher in a way that shows
you prize your task as highly as God prizes dedicated efforts.
No task is beneath us or requires less than our best.
Even then our task is not done. Are we applying the gospel in our
community in a way that is medicine to injustice, hope to despairing
and joy to those hoping for a better world.
In think in a way that last sentence says what I believe.
Are we joy to those hoping for a better world?
This does not require that we are perfect, because we cannot be.
But it requires that WE CARE, and that we show that we care.
Do you care this Canada Day, or Dominion Day as it used to be
called--do you care whether we are making our world a better place?
God has called us to care and then to act.
Do and give your best efforts. Take joy in being a part of God's
redemption.
Lets act individually but lets also act together because what we do
matters.
God has given us dominion whether we want it or not. Its up to us how
we exercise it.
Preached July 1, 2007
Dr. Harold McNabb
West Shore Presbyterian
Church
Victoria, British Columbia
Notes
1. Lewis B. Smedes, My
God and I: A Spiritual Memoir (Eerdmans, 2003), pp. 56-57
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