Christian Responsibility In The End Times

2 Thessalonians 3 (2)

Our Responsibility in the End Times

Years ago, I went out to the dump in Geneva. I believe that is the first place I remember seeing it, though I’ve seen it at several other dumps since the. If you go out there now you will see the same sad sight. You will see 10 or more bald eagles, flying around, or perched somewhere, waiting to eat garbage out of the dump.

That is not what God created them for.

Eagles can fly 10,000 to 15,000 feet high at about 65 mph. They can glide for hours without rest on warm updrafts of air. With their acute vision, they are able to spot prey a mile down below. Eagles swoop down at amazing speeds of 200 mph and lift up the prey with their strong talons.

There are 59 species of eagles, and they are all birds of prey. Eagles are known for power and speed. They perform stunning acrobatics in the air when chasing smaller birds. They are fearless hunters and rarely back away from a fight. Eagles have a wingspan of about 7 feet and stand 3 feet tall. Eagles have a curved, sharp beak with which they tear apart flesh. For centuries, eagles have been considered sacred by many cultures. The Bald Eagle is the national bird and a symbol of the United States of America.

That is what God designed them for. They are strong. They are majestic, and now, sadly, many of them are living like buzzards, living off of the scraps and the rotten.

Sadly, I saw something even worse yesterday. Yesterday, Dale, and Richard came over and hooked up one of our trailers and then we went to Central Baptist Church to pick up a pallet of food. We picked up 60 boxes, and in each box there were vegetables, a gallon of milk, hot dogs, leg quarters, and other food. We took those 60 boxes over to the rescue mission on 13th street. It took us a couple of minutes to get that trailer pulled into the parking lot there. Then we started unloading them. As we pulled into the parking lot, people began to circle the parking lot. Before we had unloaded the trailer, a man on a bicycle and another on a scooter had each taken a box. People with nothing to do, and no where to go, riding around, killing time, looking for a hand out.

That’s not what God intended, us to be. That’s not what He intended us to do. He never intended us to be idle, listless, with nothing to do, waiting on a hand out.

Even there, in the perfect Garden of Eden, there was work for man to do. From the very beginning, man was designed and created to be image bearers.

> Genesis 1:26-28 And 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 fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

From the very beginning, men and women were designed to be image bearers of God, and were told to subdue the earth.

> Genesis 2:15 And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

Man was to be an image bearer, and he was to be a tiller of the soil. From the very beginning. After the fall, the Lord added to their responsibilities.

> Genesis 3:16-19 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.