Entrusted, Genesis 1:26
Introduction
This summer many of us watched the story unfold of animal cruelty charges being raised against Atlanta Falcons football player, Michael Vick.
The 19-page federal indictment, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, alleges the 27-year-old Vick and his co-defendants began the dog fighting operation in early 2001, the former Virginia Tech star’s rookie year with the Falcons.
Vicks and the others are accused of “knowingly sponsoring and exhibiting an animal fighting venture” and conducting a business enterprise involving gambling, as well as buying, transporting and receiving dogs for the purposes of an animal fighting venture.
(Modified From the Liberty Journal, Nov. 2007, by Dr. Swallow Prior)
The spotlight shone by the Michael Vick case on the issue of dog fighting and other forms of animal abuse has confused many Christians, leaving them to wonder where to place this barbarism on the scale of evils plaguing society today.
But our Christian ancestors in the reform movements of 18th- and 19th-century England would not have been so baffled, for even in the midst of their fight against slavery and other ills, they viewed animal cruelty as one of the most important moral issues of their day.
By fighting barbarism in all its forms, these Christians sought to cultivate universal benevolence throughout all of society. Benevolence toward even the lower creatures has been, in fact, a feature of the Christian resurgence movement from its beginnings.
John Wesley, noted in his “Compendium of Natural Philosophy” that animals “that want the help of man have a thousand engaging ways, which, like the voice of God speaking to his heart, command him to preserve and cherish them.”
William Cowper, co-author with John Newton of the “Olney Hymns,” linked love of man and love of animals in his 1785 poem “The Task,” declaring that he would not count among his friends “the man who needlessly sets foot upon a worm.”
Sarah Trimmer, a founder of the Sunday school movement in the 18th century, put animal welfare at the forefront of her program for moral education. And in the 19th century, the same parliamentarian who tirelessly spearheaded the anti-slavery crusade, William Wilberforce, also led the campaign against animal cruelty.
Indeed the group of believers of which Wilberforce formed a part, known as the Clapham Evangelicals, were not only staunch abolitionists but also helped enact England’s first animal welfare laws.
Wilberforce himself was part of an 1824 coffeehouse gathering that resulted in the formation of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. He and several Christian clergymen superintended the publication of sermons and tracts designed to turn a hostile public toward support of animal welfare laws.
From its beginnings, then, the animal welfare movement was led by moral, Christian reformers who understood the link between one form of barbarism and another. Therefore, conservative, compassionate, Christians might be heartened by the widespread outrage against Michael Vick’s cruelty.
While some Christian leaders have expressed concern that heightened compassion for animals diminishes value for human life, such compassion may, in fact, cultivate similar empathy for other helpless victims of human depravity.
The animal welfare movement of our Christian ancestors was rooted in benevolence as well as in recognition of the Christian’s duty toward God’s creation. Ample biblical support from the moral laws of Exodus to the wisdom of the Proverbs can be cited to advocate compassionate care for animals rather than exploitative domination.
But perhaps the most compelling evidence of the implicit assumption in Scripture about the nature of man’s relationship to animals is found in the picture God provides of His relationship to us: namely, that of the Good Shepherd “who lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11).
Scripture
Genesis 1:26 says, “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 heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” (ESV)
Transition
This morning I want to talk to you about the link between the compassion of Christ which is to characterize our lives and the position of responsibility which God has placed us in as stewards of His creation.
Exposition
While this passage of Scripture from Genesis does teach us that we have been given dominion over the earth, it does not teach us that our dominion is that of a tyrant. Have we been given dominion without responsibility? Romans 14:12 says, “So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.” (ESV)
Dominion – authority – brings with it responsibility. Angelina Grimké, the American abolitionist once said, “Duty is ours and events are God’s.”
God has given us dominion over this earth, yes, and with it comes the responsibility to act on God’s behalf. What is a steward or warden if not the extension of the person or government which hired and empowered him?
We have been entrusted, not with our own selfish ends in mind, but with the care of God’s creation – as He would define that care.
What is our role in this world if not to be the hands and feet of God? In Genesis 1:26 we see a profound principal at work; God created the earth and everything that is in it and then he set us to watch over it.
Adam Clarke, in his commentary on the Bible writes, “… God created man capable of governing the world, and when fitted for the office, he fixed him in it.
We see God’s tender care and parental concern for the comfort and well-being of this masterpiece of his workmanship, in creating the world previously to the creation of man.
He prepared every thing for his subsistence, convenience, and pleasure, before he brought him into being; so that, comparing little with great things, the house was built, furnished, and amply stored; by the time the destined tenant was ready to occupy it.”
We have been given the incredible responsibility of the care of this world. We are the tenants of this most beautiful planet.
Therein lies a significant distinction; we do not own this planet as though we can do with it whatever we please, we are stewards on behalf of He who owns it – God.
Far too often, I think, we – all of us – treat the world around us – trees, rivers, streams, and lakes just as much as children, needy people, and animals – as though they are our possessions.
It is incumbent upon us that we treat the precious life around us as though it were something borrowed and costly, not as though it were something which is owned and easily replaceable.
It has been well said, “God don’t make junk!” Everyone and everything around you is of unsurpassable worth because it is the artwork of a divine painter. The world around us is the product of a divine sculpture.
To be honest, though, I think the thing which bothers me the most about this case is that the first thing that Michael Vicks did after being arrested for the terrible treatment of the dogs which he was keeping to fight and bet on, was to say that he had realized the error of his ways and committed his life to Christ.
While God is very available to those who fall into horrible lifestyles and is always willing to forgive us of even the most terrible things, I’m not convinced that is what occurred with Michael Vicks.
Like so many these days, it seems to me at least, that in claiming to have had a change of heart, he rather disingenuously appealed to our better natures. God is interested in showing mercy and He is ready to forgive, but His Word clearly declares that He is also interested in genuine repentance and honest confession.
I am outraged at both the abuse of animals of this case and also of the abuse the message of forgiveness and redemption of the true gospel of Jesus Christ. It has taken me these few months to be able to gather my thoughts and calm my angry soul to be able to speak clearly to these matters.
I hope that Michael Vicks does genuinely regret and repent of his actions, but even more so, I pray daily that our cruel, sin-sickened society will wake up from the slumber of its insanity!
How can we on the one hand declare to be a nation which is a beacon of freedom to the rest of the world and on the other hand be a nation so full of violence and intolerance? How can we
The actions of any who would mistreat a helpless animal, a helpless child, any person or animal who is weaker than themselves, belies a person whose heart is desperate is blackened and in need of transformation.
The person who would break the spirit of any of God’s creatures – be they human or animal alike – is a person who wields a broken spirit himself.
Conclusion
Now, I have been hard on Michael Vicks this morning, and rightfully so, but let us not forget that this message applies not only to a man who has happened to capture the national spotlight because of his fame and notoriety.
This truth of this message also applies to each and every one of us…
Let us be reminded of our duty as stewards of all of the precious things around us; animals, small children, and those who can not defend themselves, for this is the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
