Example A

Title: “Christ as Servant King” (or “Dominion as Servanthood”)

Texts:

• Colossians 1:15-17 "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created... all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together."
• Matthew 20:28 "... the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
• Genesis 1:28 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."

Central Idea:
Interpreted Christologically, and in the context of the entire Biblical story, dominion means to rule by serving with mercy, justice, and compassion.

Sermon Content:
1. Christ Is Exulted

In Colossians 1, Christ is proclaimed the:

a) image of the invisible God;
b) the creator in whom all things hold together;
c) Reconciler of all things (verse 20).

Reflect on what this says about our Christology, about the extent of God's love and purview, etc.

2. Christ Is King

a) we proclaim Christ as "King of Kings and Lord of Lords." Kings are given dominion.
b) Christ's model of kingship, of leadership, is that of being a servant -- see Matthew 20:28. Christ's model is best seen on the cross.

3. Dominion As Service

a) In the Old Testament, in Hebrew culture, kings had dominion. But a good Hebrew king was one who exercised dominion with mercy, justice, and compassion.
b) Following Christ's example, and the Hebrew connotation of the word dominion, we are to exercise dominion with mercy, justice, and compassion -- as servants of creation.
c) Furthermore, Christ's redemptive work on behalf of all things (Colossians 1) forever reminds us of the value God places on creation.

4. Biblical Themes Sometimes Forgotten

a) Earthkeeping: in Genesis 2:15 God places us in the garden to, most literally, "serve and keep physiologically" the garden;
b) Sabbath: in Leviticus chapters 25 and 26, God commands the Israelites to let the land rest every seventh year; what does this say about God's relationship with the land?
c) Fruitfulness: the first creatures given the commandment to "be fruitful and multiply?" The birds and the fish, see Genesis 1: 22. What does this tell us about God's concern for and relationship with other species?
d) Christ as redeemer of all: John 3:16 (For God so loved the cosmos); Colossians 1: 15-20.
e) Many of the Psalms speak of all creation, human and non-human, joining as one in praising God: Psalm 148.

[Points a, b, and c were taken from Calvin DeWitt's EarthWise, chapter 3.]

Illustration/Quotation:

• "God writes the Gospel, not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars." Martin Luther
• "The creation is quite like a spacious and splendid house, provided and filled with the most exquisite and the most abundant furnishings. Everything in it tells us of God." John Calvin
• "God is not identified with the world, for he made it; but God is not separate from His world either. For He made it." Joseph Sittler

Example B

Sermon Title: “Christ Sustains the Universe”

Text: Hebrews 1:3

Central Idea:

Jesus Christ created the Universe and is at this very moment “sustaining all things by his powerful word” (Hebrews 1:3, NIV; see also Heb. 1:2; Jn. 1:3; Col. 1:16; 1 Cor. 8:6). Thus, all of the energy of the Universe comes from Christ. As Christians our lives are about using the energy Christ gives us to do God’s will. Whether that energy comes from the food we eat or from the electricity that heats our homes or the fuel that powers our vehicles, it should not result in harm to what Christ loves. We are to take the energy that Christ freely gives us and use it to fulfill the Great Commandments.

Sermon Content:
1. Christ as the Sustainer

a) “And God said, `Let there be light,’ and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness” (Gen. 1:3-4, NIV).
b) Sunlight is indeed good. All life on earth is dependent on the light from the Sun. All energy on earth comes directly from the Sun or is stored sunlight.
c) Enough sunlight reaches the earth's surface each year to produce approximately 1,000 times the same amount of energy produced by burning all fossil fuels mined and extracted during the same time period.
d) The Gospel of John tells us where this light comes from - Jesus Christ. “All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people” (Jn. 1:3-4, NRSV).
e) At every moment all the energy in the universe is supplied by Jesus Christ, who is “sustaining all things by his powerful word,” (Heb. 1:3, NIV).
f) From a biblical perspective, both physical light (and life) and spiritual light (and life) come from the same source - Jesus Christ.

2. Energy Freely Given to do God’s Will

a) The energy Christ nurishes the Universe with is provided for one purpose - to do God’s will.
b) God’s will is to fulfill the Great Commandments to love God and love what God loves (Mk. 12:30-31).
c) We should not use the energy Christ gives to cause harm to what Christ loves.

3. The Burning of Fossil Fuels Results in Pollution that Hurts Others

See the Clean Energy Fact Sheet

4. What Can We Do?

a) Use energy more efficiently (see “What You Can Do”).
b) Switch to cleaner energy sources (see Clean Energy Fact Sheet).
c) Support policies that promote clean energy (see the Spring 2000 and Winter 2002 issues of Creation Care magazine for background).

Example C

Sermon Title: “The Invitation of a Lifetime” (or “And the Truth Shall Set You Free”)

Text: Mark 10:17-27

Central Idea:

Jesus invites the rich young man to freedom -- to that which would set him free and enable him to become a disciple. Jesus speaks the truth in love. By any worldwide standard, Americans too are people of great wealth. Our wealth and highly consumptive habits place a heavy burden on the earth and on the poor, surely, but also on our own lives.

Sermon Content:
1. What's Happening Today?

• One billion people lack access to safe drinking water.
• Today, 50-100 species, species, of plants or animals will go extinct -- and tomorrow 50-100 more, and the next day. This rate of extinction is 10,000 times faster than natural extinction rates. The cause of such extinctions? Human activity.
• The United Nations recent "Global Environmental Outlook 2000" report states that the rate at which humans are destroying the environment is accelerating, often because of excessive consumption by the rich.
• The average morsel of food travels 1,200 miles to reach our plates.
• The United Nations reports that the disparity of wealth between the world's richest and poorest countries yawned from a ratio of 44-to-1 in 1973 to 727-to-1 in 1997.
• American chief executive officers get paid 419 times more than line workers. And those workers in the last 25 years have seen their wages go down 10 percent.

2. The Rich Young Man

a) In the foreward to the book Simpler Living, Compassionate Life: A Christian Perspective, author Bill McKibben poignantly reflects on the rich young man. McKibben says: "the story has never stopped haunting me, and as I've grown older I've seen that it involves much more than a moral diktat. For one thing, in my work as an environmentalist I've come to understand the kind of burden our accumulation places on the planet. But much more fundamentally, I've come to understand the kind of burden it places on our lives... seen in that way, Christ's admonition to the rich young man is less a stern commandment than a piece of loving advice. The young man went away sorrowfully, and we do not hear from him again. But perhaps as he aged he began to understand more fully the wisdom he had heard from Jesus in that short encounter, and perhaps he began to rearrange his life, to cut down the dense shrubbery of wealth and privilege that kept him from contact with the world, with God, with his own soul."

b) McKibben goes on to acknowledge that the encounter between Christ and the young man was a very painful one; it was also a tender one he says. Because remember, Jesus looked at the young man and loved him -- loved him enough that he did not trim his message. This love led Jesus to ask more of people than they thought they could ever give.

3. Time for Reflection

a) You might reflect on ways in which wealth and privilege can keep us from contact/relationship with God, with others, with ourselves, and with the earth.
b) We read the Gospels and are constantly reminded of Christ's passion for justice and the poor. How and when does our affluence enable us to express such concern? When does it not? How is our affluence connected to others' poverty?
c) You might reflect on ways in which wealth and privilege keep us bound -- keep us from the freedom Jesus offers.

Illustration/Quotation:
"And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." (Micha 6:8)

Example D

Sermon Title: "Things too Wonderful"

Text: Job 38-42, especially 42:1-4

Central Idea:
In the midst of Job's deep suffering, God speaks to him of the wild majesty of the creation.

Sermon Content:
After all that Job had suffered, it is interesting to note that God's "answer" is a poetic description of the creation. Study the passage for your own conclusions, but God's point may be that:

a) We Need a Focus. Suffering tends to turn us inward and preoccupy us with personal concerns. Creation gives us the "big picture."
b) We Need Humility. God used the majesty of creation to put Job in his proper context. God has his own ways and plans (Job 42: 2).
c) We Need God More Than We Need Anything Else, Even Healing (Job 42:5).
d) (From " Biblical Roots: A Pastor's Sermon-Writing Kit," published by the Evangelical Environmental Network)

Example E

Sermon Title: The Great Physician of Body and Soul

Key Texts: Mt. 8:16b-17 and 1 Pet. 2:24; cf. Isa. 53:4-5; Mk. 2:1-12

1. Introduction
a) Illustration (see below)
b) Highlight environmental health facts (see Quick Facts and References)
c) biblically, human health = physical, spiritual, emotional, mental (e.g., resurrection); physical illness impacts the whole person
d) environmental pollution impacts human health in all its dimensions

2. Christ Makes Life Possible - and Abundant
a) Christ, creates, sustains, and reconciles all things (Col. 1:17, 19; Heb. 1:2-3; Jn. 1:1-4)
b) Jesus came to bring abundant life (Jn. 10:10b)

3. Jesus’ Earthly Healing Ministry
a) approximately one third of Jesus’ ministry was devoted to bodily healing (Mt. 9:35)
b) the healing stories vividly display humanity at our neediest; people are desperate for healing for themselves or loved ones (Mk. 3:9-10; Mk. 6:53-59; Lk. 6:19; Mt. 15:29-39);
c) just as grace is available to all, Jesus heals everyone who comes to him, including the dispossessed and despised (Mk. 1:40-42, 5:25-34), and the hated (Mt. 8:5-13); he cures on the Sabbath in the face of dangerous opposition (Lk. 13:10-17; 14:1-6)

4. The Great Physician of Body and Soul
a) the NT understands Christ to be the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53
b) Mt. 8:16-17 and 1 Pet. 2:24 (cf. Isa. 53:4-5) proclaim that Jesus as the Suffering Servant heals both body and soul; Jesus combines both in the simultaneous forgiveness of the paralytic’s sins with the healing of his body (Mk. 2:1-12)
c) the climax of Jesus’ healing ministry is the crucifixion; his blood heals our souls

5. Pollution and Christ
a) pollution hurts others, especially the most vulnerable (see Quick Facts and References); therefore, pollution hurts Christ (Mt. 25:44-45)
b) would Jesus find it acceptable that 1 in 3 Americans live in an area with unhealthy air? that asthma deaths have gone up by 45% since 1985? that African-Americans are three times as likely to die of asthma as whites? that 11 million children die each year from avoidable environmental health threats?

6. Everyone Needs the Great Physician
a) serious physical illness leaves a person vulnerable and in need of healing (Mk. 6:56b; Ps. 6:2)
b) our sinful souls in need of grace are like the lepers of Jesus’ day in need of bodily healing (Rom. 3:10, 23); we need his grace to empower us to live the lives he calls us to (Rom. 6:11);
c) the Great Physician, healer of body and soul, calls us to work with him to create a more healthy world by reducing pollution.