Ep 35: Everybody Wants to Rule the World

In Episode 35 of the Soil & Roots podcast, Brian Fisher finishes the overview of the second key element of formation by exploring the habit of stewarding the earth.

Looking at our relationship to creation and culture, this episode connects the Great Commission with the Cultural Commission in Genesis and asks what it means to multiply, subdue, and rule with God rather than apart from Him.

TRANSCRIPTION

The Habit of Stewarding the Earth

This season, we are taking a look at the Five Key Elements of Formation – the five characteristics that describe every type of community designed to form us into someone else, whether it be marriage, early childhood, the military, educational institutions, AA, or even exercise programs. A friend of mine recently suggested that CrossFit is a powerful example of a purposeful, formative community, and he’s right.

These forms of formative culture exist to varying degrees in both kingdoms – the Kingdom of Darkness and the Kingdom of Light. 

I’ve suggested the Playboy Mansion is one of the best modern examples of a formative community.  Hugh Hefner invited women of a certain type (what he described as “the girl next door”) into his community, and he formed them into exploited sex slaves. The Playboy Mansion system deeply embodies the five key elements: time, habits, community, intimacy, and instruction. 

Hefner created a highly effective, deeply impactful immersive culture of formation, a dark “Greenhouse” if you will.

Today, we’re finishing up our overview of the second element of formation – habits.

There isn’t some grand list of habits or spiritual disciplines to be discovered and mastered. Most Christians are acquainted with well-known habits such as prayer, fasting, corporate worship, service, and Bible reading. Those are all terrific.

Though our Teacher, in His wisdom, seems to enjoy introducing us to all sorts of ways of becoming more like Him, His creativity has no limits.

Habits in Our Four Relationships

Because God has placed us into four relationships, we’ve been looking at habits through that lens. And we’ve really looked at just one habit – the habit of listening.  Listening to God’s voice, listening to the hearts of others, and listening to our own hearts. 

That leaves us with one relationship to explore: our relationship to creation and culture. How does a deep disciple, someone being spiritually formed in an intentional community such as a Greenhouse, practice the habit of “listening” to nature and culture? Sounds a bit weird. 

The Great Commission in Matthew 28 says,

“And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’”^[1]

Make disciples, baptize them (or “immerse them” – hint, hint) into the reality of the triune God, and teach them to observe everything that God commanded.

The First Commission

“Everything that God commanded” means a whole lot of words in a pretty long book.

So, what’s the very first thing God taught us to do? What’s the very first thing God said to any human being in the Bible?

We find that in Genesis 1:28. He has just finished creating Adam and Eve, and the first thing God tells them is their purpose, their “why.”

“God blessed them; and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; 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.”^[2]

The first statement that God gives to mankind is called the “Cultural Commission.” 

“Co-mission” means “mission with,” God tells Adam and Eve their purpose is to multiply, subdue, and rule.

Have babies, make families, communities, cities, and nations.

Subdue – bring order to, form, organize.

And rule the earth, with God.  Our mission is to populate, structure, and rule the earth for human flourishing and goodness…with God.  It’s a wonderful, beautiful, adventurous, co-mission with the Creator.

The Second Commission

Now, just note how the Great Commission in Matthew ends. The very last thing Jesus says before He ascends into heaven is, “I am with you until the end of the age.”  That’s what makes this Second Commission a “co-mission.”  We make disciples “with Jesus.”

You get the sense God really, really wants to be with us. 

Jesus’s Great Commission embodies everything that God has taught us, and the very first thing God taught us to do is to populate the earth, subdue it, and rule it – with Him.

The Second Commission embodies and envelops the First Commission. The Great Commission embodies and assumes the Cultural Commission.

I’m not sure how many modern Christians believe that our primary role is to rule the earth with God, to mold creation and culture for the goodness of mankind with God. 

In many cases, many Christians assume the point is to escape God’s good earth, instead of joining with Him in its restoration. 

We’re Already Doing the First Commission

There’s a popular YouTube channel called ‘The Bible Project.” It’s a series of creative videos that provide high-level overviews of the Bible’s books, themes, and stories.  The two creators of the channel, Dr. Tim Mackie and Jon Collins, also have a podcast, and they made an interesting point there on this Cultural Commission.  In terms of God’s instructions for humans to multiply, subdue, and rule the earth, this is precisely what we’ve done for millennia.[3] 

We have babies, and we form all sorts of families, neighborhoods, communities, societies, cities, and nations.  We form groups around hobbies and interests, around beliefs and passions. 

We subdue.  We tame nature.  We invent, we innovate. 

The automobile is an example of how humans subdue. It’s an invention that allows us greater freedom now than at any time in human history.  We have medicines and hospitals, communications technology, and advances in architecture and engineering.  Humans are constantly taming, forming, inventing, and discovering. It’s who we are.  It’s how God made us. 

And we rule. We steward. We form, we organize, we create structures.  We create beauty in art and music. We discover in science, philosophy, and sociology. We create cities and governments, businesses, and non-profits.  We develop ways to steward ourselves and the natural order.  

So, the question isn’t really if humans should multiply, subdue, and rule.

The question is do we multiply, subdue, and rule as a co-mission or as a solo mission?  Are we multiplying, subduing, and ruling as co-regents with our King, or are we doing those things for ourselves? Are we ruling on behalf of the kingdom of light or the kingdom of darkness?

Welcome back to the Garden of Eden.  

And there’s the obvious problem – when humans multiply and subdue and rule for ourselves, we are spectacularly successful at screwing up, harming, killing, destroying, and annihilating the very communities and structures we’ve just formed. This is true for individuals, marriages, families, communities, and nations, from the woman addicted to painkillers to a country always involved in some sort of territorial war. 

God as the Human King

Here’s one way to summarize the Old Testament: God desiring to be with man, and man continually pushing God away and attempting to take control of themselves. 

In one of the more heartbreaking scenes of the Old Testament, the Israelites demand that God be removed from His position as their king because they want a human king.  Samuel talks to God on their behalf, and

“The Lord said to Samuel, ‘Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them.”^[4]

Israel’s human kings end up, for the most part, being disasters, and the nation splits in two and falls apart. 

But God would not be denied being with us, so He became a human king Himself. And this King announced a new kingdom, a new reality.  His Kingdom took off like a shot and has been growing ever since, though mankind still has a pesky habit of rejecting the “co” in “commission.”

But this side of the ascension, things are radically different.

For example, God’s presence is once again dwelling on earth this side of the cross. Only this time, He’s even closer to us than when He walked with Adam and Eve. 

After the entrance of sin in Genesis 3, God kept returning to dwell with His people – first in the tabernacle and then in the temple.  Then Jesus came and announced that He was God’s dwelling place on earth (the temple).  Then, when He left, He sent the Spirit, and now we are God’s dwelling place on earth.  That’s exactly how Paul describes us.

“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?”^[5]

We are God’s temple. An ever-growing, ever-loving, human community of temples all over the world. 

This is why Dallas Willard says the primary function of the church isn’t evangelism or doctrine or apologetics, as important as those things are. The primary purpose of the church is “to be the dwelling place of God on earth.”[6] Heaven and earth re-joined.  God with us, through us.

We sit at the feet of our Teacher, becoming more like Him, and partner with Him to increase His Kingdom here on earth, to assist Him as He increases the size and influence of His “temple,” as it were. 

If that phrasing sounds familiar to you, it is.  When His disciples asked Jesus how to talk to the Father, He answered with “the Lord’s Prayer.”

What’s the very first request that Jesus instructs us to ask our Father for?  That His Kingdom would come.  To earth, here, as it is in heaven, God’s place.  That Heaven and earth would be rejoined, like it was back in Eden. 

The Habit of Restoring the Earth

So, if each of us is a little temple where God dwells, what should be our habit as it relates to our fourth relationship, creation and culture?

A disciple develops the habit of listening and looking for ways to multiply, subdue, and rule the earth on behalf of our King. 

Let’s break these three words down a bit. 

What does it mean to multiply?

Have Babies.  Physically and Spiritually.

In one sense, it’s obvious.  We have kids.  Children raised in a Christian home are invited to be kingdom builders at a young age.  Most major religions naturally understand and promote that the future of their religion is highly dependent on having lots of children.

Modern technology has put more emphasis on parents determining the number of children they have and when they have them, but the point still stands: any intelligent group of people knows that increasing the population of their group is the primary way that group survives and thrives. 

And in the Great Commission, Jesus carries on the “fill the earth” command of the Cultural Commission and applies it to our spiritual birth.  Let’s go make more and more people who follow Jesus. Multiply, multiply, multiply.

The more people on the earth who follow Jesus, and the more those people have babies who grow up to follow Jesus, the more of God’s “temples” we have on the earth. And the more the Kingdom grows…right here, on earth. 

But the Kingdom isn’t only the church, it’s the entire cosmos. And the church is the primary change-agent by which the Kingdom comes.

To Subdue and Rule

Not only do we multiply, but we also subdue and rule. We steward, we manage.

How does a modern-day disciple subdue and rule the earth on behalf of our King instead of on behalf of our ourselves?

We seek to care for the created order for the benefit of mankind. And we seek to influence all aspects of culture for the Kingdom. All seven mountains. We intend to impact creation and culture for the Kingdom. 

The Kingdom and Culture

Did Jesus do that?  Did he impact all seven mountains? Family, education, business, the arts, media, the church, and the government?

Let’s briefly look at each mountain. 

Family: Did Jesus teach and model how to love well in the family?  Sure, including some great direction on marriage, raising children, and co-existing with other families.  And He modeled extraordinary intimacy with His Father and His friends.  

Education: Did Jesus teach and model how to educate?  Jesus is the most intelligent, wisest teacher ever to walk the planet.  He used nature illustrations, stories, proverbs, real-life examples, parables, humor, grammar, debate tactics, puns, and other techniques to educate the people around him.  And He clearly demonstrated that a primary mission of education is not just to inform, but to form.  To form the human heart.

Business: Did Jesus teach and model how to deal with other people in business?  He was a carpenter, so presumably He created a product and sold it to the public.  And He gave clear instructions on how disciples in His Kingdom are to treat other people economically.  He encouraged integrity, service, and fiscal responsibility in how we engage others.  And He used various business illustrations in His teachings.

Media:  Did Jesus model how a disciple should use media to increase the Kingdom?  I find Jesus to be a media wizard.  He knew how to get His message out and influence people – that’s the primary purpose of media.  He used the tools of His day to birth a movement that has been spreading worldwide ever since.  Jesus is the wisest media executive ever to grace the planet.  He understood His core purpose, His core audience.  He was able to cut through the religious and governmental clutter.

He spoke to mass audiences; He taught in small groups.  He went to local hot spots like the synagogue, and He taught in fields.  He used certain stories, certain phrases, and certain miracles to make His points, knowing they would spread through the communities because He is a master marketer. 

Arts and Entertainment: Did Jesus show us how to increase His Kingdom through piquing our interests and imagination?  If a wonderful purpose for arts and entertainment is to tell stories, make music, create visual arts, and provoke the deeper things of life in us, did Jesus model that?  If the arts are for reminding us of what is good, beautiful, and truthful, did Jesus do that?

Well, again, he was a carpenter, and most people who work with wood have some artistic skills.  Jesus often re-engaged Old Testament stories to capture His audience’s imagination.  He brought up psalms and songs. He painted word pictures and told parables to make his points.   He used props to further draw His audience into His message.  He occasionally and deliberately surprised or shocked His audience to increase appeal.  Seems like He had a deep grasp on how to provoke the deeper things of the heart through art and entertaining devices.

How about the church?  Did Jesus teach and model how to increase the Kingdom through communities of believers?  Hard to argue this one, since it seems He had a great passion for dismantling the harsh, unloving religious institutions of His day.

His strongest criticism was aimed at church leaders, and He had no problem calling them out, in private or in public, for misleading people into legalism and conformity rather than love and freedom. 

And, as we pointed out last episode, He modeled a method of Christian community that seemed bizarre and backwards to many religious leaders – the original Christian immersive community of formation. A bunch of no-name men and women who lived with their master for a few years and then went on to change the world. 

The modern church has lost much of its zeal and passion to increase the Kingdom in some of these mountains. We’re comfortable with some, uncomfortable with others. 

We’re fine with Christian schools for education, or maybe homeschooling. 

There are some great groups around the country that help Christians run their businesses according to Biblical principles. I’ve not seen any strategies for the Kingdom to influence Fortune 500 companies or Wall Street, but perhaps they’re out there, and I just don’t know about them. Someone should work on that, as Amazon, Google, and Facebook are all part of God’s Kingdom. 

Regarding the arts, the church has given some of that up.  Most churches have little vision for the Kingdom as it relates to fashion or sculpting, for good theater or art shows. 

Is Jesus Political?

How about the cultural mountain of government? Some of us unconsciously accept the idea that Jesus was non-political, that His ministry here had nothing to do with politics, and so Christians should have nothing to do with politics, inside or outside of our churches.

That’s a bizarre conclusion, especially if we read the Gospels at face value. 

N.T. Wright wrote, “It is time, and long past time, to reread the gospels as what we can only call political theology – not because they are not after all about God and spirituality and new birth and holiness and all the rest, but precisely because they are.”[7]

The New Testament makes it abundantly clear that Jesus is now the head over all rule and authority, all powers and principalities, all governments, and all social structures.  He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. He wore a crown and a robe at His crucifixion.  Pilate put a sign on the top of the cross that read, “King of the Jews.” 

Jesus wasn’t political?  John the Baptist announced His new Kingdom, which is a political term.  We can’t properly read the Sermon on the Mount without watching Jesus paint a picture of how life in the Kingdom is to be lived, and just how radically different and challenging that was from the accepted political and social ideas and practices of the day. 

The Kingdom of God is most certainly a political reality. And its King is most certainly a political figure.  For some reason, we sing it and say it and proclaim it and pray it, and then sit back and wring our hands when our pastor dares to make a comment about the federal government’s position on something. 

And so, the tension – we desperately want Jesus to be the King of kings, but we somehow find Him incompatible with our governmental systems.

Render to Caesar?

But what about “render to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s?”  Isn’t that the biblical proof-text for keeping church and state entirely separate entities? In fact, doesn’t that phrase make it sound like Caesar has his stuff and God has His?

N.T. Wright wrote, “I think it is safe to say that nobody until the late eighteenth century ever took it like that; in other words, we are hearing in that interpretation the echo of a very different set of voices, those of the European and American Enlightenment and the theory of ‘church and state’ that they developed.”[8]

During the verbal exchange, Jesus cunningly asks His accusers whose image and inscription is on the coin and instructs us to give to Caesar what’s his, and to God what’s His.  Well, what belongs to God?  And why does Jesus ask the question about whose “image” is on the coin, when He knows full well each of us is made in God’s image?

Wright goes on to conclude, “Perhaps it’s time for God – whose image is on every human being and whose ‘inscription’ is written across the pages of creation and the story of Israel – to receive his due.”[9]

Was Jesus promoting the modern concept that our churches aren’t allowed to comment on or be involved in government, or was He signaling that the time had come for the world to recognize that it all belongs to God, including governments?

A deep disciple practices the habit of listening and seeks opportunities to heal, redeem, and restore in the created order and across all seven mountains of culture.  Because it all belongs to Jesus, our King. 

The Practical Kingdom Life

Ok, so what does this look like in modern life?  How do a deep disciple and a Greenhouse heal, redeem, and restore in creation and culture?

The first question is, “Are we listening for these opportunities?” Do we intend to look for ways to grow the Kingdom through culture? Do we get up every morning intending on stewarding God’s good creation on His behalf? Because every day we’re working on someone’s Kingdom. 

This doesn’t mean we’re all leaving our careers to head for full-time ministry, do missions work in Africa, or run for Congress. Although a few of you should really run for Congress.

I’ve worked in ministry at times during my career, and inevitably someone would walk up to me after I finished speaking at an event and say how fortunate I was to be in “full-time Christian work.” 

Typically, I would ask the person what they did.  Maybe they were a teacher or an engineer, an accountant, a stay-at-home mom, or a barista. 

Then I’d ask them this question, “Why is what I do more important or more holy than what you do?”

A teacher forms the minds of young people, bringing structure and organization and helping them think and relate. That’s the Kingdom.

An engineer protects humankind from harm by safely designing everything from electrical circuits to bridges, from software to furniture.  They bring order to chaos, safety from danger. That’s the Kingdom.

An accountant forms information into bite-sized chunks that the rest of us can understand.  They bring organization from disorganization.  They provide clarity amid confusion. That’s the Kingdom, and thank God some people actually like accounting.

A stay-at-home mom is arguably the most formative person in her children’s lives.  The day-in, day-out mundane tasks of motherhood may seem unimportant and, in our day, even derided in some places.  But is there a higher calling than forming the heart of a little image-bearer of God? That’s the Kingdom.

How about a barista?  They take disorganized, sometimes disparate ingredients and combine them into something pleasurable and helpful to fellow humans.  Kingdom.

It’s the same for someone who bakes or cooks. They organize what was disorganized, combine things that are sometimes otherwise distasteful, and create a culinary work of art from odd-looking ingredients, most of which come out of the dirt. Is that not the definition of stewardship?

Except cilantro.  Cilantro is irredeemable. It’s the spawn of Satan.

Remember, we’re all fulfilling a Cultural Mission right now.  The question isn’t whether we’re multiplying, subduing, and ruling in a kingdom – the question is “whose kingdom are we building?”

So, in our day-to-day routine, whatever it is, are we consciously intending, desiring to grow Jesus’ Kingdom through healing, redeeming, restoring, multiplying, subduing, and ruling? 

Are we listening and looking for opportunities to create beauty, promote goodness, and proclaim truth wherever we are?  To honor our King, to serve others, to promote human flourishing, to confront injustice, to conquer evil. To do the types of things that Jesus did.

______

Obviously, there’s more to explore on habits than can ever fit into a podcast, but hopefully these last few episodes have whetted your appetite for learning and practicing some new spiritual disciplines.   

Perhaps you or your Greenhouse is thinking about trying some new ones.  You may venture into confession or fasting, or you may practice listening to others’ hearts.  The point is to specify the habits you wish to try, seek the counsel of the Holy Spirit, and approach them as a group with humility and lots of grace.  Remember, the journey to become more like Jesus takes time. And as you test and experiment with various habits, your Greenhouse will discover what’s helpful and what you may want to put aside for a while.

Thanks for listening! If you like the podcast, share the podcast!  And don’t forget, most of the episodes are transcribed on the blog, so you can read them at your leisure. For more information, check out www.soilandroots.org and email me at fish@soilandroots.org.  We’ll see you next time. 

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^[1] New American Standard Bible: 1995 update (Mt 28:18–20). (1995). The Lockman Foundation.

^[2] New American Standard Bible: 1995 update (Ge 1:28). (1995). The Lockman Foundation.

[3] Collins, J., & Mackie, T (Creators). (2016, March 12). Image of God, Part III: The Garden Was Not Perfect Ep 12 [Audio Podcast episode.] Bible Project Podcast. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bibleproject/id1050832450?i=1000364710626

^[4] New American Standard Bible: 1995 update (1 Sa 8:7). (1995). The Lockman Foundation.

^[5] New American Standard Bible: 1995 update (1 Co 6:19). (1995). The Lockman Foundation.

[6] https://dwillard.org/articles/rethinking-evangelism

[7]Wright, N.T. (2012). How God Became King: The Forgotten Story of the Gospels (p 140). Harper One.

[8]Wright, N.T. (2012). How God Became King: The Forgotten Story of the Gospels (p 148). Harper One. 

[9] Wright, N.T. (2012). How God Became King: The Forgotten Story of the Gospels (p 150). Harper One.