As second speaker in the 1997 January Series, Calvin DeWitt brought the importance of stewardship to center stage.
Because of the many abuses of God’s creation occurring today, it is every Christian’s responsibility to follow Christ’s example and protect his world, according to DeWitt.
Though it would be easy to separate God the Creator from Jesus the Redeemer, seeing Christ as the only road to heaven, DeWitt stresses that God made the world through Christ. When Christ became flesh, he intended to deliver not only humankind but creation. Put simply, to the creator of matter, matter matters.
DeWitt used a parable expanding the title of his lecture, Praising Rembrandt but Despising his Paintings, to show that it is inconsistent to claim to love God while not caring for his creation.
Following the style of his book Earth-Wise: A Biblical Response to Environmental Issues, DeWitt structured his lecture after seven abuses which are not limited to the owners of large industrial enterprises. They included: degradation of plant and animal life leading to extinction, disruptions of the energy conversion between the earth and the sun, deforestation of rain-forests, water-degradation, global toxification, and human and cultural degradation.
From that point on, DeWitt departed from the outline of his book.
He cited biblical commands and procedures for humankind to follow in preserving the earth. The Bible, he said, is an ecological book. As Adam was called to serve and to keep the Garden of Eden in Genesis, so we are responsible to serve and keep the earth.
DeWitt went on to emphasize that God so loved the world" (John 3:16) and that in Christ all things were created (Colossians). In this context, we understand that it is our responsibility to serve and keep the earth in its fullness, DeWitt said.
Keeping the earth in its fullness is the first of three earth-keeping principles; the other two are fruitfulness and the Sabbath. Like the first, they both encourage people to abandon the idea that preserving the world means only maintaining humanity. Humans were not the first to be told to be fruitful and multiply, DeWitt reminded his audience; creation preceded us.
Likewise, the Sabbath was not made solely for humans; if we give the land no rest, we cannot expect it to yield good produce.
Our adherence to these three guidelines now will significantly impact the future, DeWitt concluded.