Stewardship: Creation
The Rev. Thom Smith / Trinitytide, 2023, Issue 8
The First Man was a steward. (By definition, a steward is someone who engages in a careful, responsible management of something entrusted to his care.) His stewardship was both a gift and a burden. This man was placed within a good creation to steward or husband it. That creation, though "very good," was not perfect. It was created with the potential of perfectibility. This is seen in the fact that the whole world was not a "garden" but a wilderness. The garden was the special creation of God within the creation. The man was placed in the garden to till and keep it, that is, to improve and preserve it- to steward and husband it. The implication of this, in light of Genesis 1:26-28, is that God's purpose was to make the whole wild world into a garden. Eden is the Test Ground. Improvement of the potential would come from ingenuity and work.
While the Fall and the subsequent Curse affect the earth environmentally ("thorns and thistles shall it bring forth"), the fallen creation is still "good" I Timothy 4:4. And in this fallen, but good creation, man's gift and burden are still that of a steward. The gift and burden of Genesis 1:26-28 is reiterated in Genesis 9. Thus, our present role before this Divine gift and burden is that of stewards. "...the earth hath he given to the children of men." Psalm 115:16. The gift of stewardship means that we can and must use and enjoy the creation, I Timothy 4:4,5; 6:17 with Psalm 104:14,15. There is no Gnostic asceticism in this stewardship- no false puritanism. The earth and its produce are God's gifts given for our enjoyment and refreshment. "[God] likes matter. He invented it." C.S. Lewis
The burden of this stewardship is work, labor, and often labor that comes with "the sweat of our brow." This is underscored in the Sabbath Commandment, Exodus 20:9, in the praise of work and condemnation of laziness in the Wisdom literature, in the ministry of Jesus, John 5:17, and in the ministry of the Apostles, I Corinthians 15:10. Indeed, the Christian life itself is repeatedly described in terms of "good works," Ephesians 2:10, Titus 2:14 and others. Those who will not work for their living are not to live off of the work of others, II Thessalonians 3:10. The good life, the prosperous life, the happy life is a life of work. And, how, we may ask, is this gift and burden of stewardship to be carried on and carried out? Let me suggest a few things that the nature and history of the human race suggest.
Ingenuity
This is the creativity of the human brain. Man plans plots, invents, and resolves problems through creative, ingenious thinking. From the beginning, man devised inventive ways to cope with his environment, as, for example, in the knapping of flint and the making of bread. From those early, simple technologies to our day of high tech (as in the computer I am typing this on), man's image-bearing ingenuity has developed the hidden potentialities of the original creation.
Science
This ingenuity has produced science, the knowledge of things. It comes from man's innate curiosity, his drive for inquiry, and his success and delight in discovery. Science is thus an intrinsic feature of stewardship.
Art
The art impulse is as irrepressible as the sexual or gustatory impulse of the human critter. From the beginning, the inquirer (scientist) was the maker of beauty (artist). From the beginning, man was a painter, sculptor, and adorner of things. This is carried out by observation, imitation, and innovation. The earliest artists who painted on cave walls observed with minute attention men and beasts. They imitated those observations in their drawings. But, more, they innovated in depicting men and animals, not in strictly naturalistic ways, but by distorting reality to please and to make specific points of emphasis. The contemporary artist does the same.
Conservation
Man is a natural conservationist. He preserves things through breeding and reproduction, through the preservation of seeds and plants, and through the protection of water and other natural resources. He does this out of his survival instinct. To be sure, man, because of greed and malice, is also a destroyer. Thus, God gave Israel laws related to the Sabbath concerning the land and its crops, Leviticus 23, 25,26, to limit and constrain man's destructive tendencies. But, the steward, in order to be faithful, must be concerned with and engaged in conservation- the keeping and healing of the earth and its produce.
On the basis of this theology of creation and stewardship, the Christian can view his life and engage in his work (whatever kind of work that is!) with purpose and joy. He can do whatever he does with all his might and with joy "as unto the Lord." Ecclesiastes and Ephesians 6:7. When this happens, we become the complete and fulfilled human beings we were created to be. This is surely a part of what Saint Irenaeus meant when he wrote, "The human being fully alive is the glory of God."
The Rev. Thomas N. Smith is an ordained presbyter in the Reformed Episcopal Church, Chaplain at the Edgemere Community in Dallas, Texas, and works at The Saint Timothy School at the Chapel of the Cross, Dallas. He is an accomplished painter, woodworker, and educator.
