Easter with Rick Warren
April 15, 2009
This Holy Weekend, Fox News broadcast “Easter with Rick Warren.” Pastor Warren delivered a sweeping version of salvation history to hundreds of thousands of viewers. That’s a good thing.
The sermon was quite solid, but I’d like our new national pastor to re-examine the fate of the Earth.
He referred to
(1) the goodness of God’s creation (check);
(2) the fact that sin has produced a “broken planet” (check);
(3) Warren noted the biblical “groaning” of creation (check);
(4) Jesus’s life, death, and most importantly resurrection was described as a turning point in history (big check);
but while Pastor Rick wanted his audience to know that God has eternal plans for them, he said that God “does not have long range plans for the Earth” (hold the phone!).
Now most of his major points were presented with some biblical backup blasted onto the TV screen, but this statement was scripture-less. Admittedly, it was a passing reference as his major theme was the salvation history for mankind. Throw-away line or not, the Earth is a pretty big thing to literally throw away without a verse.
Ironically, shortly after making the statement, Warren quoted Romans 8: 19 – 21 and put it up on the screen
Romans 8:19-21 (New Living Translation)
19 For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. 20 Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, 21 the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay.
To my ears, that sounds like a pretty good long term plan for the Earth and all the rest of creation. And the last time I checked, the “world” (kosmos in Greek) that God so loved and sent his Son to save includes more than just homo sapiens.
Warren later emphasized the coming new heaven and new earth. This is true and good news. But, as some wise person said [unfortunately, I can't remember who]: “Jesus said ‘I make all things new’ not ‘I make all new things.’” (See Revelation 21:5)
Romans 8:21 suggests that the future of creation is similar to the future of our bodies. Yes, our bodies are flawed, damaged by sin, and will temporarily decay with the passing of time after our death. But our resurrection, like that of Christ, will be a bodily resurrection. As with Christ, we will have a new, better form—but it will still be a form.
Christ was recognizable and very much physical. He was not, and we will not be, amorphous spirits, life-forces, or drops that simply joins the ocean of the universe. My resurrected body will still have a relationship to my body of today. Likewise, the new earth will still have elements of the present earth. How all this works in practice is indeed a grand mystery, but it seems quite clear that we and all of creation are not headed for nothingness.
If Warren had a verse in mind when he declared there are “no long range plans” for the earth, it might have been II Peter 3:10. However, that text is probably best read not as an annihilating blaze, but as a refining fire that exposes the earth’s true essence minus its impurities.
N.T. Wright was on to something when he told Christianity Today the following:
CT: How does the doctrine of the resurrection affirm the goodness of creation?
NT: This absolutely central. In both the Jewish circles where resurrection was firmly believed, moving on towards the rabbis, and in early Christianity, both in the New Testament and in the second-century fathers, where you get resurrection, it goes very closely with two things—a doctrine of the goodness of creation and a doctrine of the justice and ultimate judgment of God. Judgment is not just negative, but also positive. Judgment is God’s putting the world to rights.
If death is the dissolution of this body, never to be reassembled, then death has succeeded in saying present creation is bad and is going to be abandoned. But resurrection says, No. Present creation is good. It is corruptible and transient, not least because of sin, but God, having dealt with sin in the cross of Jesus Christ, will deal with corruption. And the result therefore must be the reaffirmation of the good creation, including the reaffirmation of human bodies.
(More on these themes here.)
The good news is that even if Rick Warren thinks the Earth won’t be sticking around, he is still on board with taking care of it in the here and now. As one of the most prominent signers of the Evangelical Climate Initiative, Warren took a bold and important stand on behalf of God’s creation. His Saddleback Church is taking other steps to improve their stewardship as well.
The even better news is that Warren’s good works today might actually have lasting significance. When we pray “thy will be done on earth” and when we let God work through us to answer that prayer, something real is happening.
Undoubtedly, the work will not be finished until Christ comes again, but introducing people to Jesus now, seeking justice now, caring for the sick now, feeding the hungry now, protecting the creatures God created from extinction now, and generally alleviating creation’s groaning now are not just ways that we “play house” before leaving for our true spiritual home.
No, this is our real home, set for a major remodeling in the future, but part of that future is now. The good news is that God has long range plans to which all of creation can indeed look forward joyfully.
This weekend, I wrote a check to an environmental organization working to save a particularly wonderful piece of creation. In the memo line I wrote, “Easter—Good news for all creation!” I believe that. And I believe that the work we do to care for creation does indeed, in ways I do not fully understand, have eternal value.
John Murdock is a natural resources attorney in Washington D.C. You can read his blog at http://republicantreehugger.blogspot.com
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I came to this piece through Carl Safina’s web page…I was at Saddleback Church for Easter visiting my sister-in -law’s home for the holiday. I didn’t think Rick Warren missed the mark …I thought in explaining the Mystery of the universe and God’s plan, he nailed it. And I am a conservationist…looking for our stewardship responsiblilty to sustain God’s creation. In opening his sermon, Rick said ” God made it all” and he spoke of the heavens declaring the glory of God, the beauty of nature, the diversity of life( he mentioned 60,000 species of beetles- I actually think the number is or will be much higher)…with no fear of science ” the more science study’s nature the more we appreciate God”…history is God’s story….This reminded me of what I liked about Warren’s book the ” Purpose Driven Life” ….even though it was only a couple of sentences in one paragraph, he acknowledged that some people ( me ) get inspired by nature to appreciate God’s creation and to become good stewards of it. They find God through their appreciation and enjoyment of nature.
I felt like Rick was speaking to me directly…about nature and universe and my desire to understand and appreciate it and how that helps you understand and appreciate God and his love for us and for me. That in creating the universe, he did it perfectly…so that live might exist on our planet…the earth’s axis moved any way and there would be no liife