Fill the earth

God blessed them and said to them,
‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.’   Genesis 1:28 (NIV)

‘Therefore go and make disciples of all nations…’   Matthew 28:19 (NIV)

 Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Fill the earth

I love it when I discover another piece of the jigsaw, another way in which Christian theology holds together, or I see how the parts of the Bible fit together.  Admittedly, it’s usually when I read what someone else has discovered.  Once again, this is an insight from Christopher Watkin in his stimulating book Biblical Critical Theory (please don’t worry about the title!), although he reveals that he learned it from someone else.

Have you noticed what the two verses at the top have in common (apart from both having the number 28 in the reference)?  The first is God’s command to the first human beings he created when he made the world.  The second is Jesus’ command to his disciples after he has risen from the dead.  The first is a command for people to make more people, while the second is a command for disciples to make more disciples.  Or, as Watkin puts it rather more poetically, “Adam and Eve, made in God’s image, are to make more images.  Jesus’s followers, having been made disciples, are to make more disciples.”  Simples.

He also points out how both commands are made with enormous authority.  The command to Adam and Eve comes with all the authority of the “God [who has just] created mankind in his own image” (Genesis 1:27).  The command to the disciples comes from the risen Lord Jesus who can say, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28:18).  In both cases, that is a lot of authority!  There is no other authority which can mount a challenge to either of them.

What does all this mean?  It means that God loves people.  He really loves them, and he wants there to be lots of them.  He wants the earth to be filled with people, and he wants the new creation to be filled with disciples.  And if we love God we will want the same things.  We will rejoice when a baby is born, and we will rejoice when a new disciple is made.

It also means it is pretty clear what the church should be about: we are to “make disciples.”  Those are our standing orders “to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20), which is when Jesus himself returns.  That is the task for us to be engaged in, whether it is in our homes, at church on Sundays, in our various small groups, with friends or colleagues – in fact, any time, any place, anywhere.

O God, you are the author of life.  All life comes from you, both life in this world and life in the world to come.  Teach me to value life and live it well, and help me to bring life to others.  Amen.

Yours warmly, in Christ,

Chris Hobbs (Senior Minister)