People of the Land sermon guide

C H U R C H O F T H E R E D E E M E R
People of
the Land
C O M M U N I T Y G R O U P S T U D Y G U I D E
About the Series
Questions
Digging Deeper
Why this and why now?
Provoking Thought
and Wonder
Where do we go from here?

3
About the Series
5
The Creation Project
– Judson Van Wyck
7
Singing Redemption
– Lena Van Wyck
8
The Cry of Injustice
– Alan Hawkins
9
Jesus and New Creation
– Benjamin Wall
10
Paul and The New Adam
– Steve Breedlove
11
The (Re)Creation
Project
– Jason Myers
12
Digging Deeper
Where Do We Go From Here?
14
How We Participate:
Our Farm

CHURCH OF THE REDEEMER
About the
Series
The story of the Bible is rooted in time and
place from Genesis through Revelation. It's
hard to turn anywhere in scripture and not
find a place, a people, a town or village, or a
description of some physical reality. The
Bible teems with agricultural metaphors, vivid
descriptions of human flourishing, and of
course don't forget the first story in the
Bible starts in a Garden!
Rather than being a periphery concern, the
Bible places the land, agriculture, and the
created world right in the very center of the
story God is telling and runs as a common
thread throughout the entire story.
Likewise, we find ourselves rooted in time
and place. Greensboro, NC is not just a
random spot on the globe for any of us, it is
our home, our community, the world that we
know.
So how do our stories connect to the Biblical
story? How is God redeeming us and his
world through the resurrection of Jesus? This
Easter series is aimed at exploring this
important topic of how Christians live in and
with the created world. This series walks
through the Biblical narrative (Gen-Rev) and
shows how creation plays an important part
in the story God is telling.
It is our whole-hearted prayer that this series
grows in you a love of the Triune God and the
creation he has wonderful gifted and placed
us in.
– Jason Myers & Lena Van Wyk

God
is
radically
committed
to his
CREATION

4.8.18 – JUDSON VAN WYCK
The Creation Project
Genesis invites us into a new way of seeing the world
and seeing our place in God's creation. We are but a
part of the big project that God has undertaken and we
are meant to work with and not against God's creation
project. God's world is his world and he has gifted us a
task to join him in creating. Our goal is to see creation
how God sees it.
As God's stewards of his creation we are accountable
to him for how we use our world. God creates a
universe teeming with abundance and potential and as
image bearers we are to reflect God's love his created
world and respect our place in it. This beautiful world is
a gift of God to us and we are to steward it in ways
God deems honorable. The world is not only their for
our own destructive ends, but to be the place and focus
of redemption.
Questions to Consider
1. What aspects of the Genesis story stand out to you?
Does the story in Genesis challenge ways we've thought
about God's creation? What new ideas emerge?
2. Judson talked about the key words "to till and to
cultivate" in Genesis, how do we practice cultivation
today?
3. How do we think either too highly or too lowly of our
roles within creation? What are some practical
implications we can avoid the errors of both?
4. How does the emphasis in Genesis on the value of all
creation challenge contemporary approaches to
environmental and economic issues?

"EVERYTHING
WE SEE, TOUCH, FEEL,
AND TASTE CARRIES
WITHIN IT THE
RYTHMS OF
'AND GOD SAID
...AND IT WAS SO
...AND IT WAS GOOD.'
WE ARE MORE DEEPLY
IN AND AT HOME
IN THE CREATION
THAN EVER"
E U G E N E P E T E R S O N

4.15.18 – LENA VAN WYCK
Singing Redemption
In the context of the Old Testament, Israel given the
land as a gift to be stewarded. They are reminded over
and over again of this great divine task with the divine
gift. Ancient Israel is called to reflect God's purposes
for the land and not their own. They are commissioned
by God to make the land teem and sing with creative
potential.
All of this is a gracious gift from God to steward the
land and allow it to flourish under their care, not only
for themselves but for the world as well. The Eden task
(Gen 1-2) is not abandoned, but extended through
Israel's care.
To this end, the Old Testament commits itself, its
songs, and its worship to clarifying this central task.
Questions to Consider
1. How were the Israelites called to care for the land
and how might Christians today carry on a similar
vocation?
2. How might the principle of restraint reflected in the
treatment of the land be important to our treatment of
the earth today?
3.How does Sabbath rest connect
4. What does it look like today to "spread a table in the
wilderness?" What does this imagery evoke in you?
5. How does God's anger at Ancient Israel's treatment
of the land apply to us today? Would God be angry
today?

4.22.18 –ALAN HAWKINS
The Cry of Injustice
The story of God's people in the land did not always go
as planned. Despite the divine gift and vocation, they
often failed to maintain God's creation purpose for the
land. The prophets of Ancient Israel arose to offer a
penetrating and sometimes devastating critique of how
the land and those connected to the land had both been
mistreated.
Amos' says that his people have neglected the Sabbath
principle and this leads to a mistreatment of the poor.
God shows his care and concern for the land by his
critique of his people. How do God's concerns in Amos'
day extend to us as well. Where are prophets crying out
against injustice today?
Questions to Consider
1. Is it surprising that God is angered at the
mistreatment of the land? Where might God's anger be
stirred today?
2. How does Amos' critique relate to us today? Do we
place economic concerns over creational concerns?
What imagery might Amos use today to convey this
concept to us?
3. Amos is concerned that mistreatment of the land is
also a mistreatment of those connected to it. How do
people also suffer today as a result of mismanagement
of agricultural resources?
4. Where are there places in our world today that cry
out for a prophetic critique of injustice? Do you feel a
call to voice this concerns?

"WE MUST ABANDON
ARROGANCE AND
STAND IN AWE.
WE MUST RECOVER
THE SENSE OF THE
MAJESTY OF
CREATION, AND THE
ABILITY TO BE
WORSHIPFUL IN ITS
PRESENCE."
W E N D E L L B E R R Y

4.29.18 –BENJAMIN WALL
Jesus and New Creation
Perhaps the largest affirmation of the goodness of the
created world is the incarnation of Jesus. God taking on
human flesh and walking this earth is God's sign to us
that creation matters. Throughout Jesus' ministry we
see his care and concern for the physical needs of
others. He provides food and healing to those he meets
and gives a glimpse into a new creation. In his prayer
that he taught us, we are to pray for God's kingdom to
come "on earth" as it is in heaven. The gospels show us
that this King and his kingdom is one of abundance and
restoration of God's good world.. Jesus shows us how
to relate to one another and to this world in true
humanity.
There's little wonder then, why Paul the apostle would
call Jesus, "The New Adam."
Questions to Consider
1. How does Jesus inform our understanding of the
goodness of creation?
2. Why does creation benefit from the redemption
Jesus brings?
3. How do the actions of Jesus, his miracles and activity
on behalf of others, inform how we live for the kingdom
today?
4.What use is it if Jesus is the bread of life and people
are starving?
5. Did Jesus care about the created world?

5.6.18 – STEVE BREEDLOVE
Paul and the New Adam
Paul takes the theme of land and ties it into the new
creation that is kicked off with Jesus' resurrection as
the New Adam. Paul celebrates the global reach of
God's concern for his land that includes the whole
world. Paul highlights that God is at work through
Christ to reconcile "all things" in heaven and on earth.
The created world is not outside the redemption God
has in store, it too longs for redemption along with us
(Rom 8:19-22).
Jesus looms large in this re-creation project as a "new
Adam" he fulfilled all that humanity was supposed to do
not just in relating to God but to the world as well.
Renewal is at the heart of God's creation project and
Paul and the earliest Christians saw themselves as a
part of this large project.
Questions to Consider
1. If the 'new creation' started with the resurrection of
Jesus, how is that working itself out in the here and
now?
2. How does being a part of 'new creation' shape our
living today as Christians not only in interpersonal
relationships, but also in our relationship to the created
world?
3. How do we understand the 'groaning' of creation? In
what ways might we have contributed to this
groaning? What is humanity called to do in response to
this groaning?
4. How does our farm and our involvement reflect the
new creation principle?

"WORSHIP IS
A VIGOROUS ACT
OF REORDERING
OUR DESIRES
IN THE LIGHT
OF GOD'S
BURNING DESIRE
FOR THE WELLNESS
OF ALL CREATION."
E L L E N D A V I S

5.13.18 – JASON MYERS
The (re)Creation Project
Creation is transformed, not undone at the end of all
things. Most of us have inherited a story that involves
us abandoning this world. The picture the Bible present
us with is rather startling. The final vision of the world
at the end of the New Testament is not a world
consumed in fire, but a world restored back to Eden.
However, now the Garden has become a city and God
now dwells again with his people. The end of the story
is like the beginning.
There is a thread running though the scriptures from
Eden to the End where humanity is tied to this planet
and this world and God will redeem both us and this
world in a dramatic renewal. Our task as we stand
between a groaning world and a restored creation is to
be signposts of that new created world.
God has not abandoned his creation project, but has
radically committed himself to this world.
Questions to Consider
1. What is the destiny of creation? Where is the story
headed and how does that impact our moment now?
2.How does a vision of new creation and a 'new heaven
and new earth' shape our involvement in this world
3. What vision of "the end" are you most familiar with?
Going to heaven when we die or being restored on a
new earth? What are the implications of each vision?
4. What does the restoration of the planet look like?
Why do you think God is so radically committed to his
creation project?
5. if the world will be restored, how does that shape
our attitudes and practices now?

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
Digging
Deeper
Books:
– A.J Swoboda, Introducing
Evangelical Ecotheology (Baker
Academic, 2014)
– Douglas J. Moo & Jonathan A. Moo,
Creation Care: A Biblical Theology of
the Natural World (Zondervan, 2018).
– Norman Weirsba, From Nature to
Creation: A Christian Vision for
Understanding and Loving Our World
(Baker Academic, 2015)
–Richard Bauckham, The Bible and
Ecology (Baylor University Press,
2010)
Farm Days
April 14
May 5
Ways to Support and Connect
– Donate resources
– Donate time

"THE HANDS
OF THE KING
ARE THE HANDS
OF A HEALER,
AND SO SHALL
THE RIGHTFUL
KING BE KNOWN."
J . R . R . T O L K E I N

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