WORD From The Woods
Genesis 1:26-28
“Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
This week, we’ll finish up our short study on the “Dominion Mandate” from Genesis 1. If you haven’t read the last few devotionals, go back and check them out to get an overall view of what it’s all about. The dominion mandate is, simply put, to be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and take dominion over all the earth for the glory of God. We’ve looked at that a bit backward from the way it’s written in Genesis because I wanted to start with a look at who God is and why we can have this dominion in the first place. Then we looked at subduing the earth through the victorious advance of the gospel of the Kingdom of Christ in discipling the nations. Today I want to look at the “be fruitful” part. What does it mean to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth?” I think we need to have a good biblical understanding of this to even be able to subdue the earth by the advancement of the gospel. Obviously, we can’t do it alone, we need to multiply. I think the context of human reproduction through childbirth is obvious here, we’ll talk more about that in a minute. But multiplication is not just about having babies, and those who are single or not able to have children can still be a vital part of being fruitful and multiplying. When we evangelize the lost and hurting world and disciple them to do the same, we are being fruitful and multiplying. You can have 20 kids, but if they aren’t raised to be disciples of Christ, then you haven’t done anything to the Glory of God and the advancement of the Kingdom. There are many opportunities for us to pour into others in ways that advance the cause of Christ and contribute to the building up of the Kingdom. One of the big things you can do especially if you’re older and wiser in the faith is come alongside a young family and help them learn to raise their kiddos in the instruction and discipline of the Lord. Or maybe take a wayward, fatherless young person under your wing. For those who own a company, this might be a great opportunity to hire a guy and demonstrate Christ through being a Godly leader. So much more could be said on all of this, just look around and you’ll see plenty of places to put this into practice. So let’s talk about making babies! This is really central to the dominion mandate. Be fruitful and multiply is the first part of it, and it’s the first commission Adam was given other than naming the animals. We can’t multiply without reproducing, that’s pretty obvious, right? A little math here, if two people come together and only have two kids, then they haven’t multiplied, have they? They’ve only replaced themselves, and with death rates factored in, society will decrease with an average birth rate of just two per household. So, for Christians to be fruitful and multiply, we need to have at least three kids, six is better! Don’t mess around, let’s get to multiplying, plus making babies is a lot of fun! Psalms 127:5 says “Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.” A quiver is 12 so there you go! You will have to be that family with a full-size van though…. But at least you’ll have a crummy full of people so you can maybe start a yarder side and actually have a riggin crew! All joking aside, making babies is God’s plan to fill the earth with people who glorify Him. So many people in our culture today look down on large families, even within the church. Raising a family has become self-focused and not at all about advancing the Kingdom. A boy for me and a girl for you, and send them off to daycare and school ASAP so mom and dad can find fulfillment in their careers. Everyone leading separate lives and living for the glory of self. We desperately need to recapture a Biblical view of the family, where mom and dad come together and become one flesh before God to be helpmates to each other in this life, both with distinct but complementary roles and abilities and giftings. The central focus of the family should be to raise up a Godly family. Men this responsibility falls first and foremost on you. Men need to step up and take seriously the responsibility to lead their household to fear and honor the living God. If you are in the child-raising years, one of the most important things you need to understand is found in Proverbs 22:6
“Train up a child in the way he should go;
even when he is old he will not depart from it.”
This is all about discipling your children, Ephesians 6:4 says “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” I believe that we can stand on the promises of scripture and that if we are faithful to raise our kids in the discipline and instruction of the Lord when they are old, they will not depart from it. On the flip side, if you turn your children over to a corrupt government-run, institutionalized system, they will learn to be good compliant little statists, and when they’re old, they won’t depart from that! If this last year and a half hasn’t proved this to you, pull your head out of whatever dark stinky hole it’s been in and look around you! As Vodie Bachum says, “don’t send your children to be trained by Caesar and be surprised when they come home as Romans.” There is a lot we could talk about regarding school that we don’t have time to get into today. I’m a huge proponent of homeschooling or a good solid Christian school. But if you take anything away from today, let it be this. YOU are the parent, YOU have a responsibility before God to raise YOUR kids. Don’t just turn them over to the state and let them raise your kids for you. I’d like to say so much more on all of this, but this is getting a bit long as it is and I have to get to work. Please feel free to reach out to me if you want to discuss any of this stuff more, maybe you disagree with me and think I’m crazy, but that’s ok too, I’d love to talk to you more about it. Anyway, let’s go shake things up and change the world through the Gospel of the Kingdom of Christ!
God bless, and have a great week! -Terry-
Genesis 1:26-28
“Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
This week, we’ll finish up our short study on the “Dominion Mandate” from Genesis 1. If you haven’t read the last few devotionals, go back and check them out to get an overall view of what it’s all about. The dominion mandate is, simply put, to be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and take dominion over all the earth for the glory of God. We’ve looked at that a bit backward from the way it’s written in Genesis because I wanted to start with a look at who God is and why we can have this dominion in the first place. Then we looked at subduing the earth through the victorious advance of the gospel of the Kingdom of Christ in discipling the nations. Today I want to look at the “be fruitful” part. What does it mean to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth?” I think we need to have a good biblical understanding of this to even be able to subdue the earth by the advancement of the gospel. Obviously, we can’t do it alone, we need to multiply. I think the context of human reproduction through childbirth is obvious here, we’ll talk more about that in a minute. But multiplication is not just about having babies, and those who are single or not able to have children can still be a vital part of being fruitful and multiplying. When we evangelize the lost and hurting world and disciple them to do the same, we are being fruitful and multiplying. You can have 20 kids, but if they aren’t raised to be disciples of Christ, then you haven’t done anything to the Glory of God and the advancement of the Kingdom. There are many opportunities for us to pour into others in ways that advance the cause of Christ and contribute to the building up of the Kingdom. One of the big things you can do especially if you’re older and wiser in the faith is come alongside a young family and help them learn to raise their kiddos in the instruction and discipline of the Lord. Or maybe take a wayward, fatherless young person under your wing. For those who own a company, this might be a great opportunity to hire a guy and demonstrate Christ through being a Godly leader. So much more could be said on all of this, just look around and you’ll see plenty of places to put this into practice. So let’s talk about making babies! This is really central to the dominion mandate. Be fruitful and multiply is the first part of it, and it’s the first commission Adam was given other than naming the animals. We can’t multiply without reproducing, that’s pretty obvious, right? A little math here, if two people come together and only have two kids, then they haven’t multiplied, have they? They’ve only replaced themselves, and with death rates factored in, society will decrease with an average birth rate of just two per household. So, for Christians to be fruitful and multiply, we need to have at least three kids, six is better! Don’t mess around, let’s get to multiplying, plus making babies is a lot of fun! Psalms 127:5 says “Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.” A quiver is 12 so there you go! You will have to be that family with a full-size van though…. But at least you’ll have a crummy full of people so you can maybe start a yarder side and actually have a riggin crew! All joking aside, making babies is God’s plan to fill the earth with people who glorify Him. So many people in our culture today look down on large families, even within the church. Raising a family has become self-focused and not at all about advancing the Kingdom. A boy for me and a girl for you, and send them off to daycare and school ASAP so mom and dad can find fulfillment in their careers. Everyone leading separate lives and living for the glory of self. We desperately need to recapture a Biblical view of the family, where mom and dad come together and become one flesh before God to be helpmates to each other in this life, both with distinct but complementary roles and abilities and giftings. The central focus of the family should be to raise up a Godly family. Men this responsibility falls first and foremost on you. Men need to step up and take seriously the responsibility to lead their household to fear and honor the living God. If you are in the child-raising years, one of the most important things you need to understand is found in Proverbs 22:6
“Train up a child in the way he should go;
even when he is old he will not depart from it.”
This is all about discipling your children, Ephesians 6:4 says “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” I believe that we can stand on the promises of scripture and that if we are faithful to raise our kids in the discipline and instruction of the Lord when they are old, they will not depart from it. On the flip side, if you turn your children over to a corrupt government-run, institutionalized system, they will learn to be good compliant little statists, and when they’re old, they won’t depart from that! If this last year and a half hasn’t proved this to you, pull your head out of whatever dark stinky hole it’s been in and look around you! As Vodie Bachum says, “don’t send your children to be trained by Caesar and be surprised when they come home as Romans.” There is a lot we could talk about regarding school that we don’t have time to get into today. I’m a huge proponent of homeschooling or a good solid Christian school. But if you take anything away from today, let it be this. YOU are the parent, YOU have a responsibility before God to raise YOUR kids. Don’t just turn them over to the state and let them raise your kids for you. I’d like to say so much more on all of this, but this is getting a bit long as it is and I have to get to work. Please feel free to reach out to me if you want to discuss any of this stuff more, maybe you disagree with me and think I’m crazy, but that’s ok too, I’d love to talk to you more about it. Anyway, let’s go shake things up and change the world through the Gospel of the Kingdom of Christ!
God bless, and have a great week! -Terry-