WEBVTT 00:00:02.160 --> 00:00:06.720 As I record this, it is a little after three o'clock here. 00:00:06.720 --> 00:00:10.400 Now I am decidedly a night owl, but that is not actually 00:00:10.400 --> 00:00:14.160 the reason that I am awake tonight. 00:00:14.320 --> 00:00:17.200 I am awake tonight because I had to go down to the 00:00:17.200 --> 00:00:19.600 barn to deal with a pest. 00:00:19.600 --> 00:00:23.760 But before I get to that pest, the reason that I was 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:27.360 checking my camera, which I have a camera in the chicken coop 00:00:27.360 --> 00:00:30.320 for, well, obvious reasons. 00:00:30.320 --> 00:00:34.320 But the reason that I was checking it specifically tonight is that 00:00:34.320 --> 00:00:39.200 last night a raccoon managed to get into the coop and killed 00:00:39.200 --> 00:00:42.800 one of my chickens, and so of course I took some countermeasures 00:00:42.800 --> 00:00:47.120 and improved some things and buttoned things up a little more tightly. 00:00:47.120 --> 00:00:50.160 But I also decided to stay up and watch the camera bit 00:00:50.160 --> 00:00:55.600 just in case the raccoon attempted to make another entrance. 00:00:55.600 --> 00:01:00.720 This particular raccoon seems to come around at about two o'clock, so 00:01:00.880 --> 00:01:04.000 I assume the raccoon is not going to show up tonight. 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:05.760 Did not show up earlier. 00:01:05.760 --> 00:01:09.760 However, when I checked the camera there was a skunk in the 00:01:09.760 --> 00:01:11.200 chicken coop. 00:01:11.200 --> 00:01:14.240 And so I went down there to deal with that skunk. 00:01:14.240 --> 00:01:15.600 Now it's most likely 00:01:16.640 --> 00:01:20.240 one of the I believe there are two or were would be 00:01:20.240 --> 00:01:23.600 more accurate now, two skunks in my garden, and I had no 00:01:23.600 --> 00:01:24.960 problem with them living there. 00:01:24.960 --> 00:01:28.480 I've even given them food and some water. 00:01:28.480 --> 00:01:28.960 However, 00:01:30.080 --> 00:01:33.680 at least one of them has decided that he wants to spend 00:01:33.680 --> 00:01:37.120 some time looking for things to eat in the chicken coop. 00:01:37.120 --> 00:01:40.720 And of course that's not ideal because he could eat eggs, or 00:01:40.720 --> 00:01:44.720 he could harass or even harm the chickens. 00:01:44.720 --> 00:01:48.880 And so not so long story short, I went down there and 00:01:48.880 --> 00:01:51.520 killed that skunk. 00:01:51.520 --> 00:01:54.640 The reason that I did that of course is to protect the 00:01:54.640 --> 00:01:59.200 chickens, and that is the topic topic that I want to discuss 00:01:59.440 --> 00:02:01.680 in this episode. 00:02:01.680 --> 00:02:04.880 And that topic is stewardship. 00:02:04.880 --> 00:02:09.200 What is the scope of man's stewardship of creation? 00:02:09.200 --> 00:02:13.280 What does it mean to be a steward? 00:02:13.280 --> 00:02:16.720 And so I would like to start off with two examples. 00:02:16.720 --> 00:02:20.720 One I really gave already, taking care of one's pets, in this 00:02:20.720 --> 00:02:25.200 case, chickens are more livestock than pets, but nonetheless it's the same 00:02:25.200 --> 00:02:27.520 sort of concept. 00:02:27.520 --> 00:02:32.080 When you acquire a pet or an animal of any kind, you 00:02:32.080 --> 00:02:34.080 have duties that come along with that. 00:02:34.080 --> 00:02:37.760 You have to feed the animal, you have to water the animal, 00:02:37.760 --> 00:02:42.320 provide a warm place to sleep when it is cold, provide somewhere 00:02:42.320 --> 00:02:45.440 to get out of the heat when it is hot, etcetera. 00:02:45.760 --> 00:02:49.840 we know what these requirements are, what these duties are that one 00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:56.000 undertakes in acquiring a pet or some other animal. 00:02:56.000 --> 00:03:01.440 And then the other example is indeed stewardship, even though many people 00:03:01.440 --> 00:03:05.600 don't necessarily think of it as such, at least not immediately, and 00:03:05.600 --> 00:03:09.120 that would be the plant life on your property when you garden, 00:03:09.120 --> 00:03:14.720 when you do your landscaping, you are engaging in stewardship of creation. 00:03:14.720 --> 00:03:16.800 You are choosing between things. 00:03:16.800 --> 00:03:21.120 You are selecting the plants you want, you are removing the plants 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:25.520 you do not, and that of course is really the distinction between 00:03:25.520 --> 00:03:28.720 a weed and a plant. 00:03:28.720 --> 00:03:32.240 A weed is something we do not want, a plant is something 00:03:32.240 --> 00:03:33.280 that we do. 00:03:33.280 --> 00:03:37.920 We may be more specific with regard to plants, calling them a 00:03:37.920 --> 00:03:43.200 crop or landscaping, whatever it may be. 00:03:43.200 --> 00:03:47.360 But that is still stewardship, and so we have these two clear 00:03:47.360 --> 00:03:49.440 types of stewardship. 00:03:49.440 --> 00:03:54.240 And of course if you think of the Genesis narrative, man is 00:03:54.240 --> 00:03:58.960 placed in creation as God's representative, as it were. 00:03:58.960 --> 00:04:02.000 That is part of what it means to be the image of 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:06.400 God. Now I'm not getting into that deeply in this episode because 00:04:06.400 --> 00:04:14.480 that's not the central topic, but man is steward of creation. 00:04:14.480 --> 00:04:19.760 In the scriptural narrative, there is actually no limitation placed on that 00:04:19.760 --> 00:04:26.960 stewardship. Now some will argue that stewardship extends to everything 00:04:26.960 --> 00:04:29.760 except to other men. 00:04:29.760 --> 00:04:33.600 But of course we know that is not the case The case. 00:04:33.600 --> 00:04:39.440 For instance, if you owned slaves, you would have stewardship of those 00:04:39.440 --> 00:04:46.240 slaves, you would have duties with regard to those slaves But perhaps 00:04:46.240 --> 00:04:54.560 a better example, because this one exists in almost everyone's life children. 00:04:54.560 --> 00:04:57.920 You are steward of your children. 00:04:57.920 --> 00:05:03.360 Now to a different and lesser degree, you are also steward of 00:05:03.360 --> 00:05:07.920 the children in your family, even if they are not directly your 00:05:07.920 --> 00:05:13.920 children. So for instance, your nieces and nephews or your grandsons and 00:05:13.920 --> 00:05:19.200 granddaughters, you still have duties with regard to those children. 00:05:19.200 --> 00:05:23.200 You are still a steward in a sense with regard to those 00:05:23.200 --> 00:05:30.000 children. And so really you can see that this scales directly up 00:05:30.400 --> 00:05:31.760 all the way to man. 00:05:31.760 --> 00:05:34.880 So it scales up from the dirt all the way up to 00:05:34.880 --> 00:05:37.760 man, who is of course of the earth of the dirt. 00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:40.880 of the dust. 00:05:40.880 --> 00:05:47.600 But God gave man stewardship of all of creation. 00:05:47.600 --> 00:05:53.280 You can try to find a restriction on that stewardship in scripture, 00:05:53.280 --> 00:05:56.960 and you will not find it, because it is not there. 00:05:57.600 --> 00:06:03.600 In so far as restrictions on man's stewardship of creation are concerned, 00:06:03.600 --> 00:06:09.200 the only ones that actually exist are the general restrictions on man's 00:06:09.200 --> 00:06:12.560 behavior, and so that would be the Ten Commandments. 00:06:12.560 --> 00:06:17.600 You are not permitted to murder in pursuit of your duties as 00:06:17.600 --> 00:06:21.440 a steward, you would be violating your duties as a steward, in 00:06:21.440 --> 00:06:28.560 fact. But man does have stewardship of the soil, of 00:06:28.560 --> 00:06:32.800 the plants, of the animals, of his fellow man. 00:06:32.800 --> 00:06:36.640 And we see that on a grander scale, perhaps in the kingdom 00:06:36.640 --> 00:06:41.840 of the left hand, because those who are in positions of authority, 00:06:41.840 --> 00:06:48.400 the leaders of a nation, they have stewardship over those men God 00:06:48.400 --> 00:06:51.440 has placed under them. 00:06:51.440 --> 00:06:57.040 And of course, that is simply a larger scale of the fundamental 00:06:57.040 --> 00:07:01.760 unit of stewardship when it comes to man. 00:07:01.760 --> 00:07:04.880 That fundamental unit of stewardship would be the family 00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:09.840 The father is steward of his household. 00:07:09.840 --> 00:07:11.520 He is steward of his wife. 00:07:11.520 --> 00:07:13.280 He is steward of his children. 00:07:13.280 --> 00:07:16.880 He is steward of his pets, his land, etc. 00:07:18.080 --> 00:07:23.200 That stewardship is not limited with regard to 00:07:24.800 --> 00:07:29.280 being of just the plants or of just the animals. 00:07:29.280 --> 00:07:34.560 Again, it includes the people in his household. 00:07:34.560 --> 00:07:42.960 Man is steward of creation, and creation most certainly includes man. 00:07:42.960 --> 00:07:46.000 But what does it mean to be a steward? 00:07:46.000 --> 00:07:50.560 I already mentioned that being a steward comes with certain duties, and 00:07:50.560 --> 00:07:54.800 just to be clear, when I am speaking of what we owe 00:07:54.960 --> 00:07:58.960 as it were to animals, I am not speaking of animal rights 00:07:59.120 --> 00:08:00.080 so called. 00:08:00.080 --> 00:08:02.880 Animals do not have rights. 00:08:02.880 --> 00:08:08.720 Man has duties with regard to the animals entrusted to his care. 00:08:08.720 --> 00:08:11.600 So calling them rights is looking at it in the wrong way. 00:08:11.840 --> 00:08:15.840 It's not that the animals make demands upon man, it is that 00:08:15.840 --> 00:08:20.480 God has placed demands on man with regard to the things God 00:08:20.480 --> 00:08:25.760 has entrusted to man's care, in this case animals. 00:08:25.760 --> 00:08:31.040 But stewardship fundamentally is a fiduciary relationship. 00:08:31.040 --> 00:08:35.360 Now for those who are perhaps not familiar with that term, a 00:08:35.360 --> 00:08:37.360 fiduciary relationship is fundamentally 00:08:38.400 --> 00:08:44.560 a relationship of trust, and it is a relationship of trust in 00:08:44.880 --> 00:08:49.680 which one party acts on behalf of and in the interest of 00:08:49.600 --> 00:08:52.560 interest of another party. 00:08:52.560 --> 00:08:57.200 And so you have the trustee, the one acting in the interest 00:08:57.200 --> 00:09:02.000 of the beneficiary being the other party. 00:09:02.000 --> 00:09:05.120 That fundamentally is what stewardship is. 00:09:05.120 --> 00:09:10.960 Now you may be wondering well if man is the trustee, who 00:09:10.960 --> 00:09:13.680 is the beneficiary? 00:09:13.680 --> 00:09:18.560 And the answer to that of course is future generations, fundamentally. 00:09:18.560 --> 00:09:25.680 Yes, other living men as well, but fundamentally future generations are those 00:09:25.680 --> 00:09:28.960 for whom we hold everything in trust and that And that is 00:09:28.960 --> 00:09:30.240 a key point. 00:09:30.240 --> 00:09:36.400 Everything we hold, everything we have, everything of which we are stewards, 00:09:36.400 --> 00:09:39.360 ultimately we hold in trust. 00:09:39.360 --> 00:09:43.360 It was given us by God to take care of it and 00:09:43.360 --> 00:09:46.960 to pass it on to future generations. 00:09:46.960 --> 00:09:51.440 And so we are not entitled, for instance, to destroy the principle, 00:09:51.440 --> 00:09:53.440 as it were. 00:09:53.760 --> 00:09:56.480 A good example would be the natural environment. 00:09:56.480 --> 00:10:00.880 We are not free to simply pollute it, however much we wish. 00:10:00.880 --> 00:10:04.560 That would be a violation of our stewardship. 00:10:04.560 --> 00:10:06.400 That would be inappropriate. 00:10:06.400 --> 00:10:09.920 That would be sin, in fact. 00:10:09.920 --> 00:10:14.640 Similarly, if we fail to care for the natural world, because that 00:10:14.640 --> 00:10:18.800 is part of our duty as a steward, but if we fail 00:10:18.800 --> 00:10:23.360 to exercise that duty of care, then we are guilty at least 00:10:23.360 --> 00:10:27.440 of sloth, and again we are guilty of sin, we are failing 00:10:27.440 --> 00:10:32.080 to uphold our duties as stewards. 00:10:32.080 --> 00:10:35.440 And we see this do this readily when it comes to the 00:10:35.440 --> 00:10:36.240 natural world. 00:10:36.240 --> 00:10:41.360 We have so many invasive species running amok, and we're doing an 00:10:41.360 --> 00:10:44.720 insufficient amount to address that problem. 00:10:44.720 --> 00:10:47.760 That's part of our stewardship, we should be doing something about it. 00:10:48.080 --> 00:10:51.840 The same with regard to animals however 00:10:52.960 --> 00:10:55.520 it also holds for humans. 00:10:57.280 --> 00:11:02.320 When we have a garden, we have plants that we want. 00:11:02.320 --> 00:11:04.880 We have plants that we do not want. 00:11:04.880 --> 00:11:08.400 And so if you're growing lettuce, you don't want weeds in your 00:11:08.400 --> 00:11:10.000 lettuce bed. 00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:14.720 You may want some other plants that you coplanted with the lettuce 00:11:14.720 --> 00:11:19.760 to keep away pests, or maybe it's clover to help with nitrogen 00:11:19.760 --> 00:11:23.440 fixation, whatever it happens to be. 00:11:23.440 --> 00:11:26.960 But there are going to be things you do want and things 00:11:26.960 --> 00:11:27.920 you do not want. 00:11:27.920 --> 00:11:31.760 And if you are being a good steward of your lettuce patch, 00:11:31.760 --> 00:11:34.720 then you are going to protect the things that should be there 00:11:34.880 --> 00:11:38.320 and remove the things that should not be there. 00:11:38.560 --> 00:11:42.240 That is exactly what I did with regard to that skunk and 00:11:42.240 --> 00:11:43.360 my chickens. 00:11:43.360 --> 00:11:46.480 The chickens are supposed to be in the coop at night. 00:11:46.480 --> 00:11:48.480 The skunk is not. 00:11:48.480 --> 00:11:53.680 And so the skunk did receive two warnings previously, and third strike 00:11:53.840 --> 00:11:58.240 you're out as it were. 00:11:58.400 --> 00:12:03.040 We recognize this stewardship when it comes to plants, even if initially 00:12:03.040 --> 00:12:06.960 some will not recognize it As stewardship that term will not pop 00:12:06.960 --> 00:12:13.040 into their minds, but when it is explained, it is readily understood 00:12:13.360 --> 00:12:17.840 that what you are doing when you garden, landscape, etc, you are 00:12:17.840 --> 00:12:21.760 engaging in stewardship of the natural world. 00:12:21.760 --> 00:12:27.680 The same is true when you are raising livestock, training your pet, 00:12:27.680 --> 00:12:31.600 whatever it happens to be, when you are dealing with animals in 00:12:31.600 --> 00:12:32.880 a proper way. 00:12:32.880 --> 00:12:37.840 You are a steward of those natural resources, really, if we want 00:12:37.840 --> 00:12:44.080 to use the more expansive sense of that term. 00:12:44.080 --> 00:12:50.560 But the part where modern thinkers, and in particular modern Christians, fall 00:12:50.560 --> 00:12:55.760 flat is failing to recognize that man also has duties with regard 00:12:55.760 --> 00:13:02.560 to the stewardship of man himself, of mankind. 00:13:02.560 --> 00:13:07.680 Now we do recognize some of these, of course, because we recognize 00:13:07.680 --> 00:13:12.160 that at least as Christians, certainly, you must train up your child 00:13:12.160 --> 00:13:13.600 in the faith. 00:13:13.600 --> 00:13:17.840 You must instruct your child in the basics of the faith and 00:13:17.840 --> 00:13:21.200 in more complicated matters as he is capable 00:13:23.120 --> 00:13:27.040 If your children are old enough to have done so, and you 00:13:27.040 --> 00:13:31.040 have not had them memorized the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, the 00:13:31.040 --> 00:13:34.560 Apostles' Creed, and quite frankly they should know some other things as 00:13:34.560 --> 00:13:38.400 well, but at least those Corbett's. 00:13:38.400 --> 00:13:42.960 If they do not know those, you have failed thus far in 00:13:42.960 --> 00:13:47.920 your duty as a steward of your children in this case. 00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:54.080 Now that is the duty of the father, the father of the 00:13:54.080 --> 00:13:57.760 household. Of course he has other duties as well, because he has 00:13:57.760 --> 00:14:02.560 duties to train his wife properly, and if you have household servants, 00:14:02.560 --> 00:14:05.600 you also have a duty with regard to them. 00:14:05.600 --> 00:14:10.400 That's less of a thing today, although still present in some places, 00:14:10.400 --> 00:14:16.880 particularly some cultures outside the Western context. 00:14:16.880 --> 00:14:20.640 Although one could argue that employees fall into that role in some 00:14:20.640 --> 00:14:26.240 cases, but that is made significantly more complicated by existing law. 00:14:26.240 --> 00:14:32.800 We'll leave that aside, that's a topic for another day. 00:14:32.800 --> 00:14:38.240 But I think the more interesting question and the more interesting thought, 00:14:38.240 --> 00:14:38.880 the more interesting 00:14:39.840 --> 00:14:42.240 subpart of this topic as it were 00:14:44.080 --> 00:14:48.560 is what should man be doing as a steward of his fellow 00:14:48.560 --> 00:14:53.120 man on the grander scale, as it were, in the political realm, 00:14:52.960 --> 00:14:58.960 really, is what I mean, in the kingdom of the left hand. 00:14:58.960 --> 00:15:04.400 And the answer to that is we should certainly be doing something. 00:15:04.400 --> 00:15:08.240 And not what we're currently doing, because what we are currently doing 00:15:08.400 --> 00:15:12.480 is harmful, most certainly. 00:15:12.480 --> 00:15:17.760 A proper government, a proper sovereign, a proper prince. 00:15:18.480 --> 00:15:22.880 In this case I mean prince in the generic sense of political 00:15:23.120 --> 00:15:28.400 ruler, not necessarily exactly a prince. 00:15:28.400 --> 00:15:33.760 But one who is fulfilling that role role properly is going to 00:15:33.760 --> 00:15:35.520 seek to preserve 00:15:36.480 --> 00:15:42.640 the quality of the national stock that was entrusted to his care 00:15:42.800 --> 00:15:44.400 by God. 00:15:44.400 --> 00:15:49.120 Because of course Scripture is clear, rulers are given their power by 00:15:49.120 --> 00:15:53.360 God. They derive that power from God. 00:15:53.360 --> 00:15:56.480 If they abuse that power, of course, then they no longer hold 00:15:56.480 --> 00:15:57.520 it rightly. 00:15:57.520 --> 00:16:03.440 And that again is a topic for another day. 00:16:03.440 --> 00:16:08.720 But we do not see modern leaders, at least in the Western 00:16:08.720 --> 00:16:12.400 context, there are some few exceptions in some parts of the world, 00:16:12.400 --> 00:16:14.960 but we do not see modern leaders 00:16:16.800 --> 00:16:21.360 doing what they are supposed to do with regard to the nations 00:16:21.360 --> 00:16:24.080 entrusted to their care. 00:16:24.080 --> 00:16:28.480 If you destroy the nation that God has entrusted to your care, 00:16:28.480 --> 00:16:32.560 then you are not acting as a rightful sovereign, you are not 00:16:32.560 --> 00:16:35.200 acting as a good steward. 00:16:35.200 --> 00:16:39.680 In fact, you are acting malevolently, you are acting maliciously, you are 00:16:39.680 --> 00:16:43.200 acting sinfully, and you, of course, if you are that prince, that 00:16:43.200 --> 00:16:47.200 leader, you will answer to God for what you failed to do, 00:16:47.200 --> 00:16:50.160 and also for what you did that you should not have done 00:16:52.400 --> 00:16:57.280 And so that really is the the central point that I wanted 00:16:57.280 --> 00:17:00.240 to raise with this episode. 00:17:00.240 --> 00:17:05.120 That the stewardship of creation that was entrusted to man by God 00:17:05.440 --> 00:17:11.600 does not have restrictions with regard to its scope. 00:17:11.600 --> 00:17:16.640 Scripture does not speak of those restrictions, except again insofar as there 00:17:16.640 --> 00:17:18.960 are things that are impermissible. 00:17:18.960 --> 00:17:23.840 So you you may not murder, you may not commit adultery. 00:17:23.840 --> 00:17:29.040 Various things that are very clearly delineated in Scripture as part of 00:17:29.040 --> 00:17:30.640 the moral law. 00:17:30.640 --> 00:17:34.560 You may not transgress that in pursuit of your stewardship, and in 00:17:34.560 --> 00:17:38.560 fact, if you are transgressing that, again you would not be pursuing 00:17:38.560 --> 00:17:40.400 your stewardship. 00:17:42.960 --> 00:17:45.200 But we fail to recognize that 00:17:46.160 --> 00:17:51.840 in the modern context, and many Christians would argue vehemently against it. 00:17:51.840 --> 00:17:55.680 Because if you tell someone, if you tell a Christian, well, we 00:17:55.680 --> 00:17:58.160 have stewardship over the plants. 00:17:58.160 --> 00:18:00.640 He will say, of course. 00:18:00.640 --> 00:18:04.320 If you say we have stewardship over the animals, he will say, 00:18:04.320 --> 00:18:05.520 of course. 00:18:05.520 --> 00:18:11.520 If you say we have stewardship over our fellow man, he will 00:18:11.520 --> 00:18:14.080 not say of course. 00:18:14.080 --> 00:18:17.040 Now he may very well agree, and I would certainly hope that 00:18:17.040 --> 00:18:21.600 he would agree, that man has stewardship with regard to his own 00:18:21.600 --> 00:18:28.320 children, but you are going to have trouble arguing 00:18:29.280 --> 00:18:31.120 with most modern men 00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:37.520 that man, that a leader, that a prince, has stewardship over the 00:18:37.520 --> 00:18:43.600 people entrusted to his care, and that stewardship is akin to the 00:18:43.600 --> 00:18:48.400 sort of stewardship that man has over the plants and the animals, 00:18:48.400 --> 00:18:54.240 because the stewardship again is of all of creation, and man is 00:18:54.240 --> 00:18:57.120 part of creation. 00:18:57.120 --> 00:19:01.840 This is something that we cannot simply neglect, because if we simply 00:19:01.840 --> 00:19:06.320 neglect it, then we are faithless stewards. 00:19:06.320 --> 00:19:11.840 Now, of course, probably no one listening to this has has been 00:19:11.840 --> 00:19:16.240 entrusted with the sort of power of which I am now speaking. 00:19:16.240 --> 00:19:22.560 However, as Christians, most certainly, it is incumbent on us not to 00:19:22.560 --> 00:19:25.600 speak falsely about what God has said in Scripture 00:19:26.560 --> 00:19:29.840 or about the role of man in creation. 00:19:29.840 --> 00:19:33.920 And so I would contend that we have to, in order to 00:19:33.920 --> 00:19:40.960 fulfill that, speak truthfully about the scope of man's stewardship. 00:19:40.960 --> 00:19:48.880 And that includes the dirt, the plants, the animals, and the people. 00:19:48.880 --> 00:19:51.520 Because man's stewardship of creation 00:19:52.640 --> 00:19:58.640 is of creation, not just some small part of creation, not of 00:19:58.640 --> 00:20:03.040 this little corner over here, or this bit here, or these things 00:20:03.680 --> 00:20:08.080 accepted that is not what God said, that is not the nature 00:20:08.080 --> 00:20:10.800 of man. 00:20:10.800 --> 00:20:14.080 Man named all of the animals. 00:20:14.080 --> 00:20:16.560 That was an exercise of dominion. 00:20:16.560 --> 00:20:20.240 Well man also named his wife. 00:20:20.240 --> 00:20:23.760 Now, if you are married you most likely did not name your 00:20:23.760 --> 00:20:29.680 wife, but that is because her father rightly named her Because that 00:20:29.680 --> 00:20:35.120 is an exercise of dominion by the father. 00:20:35.120 --> 00:20:39.120 Of course you name your own children, because again that is an 00:20:39.120 --> 00:20:41.600 exercise of dominion. 00:20:41.600 --> 00:20:43.360 The scope of stewardship 00:20:44.320 --> 00:20:47.200 includes mankind. 00:20:47.200 --> 00:20:50.720 That is the fundamental point that I wish to make with this 00:20:50.720 --> 00:20:55.760 episode. And I think that it is abundantly clear that that is 00:20:55.760 --> 00:20:57.040 the case. 00:20:57.040 --> 00:21:01.440 I do not see any way that one could argue that man 00:21:01.600 --> 00:21:07.120 is not included in the scope of man's stewardship of creation 00:21:08.160 --> 00:21:12.560 because it seems like that would be a failure to recognize the 00:21:12.560 --> 00:21:18.480 set. And by that I mean that if man is given stewardship 00:21:18.480 --> 00:21:23.760 of creation, and man is part of creation, then man is necessarily 00:21:23.760 --> 00:21:29.840 also given stewardship of man, that just follows. 00:21:29.840 --> 00:21:35.680 And so in order to argue that man does not have stewardship 00:21:35.680 --> 00:21:42.240 of man, you have to reject one of those two points, because 00:21:42.240 --> 00:21:47.680 the conclusion necessarily follows from those premises if you agree with them, 00:21:47.680 --> 00:21:49.200 if they are true. 00:21:49.200 --> 00:21:52.720 You can disagree with them if they are true, it still flows 00:21:52.720 --> 00:21:58.560 necessarily. And so I would ask anyone who says that man does 00:21:58.560 --> 00:22:04.240 not have stewardship of man, which one of those he rejects? 00:22:04.240 --> 00:22:09.680 Does he reject that man was given stewardship of creation, or does 00:22:09.680 --> 00:22:12.800 he reject that man is part of creation? 00:22:13.200 --> 00:22:15.840 I think Scripture is very clear on this. 00:22:15.840 --> 00:22:19.440 I think the answer is that very clearly man is part of 00:22:19.440 --> 00:22:25.680 creation. Man was given stewardship of creation. 00:22:25.680 --> 00:22:30.880 And as a more practical matter, perhaps, a more practical argument. 00:22:30.880 --> 00:22:36.080 A tree is known by its fruits, and I would say that 00:22:36.080 --> 00:22:40.080 we are living at the tail end of a number of decades 00:22:40.240 --> 00:22:40.400 of 00:22:41.280 --> 00:22:46.000 a society generally believing that man does not have stewardship of his 00:22:46.000 --> 00:22:50.960 fellow man, in the sense that I mean, in this episode, in 00:22:50.960 --> 00:22:54.160 the sense that I am using it. 00:22:54.160 --> 00:22:55.200 And I highly doubt that 00:22:56.080 --> 00:23:04.720 anyone would be able to mount a serious, compelling argument, moral argument, 00:23:04.720 --> 00:23:09.520 that what we have today as a result of that sort of 00:23:09.520 --> 00:23:14.960 belief, of that sort of mindset, of that change in the way 00:23:14.960 --> 00:23:20.080 we govern, that change in the way that we run our societies, 00:23:20.080 --> 00:23:25.040 I do not think that anyone could seriously argue that the outcome 00:23:25.040 --> 00:23:29.920 has been good, that the results have been beneficial, that we are 00:23:29.920 --> 00:23:34.080 better off than those who lived in prior eras 00:23:35.040 --> 00:23:40.960 when man exercised a more vigorous and a more active stewardship of 00:23:40.960 --> 00:23:44.400 his fellow man. 00:23:44.400 --> 00:23:47.840 And this is also a fundamental issue. 00:23:47.840 --> 00:23:52.560 This is one of those matters that if it is not addressed, 00:23:52.560 --> 00:23:56.960 then it really does not matter what else we fix, what else 00:23:56.960 --> 00:24:01.520 we get right, because all of it will fall apart if this 00:24:01.680 --> 00:24:04.720 issue is not addressed. 00:24:04.720 --> 00:24:10.720 Because it does not matter how grand the institution How impressive the 00:24:10.720 --> 00:24:17.760 edifice, how great the structure you build is, if you entrust it 00:24:17.760 --> 00:24:22.080 to those who are incapable of maintaining it. 00:24:22.080 --> 00:24:27.360 The same holds for civilizations. 00:24:27.360 --> 00:24:34.080 If a nation does not maintain the quality of its national stock, 00:24:34.080 --> 00:24:41.040 if the people are not properly stewarded Stewarded, ultimately the result will 00:24:41.040 --> 00:24:45.840 be catastrophe, because the result will be complete collapse. 00:24:45.840 --> 00:24:50.640 Those things that were constructed In a bygone era by a more 00:24:50.640 --> 00:24:55.680 capable people, and have now been entrusted, in our era, in this 00:24:55.680 --> 00:25:00.080 present era, or perhaps in some future era, to a less capable 00:25:00.080 --> 00:25:05.360 people. Those things will not stand the test of time, because those 00:25:05.360 --> 00:25:10.800 less capable people will not be able to maintain them. 00:25:10.800 --> 00:25:15.280 And so my fundamental contention, and my conclusion, as it were, 00:25:16.320 --> 00:25:23.280 is that a faithful prince, a faithful ruler, must steward the human 00:25:23.280 --> 00:25:26.960 resources that have been entrusted to his care 00:25:28.320 --> 00:25:34.720 the national resources in the fullest sense of nation and national that 00:25:34.720 --> 00:25:38.640 have been entrusted to his care. 00:25:38.720 --> 00:25:43.120 In the same sort of way, as one would care for his 00:25:43.120 --> 00:25:47.280 garden or for his livestock. 00:25:47.280 --> 00:25:52.720 Yes, with the restrictions already mentioned with regard to the moral law, 00:25:52.720 --> 00:25:56.240 there are There are certain things that a leader may not do 00:25:56.480 --> 00:26:00.880 with regard to people, with regard to men, that you are permitted 00:26:00.880 --> 00:26:06.480 to do with regard to your livestock or your plants. 00:26:06.480 --> 00:26:12.240 However, simply because some of the methods are permissible in one place 00:26:12.240 --> 00:26:16.080 and not in another does not mean that the nature of the 00:26:16.080 --> 00:26:19.040 stewardship is different. 00:26:19.040 --> 00:26:24.880 Not different in kind, perhaps different in degree, insofar as the means 00:26:24.880 --> 00:26:26.400 are concerned. 00:26:26.400 --> 00:26:31.680 The same sort of ends, however, are being pursued top to bottom 00:26:31.760 --> 00:26:38.400 with regard to stewardship, because again it is preservation and enhancement if 00:26:38.400 --> 00:26:41.680 possible of that principle. 00:26:41.680 --> 00:26:46.960 That is the duty, the core duty of the fiduciary, of the 00:26:46.960 --> 00:26:51.520 trustee with regard to the beneficiaries. 00:26:51.520 --> 00:26:55.040 In this case, in the case of the prince, in the case 00:26:55.040 --> 00:27:01.680 of the ruler, what has been entrusted to his care, the principle, 00:27:01.680 --> 00:27:08.880 is the national stock, the people, over whom he rules, 00:27:08.880 --> 00:27:14.320 at God's good pleasure, and if he fails to maintain that, then 00:27:14.320 --> 00:27:19.200 he will have nothing to pass on to future generations, which is 00:27:19.200 --> 00:27:24.320 to say, to the beneficiaries. 00:27:24.320 --> 00:27:29.760 A good gardener plants good plants in his garden and removes noxious 00:27:29.760 --> 00:27:36.320 weeds. A good farmer takes care that his crops and his livestock 00:27:36.560 --> 00:27:42.800 are fit, healthy, and strong, and that those attributes are passed on 00:27:42.800 --> 00:27:49.920 to future generations, and that unwelcome, harmful, or unwanted attributes are not 00:27:49.920 --> 00:27:53.520 passed on to future generations. 00:27:53.520 --> 00:28:00.080 A prince, a ruler of the people, is fundamentally in that same 00:28:00.080 --> 00:28:01.920 sort of role. 00:28:01.920 --> 00:28:10.400 The gardener cares for plants, the farmer cares for crops and livestock. 00:28:10.400 --> 00:28:17.120 The ruler cares for his people, and caring for his people means 00:28:17.120 --> 00:28:22.160 acting as a steward in the same sort of way as the 00:28:22.160 --> 00:28:27.280 gardener cares for his plants, and the farmer cares for his crops 00:28:27.280 --> 00:28:29.040 and his livestock.