Who rules?

Ps 24:1  The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains,
The world, and those who dwell in it.
2  For He has founded it upon the seas
And established it upon the rivers.

The fact that The Lord created the earth and all that is contained in it make Him rightful owner of all of it. This includes all things. He owns everything that we “own”. Particularly our time, talent and treasure. We are His servants. We are His stewards. But what is Man’s role in this world. Let’s take a trip down memory lane. First he is ruler then he is survivalist then conquerer with Christ.

Gen 1:26  Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27  God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
28  God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
29  Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you;
30  and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so.

Gen 2:15  Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.
16  The Lord God acommanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely;
17  but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

Gen 3:16  To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth,
In pain you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband,
And he will rule over you.”
17  Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life.
18  “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field;
19  By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground,
Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”

Mt 28:18  And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
19  “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
20  teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

God allows man to be in partnership with Him and gives Him a job to rule over earth. After fall man was given a task of survival. After the cross man invited to participate in great commission. Feels more like Eden. What job has God given us? Is it possible that one of our jobs is to stir up the body of Christ related to great commission living. Are we up for that task?