CREATION LIBERATED by Dr. Shah, Clearview Church, Henderson, NC

Introduction:  Happy Father’s Day! Today, we will be taking part in Communion. This is a very special time in church’s life. It has 3 tenses: Past, Present, and Future. Past – looking back to 2000 years ago; Present – looking around to those in our church family; and Future – looking forward to the future celebration to come. In our series on the Book of Romans, we come now to the second half of Romans 8. One scholar (Luke Timothy Johnson) called it – “one of the most stunning pieces of rhetorical art in the New Testament.” Here, the suffering of the believer is placed in the wider context of the suffering of the whole creation. But it doesn’t stop there. It opens the door to a new theme – Hope. Life, more specifically Christian life, is more than just suffering. There is a better day coming. In this journey towards a better day coming, we are not alone. We are joined by creation. The same creation that has been marred by sin and suffering is also waiting to be redeemed and glorified.

Romans 8 (page #1741-42) 19 “For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.”

Context: Paul is writing to the first century church in Rome regarding their common salvation through Jesus Christ. This church that was divided between Jewish background and Gentile background believers over the Law needed to understand the special roles that God had for his people Israel. By the way, pray for Israel right now, because that’s what the Apostle Paul would tell you if he were here. He is also teaching them about their common sanctification in the Christian life. He is explaining to them what life in Christ is all about. This is a life that stands by faith in the fact that we died with Christ, we were buried with Christ, and we have risen with Christ in the newness of life. Now, we live under the leadership of the Holy Spirit. He leads us not only to live in Christ but, also as heirs of God and join-heirs with Christ, to follow Christ in the way of suffering. 

Application: Is that your testimony? Are you seeing your suffering as part of the growth of the Christian life?

Now, let’s move forward – Romans 8:18 “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” Literally: “the sufferings of the now time” are not worth comparing to the “pros tein melousan doxan” = “the destined/coming glory” that is to be “apocaluphthenai” (from apocalupto = “unveiled/uncovered”) in us. In other words, suffering is not meaningless. There is a purpose. There is a goal. There is glory that is coming which shall be revealed in us. Without the suffering, there is no glory. This glory is not just some bright lights and heavenly aura. Romans 8:23 “Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.” Earlier in Romans 8:15 “For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’” 

So, we are adopted, but there is coming a day when the body will be redeemed. This will be the same body but now transformed like the body of Jesus. Am I going to look like some Hollywood superstar? No, you will still be you, but now you will see yourself in a way you couldn’t before. What makes you glorious is your conformity to Jesus. What conforms you to Jesus are the sufferings of life. God uses the sufferings of this life to produce the glory that will follow in us bodily. I am jumping ahead, but a just a couple of verses later will come those powerful verses that we know by heart – Romans 8      28 “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.Yes, we can use it for this life issues, but it is more specifically for the life to come. 29For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.” People make this a predestination for salvation passage when it is really predestination for conformity to the image of His Son passage. The path to this glory is through suffering. When you get to the glory, you will see suffering from a whole different perspective. Sufferings are the beauty treatments that God uses to make us beautiful forever. 

2 Corinthians 4     17 “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. 2 Corinthians 5      1 For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, 3 if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. 4 For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. 1 Corinthians 15      42 “…The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. 43 It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.

 To help us understand all this, Paul brings in an illustration – Romans 8:19 “For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.” Here, “ketisis” = subhuman creation, both animate and inanimate, both animals and plants and trees and ground and everything. Nature is waiting for us to revealed in glory. Why? Because nature has gone through some suffering as well. Nature’s suffering is also destined for glory that will be revealed in the end, but not before our glory is revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; This is a reference to Genesis 3      17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, “You shall not eat of it’: ‘Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. 18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field.’”Unfortunately, this is not the only time corruption came into the world. Later, when God destroyed the world through Noah’s Flood, there was more damage. The entire terrain of the world was rearranged. The opening video you watched was Palisades Sill near Cameron and Red River, New Mexico. By the way, the corruption did not stop after Noah’s Flood. (Check out the video from Great Sand Dunes National Park).

Back to Romans 8       21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. 

Personification of the Natural World:

• Psalm 65        5 “By awesome deeds in righteousness You will answer us, O God of our salvation, You who are the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of the far-off seas…11 You crown the year with Your goodness, And Your paths drip with abundance. 12 They drop on the pastures of the wilderness, And the little hills rejoice on every side. 13 The pastures are clothed with flocks; The valleys also are covered with grain; They shout for joy, they also sing.”
• Isaiah 24         1 “Behold, the LORD makes the earth empty and makes it waste, distorts its surface and scatters abroad its inhabitants…4 The earth mourns and fades away, the world languishes and fades away; The haughty people of the earth languish.”
• Isaiah 55:12 “For you shall go out with joy, and be led out with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing before you, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.”
• Jeremiah 12:4 “How long will the land mourn, And the herbs of every field wither? The beasts and birds are consumed, For the wickedness of those who dwell there…”

Creation will be renewed and transformed. This will not be creatio ex nihilo (Creation out of nothing). This will be creatio ex vetere (Creation from the old). It is following our model. The Grand Canyon is beautiful, but it was made beautiful through suffering. The Palisades Sill are beautiful through suffering. The Great Sand Dunes are beautiful through centuries of pain. You will be able to enjoy them and so much more in eternity. They will be beautiful because of what they’ve gone through but now without sin.

There’s beauty in our pain, as there’s beauty in the pain of creation. Suffering creates the lines and colors that make us beautiful. The creation demonstrates that. Isaiah 11         1 “There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots. 2 The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD. 3 His delight is in the fear of the LORD, And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, Nor decide by the hearing of His ears; 4 But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, And decide with equity for the meek of the earth; He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked. 5 Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, And faithfulness the belt of His waist. 6 “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, The leopard shall lie down with the young goat, The calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little child shall lead them. 7 The cow and the bear shall graze; Their young ones shall lie down together; And the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole, And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den. 9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea. 10 “And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, Who shall stand as a banner to the people; For the Gentiles shall seek Him, And His resting place shall be glorious.” 11 It shall come to pass in that day That the Lord shall set His hand again the second time To recover the remnant of His people who are left, From Assyria and Egypt, From Pathros and Cush, From Elam and Shinar, From Hamath and the islands of the sea.”

Back to Romans 8       24 For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.

FOR COMMUNION:

Matt. 26:26   And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” 27 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. 29 But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.”Important passage – Colossians 1:15-20