God's Will. Part 18
Notes
Transcript
Handout
God’s Sovereign Will for Creation
Romans 8:18 .
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
What does Paul mean by “the sufferings of this present time”?
He is talking about the sufferings of the curse of sin in our lives.
What are some examples of that in your life right now?
For me it would be SIBO, or the brokenness of relationships - people dear to me lost, choosing to live in sin.
How is Paul challenging being consumed by our suffering of this present time?
He is calling us to look to our future glory.
What is our future glory?
The future glory is immortality with knowing the Trinity for all eternity.
Romans 8:19 .
19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.
What is meant by the creation?
Given the comparison between creation and the sons of God in this context, it would seem to me that it is in reference to everything but humanity, with an emphasis on plants and animals. Paul is pulling from OT passages like Hosea 4:1-3
1 Hear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel, for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land. There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land;
2 there is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.
3 Therefore the land mourns, and all who dwell in it languish, and also the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens, and even the fish of the sea are taken away.
How is creation waiting?
It is waiting with longing, with expectation.
What is creation waiting for?
It waiting for the revealing of the sons of God.
How will the sons of God be revealed?
1 Corinthians 15:50-57 gives us the answer.
50 I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 8:20-21 .
20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope
21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
Who subjected creation to futility?
God did, as a consequence to our sin in Genesis 3:17-18.
17 And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.
How was it subjected?
God subjected it in hope.
If it is subjected to futility in hope, was it God’s will that it stay subjected?
No, it is God’s will that it be set free through the reconciling work of Jesus, as stated clearly in Colossians 1:19-20.
19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
So creation is under God’s sovereign will of redemption in Jesus.
How does this idea inform how we manage the fallen creation in which we live?
Romans 8:22-23 .
22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.
23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
Why do you think Paul uses the analogy of the pain of childbirth?
Creation is groaning and waiting with who eagerly?
It is groaning and waiting eagerly with us.
What are we waiting for?
We are waiting for the fulfilment of redemption as sons to work in our mortal bodies, bringing us into immortality.
When we groan, what should we direct it to stimulate in us?
We may tempted to forget God’s sovereign will of redemption and allow it to be directed to despair.
We choose to direct it to the hope of our future glory in Jesus. We choose to rest in the reality of God’s will working through our suffering to redeem creation and our bodies.
Romans 8:24-25 .
24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees?
25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
We often want heaven now, redemption now.
Why do you guys think that is?
Paul says hope in God’s sovereign will of redemption is how we cope now. We look forward in an attitude of endurance. We wait for God’s will to bring about our redemption and the redemption of creation.
What will you do this week to cultivate hope in the groaning and have an attitude of endurance in the waiting?