NATURE WAITS FOR OUR DELIVERANCE
Rev. Mark F. Bartels
Old Testament Lesson;
Isaiah 55:10-11
Gospel Lesson;
Matthew 13:1-23
Sermon Text;
Romans 8:18-25
About three weeks ago, one afternoon, I was sitting in my office working, when the phone rang. I answered it, and it happened to be one of my boys. There was a very, very excited voice on the other end of the line. He said, "Dad! You’ll never guess what happened to us today!"
Well, I gave a few wild guesses, and they were all wrong. So I asked, "What happened?"
He said, "We caught three baby raccoons!"
If you are a parent, you can guess the next question that was coming through the telephone line. "Can we keep ‘em?"
If you are a parent, you can guess what my answer was. "We’ll see."
I hung up the phone and thought to myself, "Well, little baby raccoons are awfully cute. Raccoons can be tamed on occasion." But then, the other thought crossed my mind. "Raccoons are vicious, can be very vicious, wild, dangerous animals."
When I got home, I was quickly ushered out to the back deck. There in a big cardboard box were the cutest, little raccoons, you ever saw. They were not babies. They were probably about "fifth graders" by "raccoon age". All three of them were huddled together, with each other. They had that cute little bandit mask, and the cute little ringtail. They were looking up at us, with such cute little eyes. I thought, "Boy, God’s creation is pretty awesome!"
Then, I reached my hand down, to see if I could pet one of them. All of a sudden, its head looked up, and its back arched. And as I got closer to it, it began to hiss, wildly. And then, it snapped at me, with its snarling teeth!
I pulled my hand back, and thought, "That is Romans, chapter eight. That is Romans, chapter eight, in action!"
Here we have the beauty of God’s creation, and yet those raccoons are afraid of humans. They intend to hurt and harm me, if they can.
It takes us all the way back to the Garden of Eden. I am sure, in the perfection of the Garden of Eden, as Adam and Eve walked through the forest, the birds did not fly away from them. They could get as close as they wanted to. They could put their hand out and the birds would willingly hop right on their hand. I am sure of that. I am sure that Adam and Eve could reach up into a tree and take out a little, baby raccoon and hold it in their arms. And, that little raccoon would cuddle, right there. I am sure that would happen. I am sure that when Adam and Eve saw the deer, they could walk right up to them, and put their arms around them and give them a big hug. I am sure that Adam and Eve could see the lion, the big lion with its paw around the little lamb, as they lie together. I am sure all of those things were the case, because God created nature in perfect harmony with human beings.
And so, it must have been quite a shock to Adam, after he had fallen into sin. Adam ran through the Garden of Eden to try to hide from God, Himself, after he and Eve had fallen into sin. And, as he ran through that beautiful creation of God’s, the birds began to fly away from him, in fear. Adam’s blood must have run cold, wondering, "What have I done that even creation now flees from me?"
And, maybe as Adam reached up into a tree to touch a baby raccoon, now it hissed and snapped at him. He must have thought to himself, "What have I done that now even the creation itself is afraid of me and is trying to hurt me?"
He must have been horrified, when he saw that big lion chase that little lamb, run it down, kill it, and then eat it. He must have thought to himself, "What have I done, that I have brought this on all creation? My sin!"
Our sin is a vast thing. Our sin is so vast that the fate of creation, the destiny of creation is tied up in our fate. When Adam and Eve fell into sin, God placed a curse on His perfect creation. The curse was that now, by the sweat of man’s brow, he would eat his bread. The earth would bring forth thorns and thistles. And, man would return to dust. He said,
"Dust thou art and
unto dust shalt thou return."
There would be death. There would be decay. There would be trouble. There would be pain. There would be sickness in this natural world. That was not nature’s choice. Our scripture reading tells us,
"For the creation was subjected to frustration,
not by its own choice,
but by the will of the one who subjected it."
God placed a curse on nature, because of our sin. And so, Adam and Eve, the only people who had seen the world before the curse and after the curse, must have been deeply troubled, when they saw for the first time, what God never created the soil for. And that was when Able was killed and the soil drank his blood. Creation was never intended by God to do that.
As Adam grew old, (and he made it all of the way past 900 years), his body began to get stooped. I am sure his hair began to gray. His eyes began to grow dim. His ears didn’t work the way they used to. His teeth began to fall out. And, eventually Adam’s body succumbed to the course of nature, to the curse that was placed on nature. His body died and he returned to the dust.
All creation, all creation suffers and has been placed under frustration, because of our sin. And, it is still true today.
Still today, when you reach into a box of little raccoons, they hiss, try to bite us, hurt us and harm us, because there is a fear of creatures toward man. That is a result of our sin.
Still today, the course of nature eats up our brand new cars, through rust. That brings trouble into our lives.
Our engines, through the course of nature, begin to break down. And, that brings trouble into our lives.
Our houses, which once were new, begin to dry rot, the water begins to seep through the roof, and we get leaks in our ceilings. It brings trouble into our lives. It is a curse that was placed on nature.
There are now storms that bring great destruction, and tsunamis that wipe out entire villages. Frustration was placed on nature, because of our sin.
Now, those microorganisms that can be used for wonderful things, attack our bodies, and we grow sick, (sometimes extremely sick), with great suffering. Sometimes those microorganisms even take our life and we return to dust. All nature, all nature has been corrupted and is under the bondage of decay because of our sin.
Our hair still grays. We still have to go get bifocals and then trifocals, because our eyes begin to break down. We still have to go get hearing aids. And we still have to use canes, when we get older. We all succumb to death and decay, because of the bondage that creation has been placed under, because of our sin.
Martin Luther once said, "If you don’t think that you need your sins forgiven (then he gave us some things we should do, but one of them was) if you don’t think that you need your sins forgiven, just look out in the world and see if there is still trouble there. If there is still trouble, then you need your sins forgiven."
Oh, is there still trouble and suffering in this world! We don’t have to look beyond our own body, or beyond our own home or our own car, or beyond the front page of the newspaper to see all of the trouble and suffering that is in this world. And, it is because of our sin. We brought that suffering into this world.
And oh, how we need to be rescued! There is only one way that we can be rescued. We cannot undo the vastness of our sin. There is no way we can undo the vastness of how our sin has even affected all of nature. Only One could undo all of that, and that is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ came into this world as the perfect God-Man. He is the only One to whom creation still today willingly submits. Look at how our Savior, Jesus, had total control over all nature.
Jesus could speak to a jar of water and tell it to become wine and nature, gladly and willingly, listened to Jesus and that water turned to wine.
Jesus could speak to the storm, to the wind and the rains. He could say, "Peace be still." And nature, gladly and willing, listened to the voice of our Savior and it became peaceful and still.
Jesus could say to the withered arm, (that was withered, I am sure, because of the course of nature), or to people who were sick, (who were sick, because of the course of nature on their bodies), He could speak the word and nature would gladly and willingly listen and release them from their troubles, and they would be healed!
Our Savior
has full control over all nature!
And yet, what an awesome thing to think that our Savior loves us so, so, so, so dearly that He willingly placed Himself under the curse of nature, (which you and I deserve).
Think about the tree, the tree that wants to give glory to God. It was cut down one day, 2000 years ago, hued into beams and made into the shape of a cross. And, God was nailed to that tree. Nature was not ever intended for that purpose. Certainly, nature was subjected to frustration, under the curse, and God died on a tree.
Think of the iron ore that was formed into the spikes that were driven through the hands and feet of God. Nature was subjected to frustration, under the curse, and put our God to death.
Think of the cow, whose leather was turned into a whip. That whip was used to lacerate the back of God, Himself. Nature was not intended for that purpose, but was under the curse.
Think of the plant that grew and the thorns from that plant that were wrapped around the head of our Savior, as Jesus willingly submitted to the curse that is over this whole world, because of our sin.
Think of the insects that were never intended originally to cause pain and trouble, as they bit the body of our Savior, as He hung on the cross.
Think of the poor sun, as it beat down on our Savior and caused His mouth to grow parched and His tongue to cleave to the roof of His mouth.
Think of Christ,
under the curse of nature,
for us.
Think of our Savior, hanging on the tree, succumbing to the course of nature under a slow and painful suffocation, as He gave up His life, now under that curse of nature for us.
Think of our Savior, Jesus, returning to the grave, succumbing to the curse of nature.
Our Savior took all the punishment you and I deserve, (no matter what it is, even what nature brings our way), so that you and I can be freed from our sins. And, our Savior paid the full price. He paid the full price.
And when He got up out of the grave, when His dead body, which had succumbed to the course of nature, got up out of the grave in victory over sin, there was God’s declaration that your sins are forgiven! Your guilt is gone!
Jesus
had conquered
the curse
that was placed upon
the whole world!
And now scripture says He cannot die anymore. Death no longer has mastery over Him. Jesus has defeated all of our sins and all of the effects of sin.
Our scripture reading today says that we "have the first fruits of the Spirit." As believers in Jesus, as our Savior, as people who know that our guilt has been removed and we are now right with God, the Holy Spirit has convinced us of that, and we have peace with God. The Bible says that is the "first fruits." The "first fruits" means that there is still more to come!
And, what is yet to come? What is yet to come is the day when we are finally delivered, when we are finally delivered from the curse that is upon nature. On the Last Day, Jesus will come back and change us so that our souls no longer sin anymore. Our bodies will be raised from the dead, and nature no longer can take us to the grave. Our bodies will be restored to be like Jesus’ glorious body, free from all the effects of sin.
Our scripture reading says,
"The creation waits
in eager expectation
for the sons of God to be revealed."
All creation waits for that day. The sun, the moon, the stars, the trees, the animals, the plants, the mountains, the rocks, the rivers, they wait for that day, for you and me, as sons of God, to finally be revealed, revealed as God’s Children. All creation waits for that day. The Bible says it "has been groaning as in pains of childbirth," as in labor pains waiting. Creation knows, creation knows, that the suffering it is undergoing right now because of our sin, will one day be gone. It will be gone and the glory that is revealed in nature will far outweigh whatever suffering it is going through right now, because of our sin.
The lion will once again
lie down with the lamb!
The sun will not beat upon us,
nor any scorching heat!
Nature will be restored to its perfect creation,
as God intended.
Nature waits in eager expectation!
The Bible says that you and I should wait in eager expectation for that day to come. Scripture says we also groan inwardly, as we wait, as we wait in eager expectation for the redemption of our bodies. Paul begins this all by saying,
"I consider that our present sufferings
are not worth comparing to
the glory that will be revealed in us."
Oh, right now, we suffer. We suffer, because we are under the curse of nature. We get old. We get sick. And, we die. Even our cars fall apart. But that is nothing. That is nothing compared to what is coming, compared to what is coming, when Jesus finally frees us from that curse and our bodies will be restored to be like Christ’s perfect body! And, we will be restored with nature in its perfection.
And so, scripture tells us,
"If we hope for what we do not yet have,
we wait for it patiently."
As God’s People, we know in this world we will suffer. But, we know what is coming. We know what is coming! And, we wait for it, patiently, in God’s time. Our suffering only keeps us focused on Heaven and we wait in eager expectation for that day to come. And so we pray,
"Thy Kingdom come."
Amen.
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