The Pains of Childbirth

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 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.

The Pains of Childbirth

For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 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.

Romans 8:19-23 (ESV)

The Main Thing is to Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing

• Christ Has Died

• Christ Has Risen

• Christ Will Come Again

Eternal vs Temporal

• Abraham

• Dietrich Bonhoeffer

• Jonathan Edwards

“I must live with eternity stamped on my eyeballs.”

It’s HIS Story

Question: What is the chief end of man?

Answer: Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.

The Bible is FOR us, but it’s not ABOUT us!

Creation’s Voice (LAST WEEK)

1. Creation declares the beauty, the power, the goodness of God

2. As Creation cries out about God, we should be driven to worship Him!

“The whole creation has been groaning.”

Creation is GROANING

1. Human rebellion against God turns EVERYTHING upside down!

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; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.

By the sweat of your face

you shall eat bread,

till you return to the ground,

for out of it you were taken;

for you are dust,

and to dust you shall return.”

Genesis 3:17-19 (ESV)

Shalom:

“The webbing together of God, humans, and all creation in justice, fulfillment, and delight. Universal flourishing, wholeness – a rich state of affairs in which natural seeds are satisfied and natural gifts fruitfully employed, a state of affairs that inspires joyful wonder as its Creator and Savior opens doors and welcomes the creatures in whom He delights. Shalom, in other words, is the way things ought to be.”

…therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

Genesis 3:23-24 (ESV)

“We’ve lost God’s shalom – everything (physically, spiritually, socially, psychologically, culturally) falls apart.”

- Tim Keller

Creation is GROANING

1. Human rebellion against God turns EVERYTHING upside down!

2. Our wiring KNOWS things are a mess.

The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher,

vanity of vanities! All is vanity.

What does man gain by all the toil

at which he toils under the sun?

Ecclesiastes 1:1-3 (ESV)

Creation is GROANING

1. Human rebellion against God turns EVERYTHING upside down!

2. Our wiring KNOWS things are a mess.

3. Nothing will replace the loss of SHALOM but SHALOM itself!