Introduction

Last time I was at the old Glendale Baptist Church, it was for a funeral, and there was a squirrel loose in the sanctuary. It was the single most entertaining thing I’ve ever seen in my whole life. That squirrel was fast, and he was everywhere. He would pop out one place and run to another, disappear and pop out someplace altogether different—all while the funeral continued. And he had the most perfect sense of comedy and timing: his best moment was when he chose a long pew of old ladies and ran right across their laps, ladies screaming, wigs and purses flying. At the end of the service, the grieving family gathered in front of the casket to exit out the long aisle, and the squirrel appeared at the opposite end of the aisle and charged them. It was as if the whole thing was a squirrel cartoon, planned and choreographed for maximum mayhem. They said at the time that the squirrel never missed a single church service and that nobody could catch or trap him. (Sounded to me like a job for the Turtle Man.) So here’s the question—did that squirrel know what he (or she) was doing? Showing up right on time for church and terrorizing God’s people (freaking out God’s old ladies)—that’s the devil’s work. The squirrel was doing the devil’s work. It sure seemed like it—but can you actually say the squirrel was sinning?

Can animals sin? The biblical answer is at first more complex than you might expect. Before Noah’s flood—when God sees the fallenness of his creation—it specifically says that “all flesh had corrupted its way on the earth,” so he decides to drown “all living creatures” (Genesis 6:12-13). Sounds like humans weren’t the only species that had “corrupted its way.” In the book of Exodus, when the LORD appeared at Mount Sinai, any person or animal that crossed the boundary and touched the mountain was to be stoned or shot with arrows—the animals were held accountable, too. In the book of Jonah, during the revival in Nineveh, the animals fast and dress in sackcloth for repentance (3.7-8). In Colossians, Christ is praised as “supreme over all creation,” and through him God reconciles everything to himself—everything as in all creation (1.15-20). If all creatures share somehow in our redemption, do they also share in our sin?

Futility and Travail

Bruce is a great white shark in Disney's Finding Nemo. He is one of Marlin and Dory’s friends and the leader of the Fish-Friendly Sharks support group. During one of the movie's scenes, you sit in on one of their meetings and observe their struggle to change their hurtful, fish-eating habits. What makes this scene funny to us is that this is precisely not how animals behave. Sharks don’t struggle against their blood-thirst. They don’t know guilt or shame or self-improvement. James 4:17 defines sin as “to know what you ought to do and then not do it.” Animals simply aren’t created with moral agency—the capacity to understand right and wrong or to choose one over the other. Their reactions are driven by instinct, and as such, they can’t be accountable for sins and shortcomings. And yet all creation is subjected to God’s curse. Animals suffer innocently; their way has been corrupted but not by them. The animal kingdom is corrupted as a consequence of human sin. Our rebellion has ruined the creation over which we were assigned dominion. Animals lack the moral conscience that characterizes human beings; they are innocent bystanders, who continue to live in the creation we have defiled.

Paul uses 2 key words for describing the present state of creation. First, creation has been subjected to futility (uselessness, not fulfilling its purpose). Something has gone absurdly wrong with the world. The apparent randomness and misery of the world is not God’s fault or the fault of creation. It’s our fault. (20) Our choice to sin brought a curse upon the created order. Things no longer work harmoniously toward God’s purposes and the thriving of all living things.

(22) The whole creation “groans in labor pains” to this moment. The notion of travail suggests that creation has not gone totally wrong. An ultimate purpose is still in view. Something wonderful is to be born at the end of all the pain. God’s children and all creation shall be redeemed! In the same way that our sin brought a curse upon all creation, our redemption shall bring a blessing. Redemption is God’s ultimate purpose—to restore us and all creation. Animals will be set free from their tooth-and-claw existence, when the children of God themselves step into Christ’s glorious freedom.

The Only Creature that Sins

So you and I are the only living things that sin. Everything else in all creation suffers and groans because of us yet praises the Maker perfectly in its waiting. Psalm 32:8, “The LORD says, ‘I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you. Don’t be like a senseless horse or mule that needs a bit and bridle to keep it under control.” God sets out the pathway for your life. He’s your Maker, after all, and he made everything else, too. Don’t you think he knows how everything works, where all roads lead? But you and I, we’re the only creature that tries to live as if we have made ourselves. We turn away from God. We rebel, you and I, and our rebellion brings misery to others and everything. Everything is uprooted from its place in God’s good creation.

That’s why Colossians says that through Jesus God reconciles everything. He makes peace with everything in heaven and earth by means of Jesus' death on the cross. By his voluntary act of ultimate innocent suffering, he has begun the repair of all that’s been broken by your sin and mine. And the repair is already begun. He’s putting it all back together, piece by piece, one life at a time. And it’s your turn. He will set you free from this life of futility and misery. All you must do is believe. Stop being so stubborn. Return to your Maker through Jesus. Walk in his way.

Questions for Discussion

1. If you scold a dog or otherwise catch it in misbehavior, the dog will often seem to show guilt or shame. Does this mean the animal has a willful sense of right and wrong? Explain.

2. Pastor Tim begins the message with several biblical references to animals and the question of their sinning. Why do you think God destroys animals in Noah's flood along with the sinful human race (Genesis 6:5-8,12-13)? Why would an animal be put to death if it strayed into the zone of God's presence at Sinai (Exodus 19:12-13)? Why do animals fast and wear sackcloth along with repentant humans at Nineveh (Jonah 3:7-8)? Do these verses together establish a pattern of holding animals accountable for sinning? Explain. How does the definition of sin in James 4:17 bring clarity to the question of whether or not animals sin?

3. According to Romans 8, if everything God made in the beginning was good, why is there suffering now? What does verse 18 say about your life, present and future? How is your personal suffering related to the suffering of all creation (19-21)?

4. Look at verse 20 and talk about what happened to creation. How was it subjected to God's curse (or futility), and who damaged creation in this tragic way? Why does Paul speak of creation in terms of a woman in labor (22)? Where do you see this kind of "groaning" displayed in the animal kingdom? What do you know about your own birth? Was the labor long or short for your mother? Why doesn't she hold the pain against you now? According to this passage, who or what is being born at the present time? What are we ourselves waiting for? When are you most aware of this labor and waiting?

5. Use your imagination: What will the redeemed creation be like? How will the animal kingdom experience this final redemption? What will be different? What might be the same (only better)? What about your own future redemption do you wish you could see or experience now? How hard is it for you to remain confident that God has good things in store for you and the rest of the world?

6. Last week Pastor Tim emphasized the way human beings are the only creatures made in the image of God; in this message Tim says we are the only creatures that sin. How are these two facts related? Why did God make us in his image, if it meant we would have the freedom to reject him?

7. Pastor Tim says that animals praise the Creator perfectly, because they simply live fully within the purposes and boundaries for which they are designed. What examples can you describe, where an animal returns glory to its Maker simply by its nature and existence? Why do you think it's so hard for one of us to live so simply before God? Pastor Tim closes with Psalm 32:8; review the verse and talk about the areas of your life in which you currently struggle to stay on the path. How can the members of the group encourage you?