Sermon Tone Analysis

*Inscription: Writing God’s Words on Our Hearts & Minds*

*/Part 6: Sin & Judgment/*

*Genesis 3-6*

*/January 10, 2010/*

 

* *

*Prep: *

·         088 (unbelief as sin), 100,

·         Gen.

3-8, Rom.

5:12-21, 8:18-25

·         HSB and NAS: “Sons of God”

 

Scripture Reading: Genesis 3:1-9

 

 

Greeting

 

·         New group on Facebook: I’ll try putting up tidbits.

Prayer

 

Coming to some of the most *important* and *troubling* portions of Scripture, help us see your *goodness* shine through, that you are “*righteous* in all your ways and *loving* toward all you’ve made.”

from the fall to the flood

 

This week, we’ll talk about the *most* *important* *day* in human history, the *Fall*, when sin entered the world.

If you don’t *understand* this day, then nothing else in the Bible makes sense.

The creation ends with God saying “this is *very* *good*,” so how do we go from that to God all but *wiping* *out* humanity with a flood in chapter a *couple* of *chapters*?

We ask “What *went* *wrong*?” “Is this world, filled with *pain* and *cruelty* the way it’s supposed to be?”

 

·         We have an *innate* *sense* that this is not the way it should be, even atheist *Bertrand* *Russell* tried to make things better.[1]

As a *pastor*, I constantly deal with the *results* of *sin* as it continues to destroy.

It was good

We are given this picture of a *perfect* *existence*.

The Garden of Eden is *beautiful*, we have a direct *relationship* with God, and *purpose*: To create *heaven* on *earth*.

·         God didn’t *need* us or our *help*, but gave us a *project* so we could be like our Daddy.

Then we have the first *love* *story* of history.

NIV *Genesis 2:18 *The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone.

I will make a helper suitable for him.”

·         *Helper* doesn’t mean a servant, but an *equal* – this term is also used of God as our helper.

So God has Adam *name* all the animals, so he see that all of them have a *mate* like them, but he does not.

*Genesis 2:22-25* The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman’, for she was taken out of man.” 24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

25 The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

It’s like a story of *innocence* *lost* – we want the good part to *go* *on* forever, but know the *twist* is coming.

It’s like “*Revolutionary* *Road*” where they are a perfect couple but then life happens (I didn’t watch it, looked too depressing).

The temptation

 

I wonder *how* *long* this lasted – I like to think many years, but we don’t know.

By the next verse there’s *trouble* in *paradise*.

NIV *Genesis 3:1-5* ¶ Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made.

He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

 

·         This serpent is *not* *literally* a snake, they and we know snakes can’t talk – it was some sort of *manifestation* of *Satan*.

Satan is *sowing* *doubt* – doubt is the *mother* of all *sins*.

 

 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’“

*Eve* *adds* to God’s words, which is strange.

I don’t know what is happening here, but something is.

Perhaps she has made God’s rules *more* *restrictive* for fear of disobeying (rather *ironic*).

4 “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman.

5 “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Q   Do *you* see what Satan is doing?

What is his *tactic*?

He is questioning *God’s* *goodness* – he makes God sound *miserly*, *begrudging* us the *joy* of experiencing his good gifts.

He says that God does not have our *best* *interest* in mind – as if he *knows* eating the fruit will make us better, but *denies* it to us.

I believe that the most *fundamental* *lie* of the enemy is that God is *not* *good*.

If we believe that God is truly good, then than *no* amount of *temptation* will cause us to disobey him, because we will know that *obedience* leads to *joy* and *disobedience* to *pain*.

·         Sin is a *shortcut* to *happiness* that ends in misery.

knowledge of good and evil

 

Once Adam and Eve *doubted* God’s *goodness*, the rest was easy – get them to *doubt* his *commands*.

Satan gives them a *partial* *truth* – they will “know good from evil” *What’s* so *bad* about knowing?

If you *trust* *God* is good, then you *won’t* *worry* about it.

·         Some people (from Gnostics to Philip Pullman) think *Satan* is the *good* *guy*, because knowledge is power.

So what is it, and *why* is it *bad*?

Ancient understanding of “*knowing*” include *doing* and *being*, so what God didn’t want them to have a *practical* *knowledge* of evil and suffering.

·         Grace likes reading through a *first* *aid* *book*, but I hope she doesn’t have to *experience* the things in there.

The fall

 

And we all know what happens:

 

*Genesis 3:6* When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.

She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

·         Notice that *Adam* was there *with* *Eve*, he is a bit of *weenie* through this whole thing.

On that day, sin entered the world and everything was corrupted.

*What* is sin?

It is everything that *hurt* *us*, hurts *others*, and our *relationship* with *God*.

It started with a *simple* act of *disobedience*, but immediately poisoned all of creation.

NO tree, no problem?

Q   Have you ever wondered *why* God made that *tree*?

Part of me thinks, “These must have been your *first* *kids*...I’ve learned better than to leave something that *temping*.”

As a child, I decided that if I were Adam, the first thing I’d invent would be an *ax*, solve the problem nicely.

But for *free* *will* to be free, there had to be a *genuine* *choice*.

While the specific act was eating from the tree, the biggest issue was not *trusting* or *obeying* God.

If wasn’t eating some fruit, it would have been *something* *else*.

·         A child in a *straightjacket* may be better behaved, but that does not mean he is a *better* *child*.

This is a *risky* *enterprise* for God – let them be *free* and take the risk or make them *happy* *slaves*.

What was good is now bad

 

We made our *choice* and we immediately see is *hurting* us, others, and our relationship with God.

Gods tell them the *consequences* of their sins:

 

*Genesis 3:16* 16 To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children.

Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”

There is *debate* on exactly what these mean, but the key point is that which was meant to be *good* will be made *bitter* by sin:

 

1.

*Childbirth* and *rearing* is meant to be a *blessing* and joy, but now it is filled with pain, both in *birth* and *raising* children – their rebellion makes it bitter.

2.

What is meant to be a *loving*, *supportive* *relationship* is now filled with *competitiveness* and *domination*.

19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

Likewise, *work*, which is meant to be a *blessing* and *joy* to man, becomes *frustrating* and *hard*.

Death as mercy

 

Furthermore, they were kicked *out* of Eden and prevented from gaining life:

 

*Genesis 3:22-23 *  22 ¶ And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil.

He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”

23 So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.

Q   Was this *kindness* or *cruelty*?

I think death was a *kindness*: I recently did a *funeral* for a man with *dementia* – that has to be the scariest thought to me.

His *death* was a type of *mercy*, no longer living that way.

·         We are told that all *creation* *groans*, as if all creation is suffering from the effects of sin and in *death* we find *relief*.

Downward spiral