Freedom Lost

Watch Out!

I don’t know if you’ve tried to sell anything on Facebook Marketplace, OfferUp, and any of the other sites recently but you need to be careful. We needed a bunk bed for when the grandkids sleep over so Cindy placed the existing twin bed on Marketplace for $100. Somebody named “Bibi” said they wanted it and planned to pay using Venmo.

No problem. We’ve used Venmo before but they kept changing when they would be able to pick it up – irritating but not unusual. Then the buyer wanted Cindy’s Venmo address and the last 4 numbers. Now, we are motivated to sell the bed but why did they need the last 4 numbers? We put the brakes on.

We think they were wanting the Venmo verification code. Subtle and deceitful. I found this warning on the Venmo website.

Unless directly given the option by Venmo, DO NOT USE VENMO TO TRANSACT WITH PEOPLE YOU DON’T PERSONALLY KNOW, ESPECIALLY IF THE TRANSACTION INVOLVES THE PURCHASE OR SALE OF A GOOD OR SERVICE (for example, concert tickets, electronic equipment, sneakers, a watch, or other merchandise). These transactions are potentially high risk,

We believe we dodged a bullet! We are surrounded by sneaky scams that want to rob and destroy us. But the sneakiest scam started long ago and took away our freedom.

The First Scam

Before we can truly be free, we must come to understand how our freedom was lost in the first place. We must go back to the Garden of Eden to see how we got separated from God in the first place.

Genesis 3:1–4 NIV

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’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 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.’ ” “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.

Liar! Liar! Liar! “You will not certainly die”…it did produce death and we are still dealing with it today. For me the encounter with a snake would have been unwelcomed. For Eve the snake was simply a creation of God within the garden. The voice of temptation does not come as the voice of evil. Instead, the temptation comes wearing a careful mask. He is hidden in the ordinariness and the everydayness of a creature in the Garden.[1]Isn’t that how many of our hurts, habits, and hang-ups begin?

Part of the freedom of the Garden is the freedom not to trust God. Once that course is taken, as the story of chapter 3 will make clear, it is a choice against every other freedom which is ours in fellowship with God. The freedom not to trust God becomes the doorway to the loss of freedom itself[2]

Fortunately, God gives us a way to regain our freedom. We must understand the powerful truth of how God responds differently to our sin than we do.

John 8:32 NIV

Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Let’s look at these important truths together.

Security Through Truth

I admit that Cindy and I are no experts on avoiding scams. We’ve been victims a time or two. But we’ve at least learned to be cautious before stepping into unfamiliar or uncomfortable territory. In the same way, the Bible teaches us truths that help us avoid the lies of the devil.

We Were Created to Be Image Bearers

Genesis 1:27 NIV

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

On one occasion in the Gospels the Jewish leaders tried to scam Jesus. It was a financial scam. They wanted to know if the Jews should be paying taxes to Caesar or not. Jesus knew it was a scam and then asked them, “Whose picture and title are stamped on it?”

They told him that it was Caesar’s. To which Jesus then responded, “give to Caesar what is Caesar’s” but then He took it up a notch, “and give to God what belongs to God.”

The question becomes whose image is stamped on us? When we realize it, what difference does it make? If this is true, has our failure to obey the One who stamped us created issues? Of course!

Fortunately, although sin has marred us, through Christ it can be restored.

Ephesians 4:24 NIV

and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Colossians 3:10 NIV

and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

Freedom from sin can be gained through the truth of Jesus Christ.

God Intended for Us to Be Free

This is another truth that we need to guard in our hearts and minds. We talked about this briefly last week but it is important to realize because to many people think that following Jesus is too narrow and takes the pleasures out of life. Actually, it is completely the opposite. God intended us to be free.

Genesis 2:15–16 NIV

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden;

“You are free…”

Genesis 2:16–17 (NIV)

…, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden;

but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

Before Christmas I saw my family doctor. We had been watching my blood pressure and cholesterol levels creeping up and I finally got prescriptions to lower them. On the previous visit he had told me they were silent killers and we needed to do something. The meds worked. We’ve had a good relationship for over 20 years and has we finished up I thanked him for taking care of me. He looked at me with a little shock and then said, “I hear complaints all day long”. It’s nice to be thanked.

I think that God gets too much criticism for His prescriptions. He just wants us to be well – to have healthy freedom. We need to change our understanding of who God really is.

Identifying the Scammers – Shame and Blame

After Adam and Eve sinned, they quickly were introduced to 2 scammers – shame and blame.

Sin and Disobedience Will Separate Us from God, But Shame Will Keep Us Separated.

📷

Genesis 3:8 NIV

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

Now here is something that we see for the first time but every one of us has dealt with it and still deal with it – shame.

What should have happened is that Adam and Eve should have owned up to their sin from the very beginning. Afterall, they were close to God but shame came with their sin and they hid.

Shame will keep you separated from God and then God isn’t able to deal with the hurts, bad habits, and hang-ups in our lives because we are hiding.

Even When We Hide, God Always Shows Up.

Genesis 3:9 NIV

But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

This is a good time to deal with our guilt. “I made a mistake”. Healthy guilt leads to repentance and restoration with God.

Unfortunately Shame doesn’t often work alone, Blame is his companion.

Blame

We all know the story. Adam blames Eve and Eve blames the serpent.

Genesis 3:11–13 NIV

And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Adam said, “The woman made me do it.” Eve said, “The devil made me do it.” God basically said to each “you are guilty” and these are the consequences.

Shame and blame will keep us disconnected from God. Fortunately, God gave a promise that an offspring of Eve would one day crush the serpent’s head. The Apostle Paul linked it to Jesus in the book of Hebrews.

Hebrews 2:14–15 NIV

Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

Owning our guilt and acknowledging that Jesus came and died for our sins is the most important pathway to freedom. Shame and blame are scammers who want to rob our freedom and keep us paralyzed in our hurts, habits and hangups.

Are You Being Scammed?

Are there areas in your life that you are hiding from God?

Are you struggling with shame?

How could you exchange unhealthy shame for healthy guilt through genuine repentance.

It is time to…

See Yourself the Way God Sees You

You are a new creation!

2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

You are accepted!

Romans 15:7 NIV

Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.

You are chosen!

Ephesians 1:4 NIV

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love

You are loved!

Romans 8:39 NIV

neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

You are Jesus’ friend!

John 15:15 NIV

I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

You are family!

Ephesians 2:19 NIV

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household,

The Truth Sets Us Free

Adam and Eve got trapped by the scammers of blame and shame as sin was introduced into the Garden of Eden. God had given them everything – things we cannot even imagine. He gave them the gift of His presence, but they reached for the one thing they shouldn’t have had.

I like the way the Gospel of Mark begins by describing the opening of the ministry of Jesus.

Mark 1:14–15 NIV

After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

Jesus is like, “the time for shame and blame is over. I’m here. The time is now. Repent and believe”. Do you want to know the way to freedom? Repent and believe.

[1]David Atkinson, The Message of Genesis 1–11: The Dawn of Creation, ed. J. A. Motyer and Derek Tidball, The Bible Speaks Today (England: Inter-Varsity Press, 1990), 81. [2]David Atkinson, The Message of Genesis 1–11: The Dawn of Creation, ed. J. A. Motyer and Derek Tidball, The Bible Speaks Today (England: Inter-Varsity Press, 1990), 80–81.