Do You Trust Me?

Introduction

I don’t know if you know this about me, but I am a huge fan of the TV show, The Office.

Now, that might change the way you view me forever, and I know it’s not the cleanest show, but I just love the comedy and the “cringe-factor” of it!

For those who don’t know, the premise is that a documentary crew is filming an ordinary office which happens to be a paper company called Dunder Mifflin.

The main character and the boss is Michael Scott, and he is ridiculous, absurd, selfish, and so cringy!

On one particular episode, it is Christmas, and the office has drawn names for the person they were supposed to buy a gift for.

So it’s a secret Santa gift exchange.

But Michael is unhappy with the way the party is going,; he thinks it’s really lame, and he is unhappy with the gift he has received.

So he switches the Christmas party from a gift exchange to a White Elephant-type party.

People are allowed to pick from the pile of presents, they are allowed to steal other people’s presents, chaos ensues.

Of course people end up unhappy and angry with Michael because they had purchased specific gifts for specific people!

Coworkers ended up getting gifts that were never intended to be theirs!

In the end, they exchanged gifts back with each other to get the ones they really wanted and the ones that were supposed to be theirs in the first place.

Today, we will look at what happens when two people tried to take a gift that was never supposed to be theirs.

Our scripture this morning is from Genesis 3:1-13

Genesis 3:1–13 NIV

1 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’?” 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.’ ” 4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 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. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. 8 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. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” 10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” 11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” 12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

In my opinion, this is one of the saddest chapters in all the Bible.

That may seem obvious, but it is here that we see humanity destroy all the good that God had made in one, small choice.

This moment is why the rest of the Bible as we know it exists!

It is the reason that God set apart a people for himself, it is the reason Jesus came and died, and it is the reason we proclaim the good news of the gospel today.

Adam and Eve took something that was not theirs.

And it plunged the world into absolute chaos.

Let’s take a closer look at the progression of today’s passage.

A couple of things to notice here:

We are introduced to this strange character right off the bat in chapter three: the serpent.

The author tells us that the serpent was the craftiest of all creatures that God had made.

But why is he here in the garden, and why does he talk, and why does he approach Eve?

The text doesn’t explicitly say that the serpent is Satan, but that is the general theological agreement.

The author of Genesis, supposed to be Moses, would not have known about an evil being called Satan, who fell from heaven after a battle with God.

But we understand now that Satan used the serpent as an agent to deceive Eve.

Also notice that he did not come to Adam, but to Eve.

Not necessarily because she was weaker, but because it was an indirect way to get what he wanted.

God told Adam in Genesis 2:16-17 not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis 2:16–17 NIV

16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 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.”

We can assume that Adam told Eve about the tree, and she may not have heard it from God directly.

The serpent tries to twist God’s words, asking if he really said don’t eat from ANY tree.

Eve answered correctly about the trees in the Garden, but then she allowed herself to be convinced that God was somehow holding out on her.

She ate the fruit, and then immediately gave some to Adam.

It says he was with her, so he did not stop her, but ate some of the fruit as well.

Then, all hell breaks loose, literally!

Adam and Eve immediately feel shame, they make a feeble and ineffective attempt to cover themselves.

They hide their bodies from each other and from God.

Why did they feel the need to hide?

The same reason we all hide: fear and shame.

Then they begin to blame others for their mistakes.

Adam even blames God for giving him the woman!

Instead of taking responsibility for their actions, they blame someone else.

*Pause*

Adam and Eve saw something that they thought God was keeping from them, so they reached out and took it.

When they did that, they decided to define what is good and evil for themselves, instead of trusting God to do it for them.

This was not their responsibility, but they took it from God.

And God’s good world would never be the same.

But thankfully, God has made a way.

For you and for me.

And just like Adam and Eve, we have a choice, each and every day.

We can reach out and take authority to decide good and evil for ourselves, or we can let God define it for us.

As children of God, and believers in Jesus Christ, we need to let God define what is good and evil for us.

Big Idea: We need to let God define what is good and evil for us.

When we define good and evil, it has disastrous consequences

Why? Because when we define good and evil for ourselves, it has disastrous consequences.

Travis and I lived in TN in 2004 and 2005.

Back then, they still had pet stores in malls, and you could buy your new puppy and shop for shoes at the same time!

One time, Travis and I were at the mall and decided to look at the pet store.

You know where this is going.

“Just looking” at the pet store is really not possible.

Sure enough, there was this adorable, small, female basset hound for sale.

Travis and I thought she was so cute.

We already had two dogs, so we were on the fence about a third.

We decided to go to the food court to sit and talk about whether we should bring her home.

At this point, I knew God was telling me that no, we should not take this dog home.

But she was so cute…and she was discounted…she needed a home…

There were so many reasons that led me to justify buying her, and we did.

We named her Skye and brought her home.

She was super sweet, but very timid.

I can’t remember exactly how long we had her, but it soon became apparent that we were not basset hound people.

She was a mess!

Every time she drank water we would have to clean the floor and clean her!

We didn’t want to just give her away to anyone, but we knew it was not working.

So I called my best friend in Lubbock and asked her if she would take Skye.

She said she would, so we bought her a plane ticket and flew her to Lubbock.

Well, Skye was absolutely terrified when they got her.

She had peed and pooped all in her crate, and she was in rough shape.

A day or two later as they were getting her settled, somehow she escaped from my best friend and her husband and ran.

They chased her for three hours.

Even though she was a basset hound, she was fast!

My best friend called me that evening to tell me that they had lost Skye.

And when I say lost, I mean when she was running away from them, she was hit by a car, and she didn’t make it.

*Pause*

I knew right away that this was all my fault.

God told me what was best for me, and for Skye, but because I wanted to define what good was, a sweet little dog lost her life.

This was an important lesson for me about obedience.

God told me no to bringing home Skye not because he wanted to withhold love and a sweet gift from me.

He told me no because he knew what would happen.

I chose to decide for myself what was good.

And for Skye, it had disastrous consequences.

We should allow God to define good and evil because he is all-knowing

This leads me to the next reason we should allow God to define what is good and what is evil for us: he is all-knowing.

I could not possibly have seen what would happen to that sweet dog because I took her home.

And if I had known, I never would have adopted her from the pet store that day.

But that’s just the point isn’t it?

I couldn’t see the consequences.

But God could.

God is the creator and we are the created.

God knows exactly what will happen in every situation.

He doesn’t cause it to happen, but he knows.

And simply because he has this knowledge, and we do not, he is qualified to define what is good for us.

If we disobey God and decide for ourselves what is best for us, then we are inviting chaos, sin, evil, and disaster into our lives.

We should allow God to define good and evil because he is always good

Next, we should allow God to define good and evil because he is always good.

God cannot be anything other than completely good all the time, because his nature is good.

So if God tells us no to something, it is because it is not good for us, or those involved.

God never withholds good from his children.

But our nature, because of what happened that day in the garden, is inherently evil.

No matter how much we might want to be good like God is, we just can’t.

We were born with original sin from our ancestor, Adam.

But there is good news.

God has made a way for us to experience his goodness.

Ever since this terrible day when God cast Adam and Eve out of the Garden, God has been working to get us back into Eden.

And we are in the final stretch of that plan.

Those who put their trust in the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, have received the Holy Spirit, who leads us back to God’s goodness each and every day.

We are able to choose - will I let God define what is good and what is evil for me today?

Or will I take that authority for myself?

Conclusion

*Pause*

I want to close today with this thought:

Was it cruel for God to make Adam and Eve choose?

The tree was put in the Garden for a purpose.

It was so that each day, Adam and Eve could choose who they put their trust in.

Because that’s what this all boils down to, isn’t it?

Do we trust God to tell us what is good and what is evil?

I can tell you that experiences like the one with Skye build trust.

Because I can clearly see that God wanted my good and Skye’s good in that situation.

But why does God allow us to choose at all?

*Pause*

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was set up as a boundary.

Adam and Eve were asked to live within the boundary that God had set up.

God created that boundary for them because he loves them.

God told them if they ate, they would surely die.

God wanted them to live, so he set the boundary.

God wanted them to live within the boundaries he set up so they would partner with God in his good world.

When they ignored the boundary, they told God they did not need him, that they could do it on their own.

They did not partner, they tried to usurp.

Adam and Eve rejected the created order that God had set up.

And when we choose for ourselves what is good and what is evil, we do the very same thing.

As Christians, we are to partner with God to get ourselves back into Eden.

That means living within the boundaries that God originally created.

That means allowing God to define what is good and what is evil, and accepting what he decides.

Do you, today, trust that God can see what you cannot see, and that he always has your good in mind?

Do you trust God to tell you what is good and what is evil?

If you cannot say 100% yes today, then I would encourage you to spend some time in prayer, discerning what it is you are holding back from him.

God knows that our nature prevents us from trusting him.

It takes time, it takes failures, and it takes examining the true character of God through scriptures and in your own life in order to learn to trust him.

If you find yourself struggling to trust God, take whatever situation you are holding in your hand, and just try to open it up, a little at a time.

After all, it was always meant to be his, and he can be trusted.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.