Eve: Naturalist. Curious Fruit Consumer. Original Sinner?
Antiheroes • Sermon • Submitted
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Series Introduction
Series Introduction
Aberdeen MD; House of Cards, a show on Netflix, about an evil politician (not a lot of creativity there) Congressman will do anything to gain power and exact revenge; even kill; He is an example of an anti-hero; a main character of the story who lacks heroic qualities, yet still drives the story and in many cases like the Bible, his/her actions are evil, but God uses them for good;
Since we are approaching VBS, and the theme is Heroes, I thought this would be a good lead up to that.
Sermon Introduction
Sermon Introduction
Bad girls of the Bible; a book about the bad men in the Bible? We pretty much have that book already, it’s called The Bible; we’ll get to those later; but there are bad women in the Bible, although you have to really look for them; even when they are bad, in many cases they’re dealing with a problem a man created, or they’re being bad because the man deserved it; first 2 sermons are about female anti heroes;
Eve is our antihero, but I’ll make some sobering comments first: Eve is portrayed as the first sinner, and throughout history (even today) this has been used to control, oppress, women; women have been excluded from leadership in the church and just about anywhere else in society; women in many cultures including our own have been considered more susceptible to deception than men; intellectually inferior, Eve is infamously known as the first sinner.
Our focus is on Eve and her encounter with temptation.
Notice something about the tempter: he speaks. Have you ever met someone who loves their pets more than people? I’ve had the unfortunate opportunity to meet a few people like that: usually these are people who have shut themselves off from meaningful human relationships and focus their relational attention on their cats and dogs. (ex. dog groomer, ex hair stylist), where relationships come much easier. They don’t hold you accountable. They don’t tell you that you need to lose weight, you should apologize to that person, that you are lazy, or you just need to get your life right. Most of the time they just want to fed, petted and played with. Limited in their capacity to communicate.
We might think of Adam (and eventually Eve) as being surrounded by unintelligible animals. But we read in Genesis that one of the animals stood above the rest: This is not some scaly creature who slithers on the ground or up trees. He speaks, has intelligent conversations with the first couple, and is very wise. There’s a lesson here: the greatest temptations often come through those who are closest to us: those with the greatest influence in our lives. Those in whose wisdom we trust. (not trying to make you paranoid, not trying to case the blame on that person who tempted me...)
In our story, the temptation begins by distorting God:
Distorting God
Distorting God
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. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
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.’ ”
But did God say?
Fights between siblings are hard to decipher unless you have nanny cams all around your house. I did not! Yes I did! I never said that! Yes you did! Often in an argument words get distorted.
Who was the first sinner? Eve? The serpent! The serpent first sinner: he distorted God words. Distorted the words of God. The serpent misquotes Jesus:
Who was the first sinner? Eve? The serpent! The serpent first sinner: he distorted God words. Distorted the words of God. The serpent misquotes Jesus:
And the Lord God commanded the man, “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.”
Serpent first sinner - distorted God
The serpent misquotes Jesus:
The New International Version Chapter 3
Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?
When in fact God had said:
The New International Version Chapter 2
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
Eve actually misquotes God as well:
The New International Version Chapter 3
you must not touch it, or you will die.
Notice the extra words. Not only did God say we can’t eat it - he said we can’t touch it. This happens with the Bible - Scripture is misquoted, taken out of context and distorted.
“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
Taking Scripture out of context is a problem for Christians - I could cite many examples, but here’s one I think is funny. I’m not sure if the “I really miss you” greeting cards still do this, but I remember getting a few with this verse in it:
You want it? God has it. Just ask. Often this is quoted by celebrity preachers in the prosperity Gospel tradition. If you read the 8 verses before that, God gives us examples of what to ask for—forgiveness, the coming of God’s kingdom, and our daily bread. Here’s another example:
It was also called Mizpah, because he said, “May the Lord keep watch between you and me when we are away from each other.
Context: “Don’t steal my stuff, may God punish you if you do.” Distortion of God’s word, taking it out of context and using it for our own purposes.
“God will never give you more than you can handle.”
That’s not even in the Bible. promises us that we will not be tempted beyond what we can bear, but you and I can think of plenty of times when we have been given more than we can handle. We pray during such times, because we know we can’t carry our burdens alone.
Then the serpent distorts the character of God:
Then the serpent distorts the character of God:
The New International Version Chapter 3
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.”
The serpent questions God’s motives. God isn’t trying to test your obedience or protect you from destruction: God doesn’t want you being like Him. In fact, you don’t need God. Once we have edited the Words of God and distorted His character, and ignore him (become a functional atheist) sin becomes all the more appealing.
The Appeal of Sin
The Appeal of Sin
The Appeal of Sin
The Appeal of Sin
The Appeal of Sin
The Appeal of Sin
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.
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.
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the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom
Sin is appealing. It is fun for a season - sometimes longer than that. We wouldn’t sin if it were such a horrible experience. (sneaking down for collard greens?) Raiding the desserts - that’s appealing, tasty, fun for a season, but like sin it can be hard to get them out of your system until the damage is done.
But we always follow our greatest desire. When you hear someone say, “Sorry, I wish I could help...” do you ever questioned the truthfulness of that statement? We always follow our greatest desire. We empty the contents of our wallet and give them to a robber, because our greater desire is to live. We go without sleep at night because our greater desire is to take care of a sick child. When God is our greatest desire, it changes all of our decision making. We love our neighbor because Jesus says so. We love our enemies because Jesus says so. We lay down our lives because Jesus says so (and did so).
Eve, at this point in the story follows her greatest desire: pleasure and wisdom and not God.
The Act of Sin
The Act of Sin
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.
she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
Interesting words: “who was with her.” In the picture books Eve has a one on one conversation with the serpent, eats the fruit and then Adam happens along. It looks like he’s been here all along.
Here’s where we can peel away the myth behind the women being weaker because she allowed herself to be tempted. Eve wrestles with this temptation at first and points to God’s commands. The serpent misquotes and twists truth and she was finally deceived. You can be sympathize with someone like that. Well, I see your point. Eating that fruit is probably not such a bad thing. Adam, however doesn’t even hesitate. He’s not like, “Whoa, what are you doing?” He’s like, “Sure, why not?” Eve sin comes after a struggle between serving God or following her desires. Adam has no struggle - he’s pure impulse. He gives no thought to ethics, common sense or consequences.
The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
When confronted, the first couple engage in excuse making and rationalizing. Eve blames the serpent, and Adam blames his wife. It’s easier to rationalize sin, point a perfectly good reason for it or why it was bad but really wasn’t my fault.
The Results of Sin
The Results of Sin
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.
Genesis 3:
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.
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.
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they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
The first consequence of sin that we see is separation from God. They hide when God comes walking around. Atheists like to quote Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, when trying to discredit God. Freud said that people believe in God because psychologically they need to. We can’t stand the idea of not having a god, so we imagine one, make it real to us. He has a point: we can believe things not because they are true, but because we want them to be true. But that same thing applies to atheist: Jean-Paul Sartre, a French philosopher, playwright, novelist, hated the idea of God. He couldn’t stand the idea of a god watching over him. There are psychological reasons not to believe in God. Adam and Eve couldn’t stand the idea of a Holy God being in their presence, so they hide.
We see this today. People living in such shame and low self-esteem they don’t think God wants them around. On the opposite end of that, people enjoy their freedom and pleasure so much, they hate the idea of God showing them their consequences of their sins. Adam and Eve hid, and people are still hiding today.
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There are also physical consequences to sin:
To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 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.”
To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you. ”
Cursed is the ground because of you;
Cursed is the ground because of you;
for dust you are and to dust you will return.
for dust you are and to dust you will return.
3 things are cursed as a result of Adam and Eve’s sin: relationships, the physical creation and our physical bodies.
To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 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.”
To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.
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.”
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There is forgiveness from sin, but often there are lingering effects; It’s not okay to say to someone, “I’ve asked for your forgiveness, so why are you still mad?” lie to someone, but the trust is gone; you forgive the murderer, but the damage is done; receive Christ in a prison cell - receive grace and forgiveness, but the legal consequences remain. you injure someone with your words, the relationship is damaged and isn’t repaired with an “I’m sorry.”
Genesis 3:
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.”
human relationships, creation is cursed; bodies are cursed;
forgiveness, but lingering effects; human relationships, creation is cursed; bodies are cursed;
Hope in Christ
Hope in Christ
Adam and Eve receive forgiveness, but the curse remains.
No more let sins and sorrows grow,
nor thorns infest the ground;
he comes to make his blessings flow
far as the curse is found,
far as the curse is found,
far as the curse is found. v.3 - Charles Wesley
I want you to remember this at Christmastime. Don’t just think of the birth of Jesus, think of the birth of sin in the world, and in Christ we have the birth of hope, that one day the curse will be completely reversed, and creation will be restored, relationships restored, our physical bodies restored.
I want you to remember this at Christmastime. Don’t just think of the birth of Jesus, think of the birth of sin in the world, and in Christ we have the birth of hope, that one day the curse will be completely reversed, and creation will be restored, relationships restored, our physical bodies restored.