The Ultimate Essence of Evil

If we don’t learn to hate the essence of evil that lies in us we will never truly begin to experience God the way we are meant to. There is a famous saying “every thief if repentant of the noose around his neck.” So, why this? Easy. We are ‘planting a church’.... more accurately, we are being used by the Lord to start a local ‘branch’ of his already existing church… we are a local church that is stemming out of efforts from the greater Universal Church…and Jesus’ words from :

English Standard Version Chapter 16

16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.

This mini-sermon is more for me than it is for you all. We’ve been here since July/August and I’ve found myself looking back to my GA days a lot. I miss my job, my comfort, my bank account, my schedule, my flexibility, my suite spot … the funny thing is that I was working at a church and was running ragged. I’ve been able to spend more intimate time with God these last 4 months than I have these last three years. I’m not impressed by Dennis Rivera. Some of you don’t know this but before we moved Sarah’s AC went out…and it was $1500 to fix it. I was having a pity party. That very evening a check showed up for $6300.... and here I am questioning whether or not God is in control. And I can talk about thing after thing that lined up but yet I question and I lack faith Enough about me lets open our Bibles to …

English Standard Version Chapter 3

3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made.

He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 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.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

We know the rest. We know that this act was what led to Christ’ sacrifice. I want to slow down though when we read these verses. It wasn’t the apple that caused the sin. It wasn’t the fact that actual action that started this sinful act. It was the fact that both Adam and Eve saw that the fruit was good it was a delight to their eyes… they desired it… and, ultimately, they desired this over God. When we look at this past week and think of the moments we sinned we fell into this belief that either a thing/person/event/status was somehow elevated higher than God.

If only I had that job

If only my kid did this…

If only I could do this for God…

If only I obeyed God more…

If only I could stop sinning…

These last two place more emphasis on our ability to do and not do rather than on what God has done and magnifying what Jesus did on the cross for us. Us keeping commandments doesn’t make God look great, it makes us look moral (John Piper).

We make judgement calls, pretend God is automatically on our side approving of our judgment and then move on. We do this without thinking and we do this day in and day out. I’m just as guilty as the next person and know that my mind is prone to wander and it always wanders towards self-reliance. Adam and Eve delighted more in what the fruit could do for them rather than what GOD could do for them. They preferred something else rather than God…

How many of us try being good without any essence of delight in GOD? We fight on a front that we will never win. What are you satisfied by? Jesus blood and righteousness? Or in your ability to do good things and to hold on long enough to not do bad things?

The triumph of Christ. It is finished. The defeat of sin. The glorified body. The resurrection of the saints. Forgiveness of sin. The defeat of the Devil. Healing of every disease…

And yet Christ did all of these things to please the Father.

10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;

he has put him to grief;

when his soul makes an offering for guilt,

he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;

the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

Evil is preferring anything to God. Who doesn’t want a new glorified body? Or to be reunited with dead family members and loved ones? Who wants to go to hell? Both saved and unsaved individuals want these things. So… why do I say all of these things? I say these things because I have noticed that the majority of my Christianity was and still is some days more about my own desires over the Lords. This isn’t a beat up session but rather a call for us to inspect our own Christianity. Do we want Christ? Do we delight in the Lord? Or do we delight in the fact that we are going to heaven and this is the basis of us reaching folks? I want us to pray and then I want us to partake in communion together. I believe that it is in this intentional community where we will continue to look more and more like Christ and less like our own flesh and desires. It is in these gatherings and our city and core groups where we can truly sharpen one another.

Let’s pray.

[Communion]

English Standard Version Chapter 11

23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

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