Identity Misplaced in Eden

Prayer

Scripture Reading (Genesis 3:8-19)

Illustration

300 Illustrations for Preachers (Scientists Make Fake Snowflakes)

It took them four years of work, but in 2009 researchers wrote a computer program that can duplicate the symmetrical beauty of snowflakes. In nature, snowflakes form when water molecules crystallize around a speck of dust or other material in the atmosphere. Snowflakes form intricate fern-like star, needle, and prism shapes. They often have tiny ridges and circular markings. Wisconsin researcher David Griffeath said the computer program is complicated. He said, “Even though we’ve artfully stripped down the model over several years so that it’s as simple and efficient as possible, it still takes us a day to grow one of these things.” Griffeath says the computer model may help meteorologists predict how snowflake types affect the amount of water reaching the ground. He said the water molecule was a real inspiration, adding, “Water is the most amazing molecule in the universe, pure and simple. It’s just three little atoms, but its physics and chemistry are unbelievable.”It takes humans an incredible amount of effort to replicate something God does every day.—Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell

Dear Ones, we are caught in a world where we strive for the chance to manufacture our entire present and future at such great pain and effort, while we place ourselves into neat categories that are superficial and short-lived. You see, we are caught in a bad case of misplaced identity because of what happened in Eden thousands of years ago.

As you read along in the One Year Chronological Reading Plan you may see that the redemptive story did not start with the Hebrew people, or with John the Baptist’s proclamation of the Messiah.

The Redemption story began in eternity past as our Sovereign God gifted humanity free will, and as he set out to display His perfect love for those unfaithful to Him. In the Garden of Eden Humanity lost its true identity.

Humanity Hides

In Genesis 3:8-11 we see Adam and Eve taking refuge from God’s presence as they are fearful of God and are ashamed of their enlightened condition. A contrast is drawn from the beginning to the redemptive story and it must be drawn out from the text:

First, God is the one who seeks humanity as it was the custom for God, Adam, and Eve to spend time together in the garden.

Second, God is aware of the events at hand and He does not break his customary walk in the garden.

Third, God speaking truth in grace and mercy, while Adam and Eve are looking for a way out

While Humanity seeks to hide the problem, God seeks humanity in its depth of sin and filth to establish a relationship after his own making, not created by humanity.

Humanity Obfuscates

Genesis 3:11-12 display the first indication of a misplaced identity for both the man and the woman in Eden. Among the first casualties of the Fall are both truth and responsibility.

Off-hand, we see Adam blaming not only Eve for offering the forbidden fruit, we see Adam blaming God for offering Adam a “fit helper for him” (Genesis 2:21-25). Adam is now, addressing and accusing God as though God is capable of imperfection, fault, and malice.

Then, Adam takes the role of leadership (and by extension the need for responsibility and accountability) and passes it to Eve, who was to be a helpful helper to Adam in his charge. Adam points to the heart of the issues humanity now faces in relationships with each other.

Afterward, Eve, in Genesis 3:13, pushes off the blame of it all to the serpent, a member of the creation created by God, for Adam and Eve to subjugate and rule. Eve follows the same pattern Adam leads with in addressing their sin and failure.

Where humanity, both Male and Female, are quick to muddy the waters of truth, God continues to hold, seek, and offer truth, because God alone is truth and cannot be thwarted. Because the act of disobedience is committed by both Adam and Eve, on multiple manners, the result is distance from God and his perfect work through creation.

Humanity Encounters Consequences

Genesis 3:14-19 provide readers today with immutable truths about the ramifications of sins, not only the original sin commited by Adam and Eve, but those committed by each one of us.

First, in Genesis 3:14, God deals with the serpent for being a conduit for Satan, as a source of deceit and evil. Humiliation and defeat are part of the serpent’s consequences for the sin entering creation and wreaking havoc in every aspect of God’s good creation. The animal kingdom suffers as much as the human race that God created to rule over it.

Second, Genesis 3:16, gives us the indication of the woman’s consequence for ignoring God’s command by placing her identity on the falsehoods spoken by the snake. The conception and birthing of children is now a conduit of pain and the relationship with her husband is now a source of discord and intrigue, rather than the harmonious reflection of the harmony among members of the Trinity.

Third, Genesis 3:17—19, detail the consequences Adam wrought by not heeding God and acting on the deceit of the serpent upon the woman. Labor is transformed from a source of fulfilment and joy to a source of pain and struggle. Because sin and evil are in the world, the ground is affected, and rather than giving food for all humanity on its own accord, it gives weeds, thorns, and thistles. The enjoyment of food is now to be a result of tedious work, resulting from sweat and pain.

While God executes righteous judgement over all that has gone horribly wrong through the serpent’s deceit, and the abuse of Man’s free will to use it to disobey God’s command, in Genesis 3:15, we read about a hint of hope given by God as part of his judgement. While the serpent’s offspring may bruise the heel of the Woman’s offspring, the Woman’s offspring will crush the serpent offspring’s head under his feet.

The first glance of the Gospel as we have it in the Gospels, the Epistles, and the book of Revelation is proclaimed by God as part of his judgement and decree for humanity. Where humanity receives the result of its own actions, God provides hope and a future for those who will trust in Him and His redemptive work.

As we read through the entire bible for 2022 I encourage you to find that there are not many protagonists and heroes of the faith to which we hold, rather I invite you to see how God proves himself to be the hero for all humanity. God rescues us from our misplaced identity and offers us the freedom what was taken from us by Satan, the flesh, the World, and the Lust of our eyes.

God is the Source of True Identity

Eden is where humanity went awry and where all creation, being good until this point in time, is now captive to the enslaving power of Satan, Temptation, Sin, and Death.

God opens the epic redemptive story with the bad news, which serve as the background to the good news of great joy for all people. God is our source of true identity.

We are not whom Satan accuses us to be.

We are not what our desires compels us to be.

We are not what the mortal coil we bear allows us to do.

Remember the words of the Apostle Paul in Romans 8:35-39, as he reminds us of whom it was, and is, and will be the only source of our true identity

Invitation

Are you putting on a false self? Are you tired of facing the trials of life by your own might? Are you Savior-less and in need of a Savior? Come, surrender to the one who can deliver and carry your burdens. Pray to the One who is able to hear and provide a way forward. Come, Confess your powerlessness and as the Holy Spirit leads you seek life and not death.

Closing Prayer

Select a deacon from the congregation.