In Jesus Holy Name March 2,2008
Lent IV Series: O.T. Challenges Redeemer
Genesis 3:1-15
“What Went Wrong?”
Dr. Paul Bretscher in his book, “Cain Come Home” writes: “the weapons of Satan’s testing are many. No child of God escapes the battle….the enemy is crouching at the door…. He desires to have us.” We do live in a secular society with all its temptations and troubles. We are called to be “salt of the earth”, “a light to our world”, seeking to capture the hearts of this world’s inhabitants with our secret weapon…the only one we have. The Spirit of God.”
What went wrong? What went wrong in the world God created? It was a world of perfect harmony and peace.
(read Genesis 3:1-15)
God’s world was good. Adam and Eve lived in the “image of God.” There was unselfish love for one another. Unselfish love! What a great concept and reality. We can only imagine….for we live in and experience a selfish world. In God’s created world man and woman enjoyed the presence of God. They experienced intimacy and the exercise of dominion over a world that God placed into their care.
In Genesis 3 we hear “an alternative voice”, the voice of a slithering serpent. It finds the woman alone and encourages her to think and act alone, without reference to God. What she can not see …she must not fear. Can she see death, which God warned her about? No! Can she see how desirable the fruit on the one tree is to eat? “good for food and wisdom”. “Yes”
James 1:14-15 picks us this theology…”Each person is tempted, when he is lured and enticed by his own desire, then when desire is conceived it gives birth to sin; and sin… brings death.”
Look at the words of the slithering serpent to Eve. They are meant to cause doubt. “Did God really 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!” (slow with a whisper)aaaaaaaahhhhhh “you will not surely die” …for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil”.
What did God really say? Genesis 2:16 “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 knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”
Adam and Eve’s act of disobedience can not be blamed on the environment. It was perfect. It can not be blamed on heredity…there were no parents to blame. Satan came with words to create doubt about God’s goodness and love. He took a clear cut command of God and turned it into a topic for debate.
Satan says: “Surely you will not die!” He knows what God had said. He knows they do not know the concept, the experience of evil or death…. It did not exist in their world. The slithering serpent puts doubt in Eve’s mind about God’s love and goodness. His words caused her to believe that God is holding out on her ability to reach her full potential… “you will be like God” knowing good and evil.
The temptation is over. She walks to the middle of the garden….finds the fruit pleasing to the eye… and the desire to be like God…causes her to forget God’s one command and warning. She reaches out her hand. She takes the fruit and eats.
Norman Habel, an Old Testament professor of mine at Seminary wrote: “Satan tempted Eve to believe that she could become wise, it is more than intellectual knowledge. She hoped the fruit would give her skill, ability and wisdom to break into the realm of the divine. In a real sense she saw this as a chance to break her dependence on God.” The real “eye opener” was not that she became a “god”…but now she knows “fear and disgrace.”
V 8 (read) Peace, harmony, intimacy was lost. They are hiding! Satan’s desire then and now was and is…to replace God as ruler of the universe. Sin, selfishness, evil stalks all of creation. Abuse, brutality, and death now fill our world. The image of a God of love is lost. Fear has replaced fellowship. Painful toil and stress replaces their joy of God’s creation.
Temptation to sin is custom made, one of a kind, temptations which Satan has successfully offered to each and every one of us. The devil’s temptations manage to bring each of us down. The seducer Satan, hell’s expert psychologist, has made it his eternal work to woo every one of us into doing things which are wrong, which we know are wrong, which we might never normally do, but which at the moment…seems acceptable and OK.
For example, I recently came across an old, old story about a lady who went to her butcher to buy a chicken. The honest man put the bird on the scale, announced the weight and was told, “That’s a little small, do you have another one?” He went back to the cooler and found out this chicken was his only chicken. Not wishing to lose the sale, the normally honest butcher took the same chicken, put it on the scale and added a little pressure from his thumb. He shared the new inflated weight with his customer who said, “That’s wonderful, I’ll take them both.”
Does the story seem far fetched? Well, how about the story of the mostly honest salesman who brought his company’s bid to the purchasing agent of an engineering firm. The project was so big that if the bid were accepted his company would be in the black for an entire year and his job security would increase tenfold. When he got to his appointment, the agent’s secretary told the salesman her boss was running late. Even so, she ushered him into the office, told him to have a seat and get comfortable.
“My boss”, she said, “will be here in about five minutes.” As he sat, the salesman couldn’t help but notice his competition’s bid was sitting on the agent’s desk. Nonchalantly, and upside down the salesman read the document… everything except the last line which was situated right under a can of juice. The normally honest salesman debated and then decided to move the can, just a bit; just a few inches. He reached over, picked up the can and hundreds of bbs poured out of the bottomless can. When the agent arrived, he saw the bbs all over and summarily declined the normally honest salesman’s offer. (stories are from Rev. Klaus The Lutheran Hour Feb 10, 2008)
Temptation. We are all voluntary victims of Satan’s seductions. The newspaper is filled with news about some trusted CEO who managed to make tens of millions of dollars for himself even as he lost his investor’s cash and his employee’s jobs. You don’t have to read to far to find some respected athlete who chose to enhance his God given abilities by using illegal drugs. Each one of us can look back over our lives and wonder why we did what we did; but the truth is, we did it. We each have fallen victim to Satan’s seductions.
Adam and Eve were hiding from God! They are not looking for God. They are afraid, hiding in shame. They need a Savior. It is God the Creator who walks into his garden, searching. “Adam, where are you?” It was God who covers their shame. (Genesis 3:21) He forgives them, but the garden they once knew could no longer be their home.
In the bible we find the story of three gardens. Eden, Gethsemane and Joseph’s Garden. In the first garden Adam and Eve experienced alienation from God and one another. In the second garden Jesus began to the crushing of Satan’s power. He stood firm when they came to arrest him, for he knew the cost of reconciliation. His holy blood was to be shed on Calvary’s Cross. In the 3rd garden Jesus conquered the grave and death. (thoughts from Max Lucado in Heaven Thunders)
In Eden, Adam and Eve hid from God. In Joseph’s garden Jesus emerged from the tomb. In Eden, Satan led Adam and Eve to a tree that led to death. On the tree of the cross Jesus gave his life as a perfect sacrifice, to which God nailed all the commandments we had broken (Col. 2:14) and took away Satan’s power by the blood of Jesus.
Satan was never invited to the Garden of Eden. He did not belong there. He was not wanted there. He slithered as a snake into God’s garden. Adam and Eve listened to his temptation and death came into the world by one man… When Jesus was on the cross Satan taunted him. They laughed at him. They urged him to come down. He did not. He died and so by one man Jesus we have life and forgiveness. (Romans)
I John 32:8 says: “the son of God came for this purpose ….to destroy the devil’s work.”
After the death of Jesus on the cross, Joseph of Arimathea took the body of Jesus and placed him in his own tomb, and rolled a large stone in front of the opening. The Jews had the tomb sealed. They set a guard of soldiers to make sure it remained sealed. (John 19:38-20:1)
On Sunday… the darkness of the tomb was shattered. An angel appeared. The soldiers fainted in fear. The angel spoke to the women and said: “I know you are looking for Jesus, He is not here. He is risen!’
The resurrection of Jesus changed the world. The fear of death that has controlled humanity since the Garden of Eden has released its grip for those who know and believe the resurrection in Joseph’s garden.
Let me remind you how Satan works; he offers people something which seems good if they will first do something which is bad. Don’t listen to him, he’s lying. It’s what he does.
You see, just at the right time, when we were powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. God has demonstrated his love for us, who have been “justified by His blood… saving us from the wrath of God.” Romans 5:1-11
For it is through God’s son, the Lord Jesus Christ that we have received reconciliation with our God.
