Today we continue our series entitled, The ABC’s of faith. The larger idea is based on the idea that we learn over time through an exploration process of success and failure. Everything we come to know and understand is built over time on the foundation of trial and error.
We learned last week, the wooden blocks we have all played with were an idea in 1594, a practical concept 100 years after that, and only then it would take another 175 years to be mass produced as the blocks we know and love from Brooklyn, New York.
Last week,Peter and I talked about belonging and this week we continue with our “C” alliteration by building on the ideas of Christian corruption as part of our Christian witness. These are the building blocks (or the major aspects) of Christian identity that help us to withstand the storms of life.
Is humanity inherently good or evil?
Before I answer the question, Let me tell you a story. I was over at a friend's place and their youngest child was three years old. The house was full of activity, when a blood curdling scream came from the playroom. The adults ran to see what had happened. When we arrived an older sibling was holding their head and telling the story of why she screamed after being hit over the head by the 3 year old. A plastic golf club was lying on the floor in between the two. When asked why she hit her sister, the three year old said, “I didn’t.” The parents asked again. The three year old denied it again, adding the sister hit herself. Some of us had to leave the room because the lie was said with such conviction, we wanted to laugh. It’s hard to say a three year old learned to lie or was mean for no reason.
Humanity is broken. It is predisposed to sin. Selfish, self centered is its natural state. Are their moments in which humanity does good? Yes. However, it is not the natural state of humanity. To find out why, let me jump back to the beginning in Genesis 3 to verse 6:
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.
As Christians this portion of scripture is a cornerstone of our understanding of why we are born flawed, and uncomfortable and in search of a force to eliminate or make sense of our pain.
Humans are built to believe in something greater than ourselves. It’s built into our DNA. It’s the reason so many generations prior to Jesus humanity came up with Gods to explain the things beyond their control or comprehension. This inherent need to control the world, leads to humanity's greatest tragedies. If people believe the lies of culture, they end up suffering the consequences that come from humanity's error.
Verse six shows us Eve was deceived and Adam sinned willfully. Eve sinned because she was attracted to the fruit of the forbidden. She was walking by sight and not by a faith in God’s goodness. This is the same today with so much that motivates the world today.
Adam on the other hand, willingly disobeyed knowing what he was about to do, He knew it was contrary. Adam made a choice and humanity has suffered ever since. It’s why the apostle Paul points to Adam (1 Tim 2:14) as the one who brought sin and death into the human race (Romans 5:12-21). “For as in Adam all die” (1 Cor 15:22).
Satan tempted them with a promise that they would be like God and know good and evil. A promise that must have sounded good at the time. However, they failed to consider the consequences. They didn’t need the knowledge promised to continue their happiness. In fact it would have been better if they had obeyed and grown in their knowledge of God (John 7:17). Every decision has a consequence.
I was trying to think of a way to express this idea when I came across this tech notice.
The Maker of all human beings (GOD) is recalling all units manufactured, regardless of make or year, due to a serious defect in the primary and central component of the heart. This is due to a malfunction in the original prototype units code named Adam and Eve, resulting in the reproduction of the same defect in all subsequent units. This defect has been identified as “Sub-sequential Internal Non-morality,” more commonly known by the acronym S.I.N.
Some of the symptoms include: 1. Loss of direction 2. Foul vocal emissions 3. Amnesia of origin 4. Lack of peace and joy 5. Selfish or violent behavior 6. Depression or confusion 7. Fearfulness 8. Idolatry 9. Rebellion
The Manufacturer, who is neither liable nor at fault for this defect, is providing factory-authorized repair and service free of charge to correct this defect. The Repair Technician, JESUS, has most generously offered to bear the entire burden of the staggering cost of these repairs. There is no additional fee required. The number to call is: P-R-A-Y-E-R.
Once connected, please upload your burden of SIN through the REPENTANCE procedure. After, download ATONEMENT from the Repair Technician, into the heart component. No matter how big or small the SIN defect is, the override will correct the malware with: 1. Love 2. Joy 3. Peace 4. Patience 5. Kindness 6. Goodness 7. Faithfulness 8. Gentleness 9. Self-control
Please see the operating manual, the B.I.B.L.E. (Best Instructions Before Leaving Earth) for further details on the extended use of these fixes.
WARNING: Continuing to operate the human being unit without correction voids any manufacturer warranties, exposing the unit to dangers and problems too numerous to list, and will result in the human unit being permanently impounded and scrapped.
The consequence for Adam’s sin is pronounced in verses 16-19.
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.” 17 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. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 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.”
In his proclamation of a consequence, he assures Adam and Eve of pain. In addition to the pain of childbirth and the pain of toiling, the consequence is not a mandate for husbands to have sovereign power of his wife but a recognition that neither, can or should, operate individually. Marriage, in addition to being a covenant of three (husband, wife and holy spirit), a witness to the world of God’s love, and a perfect witness of the relationship between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, It is also a call to the painful surrender to another for the betterment of the whole. As Paul relates in Ephesians 5:18 and in 1 Cor 7:1-6, the two genders need to be mutually submissive if they are to be fully obedient to the call on our lives.
With that being said, each pain comes with a special privilege. For Eve, as the child bearer, she would ultimately be the one who brings the redeemer to the world. For Adam. it is the understanding His toil will bring about a world in which more would long to know God and ultimately bring about a re-creation of the world to the one he once knew in the garden.
The power of corruption is replaced by the divine power of Jesus Christ as told to us by Peter (2 Peter 1:2–4): “Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires” .
When we come to know Jesus Christ, we embark on a personal relationship with Him. The more that relationship grows, the better we understand who Jesus is and what He’s done for us. We start to grasp what His divine power accomplished for us. One of Jesus’ promises to us is the empowering and purifying ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of every believer (John 14:15–17; 16:7; Acts 1:4–5, 8). The Holy Spirit empowers us to obey God, reversing the curse of corruption and making us partakers of God’s divine nature.
The book of Galatians likens the process of spiritual development in the child of God to sowing and reaping: “For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life” (Gal. 6:8). As the Holy Spirit undoes the effects of corruption and decay, we reap the rewards of eternal life.
Hear the good news: One glorious future day, the curse of corruption and decay will be lifted for all eternity: “For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay” (Romans 8:19–21, NLT; Revelation 22:3).
Question: Is humanity inherently good or evil?
Creative: Blocks on Stage, Reading of Scripture prior to preaching,reading Genesis 3:1-19, Handouts, video for lent
References: Warren Wiersbe commentary Genesis, p31-32, https://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-corruption.html
http://persecutedchurch.info/2012/05/25/recall-notice/
