Sept. 8, 2002 Genesis 3:1 - 24
¡§Ground Zero¡¨
INTRODUCTION
I need you to do something for me this morning. Each of you should have received four slips of paper as you came in today. If you do not have these, please raise your hand, and an usher will get them to you. On these four pieces of paper, I want you to write down the four most important parts of your life ¡V the things that if you lost these, you believe that your world would quite possibly come tumbling down. Go ahead and quickly write them down.
I have entitled this morning¡¦s message ¡§Ground Zero¡¨. That is a phrase that we have grown accustomed to hearing this year ¡V probably more times than we would have liked to have heard it. It has come to refer to that area of Manhattan that used to house the WTC. Prior to that Tuesday morning in 2001, ¡§Ground Zero¡¨ referred to the surface area right above or right below the blast of a nuclear weapon ¡V an atomic bomb - Webster.
Think about the spot where a nuclear bomb goes off. The tremendous heat that a nuclear explosion generates would be the most intense at ¡§Ground Zero.¡¨ Whatever of beauty that had existed at ground zero would be destroyed. Anything that did remain intact at ground zero would not be anything like it was before. Everything would be changed. What structures might have soared hundreds of feet above the ground would now be brought down to the level of the ground ¡V ground zero. And though the greatest damage would be at ground zero, the ring of fire would spread out in a concentric circle touching 1000¡¦s, perhaps millions of lives. All of those descriptions would apply to what happened on 9/11. Something of beauty was destroyed, and it will never be the same again. I¡¦m not talking about the metal and steel of the towers. We can re-build the towers if we choose to do so. I¡¦m talking about all the beautiful lives that were lost on that day and the suffering that has gone out in concentric circles to touch the families members, the people of New York and the people of the world including us. It was truly a ¡§Ground Zero¡¨ event.
In Genesis 3, God records a ¡§Ground Zero¡¨ event. God had created a perfect world. It was lush. It was full of life. It was beautiful. On the 6th day of God¡¦s creative work, He made His final creation ¡V man. Like the rest of God¡¦s creation, man was perfect, sinless, full of life, and beautiful. God placed man, to whom He gave the name Adam, with his wife, Eve in the Garden of Eden. Man¡¦s only responsibility was to tend the garden, rule the world and have babies. Man¡¦s only restriction was to stay away from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He was a perfect person in a perfect environment with a perfect wife enjoying a perfect relationship with God. Yet with all the beauty that surrounded him and all that God had given him, man could not resist the one temptation. He did what God had forbidden, and he became a sinner. That event in human history is known as the fall of man. It was on that day that man lost the beautiful height that God had given to him. He lost his purity, he lost his immortality, and he lost his perfect relationship with God. Just as we watched the towers fall from their height, so God watched man fall from his height.
Because of that fall, we who are descendants of Adam are now destined to experience ¡§Ground Zero¡¨ events. We are destined to suffer because we, like Adam, are sinners, and we live in a world whose beauty has been marred by sin. When a ¡§Ground Zero¡¨ event happens in your life, the temptation is to question ¡§Why?¡¨ If God is so loving and so powerful, why did this event have to happen in my life? We shake our fists in God¡¦s face and say, ¡§How dare you do this to me! How dare you allow suffering into my life!¡¨ When these events happen in our lives, we have a right to get angry. But many of us are misdirecting our anger. Our anger should rightfully be directed at ourselves and the sin that we bring into the world for it is the sinfulness of man not the actions of God that cause our suffering. It is as we understand the source of our suffering that we can better deal with it and overcome its destructive power in our lives.
This morning, I want us to examine 6 effects that the presence of sin in our world and in us will have on us. Like last week, we will not take time to examine each of them in the same detail. Keep your cards handy. You will need them throughout our study.
Because man is sinful¡K
1. ¡Khis days are short. ¡§to dust you shall return¡¨ (vs. 19)
On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, thousands of New Yorkers went to work, hundreds of military personnel reported for duty, and scores of passengers boarded planes. None of them had any idea that that day would be the last day they spent on earth. For them, there would be no tomorrow. They were dead.
Death was never a part of God¡¦s original plan for human beings. When the first two humans sinned against God, part of their punishment was that they and each of their descendants would eventually die. (Rom 5:12 NIV) ¡Ksin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.
The fact is as short as our days are, some of us through our habits and diets are shortening those days even further. Every time that you eat a Big Mac, every time you puff on a cigarette, every time that you go faster than the speed limit, every time that you have sex outside of marriage, every time that you worry, every time that you put off starting your exercise program until tomorrow, every time that you sin, you are taking a chance on shortening your life span. So when you choose to take risks with your life and choose to do those things that God has warned you about, don¡¦t go questioning and criticizing God when the natural consequences of your actions catch up with you.
(James 4:14 NKJV) ¡Kyou do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Life is short, but it is not short because God desires it to be that way. God¡¦s desire was that man live forever in perfect fellowship with Him.
The passage that this verse comes from talks about the foolishness of making plans for tomorrow as if you were sure that you were going to have a tomorrow. I am sure that the people in those 4 planes on that Tuesday had plans for tomorrow. That¡¦s why they were in the planes. They were going somewhere where they were planning on doing something. They didn¡¦t plan on dying that day. They were too young. But whether you are 70, 43, 5, 29, or 930 like Adam was, your ¡§Ground Zero¡¨ event will happen, death will come, and it will always coming sooner than you expected it. Man¡¦s days are short because man is sinful.
TRAN: Pick up those four cards that you wrote on at the beginning of this message. Let¡¦s imagine that a ¡§Ground Zero¡¨ event happens in your life, and you are forced to give up one of the 4 most important parts of your life. Take one of the cards out of your hand, and throw it on the floor. Now you have three.
2. ¡Khis life is hard. ¡§sweat of your brow¡¨
„X Your life is hard because of Adam¡¦s sin - Adam¡¦s sin produced suffering for us corporately. God told Adam that he would have to work much harder to provide for his family, and that the ground would work against him rather than with him. Adam¡¦s sin didn¡¦t create the necessity of work. It made work hard. It made work a drudgery. [if time permits, point out some people in the congregation and give examples of how their work became more difficult because of sin]
„X Your life is hard because of other¡¦s sin ¡V There have been scores of babies born to the widows of 9/11. Each of these babies will have to grow up without a daddy because of the sin of the people who murdered their dads. These babies did nothing to deserve this hardship. We have recently been made aware that corporations and their greedy CEO¡¦s have worked the books in such a way that countless investors have lost most of their retirement. Did the investors do anything to deserve this loss? No. But one of the realities of sin is that the sin of one has ramifications in the lives of others just like a rock dropped in a pond sends out ever-widening ripples over the whole surface of the water.
This is probably the category of suffering that we have the hardest time accepting. Why should I have to suffer because of the choices of someone else? A mother cries out, ¡§Why did my child have to die because of the drunkenness of the driver on that night? Why didn¡¦t God stop the actions of that person?¡¨ We cry out, ¡§Why didn¡¦t God stop those planes from killing people?¡¨ We say that we wish God would stop people from doing bad things. But when we say that, we are always talking about the other guy¡¦s sin. We want God to stop the terrorists, but we really don¡¦t want God to stop our sin. We don¡¦t want God to stop us from having our affairs, telling our lies, or using our money for our own selfish desires. We don¡¦t want that. It¡¦s as if we tell God, ¡§God keep me safe and cozy, but don¡¦t interfere with my fun.¡¨ If we would be completely honest, we like having a world where sin is a possibility so long as we never get hurt by the effects of that sin. But a world like that is an impossibility.
„X Your life is hard because of your sin - Your individual sin creates suffering for you as an individual. ¡§¡Kwhatever a man sows, that he will also reap.¡¨ (Gal. 6:7). I want to talk to the children and teenagers here for just a minute. You are making choices about what kind of friends to make, how hard to work in school, whether or not to smoke a cigarette or take a drink. Soon, you will be at the point where you will have to decide how you¡¦re going to drive a car ¡V safely or recklessly. You will have to decide about whether to take a dead-end job that¡¦s easy or go to college and work your rear off to get the best that God has to offer to you. And at some point, you will be in a situation where you are alone with a guy or a girl, and you will have to decide whether or not to wait until marriage to have sex. How you respond to each of these choices will greatly determine how hard life is later on down the road. Choose wisely. For some of us, your parents, life is much harder than it needed to be because of sinful or at least unwise choices that we made in the past.
3. ¡Khis thinking is warped. ¡§Did God really say?¡¨
„X allows hate to rule him just as Cain did ¡V ¡§so Cain was very angry¡¨ (4:5)
„X sees things from his own perspective rather than from God¡¦s ¡§saw the fruit¡¨ (vs. 6)
„X thinks that he can be good enough to please God (Eph 2:8-9 NKJV) For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. ¡V not even those firemen and policemen who gave their lives in 9/11 while trying to rescue others are good enough to get to heaven.
„X thinks that he can be his own god ¡V ¡§you will be like God¡¨
TRAN: Pick up your cards. Another ¡§Ground Zero¡¨ event happens in your life, and you are forced to give up one of the 3 remaining most important parts of your life. Take one of the cards out of your hand, and throw it on the floor. Now you have two.
4. ¡Khis relationships are hindered. ¡§hid¡¨
„X his relationship with one another ¡V Adam and Eve were totally open and honest with each other before sin (¡§naked ¡K no shame¡¨ (2:25)¡¨. But after sin, they were clothed [barriers between them; masks] and blaming each other for the situation they were in.
„X his relationship with God. Joy comes from being in the presence of God. Adam and Eve¡¦s fellowship with God was broken by their sin. Their guilt caused them to run from God when they knew that He was present.
5. ¡Khis judgment is sure. ¡§you will surely die¡¨ (vs. 3)
¡§It is appointed unto men once to die and after this the judgment.¡¨ (Heb. 9:27) Adam lived to be 930 years old! It says so in Genesis 5:5. But you know what it says after telling us that amazing fact? It says, ¡§¡Kand then he died.¡¨ The day of death, and therefore the day of God¡¦s judgment, is coming for all of us. It may take a long time, but it¡¦s coming.
Some have said that the events of last September were God¡¦s judgment on the United States of America for her sinfulness. I can¡¦t speak for God on that, and I wouldn¡¦t dare to presume to say something that He hasn¡¦t already said. I will say this. If that is God¡¦s judgment on America, then America got off pretty easy. As tragic as it is to lose thousands of lives, a few buildings and four planes, it is nothing in comparison to the sin of America in allowing the abortion of 4000 babies every day! And that¡¦s just one area where America has failed miserably in its responsibilities toward God. God¡¦s judgment on America and the whole world is coming. You can read about it in the Left Behind series, or you can go to the original author and read the book of Revelation. Judgment is coming, and it will be far more severe than what we experienced in one day last year. This judgment will last for 7 years. In that 7 years, 5/6 of the world¡¦s population will die. That¡¦s over 5 billion people!
Rather than 9/11 being God¡¦s judgment, I tend to think of it as an example of God¡¦s mercy. It was a warning of what is coming and one more in a long line of invitations for us to get right with God.
One of my favorite commercial series on TV right now is the Verizon commercials. In each one, the same guy travels to different spots all over the United States. He starts the commercial with his Verizon cell phone to his ear, and he¡¦s talking to some unseen, unheard person. He asks this question: ¡§Can you hear me now?¡¨ The unseen, unheard person obviously responds that he can hear the Verizon guy because the Verizon guy says, ¡§Good.¡¨ Then the Verizon guy steps a few feet further away from whoever it is that he is talking to, and the process starts all over again with the question, ¡§Can you hear me now?¡¨ The idea that he is trying to convey is that no matter how far from the source he gets, through his Verizon phone, the connection is still clear.
We, as individuals and as a nation, have continued to move farther and farther from our Source ¡V the One who is trying to communicate with us to warn us about the direction that we are going. The connection has gotten so weak and so garbled that we can¡¦t hear God¡¦s voice anymore. So because our spirits have gotten so hard that we can¡¦t hear His message in our hearts, He allowed others to do a horrible deed so that we could see a message that our eyes could not ignore. We have stared at those images for a full year now. They are seared into our consciousness. And every time that we look at those pictures, God, in all of His mercy is crying out to us with this question, ¡§Can you hear me now?¡¨
In God¡¦s mercy, He is warning us of what is on the horizon and patiently waiting for us to respond properly to His call. It is God¡¦s mercy that we need more than anything during a time of sinfulness, and it is mercy that God poured out on Adam and Eve.
TRAN: Pick up your cards. A third ¡§Ground Zero¡¨ event happens in your life, and you are forced to give up one of the 2 remaining most important parts of your life. It¡¦s a tough choice, but one that you can¡¦t avoid. Take one of the cards out of your hand, and throw it on the floor. Now you have one.
6. ¡Khis need is great. ¡§garments of skin¡¨
Adam and Eve sinned against God. God had told them that if they sinned, they were going to die. That was why they were so hesitant to admit their personal responsibility for their sin. They thought that God was going to carry out a death sentence against them immediately. But when they were able to conquer their fear and own up to what they had done, God gave them the one thing that they needed more than anything else ¡V He gave them mercy.
Do you know what mercy is? It is the withholding of some punishment that a person deserves for some wrong that they have done. When your wife catches you drinking directly from the milk jug or eating ice cream right out of the container and doesn¡¦t give you the silent treatment or the good stiff lecture that you deserve, that¡¦s mercy.
The Bible makes it very clear what we deserve. In Romans 6:23, it says, ¡§The wages of sin is death¡K¡¨ Just like Adam and Eve, you and I deserve to die and suffer an eternity of punishment in hell because of our rebellion against God. But let¡¦s not talk about eternity right now. Let¡¦s talk about the here and now. We sin every day. A lie here, a lustful thought there, selfishness virtually all the time. Because of that, we deserve God¡¦s immediate wrath. Why doesn¡¦t He pour out that wrath on us? Because, as the Bible records, ¡§His mercies are new every morning.¡¨ (Lam. 3:24)
Some people have accused God of being unfair. Two Christian men ¡V let¡¦s call them Mike and Greg ¡V died and went to heaven. Upon arriving in heaven, both of these rather homely looking men stood before Jesus at the Judgment Seat of Christ. They were told that though the life that they lived on earth did not gain their entrance into heaven, the life they lived would help determine how much they enjoyed heaven. Part of their reward was that they would be paired with a woman for the rest of eternity. The first woman who came out from behind the judgment seat was rather homely looking. She went to Mike. The 2nd woman that entered was a real knockout ¡V she looked like she surely had been a model in her life on earth. She headed for Greg. At this, Mike began to question Jesus. ¡§Is this really fair? Why do I get the homely one, and he gets the knockout?¡¨ To which Jesus replied, ¡§She was really bad on earth, and living with Greg for all eternity is her punishment.¡¨
Fairness all depends on your perspective. People say that God is unfair for taking their spouse from them in the towers, or that it is unfair that God gave their son cancer or that they have lost their job. Ok, let¡¦s talk about fair for a minute. Do you know what fairness would be? Fairness would be that God allowed each and every one of us to suffer an eternity in hell. That¡¦s what fairness would be. God is under no obligation to provide a way out for us. He would be perfectly just in condemning us all. Now, do you really want fairness? Or do you want mercy?
God¡¦s mercy was evident in the events of 9/11. Just listen to these statistics:
The twin towers of the World Trade Center were places of employment for some 50,000 people. Some 23,000 people were the target of a third plane aimed at the Pentagon. American Airlines Flight 77 was flown into the outside of the Pentagon and could have carried up to 289 people, yet only 64 were aboard. American Airlines Flight 11 could have had up to 351 people aboard, but only carried 92. United Airlines Flight 175, another Boeing 767 that could have sat 351 people only had 65 people on board. United Airlines Flight 93, was one of the most uplifting stories yet. The smallest flight to be hijacked with only 45 people aboard out of a possible. Yet these people stood up to the attackers and thwarted a fourth attempted destruction of a national landmark, saving untold numbers of lives in the process. In Summary, out of potentially 74,280 Americans directly targeted by these inept cowards, 93% survived or avoided the attacks. That’s a higher survival rate than heart attacks, breast cancer, kidney transplants and liver transplants.
Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. (Lam 3:22 NKJV)
But mercy was not enough to save Adam and Eve. Their need was greater than that. They needed something else. They needed grace. Grace and mercy are two sides of the same coin. On one side is mercy which, as I told you earlier, is the withholding of some punishment that you do deserve. Grace is the other side of that coin. Grace is getting something good that you don¡¦t deserve. Grace is your wife giving you a passionate kiss at bedtime even though you¡¦ve ignored her all day long.
God was gracious to Adam and Eve. He gave them a gift. Look at vs. 21 of Genesis 3. [read it] When Adam and Eve sinned, they became guilty before God. They became ashamed before God and one another. The Bible records that they realized that they were naked. In order to cover their nakedness and atone for their sin, there had to be a sacrifice. God killed one of his sinless animals in order to make coverings of skin for them so that their guilt and their shame could be taken away. This wasn¡¦t something that they deserved or could earn. It was God¡¦s gift to them because of His love for them.
Some people don¡¦t understand grace. They think that everything good that they have received is because they deserve it. ¡§If you lost a family member in the September 11th attack, you’re going to get an average of $1,185,000. The range is a minimum guarantee of $250,000, all the way up to $4.7 million. ¡K Keep in mind that some of the people that are getting an average of $1.185 million up to $4.7 million are complaining that it’s not enough. ¡Ksome of the victims from the Oklahoma City bombing have started an organization asking for the same deal that the September 11th families are getting. In addition to that, some of the families of those bombed in the embassies are now asking for compensation as well.¡¨ ¡V excerpts from an e-mail containing statements of Rush Limbaugh The money that these people are receiving is not because the death of their family members earned it for them in some way. This money is a gift ¡V an act of grace. None of it had to be given out to anyone. In my opinion, take what is offered to you and humbly say, ¡§Thank you¡¨. Don¡¦t go demanding for more!
God has been gracious to us too. I read to you the first part of Romans 6:23 a few moments ago, but let me read to you the 2nd part. It says, ¡§but the gift [or the grace] of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.¡¨
All of the things that we have looked at so far this morning help us to understand where our suffering comes from. It comes from us. We are at fault. We, because of our sin, create our own misery. The great English writer G, K. Chesterton was once asked by the London Times to write an article on the question, ¡§What is the problem with the universe?¡¨ He wrote back very concisely, ¡§I am. Sincerely, G. K. Chesterton.¡¨ ¡V p. 69, A Reason for Hope in a time of tragedy It¡¦s time for us to stop being like Adam and Eve and blame everyone else or God for the mess that we find ourselves in. Let¡¦s just admit that we are sinners, that we have done wrong and that we¡¦re suffering for it. But let¡¦s not stop there. It is not God¡¦s intent that we lie in the bed that we have made. It is not His desire that we wallow in guilt or self-pity. It is His desire that once we admit our guilt before Him, that we bring that guilt to Him and humbly ask for His forgiveness.
And that is where grace takes over. Admitting our guilt can only help us to understand our pain. But understanding is not our greatest need. If our pain really does originate from the presence of sin in our selves and in our world, then our greatest need is for forgiveness, and that requires a sacrifice. For that, we must look to Jesus.
You see, Jesus came down from heaven and became a human being. He suffered through the pain of childbirth, the process of puberty, and the struggles of adulthood. He felt rejection, betrayal, sadness, frustration, and tiredness. He went through the loss of people that He loved ¡V His earthly dad, Joseph, and His best friend, John the Baptist. When Lazarus, another friend of His died, He wept right alongside those who were weeping because He hurt with them. But Jesus did more than just empathize with us in our pain; He provided a way to overcome it. He experienced His own ¡§Ground Zero¡¨ event at the cross of Calvary.
In one surprise attack, Satan sent all of his forces against the tallest tower there has ever been ¡V Jesus Christ. Jesus¡¦ enemies nailed Him to a cross and crucified Him. Satan thought that he had won, but what he didn¡¦t understand is that on that cross, Jesus took all of the sins of mankind ¡V all those things that caused so much hurt and pain ¡V and paid for them with His own blood. God Himself experienced death in our place. But that is not the end of the story. Three days after Jesus died and was buried, He rose from the grave. He was victorious over sin, Satan, death and suffering.
Because of grace, Jesus Christ suffered for you and for me. But He did not suffer so that we would not suffer. He suffered so that when we suffer, it would make us like Him. ¡V p. 132, A reason for hope in a time of tragedy
Countless people have suffered because of the events of last September. Maybe you are one of them. Or maybe you have been so busy going through your own personal suffering that you haven¡¦t had time or energy to suffer with the world¡¦s problems. Hopefully, there has been someone in your life who can help give you comfort. Jesus offers you comfort too, but He offers so much more than that. Jesus¡¦ greatest goal was not to give us consolation. His goal was to give us resurrection. ¡V p. 136, A reason for hope in a time of tragedy The Bible records that one day, we will stand before Jesus. On that day, He won¡¦t just bandage our wounds. He will take away our pain, wipe away our tears, and restore us to the perfect, sinless people that He intended for us to be in the first place. And we will dwell with Him forever never to experience pain again.
CONCLUSION
There in your hand or somewhere near you, you have one final card. Let me ask you something. What is on that card? What is now - after your three ¡§Ground Zero¡¨ experiences this morning ¡V what is now the most important thing in your life? You¡¦re holding it there in your hand. Get ready. Another ¡§Ground Zero¡¨ experience is here. If that last card has something on it that you can lose, something that is not eternal, then you are on shaky ground.
But if that cards has something on it about your relationship with Jesus Christ, then you do not need to fear your ¡§Ground Zero¡¨ events. The Bible records that nothing can separate us from Christ¡¦s love. (Rom 8:35,38-39 NKJV) Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
INVITATION
If I could have everyone bow your heads and close your eyes. One gentleman who lost his father in the attacks of 9/11 gave this response to the reporter¡¦s question about how he was doing. He said, ¡§I am all right because I know where my father is ¡V he is OK.¡¨ I want you to listen very carefully to this question. If you had been in those towers or at the Pentagon or on one of those planes, and you had died, where would you be now? Would your family be able to say like this gentleman did that they are at peace because they know you are with Jesus? If not, then I would beg you to leave your sin behind and come to safety in the arms of Jesus.
Maybe some of you are going through a time of pain. You feel like you are all alone and that no one understands. Jesus understands your pain. Jesus wants to heal you. Jesus never promised to make you comfortable, but He did promise to make you whole, and He did promise to walk with you in the midst of your pain. There are people here who can pray with and for you and help you make it through whatever it is that you are facing. I would encourage you to make this church your home ¡V your place of refuge where you can come to find resurrection power to overcome your suffering.
Jesus is calling to you. How will you respond?
