Last Week, several people asked a question about temptation in last weeks sermon. In our James Scripture we learned that God does not tempt us nor can he himself be tempted. We found the word used in James to mean that God cannot seduce us, draw us into sin, nor can God be drawn into sin. The question was: If God does not tempt us, why do we pray - lead us not into temptation – in the Lord’s Prayer?
Great question.
The word for temptation used in the Lord’s Prayer is different than in James. James: To draw into a sin. Lord’s Prayer: To test, examination, testing. Let us look at the full context from the Lord’s Prayer: Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. The phrase: Deliver us from evil helps us to interpret, Lead us not into temptation.
Does not mean: do not let our faith be tested. Does not mean: Do to draw us into temptation. It does mean: Grant that we may not fail the test. Another way to put it might be: May our faith stand firm in the time of trial. We are not asking for God to withdraw his hand from us,
but to keep us against temptation by ungodly powers. So when we pray: lead us not into temptation we are in effect asking God to help us during our time of testing.
We are continuing our series on why good people do bad things
What we have seen so far is: We try to build a good world around us….
Listen to Christian Radio, Read the Word, Be with good people...It doesn’t matter what kind of a world we build around us. Scripture teaches: Our corruption still comes from within. We seek to be good people. God is not looking for good people. He is looking for devoted people. We use the path of least resistance. We usually embark on the path of least resistance, in small steps. I did not deliberately try to become involved in deceit, but somehow I got there.
If we want something bad enough – we can pray ourselves into a peace about it “peace” enables us to work outside the Scripture. Sometimes it is more of a Sense Of Inevitability, than a peace.
Today we will continue our series and see how Shame is part of the puzzle of why good people do bad things. We act, we react and we do things, sometimes bad things, because of Shame in our life.
Let’s begin with our Scripture from Genesis, Adam and Eve and the Fall. There is a lot in this passage, many different aspects we could cover. Today we will concentrate on Adam and Eve and Shame. It turns out – shame was not a part of our original make up as humans.
Genesis 2:25
The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
Here are Adam and Eve in this paradise, and are without sin, and without shame. Some would say – it’s all about sexuality. But it is not –
that thought shows a modern obsession with sex our culture has. It is about our human nature. About how we view ourselves. About our self-centeredness. It comes down to this: no sin / no shame. Up until this point Adam and Eve were without sin. The indication is: Shame, it never occurred to them.
Think about it being in a relationship where neither party messes up and hanging out with God everyday. They never had to do the laundry either. Hard to imagine…..You know, I think that is a glimpse of what heaven will be like.
Does their sin come from somewhere else? Someone else? No.Their sin comes from within.
Remember: we saw that Jesus himself said it is what comes out of us that is unclean
ark 7:20 He went on: “What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean.’
Mark 7:21 For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,
Mark 7:22 greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.
Mark 7:23 All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.’”
Our sin, is from within us. Though Adam and Eve were without sin. The capacity was there.
Let us jump ahead a few verses
Verses 1- 6 The snake convinces them to sin. It is sin because it is disobedience toward God nothing else.
We need to understand; When death is spoken of in this passage: You will surely not die - It is: 1- physical death, which doesn’t occur immediately – but does happen; and it is 2 – separation from God, spiritual death.
Let’s look deeper into death as separation from God. Verse 7.
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.
What did the opening of their eyes do? Separate them from God. They became self conscious. Shame has entered their world. We could define shame as a preoccupation with our appearances. I prefer: innocence at all costs. I am going to do what I need to, to eliminate the possibility of shame.
Good people doing bad things.
Something new has happened. They now fear God, fear rejection of each other. We see how they react - Adam blames Eve, who in turn blames the snake.
Innocence at all costs.
You notice their choice of purely organic clothing. Fig leaves sewn together. This shows a sense of panic – brought on by the shame. Now they areworried about themselves, not each other.
Nudism is no longer the lifestyle choice.
Story. Steve and Aunt’s Investment.
Steve’s aunt had purchased investment land years before through a broker – in Florida. This aunt wanted to give it to Steve. She had never seen the land but thought it was a good investment. Steve figured it was Florida swamp land so he called property manager. The manger said that they would love to have him in their community and told him that he would send some information.
Well, a big yellow envelope arrives – at work. He opens it up and what fell out? – brochures with naked people all over them. His aunt invested in a nudist colony.
Why do Adam and Eve make these outfits? They are ashamed. It’s an effort to cover up.
What happens to Adam and Eve? They hide, verse 10.
10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
In effect Spiritual death. Separation from God.
Side Note: When God asks where are you. It is a rhetorical question – he knows.
What does shame do? Makes us hide from God. Severs our relationship with him like what Adam and Eve went through . So we hide from God
and hope no one will notice.
But Jesus Christ has provided us with a solution - We will get to that in a minute.
First: In our lives we have unresolved shame. Either from something we did (our fault) or from something someone did to us (not our fault).
Shame and Guilt. Not the same. Guilt is the actual product of sin. we feel it, but it is real. Shame is a feeling and can remain after guilt is removed.
The effects of unresolved shame. We can transfer – Like Adam and Eve, Your fault! Perfectionism, "If I accomplish, it will cover my shame".
Overly Critical, this is a lack of mercy (Can see faults in others, but not self). Spiritual Nudist, Let everyone know too much. Doormat, I’m bad, I deserve this shame - We refuse, to let the love of God cover us.
Romans 5:20 The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more,
Things are different now. The second Adam has come (Title given to Jesus Christ). Adam is our biological Ancestor. Jesus – our spiritual Ancestor.
Adam And Eve. They attribute the way They react to how they think God will react. So do we. I see how you might react. So that is how I see God reacting. But Jesus has changed all that.
33 As it is written:
“See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”
Romans 10:11 As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”
We are accepted by God when we ask for forgiveness our guilt is taken away. Sometimes we let the shame remain. Jesus covers your shame.
Romans 8:39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
