What is it that God desires of us as men and women? Why has he made us in his image? What’s our reason for being here? There are probably a number of answers that someone might give to those questions. The Westminster Shorter Catechism asks: "What is the chief end of man?", then gives the answer: "The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever." On the other hand Jesus was once asked "What is the greatest commandment?" His answer was "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength," quoting Deut 6:4-6.
The one thing that Jesus thought God desires from us is this: that we love God with all our heart and mind and soul and strength. So what does that mean? What does it mean to love God? Love is one of those words that need to be fleshed out in context before we can understand them. The child who gets home from school and gives her mum a big hug and says "I love you mummy" no doubt really means it at the time. But that same child is likely to be seen at the supermarket checkout a few hours later screaming at her mum because she won’t buy her the mars bar she so eagerly desires. If she’s a bit older she might even yell out in her anger "I hate you!" The child who says he loves his parents but continually defies their authority by the way he behaves or the things he says, or the company he keeps may truly love his parents at one level, but clearly isn’t loving his parents at another. On the other hand, the parent who says no to his child may be showing love by restricting their choices. The evidence of love, you see, depends on the relationship we have with the loved one.
So it is with us and God. That instruction to love God, that Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy, is in the context of obeying what God says. It goes on: "Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. 7Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. 8Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, 9and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." These are words that are to be taken to heart, that are to form the basis of all of life. They’re to be held before us at every moment as a reminder of how God wants us to relate to him. They’re to be a reminder that it’s our love for God that should determine the way we live and think and act and speak.
So what has all this to do with Gen 3? Well, it’s when we begin to think about what God desires from us his creatures, made in his image, that we can begin to grapple with what’s going on in Genesis 3. God puts the man and the woman in the garden and provides everything they need to live a perfect existence. But there’s one thing they need that isn’t external to them, that God can’t give them. That’s the need to have an ongoing relationship of true love of God. And that relationship of love with God involves ongoing obedience.
So God says: "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; 17but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die."
Let me ask you, what do you think the tree is there for? It’s a fruit tree but it’s not there to be eaten. So why is it there?
Is it there to tempt them? Has God put it there to trip them up? Well, James 1:17 assures us on that point: "No one, when tempted, should say, "I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one." No, the tree isn’t there to tempt them. In fact its the opposite. The tree in Eden acts like the words written on the door posts in Deuteronomy 6. It’s there to remind them who God is. Every time they walk past that tree they’re to be reminded that God has given them every good and perfect gift, but that he is God. He may walk with them in the cool of the evening but he’s not just their mate, their buddy. He’s their sovereign creator, whose will must be obeyed if they’re to maintain their relationship with him.
But there’s something else here as well. It’s to remind them that their primary purpose in life isn’t to enjoy themselves in this paradise of an existence, but it’s to love God, shown in their obedience of him. In fact the only way they can be fully human is through obedience to the God who made them.
Now think about that for a moment. We’ve asked what it means to be made in the image of God over the last couple of sermons, but what does it mean to be fully human? Is that the same question? Well, not quite. To be fully human involves not just expressing the things that derive from God’s image. It also involves obeying the designs of the one who made us.
People occasionally ask, "Why are we here?" "Do we have some greater purpose than mere existence?" And they answer that question in various ways. Some with despair, not understanding what they’re here for. Some with blasé indifference. Others seek to escape by resorting to drugs, to alcohol, to hedonism, to the pursuit of pleasure, whether it’s sexual exploits or escapism or gourmet dining, exotic travel, extreme sports, you name it. Others answer with a pursuit of affluence, of wealth, of accumulation of worldly goods. But sadly none of these satisfies for very long.
The only thing that will satisfy for the long term is to stand before God in a loving relationship as a creature before our creator. And when we stand in that place we discover love as it was meant to be: love given and received as a person made in the image of God, loved as an individual personality, not just as an object.
If you were here 2 weeks ago you’ll remember us reflecting on the fact that the inanimate universe sings God’s praises simply by being there, simply by turning around year after year century after century. It does that because that’s how God has made it, because God has set it in motion and sustains it by his powerful hand. But we’re different. We give God praise by our self-determining choices. We’re individual personalities designed to be able to choose to obey, or even not obey. And it’s as we choose the path of obedience that God is glorified.
And so it’s in that context that we read of God placing a tree in the middle of the garden along with the tree of life. Adam is told he mustn’t eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, not because there’s anything wrong with it, not because it’s evil in itself. In that respect it’s just a tree like any other. No, the important thing about this tree is that it faces the man and later, the woman, with a choice: to believe God and obey him; to show their love for God by doing what he says or to rebel against God and lose everything they have.
You could say that all love is bound up with choice. You don’t show your love to your wife by buying her flowers on your wedding anniversary. You show it by your continual choosing to remain faithful to her and her alone. You do it by choosing not to do those things that annoy her or that disappoint her. You do it by choosing to do those things that delight her. The vows you make at your wedding mean nothing unless you choose to affirm them by your choices the next day and the day after and the next year and the year after until the day that death finally parts you.
So God gives the man a choice, but it isn’t a blind choice. It’s a choice that’s based on knowledge. Not complete knowledge. Complete knowledge in this instance could only be found in the breaking of the commandment. But it’s sufficient knowledge.
When our children were small we were always worried about them burning themselves on the stove. So we’d say "No. Its hot!" Now to a 1 year old who’s never burnt their fingers on a stove the word hot doesn’t mean much does it? We might as well have said it’s gumble or some other nonsense word. But nevertheless the way we said it gave them true knowledge of the danger involved. So it is here. The man is told ’the day you eat of it you will surely die’. He doesn’t understand what that means until the day he eats of it. Then he’ll understand to his great distress, just as my daughter discovered what hot meant one day when she ignored us and touched the stove anyway. But he did know that this was something that he was forbidden to do and that the results would be final. The Hebrew expression is literally "dying you will die."
But we come now to Gen 3. Enter the dragon. Well, actually, The Serpent, in this case with capital letters. The serpent is the personification of Satan. Satan has already rebelled against god’s rightful rule. His desire is to take the throne in the place of God. Listen to how Isaiah 14 describes him: (Isa 14:12-15 NRSV) "How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star [Lucifer], son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! 13You said in your heart, "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit on the mount of assembly on the heights of Zaphon; 14I will ascend to the tops of the clouds, I will make myself like the Most High." 15But you are brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the Pit." Satan’s desire is to be like God and now he comes to tempt the woman, and through her the man, to desire the same. Satan’s end is to be brought down to Sheol, and their fate will, sadly, be the same.
The Serpent begins harmlessly enough, simply engaging the woman in conversation. "Tell me about this garden he says. Did God tell you not to eat of its fruit?" "Oh, no," she says, "we can eat whatever we like as long as we don’t eat from this tree" and then she adds, "or even touch it, otherwise we’ll die." Satan replies, "Of course you won’t die." Satan is described by Jesus as the father of lies and here’s the first and greatest example of it. Mind you, maybe the woman has given him a loophole by her addition of the extra rule of not touching. It’s true that she won’t die if she touches so it’s half true. It’s also true that at one level she won’t die straight away. But how often is it the half truth that Satan uses to do his work? How often is it the half truth that’s actually an out and out lie? "You will not die; 5for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." Again a lie disguised as truth. Well, yes in fact they will know the difference between good and evil, just as my daughter discovered what ’hot’ meant by touching the stove. But, in fact, they’re already like God aren’t they? They’re made in his image, something Satan could never claim. They already know the difference between good and evil. As we saw earlier they have enough knowledge from what God has said to make this choice.
But will she love God with all her heart and soul and mind and strength? "When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate." Her heart and mind and strength were turned in that instant from love of God to love of self. She looks and instead of being reminded of God’s loving provision, she begins to covet. Here we see the epitome of all sin. It would satisfy the bodily hungers; it would feel good, it would make her wise, boost her self esteem, make her a legend in her own mind. And her internal thought processes then move outward from internal thought to external action. She took a piece of fruit, ate it and then gave some to her husband who was standing there watching.
Why didn’t he stop her? Well I’m not sure that’s a question a married person would ever ask? The fact is that men and women don’t always act rationally when they’re involved with someone of the opposite sex. The sex drive is one of our most powerful if not the most powerful influence on our actions and it always has been. This is not just a product of our modern media driven world. This is why God warns us about being unequally yoked with an unbeliever. Whether you’re 14 or 44, if you’re looking for a close relationship with someone make this your first criterion. Make sure they’re committed followers of Jesus Christ. Because when the moment comes and you’re being tempted to disobey God it’ll be a hundred times harder to resist if the person you’re in love with is encouraging you to disobey.
They both eat and immediately their eyes are opened. Satan was right. Suddenly they do know what evil is. And they discover that that evil is within them. They realise that they’re naked, exposed, their guilt crying out at them. And so they try to cover up. First with fig leaves, then by hiding among the trees. As if they could hide from God!
But God is not to be hidden from. He appears in the cool of the evening as usual and calls to them. And the depth of their fall immediately becomes apparent. What do they do? They begin to accuse one another. They pass the buck. They even accuse God. "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate."
Death takes many forms doesn’t it. Here it begins with separation from God. The relationship is broken down. Not only do they disobey, but they then try to pass the blame back to the God who made them, who warned them about the danger of disobeying. How often do we see people blaming God for things they’ve done to themselves, or at best that other people have caused by their rebellion towards God?
But that spiritual death spreads to separation from each other. The human world is characterised by alienation, by discord, by anger and hatred, by the desire for vengeance. And that alienation is in itself a form of living death.
This death even spreads to the physical world. The ground is cursed because of their disobedience: thorns and thistles will appear, working the land will become hard work. We see the results of that death all around us in pollution, global warming, natural disasters like the mud slide last week, droughts, bushfire, floods, hurricanes.
Their death also results in their physical death even if it is some years later. And of course we’re told it will finally result in eternal death for those who remain as rebels against God’s authority over them.
But before we finish we need to notice two signs of God’s ongoing love. It’s so important that we understand that even at the moment when humanity first rebels against God, even at the moment when the pain of that betrayal is greatest, God continues to show his great love and graciousness towards us.
The first is in v21: "The LORD God made garments of skins for the man and for his wife, and clothed them." Even though they’ve rebelled against him, God continues to provide for their every need. They’re naked, but he provides clothes that will cover their nakedness. In a sense this is a metaphor for the way he’ll ultimately provide a covering for their sinfulness.
That we also find here, in v15: "I will put enmity between you [i.e. Satan] and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel." God already knows what will happen. His plan was made before the foundation of the world. Jesus will come and will put an end to the power of Satan because he’ll overcome sin and death. Even at the moment when we see humanity fallen, dead, cast out of God’s presence, we’re given a promise: that God has a plan to do something about it. He’ll overcome Satan and his offspring. We now know how that will happen and what it’ll mean for us. Jesus will die on the cross, but will rise again. And he’ll take all those who call on him with him, to restore us to the humanity we were meant to be, to make us truly like God once again to restore us to the loving relationship God intended for us.
What is our chief purpose in being human? It’s to love God with all our heart and soul and mind and strength. How can we do that after the fall? Through God’s power, through God’s Holy Spirit, given to all who have faith in Jesus Christ.
For more sermons from this source go to http://home.vicnet.net.au/~sttheos
