Same Three Plays Series

Same Three Plays

May 7, 2023

Last week we talked about coming into the light and discovering how much we’re loved.

We prayed and confessed together. This week, we are going to talk about the temptation of going back into the dark.

In chapter 2, John describes the way the world motivates us compared to the way God motivates us.

What draws away from God’s best? All of us are following a set of ideas we believe are best for us.

I would guess most of us believe we are headed in a good direction. Few of us believe we are being deceived.

1 John 2:7 NIV

I am not writing you a new command, but an old one, which you have had from the beginning.”

Genesis 3:6 NIV

“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.”

1 John 2:15-17 NKJV

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”

1. The lust of the flesh.

Lust – cravings for things that are forbidden or things that can harm us when done in excess.

Eve – “The fruit is good for food.”

Lust is meeting legitimate appetites in illegitimate ways.

Adam and Eve had plenty of other food.

Luke 4 – Jesus was hungry after 40 days of fasting – turn the stones to bread.

2. The lust of the eyes.

Eve – “The fruit is pleasing to the eye.”

We look at things we adore and our adoration becomes worship.

Psalms 101:3 NIV

I will set before my eyes no vile thing.

Comparison is the thief of joy.

“I must have that.” “I will not be happy until I have it.”

Appetites are normal and can be satisfied. Lust is never satisfied.

Psalms 119:36-37 NIV

“Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain. 37 Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word.”

3. The pride of life.

Eve – “The fruit will give me wisdom.”

“I did this. Look what I have done.”

“I don’t need God or anyone else.”

Humility is trust.

Many of us are trying to manipulate God to get more from Him, instead of just trusting Him.

The table of Jesus is a reversal of the Garden of Eden

Eve took the fruit because of pride.

Jesus asks us to humbly receive his meal.

An insistence on our independence from God.

An insistence of being completely dependent on God.