Pastor Travis preached from Genesis 3:1-13. He said that disorder is the neighbor of sin. Lector: Sarah Ash
Pastor Travis preached from Genesis 3:1-13. He said that disorder is the neighbor of sin.
Lector: Sarah Ash
About 17 years ago now, I was sitting at a restaurant on Bardstown Road in Louisville close to the Grinstead intersection, confronting a close friend about choices that he was making and what seemed to me to be a lie that I was told by him. He said something to me when I confronted him for lying to me that he was having a hard time remembering what he said because “there was a lot going on that week.” He wasn’t wrong. We were working together and working long hours doing difficult work. I was concerned that his life was moving in the wrong direction. He had serious doubts about the truthfulness of Scripture. I knew that and we had been discussing those things for years. But now he was making choices that I believed would result in serious problems for him personally. Things didn’t go array overnight. It took time. I remember being very upset after our falling out about the things that had happened. Years later, we reconciled to some degree but that came about to a great degree because of the pain that he would eventually experience.
I couldn’t see it at the time but there was a pattern to the decline of our relationship over those years.There was a movement before that meeting on Bardstown Road near the intersection of Grinstead. My friend had doubts and then there was, in his words, “a lot going on” one week, then he made choices, we had a falling out, and eventually pain resulted for us in varying degrees.
The Scriptures indicate that our life has a movement to it. A movement that if it is weighed down by sin, is a downward movement. And that downward movement is surrounded by disorder and results in more disorder.
In this passage, Moses provides for the reader the account of what we call the Fall, the sin of our first parents Adam and Eve and the results of their sin.
Disorder is the neighbor of sin.
First, disorder comes before sin Second, disorder is the fulfillment sin Third, disorder comes after sin Genesis 3:1-13
Disorder Comes Before Sin
Explanation -- The movement of Genesis goes from the creation of the heavens and the earth in Genesis 1 to focus on the creation of Adam and Eve in Genesis 2. As I said when I preached in Genesis 2 several weeks ago, one of the points of emphasis in Genesis 1 and 2 is the orderly nature of the creation of the world. So to review the order, Genesis 1 tells us about the
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Textual Idea
Sermon Idea Transition
Scripture Reading
Division Statement 1
creation of all things and in Genesis 2 we have Moses honing in and telling us that God created Adam first, commands Adam, and then creates Eve by the end of Genesis 2.
Now in Genesis 3:1-3 the serpent approaches and speaks to Eve but not Adam about the words of God in Genesis 2:15-17. The serpent, who later Scripture writers tell us is Satan God’s enemy, is attempting to undermine the order. He speaks to Eve and not Adam, which is the opposite of what God did in Genesis 2. He asks a question. He asks a question to create doubt in the words of God in Genesis 2. He asks if God did in fact really say that she must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” This meant to create some sort of confusion and some sort of hesitation in Eve about the words of God. There is a connection in Genesis and all of the Bible between the words of God and God himself. You cannot separate the words of God from the person of God. They are joined together. And the serpent is trying to cause doubt in the words of God and thus, cause doubt in God himself. The serpent starts first with doubt and disorder.
And look what starts to happen in Genesis 3:2-3,
serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You
“The woman said to the
must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you
must not touch it, or you will die.’
” Eve defends the command given by God.
But did you notice that she adds something to the command that was not
spoken in Genesis 2:15-17. It is important to remember that God’s command
given to Adam in Genesis 2:15-17 is to keep him from eating from the fruit and
then bringing death upon himself. God never provides a command to his
children that is not good for us. Eve says that they cannot eat or touch. The
problem here is that God didn’t forbid the touching of the fruit, just its eating.
She was right to say that they cannot eat it and if they did they would die. But
she added something that was not spoken by God to Adam in Genesis 2.
They could not touch it.
It should be said that Eve is not in sin at this point in time. She is being
tempted to sin but she has not sinned. She might be confused. She might be
rattled. And she is most likely beginning to waver in her belief in the goodness
of God’s command and thus, in the goodness of God himself. But she has not
sinned. She is experiencing the disorder that the serpent is bringing with him
in the garden and it is affecting her but she and for that matter Adam as well,
have not engaged in sin.
Illustration -- None
Argument -- In the Scriptures, God makes a distinction between temptation and sin. Sin is anything that we think, say, or do that displeases God. Sin takes place when we say, “Whatever pleases me is more important right now than whatever pleases God. So I will do what I want regardless of what God says about it.”
Temptation is not sin so what is it? Temptation is whatever is going on around us or within us that makes us more likely to sin against God. Temptation is
Transition
Division Statement 2
connected to where we are, what is happening around us, and within us that might draw us away from faith and into sin. Temptation is about what might pull our hearts away from the Lord and lead us into sin. It is important to emphasize what might pull our hearts away from the Lord. It is not a guarantee but it makes sin much more likely. So our Lord Jesus was tempted by Satan according to Matthew 4 and Luke 4. He was fasting, alone, and in a desert and his most visible companion was God’s enemy the devil. Temptation is what is going on around us, whether we can see it or not that makes us likely to sin but does not guarantee it. Our Lord was tempted but he did not sin. Because temptation is different from sin.
Application -- In light of this, we apply this in light of the words of our Lord Jesus said to Peter, James, and John in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Watch and pray lest you fall into temptation.” So there is a two fold nature to this: watching and praying. When are you most likely to be tempted to sin? Where are you? Who are you with? Let us become people who are watching over our own souls to see where we are being tempted and let’s pray that we are not led into temptation to sin.
Not only this but also
Disorder Is The Fulfillment Of Sin
Explanation -- After the first question from the serpent, Eve speaks as if she is wavering. Beginning to doubt. And then, the serpent’s claims are much more bold. Look with me in verses 4-5,
Satan's speech was less abrasive at first. Then we have an escalation after Eve interacts with him. You will not die! He boldly declares that she will not die if she eats from the fruit. Let’s ask ourselves this, when the serpent tells Eve that she will not die, what is he saying about God? God says that you will die if you eat from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But if you in fact will not die, what does that say about God? It says that he is a liar. If he is a liar, what does that say about his character? What kind of Being is he? Again let’s look at verse 5, “
The serpent is saying that God is a liar and in addition to this, the serpent is saying that God is trying to keep something from you Eve. God doesn’t want you to have something that he has, the knowledge of good and evil. In fact, God is most concerned about you becoming a companion or equal to him. And this fruit is the pathway to be like God. This is your doorway to being divine. To be made in the image and the likeness of God is not enough. To be given all of the trees in Eden is not enough. You are being kept from something much better than being made in the likeness of God. And you need to disregard what God said and follow your own path. To be like God is possible through disregarding his command and following your own path.
““You will not certainly die,” the serpent said
to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be
opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
For God knows that when you eat from it your
eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
What is also problematic about what the serpent is saying to Eve is that he is reducing God down to what he knows. So if you could know just as much as God then you will become his equal. Well, God not only knows all things but God is everywhere. God not only knows all things and is everywhere but God can also do all things according to his holy will. And we could go on about the attributes of God that are not promised by the devil in this lie.
Sin makes promises and it will deliver in part but the eventual results are far greater. Look with me at verses 6-7,
So eventually as another man has said, Eve looks at the fruit from a tree that she has seen multiple times before but
now it is not a sincere look. And now all of her senses and desires have been affected, she takes it, and she eats. And she gives to her husband, he takes, and he eats. And they did in fact obtain knowledge as a result of their sin.
The knowledge that they were naked. And knowledge through experience of shame as evidenced by the fact that they covered up their bodies with fig leaf coverings. Sin delivered what was promised but the purity, harmony that once was now is resulting in a shame-filled panic to cover things up.
Illustration -- I mentioned my friend earlier. For years he and I discussed and wrestled through the Scriptures. We talked on the phone, met in restaurants, coffee shops, at work, everywhere talking about Scripture. Specifically certain passages in the Gospel on the Second Coming. He had doubts because Jesus said that he would come back “soon” but it had been more than 2,000 years since he said he would come back soon. The argument is more sophisticated than that but that was the crux of the problem. I was aware of this, we would discuss passages like Matthew 10, 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 and all of these discussions centered on his doubts about the truthfulness of Jesus’ words. Doubt was the first stage. Doubt preceded his desire to enter into a relationship that I maintained was not good for him at the time. My confrontation with him then resulted in a severing of our relationship. Years later I came to find out that he continued his doubts and eventually became more bold in his statements about the errors of Jesus in the Gospels. Over time, his life choices would result in a lot of pain for him and brokenness in his family.
Application -- And that personal experience, confirms a pattern from this passage. That there is a movement, a pattern to walking away from the Lord and walking towards sin. The movement is doubt, desire, defection, and then disorder. Eve’s sin began with doubt, she began to waver and said that they were not to eat or touch the fruit but God only forbid to eat from the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. She and Adam developed a desire to be something apart from God’s ways, his words, and something that will never happen. They will never be God. Knowing as much as God, for one is not possible, and two, doesn’t make you equal with God because as I have
the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for
“When the woman saw that the fruit of
gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her
husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 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.”
Transition
Division Statement 3
already said, you can’t be everywhere, do everything, be completely holy, have no beginning, and so on.
And this doubt and desire lead them to defect or we might say rebell, take action, that ultimately leads to disorder. And that is the same pattern for us today.
So Christian, you will have doubts in your Christian walk but I would encourage you to tell others about your doubts. One of Jesus’ disciples Thomas had doubts about the resurrection but he verbalized them to others and our Lord Jesus met him in his doubts and showed him the wounds from his resurrected body. At times, we will waver in our faith but that is not the time to isolate but to articulate to God and others that we are having our doubts. Because doubt at times will give way to desires to walk away from the Lord and when those desires are fulfilled we sin and open up the door to the disorder that sin actually brings into our life. Doubts are normal in the Christian life but they signal that we need God and others. Because when our doubts give way to sin it will result in a disordered relationship with God and others. Use your doubts as signals that you need the Lord and you need other believers. Do not let your doubts draw you away from the Lord and other believers. Use your doubts to draw you nearer to God and his people.
Not only does this but also... Disorder Comes After Sin
Explanation -- Look with me at verses 8-13,
day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the
“Then the man and his wife heard
the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the
Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in
the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” And he said,
“Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I
commanded you not to eat from?” The man said, “The woman you put here
with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” Then the Lord
God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The
serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
The words and deeds of our First Parents reveal the disorder that sin has brought into the world. Adam and Eve heard the sound of God coming to walk through Eden but now this is a sound that strikes fear in their hearts. So they hid among some trees. So pathetic for a couple who are supposed to be like God. Why hide? I mean you have fig leaves covering you. That is surely enough and for that matter, what do you have to hide? Here God begins asking a series of questions to first Adam and then to Eve. Their answers reveal the disorder that is now within the world.
Adam turns on Eve, blaming her for his sin. Adam turns on God, blaming him for the gift of Eve. Eve turns on the serpent, blaming him for her sin. They now have a knowledge of good and evil but that benefits packages so much
Conclusion
more. Like corruption and guilt. Now their children will be born as “children of wrath”, following the course of this word led by the serpent to take from the words of Paul in Ephesians 2. They haven’t drawn themselves closer to the Lord but farther away. The natural impulse is to pull away from the Lord now as evident by their actions. And that pulling away from the Lord brings more disorder.
Illustration -- I have three locations that surface in my mind when I think about my friend, the fallout, and the sad sort of reconciliation we had. The first was at the restaurant on Bardstown Road. The second is on my couch after some email interactions we had about his doubts about the words of Jesus. We had a series of interactions about the fact that “soon” to us might mean within 5 minutes or 5 weeks but in the Scriptures there is an ongoing teaching that God is slow from our perspective. Genesis teaches this very clearly that God operates in his time frame. The emails while I was on my couch was the beginning of things moving towards reconciliation though it hadn’t really come yet. And the third location is walking on the sideway next to the New Albany Library when I took a phone call from the man and he said, “You tried to warn me about something years ago but I didn’t listen.” His life became really hard after that as the result of a host of things, some of which were decisions that he made.
Argumentation -- Sin brings disorder. Broken relationships with God and with others is the fall out from sin. And the more that man sins, the more that disorder comes from it. And the more disorder there is in the world, the more likely temptation to sin will increase. And the more people are tempted the more likely they are to give in to the temptation and sin. Neither Adam nor Eve took it upon themselves to make things right with God. They hid from him, blamed him, and blamed others. So placing faith in people to fix our greatest problem in life is foolish. Adam and Eve had direct access to God when he came walking in the day and they chose to hide behind some trees.
But when the Lord God came walking in the midst of the garden that was actually the beginning of God making right what Adam and Eve made wrong. He came walking. I don’t know if it was fast or slow from my perspective. I need to assume that the Lord came walking at his own pace. God was taking upon himself to pursue his rebellious children. God was taking the initiative, the first step, to undue what Adam and Eve had done. And God would continue to take steps to pursue his rebellious children. In time, God would enter into human history, take steps through the land of Palestine, and eventually walk right up to a cross and die for his rebellious children. Three days later, he would walk out of a tomb demonstrating that he had endured all temptations to sin, canceled the debt of sin, and even overcame death, the child of sin.