Lindsey Blair and Bobby Gilles recap and discuss Pastor Travis McGowen's sermon from Genesis 3:1-13.
Lindsey Blair and Bobby Gilles recap and discuss Pastor Travis McGowen's sermon from Genesis 3:1-13.
Lindsey: Welcome to the Midweek Checkup. My name is Lindsey Blair and I’m joined by Bobby Gilles. This past Sunday Pastor Travis McGowen preached Genesis Three, verses one through thirteen. He said that disorder is the neighbor of sin.
Travis spoke in depth about this pattern that we see when we walk away from the Lord and walk towards sin. The movement is doubt, desire, defection, and then disorder. As believers we will have doubts, doubts are a normal part of the Christian life, and I loved Travis’s invitation for us to let our doubts draw us nearer to God and his people, rather than drawing us away from the Lord.
Bobby, what did you think?
Bobby: I appreciated the distinction Travis made between sin and temptation. Sin is anything that we think, say, or do that displeases God. Temptation is about what might pull our hearts away from the Lord and lead us into sin. Temptation comes about when events and surroundings are disordered in some way.
Now, for anyone who missed the sermon or needs help remembering, let’s do a quick recap.
Lindsey: Pastor Travis began by noting that disorder comes before sin. In the Garden of Eden, the Serpent tempted Eve because she wasn’t the one who originally heard God’s instructions about the Tree of Knowledge. He asked a subtle, soft questions intended to create doubt and confusion about what God really said. When Eve responded, she added her own prohibition to what God had actually said. Satan had created disorder and sown doubt, so the trap was set.
Bobby: Then Pastor Travis said that disorder is the fulfillment of sin. After creating doubt, the serpent escalated his attack, essentially calling God a liar and insisting God is withholding something good. Then he makes a promise that could never come true — that Eve could become equal to God. And of course Eve ate that fruit. Not only that, but she gave it to Adam, who does not defend God’s word but simply takes and eats. And they did obtain knowledge as a result of their sin. The knowledge that they were naked - a knowledge through experience of shame as evidenced by them covering their bodies with fig leaves.
Lindsey: Finally, Pastor Travis said that disorder comes after sin. Adam blamed Eve and God, then Eve blamed the serpent. The fellowship that they had with God has led to hiding and blaming God for their sins. The fellowship that they had with one another is now resulting in turning on each other. Sin always results in disorder. And the more we sin, 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 temptation and sin.
Bobby: 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. Travis said, “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.
Lindsey: This coming Sunday we’ll look at one of the most perplexing stories in the Bible — a story from Genesis Six about the Sons of God and the Daughters of Men, in a sermon called “The Invasion.” Join us, and bring a friend.