All right well, again, welcome great to see you friends and I'm
so excited to be continuing this series this morning called the
story so the. Story is this.
This ten week journey that we're on, where we're, we're going all
the way from Genesis, the very beginning.
Of the Bible to. Revelation that the final.
Chapters, the end where we see God's final renewal and this
city. And this morning, we're in
Genesis 3. Part 2 of this.
Ten week journey and guys, I'm sorry to name this.
For you this morning, this morning is kind of a downer, OK?
Like every every good plot has to have.
A problem. Right, there has to be conflict.
There has to be challenge, and that's what we're.
Looking at this morning. We're looking at how things have
unraveled and, and man, do they unravel quickly.
I don't know about you, but I have sometimes in my life,
sometimes in my history. Where I've.
Experienced a pattern that I think it's kind of similar.
To what we're. Discussing this morning.
This is a bit of a a throwback, but I'll never, I think forget
like to would never. Probably forget the the.
Year that my family went on vacation when I was I think 14
years old. And my memory of.
This vacation is not because of the amazing.
Place we went. To or all of the things.
That we did. It's because.
Me and my younger. Brother who's two years.
Younger than me, Daniel had, I think.
The largest fight that we. Ever had in all?
Of the years. Growing up and it.
It started it's. It was my fault basically.
See what happened is. Is we were away.
From home staying. In this resort and and and my
brother and I were given a a really unique opportunity.
See, mom and dad, we're going to stay in.
One bedroom 11. Hotel room and me and Daniel got
to stay in the adjacent room. By.
Ourselves. So this was.
Like this is some. Scary level freedom for 14.
Year old boy. And to make matters worse,
honestly, the hotel. Room had cable TV OK.
And I was. You know I was.
A 14 year old. Boy, we were pretty sheltered at
the. Time my parents.
Were really strict. About screens I had.
Very limited access certainly to like private TV access cable TV.
And I think my parents correctly understood that.
This was just like this could easily go badly.
So they named for. Us just right out the gate they
were like. The TV in the room stays off.
Like do not turn the TV on, you are not allowed.
To use the TV. And so we, of course, my brother
and I nodded, and then I immediately made plans.
To turn the TV on as soon as people were.
Asleep. And sure enough, that's exactly
what happened, right Mom and dad?
Crash out. The lights go out.
My brother is like. Maybe.
Starting to fall asleep and I snag.
The remote and turn it on. And just go.
Looking for whatever horrible. Thing I could get myself into.
So I'm flipping through the channels and as it turns out,
there. Is still 1 obstacle.
Between. Me and my nefarious intent.
Which is of course. My younger.
Brother as younger brothers. Often are in the lives of older
siblings. Some of you older siblings out
here know what I'm talking about.
So. You know I don't.
Know if it was because my brother had a firmer moral.
Compass than I did. And was really committed.
To obeying our parents. Because he craved sleep.
Or as I think honestly is probably more likely.
He just loved to see his older. Brother get in trouble, but no
sooner than I'd go flipping through the channels.
But Daniel is. Like bro no TV.
Mom and dad said turn it off. And I'm like.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. Dismiss you keep my keep, you
know, I keep flipping through things and so like moments.
Pass and Daniel is like. That's it.
He. Jumps out of bed and says I'm
telling mom and dad and that's where everything went.
Very sideways because guys, I. I was like.
I was panicking internally. First of all, the wrath of Dad.
Is no small thing to worry about.
I was I was seriously concerned about direct disobedience, but.
But secondly. Also, I knew I was.
Up to no good. And I knew that like trying to
explain why I was channel surfing at like at 11:00 at
night was it was just like I was going to be.
In trouble it was. Going to be embarrassing and
everything in my. Body and skull screamed like.
You have to stop this like. It cannot come out what has
happened. So I dive.
Between my. Brother and the doorway and
become a shield. He.
Dives to go past. I.
Block him right and we're in a full on wrestling match.
I don't know how thick those. Walls were but.
Somehow my parents do not hear this and but it just.
You know, sometimes things just like.
Start to really spiral. And then the.
Worse they get. The more you're thinking.
To yourself like well. Now I really can't get in
trouble. For does anybody?
Ever, ever had this? Experience, right?
Like well, now I really. Have to.
Make sure that. This doesn't come out and so I
like. He dives for the.
Phone. I unplug the phone and stash it
under the. Bed.
He's on the balcony trying to see it from the 5th floor.
He can climb across the balcony into my parents suite.
I don't know. How we both survived the night
and not only did we survive the night like.
Somehow I in my. Older brother evil.
Managed to keep my brother from telling my parents by convincing
him I think that he would ruin. Vacation for everyone.
But it was not OK, like it was not OK at all.
The next morning we. Had to.
Explain to my parents why there. Was now a hole in the hotel
room. Drywall like you know and my
relationship with my brother was like things were not OK like for
a while we. Repaired and since laughed about
it, but you know, that was like 20.
Years later. So I tell.
You this anecdote. Which is still profoundly.
Embarrassing that we don't abuse your siblings.
But I I share this because. I think it's such an emblematic
pattern of the familiar story. That we see.
Play out here in Genesis 3. Because we see this, this.
Pattern happen in Genesis 3 in the following chapters that
we're going to look at today and it all begins with like a.
Longing. A hunger.
A desire for something that we then choose.
To to take to. Snatch.
To seize, To grab. In our own way, selfishly, and
things inevitably go wrong. Right.
Fallout begins. There's hurt, there's
brokenness, there's hiding. Which just makes matters.
Worse. And ultimately there's
separation, and this is what we see transpire here in Genesis.
3. And this passage that we look at
today is not just about history. As we talked about last week.
This is arc arc tipple. I don't know if I can.
Say that correctly like this is a.
This is a pattern. It's an image that's relevant
for us. Genesis 3 is is not just.
About history, it's also. About you and about me, and at
the. Beginning.
Of the story we. Find.
That that God sets like just. One boundary, like there's only
one thing that he's concerned about.
He says it in chapter 2 and verse 17.
You must not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Adam and Eve are in the midst. Of paradise they have.
Everything that they could possibly want, there's just one
limit. And it's this limit that becomes
a test for them, becomes a temptation at the.
First verse of chapter 3. We meet the serpent, and the
serpent brings into focus that the profound drama that is
present in Genesis chapter 3 and the question that is faced not
only by Adam and Eve, but. Also by you.
And by me and simply the question is.
This will we trust God's? Wisdom and goodness.
Or will we distrust? And disobey.
Will we trust and obey God's goodness?
Or will we distrust? And disobey.
Of course. You know what happens here in
Genesis. Chapter 3 we see.
This serpent, which Christians throughout history have
understood as either the embodiment.
Of. Of evil of.
Satan. Perhaps an animal like somehow?
Possessed by this spiritual force or evil.
In any. Case what we see.
Here is opposition to God, and we see this in the words that
come out of the serpent's mouth. Right away.
The serpent immediately asks, Did God really say?
Like are are you so sure that he really?
Said that he he begins to sew down and then in verse 4 the
serpent. Outright contradicts.
What God has said. You will not.
Surely die, the serpent says. God has told you that if you
take this pathway. It will result.
In harm to you it will result in a consequence.
But really that's not true. Not only.
Will you not experience? The pain that God is warning you
against, but. Catch.
This God is actually holding out on you, right?
This boundary here is is really a limit to to to.
Somehow God just wants to. Selfishly keep you back.
From the good that's available to you.
Instead, the serpent promises that this.
Fruit will help. The first humans become like God
and Eve sees. The fruit we see.
Here and and. Notices that it's it's good for
food, it's. Pleasing to the eye.
It's desirable for wisdom. It's something that.
Appeals physically to the appetite aesthetically.
It's beautiful and there's this, this ego motivation.
In some way I'll get to be somebody else.
I'll have the knowledge. I'll.
Have the power. Augustine, the North African
Bishop of the faith, famously linked this to 1st John 216.
The lust of the flesh. The lust.
Of the eyes, the pride of life. Look, I think this is important
IA. Lot of people have asked.
Questions. And maybe you have to.
I know I have. Like like.
First of all, like. Why do we?
Have a. Poison tree in the middle of the
garden, like what's necessary? What's going on here?
Right? And then?
If there is this. Like bad tree, right?
That we're not supposed to eat of like.
Knowledge of good and evil doesn't sound like a terror.
Like it does not murder, right? Like it doesn't sound like a bad
thing, like. Moral knowledge seems like
something that we should. You know, want.
To have. That could be.
Good to have and. I'll tell you, there's a lot of
theories. On this, I'll give you my take.
Not scripture, just Josh's opinion.
You know, I'm not entirely sure what's going on here.
With this tree. Of the knowledge of good and
evil, but fundamentally. It it.
Represents not necessarily something evil in and of.
Itself right. The moral.
Knowledge is not bad. Right.
Greater. Awareness is not bad.
I think what the problem is here is, is this temptation, this
tendency to seize control, to be.
Like God. To try and take things into our
own control and command and and to be in.
Charge. Of how to make sense of things,
to do things our own way. And so often friends like.
Part of the reason I believe this is not just the clues that
are embedded here in Genesis. Chapter 3 but the fact that so.
Often when you think about sin, right, this is what sin?
Is right. Very often I would.
Actually suggest to you. Basically, never is sin
fundamentally about something bad, right?
Because Son sin, Satan cannot create, he can only distort.
And so ultimately, we are. All motivated and driven.
By desires that have been given to us by God.
And God wants. For us, good.
Things God wanted. For our first.
Parents good things he places them in the garden surrounded
with everything that they need they have abundance they have
intimacy they. Have purpose.
Right, God is not holding out on them, and yet what sin?
Does here. In the story and also in our
lives, right it it tempts. Us to believe.
That God is holding out on you. And then if you really want this
thing, maybe it's intimacy, maybe it's.
Prestige. Maybe it's security?
Maybe it's happiness. Things that aren't bad, sin
always tells us. Hey, there's a.
Shortcut that's available. Right, there's a shortcut.
You can. You can.
Actually get that? Here's the way to do that.
And it invites us down a distorted.
Pathway to a good. Thing some scholars.
Have actually suggested. That the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil. It was, in fact.
Just such a shortcut that. That this kind of moral
knowledge was something that God wanted to teach people that.
He wanted to invite. People into an overtime.
This would have been something that was a gift that would have
been given to Adam and Eve in their relationship with God had
they stayed in their integrity. But of course in the story they
don't Adam and then Eve or even then Adam take.
The fruit they distrust. And disobey God and humanity
falls. And this is the the pattern that
we see over and over again. Throughout all of scripture.
Going to see this again and again through this and it's also
the pattern that I think. Is at the heart of what is.
Happening in Genesis. Three through. 11 See, no sooner
than do we grasp for control, no sooner than we.
Opt for the shortcut. Then we taste the consequences.
We find out that it's not. Actually, what we hoped.
For and longed for here in the text today in Genesis. 3 we see
that. In fact, Satan, the deceiver had
given them a. Partial truth, right?
Their eyes were. Open.
They did see something. Because of this fruit.
That they had not seen before and.
If you've ever. Sinned if you've ever taken your
own course, if you ever disobeyed God, I'm.
Sure, as the book of Hebrews talks about there, there are
pleasures. Of sin for a season.
Right, that fruit upfront tastes.
Sweet like when you. Just.
Crush some candy you get. That sugar high.
The dopamine in your brain lights.
Up right, Like your body is like, yeah, this is where it's
at. I love it.
But then there's always. The crash, right?
Because it doesn't actually have what we need for health, for
wholeness. It can't fill us.
It can't nourish us when we take.
The. Shortcut.
When we circumvent God's way of doing things, inevitably we end.
Up with damage. And that's.
What we see. Here in Genesis chapter 3, no
sooner have they bitten into the.
Fruit their eyes are. Open than they begin to perceive
something that they didn't perceive before their nakedness.
They look at themselves now with a new insecurity, a new
vulnerability. They begin to understand
something that wasn't like the reality of their nakedness was
present before, but now somehow it hits different.
There's shame attached. To it.
And they do what we all do when we experience shame, right?
Our default. They hide, right?
They try. To cover it up with some.
Fig leaves. They dip.
Out and try to hide on God they try to.
Hide by way of. Blame and we love that right?
The woman's like or. The man's like is the woman.
The woman's like is the snake. Right.
Everybody is responsible for how we got.
Here but me somebody. Else.
Hiding and then inevitably. Of course, what we see is.
Separation. At the end of this chapter we
find exile. Exile from the presence of God.
Exile from the tree. Of life, God says.
Hey you guys, now that now that corruption has infected you, now
that death has taken up residence in you, you can't go
on eating from the. Tree of Life.
It will just. Spread interminably, and this is
in fact what happens across the following chapters of Genesis
chapter. 4 through. 11 in chapter. 4 we see.
Immediately next generation right?
Cain murders Abel later in the chapter of Genesis. 4 we see.
Violence being celebrated and promoted, Lamech basically says,
hey, this guy wounded me and I killed him, ha.
I'm going to write a song about it, guys.
As we move into the following chapters, we just continue to
see this pattern unravel. Chapter 5 is this.
Genealogy that has this recurring refrain, this drum
beat that each generation over and over and over is repeated.
And he died, and he died and he. Died see this is.
The consequence When we seize control, when we go our own way,
when we say. God, I I.
I don't. Trust that you really.
Have what's best for me, I'm going to.
Grab this shortcut here. I'm going to try to.
Fulfill these appetites. And longings that you have given
me in this. Distorted way.
Inevitably, there's shame, there's hiding, there's blame,
there's separation. And we see this.
Here the fundamental rifts. That are still at play.
That are still. Present in our society.
All go back to this text here. Right, we see the rift.
Between man and woman, the division in conflict between
genders shows up here. The division between humanity
and the environment. All of a sudden, where before
there was flourishing and abundance and harmony and
synergy, now we've got thorns. We got animals dying.
We've got conflicts and of course, most importantly between
people and the very source of life, God himself, because of
our sin, because of our pushing away from God.
Just like a plant is uprooted unnecessarily, begins to wither
and die, cut off from its root system, so too humanity in
these. Chapters we see.
Cut off from its root system, attempting to go it alone, we
began to wither and die. And I don't know about you.
But if it. Feels almost like.
Like the, the, the. Consequence is not fitting of
the crime to me here sometimes when I read.
This. It's like, holy cow.
Right. They they, you know, ate.
An apple. Or whatever this fruit.
Was, I don't know. And all of a sudden, like we
got. People.
Dying people killing each other By Genesis 11, we got the.
Flood. Right, humanity is is wiped
clean and basically. God starts over.
And I think in. All of this.
What is actually true is sin is so much worse than we think it
is. Like so.
Often when we choose to go our own way, we imagine that we can
control it. We imagine that we can contain
it. We imagine that we can keep it
under wraps, that it won't spread, that it won't impact.
Others that it's just. It's like I'm going to get some
and it it really is not going to damage anyone else.
And Genesis. Chapter 3 to. 11 is really
basically an ODE. To the reality.
That that is not the case. Old preachers used to say like
sin. Will take you farther.
Than you wanted. To go, it will keep you longer
than you wanted to stay and it will cost you more than you
wanted to pay like this is sin. It's.
It's it's a bait. It's a hook.
That it tastes sweet. In the moment, but.
Once it's got you, you are no longer in charge.
It takes up. Dominion and.
Control within you, and all of a sudden, like a snowball rolling
down a hill, it's hard to tell how.
Big The avalanche will grow. Before SO.
Much is. Taken out in its wake.
And I think. Sometimes we.
Have a tendency. To to.
Read texts like this one to look at.
Passages of scripture like this and and almost see God as like
the agent who is imposing these. Consequences on to people.
I think sometimes I think about things that way.
Maybe you were raised similarly to me and, and, and kind of a
household where there's like some, some punishment like we
got to we got to pay for some things here and I I really like
there are for sure, for sure. There's some consequences here,
heavy consequences. But I actually think.
Throughout. This that, that, God's heart.
From the. Very beginning is towards
restoration, is towards redemption, even like in the in
the midst of the anguish and the pain and the separation and the
brokenness, we see God reaching for people in in Genesis chapter
3, we see. This proto evangelium.
That that in the curse of the serpent God says I will like
you. Essentially you will catch his
heel but. He's going to he's.
Going to crush your head, an illusion to what will ultimately
happen in and through Jesus. God's redemptive plan starts
like at the moment when the relationship has been fractured.
Adam and Eve. Here we see hiding and shame
trying to avoid, and yet God comes close.
He's curious where. Are you guys?
What's going on? What did you do?
I don't think those words are laced with disdain or contempt.
I think he's he's searching, he's trying to bring it back.
Even even covered in shame, God comes in and he makes some
clothes to cover it. Clothes that.
Become we'll talk about this. In following weeks, but clothes
that end up represented in the Levitical priesthood and
coverings that allow us to continue to access the presence
of God. God is.
All the way from. This very moment of disunity and
disrepair, this moment where everything is unraveling already
God is in the midst of it beginning to work and move
towards redemption, to move towards reconciliation and
friends is I've been sitting with this text of.
Scripture this week, honestly. It's been, it's been a tough
week, guys. And I don't, I don't know about
you, but I've been really upset by just.
Being glued. To screens noticing the just
destruction that is happening across our country right now on
on Wednesday of course many of you know that the political.
Activist and commentator Charlie.
Kirk was assassinated at an event in Utah.
And I, when I, when I'm exposed to things like that, which, you
know, I saw the headline and before I even knew what
happened, I followed an impulse which now I wish I would not
have and watched the video. Actually watched the shooting.
And immediately my my, my stomach turned, My anxiety
spiked. You know, I could feel in my.
Body like the like. Watching people kill.
Each other is a horrible. Horrific thing.
And then? Whatever you think of of of.
Charlie and his influence. And his politics, the the
dynamic, the spiral that. I think.
Both what happened on Wednesday and what has happened on the
Internet. Sense, right?
Represents this spiral. Right, you could just.
Watch it playing out. Like violence be getting more
violence, hate be getting more hate.
People immediately going. In and manufacturing blame
everybody reaching for what was this guy's motives?
Why did he do it? These folks are saying.
It's because of. This.
These folks are saying it's because of this clearly.
Before anybody. Actually knows what's going on
and these these impulses that we have.
These impulses. That we see play.
Out here in. Genesis chapter 3 are still.
Friends they're. So, so with us.
Aren't they? The impulse is to when we see
something that isn't working, when we see something that we
don't like or prefer to. Grasp for control to try.
And seize it in some way. For me, part of my grasping for
control this week was I have a. Tendency when?
I see something that is distressing to me that is
overwhelming to me. I have like this.
Maybe if I just ingest every piece of?
Information on the Internet about it I will somehow, you
know, be. Able to control the situation.
News flash doesn't work very well but but still.
Like I noticed myself. Just like some of us have the
opposite reaction, right? We see something awful and we're
like, OK, I'm out. Like back up.
I'm going to get as far away as possible, but we have these.
These reactions, this reactivity evil begets more.
Reactivity. More violence, more separation,
more death. And there is a very real death.
Spiral. It's a scary thing, friends,
right now. Our country think is in a bit of
a spiral. The people reading Genesis Three
were. In a bit.
Of a spiral. We talked about this.
Last week, right The community. Reading this for the first time.
Lived in Babylon. In exile.
They were the people of. God, who had watched their.
Country, their civilization fall apart at the seams because they
had. Distrusted and disobeyed.
Things had broken and collapsed. They had.
Watched Family. Members die and they were
carried. Away into.
Slavery into a foreign land, into exile.
And here God's people are reading about this first.
Story This first story that God instructs.
His prophets, His people. To tell again.
To the community, a story about how.
We disobeyed. How we distrusted.
And how? It brought such devastating
consequences. Friends I.
Don't want to project or necessarily declare where we're
at as a. Country or get into.
All of the what's and why's about that if.
You want to talk? About it come find me, but I do
think. That.
Wherever you at you can look. At the headlines, look at what's
playing. Out and see these same patterns
and these patterns that we see here in Genesis 3.
Are not necessary. They're not avoidable.
But they. Are because of what?
Happened in this. Story are defaults are defaults
to reach for, to control, to not trust God.
To try and take things. Into our own hands, even if it's
a shortcut to get. What we want?
So for us, as we move into a time of invitation, a time of a
response this morning, I want to invite you to consider.
What does this look? Like for you because the
temptation. For Eve.
Was one thing it's. Going to be very different for
you. Right, but.
The the challenge. To trust in God is the same for
all of us. But but I'm curious for you and
for me to to really reckon with to wrestle.
With for you to. Consider this morning like, what
does that actually look like? Where?
Where is the rub for you? The challenge?
In trusting God, like where does that prove problematic?
Maybe this morning you look at. Your life and.
And you wonder. Like your your.
Compulsion. To to be righteous.
To be good, to, to, to, to make. Sure that you were.
Above reproach has you so driven to just be a?
Perfectionist to be judgmental and harsh with yourself.
And others. You want a good thing, but
you're you're taking a shortcut to get there.
Maybe you want to be? Loved and valued.
This morning you want to be wanted, but you end up.
Carrying. With a side of manipulation like
a a side of. Expectation and resentment.
Shortcut to. Try and.
Get the kind of belonging in community that you want.
Maybe this morning for you it it looks like a.
Desire to be worthy. To, to, to.
Live a life that makes a. Difference for others and and so
you strive at that, but you're. Always.
Noticing this, pull to to spin. The truth to to just foreground.
The pretty parts to. To to present and.
Cast an image that isn't really real for others.
Maybe you noticed the temptation for you is is to to self.
Protect and retreat maybe? It's to to numb by way of.
Just finding more fun. Things more distracting, things
more cool experiences. So you never have to, really.
Sit with grief. Maybe for you?
The tendency or the? Temptation is just to disengage.
Friends, the rub. Of what it.
Takes for us to trust God. What it actually looks like will
be different for you than it. Is for me.
Probably doesn't look. Like the temptation to.
Grab a fruit. But at the.
End of the. Day.
There's a reason why this Christian life is all about
faith. It's all about this.
Question. At the end of the day, will I
believe? Will I trust?
That what God says is true. That what he wants is good.
That his. Way is trustworthy.
Or will I take? Things into my own hands and go
my own way. And friends this.
Pattern. Fortunately, because of Jesus.
Can be broken. In your life, you can make a
different choice than our first parents did.
And I believe that. We can do that.
We can trust God because of who He is.
The one who places. The tree of life at the center.
Of the garden the. Creator who endows us.
With his own image. And this gift to?
Rule and to rest. With him, the purpose that we
talked. About last week.
As we move into a time of communion this morning.
God is. Also.
The same one who who comes near in Jesus there's.
Another tree. We're going.
To talk about later in this series.
A tree which? Creates and once again.
Nude opportunity for the pathway back to God.
To be reopened. And once again, just as Adam and
Eve had the opportunity to, to feast.
On this tree. Of life.
Prior to their decision. To distrust and disobey.
You and me have an invitation, an opportunity to feast.
On. Jesus.
Of course, through our. Intimacy with him and also in
this right that we practice each week called communion.
It's a. Physical.
Embodiment of this truth, of this reality.
Of what it means. To say I trust.
You God I believe. You, God, I want to receive.
You God. I want to follow.
You. I want.
To say yes to you.