A Messy Story Genesis 3
Every ounce of disease and death, both with our bodies and with our souls,
is traced back to one single event: The Fall
1. Our story contains deception. Vv.1-5
Revelation 20:2
2. Our story contains disobedience v.6
Isaiah 53:6
3. Our story contains devastation and disappointment vv.7-12
a. Creation is broken
b. Guilt and shame
c. Separation from and fear of God
d. Self-deception and blame
Years ago when I was pastoring in Mississippi, I was part of a ministry called Prison Fellowship. I made multiple trips up into the Mississippi delta to Parchman prison’s medium and maximum security cell blocks. I remember distinctly the first time I went, sitting in a chair, facing a semicircle of inmates. As they began to share why they were in there, I got increasingly uncomfortable. This guy was in for attempted murder. This guy was in for strangling someone to death. This guy was in for beating a man to death. Each of the men had a story that was both fascinating and alarming. Most of them were in for life. The result or the consequence of their actions was to live day after day in a confinement that drives many of them literally crazy. Their lives, their stories had been a mess.
Turn to Genesis 3. We are continuing our series entitled Story. Pulitzer Prize winner, Eudora Welty said, “If you want people to hear truth, tell them. If you want people to know the truth, tell them a story.”
Everyone loves a good story. Not everyone can tell a good story. In fact, I’ve known some world class story messer uppers. Not everyone can tell a good story but everyone loves a good story.
What is your story? Unless I miss my guess, your story is marked with joy and sadness, struggles, triumphs, tragedy, and perseverance. Each one of us has a story. This series we’re going to talk about your story, and how your story fits in God’s story.
Why is that important? Because life is a puzzle, right? Why am I here? What am I supposed to do in this situation? Where am I going? Why am I feeling this? How do I overcome this challenge? Why did God let that happen to me?(can these build randomly on the slide??)
And until you understand God’s story, you will be missing important pieces of the puzzle. (pic of puzzle with important pieces missing) Let me say this again: Until you understand God’s story, you will be missing important pieces of the puzzle in your own life.
Most people don’t know that God tells His own story in the Bible. The Bible is one epic story. It breaks into 4 main Acts: (build) Creation Fall Redemption Victory (Repeat) Like a good story, it follows a plot line (draw on tablet) Creation Fall Redemption Victory
Last week we began with Act 1, Creation In the story of Creation, we discover our God’s story and our story are intertwined with each other.
Now this morning we shift to Act 2, and the story takes a dark turn and becomes very, very messy. (pic of children slumming in ruins or garbage)
This is no doubt the most painful and difficult part of God’s story. Questions emerge when we read Act 2: Why is there suffering? Why is there prejudice and hate? Why is there sickness and death, hunger and disease? How could this happen?
Every ounce of disease and death, both with our bodies and with our souls, is traced back to one single event: The Fall.
So let’s look at the script of Act 2, found in Genesis 3. Turn in your Bibles. In week one, we said that our story as humans is a unique story. But we also have to add that not only is it a unique story, it is a messed up story. We’re messed up. We’re jacked up. How so?
1. Our story contains deception. Vv.1-5 (on screen)
The initial deceiver is the serpent, right? The Bible clearly identifies Satan as the serpent in many places, including Revelation 20:2 He (Jesus) seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the Devil and Satan.” One of the things Satan does is deceive.
v.1 says that he was cunning. Some translations use the word crafty. It’s the idea of being slight of hand; making something look or seem different than it really is. If you’ve ever been to NYC or Hong Kong, you can find someone to sell you a Rolex watch for $100. They’re lying. They’re deceiving. In all likelihood, it will stop working before you get back home, right?
Satan knows how to appeal to us; how to deceive us, how to make us think something is better, something is more authentic, something is more satisfying than what God offers.
And Satan always begins with trying to get us to doubt the word of God. “Did God REALLY say??” Did God really say that sexual activity outside of marriage will rob your soul?” Did God really say that the purposeful and joyful life is a life of sacrifice and self-denial? And the deception continues.
In the Brothers Grimm fairy tail, popularized in this country by the Disney movie, Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs, (pic) Snow White is offered an apple that has been poisoned by the disguised wicked stepmother. We’ve all seen her poison the apple. We all know the consequences if Snow White eats the apple. We want to yell out: NO! Don’t do it!!!!
And if we were reading this story of Adam and Eve for the 1st time, knowing what God said and knowing what Satan has in mind, we’d scream out, “NO! Don’t do it”. But they did.
If those guys in Parchman prison could go back in time like Ebenezer Scrooge did, don’t you think they’d be screaming at themselves: “NO! Don’t do it!!!?”
2. Our story contains disobedience v.6 (on screen)
Questions arise about the tree of good and evil. What was God’s purpose there?
“Why did God not want them to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?
Surely it is good to know the difference between right and wrong? Yes, but the ‘knowledge
of good and evil’ refers not simply to knowing what is right and wrong, but rather
to deciding what is right and wrong. Their sin is that of law-making, not just that of
law-breaking.” —Vaughan Roberts,
That’s it in a nut shell: Adam and Eve decided they knew better than God did; that their ideas and their picture of reality was better. So they made up their own law; their own standard of righteousness. And we’ve been doing the same thing ever since. Rather than follow God’s standards, we make our own standards. I don’t need to give God the first fruits of what He’s blessed me with. I don’t really need to worry about being a truth teller. I don’t really need to worry about being generous with others. I don’t really need to treat others like I want to be treated. I don’t really need to forgive those who have wronged and hurt me. I don’t really need to make God the center of my life. I’ll make Him a part of my life, but not the center of my life. We try to play God, and that my friend, is not only impossible, it is tragically fatal.
Yes, this is when sin and death entered into God’s beautiful creation. But we can’t blame it on them. Each of us has chosen the same path.
Isaiah 53:6 “We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way.”
James 1:14 “But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire.”
I am a sinner by choice. If I don’t eat right and exercise and then have increased chances of getting diabetes or cancer or coronary issues, I can’t blame that on Adam. If I see a speed limit sign, and exceed that limit and get a ticket, or even worse, get in a car accident, I can’t blame that on Adam. I disobeyed the law. Adam and Eve disobeyed; they broke God’s law: don’t eat of that tree. And we break God’s law: every day in every way we make our own rules and decide our way is better than his.
The Bible says, “Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life.” Proverbs 4:23 But we don’t guard our hearts, and let our hearts go after material things, unholy things; thoughts and actions that are displeasing to God--and poisonous to us.
For instance, according to Jesus, just about everyone of us here this morning is an adulterer. “Now hold on, preacher! I don’t appreciate being called an adulterer.” Remember Jesus said, “If you even lust after a person, you have committed adultery.” If you can say you have NEVER had an impure thought about any person, then you’re free and clear. I for one must admit I have—and I am.
Nowadays, it’s virtually impossible because of all the virtual temptations. In Proverbs, there is a haunting story of a guy who doesn’t guard his heart and allows himself to get trapped.
“He follows her impulsively like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer bounding toward a trap 23 until an arrow pierces its liver, like a bird darting into a snare—he doesn’t know it will cost him his life.” Proverbs 7:22-23
One study found that 79% of men view pornography, while another study indicated that 50% of young women believe that viewing pornography is an acceptable way of expressing sexuality. Like an ox going to slaughter, they do not know it will cost them their life. This is an addiction that will kill the peace in your heart, single or married, and will kill the life in your marriage. Statistics are one thing—but we deal every day here with the messy stories of lives enslaved to pornography and it’s consequences.
Your addiction may not be porn, it may be comfort, or material things. Whatever it is, when we think we know better than God, there are always bitter consequences.
3. Our story contains devastation and disappointment vv.7-12 (on screen)
Disobedience always has consequences. Look at the consequences here:
a. Creation is broken: the earth is now in conflict; tectonic plates shift; weather patterns bring destruction, drought, and famine; diseases proliferate that have taken millions of lives through the ages. Humans are in conflict: murder, rape, war, genocide, racism, divorce. And most finally, everything dies.
b. Guilt and shame: their guilt and shame caused them to hide. Can you imagine hiding from God? He sees and knows everything! Yet we do the same: we try to hide our bad habits from Him; pretend they don’t exist or they don’t really matter.
c. Separation from and fear of God: they hid alright, from God. Adam says, I was afraid and hid. We’ve been afraid of God and feeling separated and estranged from Him ever since.
d. Self-deception and blame: Eve blames the serpent, right? And who does Adam blame? Initially he blames Eve, but ultimately who does he blame? God. “The woman YOU gave me,..It’s YOUR fault I’m like this.
The problem with self-deception and blame is they keep us from discovering the truth and until you can diagnose the disease, you can’t find the cure. I’ve actually known people who are seriously ill but won’t go to the doctor because they’re afraid the doctor will find out they’re seriously ill!
“There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” - Søren Kierkegaard
Self-deception & passing the blame are two incredibly foolish things to do. If you’re bitter at someone, that’s not their fault, not matter what they did to you, it’s your fault. Only you can deal properly with your bitterness. If you’re fearful and anxious, that’s not God’s fault. He tells us over and over again “Don’t be afraid” and then He shows us how to live anxiety free.
In God’s great story in the Bible, this is how Act 2 ends. Act 1 ended so gloriously, but Act 2 ends so wickedly. If the story ended there, we would have no hope. As noted atheist Bertrand Russell wrote about a Christless philosophy, it is “A firm foundation of unyielding despair.” Bertrand Russell
I began this morning by talking about those guys in prison. The thing was, they were all now believers in Jesus. Their story didn’t end when they got to prison. God began to write new chapters in each of their lives. And He can in your life as well. The joy they displayed in that awful environment was testament to the fact that no matter how messy your story is, God is not finished writing yet. Let Him take control; begin to follow His preferred future for you.
