A Shameful Walk Series

Title: A Shameful Walk

Text: Genesis 3

Subject: Disobedience; Temptation

Series: The Walk Series; #1

Introduction: Before cars, before roller skates, before bicycles, before boats, and even before people rode animals, people walked places. Thousands of years later, walking is still very popular today. It’s a very efficient and enjoyable mode of transportation. When Kelly and I were dating, that was one of the main ways we spent time together. We’d meet and go for a long walk. There were a lot of walks but there are several that stand out in my mind. Our very first walk together, the short walk we took out over the Mississippi River as I proposed to her, and the very first walk we took as husband and wife as we walked back down the aisle of the church we got married in. All of these were walks that I can never forget.

As we read through the Bible we come across a lot of walks. Some were joyous while others terrible. Yet in both the good and bad walks we can learn something. Today I want to start a series looking at a variety of different walks in the Bible. We begin with a couple known as Adam and Eve. Many of us know the story. In the beginning God created everything that we can see. In the midst of this creation was a beautiful garden. The final culmination of God’s creation was man. God had designed a perfect world for Adam with one simple rule. Let’s open to Genesis 2:15-17.

The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die. NIV (Keep your Bibles open to chapter three).

God also created woman to be Adam’s helper and companion in the garden. Things were wonderful, abundant food, soft grass, and fellowship with God. One day though, that was all going to change.

I. Eve walked close to the tree.

The Bible doesn’t record how long Adam and Eve cared for the garden. What appears as just a few lines in the Bible could have been years and years. However long it was, there was a time in which Adam and Eve did exactly what God had designed them to do, care for the garden. It was a wonderful thing. It must have been like King Midas where everything they touched turned to gold. A little pruning on one tree and the next day it’s full of fruit. There were no thorns to worry about and no fears of some insect coming and destroying the trees. They worked hard to care for every tree except the one. It was unwritten rule that they wouldn’t even go close to it. One day Eve was out for a walk. She wasn’t headed anywhere in particular. Eventually she found herself in the general area of the forbidden tree. She turned her gaze and stared at it for a few minutes. Surely it wouldn’t hurt to walk past the tree. As she turned and began heading toward it a small voice inside encouraged her to turn around. Eve wasn’t listening as she walked right up to the tree. This was what all the fuss had been about. This was the forbidden tree. It looked like all the others and Eve began to examine it more closely.

Thousands of years later you would think that the people of God would be beyond the mistake that Eve made, but so often we see that we’re not. It’s a very simple thing. Many people in our churches today like to walk close to sin. It used to be different. In the past the goal for various holiness movements was to get as far as way from all evil as possible. To this extent it was believed that Christians could never visit a theater or attend a play. Woman had better be in a long dress down to the ankles with hair almost as equally long. Women, don’t even think about wearing pants. These were things to make sure people stayed holy and close to God. While some bordered on legalism and the extreme, it seems to be a complete reversal in this day and age. Often today, Christians want to see how far they can go enjoying this world while still remaining Christians. A common topic in some youth group discussions is how far a guy and a girl can go physically before God considers it sin. They want to know not so they can stay away from it, but so they can get as close to it as possible.