Do Not Doubt God's Word

Sermon March 9 2014               Do Not Doubt God’s Word

Genesis 2:15-17 AND 3:1-7

You may eat freely of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.

But the serpent said to the woman, “ You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

This story is often interpreted theologically in terms of temptation, “fall,” sin, and death.

Human kind is placed in the garden of God’s creation to “till and keep it.”  The Creator who gives life also gives meaning and purpose to life.  We are called to serve as caretakers in God’s creation – STEWARDS of a world we did not make and can receive only as a gift held in trust.

The freedom of God ordains is expansive but not boundless.  There are limits to the exercise of our creaturely freedom.

What is the “tree of knowledge of good and evil,” and what becomes of the threat that “in the day that you eat of it you shall die?”  In the first serious theological conversation in Scripture, the woman is asked by the “crafty” serpent, “ Did God (REALLY) say, “ You shall not eat from any tree in the garden?” (V.3:1).

The way the question is asked makes God seem unreasonable. The Seed of Doubt is planted.

Eve goes beyond what God said.  When we add to the Word of God or take away from the Word of God that is where we begin to shift away from the Will of God.

Eve responded: “We may eat of the frut of the trees in the garden; but God said, “ You shall not eat of the fruit that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die”.  With the harmless bit of exaggeration the serpent strikes.  “ You will not die…..Your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (3:4-5).

“Good and Evil” is not a matter of ethical discernment.  It is the desire to make ourselves the judges of good and evil, assuming for ourselves the role of God. ( I m gonna have it My Way.)

What does God Know?  Teenagers think : What do my parents Know?  What does my boss know?  What does my husband know?   You get the picture.

Think for yourself. Act for yourself.  Do not let anyone, even God, define for you what is good and evil.

Too often it leads not to wisdom and authentic liberation, but to messy divorces, to shouting matches between parents and children, to willful disregard of the needs and feelings of others, to chaos in the church, and to degradation of the environment.

One does not have to look far to find examples of how our life together is undermined by the refusal to accept the gracious limits of Gods truly liberating grace.

The Torah (instruction) of God is intended for the well-being of the “image bearing creature” to whom God has entrusted the stewardship of creation.

There is a story here that makes for the flourishing of life in community, there is already in the story a note of gospel that echoes throughout Scripture.

In God’s sovereign freedom, God responds to human disobedience, not with the full weight of judgment, but with Unexpected Mercy.

Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more (Rom. 5:20)

If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed (John 8:36)

Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another (Gal. 5:13).

Psalm 32 UMH 766

From the Message

 Let me give you some good advice;
    I’m looking you in the eye
    and giving it to you straight:

⁹ “Don’t be ornery like a horse or mule
    that needs bit and bridle
    to stay on track.”

¹⁰ God-defiers are always in trouble;
    God-affirmers find themselves loved
    every time they turn around.

¹¹ Celebrate God.
    Sing together—everyone!
    All you honest hearts, raise the roof

 

Romans 5: 12-19

If because of  the one man’s trespass, death exercised dominion through that one, much more surely will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness exercise dominion in life through the one man, Jesus Christ

Paul is concerned to identify the nature and the extent of the human dilemma.  Human beings are beset with sin and death in a way that runs both deeper and wider than we might expect.

Having established  that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (3:23); taken up again in (5:12), Paul is now concerned to give an account of the full scope and effects of sin.

His main point is that sin was introduced and somehow passed on to the entire human race by Adam, our first parent, so that we were all “made sinners” as a result of Adam’s Disobedience.

Therefore, Sin is the result of the first sin of Adam.  This is Paul’s chief statement of what Augustine called  “ Original Sin”.  John Wesley also points out this fact called “Original Sin”.

Christ did not die just for us to make some improvements.

He died to save us from a mortal disease that lies at the core of our being, affecting all of our thoughts, words, and deeds, and corrupting human society as a whole.

Matthew  4: 1-11

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

It is written…..

1) One does not live by bread alone, but by every Word that come from the mouth of God.

2)Do not put the Lord Your God to the test.

3)Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.

Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.

Jesus used the Word of God to defeat Satan during his temptation. Jesus warned us of Satan’s tactics in the parable of the sower ( Mark 4:14-20):

¹⁴ The sower soweth the word.

¹⁵ And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.

¹⁶ And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness;

¹⁷ And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are offended.

¹⁸ And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word,

¹⁹ And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.

²⁰ And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.

The Word of God has the power to bring itself to pass. Satan tries to steal that word out of your heart. He has five things he uses to steal the Word from you –

1. Persecution, 2)affliction, 3)the cares of this world, 4) the deceitfulness of riches, 5)the lusts of other things.

That one, the evil one, the serpent, Satan, the Devil  is still whispering his enticing suggestions to Christian people and institutions today. Many find his ideas attractive.

One of the greatest deceptions of satan is to convince you that he don’t exist. That message is being preached in many pulpits. That the devil and hell do not exist.  I have heard that message over and over in the 12 years I have been involved in churches in Montana and Wyoming.

Lenten penitence engages the dark places in our lives that we may come face to face with them, name them, understand them, and seek forgiveness for them.  It is not about guilt. It is about freedom from the control that our fears and insecurities have over us all, about the amendment of life and new beginnings.

Victory belongs to those who will follow Jesus through temptation and fight the devil with the Word of God.  Jesus showed us how to have that victory in our lives.  IT is written.

Do not doubt the Word of God. Amen.

Hymn of reflection UMH  377  IT is Well with My Soul