Good News

Re:Verse reading–Genesis 3:1-7  (day five) 

This section of scripture we read and study this week is one of the most important in the whole Bible. These six verses are chocked full of truths and insights to many of the foundational doctrines of our faith. Arthur Pink describes Genesis 3 as the “seed-plot of the Bible”

What can we learn? What is to be discovered about God, mankind, the enemy, sin?

Sin: The effect of sin in Genesis is still seen today- man seeking to run away from God. The divine account is given for the ruined condition and current state of the human race.

The Enemy: The devil is subtle yet strategic in his schemes.

Mankind: Humans are powerless to walk in righteousness without God’s grace and presence. The natural tendency is for man to cover his moral shame by his own handiwork.

God: His attitude towards the guilty sinner is grace and love. He provides a solution to restore the broken relationship between God and man.

Looks like there’s good news in the midst of all the sin, shame, and uncertainty!

 

Who Do You Trust?

Re:Verse reading–Genesis 3:1-7  (day four)

It was God…the Creator of the world…the Creator of life.  God had given the instructions to Adam and Eve concerning the fruit of the garden.  Not only was God the creator of all, but He also had a relationship with the garden couple.  He would walk with them in the cool of the day.  Why would they question what He had told them?

Don’t we do the very same?  God speaks to us through His Word.  He is our Creator and we have a relationship with Him…but we question whether what He said is really true.  We choose to forget who to trust.  In our pride and sin, we are deceived by the ‘serpents’ around us.  Who are we going to believe?  …the serpents of deceit or our Creator God who loves us beyond measure?  Satan will couch our temptations so we will begin to question if maybe there is more that God is not telling us.  God’s Word is Truth…who are you going to believe?

Desire

Re:Verse reading–Genesis 3:1-7  (day three)

“The woman saw that the fruit of the tree was… desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.”  Within God’s life, desire occupies its rightful place of service to the other aspects of his character.  In our sin-corrupted lives, by contrast, we have elevated desire to a position of authority.  This is a position it is incapable of occupying well.  It was never meant to serve in place of reason.  It is a poor substitute for thinking.  It is a disaster when confused with love.  Here’s the history of sin in two words: I want.  Here’s the path back to purity in eight words: Not what I want, but what you want.  Which of these do you find yourself expressing?

Worth It?

Re:Verse reading–Genesis 3:1-7  (day two)

‘For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.” Romans 7:15

It doesn’t take much, does it? We know what we should do, but we begin to wonder if it could really be all that bad to make the other choice. Would anyone notice? The answer, of course, is: yes it is really that bad, and God always notices. Surely it can’t be worth it based on those facts alone. Yet, the slippery slope of sin works in our hearts and minds, and before long we are knee deep in a pit of regret that we should have never experienced in the first place. Discover your pitfalls. Protect yourself with prayer and consider if Adam and Eve ever thought their decision was worth it…it wasn’t.

Deceived into doubt

Re:Verse reading–Genesis 3:1-7  (day one)

“But each one is tempted when he is carried away by his own lust.  Then when lust is conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it bring forth death.  DO NOT BE DECEIVED, my beloved brethren.”–James 1:14-16.

It is an old story.  Ever new, sadly.  The enemy questions God’s word.  Harmless question (or so it seems).  “Did God really say?”  Moves quickly to a statement.  “You will not die!  God knows you will become like Him.  He doesn’t care for you.  He is looking out for Himself!” (free translation/interpretation)

And, like all of her sons and daughters since, Eve falls for it.  Without any evidence or experience to support such a claim, she abandons her innocent confidence that God is good, and dies as she steps over the line of His commandment.

Why did she doubt God’s goodness?  Why did she second-guess His commands?  An enemy has done this!

 

 

Imago dei

Re: Verse reading–Genesis 1:26-28; 2:18-25 (day seven) 

We are made in God’s image. The Genesis story (God-given. Moses-recorded) makes it clear.  What does it mean?

Some say it is rationality.  We can think, reason, decide on a level that is much higher than animals.  In this, on a small scale, we are like God.

Some say it is spirituality.  Sharing the “breath of God” gives men a facility to hear God, connect with Him.  God is Spirit.  In Genesis, and when we are “born of the Spirit”, we share this identity with Him.

Some say it is responsibility.  V. 28 commands us to increase, fill, subdue and rule the world.  The Sabbath story (last week) underscores this idea.  Completing our task we rest with satisfied hearts.  Like God, we are responsible and creative.

What do you believe?  Whatever you decide, one thing is certain.  Our true identity is godly.  We are like Him.  Until we find Him we cannot know ourselves.

Thou

Re: Verse reading–Genesis 1:26-28; 2:18-25 (day six)

Then God said, “I now give you…” Genesis 1:29

It is no small thing, but it can be easily overlooked. God only addresses humankind with the second person pronoun, “you.” Not with any other creature, but Adam and then Eve, does God speak directly; later He will even issue His first command. This is so profound. We are distinct from all creation because we were made for the divine relationship; we were made to know and be known.

Consider this for a moment, there is no other created thing that hears God’s voice but humankind. When God said, “you” for the first time, Adam and Eve perceived it and understood it. They related to God; they knew Him. We were created to listen to God’s voice, to walk with Him in the garden, to truly know Him. Jesus declared to us that knowing God is the essence of eternal life. (John 17:3)

Are YOU listening?

Main Character

Re: Verse reading–Genesis 1:26-28; 2:18-25 (day five) 

The sixth day of creation is very distinctive. Man is created. The bible describes it as “very good”. There is no denying that there is something special about man, the way he is created, and how God chooses to interact with the humans. God communicates with them. He gives them responsibility, assignments, and opportunities to have leadership and ownership in creation.

We must be careful not to change our perspective and approach of Genesis and the Bible- not to falsely presume that the narrative is now becoming man-centered. Adam and Eve are definitely special and important characters in the narrative. However, God must still be the main focus and sovereign over all creation. A God who is only understood as the god of humankind is no longer the God of the Bible. Remember how Colossians 1 describes Jesus? “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.  “For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.”

In His Image

Re: Verse reading–Genesis 1:26-28; 2:18-25 (day four)

Whether it is carpentry, or sewing, or manufacturing…patterns are important!  For instance, when you need to cut multiple boards exactly the same, you use a pattern…a board that is cut to precisely the correct dimensions.  Then, the pattern is used to mark all of the following boards.  You never cut one, then use that one to mark the next, and then that one to cut the next.  Errors are compounded unless you go back always to the pattern.

Verse 27 says, “And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”  God used Himself as the pattern for man.  The world rejects the precept of God the Creator…especially God the Creator and Pattern.  If He is acknowledged as these, then obedience and submission would be required.  In rejecting the pattern, the world rejects any mandate for devotion and homage.  How about us?  Do our lives closely correspond to the pattern or image that we were created in?

Reign

Re: Verse reading–Genesis 1:26-28; 2:18-25 (day three)

“Let them rule…over all the earth.”  The destiny of man to rule over the created order bookends the Bible.  In Genesis and in Revelation, we discover God’s explicit intention that we become the kind of people who can be entrusted to rule.  And let us understand: To rule isn’t to sit on a throne and bark orders.  Rather, to rule is to have say over the flourishing of creation—to allocate resources and design systems and execute processes that realize the potential God has built into the universe.  Such an endeavor requires wisdom.  Ruling without wisdom results in…the kind of world we live in right now.  Let us get quickly to God and seek from him the wisdom that we will need to reign with him in this age and in the age to come.