Sermon Cloud

Series: The World We All Want

Message: The Fall

October 12^th, 2008

These are the original sermon notes, they are not a transcript of the actual message.

Creation Accounts

Some would there are two conflicting creation accounts, but there is one creation told in two ways, the first of the relationship between God and man, and the second of the relationship between God and creation. The second slows the story and expands in a few key areas, and they both complement one another. As we read through Genesis 2 we will point out some key relationships that are forming and how they progress.

The Creation of Man and Woman

4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.

5 When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up-for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground,

You can see the relationship between creation and man right here. Creation was made for man and man was made for creation. The earth and creation are used as provision for man, it provides for food, for shelter, for recreation and for enjoyment, all to the praise of God. And man is to be a steward of creation, cultivating that which God has made. God created it and called it good, and man was made a steward to keep it good.

6 and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground-

You see God here being the one who has designed things so beautifully that the earth is watering the face of the land.

7 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

More of the relationship between man and creation, we come from the ground return to the ground.

8 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden,

Tree of life, that sounds pretty cool.

and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The tree of what? The knowledge of good and evil? That doesn't sound good.

10 river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. 14 And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

OK, pretty cool again.

15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."

OK, stay away from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

18 Then the Lord God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him." 19 Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field.

We see again our participation with God in creation and stewardship. We still do this today. When a new animal or plant is found we give it a name.

But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. 21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.

This is a new way of creating. First God created the heavens and earth out of nothing. Then he took dirt from the ground of earth and made man. And then he takes a rib from the man and creates woman.

23 Then the man said, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man." (literally ish, ishi)

24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

What a beautiful, beautiful world to live in!! God is in relationship with us perfectly, we are in harmonious relationship with creation and with one another. They have deep intimacy with God and with one another, there is no shame and no guilt. What a beautiful place to rest. This is shalom my friends. Shalom is not just the absence of pain, evil and enmity, but it is more than that, it is the peace of God, the peace of being in right relationships with Him, others and creation.

Imagine a montage of this scene... Adam and Eve taking a walk with God in the morning, now dancing through a field, skinny dipping in the river, picking some berries off the vine on the way back to their home while riding on a zebra. You ever notice in the movies, that after this kind of montage the sky darkens behind them and conflict in coming. They are following a script written long, long ago.

3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.

He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?" 2 And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'" 4 But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

I have an older brother who is not a believer and awhile back we were talking about God and he said that it was unfair to make us choose between God and knowledge and that choosing God meant not choosing knowledge. He (and others) based this on this passage here. That God said not to eat the tree of knowledge. Friends, this type of argument is about the weakest argument there is and it took about 30 seconds to point that out, so allow me to take 60 seconds to show you how the enemy works. The problem is that the argument gets the story wrong and gives partial quotes, they argue that God required us to choose Him over knowledge, but that it not what is said, it says over the knowledge of good AND EVIL. He wasn't keeping them from knowing things like the origin of life, or how cells reproduce or whether the sun revolves around the earth or vice versa. He was protecting us from knowing EVIL! Who really wants to know evil.

This is the first trick of deception friends. Partial truths mixed with partial lies makes it deceitful every time friends. First the serpent questions what God said, then she misquotes what God actually said. This friends is at the core of so much of our agony, anger, strife and pain. Many of us don't know what God has said about us, himself and creation and we are so easily deceived. There is a wonderful quote my a guy named Martyn Lloyd-Jones where he says, "Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself?" In context of the quote, he is saying that we must speak the truth to ourselves about who God is and who we are. There is too much deception that whispers other truths to our souls. And right now, the serpent is whispering to Eve's soul, "be like God"

6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

Remember earlier at the end of Chapter 2, 'they were naked and not ashamed', this is in stark contrast to what we see here that they are sewing together fig leaves making clothes.

8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?" 10 And he said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself." 11 He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?" 12 The man said, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate." 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this that you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

What use to be a calm, cool walking in the garden with God is no full of fear and blame-shifting. Blame-shifting was the original response to sin, and it continues to plague mankind and men specifically. Blaming others and blaming God for our own faults and failures is as old as this first sinful day. At least Eve gets it right, 'The serpent deceived me, and I ate'.

And notice God's response to this confession, he first addresses the serpent! While he knows that we failed and sinned, he goes first to the one who deceives. This is a lesson for us as well. Lies and deception are so horrible because they tear at the root of trust. Now watch how this is handled by God.

14 The Lord God said to the serpent,

"Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.

15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel."

Enmity is put between the man and the woman and relational enmity has its start here. All of their social and work dimensions have been distorted and twisted. But God also tips His hand here and reveals that He already has a plan to turn things around. Although there is now enmity between Satan and mankind, from the seed of her offspring will come someone who will crush the head of the serpent and begin reversing what took place here.

16 To the woman he said,

"I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you."

17 And to Adam he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;

Here we see that all of creation is affected by this disobedience, we see enmity between man and creation. Romans 8 tells us that 'creation groans awaiting the revealing of sons and daughters of God'. This groaning is the source of the world's hurricanes, tsunami's, earthquakes, floods, cycles of heat and drought and other natural disasters. The earth is under this curse as well.

18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

Not only will the ground give up its fruit with difficulty, but death has come. We return to the ground. This scene forces us to rethink death for a moment? Isn't death much more than being physically dead. Isn't it much more incremental than that? Death comes to us in many forms. Can you imagine the anguish within the man and the woman at this, the anguish of what they have brought on themselves? The anguish of enmity, strife, shame and guilt.

20 The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. 21 And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

So there is broken relationship between man and creation and between man and others. Even in this,

God still blesses them with provision of clothing for their nakedness. Even this clothing speaks to a deeper spiritual truth to come, the need to have our shame, our 'nakedness' covered.

Can you imagine the scene? One day they are in the garden and it is beautiful! Now they been deceived, they chose to write their own story and disobeyed God. The serpent has been punished. Creation has been cursed. There is now enmity between Adam and his wife. But at least they have the garden, and at least they have God still.

22 Then the Lord God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever-" 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

Banishment. You want autonomy? You want to be like God, knowing good and evil, well, you got it. And then begins a wandering for Adam and Eve. The rest of the Old Testament is the story of man seeking to reconcile themselves with God, with one another and with God's creation. This is where we find ourselves now in the story. Wandering, seeking after the shalom that was in the garden. Seeking to take a walk with God in the morning, running through a field, skinny dipping in the river, picking some berries off the vine on the way back home while riding on a zebra. We seek Shalom.

But we are twisted and distorted, because we also bring with us strife and envy so often wherever we go. If you think this isn't you, if you think the same heart that beats in Adam isn't in you, then let's read a little more.

Genesis 5:3
'When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.'

The same desire for autonomy, the same lack of trust in the Author of life beats in us. It seeks to be like God in knowing good and evil and in being the