What went wrong?!!The mess of life according to Genesis 2&3

What’s wrong with the world?!

Me.The story of the Bible could not have started better…Things go downhill quick…Read Genesis 2…Why? What does this story tell us about the world?What does this story tell us about who we are?

What to do?The world is a collection of men and women like you and like me.Before we get into the text, other solutions?Science? It’s done a lot of good…Ask yourself this question, “Are we really better off?”Has science made us better people?Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins would say that it can…Myth of Progress, postmodernismFundamental understanding of human beings

The facts.US children born poor have a 50% chance of staying that wayAddiction costs the United States 524 billion a yearThe majority of the 20 million addicts will never get helpThe average household in the US is 23,000 dollars in debt30.5% of Americans are obese24,000 people die every day from hunger, 18,000 of those are children, someone dies of hunger every 3.6 seconds, nearly 9 million a people per year1 billion people don’t have clean drinking water and are in poverty directly because of greed, civil unrest, lack of knowledge, etc.There is nothing NEW about the news, it’s a very OLD story indeed…

Genesis 2God makes man with His hands out of dirt…We’re fragile dirt clods…What makes us different is His breath…Made in the image of God and put in a gardenGenerals in ANE would put statues of themselves in cities they ruled…All humanity is meant to point back to the king…

Genesis 2God has a claim on us.Hard to take. We have rights!“Every man has a property in his own person; this nobody has any right to but himself.”--John LockeTruth statement #1: You will belong to the true owner or to competing powers.Self-ownership is an illusionFor us, ownership is about locks and keys, and shieldingFor God, its about giving…

Genesis 2Things to notice…The trees…Why? Not ready…Still?Command implies freedom…Man’s job: to help GodLoneliness. The great enemy of the human condition? It’s the first thing God says is “not good.”No shame. Huge.

Genesis 3Read Genesis 3. Take some time.Talking snakes? Or Satan?Miss the power of the story, something is being said here about human nature and the cosmic sphere…Notice that incorrect knowledge plays a huge part, this is what Satan capitalizes on…Sin enters the world.“The rejection of God’s kingship caused a rupture in the entire cosmos.”—Kelly KapicWe think we can be king…

Genesis 3Notice the effect of shame and sinSee nakedness (vulnerable)Start to make layers of protection (fig leaves, trees)Hiding. Profound. This is what we do.Blaming. Excuses.Truth statement #2: Sin does this to everyone.Notice the question that God asks…

Genesis 3Sin, or rebellion, leads to punishmentVerse 15--Both will be hurt…Something cosmic going on here…not talking snakes vs. humans…there is enmity…a struggle…The expulsion is because they might eat from the tree of life…notice they didn’t choose this one to eat from yet…Does this say something about our desire for power?To live forever and not understand good from evil would hell. It would unravel the universe.Truth statement #3: We cannot tell good from evil. We call good evil and evil good. Augustine, Luther, “sin makes us BEND toward the ground, like animals…

Conclusions1. Humanity’s troubles are in themselves, and not their environment (Utopia will never happen. Why? Something is broken INSIDE us. The image is marred).2. Humanity does not know what is best (Why we cannot handle evil).3. This is a pattern (Adam and Eve, Israel, Us).4. Judgment is real (You will suffer if you do not listen to God. Reality is unforgiving).5. Evil is real (We do not create evil, we partner with it. Sin shames, blames, divides, accuses, cuts down).6. But it DOES NOT get the last word! (The story doesn’t end there…Who are we? You must choose…)

Implications1. Stop hiding. Be vulnerable. We’re all trying to get back to Eden. We’ve all lost something. We all KNOW.The way forward is to stop hiding.2. Choose this day…which way you will walk…3. Listen to Jesus.“We fell by no fault of our own and we rise by no merit of our own”—Spurgeon; Paul saw Jesus as “The New Adam!” (Romans 5, 1 Cor. 15)He has knowledge, He made a way back to God…Who will you follow?God covers our shame and sin with his death…

PrayerOur Father, which art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy Name.Thy Kingdom come.

Thy will be done in earth, As it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.And forgive us our trespasses,

As we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, The power, and the glory,

For ever and ever. Amen.