I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Genesis 2:4-9,
15-17
Genesis
2:4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created,
when the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.
5
Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth[a] and no plant had yet sprung up,
for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work
the ground, 6 but streams[b] came up from the earth and watered the whole
surface of the ground. 7 Then the Lord God formed a man[c] from the dust of the
ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a
living being.
8
Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put
the man he had formed. 9 The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the
ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of
the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil.
Genesis
2:15 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 from it you will certainly die.”
-- several years ago, Donald Miller,
a favorite author of mine got a call from Hollywood -- they told him that they wanted
to make a movie out of one of his books -- the true story of what he learned
about God and life as he left home in Texas to move to Portland, Oregon, for
school
-- Miller said it was humbling to
think that someone was going to take the story of his life and make it into a
movie -- but in the book he wrote about going through that process with the
filmmakers, he said he learned so much more about the true story that God was
writing in all our lives
-- I heard a quote one time that
said, "God loved stories so much that He created people" -- and what
that means is that everyone has a story and everyone is part of God’s bigger
story
-- that’s what Miller learned during
the writing of the movie about his life -- that all of us have a place in God’s
bigger story -- and as we live this story out in our lives -- with all its ups
and downs -- with the conflicts and the tragedies and the joys and the
successes -- we are changed and become different people because of what we have
been through and what God has been doing in our lives -- and that that is makes
the story worth listening to
-- Miller said that as he learned to
view his life as a story, he realized his story could change -- and that as you
realize how God is working in your life to change your character for the
better, you’ll find yourself longing to write better stories about who you are
and what you are doing
-- this morning, we’re going to
start a new sermon series about the stories of God -- in hopes that we might
find ourselves in the midst of His story and we might learn how God is working
in our lives to weave us into the fabric of the story He is telling
-- knowing your place in God’s story
leads to finding meaning and purpose in life -- and as you start to truly live
out God’s story in your life, you’ll leave the mundane behind and step into the
truly wonderful adventure that God has for all of us
-- all good stories have a beginning
-- and so we’ll begin our series at the beginning of it all -- with the story
of Creation and the tragedy that has affected us all
II. Scripture Lesson (Genesis 2:4-9, 15-17,
3:1-8)
-- if you would, look with me now at
Genesis 2, and let’s read about the beginning of our story together
Genesis
2:4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created,
when the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.
5
Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth[a] and no plant had yet sprung up,
for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work
the ground, 6 but streams[b] came up from the earth and watered the whole
surface of the ground. 7 Then the Lord God formed a man[c] from the dust of the
ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a
living being.
8
Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put
the man he had formed. 9 The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the
ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of
the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil.
Genesis
2:15 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 from it you will certainly die.”
-- our story begins with God -- as
it says in Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning, God” -- and as it says in John 1:1,
“In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God”
-- and as it says here in verse 4, “this is the account of the heavens and the
earth when they were created” -- it all begins with God
-- and this is important to know --
this is important to remember -- our story -- our lives -- and all of creation
-- begin with God -- He is our Creator -- it was He who formed mankind in the
dust of the earth, even before there were shrubs and plants in the fields --
even before rain fell on the earth
-- and that means that our stories
can only make sense in light of God’s presence in our lives -- apart from God,
our stories have no meaning -- no purpose -- no direction -- they’re just there
-- and stories without meaning or direction are not stories we want to hear
-- that is one of the greatest
tragedies that has resulted from the theory of evolution -- Darwin took away
God from the story -- and in doing so, he took away meaning from our lives --
and lives that have no meaning or purpose lead to people living lives of no
great account -- if all you are is the product of random chance and the
impossible rearrangement of atoms that someone resulted in life, then your life
has no purpose or meaning -- so why do anything at all? -- if your life has no
purpose or meaning, then why live?
-- and we teach this to our children
and wonder why teen suicide rates are higher than ever and why there is so much
hatred and rage in the streets -- we wonder why life has become so disposable
-- whether we’re talking about the unborn babies in the womb or senior citizens
who are sacrificed at the altar of economic prosperity -- it’s because we have
forgotten the Author of our story -- we’ve forgotten God
-- so, don’t miss the start of the
story -- don’t miss the Author of life -- in order for our stories to have
meaning and purpose and for our lives to stand for something, we must remember,
“In the beginning, God.”
-- the story begins with God and a
formless and empty earth, covered in darkness -- and God brought forth light
and created life -- beginning with plants and animals -- until we reach the
point where God created us in His own image -- as it says in Genesis 1:26,
“Then God said, Let us make man in our
image, in our likeness”
-- it says here in verse 7 that God
formed the man from the dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrils the
breath of life, and the man became a living being
-- from the very beginning, we were
different from all the rest of creation -- for we were the only thing in all of
creation that was created in the likeness of God and we were the only thing in
all of creation that God breathed His very breath into
-- we are different because we were
created for a purpose -- some say that God created mankind because of love --
the Bible tells us that God is love -- and some have reasoned that God made us
in His likeness so that we could be the objects of His love and so that we
could love Him in return -- we were created to be in relationship with Him and
with each other
-- and while this is certainly true,
the Bible also indicates that we were created to bring glory to God -- that as
we walk with Him and live out His story in our lives, we bring glory and praise
to His name -- by fulfilling the purpose for which we were created, God is
glorified
-- this understanding of Creation
gives us the “why” of life -- it gives us purpose and meaning -- our lives are
to bring glory to God by who we are and by what we do and by how we return
God’s love to Him and to others
-- knowing this should make us look
at how we are living and who we are and ask ourselves, “am I pleasing God with
my life? -- is what I am doing bringing love and life to others?”
-- look back at verse 8
Genesis
2:8 Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he
put the man he had formed. 9 The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of
the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle
of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil.
Genesis
2:15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and
take care of it.
-- so here we are at the beginning
of our story -- God has created us in His own image and likeness -- He has
breathed into us the breath of life -- His spirit -- He has made us different
from all the rest of Creation so that we might love Him and live for Him and
bring glory to His name
-- and now we read that God prepared
for us a place -- the garden of Eden -- a garden filled with all kinds of trees
that were pleasing to the eye and good for food -- and He put the first man in
the garden and gave him a mission -- He gave him direction and purpose -- to
work the garden and to take care of it
-- what that tells us is that God
gives our lives meaning and purpose -- not just in the nebulous sense that we
were just talking about -- “we were put here to love God and bring Him glory”
-- but in a discrete and distinct way -- Adam was given a job -- his purpose
was to bring God glory by working the garden and taking care of it
-- in the same way -- in all our
lives -- God has given us direction and purpose -- He has put us where He wants
us to be so that we might work and take care of God’s resources that He has
given to us -- whether that’s taking care of family or friends or accomplishing
things at work or through your recreation -- whatever your particular story is,
God has written into it meaning and purpose -- you have a reason for being
-- for Adam, it was to take care of
the garden -- for us, it is something different -- specifically given in light
of who we are and who God has made us to be
-- verse 16
Genesis
2:16 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 from it you will certainly die.”
-- yesterday, I watched a few
minutes of college football as we all celebrated the fact that we were able to
get back to some sense of normalcy in this year of the pandemic -- in one game
I watched, the quarterback threw a perfect pass to the receiver -- he caught
the ball and streaked off towards the goal line, but all of a sudden, whistles
blew and the referees stopped him from going forward anymore -- they brought
the ball back to a specific point on the field and set it down
-- you know why, don’t you? -- the
receive had stepped out of bounds -- he had crossed the boundary line that
defined the playing field and so the ball was brought back to that point
-- God knew that we needed
boundaries in our lives -- we need guardrails to keep us from danger -- and
even here, in the Garden of Eden, we see God putting boundaries and guardrails
up to keep Adam safe
-- He tells Adam that he can eat
from any tree in the garden -- he can have anything he wants -- it is all for
him and for his pleasure -- except, he cannot eat from the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, for that tree is dangerous -- that tree leads to
death
-- the Bible has been criticized as
a book of rules -- there are those today who would say that the rules are
antiquated -- that they need to be changed or taken away completely -- that
they are restricting our freedom
-- but taking away the boundaries
doesn’t lead to more freedom -- it leads to chaos and anarchy -- what would
happen if you removed the boundaries from a football field? -- you’d have
players and receivers running through the stands and dodging around the hot dog
guy in order to catch a pass -- it would be chaos
-- we need boundaries in our lives
-- we need guardrails in place -- they are there for a reason -- they keep us
safe and they keep us from harming ourselves or others -- they keep us in the
playing field and let us know what is right and what is wrong and they keep our
lives moving in the right direction
-- skip over to Chapter 3, verse 1
Genesis
3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God
had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any
tree in the garden’?”
2
The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,
3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle
of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
4
“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows
that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God,
knowing good and evil.”
6
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to
the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She
also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes
of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed
fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
8
Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in
the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the
trees of the garden.
-- things were going good with Adam
and his wife until temptation crawled into the garden in the form of a serpent
-- offering freedom and knowledge and the chance to not only be created in the
likeness of God but to truly be like God, the serpent convinced the woman to
take of the fruit of the forbidden tree -- the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil -- and to cross the boundary line and to eat it even though God had
said “no”
-- and this simple act of
disobedience changed the trajectory of our stories forever -- we read here of
the first sin -- of what theologians call, “original sin” -- the start of the
downfall of mankind
-- the doctrine of original sin is
one of the foundational doctrines of the church -- this doctrine teaches that
when Adam and Eve chose to cross the boundary line and to seek knowledge on their
own by eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, sin
and death came into the world -- and, as
a result, all of us were born with this sin nature inside of us that causes us
to sin
-- when Adam and Eve disobeyed God
and ate of the fruit, sin became a part of them -- and it became a part of who
we are today -- our story changed
-- we all became sinners -- we are
all born sinners because we all come from Adam -- to use the Biblical term for
it, we are “in” Adam
-- when Adam and Eve disobeyed God
and ate from the fruit, sin came into their bodies like a virus -- it infected
Adam and Eve with its poison, and this sin nature became a part of who they
were -- it was passed on from them to their children and then to their
grandchildren and their great grandchildren until it finally passed on to us
-- it was through their infected
blood that sin and death entered the world and entered each of us
-- God tells us in Leviticus 17:11
that the life of a creature is in its blood -- and, I think it follows, that
the death of a creature is in its blood as well -- who we are in the story
changed -- we all became sinners because we have within our veins the infected
blood of Adam
-- we are sinners -- not because of
what we do -- but because of who we are -- as Watchman Nee wrote, "the
trouble is in our heredity and not our behavior"
-- now this is an important concept
to grasp -- you are a sinner because of who you are -- not because of what you
do -- you are a sinner because you are a child of Adam -- you are “in” Adam --
you trace your heritage back to him -- and, as a result, you are infected with
this great infection -- you are born with this sin nature inside of you
-- this explains Romans 3:23 where
Paul writes that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God -- this
explains how that little baby who just took its first breath is a sinner --
this explains how that good ole boy you know -- the one who really doesn't do
much wrong and tries to live a good moral life -- is still a sinner
-- it's not about what you do --
it's about who you are -- and you are a sinner because you are infected with
sin
-- the important thing to remember
is that “Sin is not so much the activity. That's just the evidence of the Sin
nature. Sin is the nature of every man born of Adam” [Precept Bible Commentary,
http://preceptaustin.org/romans_513-21.htm#5:13]
-- that's why you can't get to
heaven on your own -- that's why you can't work your way to heaven -- that's
why you can't be good enough to earn your way to heaven -- even if you never go
out and disobey one of God's commandments, you are a sinner because you are
born in sin -- as David wrote in Psalm 51:5, "I was sinful at birth --
sinful from the time my mother conceived me"
-- we have a disease -- this sin
nature in our hearts -- and it is this sin nature that keeps us from heaven
-- and the trajectory of our lives
and our stories depend on what we do with this sin nature
III. CLOSING
-- so, what can we do about it? --
what is the answer to this sin nature that has become such a part of us that we
are born sinners?
-- that’s a good question -- and that’s
what the entire rest of God’s story recorded in the Bible is all about -- it’s
the story of resolving the problem of sin and it’s the individual stories of
our lives and how we can be restored to Eden once again
-- we’ll be continuing on in the story
of God over the next few months, but I don’t want to leave you with a
cliffhanger and with no answer to the sin in your lives
-- when our stories were changed
through Adam and Eve’s original sin in the garden of Eden, God did not leave us
to our fate -- instead, He wrote Himself into the story of mankind in order to
bring us hope and mercy and grace
-- He chose to be born as one of us
-- a baby in a manger -- who would be fully man and fully God -- who would show
us what it meant to live within the boundaries -- who would show us a more
perfect way of life
-- and, then, when the times had
reached their fulfillment, our Savior would offer Himself on the cross to pay
the penalty for our sins -- dying for us so that we might not have to die --
and then rising from the dead on the third day so that we might live as Him
-- the answer to original sin is to
trust and believe in the Author of life -- the answer to original sin is to trust
and believe in Jesus’ atoning death on the cross and to trust in the forgiveness
of sins that He has offered us through His very own body and blood
-- that is the story of the Bible --
that is the story of faith and life -- and that is the story that we will be
continuing next week
-- let us pray
