Sunday, February 3, 2019

Worldly Wisdom and Ultimate Guilt


If you have been paying attention at all to 24-hour news or social media, you know that the past few weeks have been a dark time for our nation. In the past two weeks, both New York and Virginia have passed or attempted to pass legislation which would allow the abortion of a child up to the time of birth. In fact, when asked by the speaker of the Virginia house of representatives if her bill would allow a woman to abort her child after she had begun full term labor, the congresswoman proposing the bill said, “Yes, my bill would allow that.” Many Christians have watched with stunned horror as these bills have come up and received wide spread support. For most Christians, we’ve always opposed abortion legislation, but these bills seem to have caught us by surprise. Abortion is such a heinous act at whatever stage of development. It really makes two victims out of one sin. Whether the pregnancy was caused by rape or just a bad decision, the woman feels that this violent act will remove the guilt and shame that she feels. But as testimonies show, it really never does.
These efforts to make abortion more common place are just the latest in a long stream of changes, both culturally and legislatively, that seem to turn the natural order on its head. They seem to take what is wise and declare it to be foolish, and to take that which is foolish and declare it to be wise. Yet, while we can certainly point to these as terrible developments in our culture, they are not the only, nor the most personal. It was not so long ago that men at least felt that they needed to hide their addiction to pornography behind a black, sealed cover, but now pornography is considered so common place that characters joke about it in sit-coms and even the president himself thought nothing of having his picture made with (and apparently even having an affair with) the hot new porn star. Not too long ago, divorce of any sort was a mark of shame for both the man and the woman, but now we celebrate the anniversary of our divorces on Facebook just as we would the anniversary of our marriages. It was not too long ago that co-habitation was a mark of shame and a reason for any preacher to refuse to perform a wedding, but now the preacher may risk being run out of town on a rail for suggesting that the cohabiting couple separate before the wedding.
These and many other sins that our culture smiles upon should produce within us a sense of guilt and shame. At one time they did, and I think they still do. But, our culture has abolished guilt and shame. If your pregnancy brings you shame or causes inconvenience, then abort. If you struggle with your identity, then change it. If you don’t like being tied down in your marriage, get a “no-fault” divorce. If you don’t want to make the commitment to marriage, you can have all the benefits without the commitment by simply living together. No shame. No guilt. Just do what seems right to you.
            But, the effort to become a law unto ourselves is nothing new. Paul says, in Romans 1:18-23, that the pagans of his day had done the very same thing:
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
The pagans had taken the wisdom of God and had exchanged it for a lie. And, they had taken the very image of God that is apparent in the world and in other people around them and had exchanged it for the worship of creation. The Greeks believed that wisdom was inherited from an ancient king named Crecrops. The ancient Mesopotamians believed that wisdom was represented by an angel named Nirah. Throughout the ancient world, pagans believed that one god or another held the keys to wisdom and life. And, all of these deities, angels, and kings were symbolized by one consistent image: a snake. Snakes were always used to represent wisdom and life. In fact, in many cases the snake or snakes would be depicted wrapped around a tree of life. The famous medical symbol (caduceus) comes from this same mythology.
            It is no coincidence, therefore, that we find a snake in our story in Genesis chapter 3. Except, the snake of our story is depicted very differently from all of the ancient pagan myths. In this story, the snake comes offering wisdom and life, but what he really brings is deception and death.
            We meet this snake sometime after the creation of woman, as Adam and Eve are walking in the midst of the garden. Moses introduces the snake by saying that he is “crafty”. This word has a double meaning. It can mean “prudent” and is sometimes used in a positive light, especially in Proverbs. But, it can also mean “deceptive”. The double meaning is intended here. There are three ways that we see the serpent’s deception here.
            First, the serpent preempts the created order that God has established. Remember from the sermon on Genesis 2 that God created Adam as the ruler of the world and Eve as his irreplaceable helpmate. Adam is the one who is to subdue the earth and to bring God’s Word to reign over every nook and cranny. But, the serpent doesn’t come to Adam. He comes to Eve. He turns the marriage relationship, and the world order, on its head.
            Second, the serpent calls into question what God had actually said. Notice here that the serpent knows the word of God. Yet, he takes it and twists it to say something that it doesn’t.
            Lastly, the serpent questions the goodness of God. He suggests to Eve that she will not surely die, but that God doesn’t want her to have the benefits of the fruit. If she eats of this fruit, the serpent promises that she will know good and evil like God. She can bypass the labor of being obedient to God and trusting him and have wisdom on her own terms.
So, Eve takes the fruit and eats it, and notice that it says that she gives it to her husband who was with her. This is so important to note because the rest of the Bible never refers to this sin as the sin of Eve. No, the sin is always said to be the sin of Adam. Why is that? Remember that Adam is created as the king of all of the world. If he had been obedient to God, he would still be reigning today. He is our federal head. This is a common theme in Scripture. People are blessed or cursed based on the obedience or disobedience of one man. All of Israel was blessed through Abraham. Aiken’s entire family is destroyed because of his sin. The second commandment carries a punishment that extends to the third and fourth generations. So, Adam represented all of humanity when he allowed the serpent to speak vile things to Eve. And, he represented us all when he knowingly took of the fruit and ate.
There was only one thing that the serpent promised that actually came true. Adam and Eve did know good and evil. But, they didn’t know it as God knows it. God knows evil like an oncologist knows cancer. Adam and Eve knew evil like a cancer patient knows cancer. Besides the one thing that the serpent got right, there were four terrible results that he failed to mention. First, there was immediate shame. In verse 7 it says that the first thing that they “saw” when their eyes were opened was that they were naked. Before this sin, they were naked and unashamed, and now they are naked and ashamed. What changed? Along with the knowledge of evil, they also now judged God’s good creation wrongly. Adam no longer looked at Eve as the special creation of God, but as someone who was lacking. Eve no longer looked at Adam as her king and defender but as an imperfect and defiled creature.
Second, this sin brought relational strife. When God finds them and after they confess their sin, God pronounces a curse on the woman. That curse involves two things. She will have increased pain in childbearing and she will desire her husband. The strain in the relationship of marriage and family will be a constant reminder of the sin that Eve committed.
Lastly, God pronounces two curses on Adam. First, he will toil for his food. The good garden that God gave to him that produces all the food he could ever need will be hidden from him. Instead, when he works, his hands will be cut by thorns. He will struggle to till the ground, fight to grow enough food to feed his family. And, he will do this until he returns to the ground from which he was made. The last part of the curse is that he will die, just as God had warned.
But, even in this miserable story there are two glimpses of hope that we cannot miss. The first is found in verse 15, where God makes a promise, even as he is pronouncing his curse on the serpent. God promises that there will be a seed of the woman who will crush the head of the serpent. The second glimpse of hope is found in verse 21, where God makes coverings for the man and woman. They had done their best to hide their shame but had failed miserably. Now, the first death in the garden is not the death of a man, but the death of a sacrifice that would be used to cover their shame.
Brothers and sisters, these may seem like small things, but there is great hope in this seed that was promised. With every new generation, there was renewed hope that perhaps a new man would be the one who would crush the head of the serpent. Cain is born as that hope and then fails miserably. Noah is seen as a new Adam, but then he gets drunk and brings shame on himself and his family. Abraham is to be a blessing to the world, but then he acts in ways that show that he has little faith. David is a king after God’s own heart, but he steels a woman and has her husband killed.
Then, we find in Luke 2 that a virgin named Mary has conceived and she has a son named Jesus. The seed of the woman is here. But this seed doesn’t crush the head of the serpent like we would think. Instead of being born in a kingly palace, he is born in a stable. Instead of rubbing elbows with the religious elite, he lives with the poor and dines with sinners and tax collectors. Instead of riding in on a white horse and defeating the Roman authorities, he is betrayed by the Jews and judged to be guilty by Jew and Roman alike. He is stripped, beaten, and hung naked on a cross for all to look upon his shame. But, he bore our guilt and our shame willingly, because on the cross he would once and for all put them to death.
And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. (Col. 2:13-15)
            Brothers and sisters, Jesus is the better Adam. Adam was to rule as God’s vice regent. Adam was to obey the Word of God and find his wisdom from God. Instead, he chose to find his wisdom in the things of this world. He exchanged the truth of God for a creeping serpent and plunged all of humanity into sin and death. But, Jesus faced that same serpent in the wilderness in Matthew 4. Though he was hungry and tired, he would not act apart from God’s will. When the serpent distorted God’s Word, Jesus rightly used it to rebuke him. When the serpent offered him power apart from God’s way, Jesus chose the way of the cross as the path of power. So, he became the source of life for all who trust in him. Paul puts it this way in Rom. 5:15
But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.
            Friend, if you are seeking wisdom apart from God, that path ultimately leads to death. The world may entice you with earthly pleasures. Your friends may say that you owe it to yourself to deny your conscience and the word of God and do what feels best to you. Some TV preacher may tell you that God really only wants you to have your best life now. But, they are all lies. Apart from faith in Christ, all the wisdom the world offers is dust.
            Brothers and sisters, we have the power of this new life. Because we have been forgiven, we can now forgive others. In fact, that’s exactly what Jesus says is the sign that we are in the faith, that we forgive each other. Because we have been restored to a right relationship with God, we can now work to restore others. Paul says, in 2 Cor. 5:18, that we have been given the ministry of reconciliation. And, we can endure the shame of the world because we know Christ. We can fight for life, even when no one else will. We can cherish the unborn, adopt the orphan, care for the widow, feed the poor, love the loveless, and even minister to the abortionist, because God has forgiven and restored us.

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