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 Hearts Revealed, part 3: Us
Genesis 1-3
November 3, 2002
The latest trend in television is what they call “Reality TV”—where we can watch people as they show their passions and struggles, their fears and foibles. The new Reality TV shows feature people struggling to find significance and happiness as they date “The Bachelor,” or as they live in the same house for weeks on end in the “Real World,” or as they try to be the “Survivor” on some distant remote island, or as they try to deal with their “Fear Factor” (perhaps the greatest “fear factor” is realizing that your dad is Ozzy Osbourne!) As we watch them struggle in their real-life situations, we relate in some way. We have the same fears, the same struggles, the same need for significance and happiness that these people have. The only difference is that we are not surrounded by a camera crew (and most of us are not desperate enough to let somebody videotape the intimate times of our lives for a few dollars!).
We’re glad, really, that no camera crew is watching our every move and mood. If our lusts and fits of anger and times of selfishness and moments of depression were recorded for all to see, we would be mortified! We don’t want to see this in ourselves, let alone let anybody else see it!
But this raises the question to us: Why are we like this? That makes us so anxious, so disconnected, so selfish, so scared? What is wrong in my heart that I am not the kind of loving, caring person that I know I want to be?
In these pages of Scripture, God intends for us to understand the hearts of the main characters—God, Satan, and human beings. We’ve looked at the heart of the other main characters found in Genesis chapters 1 through 3. Today, we will look at heart the main characters who remain: the humans. Genesis gives us great insight into why human beings are the way they are. When we read these verses, we are reading our own autobiography, for Adam and Eve are not only our ancestral parents, they are also the prototype of what we are as a race. The story found in Genesis is a story to explain to us who we are and why.
If you want to get a handle on your own emotions, your own aspirations, your own significance, then I offer you God’s Word in Genesis. I’m indebted to one of my Old Testament professors at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Dr. Richard Averbeck, for this clear understanding of who we are as a people.
A. God’s Original Design for Us: Image, Relationship, Innocence, Paradise.
Look with me again at Genesis 1, verses 26-31.
26Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
28God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
29Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
31God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
1. Image:
One of the key truths that we must understand if we are to study human beings is that God created us in his own image. “In God’s Image and Likeness” means that we were originally created to love in relationship, to represent God in the world, and to rule for him in his creation. God assesses this as “very good.” As such, we have dignity, significance, purpose.
2. Relationship:
God created humanity to be in perfect relationship with God and with each other. These first humans lived “naked, and they felt no shame” (Genesis 2:25). They had nothing to hide from each other. There were no dark secrets, no shame, nothing but openness and intimacy.
3. Innocence:
God’s original intention was for these people to know nothing but goodness. Like a protective daddy, he did not want his innocent little ones to know about the evils in the world.
“And 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 2:9) That word translated “evil” can mean simply “bad”—in other words, there is a full spectrum of very good all the way over to very evil. And God’s intention was that these innocent creatures would know nothing on the bad side of the spectrum. They do not need to know that in order to have a full life—they can live perfectly happy, abundant lives by living on the good side of the spectrum.
They should not know any of the any “bad:” No low self-worth, no fighting in relationships, no worrying about being accepted by others, no loneliness, no backbiting friends.
4. Paradise:
God’s original design was for us to live in the perfect place with him and with others—with no tears and no fears.
That is God’s original design for humanity: Image, Relationship, Innocence, and Paradise.
But then came what theologians call the “Fall.” The Fall is when we fell out of this perfect original design. How did that happen?
B. The “Fall” tarnished God’s original design.
Let’s look at the pattern of the Fall as outlined in Genesis 3:1-13.
1. Doubt
“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’?
The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 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.’”
“You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:1-5)
Satan’s craftiness in deceiving Eve starts a chain reaction. First, he makes her doubt about God’s goodness—“What God has given you isn’t enough!”
Then he makes her doubt about humanity’s significance—“Being a child of God isn’t enough!”
People are still buying into the lies of the serpent—“God does not have your good at heart. Did he really say that through Jesus Christ he wants to reconnect with you and regain a deep relationship? No, what he said was ‘If you do not accept my Son Jesus, I’ll send you to Hell!’ What kind of God loves like that? Is that love?” Do you see the doubt about God’s goodness there? Jesus becomes not the way to reconnect with an all-loving God, but a barrier…Instead of Jesus being the WAY to God, he get IN THE WAY of God. Because the serpent has twisted the love story of God found in Christ into this coercive story of God who will damn people if they will not step in line with his way of doing things. Instead of trusting God’s love, we begin doubting God’s love.
Are you doubting God’s love? Have you lost your grasp on the goodness of God? That’s what we talked about last week. We need to encourage each other over and over again that God is good and we can trust our hearts to him.
2. Temptation
“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...” (Genesis 3:6)
While there are good desires, we are often tempted by that which is forbidden. A few weeks ago, my dad was in the Cleveland Clinic for surgery for an aneurism. While we all stood next to his bed awaiting him to be taken to the operating room, I saw a cabinet with a sign that said medical staff only on it. What do you think I did? I opened it! If only they had not put that sign up!
The chain reaction in Eden was started with the doubts that God is good. If you really believed that God is perfectly good, you would never doubt his prohibitions. When he says “Don’t do this or that,” you would say, “Okay, God is perfectly good. He always has my best (my very best) in mind at all times. Therefore, when he says don’t do something, it probably is for a very good reason!” But the truth of our hearts is this: We are tempted when we stop trusting God. It is then, and only then, that the forbidden looks “pleasing to the eye.”
3. Betrayal
“…she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” (Genesis 3:6)
When they ate that which was forbidden, Adam and Eve violated God’s original design. They betrayed God’s love for them. In doing that which God told them not to do, they proved that they were unwilling to trust in God’s goodness, in God’s loving direction, in God’s heart. And before we heap all the blame on Eve, notice that the passive Adam was there with Eve, and when Eve gave some to him, he didn’t object at all—he simply ate it.
When we betray the One who loves us with perfect love, there can be no worse feeling. I will never forget the first time I lied to my mother. When she found out, she looked me in the eye and said, “You have lied to me. I can never trust you again.” There could not have been a worse discipline—for I felt the shame of breaking a covenant of trust with my own parent. And once that is done, you cannot return to that level of trust. That leads us to the next link in the chain reaction of the Fall:
4. Shame
“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.” (Genesis 3:7)
What is shame? It is the feeling that there is something fundamentally wrong with me. Shame can drive you INWARD or it can drive you to seek to CONTROL the situation. Adam and Eve took control—they sewed fig leaves together.
5. Hiding
“…so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. 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. But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” (Genesis 3:7b-10)
“I was afraid—so I hid.” The next link in the chain of events is this: The shame that we feel drives us into hiding. I am afraid to let anybody know the real “me”—even God! We hide our true inner-selves from everybody, for we fear that if they knew what is deep inside us, in the dark crevices of our souls, our shame would be exposed and we would suffer terrible loss.
So we go into hiding. We do not let anybody in to close. And we try to deal with our doubt, temptations, betrayals, shame and hiding in our own strength.
6. Scrambling to try to handle it
“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. 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. But the LORD God called to the man, ‘Where are you?’
He answered, ‘I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.’ And he said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?’
The man said, ‘The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.’
Then the LORD God said to the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’
The woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate.’” (Genesis 3:7-13)
Watch the pattern:
The Serpent creates doubt in our hearts and minds about the goodness of God. If we trusted God and his goodness and love for us, we would never be tempted to do that which he told us not to do—for we would know that he has our good. But we do doubt, and this leads us into being tempted into doing that which God, in his goodness, warned us not to do. This disobedience is actually a betrayal of trust, an act that shows our lack of love back to God who loves us. This betrayal leads us to shame. We are desperate to rid ourselves of the feeling of shame by scrambling to try to get a handle on it all. We cover ourselves; we hide; we blame others.
This is our predicament as a people. We are doing everything on our own to try to deal with our feelings of shame, our need for significance, our trouble deep inside of us—the real us that is hidden from everyone else.
The Results of the Fall:
Our confidence has been replaced with fear;
our relationship with God and with each other has been replaced with hiding.
C. How We Attempt to Deal With It.
And we scramble to deal with our predicament in a number of ways. We do not know how to deal with the real problem, so we deal with our predicament like this:
1. Denial
As the line goes, “Denial is not just a river in Egypt!” It is very real. Some people deny that they need help, that they need a savior. Our culture encourages us to deny that we are in need of anything outside of ourselves. Denying that there is a problem does not heal the problem.
2. Anger
Some get angry in their hearts at the world and take it out on others. We are surprised by our own fits of rage—“where did that come from?” Anger is a natural way to scramble to deal with the problem.
3. Kindness
Some try to be kind in order to get others to be kind back to them—a kindness out of selfishness.
4. Selfishness
This is the “Me-First” mentality, whether we are overt or covert—whether we are purposefully “looking out for number one,” or we unconsciously do things for our own benefit over against the needs of others.
5. Depression
Since we are broken inside, we feel a loss of meaning a purpose in life. Even when we collect more toys, even when we have children, even when we climb the corporate ladder, we fight bouts of depression, for something still is not right!
6. Sedation
We go for the vacations, the sporting events, the bars, the sexual conquests, addictions, and the (fill in the blank!) in order to sedate the disconnection that we feel with God. We need to find that elusive confidence in who we are and deep relationship with God and others, but we have no clue how to find them in any other ways other than these earthly sedations. They make us feel good for a little while, but we must keep going back time and time again in order to sedate our emptiness inside.
7. Giving up
Some take the easy way out and check out of relationships and finding meaning. The ultimate form of giving up is when someone takes their own life.
8. But…there is another way! A better way!
Some learn to live in this fallenness in a developing relationship with God. They have figured out that they can run to God with it!
“My wayward children,” says the LORD, “come back to me, and I will heal your wayward hearts.” “Yes, we will come,” the people reply, “for you are the LORD our God. (Jeremiah 3:22)
Jesus said,
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
D. How to Reverse the Fall
What does it take to reconnect with God in this remarkable way? What will stop our frantic scrambling and calm our souls?
1. The Fall is basically just this: Refusing to TRUST in an all-loving and accepting
God. So, in order to begin to reverse the effects of the Fall in my life, I must turn from my life of rebellion against God’s love and
turn again to him—agreeing with God that my scrambling life of trying to deal with my fallenness is the wrong way. I must decide to let God be God, and to humbly accept that I am a mess when I try to be God for myself. This is what the Bible calls
repentance. To “repent” simply means to turn away from something by turning in the opposite direction toward something else. We “repent” when we turn from our sinful life of rebellion against God, and humbly turn toward God.
2. Again, the Fall is basically just this: Refusing to TRUST in an all-loving and accepting God.
So, in order to reverse the Fall, I must make a bold step of trust in God—through trusting that God has redeemed the Fall through his Son Jesus Christ. To “trust” is to
“believe”—that Jesus Christ is my reconnection with God. This is what we call
conversion—it is the radical change of a person’s heart through faith, a change that starts on the inside, and eventually makes its way out in our emotions and our actions, and all aspects of our life. None of us are completely “converted” yet—we all struggle with the effects of the Fall, even after we have entered into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. (So if you are struggling with the fact that some “Christians” don’t seem very “Christian,” and that you may not want to be associated with “those people,” remember that not everyone who claims to be a Christian really is one, and of those who really are Christians, the conversion process is not complete!)
The conversion comes to its consummation only in the next life. In this life, we are experiencing this conversion process—what we call sanctification, or the making of us into “holy people” on a growing basis—but none of us have arrived yet. But there will come a time when it will be completed. There will be a final transformation of each believer into the likeness of Jesus Christ. At that time all believers will be presented in heaven “without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless” (Eph. 5:26-27).
The conversion process starts with repenting and trusting. God is all about relationship, love, trust.
The Results of Conversion:
Our fear is replaced with confidence;
our hiding from God and from each other is replaced with relationship.
I love the way Jude opens his letter. It sums up what it means to be a Christian.
“I am writing to all who are called to live in the love of God the Father and the care of Jesus Christ. May you receive more and more of God’s mercy, peace, and love.” (Jude, verses 1-2)
Yes! That’s it! I want that more for me, and for you!
The lyrics to the great hymn, Amazing Grace, describes who we are because
of the Fall, and who we can become because of the grrace and mercy of God.
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me;
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
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