The Lutheran Church--Missouri SynodLent 1a, 2008/2/10 Genesis 3.
Grace and peace to you from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ,
Amen. Our text is the historical account of the Fall and the consequences.
"Where are you?" A little brown-haired girl was hiding behind living
room curtains. Here eyes were shut tight and hard so no one could find her.
Brown tennis shoes stuck out. She KNEW she wasn't supposed to be in that
room. Now the fancy lamp was broken. She knew she had done wrong. She had
been at her friend's house last week; she broke something little, and her
friend got spanked REALLY hard. This was a LOT bigger. She wondered if she
could put the glass pieces together. Then, she heard her mommy's voice.
She didn't know where to go. She hid. She couldn't see mommy, so she hoped
mommy couldn't se her.
Adam was in charge. HE was right there. HE let her listen; respond;
and eat.
Nothing happened to her. Then he ate. Adam realized they had done
wrong. No. HE had done a terrible wrong. "On the day you eat of it, you
shall surely die." That's what the Lord promised. What could he do? Then
Adam heard THAT Voice; calling.
"Where are you?" Her tennis shoes moved. She was crying, quietly.
Her mother gazed in horror at her great-grandmother's heirloom oil lamp:
shattered. She also saw that the heart of a heart of a little girl was
shattered. There would be consequences. She composed herself, prayed for
God's strength, and gently called again, "Where are you?"
Jesus is the Good Shepherd. He seeks lost sheep, calling out to them.
He searched in Eden, He searched in Galilee, and He searches today. God is
all-seeing and all knowing. There is nothing in your past, present, or
future He does not know. He doesn't want you to remain abandoned to sin &
hell.
"Where are you?" He calls. But He already knows. And when it comes
to the Old Adam in us, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. We are
sinners who sin. Because of the Old Adam, the Bible tells us the ONLY
choices we ever make are bad.
When the authentic, real, genuine God walks in, not the one people make
up, sinners are frightened. We know we have failed Him in thoughts, words,
actions, and also our lack of actions. Our instincts tell us to hide, just
like Adam and that little girl.
"Where are you?"
We hide by covering our life with the fig leaves of good deeds;
believing we can cover enough of our sins so God will not see our shame. Or
we may try to close our eyes and pretend God is not there, even though the
created universe and our own conscience scream otherwise. When that fails,
you KNOW what comes next.
The mother of the brown-haired girl knew there needed to be
consequences for the precious trust that was just shattered - as well as the
lamp. But her daughter was more precious. She loved her. She felt the
little brown-haired girl was old enough to have the self-discipline to NOT
go in to the one room in the house she was told to avoid. She fell into
temptation. Her actions required punishment.
The mother knew that SHE would have to pay for the lamp - and that her
daughter was far more precious than any heirloom. She had to make her see
it wasn't just a broken lamp: it was broken love and trust toward her mom.
And it was not just a little body that was hiding; the girl was hiding her
heart. She began coaxing.
"Where are you?"
"I heard the sound of You in the Garden, and I was afraid, so I hid."
Adam knew death was coming from God. What else COULD come?
Again, God already knows this. God does not need the information. He
doesn't cross-examine Adam for facts. He is using Law to arouse Adam's
sense of guilt.
The answers Adam gave are the ones you and I give. We tell
half-truths, make excuses, and shift the blame. Because to face God means
first and foremost you personally admit you are wrong, you caused the
conflict, and you deserve hell.
God doesn't bother to refute your lies, excuses, and blame-shifting.
The question, "Where are you?" is to help you see something is very wrong
in the spiritual and eternal senses. But we don't want the blame.
"Who told you .?"
"It was kitty! The kitty you gave me. He came in the special room. I
tried to stop him; he broke the pretty."
In one fell swoop, Adam blames both God, Who made Eve, and ALSO the
woman! But Adam took the fruit and ate.
The woman, who's sinful eyes had been opened, no doubt had wider eyes!
SHE was NOT going to take blame! Shift it to the serpent!
People blame God when they say "God made me this way." Or they blame a
tragedy on God rather than the choices they made before and after. Or we
blame others: bad parents, bad environment, bad political leaders, bad
doctors, YOU name it, YOU blame it!
YOU have sinned. You fail to lead a faithful life. By the evil you do
and good you fail to do, you deserve both instant and eternal death: from
Adam to you. Admitting your sin is the first step.
The curly, brown hair was a contrast to the beet-red face. It took
lots of love for the mother to get thru without getting furious, frustrated,
or funny. Ignoring the sin would be evil. Excusing would be worse. And
for such great sin there HAD to be consequences.
Thru teary sobs, the little girl admitted she saw the pretty lamp and
was tempted to touch it. She did bad. She DID go in the room. It was NOT
kitty. She was really, really, REALLY sorry. She was ready to be punished.
She would give her allowance to pay for the pretty.
Then came a soft voice the little girl did not expect. Yes, she would
be punished. No, she would not have to pay for the lamp. When Daddy came
home, he would put a lock on the door so it couldn't happen again. But most
wonderful of all, her mother STILL loved her! That made going to bed
without supper hurt a little less and the month without seeing her best
friend bearable.
Likewise, God treated Adam and Eve severely, but in love. Adam was in
charge, but now Eve would want to rule over him. The whole planet would
have thorns, and Adam would have to work HARD until he died. They were
locked out of Eden.
God covered their sins with skins - blood. First with the skins of
animals. They went east, and it is interesting that the Bible connects
eastward migrations with rebellions. The judgment following the one
trespass brought condemnation. (Rom 5).
Their relationship with God and ours was shattered, much like the oil
lamp, and could not be fixed. It had to be replaced.
The Second Adam, Jesus Christ, had to be tempted by Satan and resist.
By one Man's obedience, many were made righteous by grace thru faith. That
accomplished, Christ also had to pay the final payment that only He could
pay by dying on the cross for the sins of Adam, Eve, me, and you. That is
why the cross remains the center of Christian faith.
God seeks us. He calls us. He confronts us with our sin. He wants us
to understand our failures, and His love. That is why we have a confession
and absolution in every Divine Service.
God gave the Keys of forgiveness to His church. A pastor acts under
the authority of a local church to publicly forgive repentant sinners or
withhold forgiveness from a person who won't repent. But all Christians
have the power and responsibility to privately forgive.
Genuine Christianity is focused on the cross. That is where God shows
His greatest love for all people, in forgiving all their sins. What joy
there is for His children when He finds them. It is hard to confess our
sins; but to whom else can we go? He has the Word of eternal life.
God sees your hurts, wrongs, and sins. He knows the shattered mess we
make of things. He seeks us. He cleans us in the Passion of the Christ.
He gives strength by the power of His Word so we can resist temptations.
And forgives when we fail.
The old, heirloom oil lamp was replaced by its twin, discovered in a
second-hand shop for $2 by "happy coincidence", authenticated by an antique
dealer, then with many prayers of thanks to God: put in the now locked
room.
The little girl with brown hair remembered her wrong, her hiding, the
tears, and the punishment. Mostly though, she remembered her mother's love.
She tried harder to behave after that. Not because she wanted to pay for
the lamp or EARN her mother's love. She tried to be good because she knew
she already HAD her mother's love and forgiveness. She still did do bad
things by accident, and it was still hard to confess and accept the results,
but she knew that because of Jesus, her mommy loved her and would always
forgive her.
"And the peace of God, which is truly beyond all understanding, WILL
guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen."
Genesis 3; Romans 5:12-19; Matthew 4:1-11.
Psalm 91; Hebrews 12:2
12 point Times New Roman 2 columns. Preaches about 22 minutes - very long
for me!
Thanks to German theologian Peter Steinke for his single sentence that
formed my seed for the sermon: "God is like a child who clears his throat
while hiding to give himself away." (Gott ist wie ein Kind, das seine Kehle
beim Verstecken, um sich weg zu geben löscht.)
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