Written by Dave Urbanski
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The Bible has a lot to say about increasing the quality of your personal life. And believe it or not, we can begin to see that topic unfold in the third chapter of Genesis, which we took a deeper look at Sunday.
Genesis 3 isn’t a pleasant chapter. It’s all about how sin entered the world and how death in its many forms was the consequence. But we also discovered that understanding how to live our best lives also means knowing what the opposite looks like.
Spiritual death. In verse 7 and 8, after the man and woman eat the fruit, “the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the coolof the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.”
Something good and pure was changed in an instant to something inappropriate. The man and woman saw something they hadn’t seen before, and it can’t be undone. All of us can relate to that. Neither can we undo things we’ve seen that we shouldn’t have seen, nor can we undo things we’ve done that we shouldn’t have done. Like us, the woman and man gave into the temptation to “be like God” and do things their own way, and sin entered the picture and suddenly created a death experience where there had been none — and created a sin nature inside each one of us where there had been none. And what did they do next? They sewed fig leaves together to create loincloths to cover themselves — and they hid from God. Which says a lot about how sin causes us to hide not only from God but from each other. So that no one will know who we really are. Sin is the death of intimacy.
Spiritual life. But there is a solution! Romans 5:17 talks about what happened in the garden — and who came to wipe sin away: “For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.”
When we come to Christ, we have spiritual life. Despite our sin natures, despite our tendency to be like God, despite our selfishness that we live with all the time, Jesus gives us a new life — and the road toward a better quality of life, starting right now.
Emotional death. Verses 9 and 10 tell us “the Lord God called to the man and said to him, ‘Where are you?’And he said, ‘I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.’”
The man and woman began life as naked and not ashamed. But when they sinned, they were ashamed of their nakedness. Shame is different than guilt. Guilt is the result of doing something wrong and knowing you need to apologize and ask forgiveness. But shame is much worse. It says, “You’re a bad person, you don’t deserve any love.” It’s damaging to us. The man and woman also hid because they were afraid — and many people live their lives driven by fear. It’s all a terrible case of emotional death.
Emotional life. But there is a solution! 1 John 4:16-19 says “God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us.”
By abiding in God through faith in Christ, emotional healing can take place in our lives. Fear is cast away. And our new lives in Jesus means shame has no place within us.
Still, verses 11 through 13 show that the man and woman — and indeed all of us — have a long way to go! Notice how they respond to God when he questions them: “He said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?’The man said, ‘The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.’Then the Lord God said to the woman, ‘What is this that you have done?’ The woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate.’”
Does that sound familiar? The man and woman blame each other and other forces for their downfall. The man blames the woman, and the woman blames the serpent. But sin didn’t have to occur. They both made their own choices. And they responded the way we all do at times: Instead of owning up and examining our part in sin, we tend to blame other people and other things.
Relational death. Next God tells the serpent and the woman the bad news. To the serpent God says he “will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” This points to a future event — the crucifixion — but signals also that while sin is still present, the penalty for sin is paid for through Christ.
To the woman God said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.” This describes what we all know too well: Interpersonal conflict. Control issues. Domination. Specifically, in marriage. We all know the tendency is for relationships to go bad — and that’s part of the curse that sin created.
Relational life. But there is a solution! 1 Peter 4:7-11 commands us to “be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms: if anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God; if anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.”
God wants to empower us through Christ to increase our quality of our lives with respect to relationships! And we do so by living sacrificially, giving to each other, speaking words of life to each other. All of us must understand the grace God provides and apply it to our lives so that we may experience what God wants us to have.
Economic death. Next God tells the man the bad news: He will experience pain and sweat as he toils through “thorns and thistles” just to be able to eat — and will do so for the rest of his life. That’s also something we all can relate to. We all have to work, and work can be very challenging, whether it’s the task at hand or the people we encounter as we struggle to get through our days.
Economic life. But there is a solution! Ephesians 6:5-8 says, “Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ,not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free.”
When Christ lives within us, we have a new purpose as we work. Jesus is our boss. And his burden is light. And we’re freed up to have a new vision in our jobs — an eternal vision that’s part of our sanctification as we work for the Lord and not merely for others, not merely for a paycheck.
Physical death. Verse 19 says that God told Adam one day he will “return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” No sugarcoating needed. The presence of sin means physical death is now an inevitability. And it awaits all of us.
Physical life. But there is a solution! 1 Corinthians 15 tells us that since Christ has been raised from the dead, so we will be. Because of Jesus, physical death is merely a passageway to eternal life. Rather than a massive full stop, it’s now a blip on the screen. No more need to fear death for those who believe in Christ!
Eternal death. Verses 20 through 23 tell us that God blocked Adam and Eve from eating from the tree of life which would allow them to live forever in their sinful state and drove them out of the garden of Eden. No more opportunity for eternal life.
Eternal life. But there is a solution! 2 Timothy 1:10 says “but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” Believers in Jesus have eternal life!
Genesis 3 is full of negative stuff. It’s about death. The dire, eternal consequences of sin. But while that is all very bad news, we can praise God that he offers us good news in its wake — the ultimate solution through his son Jesus, who came to wipe sin away, adopt us into the family of God, and grant us not only eternal life but also a much better quality of life we can start to experience right now.
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