In The Beginning
In the words of Julie Andrews in the movie The Sound of Music, “Let’s start at the
very beginning, a very good place to start.”
We must know that, as we approach Christmas day, the celebration of the birth of
Jesus of Nazareth, His story doesn’t begin in Matthew chapter one or Luke chapter
two. But isn’t that when Jesus was born? It’s true that for any of us in here today,
our beginnings begin at conception in the womb. One very clear indication that
Jesus is divine, is the fact that His existence predates his conception in Mary’s
womb by the miraculous working of the Holy Spirit.
John 1:1-5
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him,
and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and
the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness
has not overcome it.
We must also understand why Jesus, the Son of God had to come in the first place.
It wasn’t so that every time December 25th comes around, children can sit around
a Christmas tree opening up presents feeling the warmth of the fireplace and the
distant melody of a favorite Christmas song in the background. Now that sounds
pretty good. But that’s not the reason we celebrate Christmas. That’s not why
Jesus came. Why did he come to this earth?
In Matthew 1:21, an angel appears to Joseph and explains what’s going to happen
regarding Mary.
21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he
will save his people from their sins.”What was Jesus’ main purpose for leaving His heavenly dwelling? This verse we
just read gives us the clear answer.
Our world doesn’t like to talk about sin very much. It’s a taboo subject of sorts and
if it’s ever brought up in a confrontational way, the immediate immature response
is inevitably some variation of, “The Bible says not to judge.” If we claim to know
and follow Jesus, we must address the issue of sin. We must acknowledge the
dangers that it presents and its short term and long term effects on the world.
And if we must understand the significance of the birth of our Savior into the
world, we must go back to the beginning where sin finds its origin.
And so we turn to Genesis whose very name means root, source, beginning, the
start. And what we see here is a mirror image, albeit a more detailed account of
the events recorded in John 1 that we read earlier.
Genesis 1:1
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
And we see the Holy Spirit involved in Creation and we also know that Jesus was
involved in Creation along with the Father. The Creation of the world was the
culmination of the combined efforts of the Trinity. Isn’t it interesting to note that
God existed prior to the creation of our universe? That God (Father, Son and Holy
Spirit) existed outside the bounds of time and space. We cannot even begin to
comprehend such a notion, but that’s what makes God, God. And God, the God of
all Creation desired to be in relationship with His creation.
Yes, we can understand creation in the sense of a painter and his painting. But
that painter cannot enter into his own painting and move about and engage in the
static world that he created. God is not limited in this way. We know that God
walked in the Garden of Eden, spoke through the prophets, commanded the
natural elements to obey him and keeps disorder and chaos at bay. All we need to
do is look at the book of Job, one of the oldest books of the Bible if not the oldest.
Job 38:4-12
“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?Tell me, if you have understanding.
5 Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?
6 On what were its bases sunk,
or who laid its cornerstone,
7 when the morning stars sang together
and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
8 “Or who shut in the sea with doors
when it burst out from the womb,
9 when I made clouds its garment
and thick darkness its swaddling band,
10 and prescribed limits for it
and set bars and doors,
11 and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther,
and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?
12 “Have you commanded the morning since your days began,
and caused the dawn to know its place,
This is the God we come to worship every Sunday morning. If any of you ever
think, “well worshiping God is simply an option or a choice amongst other choices
that we get to choose between,” you are greatly misguided. Paul appeals to the
Church in Colossae and these people struggled with a lot of the same things we
struggle with. We hear all the time that we need to find a good work/life balance.
And that’s true. But where we can error, is when we think we need a God/life
balance. To the latter, Paul is saying that’s not how it works. You are bifurcating
things that should not be viewed as separate. There’s no such thing as
Worship/life balance or God/life balance or anything of the sort. NO, God is
preeminent. You cannot walk without God, you cannot talk without God, you
cannot breathe without God. So do not relegate Him to merely a choice between
others of far less significance. And to this Church in Colossae and to his readers
today, he says,Colossians 1:16-17
16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created
through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold
together.
All things hold together. That means the opposite is true. Without Christ,
everything falls apart. We’ve seen that in our own lives. Where Christ is absent,
there is a breeding ground for chaos and disarray and disorder. Where Christ is
not, there is brokenness. Whether it’s relationships, morals, government (local,
state, federal), or whatever it is, apart from God, we see brokenness. And this
brokenness goes all the way back to Genesis.
Genesis 1:5-9
5 When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had
yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there
was no man to work the ground, 6 and a mist was going up from the land and was
watering the whole face of the ground— 7 then the Lord God formed the man of
dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man
became a living creature. 8 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the
east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground the
Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for
food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil.
Genesis 1:15-17
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and
keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of
every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you
shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Now this begs the question that many of you have had, or possibly still have. Why
did God put the tree in the garden in the first place? My discipleship group
grappled with this same question. It seems like everything could have beenavoided if there was no temptation to be had. Here’s the answer. God wants you
and I to truly love Him. For this to occur, there must be some external factor that
causes us to have a choice. Either to choose God, or to choose that which draws
us away from Him. That’s why God put the tree in the garden. Free will to choose
Him.
C.S. Lewis
“God created things which had free will. That means creatures which can go either
wrong or right. Some people think they can imagine a creature which was free but
had no possibility of going wrong; I cannot. If a thing is free to be good, it is also
free to be bad. And free will is what has made evil possible. Why, then, did God
give them free will? Because free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the
only thing that makes possible any love or goodness worth having.”
And so we know how this account ends in the account of Adam and Eve and the
deceiving serpent. They both give in to temptation and are cast out of the garden
and the curse of sin had made entrance into the world. Here’s some of the
consequences of sin’s existence.
Genesis 1:16-19
16 To the woman he 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.”
17 And to Adam he said,
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”
When sin entered the world, death entered in as well.
James 1:15
15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully
grown brings forth death.
Our world likes to trivialize sin. Media likes to make light of it. In many cases, the
secular world glorifies sin or puts it in a positive light. That somehow sin is
liberating and an act of rebellion against a perceived oppression or oppressor. And
if one follows that secular view, the oppression is not one from anything external,
but rather it is one that is self-imposed and they become a victim of their own
folly.
Another way society makes light of sin is to use it interchangeably with the word
“mistake.” That somehow sin is the same as making a mistake.
The person I’m about to quote is named Rosaria Champagne Butterfield. Her story
is one that’s simply incredible. It was honestly a little rabbit hole that I didn’t
intend to go down but I am glad I did. Rosaria was a professor of English and
Women’s Studies at Syracuse University. She identified as a Lesbian and led and
advised various LGBTQ+ groups. She felt strongly that the religious right had an
agenda of hate toward people like her. She wrote an article that expressed this
feeling and a local minister reached out to her and to her surprise, didn’t
condemn her, but cared for her and pointed her to the Bible. After a couple years
of wrestling with the truth of what the Bible said, she repented and converted to
Christianity.In her book, The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Covert, she writes this,
“Sin is not a mistake. A mistake is taking the wrong exit on the highway. A sin is
treason against a Holy God. A mistake is a logical misstep. Sin lurks in our heart
and grabs us by the throat to do its bidding. Remember what God said to Cain
about his sin? It's true for us too. In the fourth chapter of Genesis, God warns Cain
like this: 'Sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it'
(Gen. 4:6). In accepting misrepresentations of the gospel that render sin anything
less than this, you will never learn of the fruit of repentance.”
Let’s not be willfully persuaded by the sentiments of the passing hour but let us
hold fast to the truth that sin is in fact treason against a most Holy God.
Isaiah 59:1-2
Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save,
or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;
2 but your iniquities have made a separation
between you and your God,
and your sins have hidden his face from you
so that he does not hear.
Here's another quote that pertains to this topic of sin and how deadly it is.
“Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to
stay, and cost you more than you want to pay. –
”
We’ve seen that in our own lives, have we not?
One compromise here, and another one there. And that leads to an even larger
compromise that you cannot get out from under.
C.S. Lewis has some keen insight on the matter in the preface of his book, The
Screwtape Letters.
“I live in the Managerial Age, in a world of "Admin." The greatest evil is not now
done in those sordid "dens of crime" that Dickens loved to paint. It is not doneeven in concentration camps and labour camps. In those we see its final result.
But it is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clean,
carpeted, warmed and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and
cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voices.
Hence, naturally enough, my symbol for Hell is something like the bureaucracy of
a police state or the office of a thoroughly nasty business concern."
When it comes to identifying sin, we find it really easy to point our fingers to
others. Hitler and Stalin from the WWII era which is a particular ere that draws my
interest. Why? Because, I believe the conflict in the world at that time was not
caused by weaponized metal backed by the grievances of men. No, the main
antagonist was the same one that appeared in the garden. Sin.
You read about the atrocities committed during this time period. The killing of 6
million Jews under the Nazi regime. Stalin killing 60 million of his own people. And
you think to yourselves, man those are some wretched people. And that is true.
But what we typically neglect to do is look internally and consideration of our own
sinfulness gets overlooked.
There’s a book called Ordinary Men by Christopher Browning. It details the events
of the killing of tens of thousands of Jews by the 101st Reserve Police Battalion.
What was so striking about this particular battalion?
Ordinary Men
“They were middle-aged family men of working and lower-middle-class
background from the city of Hamburg. Considered too old to be of use to the
German army, they had been drafted instead into the Order Police. Most were raw
recruits with no previous experience in German occupied territory.”
Chapter 2
“How did a battalion of middle-aged reserve policemen find themselves facing the
task of shooting some 1,500 Jews in the Polish village of Jozefow in the summer of
1942?”Now we understand the title of this book a little better. These weren’t a group of
500 men who had sights to climb the military or police hierarchy. These were men
too old for the regular army. They had families back home and regular jobs like
printing newspapers or baking bread. And the question lingers, how could they
have taken part in such atrocities? Did they have no consciences at all?
First of all, when we ask questions like this, we are giving ourselves way more
credit that we deserve. What we are really saying, is we would never do
something like that. I wouldn’t even think to do the things they did. Don’t be so
sure.
The only difference between us and those men is geography and time-
displacement. When I hear the descriptions of the men that made up this police
battalion, I think of my dad. And I think of his kind and compassionate heart. And I
want to convince myself, he would never take part in something like that. But the
men in this battalion were composed of many kind and compassionate men who
had children back home who looked up to them and never would’ve thought they
would’ve done the things they did. Ordinary men. But sin had its grasp around
every one of their throats and they succumbed to one compromise after another
the next one worse than the one before and so began the downward spiral of the
human heart.
Piano to play here.
This book is quite popular and even has a Netflix documentary that I would
recommend you watch if you’re not much of a reader. And why is it so popular? I
believe it’s because this author brings to the forefront a timeless truth that we all
know deep down but may not be able to quite put into words. The throughline
that connects us to anyone in history is the curse of sin and its effects on us and
the world around us. And it all goes back to the beginning in the garden.
We’re all sinners. If in Christ, we are sinners saved by grace through faith. But we
are not immune to the sin and its effects.
Romans 3:23
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,1 John 1:8
8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
This is why the world needed a Savior. This is why the world needed Jesus. This is
why Christmas is an event that changed the course of history forever.
John 3:16
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes
in him should not perish but have eternal life.
And so, we end the first sermon of our series, “In the Garden.” We will continue
next week with a sermon entitled, “In the Wilderness” as we continue our
“Journey to the Manger.”