Gtcotr/ss091519
2 Corinthians 11:3 But I
fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your
minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
Last
Sunday I offered a different perspective of Eve. Many imagine Eve to have been
a bad person. Some have even gone so far as to think of her as evil, selfish,
stubborn and rebellious. Although we cannot condone her disobeying the Word of
God, we took a fresh look at her and how God must have seen her. After all, she
was His perfect little girl …
God
did not choose to give us every detail of each encounter He had with Adam and
Eve in the Garden of Eden. There are so many things we just don’t know and for
that reason we are left in those cases to reasonably imagine conversations and
conditions of life that must have surrounded these and other characters in the
stories of the Bible. For example we do not have a record of how the Virgin
Mary’s mother and father took the news of her becoming pregnant before
marriage. However, we should reasonably imagine it was not welcomed news to
everyone.
When
it comes to Eve, we are told that she was perfect. She was the perfect daughter
of God; the perfect wife for Adam; the perfect person to help guard, guide and
govern the Garden of Eden and watch over every creature God had made on the
earth. Eve was the only woman ever born or created without sin. She was perfect
in the eyes of God; perfect in the eyes of her husband; and perfect in the eyes
of all of her subjects. She was made in the image of God and created to be like
Him.
Eve
was loving, caring, kind, patient, intelligent, beautiful and godly. Her first
breath was the breath of God. The Holy Spirit of God had given her life and God
had given her everything else. There was only one prohibition … “don’t partake
of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” Even though she and Adam knew
so very much and were learning new things every day, they didn’t know
everything. Yet, they were sufficiently informed and living a perfect life in
the eyes of God.
For
the purposes of our study today we will call this state of being: Sufficient Perfection. They didn’t know everything
and they couldn’t do everything, and they were limited in their potential and
disallowed access to some knowledge, and some experiences, nonetheless, they
were perfect in the eyes of God … maybe not in their own eyes or in the eyes of
others … but as for God – they were sufficiently perfected in and by Him for
the life and tasks He created them to enjoy. How then did it get messed up?
·
Knowledge always trends towards perfection and happiness … it does
not!
Another
misconception is:
·
Getting something you want will make you happy … it does not always!
Learning
more, experiencing more and getting more won’t always make things better. For
example: Money tends to make good things better, but it
also makes bad things worse. The reason why terrorism is a greater
global threat today than it ever has been is due to an increase in funding.
Drugs, prostitution and organized crime expand when business is good … cut off
the money and it cuts off the growth. No money – no drugs! No money – no
prostitution! No money – no organized crime! No money – no terrorism!
On
the other hand, the growth and health of hospitals, orphanages, feeding
centers, Churches, schools, disaster relief efforts, police departments, fire
departments, emergency medical techs, good jobs, better houses, bigger roads, stronger
bridges, innovative technology, better medicines and an increase in new
business startups all depend on money. Money tends to make good things better,
but it also makes bad things worse.
Money
is not the fix all, end all, be all answer many people wrongly imagine. If you’re not living right in the eyes of God, more money
will only make things worse. If you are a sinner, living a sinful life
or doing nothing in life to put a smile on God’s face … send me all of your
money now! It’s going to hurt you … I will use it to help you and others. As
well … another tough area of life for many people are relationships.
Our relationships tend to amplify who we are.
If we want to work effectively on a relationship, we must work on
ourselves.
Once we have reached sufficient perfection in our own life concerning a
relationship, we have done all we can do. The rest has to be left up to Jesus
and other people. Now, they may or may not ever please Jesus but if and when
they do, you don’t want to be found on the other side of that equation.
What
do I mean when I say sufficient perfection? Sufficient perfection is the place
in life where a person is doing everything God wants them to. Maybe not
everything you want or even everything they want, but rather everything God
wants them.
How
can we examine ourselves and know if what we want is what God wants? I believe
the Apostle John was about 90 years old when he was inspired by the Holy Spirit
to write the book of 1st John. 1 John 2:15 says:
1 John 2:16 For all that is
in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the
pride of life — is not of the Father but is of the world.
These
are the temptations Eve faced in her perfect world. How can a person be tempted
when they are perfect and have everything they need? It happened to her and
believe me; it can happen to us as well. John divided the temptations we all
face into three categories:
1. The lust of the flesh.
2. The lust of the eyes.
3. The pride of life.
For
Eve, and for me and you, it would better if we didn’t imagine that more
knowledge or more stuff or more anything, except God, will make our lives truly
better. God does not mind us having more … sometimes.
For
Eve the lust of the flesh came in her need for good food – more good food. She
had so much and yet wanted more …every tree was a food tree.
Genesis 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food
…
Her
temptation to be drawn away from the will of God by the lust of her eyes came
in the form of beauty … the tree and its fruit looked mighty pleasing to her
eyes … we call that “being easy on the eyes” – beauty.
Genesis 3:6 … and it was pleasant to the eyes …
Her
third temptation, as was with Jesus’ when He faced the devil in the Judean
wilderness, recorded in Luke 4, was the pride of life … who I am … I am
somebody special … look at me … angels take care of me … I will be like God …
I’ll know what God knows … I’ll be as smart as God … ugly!
Genesis 3:6 … a tree to be desired to make one wise …
Eve
failed to recognize the deception. She didn’t see that what she wanted was not
what God wanted. We should ask God before we do something new. Eve knew she
didn’t know it all; she knew she didn’t have it all; she knew someone else was
limiting her; and she wrongly imagined that:
·
Knowing
more is always better
·
Having
more is always better
·
Being
more is always better
Well,
it’s not! Eve failed to appreciate the fact that she was already in the will of
God and that she was sufficiently perfect in His eyes. She didn’t realize just
how pleased God already was with her. Life was sufficient … Start focusing on
what you have and not what you don’t have …
Don’t
let the devil deceive you into believing that more is better. The key scripture
we read this morning revealed the Apostle Paul’s concern that the devil might
make us feel we aren’t smart enough, rich enough, or important enough. That’s
just not the truth.
Don’t
allow anyone or anything to cause you to stray from the simplicity which is in Christ.
The Gospel is simple: Trust and obey …
2
Corinthians 11:3 But I fear, lest
somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be
corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ
Just
Keep it Simple …
1. God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life
2. Do what you know pleases God
a. Don’t complicate things - Right is right and wrong is
wrong
b. Treat others the way you want to be treated – if you
can’t figure that one out – don’t do anything to anyone you wouldn’t want a. want done to one of your kids
3. Leave the rest up to Him
