"Did God Really Say..." - Genesis 3:1-7

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Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. The text is the verses prior to our Old Testament lesson for today, Genesis 3:1-7.

“Did God really say?” The devil loves that question, doesn’t he? He used it with terrible and deadly  effectiveness against Eve and Adam in the Garden of Eden. “Did God really say?” It was such a little question, four little words, innocuous it seemed, at first, but also slightly suggestive: “Maybe God is holding something back from you, Eve, or perhaps you misunderstood Him.” “Did God really say?” It opens the door for suggestion, deliberation and interpretation of what He had said. “Did God really say?” It puts the question into Eve’s mind…a question that had never been there before…and it causes her to wonder, to think, to imagine, “Well…did God say that?”

God’s instruction was simple and clear: Adam and Eve could eat anything and everything in the Garden of Eden except for fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The devil turned God’s instruction into a question: “Did God really say you can’t eat from any tree in the garden?” Do you hear the implication, the inuendo behind that simple question? It’s as if he is telling Eve, “God must not love you! What kind of unreasonable God is He, expecting you to not eat anything. And, besides, it’s part of His creation – it’s all supposed to be “good,” right? “Did God really say?”

Eve, to her credit, tries to answer with God’s own Word, but she makes a fatal mistake: you don’t argue or debate with the devil. You walk, run, get away any way you can, but you don’t debate the devil because when you do, you get in trouble. It opens the door for further temptation. When the devil sees that one, he jumps in, “Did God really say you’re going to die? Oh, come on…God is love! He’s not going to make you die. Oh…what’s it mean ‘to die’?” You mean, you don’t know? He didn’t tell you? And you don’t know what ‘evil’ is, either? Oh, my…there is so much God isn’t telling you about. You should really be more like God, know. Look at it…doesn’t it look tasty? Just a nibble, just a taste and you’ll know all of these things God isn’t telling you about. Why…you’ll practically be like God!”

Even now, we can see in our imagination what Eve is doing. You can see it in her face, can’t you, looking at the fruit – by the way, the text does NOT say “apple” – looking at the fruit, seeing that it is beautiful, and believing that it was desirable for such wisdom, and balancing that against the question, “Did God really say?” You see the picture, don’t you?

You can see that picture in your mind because, if you look closely, it is the picture of you, regardless of whether you are of Adam’s gender or Eve’s gender. You see yourself in that picture. You’re not staring at a piece of fruit. You staring at something else as the devil whispers in your ear:

“Did God really say ‘you shall not steal’ when it applies to the company you work for? After all, they are worth millions of dollars. It’s no big deal if you spend the morning playing on Facebook, updating your Instagram, and checking  the ballgame scores last night. Leaving early and having your friend clock you out for a “full day?” Everyone does that – especially on Fridays, or Tuesdays, or Mondays for that matter. Work slow; pad the overtime. You’re underpaid and under-appreciated – get your pound of flesh any way you can.”

“Did God really say, ‘Honor your father and mother’? Come on…that doesn’t apply to you. You heard the things they said to you the other night…making you clean your room and put away your own stack of clothes; forcing you to eat good, healthy food, not letting you go watch the movie every other kid in town gets to see with it’s gratuitous sex and violence. Don’t they understand that’s the way the world is? You had every right to blow up Twitter with your rant and those ugly names.”

“Did God really say you can’t have other things you fear, love and trust as much as him, or that you can’t have an intimate relationship with someone other than your spouse, or that you can’t skim on your taxes, or that you can’t hate that so & so who treated you that way, or that you can’t spread those stories about your neighbors on Facebook and your mother-in-law at church? Boy, is he ever old fashioned. The Bible is so…restrictive of your freedom. You ought to ditch the whole thing and do what you want to do, anyway.”

Yes…we see ourselves standing right next to our first parents, taking a nibble of those deliciously tempting things that are before us as well.

It is worth remembering that being tempted is not the same thing as committing the sin. We know this because the Bible tells us that Jesus was tempted in every way as we are, yet remained without sin. The reason that is important is that the devil loves to tempt us to think that, having been tempted, we have already given into sin so we might as well go for broke, so to speak, and just do it. But, at the same time, don’t think you can always clearly define that moment within us when temptation becomes a sin, as if there is a visible line in the sand. As long as you keep your toes on this side of the line, you can play safely with temptation. But where is that line? Is it the moment we begin to debate the temptation, or when we make a decision and a plan to go along with the temptation?

Actually, determining the point when we commit sin isn’t that important. It’s not as if by resisting the temptation we somehow are guiltless, innocent, and holy people. The devil would love us to believe that, wouldn’t he, that somehow we can do this without Jesus. No… Never forget: We are sinners by virtue of who we are as sons and daughters of Adam and Eve. We’re not sinners because we sin; we sin because we are sinners.

Instead of trying to parse the moment of sin, instead stand before Jesus and confess your sins. Repent of the times you listened to the devil’s temptations and doubted God’s Word. Repent of the times we willingly subjected ourselves to the temptations. Repent of the times when we unwillingly, in a moment of weakness, surrendered without even realizing it until it was too late. Repent of all of the times we debated, “Did God really say,” and chose to ignore the truth of the Word of God for the sake of convenience, personal pleasure, someone else’s pain, or popularity.

Repent, but do not despair. In the Gospel lesson today, Jesus plainly said, “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness but is guilty of an eternal sin.” All sins that are confessed in faith are forgiven. Jesus died and shed His blood for all of your sins – all of them! – and His death was the full payment price, that God no longer holds those sins accountable to the Christian. Christ really did say, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Jesus really did say, “Father into your hands, I commit my spirit.” Your Lord really did say, “It is finished,” and the full debt of sin was paid in full, the redemption price His life, the receipt signed in blood, the gift delivered with His dying “This is most certainly true.”

 When you confess your sins to Christ, you are saying, in effect, “God really did say that I am a sinner, and I know and confess it. But I also know, believe, trust and rely that I have an even greater Savior who took my place.” Confession is the Christian releasing ownership of the sin and commending it to the cross where it was already crucified with Him. That’s all Jesus wants - He wants your sins. Confess them and give ‘em to Him – all of them. Great and small, confess them in faith, believing that they are already forgiven of you even before you ask!

There are some sins, though, that we commit that are so great and so grievous that our Christian conscience is troubled and burdened even after absolution. Make no mistake about it, friends: this is the devil’s greatest temptation. Having lured you into sin with his question, “Did God really say?” he throws it back at you one more time, doubling down, hoping for equal success: “Did God really say…did He say he forgives you?”

All of the temptations we face are serious, but this one is, truly, eternally deadly. This temptation leads us to despair. Despair, fueled by satan feeding our sense of shame and guilt, turns faith into denial that He cannot or will not forgive me. Despair like this turns the Christian against Christ Himself and all of His promises. This denial of faith, or death of faith, of Jesus as Lord and Savior is what is meant by the sin against the Holy Spirit. It is the only unforgivable sin because it literally refuses to let Jesus’s forgiveness be yours; it refuses to release the sins; it refuses to believe Jesus can forgive you. In a worst case scenario, satan can cause a Christian such pain that he or she thinks the only resolution is to take their own life. Please remember, he is the father of lies. He doesn’t care what you do, but your family, friends, and this family of faith does care. If you ever wonder if you have committed this sin, let me assure you that you haven’t. The proof is in the question itself – if you did not have faith in Christ, if you lived as if Jesus wasn’t your savior, you wouldn’t care whether you sinned against Him or not!

So, if this is you, here is the cure: Repent. Confess your sins and leave them with Jesus. Refuse to pull them down from the cross. Trust Him as your Savior and His all-sufficing death and resurrection. Then, live the forgiven life as a child of God.

What does it look like to live as a forgiven child of God? Rejoice – you are forgiven. Be confident – Jesus died for you. Remember your baptism. Live in hope – this is the Amen of the daily life. And, don’t discount the power of prayer. In the Lord’s prayer, we pray, “Lead us not into temptation and deliver us from evil.” What greater evil, what greater temptation do we face than to deny the gifts of God in Christ? And, when your conscience is burdened, repent again. Ask your pastor for private confession and absolution. There’s not much I haven’t heard, and I’ll walk with you, in the name of Jesus.  

The next time you hear the devil whisper, “Did God really say?” look to the cross and say, “Yep. He said I’m forgiven in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”  

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Jars of Clay and Cracked Pots - 2 Corinthians 4:5-12

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Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. The text is the Epistle, 2 Cor. 4: 5-12.

What’s the most important thing that you possess? How do you protect it?

We protect things that are valuable to us. The United States Constitution and Declaration of Independence are housed in special cases filled with inert gas and illuminated with special lights to preserve the documents. The President of the United States and foreign dignitaries are protected by highest levels of technological and physical, armed security. The average Joe Citizen will never get to touch the Stanley Cup, or the College football championship trophy. We visited some friends yesterday for their son’s graduation and they live in a gated community with armed security guards. We keep great-grandma’s wedding ring in the safe, we keep the title to the ranch in a safety deposit box at the bank, we keep dad’s old shotgun in a locked case, we lock our doors and cars.  We strap on our Colts and Smith and Wessons before we head out the door. Why? To protect these things that are important to us personally, nationally, and as a society.

What’s the most important thing that you possess? How do you protect it?

With that in mind, it is remarkable to me that the single, most important thing that the world has ever seen, known, or received stands without any protection at all. You can see it anytime you want, you can hear of it, receive it, literally take it into yourself. It’s quite literally, at this moment, at your fingertips, dancing in your ears, rolling around your brain. This remarkable gift, of greater worth than gold, is Jesus.

Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, begotton of the Father from eternity, true God who takes on true flesh to live and die for us – this is the greatest gift the world will ever know. That in the fulness of time, God sent His Son to die for us, that while we were still sinners Christ came to die for us. That Jesus Christ, the innocent son of God, takes our sins into Himself, making our sins His own, taking our place under the cross, going to the cross to die the sinner’s death, literally suffering hell on earth at the abandonment of His Father, dying for your sins and for my sins. The result? Perfect payment for imperfect people whom the Father declares holy in His Son’s innocent suffering and death that we might be His own.

This “knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus” is the greatest treasure we will ever know.   Remember, we talked about this two weeks ago – it’s not just “head knowledge,” but the entirety of knowing, (+) believing, trusting and relying on the mercy of God in Christ.

Paul says “we have this treasure (the good news of Jesus) in jars of clay.”  Clay jars served their purpose for holding water or wine, soups and stews, grains and flours, like our Rubbermaid containers today. Their value was in their purpose: to hold things for the owner until the owner had use of them. Our purpose, then, is to contain – to hold – the Gospel of Jesus until He places us where the Gospel needs to be poured out.

This is a piece of a clay jar from the ancient city of Corinth, dated to about 500 years before Paul. I imagine it was rather pretty in it’s day. It’s about a half-inch thick, so it was rather substantial. Maybe this was like one of the stone jars that Jesus used to change water to wine, holding about 25 gallons. No doubt it was once useful. But now, just a broken piece of ancient history, it sits on my shelf – just a knickknack. It can no longer do what it was meant to do: hold things.

The temptation is for us to think of ourselves in this way, especially when we get broken. I hear this often from the elderly or the infirm who are bed-ridden in hospitals, nursing homes, and even in their own house: what good am I? Why is God leaving me here? I can’t do anything? It’s as if they are looking at themselves and no longer seeing jars of clay, just cracked pots. Our culture has a simple solution for cracked pots of people: throw them away. Abort children who might face physical or mental difficulty, euthanize the elderly so they aren’t a burden on our healthcare system. Afraid of growing old, or developing Alzheimers or getting cancer? Travel to one of several Eurpoean countries where they actively advertise suicide tourism – “Come here, visit here, die here.” Lord, have mercy.

Remember – the value isn’t in what you do at all. A jar doesn’t do anything except contain. It’s a passive purpose. Your value in the eyes of God isn’t what you do. It’s what has been done in you. Your value is that you contain both the death and life of Jesus in your body. Your body declares the wonder of Christ’s mercy and grace for you. Baptized into Christ, you died with Christ; baptized into Christ, you were raised with Christ. Your life is no longer your own – it is Christ’s. This is why Paul can say, “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down but not destroyed.” In our lives as vessels of the Gospel, we will be chipped by people who hurt us, we will be scratched by those who despise the message we share, we will be displaced by those who don’t want to hear what we have to say, but that doesn’t change whose we are: we are vessels of Christ, filled with the joyous news of Jesus as Lord.

There is a story that was told of a pastor who went to Europe shortly after World War 2. He was visiting a small village seeing the destruction that had taken place during the war and the rebuilding efforts that were underway. He came to a church that was still under reconstruction. What caught his attention wasn’t the blow-out wall, or the burned roof, or the bullet-marked walls. What caught his eye was the statue of the saint that the chapel was named for – perhaps it was St. Andrew, I don’t remember, that was located inside the narthex of the chapel. This statue was, obviously, the victim of the war: the lower legs had been blown off, so the torso had been repositioned and reseated in plaster. The arms had been hit, and the left hand was missing at the wrist, the right hand at the elbow. The face, though, was particularly troubling – a piece of shrapnel had taken the lower part of the face from below the nose to the neck. Frankly, it was a hideous statue. As this pastor stood, staring, at this grotesque statue, somebody in the village stopped to say hello. The pastor asked why this statue of the saint was allowed to stand; why it hadn’t been destroyed and replaced with a better figure of the saint. The villager smiled and explained that they wanted that statue left, as it was discovered, on purpose. It stood to remind ever worshipper who came and left the church that he or she, regardless of their physical condition, still stood as a witness of the Good News of Jesus, and that just as this broken, shattered and disfigured statue was saved from the war, so each person – regardless of their brokenness, or shattered heart, or disfigured body – was saved by Christ Himself.

I realize that this story is a mixed metaphor – a statue vs a clay jar – but the point is the same. “For we who live area always being given over to death for Jesus sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.” In the name of Jesus. Amen.