Sin's Doorway

Edmund Burke once said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

In Genesis 2:15 we read that the man (Adam) was dedicated by God in the Garden of Eden (not simply "put") with a very specific ministry: to serve/cultivate (Hebrew ‘abad’) and watch over (Hebrew ‘shamar’) the woman.  Most English translations botch the translation here and render it something like, “to work it and take care of it.”

The problems with this rendering (or translation) are extensive, but suffice it to say that firstly, it fails to convey the significance of the man’s divinely ordained ministry to the woman (to לְעָבְדָ֖הּ abad and וּלְשָׁמְרָֽהּ׃ shamar her –not- ‘it’) whom God is about to create from the man’s own body; and secondly it fails epically as a polemic (argument) against other Ancient Near Eastern culture cosmogonies, which typically explain the creation of humanity to do the ‘work’ of maintaining the earth to relieve the gods from these burdensome tasks.  In other Ancient Near Eastern cultures humanity is not created for fellowship or relationship with the gods, but to do the labor the gods despise.

If Elohim, the triune God of the Bible, had merely created humanity “to work it and take care of it,” referring to the Garden of Eden, then the polemic is moot and the profound significance of humanity exclusively being made in the image and likeness of God (Gen 1:26-27) would be diminished to novel inconsequence. Additionally, there would be little significance to God’s curse upon man in Genesis 3:17-19. It would merely change man from a happy-go-lucky farmer to a disgruntled one.

Adam’s failure is evidenced in Genesis 3:6 when we find out that THROUGHOUT the entire theological debate between the crafty, slick, devious, and wily (Hebrew ‘arum’) serpent and the woman, whom God gave Adam to care for and watch over, Adam stood idly by.  In Romans 5:12 we read, “sin entered the world through one man…”

Apathy is the doorway of sin.

“Perfunctory” is a great way to describe Adam’s attitude in the midst of the serpent’s philosophical and spiritual warfare.  Adam was idle, careless, apathetic, disinterested, uninterested, inattentive, and thus negligent.  The Bible doesn’t tell us why – so there is no point in speculating.  Adam was negligent and the result was sin entering the world.

In the midst of humanity’s self-induced death sentence God blessed all humanity with His mercy and grace via a prodigious proclamation of hope.  The man and woman might have simply died apart from ever experiencing God’s teleological gift of procreating and subduing the earth (1:28) since they failed so miserably in exercising dominion over it (not ruling over the serpent) as God had ordained; but instead God heralded the future advent of a male offspring who would destroy the serpent and all those who followed his crafty, slick, devious, and wily ways.  Humanity would endure by the grace of God, albeit marred by sin; meanwhile the serpent and its crafty ‘offspring’ are guaranteed immanent destruction that comes at the hand of the woman’s future male offspring.

Unlike Adam, this foretold male offspring of Eve would most certainly not stand idly by, but would actively and zealously crush the serpent’s head.

In their desperation and futility the man and woman “sewed fig leaves together.” Their efforts were grossly inadequate, therefore God “made garments of skin” (3:21).  The Bible does not say that these ‘garments of skin’ were made from an animal – that is a human invention.  Scripture does tell us elsewhere (Rev 13:8; 1 Peter 1:20) about a Lamb that was slain “from the creation of the world.”

In yet another act of grace Elohim, God, placed “cherubim and a flaming sword” to watch over (Hebrew ‘shamar’) “the way to the tree of life.”  Watching over was something that the man was supposed to do for the woman – now God is graciously watching over all of humanity until they can be brought back into right relationship with God through the ‘skin’ of the Lamb of God – the male offspring who will destroy the serpent and all his wily offspring – the “brood of vipers” Jesus refers to (Matt 3:7; 12:34) who lead people astray and deny Him as the Lamb of God.

God sacrificed Himself, as the Lamb of God slain before the creation of the world, in order to cover over humanity’s rebellion and sin.  Additionally, God placed powerful angelic beings (cherubim) and the Holy Spirit’s presence as a flaming sword.  Throughout the Bible cherubim are identified with the presence of God. They appear on the throne of the ark where God’s presence dwelled (Exodus 25:18); in Ezekiel (22 times); in Psalms 18:10, 80:1, 99:1; and also throughout the New Testament: Matt 10:34; Luke 22:36; Eph 6:17; Heb 4:12; and Rev 1:16.

All throughout the Bible we read about people who idly sit and allow events to unfold around them with little or no interest in anyone or anything but themselves.  God told us that the Messiah/Christ was coming.  God tells us that standing idly by is no different than vehemently opposing Him, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”  God tells us that we can either be part of the solution “all the people of the world will be blessed through you,” or continue to be the problem.

There will be no sin in heaven because there will be no apathy – no doorway, entry point, or portal for sin to enter.  Satan is overthrown, death is defeated, and everything that opposes God will be thrown into the eternal lake of fire (Rev 20:14).

There is no apathy in the children of God – the members of the Bride of Christ.  Instead, we are intimately identified with the will of Father, the obedience of the Son, and the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.

“So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.”

-Revelation 3:16

This Christmas season let us not be lukewarm, apathetic, perfunctory Christians.  Let us herald the Good News of Christ, the joy of His first advent, and the immanence of His second.  Let us not be found sleeping when He returns.

Blessings,

-Kevin

Examine Yourselves

Examine Yourselves:

God redeemed the nation of Israel out of Egypt so they could serve Him as “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:6). As a kingdom of priests (mediators) they were to live such holy (meaning separate & distinct as God’s people) lives that it would serve to draw the peoples/nations of the world to God.  Israel’s perpetual failure was idolatry – the lifting up of anything to the place where God alone rules and reigns as Sovereign.  God gave Israel a system of living (Exodus 20-32, Leviticus, et al.) that would distinguish them externally from all the other people/nations of the world. But MOST importantly God gave them Himself in the form of His tangible Presence, which not only led them as a pillar of smoke by day and a pillar of fire by night, but Who dwelt in a tent, i.e. the tabernacle, at the very center of their community.

After the giving of the Ten Commandments and all the externals (priesthood, rituals, etc.), which certainly served important functions, Moses understood that it was the Presence of God ALONE that ultimately mattered – not the rituals, not the tabernacle or future temple, not the land, but God’s Presence.  Moses was terrified at the thought of taking a LITERAL single step in any direction without God’s Presence manifest to lead, direct, guide, protect, defend, and dwell…  Even after God told Moses that he had nothing to worry about because “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest,” Moses PLEADED, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”

That’s the real beauty of the Incarnation of Christ; the Presence of God not merely to dwell among us, but IN us!  In John’s gospel we read “The Word became flesh and He pitched His tent among us. And we beheld His glory as the only Begotten, full of grace and truth, intimately untied with the Father.”  Jesus didn’t simply “dwell among us” as most translations read.  That word (skay-na-oh) means to pitch one’s tent, to intimately dwell as a member of the community.  God Himself, Immanuel (God with us), came in the flesh, pitched His tent with us… rebellious, broken, nasty, slimy, fallen sinners.  Then just before the Cross He said “I am going there (His Father’s house) to prepare a place for you.” Jesus ascended, then at Pentecost the Presence of God, in the form of the Holy Spirt, came to forever dwell – IN – the Children of God!

Jesus told us “unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”  Jesus was NOT talking comparatively.  He was not saying that we should do better things: e.g. refrain from dancing, abstain from alcohol, tobacco, and alcohol, to go on mission trips, tithe 10% of your income, or go to church on Sunday.  Jesus was saying that unless His Presence (the absolute superlative) dwells in you – then you are unfit to enter the kingdom of heaven (i.e. His Presence).  No matter what “good deeds” you’ve accomplished in life they all amount to filthy rags.  The prophet Isaiah said it like this, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away” (Isa 64:6).

One of the most powerful and transformative prayers you can pray is “Examine me O Lord.” (Psalm 139:23; 17:3; 26:2) and ask God to reveal how He sees you.  If you merely examine yourself through your own filters, or the comparative standards of the world, then you’ll end up feeling pretty good about yourself (Rich Young Ruler).  But unless your righteousness EXCEEDS… i.e. unless you have the righteousness of Christ, the Sovereign Superlative, His Holy Presence, the very Spirit of God dwelling in you… then Jesus says that you are unfit for the kingdom.

When Paul wrote, “Examine yourselves,” in 2 Corinthians 13:5, he wasn’t talking comparatively.  Paul wasn’t telling us to be Jerry Springer Christians who feel good about ourselves because “compared to ‘those people’ I’m doing GREAT!”  Paul wasn’t being politically correct or sensitive to people’s feelings.  Instead, Paul issues a raw, bare-knuckled, unashamed wake-up call – POW! “EXAMINE YOURSELVES!  See whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?”

The test isn’t any list of things you’ve done or accomplished; it’s not about what trials you’ve gone through or what you’ve sacrificed or lost. It’s about one thing only – the Presence of God, the Holy Spirit, dwelling in your heat and reigning in your life so that through you Christ is manifest, disciples are made, sinners are saved, and the Lost redeemed according to God’s plan and for His eternal glory.

Examine yourselves.

Blessings,

-Kevin

Means to Me

Means to Me:

If you’ve never heard the parable of the king and the elephant you should look into it.  It is a great tool for teaching the danger of subjectivity.

Oswald Chambers noted, "The greatest blessing spiritually is the knowledge that we are destitute; until we get there Our Lord is powerless."  I have great respect for Oswald Chambers, and understand where Oswald is coming from, but he is wrong on both counts.

“While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

-Romans 5:8b

The greatest spiritual blessing is not the knowledge of our being destitute, depraved, and lacking any & all ability to resolve our inherently universal sin-problem. The greatest spiritual blessing is the gift of faith in the midst of our depravity-epiphany, and subsequently being grafted into the FAMILY of God.

Our LORD is eternally the Almighty and there is a no propriety or accuracy in equating God’s abstinence with some cockamamie notion of divine impotence.

One of the biggest fails of the contemporary Christian is our subjective approach to God’s Word, i.e. The Bible.  When we fail to grasp the Author’s original intended meaning – we end up with some bizarre, strange, perverse, deviant, harmful, and even heretical or ruinous beliefs.

In my many years of teaching Sunday School I’ve heard this misguided statement countless times, “Well, what that means to me is…”  When we reduce the objective truth of God’s Word to our personal experience and understanding then subjectivity runs amuck, and the consequence is ruinous.

Proverbs 1:7 tells us, “The fear of the LORD is the foundation of true knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, but fools despise all this.”  Many equate this “fear” as our awe and reverence for God, but this is not Scripture’s position.  In Psalm 19 the Psalmist equates the “fear of the LORD” with God’s revelation – both general revelation (i.e. nature, the heavens, etc.) and special revelation (i.e. The Bible). In addition to nature, which declares, pours out, communicates, and heralds “the glory of God” (v.1); beginning in 19:7 the Psalmist EQUATES special revelation, i.e. God’s written instruction (v.7), testimony (v.7), precepts (v.8), commands (v.8), and ordinances (v.9), with “the Fear of the LORD” (v.9).

The critical significance here is that our correct approach to God’s Word, i.e. His instruction, testimony, precepts, commands, decrees, ordinances, etc., is the very “foundation of true knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, but fools despise all this.” When we cheapen, diminish, deteriorate, and acquiesce to our own subjective understanding “Well, what this means to me is…” rather than prayerfully and desperately seeking the Author’s (God) intended meaning – then we become the fool who demonstrates scorn, enmity, antagonism, contempt, and bitterness for God.

Consider this: Theology is not how humanity sees God – that’s religious philosophy – but rather our understanding of how God sees God.  When is the last time you read your Bible through the lens of active, invested, baptized membership in your local church and NOT as an individual?  Every book of the Bible was written for the people of God – not individual Christians.

Virtually every letter that the Apostle Paul wrote was to the Church (Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, etc.).  Even the letters that Paul wrote to individuals were written for the benefit of the Church – not the individual recipient (Timothy, Philemon, Titus).  Paul wrote to the church in Philippi to let them (the congregation as a collective – not individuals) know that the same God who blessed them individually with the gift of faith in Christ would see that blessing reach mature completeness, i.e. unity as the people of God invested in the Mission of God for the glory of God…

“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you (plural) will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil 1:6).

This was not written to you as an individual believer regarding your eternal security and residence in heaven.  It was written to the people of God by God (through Paul) for us to understand how God sees things.  When we realize that essential and foundational perspective shift and approach to God’s Word (from individual subjectivity to objective truth) everything changes.

Will you invite and allow God to show you how He sees Himself through His Word – or – will you continue as the fool of Proverbs 1:7 who despises knowledge, wisdom, and understanding (thus God) and confidently utters, “Well, what this means to me is…”

Blessings,

-Kevin