New Beginnings – Genesis 3:7-24

Have you ever wondered, “Why are things the way they are in this world and how can they be put right? I became a Christian not long after seeking the answers to those questions and finding them in the Bible. The Bible answers them over and over again. This week, we see them answered in Genesis 3.

Last Sunday’s passage was, undoubtedly, the most tragic in all of Scripture. Adam and his wife lived in a world that was pure and good, but that all changed when they chose to turn from God and put their faith elsewhere. They immediately fell into sin and began to experience all of its consequences. This week, we find that not only do Adam and his wife experience the consequences of their sin, so does the rest of the world around them. They now live, and so do we, in a world filled with self-inflicted toil. We see and experience it with no little regularity. But, we are not without a certain hope. The sin sick conditions revealed in Genesis 3 are also remedied, in that same chapter, with the promise of a grace filled hope. It is a promise that reverberates though the entire book of Genesis, the entire Old Testament and right on through all of the New Testament. God, in Genesis 3, announced His plan to send a Redeemer and Rescuer. In an act of grace, He revealed a plan whereby He will return His people to Himself and bring about an end to the world’s suffering, groaning and corruption. God created man for a relationship and isn’t about to abandon His plan to share that love with us. This week we’ll peer into our condition and discover God’s remedy, as we continue our journey through the book of Genesis.

Paradise Lost – Genesis 3:1-14

 

This week’s passage from the Genesis is, perhaps, the saddest and most tragic passage in all of Scripture, and in all of human history. Up to this point, Adam and Eve only knew “good,” but after this incident, they knew good and evil. We have arrived at the beginning of sin in the world. The first couple has fallen from innocence. They have fallen from the good life and into sin. They have fallen from paradise. They have fallen from that which they could have been and had.

The account of this fall is the only possible explanation for our present condition and that of the world we live in. It, alone, accounts for the presence of evil in a world that was created “good” by a benevolent Creator. Our Genesis 3 world view is the only one that provides an acceptable explanation for the pervasive presence of sin. Through it we now understand that a life without sin is unavoidable for man in his fallen state.

Because this is one of the most important passages in Scripture, and for our Christian world view, we will be spending a couple of weeks here. This week, we’re going to look at where it all started, with temptation, and we’ll also examine the painful consequences of sin. The pattern of sin and temptation is not unique to Genesis 3, and so there’s a lot we can learn from it to lessen the pain of sin in our own lives. Faith in God’s goodness is vital for victory over temptation. It is the starting point and anchor of our battle against temptation. Everyone was tempted, even Jesus, but how we handle it can alter the consequences.

Come join us for worship at 10:30 and Sunday school, for all ages, is from 9:15 – 10:15 in the Parish House. Bring a friend or family member with you. Everyone is welcome!

“And the Two Become One” – Genesis 2:18-25

 

This week’s post from our Genesis series comes from Congregational Church of Goffstown Elder Jim Beltz.

If you have been with us for the beginning of our study of the book of Genesis, you will remember that seven times in Chapter One God saw that his creation was good.  This week, however, we begin our scripture with God’s observation that something in his creation was not (yet) good.  It was not good that Adam was alone.  So God narrates to us how woman was created to be a complementary helper for man.  More than that, he institutes marriage and tells us that man and woman, two individual persons, are to become one.  This has huge implications for how we live, and is even a foreshadowing of the relationship that Christ will have with His church.  As you celebrate Valentine’s Day this week with your spouse, think about the ways in which you work well together in unity, and perhaps consider some ways in which you could improve your ‘one-ness’.  Then join us on Sunday as we study God’s plan for a man and a woman in marriage, and see that it is, indeed, good.

“Created for Works” – This Sunday at 1

“Created for Works” – This Sunday at 10:30 … http://wp.me/p2boFe-6G

Do You Care What Others Think?

 

But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? (2 Corinthians 2:14-16)

How often you have heard, “Don’t worry about what other people think. Who cares?” How often have you made that statement to a friend, your spouse or to your children? I certainly have said that to my friends, wife and children more times than I’d like to admit. Sometimes I was right. But other times I was wrong. Whether I was right or wrong depended upon the circumstances.

When I care what someone else thinks, I may be doing so as a way to earn that person’s approval. I may very well be doing it to take my reputation up a few notches in that person’s eyes. That’s pride. In that case, I would have been better off not caring what that person thought about me. I was wrong in seeking to inflate my own self-worth, further fueling my pride and narcissism. I’ve already been accepted by God through Christ’s life, death and resurrection on my behalf, and that’s all the acceptance and validation of my worth that I should need.

There are times, however, when you and I should be concerned about what others think. We should be concerned about what others think when it affects what they think about Christ. This was the Apostle Paul’s approach. In 1 Corinthians 9 he said, “I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. Now this I do for the gospel’s sake.” Paul said that he made himself a “servant to all.” He cared deeply about those he encountered and desperately worked to lead them to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He cared what they thought about Jesus. Paul’s actions were a manifestation of what the Gospel was doing to Him, and that really is the motivator of all our actions.

God’s grace in you is what motivates you to be a servant to all and to care about how your actions magnify Christ and the Gospel. So often we want to jump straight to the imperatives of Scripture: “BE a servant to Christ, “BE a good witness to Jesus.” But when we do so, we often forget that the imperatives of the New Testament are preceded by the indicatives. In 2 Corinthians 2:14-16 (above), Paul points to how God’s grace in us, brought about through faith in the Gospel, provides not only the desire in us to do the imperatives, but it also ensures the results of those imperative efforts. Paul writes, “We ARE the aroma of Christ…”, not “BE the aroma of Christ. Because of the outworking of the Gospel in our lives, we ARE already the aroma of Christ. Paul states that It is because of who we are in Christ that God “always leads us in triumphal procession.” Because of God’s grace at work in us, we will be effective witness to Christ in the world. Sometimes our witness falls on deaf ears, unopened by the grace of God and other times it will, by grace, bring about new life in Christ. Paul asks, “Who is sufficient for these things?” And the answer is, “we are not.” But by God’s grace we are.

I pray that we will walk boldly in our efforts to influence what others think about Jesus. By God’s grace, may they see in us that pleasing aroma of Christ. Who else, other than God, is sufficient for these things?

“Created for Works” – Genesis 1:26-2:17

Last week, we learned that God created man to be His image bearer on earth. Man was created to reflect God’s glory to the rest of the creation and to be in a special relationship with God. God had no need of man but created man as a way of sharing His own perfect love. This week, we dig deeper into God’s purposes for man and find that God created man for works. Yes, works!

 

Many people view work as man’s punishment for rebelling against God in the garden when, in fact, God made man a joyful manual laborer before he was tempted by the fruit of the forbidden tree. Today, you and I are still created to work as God’s representatives on earth. God, having just created the heavens and the earth, created His representatives, man and woman in His own image and likeness, to represent Him through their work on earth. Even now, you and I are created for that much of that same work. In fact, it is a privilege to be about this work on behalf of God. This Sunday, we’ll take a look at that privileged role and several of the works that God has prepared for us as His global representatives.