The Garden of Eden - Paradise Lost

Through this Lenten season we are looking at the important role that gardens play in the Bible.  We want to see what these garden stories teach us about God, our own lives and how to live in relationship with God.  The Bible begins and ends in a garden.  There is the Garden of Eden when God created the world and in the book of Revelation we see heaven talked about as a garden with a tree of life and crops for all seasons and leaves that bring life.  In the center of the biblical story we have Jesus suffering, dying and rising again in a garden and on that first resurrection day Jesus was even mistaken as a gardener.  Next week we will see how the Promised Land was often thought of as a lush and fertile garden and then how the teaching of Jesus about the Kingdom of God used a lot of garden themes and ideas.  So gardens are important to the Bible and we have a lot to learn from them.

Last week we learned that the creation story found in Genesis 1 reads like a litany or poem where we see the rhythm and flow of God’s work in creating paradise – the King’s Garden.  God speaks, something is created and God looks at it and calls it good.  Our response to this story is to give thanks, care for the garden God has given us and make sure we are following the example of God by having our own rhythm of work and rest.  This is what we learn from the creation story in Genesis 1, but there is a very different creation story in Genesis 2. 

If you read Genesis 1 and 2 you might have seen that there really are 2 very unique stories that talk about the creation of the world.  Because these stories were not written as science lectures to talk about how the world was created, they don’t really compete with each other, they each have their place and purpose and each one was included in the scriptures to teach us something about God and ourselves.  Genesis 2:4-9, 15-18, 21-22

In Genesis 2 we see that God creates us out of the dust of the ground but we are still special and unique in all of creation because God breathes into us and it is that breath that gives us life and makes us children of God.  In Genesis 2 we also see that God creates man first and then creates woman second.  Some people have wanted to see this as a reason for claiming that men are superior to women, but there are some problems we find in the text if we do that. 

The first problem is that in Genesis 2 we find that man on his own is not good.  In fact, it is the first time in both creation stories when God looks down and says that something is not good.  Genesis 2:18.  So men, on our own – we are not good.  God looked at us and said, yeah, they are going to make it – I need to make them a helper.  The world helper is the word edzer which doesn’t mean assistant but someone stronger who comes to rescue the weak.   So God created from man a stronger version of man who was not going to help him but rescue him – in some sense help make him good. 

So good took a rib from the man and made a stronger and better human being – woman.  And I think we can all agree that in many ways women are stronger.  Women go through the pain of childbirth.  If men had to do that, our race would have died out after just a few generations.  Women are often the ones to raise the children and care for the family so they are often the ones who are stronger emotionally.  Statistically women also live longer than men and so the strength of women in life and faith is all around pretty clear to see. 

This creation story also reveals to us the core mission in marriage.  The mission in marriage is not to always be in love with the other person – the mission in marriage is to be a helper.  God didn’t look at the man and say, oh look how lonely he is – he needs someone to love and to love him – he looked at the man and said he needs someone who will help him in life.  Marriage isn’t about love as much as it is about helping and serving.  Marriage is about being willing to sacrifice so the other person is cared for and supported, it is about meeting the other person’s needs.  Marriage is about putting the other person first and living for them and if both parties make this the mission – the marriage will survive and thrive.  Now to say that marriage isn’t really about love is misleading, it is all about love as long as love is defined as sacrifice, service and help.  If that is how love is defined then the mission of marriage is love but maybe not always to feel in love. 

What we begin to see in this story of Adam and Eve is that it really is not the story of the first two people, it is a story that explains and defines our story.  We can’t read this as history looking back at a man named Adam and woman named Eve.  This is not a story about their life and problems this is our story.  We are Adam and Eve.  Adam means man of the earth and Eve means life giver and in some sense this is who we are.  We have all be created out of the earth and we are all part of giving life so this is our story.  This is a story that talks about who we are in relationship with God and one another and it teaches us that we need others in this world if we are going to be the best that we can be and that we all need to be helpers. 

As we read on Genesis, we also see that this story of Adam and Eve in the King’s Garden teaches us how things got so messed up.  Genesis 3:1-7.  What is important to see here is that it is not always the big overt lies that get us into trouble but the subtle half-truths and embellishments.   The serpent was crafty by using a kind of half-truth when he spoke to the woman.  He said, Did God really say that you must not eat from any tree in the garden?  That is a kind of half-truth.  God didn’t say they couldn’t eat from any tree, he said they couldn’t eat from one specific tree.  So that half-truth begins to muddy the waters a little bit.  But then notice Eve’s response.  Genesis 3:2-3.

God didn’t say they couldn’t touch the tree so where did that idea come from – it had to come from Adam who was the only one who heard God give the instruction.  God told Adam he could not eat from that true before Eve was created so it was Adam who told Eve they couldn’t eat from the tree and apparently Adam added that part about touching it as well.  We don’t know why Adam may have added this, but he may have done it because he wanted to have more control and authority.  Maybe he was embellishing the story to make himself feel stronger and wiser in his relationship with Eve, not that men would ever do anything like that.

What this story reveals is that things begin to go bad when we listen to half-truths or embellish God’s truth in order to feel superior or in control.  Eve listens to the serpent and goes to the tree and sees how good the fruit looks.  She then takes the fruit and eats it.  Then she gives some to Adam who also eats it.  They didn’t want to be children of God, they wanted to be God.  They didn’t want to listen to God or walk with God – they wanted to be like God and so they did the one thing, they only thing, they were told not to do. 

And what happens when they eat the fruit?  They immediately see that they are naked and they feel shame.  They hear God walking in the garden and feel guilt.  Instead of walking with God they now want to hide from God.  What was beautiful has now been lost.  What was innocent and pure and filled with love has been tarnished and stained and filled with guilt and shame and pain. 

Once again, this is not really the story of 2 people who lived long ago, this is our story and we all have that forbidden fruit that we are tempted to eat.  We all hear that voice telling us that we can be more, find more, experience more, get more in life if we will just take and eat.  If we will spend a little bit more money and get those things we want - we will be happy.  If we cut corners on that project or on our taxes to save a little bit of money - we will get ahead.  If we share that juicy story we know that makes us look good and puts someone else down - we feel better about ourselves.  If we cheat our on spouse and go deeper into that exciting relationship - our lives are going to be more fulfilled.  We are all tempted to take and eat because we all hear that voice telling us it’s ok. 

So this story of the fall, paradise lost, is not just Adam and Eve’s story about how it all went wrong in the beginning, this is our story.  Every time we give in to the serpent’s voice and take and eat the forbidden fruit – something beautiful in us or around us is lost.  Our innocence is lost.  The beauty of relationships is lost.  Our integrity and honesty is lost.  Our physical or emotional health is lost. 
This story of paradise lost is not only the story we see in us but it is the story we see unfolding all around us.  Most of the tragic stories we hear in the news come from people knowing the right thing to do but choosing the bad.  They listen to and follow the wrong voice.  War, the violence we see in schools and homes, sexual assault and misconduct, crime and greed, our political divide, the hatred we see on social media, poverty and starvation in many third world countries are all due to people listening to and acting on the wrong voice. 

What we need to learn from this story is how to make sure we are listening to the right voice and the voice of God.  So let me close with this simple question and challenge.  What voice will we listen to?  What tree will we eat from?  What choice will we make when we are confronted with a choice between good and evil, God and the short cut we think will lead us to life and love and happiness?  Too often we have listened to and acted on that wrong voice so here is the challenge, say yes to the voice of God.  Listen to and follow the voice of God who calls us to come and follow him. 

And if we have been listening to the wrong voice and dealing with the consequences of that choice – all is not lost.  Through Jesus and in another garden, God forgives us and welcomes us back into a relationship where we can once again walk with God in the garden. 



Next Steps
The Garden of Eden – Paradise Lost

1.  Read Genesis 2
What does this story tell us about our relationships with one another (especially male and female)?

2.  The word helper (edzer) means one who is stronger who will come and rescue the weak. 
• How does this definition shape your understanding and view of marriage? 
• How can helping your spouse help strengthen your marriage and family?
• How can you help your spouse this week? 
• Who beyond your spouse might you need to help?

3.  Read Genesis 3
Identify all the half-truths and embellishments found in this story? 
• What do these tell us about the power of lies? 
• This is our story, how do the half-truths and lies found here reflect the motives of our hearts and words? 

4.  When has a lie led you astray?  How did that situation get resolved?

5.  Eve listened to the voice of the serpent that told her she could get more and be more. 
• What voice tempts you to get more and be more? 
• What forbidden fruit are you tempted to take and eat? 

6.  How can you minimize the voice of temptation and maximize the voice of God this week? 
Who can you ask to be your helper in this work?

The Garden of Eden - In the beginning...

Today we begin our Lenten Series called in the garden.  Gardens are important in the Biblical story because the Bible begins and ends in a garden.  Creation begins with God forming the Garden of Eden and in Revelation 22 we see heaven talked about using the image of a garden.  In heaven there is a tree of life that produces 12 crops of fruit and whose leaves bring healing to the nations.  All that was created in the first garden; water, land, a tree of life, vegetation and all life is found in the final garden of God.  We often use the word paradise when we talk about Eden and heaven and the word paradise comes from the word paradiso which means The King’s Garden.

Because the Middle East is such a dry climate, gardens were not common and so it was only the rich and powerful that were able to create and maintain them.  Kings were some of the only people who had gardens of lush vegetation and orchards that produced fruit year round and it was only kings who could create vast water systems to keep their gardens going during dry seasons and bring in all kinds of animals to make the garden not only thrive but be a spectacular place to visit.  One of the greatest honors any person could receive during their lifetime would be an invitation to walk in the King’s Garden.  It was truly an invitation to paradise. 

So our story of creation begins with the king of the universe creating a garden.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.  God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.
Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. And God saw that it was good. 
And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so.  And God saw that it was good.
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”  And it was so.  And God saw that it was good.
God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.  God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.
By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

It amazes me to think that the only place in our solar system where a garden could be created is right here, on the third planet from the sun.  And so on each day of creation God spoke and an element was created and added to the garden – light, water, land, vegetation and animals all filled the garden until on the sixth day God created human beings in God’s image to live in and tend the garden with God.  The blessing of life for us is that we get to walk in the King’s Garden, in paradise, with God. 

So let’s talk a little bit about the creation story in Genesis 1.  Many people want to read this as a science lecture, but it was never written to be science.  If we look at how the story was written in Hebrew we find that it looks and reads more like poetry or a litany.  There is a rhythm and flow to the story that repeats itself over and over.   God speaks – something is created – God calls it good. 
This story doesn’t explain how things appeared but instead gives us a glimpse into the God who creates.  We find here a God of order and power and purpose and relationship. 

While the story can’t be read as science, there is something this story shares with every scientific explanation of creation.  The single most common question about the creation story is this – who made God?  What was there before the light and water and stars and life?  The truth is – we don’t know and if you ask scientists what there was before the Big Bang or where the elements that started the creation process all came from they will tell you the same thing – they don’t know.  There are lots of theories and ideas, but no one really knows. 

The creation story wasn’t written to answer the scientific questions of how but to answer the bigger questions that people in ever culture have asked as long as we have been here:
1.  Who created the world?
2.  Why was it created?
3.  How are we supposed to live in this world? 

Every culture asks these questions which is why we find creation stories in all major cultures and religions.  These various stories shouldn’t surprise or concern us as Christians, what we should do is compare them to the Genesis story so that we can learn more about God.  Here are a few general differences we find in some of the creation stories from other cultures and in comparing them we see what they have to teach us about God.

In other cultures, it was multiple gods who created the world but in the Genesis story it is One God.  We believe in One God. 

In other creation stories we often find that gods fought with each other and out of these rivalries came different parts of creation that often lived at war with each other.  In the Genesis story we see that God creates all of creation in love and God creates to the world to live in harmony and unity and peace. 

In other creation stories human beings were created to serve the gods and if anyone was created in the image of god it was the king, but in our story God creates all of us to share in the beauty and blessing of creation and God creates all of as children.  Male and female we are all created in the image of God. 

So the answer to who created the world is - God.  The one and only God, the one we call Yahweh or Elohim.  The answer to why the world was created was because God wanted to share his life and love.  God created all of life and called it good so that God could engage and interact with all of creation.  Every aspect of creation the way God made it was good and all of human life God said was very good. 

So this leaves us with the third question, how are we supposed to live in this world?  What response does the story of creation call for from us?  How are we supposed to live in this garden?  The most basic answer is that we are to live with gratitude for God.  We should give thanks each and every day because of who God is and how God created us and because of the amazing garden God has placed us in.  1 Thessalonians 5:18 - give thanks in all circumstances for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.  God’s will for us is to give thanks.  God created us to be in a relationship of love where daily we see and understand how blessed we are and give thanks.   

During this season of Lent I want to invite you to make giving thanks to God a part of the rhythm and routine of your life.  Find five times a day where you can stop and thank God for all that you have.  That might seem like a lot, but really, if we can give thanks when we get up, when we eat breakfast, lunch and dinner and when we go to bed then we have given thanks five times in a day.  And this prayer of thanks doesn’t have to be long and formal – we are talking about a simple, thank you God for today.  Thank you God for food. Thank you God for your presence and love.  These simple prayers can lead us to a life of gratitude which is the most appropriate and pleasing response we can make to God. 

There are two other responses that this story calls for and the first one comes from Genesis 1:26-28.  We are called to rule over all that is in the garden.  The Hebrew word for rule here is râdâh which means to reign over and care for but it can also mean to subjugate, tread down and even to make crumble.  What is interesting about this word is that there is within it a certain amount of freedom and choice we are given about how we will rule.  We can rule over and care for the garden with respect and love or we can tread down upon it and literally watch it crumble.  From the beginning we see that God has given us a choice in how we are to rule and care for the world, we have some free will. 

For us to live as children of God, we need to choose to care for the world and rule over it with respect and love, after all this is not our garden, it is the King’s Garden.  We are to rule not for our own pleasure and pursuits but according to the King’s wishes and desires.  So how we care for this world is important.  Are we making good choices when we look at the environment and our use of natural resources?  No matter what views we may hold about how and why the world’s climate is changing – we are all called to use the resources of this world wisely.  We are not to waste resources, horde them or spoil them for our own pleasure and wellbeing.  We are called to share the resources of the garden so that all can live in and enjoy it and so it will be preserved for future generations as well.

I grew up with the 3Rs being ingrained in my mind and habits – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.  During the energy crisis of the 1970’s we had to conserve heat so the thermostat was turned down in our house and my mom said if we were cold we could go put on a sweater or another pair of socks.  When the gas shortage hit we had to make sure we only took one trip to town and my Mom would often take us to lessons, practices and youth group and then sit and wait for us because it was a way to cut down on gas.  We have lost many of these practices because they are convenient, but maybe we need to reconsider their use to simply be good stewards of creation.

In what ways can we reduce our consumption of natural resources?  Can we turn down the heat and put on a sweater?  Can we make one less trip to State College or the Weis store?  Can we make sure we turn the water off when we brush our teeth?  As children of God we are called to rule over the creation with respect and care for it is the king’s garden and not ours.

Another response we need to make in light of how God created the world is found in Genesis 2:1-3.  While we often struggle with this day of rest, that it was included in the story of creation is profound.  Most other creation stories don’t include a day of rest that was to be shared with the children of God.  Human beings were often seen as objects made to serve the gods so there is no rest or refreshment there is only work and service but here God not only rests but God shares that rest and God makes it part of our lives and the life of all. 

While Sabbath rest was later written into the law of the Ten Commandments and at times leaders made into a burden because people tried to define what it meant to both work and rest and then impose those laws on others, the idea of rest as a natural response to the creation of God finds it’s beginning here – in the garden.  God rested and God gave rest as a gift and as part of the rhythm and flow of life.  If we are going to reflect the goodness, power and life of God then one response we have to make is to rest.  So how can we take seriously this call to Sabbath Rest? 

With schedules that pack more work into weekends than during the week, how can we set aside time to worship, reflect and refresh our hearts, spirits and lives?  We can’t make this a command or a law that brings on a burden.  We can’t define work in such excruciating detail that we beat ourselves up when we do something we shouldn’t have done but can we be more aware and more intentional in creating periods of rest.  Can we set aside evenings of rest during the week where we spend time as a family eating together, sharing together and playing together?  Rest is an appropriate response to living in the king’s garden.

In the beginning, in the garden, everything God created was good and human beings were very good.  We were created by God, to live in relationship with God and the best response for us is to love God and give thanks.  We were created to reflect the goodness and character of God which means we were created to tend the garden with love and wisdom.  We were also created to follow the way of God which means working hard and resting well. 

This is how God created it in the beginning and this is still how God wants it to be for us today.  Next week we will talk about how it all fell apart, but for today and for this week, let’s find ways to walk with God in this King’s Garden we call home.  Let us give thanks every day, let us care for God’s creation with wisdom and respect and let us set aside time for rest so that we can enjoy life and life to the fullest in the garden. 
 
Next Steps
The Garden of Eden – In the Beginning

1.  Read the creation stories in Genesis 1 & 2. 
• What similarities and differences do you see in each story? 
• What does each story tell us about God and ourselves? 
• Why do you think there are two stories? 


2.  Our response to being created by God and placed in the garden is to give thanks.  See 1 Thessalonians 5:18
• Give thanks 5 times each day during the next six weeks.  (morning, evening and all three meals)


3. The creation story calls us to rule over the world.
• In what ways are you a good steward of creation? 
• Where can you do a better of job of using, conserving and preserving the resources of this world? 
• Where can you reduce, reuse and recycle in an effort to be a better steward?


4.  God included a day of rest in the creation story. 
• Why do you think God added this day to the story? 
• How is this different from other creation stories? 
• Do you take a full day of rest each week? 
• What activities should you stop doing on your day of rest?
• What activities should you start doing to make it a true day of rest?

Love God not the Selife

This Wednesday is not only Ash Wednesday but Valentine’s Day and while many people might be snapping pictures of their valentine with candy and flowers or at romantic dinners for two, many more people will have those cameras pointed at themselves.  Every second, 1,000 selfies are posted on Instagram.  That means since we have been here, almost 2 million selfies have been posted.  74% of all photos on Snapchat are selfies and last year Google said that over 24 Billion selfies were uploaded to their various platforms.  We are a culture truly in love with ourselves. 

Research shows that those who take a lot of selfies over-estimate how good they look and how likeable they are.  In other words, no one else find you as attractive as you do and no one else enjoys your life as much as you do.  During their lifetime, millennials will take over 25,000 selfies, which is about one a day.  I know what some of you parents are thinking, that is way too low a number.  Remember that this is an average over a lifetime, so it’s more like dozens a day during the teenage years and then none as seniors.  Here’s what’s even worse, the average millennial spends an hour a day on what is being called selfie duty – this is planning, taking, editing and posting that selfie. 

Now please don’t misunderstand me, taking selfies are fun and they can document our presence at special times and places.  When I was in Israel I took a lot of selfies – most never saw the light of the day because they looked so bad. 

Evening in Jerusalem 

I didn’t know where to look so my eyes were always looking weird, but I took them to remind myself that I was really at the Western Wall

At the Western Wall

or at Masada. 

At Masada

My favorite one was of me on the bus –

On the bus

but again, I think I look better than I do and no else finds this enjoyable.  I get it. 

But selfies are also dangerous – literally.  We have all heard about selfies gone wrong and people falling off of cliffs, being struck by lightning or mauled by animals as they were trying to get the perfect picture.  In fact, more people were killed while taking a selfie than were killed by sharks, which I guess makes our phones more dangerous than a shark.  But selfies can also be dangerous to our jobs and reputations and relationships.  So here are some general rules to follow if you like to take selfies.  Never take a selfie having fun on the day you call in sick.  Never take a selfie while you are doing something illegal and let’s just say that you should never take a selfie in the bathroom no matter what. 

Maybe you heard about the students at Yale who took a selfie while at a dental conference.  It sounds pretty innocent and harmless, a student wanted a picture with the professor, but what people noticed once it was posted to social media were the severed heads lying on the table in the background.  They were heads used by dental students to learn how to work on teeth but the students, professor and university were all trying to dig themselves out of that mess because someone decided to take and post a selfie. 

So there can be problems in a selfie society when we point the camera at ourselves, but the truth is that the real problem isn’t with what the picture looks like, it’s with the picture of our heart.  When our lives become all about us and we place ourselves at the center of everything the issue we are talking about is pride.  When the camera is always pointed at us and when we are constantly promoting ourselves, we begin to believe that everything really is about us and that we are more important than everyone around us. While pride is listed as one of the 7 deadly sins, in Proverbs 6:16-19 we see that in many ways pride is the root of all those sins. 

The word haughty means arrogant or prideful, so God hates pride and by putting it first on this list, Solomon understood that it is often pride that leads to other attitudes and actions that God hates.  Pride is what often leads us to lie about others so that we look better.  It leads us cheat and steal so we come out ahead and it causes us to plot and scheme so that we get our own way.    Proverbs 16:18 - Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.  

In many ways it is pride that causes us to fall.  What caused Adam and Eve to take hold of that forbidden fruit was pride, they wanted to be like God.  The original sin isn’t our disobedience to God but the pride that leads to disobedience.  So pride is something we all struggle with and if you think you are completely humble and don’t wrestle with this issue, well, that could be a sign of pride.

Let me give us a kind of pride test. Pride is a problem if:

We take everything personally and are always getting defensive.
Pride doesn’t mean thinking we do everything right, sometimes it is just putting ourselves in the center of everything.  When we see two people talking and assume they are talking about us, that’s pride.  When people ask a question and we take it as some kind of personal indictment and become offended, that’s pride.  Not everything that goes on around us has to do with us. Sometimes we need to get over ourselves.  The best advice I received going into ministry was from the associate pastor at my home church who told me, take your ego out of the picture.  I really didn't understand what she meant until I had been a pastor for a while and realized that not everything that happened in the church, good or bad, had to do with me.  It wasn’t always about me.  I had to get over myself.

We think our feelings are the most important and our desires matter more than everyone else’s.
This kind of pride not only infects relationships but it is poisoning our society.  Social and political discourse has come to a halt because everyone is convinced that their way is the best way and truly the only way.  Pride is what not only elevates our own thoughts and desires but demonizes those who think differently from us.  Our thoughts and views and desires are simply that – ours and we can share them and be clear about them, but that doesn’t mean they are more important than those of others.  Philippians 2:3-4 says, in humility value others above yourselves not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the other. 

Let me share with you what true humility looks like.  I shared last week about the conflict in my first church and most of that came because we were making some musical changes in worship.  Many people didn’t like the new music and so strongly objected.  One day a woman in her 80’s asked if she could talk to me, her name was Virginia Smeltzer.  I will never forget what she said.  Andy, do you know all the new music we are singing in church?  I don’t really like it, but I see how all the young people enjoy singing it – so I think we should keep doing it.  When we think our views and desires matter more than everyone else’s and get upset that we don’t get our way, pride is an issue. 

The other person needs to come to us and apologize.
When we hold unto grudges waiting for the other person to come to us and apologize, there is in this un-forgiveness an element of pride.  When we blame others for our failure, we are struggling with pride.  We talked about this the past few weeks when we talked about forgiveness and let me say again that to overcome pride we need to be quick to forgive and to be willing to go first when forgiveness is needed.  If not, pride will keep a hold of our heart.

We are more negative and critical than we are positive and grateful.
Pride can also be the cause of our constant critical and negative attitudes.  When we can’t find anything good in a person or situation it’s often because we think we are better, our ideas are better, our way of doing things is better and the outcome of our actions would be better.  The more positive and grateful we are the more humble and God centered we are. 

We are thinking about that person we know who should be here today.
Again, we can’t be thinking of how other people need to come to terms with their pride, we need to be willing to focus on our own problem with pride.  Jesus said we can’t be looking at the speck of dust in someone else’s eye when there is a plank coming out of our own. 

So we all struggle with pride.  We all have that camera pointed at ourselves and one solution to pride comes from 1 Timothy 6:17. 

Paul is giving a warning here to all who are rich because when we are rich, or even just financially independent, we place more trust in ourselves than we do in God.  When we can take care of all our own needs and store up enough resources for our own future then we begin to think that we don’t need God, but let’s expand this idea out beyond money.  When we trust more in our own skills and abilities or ideas and thinking, then we begin to think that we don’t need God.  So Paul really isn’t talking about a problem with money, he is talking about a problem with pride.  When our hearts are so full of ourselves that there is no room for God, it is a problem.  When we trust more in ourselves than in God, it is pride - which leads to destruction. 

Paul tells us that the fundamental problem with trusting in our own wisdom and strength, skills and abilities, ideas and feelings and yes our money is that all these things will eventually fail us.  Our money and the work of our hands can be here today and gone tomorrow.  This week we saw the largest single day decline in the stock market and it reminded us again that all the wealth we trust in can be wiped out in a just one day of trading.  An accident, fire or illness can destroy all that we own and fundamentally change all that we are.  Paul says wealth is uncertain but again, let’s expand on that and say that everything we trust in this world – including ourselves - is uncertain.  Our lives, our skills and abilities, our homes and possessions as well as our power, strength and intellect are uncertain and temporary and if we only trust in those things, if we only trust in ourselves, we are headed for destruction.

The answer, Paul says, is to put our hope in God.  The answer is to stop looking at ourselves and to start looking to God.  It is to stop trusting in ourselves and start trusting in God.  It is to stop loving ourselves and start loving God.  When we place our faith, hope and trust in God we begin to see God as the source of all that we have and all that we are.  When we place our faith, hope and trust in God we become more grateful and appreciate all we have in life which leads us to a better life – the good life.

Jesus says that those who hear God’s word and puts that word into practice, which I would say is trusting God, is like the person who builds their house on the rock.  When the wind and rains come – the house stands.  When our trust is in God we have a foundation in life that is sure and certain and that will carry us through all things.  When our hope and trust is in God we will not be shaken or moved.  So the focus in life can’t be our self – it needs to be God.  We need to shift from a selfie way of life to a God centered way of life. 

Paul then gives direction on how to start living this way, 1 Timothy 6:18.  Do good.  Be rich in good deeds.  Be generous and willing to share.  We can’t do good deeds for others, be generous and share what we have when we are only focused on ourselves, this way of life requires us to turn the lens around so we not only see others but see the needs of others.  This way of life teaches us that we don’t need to horde and store up resources here because God will take care of us and this attitude gives us the freedom to be generous and share what we have with others. 

What protects us from being self-absorbed, self-focused and living a selfie way of life is a simple creed we talked about last fall – the Jesus Creed which is loving God and loving others. 

The season of Lent begins on Wednesday and many people look at Lent as a time to give something up, so what I want to invite you to give up is the selfie – not the picture but the way of life.  Identify two good habits you can embrace each week that will deepen your love for God.  Maybe it is scripture reading, or prayer, or being in worship, but what two things can you do to help shift your focus toward God? 

Then identify two ways you can give generously during Lent that will help you trust God more than you trust yourself.  Give to the Mission Auction or some time to the food bank.  Volunteer in the community.  Maybe God is calling you to serve your neighbor, take a meal to someone you know or offer to help a single mom or dad.  What two acts of generosity and sacrifice can you make during the season of Lent that will help you love God and not yourself? 

Here’s something great to think about.  If each of us connected with Faith Church did just two good deeds during Lent, there would be close to 1,000 acts of kindness done in our community.  1,000 expressions of God’s love that can inspire others and change hearts.  That is so much more powerful than the 1,000 selfies that were just posted to Instagram.  So this week, this Valentine’s Day, during this season of Lent, love God – not the selfie.


Next Steps
Love God not the Selfie

1.  Do you take more pictures of others or yourself? 
More pictures of God’s creation or your own face? 


2.  In what ways do you identify with these statements:
• I tend to take everything seriously and personally
• My thoughts and feelings are the most reasonable
• My desires and my way are the most important
• It is the other person who needs to apologize to me

How might these statements reflect your own problem with pride?


3.  Read 1 Timothy 6:17-18.  We fight pride by trusting in God, doing good deeds and giving generously. 
• What two habits can you embrace during Lent that reflect your love for God?  (Bible reading, worship, prayer)
• What two good deeds can you do during the Lenten season?
• What two ways can you give generously and sacrificially to God and others?


4.  This Valentine’s Day, show your love for God and your desire to let go of pride by joining us for our Ash Wednesday Worship at 7:00 PM.


5.  Donate an item to the Helping Hands Silent Auction and come for lunch and fellowship as we raise money for Missions at Faith Church.  Next Sunday at 12 noon. 

Embrace Forgiveness

Last Sunday I finished our Starting Over sermon series by talking about our need to release hurt and anger.  We talked about our need to forgive ourselves and others and I have to tell you that the response I got after each service was significant.  Some people wanted to share the message with others, some wanted to know when it would be available on line so they could listen again and some just said, thank you that was really helpful.  I don’t usually get that kind of a response which tells me that we all struggle with forgiveness.  We want to forgive others, we need to forgive ourselves and we know it is important to our lives and faith and relationships, but we just struggle to do it.  So today I want to talk a little more about forgiveness and provide another tool or resource to help us forgive.

The scripture we used last week was from Ephesians 4:26-27, 31-32.  Paul is speaking to a church in Ephesus and giving them some general principles about forgiveness.  He says it is ok to be angry but we can’t hold on to it.  He tells us we need to get rid of our anger so that the devil, or anger or those we are angry at, don’t get a foothold in our lives where they can then create more problems.  He also says that because God has forgiven us, we need to forgive others.  This is not just good teaching for Paul, this is what he did and how he lived and he shared his own story about forgiveness with the people of Ephesus.

Today I want us to look at the end of Paul’s letter to Timothy.  Timothy was not only a travelling companion with Paul but at the time the letter was written, Timothy was a leader in the church of Ephesus.  In many ways these two books go together.  With that in mind, let’s look at a verse near the end of his letter 2 Timothy 4:14.

We don’t know who Alexander is or what harm he may have caused Paul, but it is clear that Paul was hurt and offended.  Something happened and Paul got angry and he could on to that and stay angry or he could release it and what he tells us is that he released it.  Paul put into practice what he said in his previous letter.  He got angry but didn’t sin because he let it go.  Paul got rid of his anger, bitterness and malice and forgave Alexander just as God, in Christ, had forgiven him.  So here is a story of Paul putting his teaching on forgiveness into practice and through it we learn more of what it means for us to forgive.

The first thing Paul teaches us here is that we need to acknowledge the problem.  Paul is clear that he has been hurt.  Paul doesn’t cover up the problem or ignore it – he acknowledges it and as we heard last week, it is important for us to acknowledge what has been to us.  The lack of details however, tells us that Paul is not interested in rehashing the problem or rehearsing the pain.  Acknowledging the pain, hurt and disappointment in our lives so we can release it is vital, but we can’t relive.  Talking through our problems with trusted friends is important, it helps us evaluate and process what has happened, but at some point we have to stop talking about it and rehashing it so we can release it.

The second thing we learn from Paul is what we talked about last week and the need to release it but what Paul adds here is helpful.  The Lord will repay him for what he has done.  Paul hasn’t just dropped the issue and walked away, he has placed the situation into the hands of God.  Paul has given up his right to get even with Alexander and has asked God to deal with it.  When we release our hurt and pain we need to think about it in terms of releasing it into the hands of God who will deal with it according to God’s purpose and plan.

Now let me be clear, we don’t put it in God’s hands with a desire for God to punish and crush the person, we put it into God’s hands for God to deal with it according to his will.  We put it into God’s hands asking for God’s goodness, righteousness and justice to prevail.  As we do this, we always need to remember that there may be someone putting us into the hands of God for what we have said or done, so it is important for us to seek forgiveness and examine our own hearts and lives as we release our anger to God.

I have shared before that in my first few years as a pastor I experienced a lot of conflict and opposition to what many of us were trying to do in moving the church forward.  I got hate mail.  People sent me checks with big zeros on them and it got pretty heated for several months.  I will be honest and tell you that my prayer during that time was this, God if there is anyone standing in your way – take them out.  I meant it too.  Now let me be clear, I didn’t ask God to rub them out.  I didn’t turn to God as some kind of Godfather or hit man looking for people to die, but if they needed to attend a different church – that was ok.  I was also very clear with God and said that if I was the one that needed to be taken out – then he needed to move in me or move me to a new location.  It was my way of releasing the hurt and pain into the hands of God and asking for God’s will to take place in that situation.  The good news is that no one died, I remained in that church for another 7 years and the church grew and thrived for many years.

All of this leads us to another tool or resource we have available when we want to embrace forgiveness and that is prayer.  In his sermon on the mount, Jesus said, Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Luke 6:28.  Prayer is important for many reasons.  First it can help us release our anger by giving us a way of putting it into the hands of God but more importantly, it is prayer that changes us.  Prayer guards our hearts and lives and keeps anger from getting that foothold and prayer opens the door for the Holy Spirit to enter our lives and when the Holy Spirit enters it brings with it the fruit of the spirit which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  Think about how each one of these fruits can either help us forgive others or keep us taking up our anger again.

During the time of conflict in my first church I did a lot of praying and others prayed for me and with me and while it was uncomfortable at times, I experienced a patience and peace that allowed me to keep going.  I found a kindness and gentleness that did not come from me but helped me deal with all those around me.  I was upset by all that was being said about me, but it never overwhelmed me and it never caused me to become so angry at others that I could not find ways to love those who cursed me.  In fact, the man who sent me the check with the big zero on it and told me I was doing the work of the devil actually invited me to his home to share in communion when he was battling cancer.  That kind of thing only happens because of the power of prayer and the work of God’s Holy Spirit that comes through prayer.

Sometimes we just have to pray for the person who has wronged us.  I don’t know what that looks like for you, or what you are capable of saying about this person to God, but start and say something.  God bless them – is always a place to start.  God you take them.  God you deal with them and with me.  Prayer really does change situations because it changes us.  Prayer changes our perspective, our hearts and our lives.  When we are willing to pray – God will change the situation because God will change us.

You may not know the name Ruby Bridges but you probably have seen her picture

or this iconic Norman Rockwell painting.

Ruby was born in 1954 in Tylertown MS and then her family moved to New Orleans with hopes of finding a better life.  In 1960, Ruby was one of 4 black kindergarten children who scored high enough on a test to attend all-white schools closer to their homes.   These would be the first integrated schools in the south.  Ruby was the only one to attend the William Frantz Elementary School and so on Nov. 14, 1960, escorted by 4 federal marshals, Ruby walked alone into school.  Let me share with you what her first week was like.

Ruby Bridges' first few weeks at Frantz School were not easy ones. Several times she was confronted with blatant racism in full view of her federal escorts. On her second day of school, a woman threatened to poison her. After this, the federal marshals allowed her to only eat food from home. On another day, she was "greeted" by a woman displaying a black doll in a wooden coffin.
Ruby's mother kept encouraging her to be strong and pray while entering the school, which Ruby discovered reduced the vehemence of the insults yelled at her and gave her courage.  (from biography.com)

What you need to know about Ruby’s story is that she prayed every day and she credits prayer as the source of her strength and peace.  Ruby herself said, Talking to the Lord made it ok. 

Her teacher that first year was a woman named Mrs. Henry and she would stand at the window and watch Ruby enter school with the Federal Marshals.  One day she saw Ruby stop and start talking so she asked her what she said to the people.  She told Mrs. Henry, I didn’t stop and talk to them.  I was praying.  I was praying for them. 

Ruby Bridges story shows us the power of prayer when we have been offended and hurt.  Prayer for others can change us.  Prayer for others gives us courage and strength and a peace that nothing else in this world can give. When we are struggling to forgive and let go of an offense, we need to pray for those who have cursed us and mistreated us and trust that whatever words come out of our heart and mind and mouth will in time shape our heart and mind and life.  Prayer is always the one single action that can change our lives and help us truly embrace forgiveness.

Praying for others will also remind us of just how much God has forgiven us.  Genuine prayer will not just to point out the offenses of others but help us see all the ways we have offended God and hurt those we love.  We when pray, Father forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing, our eyes are opened to all the ways we don’t know what we are doing and how we need God’s forgiveness.  So prayer is a resource God gives us to embrace forgiveness.

As we wait for this forgiveness to truly shape our hearts and lives and as we wait for the freedom and power that comes when we embrace forgiveness and release our anger and pain, Paul wants to encourage with this thought.  As we wait, as we struggle, as we pray and as we work at forgiveness – God is with us.  2 Timothy 4:16-18.

Not once or twice but 5 times Paul tells us that when he was in trouble and when he needed to forgive but struggled to do it he knew that God was with him.  This is Paul’s personal testimony.
• The Lord stood by my side.
• He gave me strength.
• I was delivered.
• The Lord rescued me.
• He brought me out to a safe place.

When we are struggling to forgive or even struggling to find a desire to forgive, we can lean into God presence and find strength.  When we are feeling abused and abandoned, God can deliver us and lead us to a place of healing and courage and grace.  When we choose to embrace forgiveness and make it part of our lives we are never alone because God is right here with us and he helps us because it is what he wants for us and from us.

As we close today with communion it is important for us to know that God is right here.  In this time of worship, in our prayers and hearts and in this meal – God is with us and God is here to help us embrace the forgiveness God has for us and the lifestyle of forgiveness God wants from us.
 
Next Steps
Embrace Forgiveness

1. What offense do you need to acknowledge in order to forgive?  Without rehashing the story and reliving the pain, with whom can you share this situation?

2. Give this person to God in prayer.  Give the situation to God and ask God to resolve it and release you.

3. Pray for the person who has offended you.  That prayer can be as short as “Bless them” or the prayer of Ruby Bridges, “Please God, try to forgive this person because even if they say (or do) bad things, they don’t know what they are doing.  So you could forgive them, just like you did those folks a long time ago when they said terrible things about you.”  (From the book, The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles)

4. Read 2 Timothy 4:16-18.  In what ways can you see God:
• At your side
• Giving you strength
• Delivering you
• Rescuing you
• Bring you to a safe place

Where do you need God to assist you in these ways?  Ask for his help?


To read more about Ruby Bridges, these books are available in the church library:
• Through My Eyes, by Ruby Bridges
• The Story of Ruby Bridges, by Robert Coles
Or go online to:
• www.biography.com/people/ruby-bridges-475426