Marriage is in trouble.

• It is being re-defined (man-man, woman-woman, polygamy, polyamory)
• It is being delayed (average age for marriage is now 30)
• It is being broken up (almost 50% of marriages in the US end in divorce)

It’s not just marriage in general that is in trouble; your own marriage may be in trouble. Or perhaps you’re unmarried but you’ve seen so many troubled marriages that you’ve decided, “Not for me.” “Or if you do go forward, you’re pessimistic about it working out long-term.

Marriage is in trouble. But in Colossians 3:18-19, God offers us a simple fix. He lets us in on the simple secret to a happy marriage. Read my sermon notes for more.

Is life worth living? More and more people are saying, “No,” especially young people. Depression, despair, and even suicide rates are soaring, especially among young people and middle-aged men

Many of us feel down and out like this from time to time. Why is that and what can we do about it? Where do we find life in a life-sucking, life-draining, life-killing world?

Genesis 4:1-8 helps us to understand the problem and points us also towards the life-giving solution.

GOD GIVES LIFE

“Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.” (1).

• The Lord gave Cain (1)
• The Lord gave Abel (2)

Despite God saying that the penalty for sin would be death, he did not execute the entire penalty immediately. He continued to give life.

We deserve death, but God gifts life.

What do we do with this gift of life? We take it without thanks and even take it from others.

WE TAKE LIFE

There are two ways life is taken in this passage.

• A God-appointed sacrifice (3-5): God appointed animal sacrifices to be offered in place of sinners when they sinned. Life is taken from animals to secure life for sinners.
• A God-defying murder (5-8): Although Abel complied with God’s order, Cain thought he knew better. He offered some fruit and veg instead. When his paltry offering was rejected, he took it out on his brother Abel and killed him. This was the first murder.

Some see their need for a sacrifice, some want to make others a sacrifice. 

Is there any way to get life back?

JESUS GIVES LIFE

Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” (John 10:10-11)

• Jesus gave his life: This too was a God-defying murder.
• Jesus offers us life: This too was a God-appointed sacrifice.

I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 

Jesus came to die a dreadful death, that we might come to abundant life.

Live life through Jesus’s death. Now that’s a life worth living.

This episode of Living the Bible lines up with Expedition 2: Day 6 in  Exploring the Bible Together: A 52 Week Family Worship Plan and Exploring the Bible: A Bible Reading Plan for Kids. You can catch up with previous episodes of the Living the Bible podcast here or subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and Google Podcast.

Everyone wants to be #Blessed. But what is that and how do I get it?

• Some try to find blessing in work and fail
• Others try to find it in family and fail
• Others try to find it in health/long life and fail

Why do these attempts to find blessing fail? We need to understand cursing before we can understand blessing. In Genesis 3:16-19 we discover how God curses in order to bless us.

LIFE WAS CURSED TO MAKE US SEEK BLESSING

As a result of sin:

• God cursed child-bearing (16)
• God cursed working life (17-19a)
• God cursed our bodies (19b)

Why did God do this? It was partly to make us feel the evil of sin. But it was mainly to stop us seeking blessing in lesser things and missing the greatest blessing of all. God cursed the areas we often turn into idols and try to find our satisfaction in – work, family, health, and long life.

He did this to make us seek blessing in something far greater and better for us.

Earthly life was cursed to make us seek heavenly blessing.

But what is that? Where do I seek it and find it?

JESUS WAS CURSED TO GIVE US BLESSING

“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’—so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles” (Galatians 3:13-14).

• Jesus suffered God’s curse on the cross
• Jesus removed God’s curse on the cross
• Jesus opened the way to God’s blessing on the cross

Jesus blessed the cursed by becoming cursed for the blessed.

You can be #Blessed because Jesus was Xcursed. Life was cursed to make us seek blessing. Jesus was cursed to give us blessing. Therefore, find God’s blessing in God’s cursing.

This episode of Living the Bible lines up with Expedition 2: Day 5 in  Exploring the Bible Together: A 52 Week Family Worship Plan and Exploring the Bible: A Bible Reading Plan for Kids. You can catch up with previous episodes of the Living the Bible podcast here or subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and Google Podcast.

When I played soccer at high school, I could usually predict whether we would win or lose as soon as we saw the other team. For some reason, most of the players on my team were smallish. Extremely skillful but rather short. When we turned up and saw that we were playing a team of giants (which was quite often), I knew we were going to lose.

I knew that not because the big team were better soccer players – our team usually had the better players. It wasn’t so much about our physical height (or lack of it), but more to do with our mindset. “They’re taller; we’re toast.” That was our team’s mindset. It was a loser mentality. We had lost before the game even began. My team didn’t even try. We were losers and therefore we lost.

We can sometimes take that loser mindset into our battle with the Devil. “He is so big and strong; I am so small and weak. He’ll defeat me. He detests me. He’ll destroy me.” No wonder he wins! When we have a loser mindset, he’s won before the fight even begins.

We must change our loser mentality into a winner mentality. How? By remembering we have the biggest player in the world on our team, the Lord Jesus Christ. When he appears, we win, and the Devil loses. That’s what we learn in Genesis 3:14-16, the first three-point gospel sermon.

GOD DEFEATS THE DEVIL

God spoke these words not only to the snake, but to the Devil who occupied and used the snake.

• You’re cursed: The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock, and above all beasts of the field” (14).
• You’re a crawler: “On your belly you shall go” (14).
• You’re a loser: “Dust you shall eat all the days of your life” (14).

When you feel like a spiritual loser, remember your opponent is the world’s biggest loser.

Why does God promise to do this?

GOD DETESTS THE DEVIL 

God said to the devil: “I will put enmity [hostility] between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring” (15).

• I hate you: God hates the devil with a perfectly holy hatred, and therefore….
• I will make you hated: God promises to break up the unholy friendship between the devil and humanity and to put hostility between them instead. That’s a mercy.

Most hatred is merciless, but this hatred is merciful.

God hates the devil and the devil hates God, but who ultimately wins?

GOD DESTROYS THE DEVIL

The devil is going to attack the Seed of the woman with the aim of destroying him.

• You’re a heel-biter: “And you shall bruise [crush] his heel” (15). A painful but not fatal attack.
• Meet the skull-crusher: “He shall bruise [crush] your head” (15). A killer blow.

This is what Christ did, isn’t it? “The devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8).

Put your faith in the skull-crusher, the devil-destroyer, to destroy the works of the devil.

When the devil attacks you and you feel like you’re going to lose, on the basis of Genesis 3:14-15, you can adopt a winner mentality. Why? The world’s biggest winner is making the devil the world’s biggest loser.

This episode of Living the Bible lines up with Expedition 2: Day 4 in  Exploring the Bible Together: A 52 Week Family Worship Plan and Exploring the Bible: A Bible Reading Plan for Kids. You can catch up with previous episodes of the Living the Bible podcast here or subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and Google Podcast.

Coronavirus, economic recession, race protests and riots. Little wonder that months of this have left us divided and disconnected from one another as never before. We fear one another. We fight one another

Can we ever get back to the United States of America?

We need to understand the problem before we can fix it. To do that, we need to go back to where the problems all began. This didn’t start in China. This didn’t start with George Floyd. This didn’t start with President Trump’s election. The division and disconnect started about 6,000 years ago in the Garden of Eden. The fear and fighting began in paradise in Genesis 3:8-13. Because, it was in the paradise of Eden that sin began.

We need to understand what happened there and then, if we want to understand here and now. The good news is that by identifying the problem we can then begin to address it and solve it

SIN DIVIDES AND SEPARATES FROM GOD

Genesis 1-2 paints an idyllic scene of connection to and communion with God. But there’s a dramatic change of scene in Genesis 3.

• God is looking for Adam and Eve: “But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, ‘Where are you?’” (9)
• Adam and Eve are running from God: And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” (10)

What a change in their relationship with God. From connection and communion with God to disconnect and division. Most analysts and commentators don’t think our relationship with God, or lack of it, is much of a problem. But it’s THE problem. It’s the fundamental and foundational problem.

But the good news is that God is still looking for us. He’s still asking, “Where are you?” We may be satisfied without God, but God isn’t satisfied without us. Through the Gospel, he runs after us, pursuing us with mercy, calling us to connect and commune with him.

We are running from God in fear, but God is running after us in love.

But how’s that connected with our current problems, our society’s division and disconnect? Look at how sin disrupts not only our relationship with God but with one another.

SIN DIVIDES AND SEPARATES US FROM ONE ANOTHER

Adam and Eve had the perfect marriage. Naked and unashamed. Perfect harmony and love. Never a bad word, never a bad argument, never a bad thought about one another. Not any more.

• Adam and Eve were hiding from one another: Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths (7).
• Adam and Eve were fighting one another: “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate” (12)

Do you see how disruptive and divisive sin is? This is THE problem.

The problem is not police brutality, it’s human depravity.

Tomorrow we’ll focus on God’s solution, the Gospel of Christ. But until then, I want to leave you with the good news that through the Gospel, God can remove hiding and fighting from our hearts.

If Christ can fix the disconnect between us and God, he can fix the disconnect between us and others. If we get right with God through Christ, we can get right with one another through Christ.

Sin divides and disconnects from God and others, but the Gospel unites and connects with God and others.

This episode of Living the Bible lines up with Expedition 2: Day 3 in  Exploring the Bible Together: A 52 Week Family Worship Plan and Exploring the Bible: A Bible Reading Plan for Kids. You can catch up with previous episodes of the Living the Bible podcast here or subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and Google Podcast.

Do you ever get taken in by the promised rewards of sin? I do. Here’s how it usually works for me:

• I listen to its plusses
• I think about its plusses
• I desire its plusses
• I act upon its plusses

Does that sound familiar? I think we all recognize that pattern, don’t we? Do you want to break it? We can do so with the help of Genesis 3:6-8. The first sin began with exactly the same pattern. 

SIN PROMISES A GREAT TASTE (6)

Eve listened to sin’s plusses, thought about its plusses, desired its plusses, and acted upon its plusses. What plusses did sin attract her with?

• Satisfaction: The fruit was good for food
• Happiness: The fruit was a delight to the eyes
• Progress: The fruit will make me wise.

That sounds very attractive. That’s a lot of plusses, isn’t it? Why shouldn’t I have a taste? What could possibly be wrong with satisfaction, happiness, and progress?

SIN PRODUCES A BITTER POISON (7-8)

I once asked a server in a restaurant, “What’s your speciality?” “Our Calamari is amazing!” she beamed. I actually didn’t know what that was, but didn’t want to admit it, and therefore responded, “Great, I’ll have the Calamari then.”

It looked quite nice when it arrived, sort of like pasta. Then I put it in my mouth. The initial taste was fine but then I tried to bite into what I thought was pasta. It had a disgusting rubbery type of texture. I couldn’t even get my teeth through it.

What on earth was this? I looked it up on Google – Squid! Yuk!! I couldn’t get it out of my mouth fast enough. I found it hard to eat anything after that.

I was so looking forward to my meal, but it couldn’t have been more disappointing or disgusting. Sin is like that. It promises a great taste but produces a bitter poison. Look at what happened to Adam and Eve.

• Shame: Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths (7)
• Fear: And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves (8).
• Retreat: And the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden (8).

That’s an even worse taste and texture than Calamari isn’t it.

Sin promises a great taste but always produces a bitter poison. It promises satisfaction but produces shame, it promises happiness but produces fear, it promises progress but produces retreat.

Believe that sin is never a positive but always a negative. It’s always a poison and never a slap-up meal.

There’s only one person we can truly rely on and that’s Jesus. In the Gospel he promises satisfaction, happiness, and progress. And he always keeps his promises.

This episode of Living the Bible lines up with Expedition 2: Day 2 in  Exploring the Bible Together: A 52 Week Family Worship Plan and Exploring the Bible: A Bible Reading Plan for Kids. You can catch up with previous episodes of the Living the Bible podcast here or subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and Google Podcast.