The Grace of Giving

2 Corinthians 8:1-9, 13-15 Last Sunday in our adult bible class we were talking about various aspects of basic Christian piety:  prayers before and after meals, prayers at the beginning and ending of the day, a daily bible reading plan and daily devotion, doing good work in our vocation, worship and bible study on the Lord’s Day, and Christian giving.

            We talked more in depth about what Christian giving is because we are about to start 2 Corinthians and much of this letter deals with giving.  And we said that Christian giving has several important features.

Christian giving is first-fruits.  In other words giving for the work of the Lord is our first financial priority.  We said that it is proportionate—that it is reflective of the gifts that God has first given us.  We said that our giving as Christians is to be intentional—that we are thoughtful about what we give and have a giving plan.  And finally we said that it is sacrificial—that it costs us something significant, that we can feel it in the pocket book, and that we could spend much more on ourselves if we did not give so much to the Lord.

That is what Christian giving is from God’s perspective.  Those are some ways to describe and measure pious Christian giving. 

But what we hear today from God’s Word is where we gain a heart and mind and will for that kind of giving—that hearts and hands that are glad to give generously to the Lord come from his gift of salvation in Jesus and from the gift that he gives us when he allows us to share in his saving work in this world with our offerings.  The Bible says:

We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.

            I want to take just a moment to explain what was going on in the early church.  Throughout Judea there was an extreme drought and over three years every harvest failed.  We know from ancient historians that millions died.  There were no helping agencies to bring relief.  If people were going to be saved from starvation, everyday people were going to have to do it.

And so throughout the Roman Empire, Gentile Christians came together to send financial aid to their Jewish brethren in Judea. 

These Gentile Christians who gave to those in need were not rich people—for the most part they were common folk-- and the Bible says in these verses that they themselves struggled under extreme poverty.  But in the midst of their extreme poverty the Lord gave them a gracious gift.  Do you know what that gift was?  The grace of giving. 

Their hearts were filled with joy that came with their life with Jesus and all they needed was a way, an opportunity, to let that joy overflow into the lives of others.  And so the Lord gave them a gift—the gift of giving—the gift of seeing how richly they had been blessed (despite their poverty) through the gift of sharing with others.

I want you to mark in your Bibles the contrast between “their extreme poverty” and their “wealth of generosity”.  Here’s the point:  Being of limited means was no impediment to their generous giving.  Paul shares this example with the Corinthians and with us here this morning to encourage us in our own giving. 

He wants us to ask ourselves:  Is there an abundance of joy in my heart for the life I have with Jesus?  Does that joy overflow with generosity towards supporting his work in the world?  Do I see my Christian giving as a gift that God has first given me, a privilege to work with him?  And if severe affliction and extreme poverty was no barrier to the Macedonians giving generously, what is holding me back from doing the same?  The Bible says that:

They gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own free will, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints—

and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.

            In every aspect of a sincere, heartfelt Christian piety there are people, fellow believers, saints of God who we can look to as an example to follow.  That’s what Paul is doing here.  He is saying:  if you want to know what Christian giving looks like you need look no further than the Macedonians whose first priority was love for the Lord and his people. 

They begged Paul to give to this work.  They gave far beyond their limited means.  They regarded their gifts as a favor that Paul was doing for them!  They knew that their gifts were much, much more than money-- but a sure and certain sign of an entire life given over to the service of Christ and his Church. 

How about us?  When there is some financial need at Church do we hope and pray that no one calls on us?  If we do give, is it some small sum that really doesn’t stretch our faith?  And then, when we do give something, do we get all puffed up at the great thing we have done for God?  In our Christian giving, do we show that we are giving ourselves FIRST AND FOREMOST to Christ and his church?  We should.  The Bible says that:

We urged Titus that as he had started, so he should complete among you this act of grace. But as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you—see that you excel in this act of grace also.  I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine.

            The Corinthians were in incredibly gifted congregation.  God had showered them with material and spiritual blessings and in many, many ways they reflected that giftedness in their lives as individual Christians and as a Christian congregation.  Paul says that they “excelled” in everything related to their life in Christ. 

But there was still one more part of the life of faith that needed their attention and their commitment and that was their Christian giving and Paul wanted them to excel in this too as a sign of the genuineness of their faith.  Their giving proved their faith.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we are a gifted congregation.  It is hard for me to even convey to you how blessed we are! 

We are in such a remarkable position in terms of location and facilities and opportunities and stability and peace and workers that the vast majority of congregations can only dream of.  God has blessed us and guided us and provided for us for a purpose:  that we would be a blessing to others—that we would trust this God who has blessed us in the past to bless us in the future—that we would help others in this community to know and love the Savior we know and love.

And that is really the key to this part of our Christian life.  There is, in the New Testament, no specific command regarding what the faithful child has to give to the Lord.  No command.  No law.  No rule.  There is only the sacrifice of Jesus, freely, completely, graciously, generously given for us that fills our hearts and minds and wills and changes everything for us, including how we think about money and giving.  The Bible says that:

You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.

            The Macedonians knew it.  The Corinthians knew it.  We know it:  The incredible gift that God the Father has given to us in his Son.

Our Lord Jesus Christ who is the one, true and living God of the universe took upon himself our broken flesh, was born in a trough to peasant parents, earned his living by the sweat of his brow, had no place to lay his head, took upon himself every one of our sins:  our fear, our lack of trust, our grudging giving-- and carried that terrible burden to the cross and died under its weight with the curse of God upon it, stripped of every earthly possession and even his own life.

The One who was rich in every way became poor in every way so that in what theologians call The Great Exchange we could become truly rich.  And that is what each and every one of you are:  rich beyond human imagination.

You are sons and daughters of the living God of the universe.  Your sins are forgiven.  You possess the righteousness of Christ.  And you will live in an eternal home prepared just for you that the most magnificent earthly castle cannot begin to compare.  That is who you are.  That is what you possess.  That is your eternal future. 

And that is why you can open your mind and your heart and your hands and give generously to the Lord and his mission joyfully and generously, without fear, knowing that the God who has given you Jesus and eternal riches will not then withhold anything from you in this life—not the joy of giving a gift, not the comfort of receiving a gift.  The Bible says:

I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a matter of fairness your abundance at the present time should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness. As it is written, “Whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack.”

            Throughout our lives and there are giving times and there receiving times.  God has ordered the life of the church in the Body of Christ in such a way that we all work together for the common good and for the salvation of the world—giving and receiving.

When we are children, when we are in need, when we are in our later years we may be more on the receiving side.  But even a small child can share and a person in need can give their thanks and appreciation and an elderly person confined to a nursing home can pray for their pastor and church.  We don’t like to think about being on the receiving side but that is one of the ways that God helps others grow in their faith when they care for us.

For most of us here today, we are on the giving side of life.  We have been blessed materially-- so that we can be a blessing to others by helping them when they have a need but especially so that they can come to know Jesus through the mission of the Church and we have nothing to fear in giving generously because they One who has given us Jesus will meet our needs.  Amen.

God's Answer to "Why"?

God's Answer to "Why?"

Job 38:1-11 A tsunami in the Indian Ocean.  A tornado in Texas.  And the question that everyone has—from the people who are affected, to the aid workers on the ground, to the millions of people like us who watch it unfold on TV is:  “why”?  Why did this happen?

            I think we all understand that what IS NOT being asked about are the geophysical causes of these disasters (earthquakes on the ocean floor and colliding currents of warm and cold air) is not the answer that people are looking for when they ask “why”.

            We understand that because we have asked our own questions of “why”.  Why did my grandchild die in that car wreck?  Why was my wife stricken with cancer?  Why was my child born with a birth defect?  Why was my home destroyed by fire?  And the answers that we are looking for have nothing to do with car safety or cancer cells.

            When that question of “why” is asked, what we want to know is the cosmic meaning of what had just happened—especially the “why’s” of why me—why my family—why here—and why now? // 

            This question of “why” is a believer’s question--not that all of those affected by tsunamis and tornadoes believe in and know the one true God as he has revealed himself in the Bible.  But they do understand that there is a Creator who brought this world into being and sustains it day by day. 

And recognizing that there is a powerful Creator, those affected by tragedies wonder what God is doing when the earth’s foundations were shaken-- and why the limits of the sea ceased to exist--and why it happened to them and theirs-- just like we wonder why tragedy and trials befall us and those we love.

            Atheists do not ask this question of “why”.  They are satisfied with the material and physical answer because they believe that is all there is. 

            But the vast, vast majority of the world’s people have always known that there is a God of power and wisdom who rules this world-- and because of that knowledge-- have asked the question of “why” when trouble and trial and tribulation happens to them.//   

            The story of Job deals with that human question of “why”.              Job was a believer in the one true God and knew him to be much more than an anonymous. He knew God as we know him—as he is revealed in the Bible--as the LORD:  the covenant God of love and goodness who from the beginning promised to rescue the world from evil.

            Job was richly blessed by God—he had great possessions, a wonderful family, and good health.  And yet over a very short time all these blessings were taken away.  His possessions were destroyed, his family was killed, and his health was ruined.

            And yet, he did not curse God.  In one of the greatest confessions of faith found in the Bible—a confession of faith that captures the great theme of his story (that God is God and we are not) Job says, “The LORD gives and the LORD takes away, blessed be the name of the LORD.   And he was right-- and that should have been enough. 

But as Job was visited by three friends who came to console him, doubts and the questions took over his life as he and his friends try to make sense out of “why”.

            They said:  Maybe God is punishing you Job.  What have you done wrong?  Maybe you haven’t done anything wrong and God has dealt with you unjustly.  Maybe God is using this whole experience to make you stronger. 

And on and on—question after question—treating God as if he were an object for their examination—questioning his ways in the world as if they were an intellectual or philosophical exercise that exists for human speculation.

            That is where we find ourselves in our lesson for the day as God speaks to Job out of the midst of a storm and reminds him in the strongest possible way that his ways in the world are not objects for our human examination or subjects for our speculation and he will not be treated in that way. 

The Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:  "Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?  Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.  "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?  Tell me, if you have understanding.  Who determined its measurements—surely you know!  Or who stretched the line upon it?  On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?  "Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb, when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors, and said, 'Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed'?

            After all their questions and musings and ponderings, it is not an idea or a force or an object or a theory that answers Job and his friends-- but it is the one true and living God of the universe—the Creator and Sustainer of all that exists—the LORD who has shown himself time and time to be good and just and merciful.

            And who is it that has presumed to question the LORD?  A mere man!  In this divine dialogue between God and man, there is one who will be called to give an account!  There is one who will answer questions!  There is one who will be put to the test!  But it is not the Creator—it is his creature.  It is not the LORD—it is man. //

            Where was Job when the LORD called the world into existence—when he created all that is?  Job didn’t exist and what’s more, you and I didn’t either.

            Where was Job when God was bringing order out of that which was formless and void—setting the cornerstone that holds the world together—and fixing the boundary for the land and the sea? Job was lifeless dust and so were we.

            What right did Job have to question God about anything that happened to him when he couldn’t even begin to understand the simplest things about the creation of the world?  Job didn’t have a right to question why and neither do we.

            How could Job doubt God’s purposes and plans for him when the entire universe revealed a Creator who knew and upheld and ordered the smallest detail of his creation?  How could there be any doubt in Job’s mind that this same LORD had also perfectly planned each detail of every human life? 

There couldn’t be any doubt as to the wisdom of God for Job and there shouldn’t for us either. //

            These questions that God asks were not meant to mock Job or belittle him or crush him under their weight.  They were meant to remind Job, and his friends, and all of us --who we are and what our place is in the world—that God is God and we are not. 

            But this heavenly reminder given to Job that “God is God and we are not” doesn’t really answer the questions of “why” that Job has, does it?  It doesn’t answer the question of why those terrible things happened to him.  And God does not promise to answer our questions of “why” either when it comes to the tragedies that befall us.

            Still, the answer that God does give is enough:  there is a personal God who is present in the world—a loving LORD who is powerfully working to bring his good purposes to bear in his creation-- including in the lives of his people.

            In that knowledge Job was content and secure and even joyful in his creaturely-ness because he knew the truth about God and the truth about himself.  At the end of God’s questioning Job says,

“Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.  Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes."      

            So it is for us.  We rest in the fact that God is God and we are not—that the LORD who has perfectly ordered creation will perfectly order our life and the lives of those we love as well—even in the midst of trials and tragedies and tribulations.  But there is even more comfort for us than there was for Job.  //

            Many years after these events in the book of Job, a teacher and his disciples were out sailing on the Sea of Galilee when a furious storm came up threatening to overturn their boat and drown them all.  The disciples had questions too.

“Don’t you care if we drown?”  (And he did!)  He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet!  Be still!”  Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.  They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this that even the wind and the waves obey him?”  //

            The questions posed to Job as to the identity of the One who laid the foundation of the earth and set the boundary of the sea-- and the questions of the disciples as to who it is that can even command the wind and waves-- are not questions that invite our speculation.  They are questions with an answer—and that answer is:  it is God alone who rules all things-- including every detail of our life.

            He is the creator of the world—he is the teacher in the boat who stills the storm—and most importantly of all-- he is the man of the cross who suffers and dies because he cares for each of us.

            The God who called Job to account for his questions and invited him to trust in him simply because he was God-- showed himself, in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, to be worthy of Job’s trust, and the disciples’ trust, and our trust as well—even in, and especially in, those situations that cause us to question “why”.

            The LORD did not keep us or our suffering at arm’s length—our trials and tragedies are not a matter of his uncaring, disinterested observation from far above.  Instead, he took them upon himself—he was as Isaiah says, a man of sorrows because there is nothing in our broken human existence that was unknown to him. 

Jesus also took upon himself our doubting questions and our sinful worries and our faithless fears and all of the broken-ness and heartache that weighs us down-- and he carried them to the cross and left them behind forever in the empty tomb never to burden us again. //

            All of us will face those tragedies and trials that tempt us to ask “why”.  Our comfort and peace and solace does not come from a heavenly answer to our specific questions but instead comes from the cross and empty tomb and the simple, glorious promise of Holy Scripture that the One who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all will along with him give us all things-- and that nothing, no trial or trouble or tribulation can separate us from his love.  Amen.

Our Heavenly Dwelling

Our Heavenly Dwelling

2 Corinthians 5:1-10 Caroline and I have lived in Ft. Worth and Ft. Wayne and Kingsville and San Angelo and every time we have returned from a business trip or vacation, we say:  I’m glad to be home.

But what we should have said is:  “home for now”—because none of those places were our permanent address.  Maybe you’ve moved around a lot more than the four or five times we’ve moved—maybe you’ve moved around a lot less than we have-- but all of us have at least one more move to look forward to—a move to our heavenly home-- for no place on earth is our permanent address.

Unless the Lord comes first, our earthly lives will come to an end and we will journey on from this world to our true dwelling place in heaven.  The Bible says:

For we know that if the tent, which is our earthly home, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 

            No matter how long we live in one place, no matter how attached we are to our own little corner of the world, our lives on earth are like a tent.  I have spent many nights camping out in tents and they serve quite well-- for a time.  But eventually they wear out and get musty and smelly and torn and full of holes and they no longer serve their purpose-- which is to shelter us temporarily.  So it is with our earthly lives.

That is why it is such Good News for us to KNOW that there is another dwelling for us in heaven that Paul says is a building built by God that will last forever

Bible scholars are divided as to whether Paul is speaking of our resurrection bodies that we receive on the last day-- or our heavenly dwelling place in the glory of God.  But there is no contradiction between them—instead, they are complementary.  Our earthly bodies will die and earth itself will be destroyed.  But our resurrection bodies and our heavenly homes will endure forever. 

That this is our future, Paul says we can KNOW.  And so why is he so confident about our eternal future?  It’s because of Christ’s resurrection. 

If ever an earthly tent had been destroyed, it was Christ’s body on the cross.  But he also knew that Jesus had been raised—he met the resurrected Christ and saw his glorified body.  He knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that there was something greater than the best earthly life still to come for the Christian after their death-- and he looked forward to it rather than feared it.  Paul writes:

For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked.  For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened--not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed… 

God created us to live without sickness and disability and death-- but our sin brought that to an end-- and now our earthly lives are marked by frailty-- and they will eventually be destroyed by death as easily as tent pegs being pulled from the ground.

Until that day, our temporary, earthly lives are often filled with groans.  There are aches and pains and illness and disability.  There is the pain of separation when loved ones pass away.  And then there is the burden of our own sinfulness and how far we are from the glory of God.  All of these and more are “part and parcel” of our earthly lives and bring forth groans from our inmost hearts.

And so we long to be delivered from all of it.  Not that we want to die, but we have a deep sense that even the best, most blessed earthly lives are not-- and can not be-- all that there is—that there must be more to life than temporary, fading joys and finally death.  The Good News for us is that there is more—much more.

There is another life to come for us and another place for us to live.  The Bible says that what is mortal is swallowed up by life.

The ancients saw the grave as that which swallowed up life—that no matter how long life was—no matter how successful in earthly terms—no matter how prominent and powerful a person—in the end the grave swallowed life whole. 

As Jesus was laid in the tomb, it certainly seemed as if there was no escaping the grave for anyone-- but three days later the grave suffered its first defeat as Christ rose up victorious—his life swallowing up death itself.  And on the Last Day the grave will suffer defeat after defeat as our bodies are raised from our graves by the same Almighty power that raised Christ from his grave.  The Bible says that:

He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always of good courage.

            That we have a heavenly home and another life to live when this brief time on earth is over is completely God’s doing—it is the work of his hands.  He has chosen us for this very purpose and has sent his Son to deliver us from sin and death.

But God has done even more.  He has given us his Holy Spirit as a sure sign that this hope that we have of another life and another dwelling place is not just a pious wish but as real and concrete and certain as the physical bodies and homes we live in right now.  Paul calls this gift of the Spirit:  a guarantee-- and for the Greeks this word described a down payment or earnest money that secured a financial deal. 

That you believe in Jesus Christ—that you confess him as your Lord and Savior—that you desire to live a life pleasing to him even though at times you fail—is a sure sign of the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life which is a guarantee from God himself that when you pass from this life you will enter your heavenly home. 

All the things that tempt us to fear:  an unknown future—separation from our loved ones—economic downturns—and our own mortality—are completely changed because we know our ETERNAL future and ETERNAL home.

We long for that day even while we entrust the timing to the Lord and strive to live with heavenly values and priorities and purposes right now.  Paul writes:

We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight.  Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.  So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. 

            One sure sign that we are not yet home is that we live by faith rather than by sight.  We trust God’s promise about our heavenly home even though we cannot yet see its fulfillment.  But there is coming a day for us when we will see it with our own eyes.

Certainly we would like to be home right now!  What a blessing to see the One who has loved us throughout our lives with an everlasting love.  What a joy to see our loved ones who have already gone to be with the Lord!  But we’re not there yet. 

Until that day we make it our aim to please Jesus where we are in life right now.  The word that Paul uses there means that we make it our AMBITION to please the Lord.  Ambition is what drives our life—the goal that is always before us that orders our lives.  Pleasing the Lord in all that we say and do—this is our aim—this is our ambition—this is the goal that orders our lives until the day that we make that final journey home. 

Those who live life on earth yearning for their heavenly homes—those who make it their ambition to please the Lord-- have absolutely nothing to fear on the day when we called forth from this life to stand before the LORD.  The Bible says:

We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

            That we must first appear before the judgment seat of Christ before entering our heavenly home, may cast a shadow on our journey home.  But they shouldn’t! 

Those who trust in Christ for salvation have absolutely nothing to fear in the judgment to come because the One who judges us—has already passed through that judgment in our place.  He was counted guilty of our sins and sentenced to death—for us.  He suffered the pains of hell upon the cross-- for us.  And he died-- for us.  But he rose again and is seated at God’s right hand and he will judge the world.

We have nothing to fear on that day when we journey from life on earth to heaven- for we have already died with him and been raised with him in Holy Baptism-- and God counts his life and death as our own through faith in Jesus.  And because of that, his judgment is actually something to look forward to. Let me explain:

The pictures your children colored in Sunday are probably not great works of art.  There may be color outside the lines or the colors were all wrong.  But they are proud of what they did and as their parent you are proud too—simply because they are your children.  And that picture goes up on the refrigerator and is still probably stored in some box if your wife is like mine.

That’s what the judgment will be for God’s children—an opportunity for us to show God what we have done for him while we lived on this earth. 

And when he looks at our halting efforts—when he sees those times that we didn’t quite get it right—what he really sees is the perfection of his Son Jesus who always got it right—and that makes all the difference in the world as we prepare for that final move to our heavenly home.  Amen.

The First Gospel Promise

The First Gospel Promise

Genesis 3:8-15 If you talk to the average American about their relationship with God (assuming they have one at all and that is increasingly rare!) they would almost certainly talk about it in terms of their being the one who is seeking God.  They are the initiators—they are the ones who act—and they are certainly the ones who set the terms for what that relationship is.

That idea has even crept into the church.  Churches have “seeker-services” designed for all those people who they think are on a great spiritual quest.  And those who have gone through some spiritual experience say that they have “found” God. 

Now, please don’t get me wrong—I am thankful to the Holy Spirit for every person he brings to faith—even if that person cannot articulate it biblically.  But God is not lost—we are.  God doesn’t need finding—we do.  We do not choose God—he chooses us.

Baptism and Holy Communion are not acts of obedience, works of our hands whereby we show our faith in God.  Rather, they are acts of mercy whereby God graciously reaches down, makes us his own, and feeds us with the gifts of salvation he gives in Christ’s body and blood.

Now, if you are thinking to yourself, well of course you say that Allan, you are a Lutheran pastor.  You’re right I am.  But I am going to let you decide from the Word of God whether I am right or not.  I am going to let you decide from the Word of God whether your church teaches the truth or not.  Does man seek God or does God seek man?  The Bible says that:

Adam and Eve 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 from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

            Immediately before this verse, Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s command, tried to cover their own shame by the work of their hands, and fled from God’s presence and hid from him. 

This is the spiritual condition of ALL of us by nature.  This is sinful mankind.  Alienated from God.  Running away from God.  Hiding from God.  Trying with every fiber of our being to hide our shame and guilt by the work of our own hands.  That is what sin has done to man.

So what about all of those promises of Satan, that going our own way and making our own decisions, will make us like God?  Absolute lies! 

Instead of gaining wisdom, mankind who was created by God in his image, as the pinnacle of his work, to exercise dominion over creation and bring forth new life-- flees from the God who is everywhere and hides from the God who knows everything.  Satanic foolishness!

There is no clearer picture in the entire Bible of what sin has done to us—and especially to our natural spiritual abilities—than this picture of Adam and Eve who have (in an instant of sin) lost a right knowledge of God and right relationship with God.  And- so- it- is- for every- one- of- Adam’s- children, by nature, down to this day.  By nature…

There are NO seekers of God among the children of Adam, there are only sinners whose guilt and shame drives us way from God as fast as we can go—whose sin and blindness robs us of any kind of right knowledge of God. 

That’s the way it is was in the garden—that is what sin did to Adam and Eve.  That is the way it is in our world today—that is what sin has done to every one of their children by nature and God could have—with perfect justice—destroyed them and the world with them.

But the God who created them in love, loved them still (just as he continues to love a world full of sinners) and sought them out and called them to return to him.  The Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 

Do you see the incredible act of humility and mercy that is here in this scene—that the almighty, all-knowing, living God of the universe calls out to his sinful, rebellious creatures:  Where are you?  Of course he knows where Adam and Eve are hiding!  He knows all things!  And yet God condescends- in mercy- to seek these sinners and call them to himself so that they can acknowledge their sin and come to him for forgiveness. 

In exactly the same way the gracious call of God still goes out to a world full of sinners who are running away from him as fast as they can, doing their level best to make their own way, and hiding from the truth of who they are just- like- Adam- did. 

Adam said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” [The LORD said], “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”

            God created us to live with him in perfect fellowship, to be counted as his children, to receive his blessings in time and eternity and yet sin has destroyed the faith and trust children ought to have for their father and made us terrified of God. 

That is what the Hebrew word means that our Bible translates as “afraid”—it describes someone so terrified they tremble like a leaf.  The Bible says that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.  That is what sin has done to us:  made us terrified of God and blind to our own broken condition. 

Adam told God that he was afraid because he was naked-- but he had ALWAYS been naked!  That had not changed!  What had changed was his sin and disobedience and the guilt and shame that goes along with it.  But God loved him—he loved Adam even though he sinned.

What a comfort this is for us!  We fall into some sin and we think that God no longer loves us and so what is the point of returning to him.  We get caught up in some kind of mess of our own making and we can’t figure out what went wrong and we wonder, what’s the use? 

But God loves us in the midst of it and seeks us out so that we can return to him before we destroy our life and the lives of those around us.  That’s what God was doing with Adam—calling to him, questioning him, refusing to let him hide so that Adam could know the truth about his sin and turn to God for help-- for his sake and the sake of those around him.

Adam said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”  Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” 

            When Adam saw Eve for the first time in the perfection of Eden he said one of the sweetest things recorded in the Bible.  He saw her and said:  This at last bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.  His joy in God’s good gift of a wife fairly leaps off the page. 

But look at what sin has done in such a short period of time!  The lie of Satan that their eating would bring blessing, has only brought destruction.  It has destroyed their life with God so that they blame God for their sin.  It has destroyed their life with one another so that they blame one another.  It is has destroyed God’s creation and brought death into the world. 

Adam and Even finally understood this.  At the end of their excuses, their confession was the heart of truthful simplicity:  I ate.  So it must be for us:  Lord, I have sinned.  As dark and as difficult as those moments of confession are, there is a bright beam of God’s gracious love and mercy and forgiveness that also begins to shine as he comes to our rescue.

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; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.  I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

            During our meditation on God’s Word this morning I hope that you have come to see the truth about the spiritual condition of mankind apart from God.  But now I want you to see just as clearly the goodness and mercy of God towards sinners—that he is not content to leave us blind and dead—that he does not want us separated from him by our sin—that he seeks us to save us. 

In the midst of man’s rebellion, while he fled from God and hid from God, when he had destroyed God’s perfect creation and brought death into the world, God still loved him and promised that, as dark as that moment was, sin and death would not be the end of the story but God himself would make things right again by the offspring of a woman who would crush Satan.

This is the first Gospel promise in the Bible and it was fulfilled within the womb of the Blessed virgin mother of our Lord Jesus Christ as the Second Person of the Holy Trinity took upon himself our flesh and became man—a Son of Adam—one of us.  The Bible says that the reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil

And so he has.  Even though it is not in our reading, I want to tell you what happens next.  The Bible says the Lord God made garments of skins and clothed Adam and Eve with them.  Do you understand?  The Lord made a promise of a Savior to come and then blood was shed.  A sacrifice was made.  And God himself covered man’s guilt and shame.  What the first Gospel promise meant, of a savior to come from the Seed of the Woman, began to take on shape.

And so it was that many thousands of years later Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, the Offspring of the Woman, went to the cross and shed his blood to cover our shame and guilt.  The innocent died in the place of the guilty.  Two rough beams of woods became the Tree of Life and three days later, early in the morning, as angels stood by, the restoration of Eden began- and death lost its hold on us and Satan was defeated. 

The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.  And so it is that everywhere this Good News is told, there the Holy Spirit is at work:  opening eyes that are blind, transforming minds that are at war against God, restoring the image of God in those who believe, laying the foundation for a right relationship between us and others, and giving us new life where before there was only death.     

The Good News for us today is exactly the same as it was for Adam and Eve all those years ago:  not that we seek God—but that he sought us out when we were lost and blind and dead.  Not that we love God—but that he loves us with an everlasting love that our sin cannot destroy.  Not that we made our way back to him—but that Jesus came for us and covered our sin with his sacrifice and restored us to our rightful place in God’s family as his children. 

God grant us his grace and the help of the Holy Spirit to believe it!  Amen.