Beginnings: Small Acts – Big Consequences
Genesis 3:7-19
This week, we are going to consider how small acts often have big consequences. What might have seemed like a very small act of disobedience to God by Adam and Eve in Genesis 3 ended up having what surely were unimaginable consequences – the fall of the entire human race. Christian poet, John Donne, once wrote that “no man is an island.” By that he meant that there is a connectedness to everything in creation. On the positive side, this teaches us that our lives matter. What we do makes a difference in the world. On the other side, we must know that our lives can also harm the world we are in.
Two weeks ago, the City Council unanimously passed a motion to limit the planting of palms on city streets and medians. The city's Department of Public Works has declared that the palm...is not a tree at all but a lowly species of grass...
Literature and films are filled with examples of this. Whether it’s Butterfly Effect, Lord of the Rings, Play It Forward, It’s a Wonderful Life or The Simpsons’ Magic Toaster episode, the same point is being made; i.e., everything we do matters. Fellow people made in God’s image: Even our small acts or words can bring good or harm to the world God created.
I don’t know if anyone has ever summarized this better than Dr. William Cheshire, Professor of Neurology at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in a lecture entitled The Ethical Significance of Embryonic Stem Cell Research.
Weighty matters sometimes concern the very small. In physics, splitting the atom changed the world. In biology, mutation of a single nucleotide base pair can give rise to diseases such as sickle cell anemia. In music, melody reaches the brain by way of the body’s smallest bones positioned within the middle ear…
The human embryo, likewise, is a small detail of vast importance. To consider the embryo vis-à-vis the preceding analogies is to encounter a “small” entity… that is a living clue to the mystery of emerging humanity. To this, one naturally responds in awe. Regardless of what one’s views may be on politics, jurisprudence, stem cell research, or cloning, thoughtful people generally agree that the beginning of human life marks something special. The initiation of human form during embryogenesis is a phenomenon unlike any other in biology. From this humble beginning emerge the minds of scientists, physicians, poets, philosophers, and lawyers alike.
In high school physics, we learn Newton’s Third Law of Motion: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. When it comes to our lives, we might add this: Our actions will most certainly bring about reactions -- and many of them will be totally unexpected and much more significant than we could ever have imagined. I’ve heard some people call this The Law of Unintended Consequences.
And this brings us back to Genesis 3. In our last study, we looked at that classic route by which people give in to temptation. Most of us agreed that we could see ourselves in Adam and Eve as the temptation came to doubt God’s goodness and go their own ways. Today we return to consider the consequences of giving in to temptation. The act itself, of disobeying God by eating of the one forbidden tree, must have seemed small. But, according to the Bible, the consequences of it have changed the course of the world.
What are these consequences? There are more than I ever could discuss in one sermon. But, today we will see how all human relationships – that at the end of Genesis 2 were very good – were harmed not only in Adam and Eve but also for all human beings who followed. As the Apostle Paul said in 1 Cor. 15:22, “In Adam, all die…” So, let’s look at the consequences briefly:
I. Right relationship with God was harmed.
Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. Gen. 3:38
This phrase “to walk with” is a beautiful idiom in Hebrew. It means to live and enjoy life together. It’s an idiom for a deep and growing friendship. But we see the people who were made to have this relationship to God – and who once had it – feeling they have to hide from God. And it’s all because of their sin. What happens is that sin leads to us hiding from a holy God who wants to have a relationship with us – who created us to have a relationship with him!
So, why do we hide? Why is it that, deep down, most people don’t really want a relationship to God? Last week we saw that the central aspect of sin is putting anything in God’s place. Our sin begins with breaking the first command! We don’t trust that what God asks us to do is actually good. We think our own desires and ways are better. So, bottom line: Sin is about power. We don’t want God to have power over our choices and over our lives.
This leads to what I see in so much American Christianity; i.e., I’ll have a relationship with God as long as it doesn’t get in the way of my own goals and needs – my pleasure and fulfillment.” We think of our relationship to God as a consumer’s relationship. We do the cost analysis. If it’s good for us, we’re in. If not, we hide so we might do whatever we like.
But a relationship with God is a covenant. Not a business contract. It’s to be a lasting relationship that we’re committed to whether we get anything out of it or not. This takes us back to Genesis 1 and the logical question, “What is it like to have a covenantal relationship with the God who created the world? When we live life “walking with” an infinite God, there is no way we will have power over him! He will be the one in control for he is God.
This brings me back to a point I made last week: Most people in our world believe there is a god. Most people in our world say they pray. But, I’m convinced that most people are not ready to accept the rule of God in their lives. We pray – yes – but only for what we think we can get God to do for us! We don’t easily pray as Jesus did, “Your will – not mine!”
So, we say we want to know God but, at the same time, we too hide from a God who says, “Put nothing before me.” So Adam and Eve hid partly out of humiliation but just as much out of fear – as Adam said in v. 10, “I was afraid.” Are these the ones who wanted to be like God? Now, like naughty children crouched in the closet, they ask, "What will He do when He finds out?" People can't be God. We were not made for that role. God remains the King. And we were made to “walk with” him. And to “walk with” God means that we must acknowledge God as God.
So, to keep control of our lives, we try to hide from God by filling our lives with endless activities, by shutting him out by playing our I-Pods, by trying to have other relationships fill in our need of Him… But it won't work. We were made to walk with God. The first consequence of sin is that it takes us from friendship with God to fear. From “walking with” to hiding.”
II. Right relationship with the world was harmed.
To Adam God said, "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life…” (Genesis 3:17)
The fulfilling work that people had engaged in as caretakers in God’s image took on painful elements after the sin. The dirt was no longer their friend. Work that was meant to be fulfilling and meaningful – just as God’s was in the days of creation became frustrating. In this material world, people began to get cold, get sick, experience natural disasters, and even die. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return (Gen. 3:19).
Erma Bombeck once wrote about this in one of her essays. “As a homemaker, my whole life is dominated by dirt. I fight it in the kitchen, down the hallways, into the bathrooms and into all the bedrooms. Then, when I get to one end of the house, I have to go back and start all over because it’s all dirty again! It never ends. And at the end of my life, what will I get? Six feet of dirt! In the end, the dirt wins!!”
The ground began produce thorns and thistles. The control over nature, which had been such a joy, turned into a battle and a burden. The elements began to threaten our existence causing anxiety and bitter toil. This, according to the Bible, was also the beginning of suffering. Three times we read the word "pain" ‑‑ associated both with childbirth and with daily labor. Referring to this, Paul would say in Romans 8:22ff that the whole creation groans as it must wait for the redemption of God – for God to complete his work. The one choice to reject God ended up affecting our entire material world.
A side issue: Now, in saying this, just as human beings still bear the image of God – though marred by sin – so too our world still bears the goodness and beauty of God’s creative work – though it has been marred by human sin. Still, a biblical view of God’s creation gives us opportunity to restore beauty – and to draw upon the goodness of creation. That’s why God’s healing sometimes comes supernaturally through prayer. But, just as much it comes naturally through medicines and medical knowledge – both of which are also part of God’s creation.
III. Right relationship with people was harmed.
The eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves… God said, "Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?" The man said, "The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it." (Gen. 3:7:11-12)
I want you to consider two words that express this relational harm: shame and blame.
1. Shame: In 2:28, Adam and Eve had no shame in their relationship – but everything changed in 3:7 after they disobeyed God. In this making of fig leaves, whom were they hiding from? They did this before God came into the garden so they must have been hiding from one another. This began a pattern that every therapist and counselor must deal with again and again when relationships go sour; i.e., we have things about ourselves that we cannot bear to have others know about. We have things inside that we don’t want others to know about. So we live lives controlling what others se about us. And that distances us from others.
You see, there was a kind of warped truth in the serpent's claim that disobeying God would enable them to know good and evil. Some have said that the only new thing Satan had to offer people was the experience of (that kind of knowing) of evil. Rebellion against God did change their perception of the world. The Bible teaches, "To the pure, all things are pure. But to the corrupted, nothing is pure." So they sinned and all kinds of possibilities, new possibilities, flooded into their imaginations now that rebellion against the creator's order was possible.
Possibilities of things they could do filled their minds and made them...blush. So the discovery of sin introduced a tension into their relationship. For the first time suspicion, distrust, self‑ consciousness, embarrassment ‑‑ they could no longer be completely open with one another. They veiled their bodies in their pathetic attempts to conceal their thoughts. Suddenly, they needed privacy. In many ways, they became alone again – keeping part of their lives to themselves.
2. Blame – The “blame game” – the “I’m just a victim” game that ruins relationships – began in Genesis 3. The man blamed the woman and God (note – “that YOU gave me!”). The woman blamed the serpent.
And this immediate response deepens our understanding of sin. Last week, we saw that sin involves putting ourselves into the place of God – believing that going my own way is better than going God’s. Here, on the level of our human relationships, we see it is justifying ourselves at the expense of others. It’s saying, “Others’ lives to enhance mine.” This is the sin that has consistently led to embezzlement, gossip, racism, murder, and wars. It’s led to tension and uncertainty between men and women – a topic rooted in verse 16 that I’ll have to come back to on another day.
This elevation of self over God and others is the sin that must be forgiven and redeemed if a church family will ever be a loving “unexpected family.” As the NT commands us again and again, “We are to look at the interests and needs of others as greater than our own.” “How?” Paul asks in Philippians 2. “The way Jesus did,” the Bible answers.
To have lasting relationships, we must see and value the image of God in others: our spouse, our parents, our colleagues, those of different nationalities, the immigrant, the person with different skin color. And this goes against our fallen and sinful natures. That’s why relationships are broken all over the world. We naturally rush toward shame and blame – hiding what is in our lives so that we are never really open – blaming others even when we know that we too have much that is hidden.
You see, there were certainly some circumstances that led up to the sin in Genesis 3. There were also others who contributed to the crime. But: each one was guilty of his own sins. Each one was responsible. When we have sinned, the only valid response is not to look around to blame others and justify ourselves. The only valid response, according to the Bible, is confession. "The buck stops here." "I did it. It began in me." That's what we must say if we will really comes to grips with our sin and gain victory over it.
But those are the very things we don't want to say. We prefer to hide what’s inside and blame others like Adam and Eve did. But note this: Nothing makes us sin. We are not determined by fate to sin. We choose to sin and because we choose, we are responsible. Only when we own that will our relationships begin to mend.
IV. Right understanding of ourselves was harmed
The man answered, “I was afraid because I was naked…” (Gen. 3:10)
The Hebrew word translated “naked” is also an idiom. It has to do with something we believe is shameful about ourselves being exposed. It’s this idea of, “There’s something wrong with me” that makes us try to prove ourselves. It’s at the root of perfectionism and dissatisfaction. We know ourselves and we can never be fully what we think we should be. Bottom line: It’s a lack of ease with whom we are inside. When our relationship with God is harmed, our relationship to everything is harmed – including ourselves. But, it’s only when those things about ourselves are owned and confessed to God that we find new life. Jesus said, “Truth sets free.”
Let me tell you something: When a long hidden sin suddenly comes out into the open, we often feel all is lost. But, the reality is that this kind of exposure is an opportunity – an opportunity to turn to God and to find him gracious. Why? Because the renewing grace of God is greater than our shame. It’s greater than our failure. It’s greater than our guilt. It’s greater than our sin.
Let me summarize: The sin of Genesis 3, that appears small in human values, had cosmos-changing consequences for us all. The deepest of those, in my view, have to do with the harm done to relationships – for God made us to be relational people as he is relational:
*Inner shame: As we live feeling we have to hide so much of our lives from others and feel we cannot live with complete openness.
*Relationships to people: The harmony and equality that God intended to characterize human relationships was distorted.
*Relationship with our world: There was a disturbance in the created order. The ground produces thorns and thistles. The control over nature which was such a joy in Gen. 2 is now often a battle and a burden. The elements often threaten human existence causing anxiety and leading to pain and suffering.
*Relationship with God: The broken relationship that leads to all others. It’s the most serious of all, i.e., we are alienated from God. So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. Gen. 3:23.
Can a fish live outside of water? Can a bird live without air? No more than human beings can really live without God. “In Him we live and move and have our being.” Adam did not leave God behind when he left Eden. What he left behind was the privilege of walking with God without shame and without fear.
The sad thing is that when he left it, he left it not only for himself but he left it also for all his posterity. The innocence he lost could not be recovered through human energy and intelligence. Sin had entered the world and now Adam's children would be born out of Eden.
I Cor. 15:22: As in Adam all die – so in Christ shall all be made alive!” There is a way back to life and we know it! Sin entered the world through Adam and now all of us sin too. But a second Adam has come. The creator Himself entered the world and offers to re‑create us. He is Jesus. "If any one is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things become new."
To His glory,
Dr. Greg Waybright
Senior Pastor
