Life Sunday
January 19, 2020
“Did God Really Say?”
Rev. John R. Larson
Ascension Lutheran Church Littleton, Colorado
What is the Fall into sin? You know, right? You’ve been sitting in a pew, or attending a Bible Class for some time, so the Fall into sin is well known to you.
But it is not well known to all of our congregation, especially the Confirmation class. When I asked about this the other week, Nolan gave me a shrug of the shoulders and empty palms in the air. A few took a stab at it, but missed. Now, Annaliese hit it on the head. “It was when Eve took a bite of that apple and gave some to Adam.” Good job.
But I want to tell you that that action wasn’t the first fall into sin. No, it had to happen before that. In order for the devil, the snake, to be hissing in that Garden, the Fall had to have happened before that. You Revelation Bible Study people know about this, “And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down – that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled down to the earth, and his angels with him.” (Revelation 12:7-9)
The Fall – that was the first one. And there was actually another one that happened before the bite of that fruit. It is found in these words, “Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’” (Genesis 3:1)
“Did God really say?” The original sin on earth was the creation of doubt in the heart of Eve and then Adam. Before the action came the doubt. In Genesis 3 the liar spoke, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Verses 4-5)
The devil wanted their thoughts to be such: Maybe God really didn’t say. Maybe He isn’t as good as we thought He was. Maybe we have a better idea on how things ought to be done. In one commentary about this, John Gibson writes, “Sin is first of all disobedience to God. It is doing what we know he wants us not to do, and it is not doing what we know he wants us to do. And it is discontent. It is being dissatisfied with what he has given us. And it is self-deceit. It is longing for an illusionary freedom when we can only be free as we obey him. And it is pride. It is thinking we can run our affairs better than he can. Above all it is rebellion. It is usurping God’s role and chasing him out of our lives.” (Genesis, Westminster Press, John C.L. Gibson, Page 124)
All the problems started with the doubting question, “Did God really say?” Isn’t it like that? One thing leads to another – sometimes in the worst ways. James, New Testament, “Each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is fully grown, gives birth to death.” (James 1:14-15)
Today I want to connect life issues – abortion, infanticide, abuse to the elderly or the handicapped – to this question, “Did God really say?” If God really has spoken about how we treat life in the womb and outside of the womb, for the youngest or the oldest, for the most capable or the least capable, then it must matter to us. When Adam and Eve did not listen to God’s clear word, it sent them, and us, into a terrible fall.
Recently I have been re-reading “Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy”. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a brilliant Lutheran Pastor who lived in Germany during WWII. He actively opposed Hitler, working on a plan to assassinate him, and for that plot died in a Nazi Concentration Camp. Hitler was murdering civilians, Jewish people, and had begun his “cleansing” of all the “defective” people in Germany and in the countries which they conquered. The author of this book, Eric Metaxas, writes, “Preparations for the T-4 euthanasia program had been under way for years. Now they hit the ground running. In August 1939 every doctor and midwife in the country was notified that they must register all children born with genetic defects – retroactive to 1936. In September (1939), when the war began, the killing of these “defectives” began.” (Page 354)
Bonhoeffer got into trouble because he was asking the question of those in power, “Did God really say” you should be doing this to the handicapped or to the Jews or to civilians and citizens of this country or any country. A man named Henning von Tresckow, a German who had seen too much evil said, “The German people will be burdened with a guilt the world will not forget in a hundred years.” He said that the guilt would fall not only on Hitler and his inner circle, “but on you and me, your wife and mine, your children and mine.” (Page 382)
Did God really say that life in the womb and outside, for the aged and those with limited abilities is precious? Yes. When atrocities happened some 75, or so, years ago in the Second World War, it still carries a guilt that many share. When there is a disrespect for life here in our community, in our country, there is a guilt that it carries to us and a burden that we all share.
Did God really say that life begins in the womb? Yes!! “You knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” (Psalm 139:13-14) In Jeremiah 1 God speaks to the prophet Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” (Verse 5)
What God says matters. God speaks and it forms our life, it corrects our actions and it challenges us to live in a new way.
But in so many matters we choose not to listen. Just like Adam and Eve, when planted with the doubt, “Did God really say?” we decide what we will hear and what we will ignore. To all of this God speaks again. Now it is the word of grace and of victory and of promise. God gave strong words to Adam and to Eve about the consequences of their actions. But He also spoke to the serpent, the devil, “Cursed are you above all livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” (Genesis 3:14-15)
You know about Genesis 3 – the chapter about the fall into sin. But did you know it is also the chapter about the rise from sin? Genesis 3 gives us the first promise of the Gospel. Here we find the first word about the battle between the devil and Christ, the first word that the devil would give a deadly bite to the body of Christ, the seed of the woman, but that Christ would give a deadly blow to the devil – He would crush his head.
“Did God really say?” is a great word to all of us who have not loved others like we love ourselves, who look inside and see sin. God says, and it is true, “The blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” (I John 1:7b) God says, and there is no doubt about it, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (I John 1:9) God says, He really says, “He (Jesus) is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” (I John 2:2) In the last chapter of Romans God really says, “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” (Romans 16:20a)
God’s word will correct us, discipline us, challenge us, heal us and now it will lead us. God says, and He means it, “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.” (Proverbs 31:8-9)
In Genesis 3 the word of doubt was begun with a question, “Did God really say?” The consequences of leaving God’s word was disastrous. For all of life and for the decisions we make on how we will live it, we are lead by what God speaks and says. And, now, looking at God’s final word, Jesus, we treasure the great love and forgiveness and new life He now gives.
Did God really say? Yes. His words are life and power and grace and joy. Did God really say? Yes, and we can’t wait to hear Him again. Amen!!