Series: The Hope of the Season

Genesis 3:15

1. why Christmas? Why Jesus? Why did God become a human being? Why this little baby in Mary’s womb?

2. Brian Doyle – I believe that a carpenter’s son named Jesus indeed cracked time in half, entered this world in the guise of a squalling infant, said his piece, was slaughtered for his pains, and cracked time again on his way home.
But why? Why this birth, this event which split not just time but humanity itself in half?

3. in 1858 Charles Spurgeon used these words in his sermon to describe the baby Jesus:
Infinite, and an infant
Eternal, and yet born of a woman
Almighty, and yet hanging on a woman’s breast
Supporting a universe, and yet needing to be carried
in a mother’s arms
King of angels, and yet the reputed son of Joseph
Heir of all things, and yet the carpenter’s despised son
But why, why did “he” happen?

4. to answer the “why” of Christmas we have to go back, way back, to the beginning, the very beginning. The first 3 chapter of Genesis. But even before that. We have to start with God.

Triune God (The Great Dance by C. Baxter Kruger)
1. who is God? God is Father Son & Spirit. The Triune God. 1 God existing in 3 persons. Don’t ask me to explain it because I can’t. If we could wrap our finite minds around God, than God wouldn’t be God.

2. God is a Triune being who exists in a circle of shared life. That life is full, abounding, rich & beautiful NOT lonely, sad or boring.

3. as a Triune being, God is fundamentally a relational being. There has never been a moment in all eternity when God was alone. He has always been Father Son Spirit. God has always existed in relationship. And this is the key to the universe, the key to our lives & the key to the kingdom of God, to the church.

4. why did God create the universe? Why did he create us if he had no needs & was fully self-sufficient within himself?

5. why did he create you, me, our children? Why did he create animals, birds, flowers & music? Why did he create mountains, lakes, rivers, trees, deserts & prairies? Why work, play, relationships, romance & sex? Why laughter, pleasure, rich dark coffee & Pad Thai? Is their a rhyme & reason behind all of this?

6. I can only think of 1 reason. The Father, Son & Spirit created the human race so that what they have together could be shared with us, so that their great dance of life could be extended to us & played out in our lives.

7. 1st there is the Trinity & the Triune life of God, a life of love & joy & community & oneness & glory. 2nd there is creation. God speaks the universe, the earth & humanity & all things into existence.

8. why? To extend the dance to us. The Father Son Spirit created us so that we could participate in their life together – in the knowledge, creativity, love, joy, intimacy, goodness – all played out in us & in our ordinary lives.

Genesis 1-2
1. Genesis 1 & 2 gives us creation. God created the world. He set into place something that did not exist before. He crafts a perfect environment in which, through which he can share his life with us.

2. the very best part of creation is man & woman. They alone, we alone, share his image & likeness. We alone are a reflection of him. We are fashioned for God & for each other.

3. 2:15-17 It struck me again this week that God created us with free will. You are free to eat. We have free choice. We are not pre-programmed to love & obey God. We all of us individually must make this choice.

4. you know what this means? God is a risk-taker, a gambler. He fashioned his creation with the freedom his creation could use to turn against him. This is exactly what happened.

5. as wonderful as love is, potentially love has a downside. Those you choose to love may choose to reject your love. And that hurts. God knows this rejection better than anyone. If you feel like a throw-away kid this morning, or spouse, or friend, or whatever, know this – God understands your feeling of rejection better than you.

Temptation & Fall (thanks to Craig Barnes)
1. things get dicey in Genesis 3. A serpent comes to Eve. Think Satan. He’s crafty, tricky. Still is. He twists the words of God in order to sew seeds of doubt within Eve. Still does.

2. we had help in messing up God’s good world. Satan tricked the man & the woman. But God doesn’t blame the serpent for their choice. They are responsible for choosing to believe a lie.

3. 2:15-17 The tree of the knowledge of good & evil. This is the garden. This is before the fall. This garden & everything God is declared good. BUT in the middle of that perfection is something Adam & Eve are told they cannot have.

4. we live at this tree everyday of our lives. This Adam & Eve story is contemporary, it’s our story. There is always something hanging around our lives that God says is beyond our reach. It is something we can see, but cannot have.

5. what does this tree symbolize in your life? Work, health, a relationship or an achievement you desperately want.

6. picture yourself with Adam & Eve. They are staring at the tree, looking at the fruit. They have to wonder – what is so special about this fruit? Why can’t we have it?

7. every time you confront this thing that is missing from your life you have to decide how you will respond to it. It will either become the altar where you kneel in prayer before the God who alone is whole & complete OR it will drive you crazy as you obsess over how to find what you do not have.

8. the tree of the knowledge of good & evil tells us that God has made us & this world with created limits. The question becomes, what are we going to do with those created limits?

9. the woman exercises her God-given free will & chooses to eat the forbidden fruit. She’s not satisfied. God is not enough. Adam is not enough. The garden is not enough. The other trees are not enough. But this piece of fruit, she thinks, will be enough.

10. do we learn something here about the nature of sin? Does it have something to do with wanting more than what God has given us? Not accepting our God-given created limits?

11. she eats. Her husband eats. And this world has been racked by dysfunction up to this very second. There occurred a rip in the fabric of creation:

§ 3:7 Self-awareness or consciousness was birthed. They now knew nakedness, symbolic of their guilt & shame – so they covered up.

What do we do when we feel guilt or shame? We cover up too. Try to hide things from each other. What are you hiding today?

§ 3:8 Spirituality was shredded. Their relationship with God was broken. They go from walking with him in the garden to hiding from him.

We are no different. We try to hide from God too. One way I hide is by staying busy, working. How do you hide?

§ 3:11-13 The blame game starts. The man blames the woman. The woman blames the serpent. No one wants to take responsibility for their actions.

Most of us are experts are blaming. We refuse to take ownership over our words, actions, attitudes or failures. How are you playing the blame game right now?

Judgment & Salvation
1. when God’s will & ways are violated, God, being who he is, just & righteous, has no choice but to bring judgment to bear. The serpent, the woman, the man are all judged. The serpent & the ground are cursed. And we live with this judgment today.

2. 3:15 This verse is the 1st hint of the gospel in the Bible. The 1st sign of help is given immediately after the 1st sign of trouble. This is a reference to Christ. Help is coming. Genesis 1-2 reveal what God had in mind for us from the beginning. Before sin entered the world and before we started making our choices, God made clear what he choice was for us. And it was paradise.

3. the rest of the story, Genesis 3 on, is essentially the drama of God’s recovery plan after we started making our choices.

4. 3:15 alerts us to the fact that there is going to be a fight between Satan & this woman’s descendant. This woman’s offspring is going to crush the head of Satan. He is going to strike the heel of her descendant.

5. this is talking of Christ, a descendant of Eve. He crushes Satan – evil – death – sin when he dies on the cross. He is struck by Satan, referring to his suffering for us. In Christ God begins to put paradise back together again. He begins to reverse the affects of the fall.

6. this is powerful stuff. God doesn’t give up on us. We spoil his perfect creation. Turn our backs on him. But God doesn’t go away. In fact, he comes closer. He draws near in Jesus.

7. God cannot turn his back on sin. His holy justice demands a response. But his judgment is cut with grace. He sends salvation.

Incarnation
1. now we are ready for Jesus. The Triune life has to be earthed, made human. God & his creation come together in the life of Jesus. The God-man. Fully God & fully human. Don’t ask me to explain because I can’t. The finite can’t fully explain the infinite.

2. Jesus is the reversal of the fall. He gathers up into himself the totality of humanity’s sin without being stained by that sin. And he offers himself as a sacrifice to cover that sin in the eyes of a holy & righteous God.

3. Jesus is the meeting place, the point of union, the connection between the Triune God & fallen humanity. Jesus brings the Triune life of God to us & pulls us into the circle of their love.

4. He came to be the mediator, where the Divine & the human meet & share life. This is what his life, death, resurrection & ascension are all about.

5. what will you do with Jesus?