Genesis 3
Now we learn about what God told Adam.
Genesis 3:17-19
17 Then God said to the man,
"You listened-to your wife,
and you ate fruit from that tree
that I ordered you: Don't eat.
Because you did that,
now I will curse the ground for you.
From now on, during all your life,
you must work hard with pain for your food.
18 The ground will grow thorns and weeds for you,
and you will eat plants from the field.
19 You will sweat and work hard for your bread,
until you go back in the ground.
Remember, I made you from the ground.
You are dust,
and you will become dust again."
Genesis 3:17-19
17 Then God said to the man,
"You listened-to your wife,
and you ate fruit from that tree
that I ordered you: Don't eat.
Because you did that,
now I will curse the ground for you.
From now on, during all your life,
you must work hard with pain for your food.
18 The ground will grow thorns and weeds for you,
and you will eat plants from the field.
19 You will sweat and work hard for your bread,
until you go back in the ground.
Remember, I made you from the ground.
You are dust,
and you will become dust again."
If we can summarize God's punishment for Adam in two words.
Those two words are work and death.
But Question: Before Adam began sinning,
Adam lived in the Garden of Eden doing what?
Adam was doing work!
Remember, God told Adam,
"You work and take care of that Garden." [Gen. 2:15]
God first planned for Man to work.
Work before sin.
Work after sin.
What's different?
Remember, in Genesis chapter 1
God made Man and Woman perfect.
They had no sin.
And the Bible also says that
God made Man and Woman
"in His IMAGE."
That means their
thoughts,
ideas,
attitudes,
actions,
and feelings
were same as His
thoughts,
ideas,
attitudes,
and actions.
The Bible says that during those first six days,
God worked,
creating,
and making the world.
Then God gave Adam responsibility
for taking care of His world.
And Adam's work also was creative and wonderful.
But when sin began,
that world became broken.
And man's work changed.
Adam first worked
for God,
for his wife,
for the animals.
But now Adam must work for himself.
Adam first worked,
for giving pleasure to God,
and for serving other people.
Now Adam must work for staying alive,
and for feeding his family,
and for supporting his wife and children.
God made His world good and perfect.
But Adam's sin broke His world.
Now everything that Adam makes, also will break.
God's first plan for our work really never stopped.
Work that creates,
serves,
and satisfies,
is always best.
But that work now must have 2nd place.
Work for staying alive, now that's first.
Work becomes ruined with sin.
Now our focus is-not working for giving.
Now we focus on work for getting.
God told us, we must take care of this world.
But our work often ruins part of His world.
Adam wanted to become smart as God, right?
Now we are stuck, trying to do for ourselves,
work that God first planned
for Him to do for us.
Adam & Eve wanted to become gods.
Our broken world proves that we are lousy gods.
Now, please notice again
what God told Eve,
then what God told Adam.
We see in HIS description
about sin's influence in our lives,
those things that give us most pleasure,
now give us most grief.
Maybe you notice that men and women
think and act differently.
When men meet for the first time,
they talk about what?
Their work.
When women meet for the first time,
they talk about what?
Their families and friends.
Men identify themselves in their jobs, their professions.
Women identify themselves in their relationships
with other people.
Now notice that in God's description about sin's influence,
sin gives women most pain, where?
In their families - with children and husband.
And sin gives men pain and frustration where?
In their work.
Also notice that where we have our greatest strength,
we also have our greatest temptations.
Men often focus on work so much, they ignore their families.
Many famous old men successful in business
answered this question:
"If you can change anything in your life,
what will you change?"
No one says, "I wish I had worked harder."
No one says, "I wish I had stayed in my office more hours,
working more over-time, working more weekends."
No one says, "I wish I bought more things."
Most men say, "I wish I had paid attention to my wife.
I wish I had given more time to my children."
For man, work is both a blessing and a curse.
If our goal for work is getting more things,
we will always have disappointment,
and we will never become satisfied.
God first gave Adam and Eve everything they needed for life -
BASICS.
The Bible teaches that we also can become satisfied
with the things God already gave us.
And we can trust Him for everything we really need,
while we give our lives in service to Him
and serving other people.
Because we have sin,
now we must work to earn our food and our homes.
But one thing we can never earn:
our home in heaven.
Work for that is finished.
Jesus did that work for us,
in His suffering and death on the cross.
Now Jesus invites us to rest in Him.
That is really important, because God told Adam
that sin not only ruins our work.
God also said, sin destroys our life.
If we do sin, we will die.
We all sin. Therefore, we all will die.
God said,
"You will sweat and work hard for your bread,
until you go back in the ground.
Remember, I made you from the ground.
You are dust,
and you will become dust again."
Where do we often see those word?
If you go to a funeral,
the pastor maybe say that verse
over the body in the cemetery.
If you go to Ash Wednesday worship,
when you get your ashes
the pastor says to you,
"Remember, you are dust,
and you will become dust again."
And Adam could never forget that,
because his name ADAM means "ground."
God invented life.
Sin destroys life.
And Jesus let our sin destroy His life.
His death pays our debt.
Sin leads us to hell.
But now Jesus made heaven open again,
for all who will give-Him their sin,
and trust His promise.
Amen!
Those two words are work and death.
But Question: Before Adam began sinning,
Adam lived in the Garden of Eden doing what?
Adam was doing work!
Remember, God told Adam,
"You work and take care of that Garden." [Gen. 2:15]
God first planned for Man to work.
Work before sin.
Work after sin.
What's different?
Remember, in Genesis chapter 1
God made Man and Woman perfect.
They had no sin.
And the Bible also says that
God made Man and Woman
"in His IMAGE."
That means their
thoughts,
ideas,
attitudes,
actions,
and feelings
were same as His
thoughts,
ideas,
attitudes,
and actions.
The Bible says that during those first six days,
God worked,
creating,
and making the world.
Then God gave Adam responsibility
for taking care of His world.
And Adam's work also was creative and wonderful.
But when sin began,
that world became broken.
And man's work changed.
Adam first worked
for God,
for his wife,
for the animals.
But now Adam must work for himself.
Adam first worked,
for giving pleasure to God,
and for serving other people.
Now Adam must work for staying alive,
and for feeding his family,
and for supporting his wife and children.
God made His world good and perfect.
But Adam's sin broke His world.
Now everything that Adam makes, also will break.
God's first plan for our work really never stopped.
Work that creates,
serves,
and satisfies,
is always best.
But that work now must have 2nd place.
Work for staying alive, now that's first.
Work becomes ruined with sin.
Now our focus is-not working for giving.
Now we focus on work for getting.
God told us, we must take care of this world.
But our work often ruins part of His world.
Adam wanted to become smart as God, right?
Now we are stuck, trying to do for ourselves,
work that God first planned
for Him to do for us.
Adam & Eve wanted to become gods.
Our broken world proves that we are lousy gods.
Now, please notice again
what God told Eve,
then what God told Adam.
We see in HIS description
about sin's influence in our lives,
those things that give us most pleasure,
now give us most grief.
Maybe you notice that men and women
think and act differently.
When men meet for the first time,
they talk about what?
Their work.
When women meet for the first time,
they talk about what?
Their families and friends.
Men identify themselves in their jobs, their professions.
Women identify themselves in their relationships
with other people.
Now notice that in God's description about sin's influence,
sin gives women most pain, where?
In their families - with children and husband.
And sin gives men pain and frustration where?
In their work.
Also notice that where we have our greatest strength,
we also have our greatest temptations.
Men often focus on work so much, they ignore their families.
Many famous old men successful in business
answered this question:
"If you can change anything in your life,
what will you change?"
No one says, "I wish I had worked harder."
No one says, "I wish I had stayed in my office more hours,
working more over-time, working more weekends."
No one says, "I wish I bought more things."
Most men say, "I wish I had paid attention to my wife.
I wish I had given more time to my children."
For man, work is both a blessing and a curse.
If our goal for work is getting more things,
we will always have disappointment,
and we will never become satisfied.
God first gave Adam and Eve everything they needed for life -
BASICS.
The Bible teaches that we also can become satisfied
with the things God already gave us.
And we can trust Him for everything we really need,
while we give our lives in service to Him
and serving other people.
Because we have sin,
now we must work to earn our food and our homes.
But one thing we can never earn:
our home in heaven.
Work for that is finished.
Jesus did that work for us,
in His suffering and death on the cross.
Now Jesus invites us to rest in Him.
That is really important, because God told Adam
that sin not only ruins our work.
God also said, sin destroys our life.
If we do sin, we will die.
We all sin. Therefore, we all will die.
God said,
"You will sweat and work hard for your bread,
until you go back in the ground.
Remember, I made you from the ground.
You are dust,
and you will become dust again."
Where do we often see those word?
If you go to a funeral,
the pastor maybe say that verse
over the body in the cemetery.
If you go to Ash Wednesday worship,
when you get your ashes
the pastor says to you,
"Remember, you are dust,
and you will become dust again."
And Adam could never forget that,
because his name ADAM means "ground."
God invented life.
Sin destroys life.
And Jesus let our sin destroy His life.
His death pays our debt.
Sin leads us to hell.
But now Jesus made heaven open again,
for all who will give-Him their sin,
and trust His promise.
Amen!