Sermon
Ripple Effects
The root cause of all
our suffering, our loss, our heartaches . . .
It all started in the Garden, didn’t it? It all started with the one
whom St Paul called the ‘first Adam” (see 1 Corinthians 15:45). And, ever since the Garden of Eden, Man has been
trying to fix what was broke there. Education. Politics. Money. We’ve tried it
all over and over again. But we are today in the same sorry mess that we’ve
ever been.
Death. Destruction. Devastation.
That’s why God hates sin. It has perverted and destroyed everything our God made
for us in the beginning when He created the heavens and the earth. As we’ve
already seen, He created it all for the comfort of the crown of His creation –
Mankind. And sin’s ruination of it all continues nearly unabated to this very
moment in 2024.
Adam and Eve’s fall was
never in God’s plan, although our omniscient God knew precisely what was to
happen in that Garden before He even planted it. Nevertheless, while sin was never in His
plan, yet even before the first day of Creation, the Trinity had conferred
among Himself as to when and how and where God the Son would become – as St
Paul called Him – the “Last Adam,” (see 1 Corinthians 15:45) and reconcile all
those trapped in the first Adam.
Listen – and this is
important – at our ages, we are all very aware that sin is never merely private.
It might be kept secret for a time, but no sin is ever private. Our sins always
produce ripples that eventually wash over not only our lives, but also the
lives of others – even the lives of strangers.
Such a truth is simply a
spiritual LAW – a law stronger than the law of gravity. Listen to what Moses
warned: (Numbers 32:23) “Be
sure your sin will catch up with you.” And St Paul’s words to Timothy:
(1 Timothy 5:24) “The sins of some men are quite evident, going before them
to judgment; for others, their sins follow after.”
And yet, like Adam blamed his wife for his sin, and Eve blamed to
serpent – so many of us, even in the pews and the pulpits – so many of us who
SHOULD know better – so many of us still rather to rationalize and otherwise
excuse our sins – or blame others for them.
And I cannot help but be reminded of this text in Scripture when Paul
wrote: (Romans
2:4-5) “Or do
you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance
and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to
repentance? But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you
are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of
the righteous judgment of God.”
Before we get too much further into today’s message, let’s turn to our text
for today. It’s from the third chapter of Genesis: “Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field
which the Lord God had made. And he
said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree
of the garden’?” The woman
said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the
garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will
die.’” The serpent said to the
woman, “You surely will not die! 5 For God
knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you
will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the tree was
good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was
desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she
gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that
they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made
themselves loin coverings.”
The next thing we read is of God walking in His Garden only to
discover Adam and Eve trying to hide from Him. The man then confessed the
obvious, that he’d eaten from the forbidden tree. And then, like two toddlers
with their hands caught in the cookie jar, they start the blame game.
But now back to the text in this third chapter. God cursed the
Serpent and then pronounced judgment on the women: “I will greatly multiply
your pain in childbirth, in pain you will bring forth children; Yet
your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
And to the man, God said: Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil
you will eat of it all the days of your life. “Both thorns and thistles it
shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; By the sweat
of your face you will eat bread, till you return to the ground, because from
it you were taken; For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
Let’s now finish the chapter which reveals the utter mercy of the
One who was about to judge their sin: The Lord God
made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. Then the Lord God
said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil;
and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of
life, and eat, and live forever”— therefore the Lord God
sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was
taken. So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden
He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every
direction to guard the way to the tree of life.”
We’ll look
at this act of mercy in more detail next time, but for now let us never forget:
Sin always, at all times and in all places carries with it Judgment. Sometimes that
judgment is quick. Other times, it takes a while to manifest itself. But again,
as Moses warned, “Be sure your sin will find you out.”
Adam and
Eve experienced a quick judgment. But their sin also resulted in a long-range
ripple effect, an effect that would cause them untold grief in their own
immediate family.
The Garden God planted was not only beautiful to look at, but it was a
beautiful place in which to live. The first couple didn’t have to endure the
broiling sun beating down on them as they tended the plants. They didn’t need cool
cloths to wipe the sweat dripping from their bodies. They didn’t need to
fabricate a flyswatter to kill annoying flies and mosquitos. They were not frustrated
by weeds and rodents decimating their crops – or any other things that are the
bane of farmers and gardeners. All those were to come after the fall.
The Garden was – well – a Paradise. A kind of heaven on earth. And when they sinned, they immediately received the consequences: Banishment from the garden.
But like I just said, sometimes the results of our sins are delayed – as happened with their first two sons. Moses tells us: (Genesis 4:3-5) “In the course of time Cain presented some of the land’s produce as an offering to the Lord. And Abel also presented an offering—some of the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions. The Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but He did not have regard for Cain and his offering. Cain was furious.” And the next thing we know, Cain murdered his brother.
Cain was
angry because God accepted Abel’s offering and rejected his. I’ve read
commentaries that give reasonable explanations for God's choice. They suggest
Abel’s attitude was better than Cain’s as suggested by Abel’s offering of the
FIRST fruits of the flock while Cain merely brought an offering. Some
commentators add that Abel’s sacrifice was a ‘blood’ sacrifice, while Cain’s
was not.
I won’t take the time to examine those theological positions. Instead, I want to try to focus on what might have been the REASON for Cain’s poor attitude – the reason which has application to you and me in 2024.
As I read this fourth chapter of Genesis in preparation for today’s message, I wondered if Cain’s murderous anger at his brother was a kind of psychological ‘transference’ of a long-held anger he’d dug deeply into his heart against God. I wonder if Cain had been nursing a grudge against God for sending his parents – and by extension, himself – out of that Paradise called the Garden of Eden.
He knew the story. He’d heard it often enough from his parents. And putting two and two together, Cain realized the reason they ALL now had to provide for themselves by the sweat of their brows and the blisters on their hands was because God had sent his parents from Paradise. And it was because of THAT exile that he had to fight day by day the ravages of plant blight and mildew. He had to daily battle rodents destroying his crops.
It was
because God had sent them from Paradise that Cain had to put cobble together
ointments to soothe his sunburned skin and the infected cuts on his hands and
legs. It was because God sent his parents out of Paradise that each time Eve
had another child, she writhed in pain – which was another part of the curse.
And he knew when his own beloved wife had children, she also would writhe in pain.
With all
that in his mind, perhaps – just perhaps – when God preferred his brother’s
offering – well, that was just the last straw.
The ripple
effects of one Adam and Eve’s sin washing over another is a common story open
to anyone caring to look beyond our excuses and rationalizations. Not long ago
I was talking to a woman who was leaving for a weekend vacation spot with her
boyfriend. Besides their fornication, the overarching issue here is that she claims
to be a Christian. She attends church each week with her 16-year-old daughter. And
I do not have to wonder what this woman’s daughter is learning by her mother’s poor
example of what it means to be a ‘Christian.’ The ripple effects of the
mother’s sin will – unless God wonderfully intervenes – those effects will
eventually bring a turbulent wave of sorrow over that teenager.
I do not
doubt that most of us in this room have encountered similar situations where churchgoers
routinely disobey God's moral laws. How many Christians do YOU know have become
disillusioned with God and with the Church because they witnessed so-called
Christians conduct themselves so poorly and nonchalantly about God's holiness?
About His commandments?
Listen
again to God's timeless truth as the apostle writes to the Christians at Rome:
(Romans 2:21-24) “You,
therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You
who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? You who say
that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? . . . You who boast in the Law,
through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of
you.,”
Sin can
result in immediate judgment. But sin can also fester for years, even decades
before it manifests itself. Like what may have very well happened to Cain.
Jesus warned us
about people who become stumbling blocks to us. Those blocks, He said, are
inevitable. And then He added: (Matthew 18:6) “It would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung
around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” And that warning from the Lord Jesus ought to be very
concerning to all of us because our sins are never merely a private matter.
They always become public in some manner or form.
So, what is the remedy? Well, take a lesson from Satan’s
playbook. He seduced Eve to doubt God’s TRUTHFULNESS. He tricked her into
doubting God’s love for her, that her Creator did not want the best for her.
And when she fell for those lies, it was a small step from there to her
disobedience.
Christian – be
ALERT. Do not let the sins of others become a stumbling block to your
walk with Christ. And certainly, do not let YOUR sins be a stumbling block to
others.
Take a lesson from
GOD'S playbook, which are, of course, the Scriptures. Trust them, because every
word, every letter from front to back is God's VOICE to us on the printed page.
Follow the examples of those in Scripture who loved God. Who trusted God, despite
the circumstances.
Let me remind you
of Joseph who was sold into slavery by his brothers. When he became vice
president of Egypt, he could have had his brothers killed. But throughout his
time of slavery in Egypt and his eventual exaltation, he did not let their sin
cause him to stumble. Even at the end of his life, he said to them: (Genesis
50:20) “As for you, you meant evil against
me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this
present result, to preserve many people alive.”
We find in Paul’s letter to the Christians at
Philippi: (1:20) “I will not be put to shame in anything,
but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always,
be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.”
Did you catch that? Despite his horrible experiences he’d endured
at the hands of sinners – he wrote of them in his second letter to the
Corinthians (2 Corinthians 11) – Paul also wrote this to encourage the
Christians at Philippi: (1:20) “I will not be put to shame in anything,
but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always,
be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.”
He could have just as easily added Christ will be
exalted by his life, death, sorrow, sickness, pain, and loss – even those
caused by the sins of others.
The remedy to not letting our anger at God fester
– as it seems Cain’s anger had festered – is to recognize from God’s inerrant
and infallible playbook that NOTHING can separate us from God’s deep and
abiding love for us – not even the sins of others.
Yes, WE can walk away, as Cain did. As Judas did.
As Demas did, who was one of Paul’s missionary companions, and as so many
others through Church history have done. And as so many as YOU and I have known
in the years we’ve walked with the Lord. WE can walk away. But we do so only
when we believe Satan’s lies – as did Eve and as did Cain.
So, what’s the remedy for sin that can cause others to stumble? The
answer is easy: Don’t sin. But because that’s not going to happen on this side
of the grave, then we MUST – and I urge you to do it daily – seek the Holy
Spirit to help us sin less and less every day.
What might that look like when we slowly put away sin from our lives? For
me – and maybe for you – it will mean no more gossip. No more making jokes
about other people. No more watching things I shouldn’t be watching, or
listening to things I shouldn’t be listening to, or saying things I shouldn’t
be saying.
Sin is NOT a private matter, but – and here is the point on which I want to
close this message: Sin is not a private matter, but neither is walking in righteousness
a private matter. Walking with Christ also creates its own ripple effects.
When we follow our Savior’s commandments, our walk will affect others for GOOD
– even strangers, because they are watching us from the next table at meals, or
at the game table, or during your entertainment in the Activities Room.
Remember what the Lord once said: (Matthew 5:16) “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see
your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
God will help us – if we want help. God will change us – if we want to be
changed. It is impossible to be unrighteous before Christ if we want to
be righteous for Him.
So, then – let’s make it our daily prayer, “Lord, keep me in the
center of your will today. Put a guard on my tongue. Put a guard on my eyes and
my ears. I desperately need you to help me. I don’t want to continue sinning in
private or in public. I want to be righteous in private and in public.”
Everyone in this sanctuary knows it is impossible to keep perfectly
from sin in thought, word, or action. But as Paul and ALL the godly men and
women through Church history have discovered, with God’s help we can learn to
sin less and less the longer we walk closely with Christ.
Oh, my brothers and sisters here, it will be our daily prayer that the
Holy Spirit helps us at the end of each day to be able to say, as Paul said
during his trial before the Roman governor Felix (Acts 24:16) “I also do my best to maintain always a
blameless conscience both before God and before men.”
No sin is private.
Its ripple effects will affect those we know and even those we do not know. But
a righteous life before Christ is also not a private thing. Its ripple effects
will affect those we know and even those we do not know.
Abel died at the
hands of his brother Cain because the sins of their parents rippled into Cain’s
heart. But the righteousness of the godly men and women through the ages have
also rippled for good in the lives of others. You all are examples of
that truth. I know I certainly am here because of the good men and women of God
who have influenced me and my walk with Jesus.
Be private and
be public about your close and obedient walk with Jesus. The souls you touch
for good will thank you when we all gather around the Lord’s throne in the New
Paradise.
