"Beyond Denial to Good News"

Sermon by Pastor David Layman

September 18, 2005

Genesis 2:15-17,3:1-7 Romans 3:21-26

The cartoon "Peanuts" offers nutritional insights into human nature! In the cartoon in our bulletin, Lucy is playing the psychologist, offering Charlie Brown a diagnosis of his problem. In frustration Lucy shouts "The whole trouble with you is you won't listen to what the whole trouble with you is!"

This listening problem first developed in the Garden of Eden. In Genesis 2, God commanded "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat..." (2:16-17). Yet in Genesis 3, a serpent slithers into the garden, and Adam and Eve listen to his words instead of God's. The serpent says "You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of [the forbidden fruit] your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God " Eve makes clear she didn't listen clearly to God, for God did not forbid humankind from touching the forbidden fruit--only from eating it. Eve's exaggeration of God's command indicates she's beginning to resent God's word. And when Adam and Eve fall for the serpent's temptation, it's interesting that their pride, wanting to "be like God" was at the root of their fall. They listened to the voice of the serpent instead of the voice of God, and pride was at the root of sin. Interesting, because the early church fathers believed that pride was the most basic of all the 7 deadly sins!

How many times do we hear parents saying "I tried to tell my children, but they just wouldn't listen?" Perhaps Lucy is right. The whole trouble with us is that we don't want to listen to what the whole trouble with us is! Coaches face this challenge on a weekly basis. I once heard former ill basketball player John Ritter remarking about Coach Bob Knight's frustration with his current team. Ritter said that Knight would tell the players what they needed to do in the huddle, but when they got on the floor, they didn't do it. They thought they better knew what to do on the court than their coach did. They didn't listen. And many coaches will say that if a team plays well one week, they often listen to the wrong voices the following week. They listen to their classmates telling them how great they are, instead of listening to their coaches' warnings about how tough the upcoming opponent is. And they may get tripped up by a lesser opponent the next weekend, because they listened to the wrong voices! The whole trouble with them is they didn't want to listen to what the whole trouble with them was!

Jesus came into the world and spoke God's truth. But sadly, much of Israel refused to listen. The religious leaders: scribes, Sadducees, Pharisees, were pridefully convinced they knew all the answers. They had boiled religion down to a multitude of laws and religious rituals. Jesus came preaching and teaching a message of God's grace, love and forgiveness. But most religious leaders were so focussed on maintaining the status quo of their own making, that they refused to listen to and accept that message. One of the religious leadership's very own, Saul, whom we know as Paul, came to see the light. Paul came to see that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." It's not just the common people that have sinned and fall short. The religious leadership has as well! But the good news was that all may be "justified by [God's] grace as a gift, .through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith."

The answer to humankind's great sin need not be making sacrifices in a temple, or eternal punishment. The answer is almost too good to be true: Christ paid the price for us by giving himself as the atoning sacrifice on the cross, a once and for all price paid for human sin. What we have to do is accept this sacrifice through faith. That is Good News! Are we listening to it? Will we accept it in faith?

Adam and Eve are you and me. We all are tempted to put ourselves where God should be, at the center of the world. We're tempted not to listen carefully to the word of God, but to listen closely to the voice of temptation distorting God's word, encouraging us to resent it. It's not fatal to be a sinner. Denying that you are a" sinner is fatal! It's not fatal to be prideful. But to be prideful and deny it can be fatal!

None of the 7 "deadly" sins need be fatal. Ifwe listen to God's Word, become aware of our temptation, seek God's forgiveness and aid to struggle against these temptations, we will be saved! The 12 step movement talks about living in denial, and it's not just those struggling with addictions that are tempted to do so. The essence of sin is denial. To fail to recognize the power of sin is to be in denial. As Lucy said to Charlie Brown, the whole trouble with us is, we don't want to listen to what the whole trouble with us is! All of us are tempted to not listen to God, and to listen to the voice of temptation that tells us how great we are, and how it's everybody else's fault. When Adam and Eve confessed their rebellion to God, they received judgment. But they also began to receive God's forgiveness and mercy. And that forgiveness and mercy reaches its climax in Jesus' victory over sin and death!

Do we ever get Christmas letters that sound like this?

"Dear Friends:

What a great year! Jim was named president of the bank. We celebrated by buying a Mercedes, and then flying to Paris for a week. Jim was co-chair of the United Way drive, and continues as chair of the hospital board. His first love, however, is golf, and he won the city tourney for the fifth consecutive year. After completing my term as President of the Junior League, I swore I'd take life easy, but I'm more involved than ever. I accepted the presidency of the Garden Club, and recently was named vice president of the country club. I ran our sorority bake sale, and we raised $30,000 by selling croissants! All of this with my leg in a cast! Dumb me fell of the ladder while hanging curtains for the hospital auxiliary!"

But when Jesus came into the world, his heart was drawn most not to pride filled lives, but to those who would write a letter like this:

"Dear Friends:

We've had a rough year. Bill was passed over for a promotion again, and quit his job in frustration. He's now been looking for work for 3 months, and is drinking too much. Little Billy got suspended from school for fighting, and daughter Susie worries me--she's flirting with boys far too much for a girl her age. I feel like a failure as a parent. I'm struggling with depression, yet hesitate to go to the doctor because we don't have health insurance. My hours have been cut back at the discount mega store. I know my temper gets the best of me far too much at home. I know I really need the Lord right now, but I hesitate to go to church because of the looks I get from some of the folks there, and the patronizing questions they ask me when I do show up. My only consolation is that my parents, who died last year, aren't around to see what a mess my life's become. But I have to admit, I really miss them." .

We all sin and fall short. We're all broken. Even presidents of banks and garden clubs. But the acknowledgment one has problems opens the door to the solution God offers. Denial never gets us anywhere, except perhaps being able to impress our friends that we send Christmas letters to. But the acknowledgment of our sins and failings opens the door to the redeeming love of Christ. Matthew 9:36 reminds us that when Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion for them." Our failings and troubles are not a burden to God, but the confession of them opens the door to Christ's compassion, forgiveness, restoration. We are justified by God's grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood. This answer becomes effective through faith.

Lord, I acknowledge I am a sinner. I have fallen short of your intentions for me. I've fallen short of my intentions for myself. I have listened too often to the voice of the serpent, and not often enough to your voice. But I hear you now. I confess my need for what Jesus did for me on the cross, and accept it with joy! Show me, day by day, what that acceptance means. Free me from the burdens of the past. Remove that rubble from me, bring me to the light and fresh air of your etemal life!

Amen

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