WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.020 We're going to read together from Genesis chapter 3 in the Old Testament. 00:00:05.160 --> 00:00:07.740 Just four verses, verses 16 to 19. 00:00:07.900 --> 00:00:09.839 So that's printed in your bulletin. 00:00:09.980 --> 00:00:11.439 It's in the Bible. 00:00:11.679 --> 00:00:12.800 There's Bibles at the back. 00:00:12.859 --> 00:00:15.160 There's Bibles at the top if you'd like to have a copy of that. 00:00:15.660 --> 00:00:17.100 Feel free to grab one at any time. 00:00:17.280 --> 00:00:19.539 And I'm going to invite Jean to come and read for us. 00:00:21.260 --> 00:00:23.559 Genesis 3, 16 to 19. 00:00:23.559 --> 00:00:25.900 To the woman he said, 00:00:26.400 --> 00:00:29.400 I will surely multiply your pain and childbearing. 00:00:30.079 --> 00:00:32.359 In pain you shall bring forth children. 00:00:33.039 --> 00:00:37.379 Your desire shall be for your husband, and he will rule over you. 00:00:38.039 --> 00:00:39.320 And to Adam he said, 00:00:39.640 --> 00:00:42.039 Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, 00:00:42.179 --> 00:00:45.320 and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, 00:00:45.480 --> 00:00:46.939 you shall not eat of it. 00:00:47.439 --> 00:00:49.539 Cursed is the ground because of you. 00:00:49.959 --> 00:00:54.820 In pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life. 00:00:55.460 --> 00:00:58.320 Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, 00:00:58.320 --> 00:01:01.100 and you shall eat the plants of the field. 00:01:01.659 --> 00:01:04.460 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, 00:01:04.859 --> 00:01:06.439 till you return to the ground. 00:01:06.859 --> 00:01:08.420 For out of it you were taken, 00:01:08.920 --> 00:01:10.000 for you are dust, 00:01:10.379 --> 00:01:12.219 and to dust you shall return. 00:01:13.780 --> 00:01:16.180 We're in a series on Genesis chapter 3. 00:01:17.019 --> 00:01:18.099 And the word Genesis, 00:01:18.640 --> 00:01:20.400 which the book is titled by, 00:01:20.700 --> 00:01:21.960 just means beginnings. 00:01:21.959 --> 00:01:27.919 So Moses wrote the book of Genesis to the second generation of Israelites 00:01:27.919 --> 00:01:30.979 that were about to go into the promised land. 00:01:31.339 --> 00:01:33.159 And they had been slaves in Egypt. 00:01:33.159 --> 00:01:36.219 So these now freed slaves, 00:01:36.500 --> 00:01:37.539 they are wondering, 00:01:37.759 --> 00:01:38.319 who are we? 00:01:39.420 --> 00:01:42.359 And who is this God who has brought us out of the land of Egypt? 00:01:42.739 --> 00:01:45.439 And so the book of Genesis is written to really explain that. 00:01:45.899 --> 00:01:48.340 And we've talked the whole way through about foundations. 00:01:48.739 --> 00:01:49.519 What are the foundations? 00:01:49.719 --> 00:01:50.259 Who am I? 00:01:50.340 --> 00:01:50.840 Who are we? 00:01:51.199 --> 00:01:52.359 What is wrong with this world? 00:01:52.519 --> 00:01:54.319 That is one of the foundations that we need to answer. 00:01:54.939 --> 00:01:57.759 And Genesis 3 is the chapter that focuses on that. 00:01:57.859 --> 00:01:59.019 What is wrong with this world? 00:01:59.019 --> 00:02:02.200 And the answer that we've said every week is sin. 00:02:02.959 --> 00:02:04.199 And sin began. 00:02:05.340 --> 00:02:06.219 Sin began. 00:02:06.299 --> 00:02:08.159 All that's wrong with this world began with a snark. 00:02:09.299 --> 00:02:11.280 An attitude against God. 00:02:11.979 --> 00:02:12.979 It wasn't an argument. 00:02:13.120 --> 00:02:13.659 It was an attitude. 00:02:15.180 --> 00:02:18.159 Thomas Nagel was the philosopher, 00:02:18.359 --> 00:02:20.439 emeritus philosopher at New York University. 00:02:20.620 --> 00:02:24.780 And he wrote a really powerful book called The Last Word. 00:02:25.099 --> 00:02:25.759 And there's this moment. 00:02:25.840 --> 00:02:28.300 Lots of people quote this moment in Thomas Nagel's book. 00:02:28.300 --> 00:02:29.300 He writes, 00:02:29.300 --> 00:02:32.640 I want atheism to be true. 00:02:33.580 --> 00:02:40.020 And I am made uneasy by the fact that some of the most intelligent and well-informed people I know are religious believers. 00:02:40.740 --> 00:02:44.560 It isn't just that I don't believe in God and naturally hope that I'm right. 00:02:46.080 --> 00:02:48.439 It's that I hope there is no God. 00:02:49.540 --> 00:02:51.280 I don't want there to be a God, he writes. 00:02:51.360 --> 00:02:53.260 I don't want the universe to be like that at all. 00:02:53.259 --> 00:03:00.620 We have an attitude as human beings from the very beginning of our history against God. 00:03:02.259 --> 00:03:05.759 And Thomas Nagel, one of the great philosophers of our time, he says, 00:03:06.259 --> 00:03:07.439 I don't want there to be a God. 00:03:07.639 --> 00:03:12.840 And from the very beginning of human history, we wanted to be gods so we didn't want there to be a God. 00:03:13.519 --> 00:03:16.180 And it's an attitude, sin, that broke the world. 00:03:16.180 --> 00:03:18.340 And that's the cause of all of our problems. 00:03:18.640 --> 00:03:21.540 And we have been looking week by week at the consequences of that. 00:03:22.219 --> 00:03:24.780 We looked at the fact that we are alienated from ourselves. 00:03:25.439 --> 00:03:27.599 We do not tell ourselves the truth about ourselves. 00:03:28.439 --> 00:03:30.520 We do not really know who we are sometimes. 00:03:31.240 --> 00:03:32.920 And we're alienated from one another. 00:03:33.140 --> 00:03:34.360 Adam blamed Eve. 00:03:34.600 --> 00:03:35.600 You know, he said, she did it. 00:03:35.659 --> 00:03:36.280 It wasn't my fault. 00:03:37.000 --> 00:03:38.840 And we see alienation in relationships. 00:03:39.159 --> 00:03:40.620 And we're alienated from God. 00:03:40.620 --> 00:03:42.520 Most importantly, we saw that last time. 00:03:42.939 --> 00:03:46.379 We actually hide from God when he shows up in our lives. 00:03:46.879 --> 00:03:55.500 And today, this penultimate consequence we'll look at is we are also alienated from the purpose for which we were made, from our vocations. 00:03:56.700 --> 00:04:00.240 We're alienated from the world all around us as well. 00:04:00.240 --> 00:04:14.500 So, the things that we were made for that were meant to bring us the most joy in our life, that still can bring us joy, these are the very places that now, because of sin, bring us the most sorrows quite often. 00:04:15.600 --> 00:04:24.120 And so, let's think about paradise lost, paradise regained, paradise foreshadowed. 00:04:24.620 --> 00:04:26.480 That's what we learn here in these four verses. 00:04:26.480 --> 00:04:29.480 Paradise lost and regained and then foreshadowed. 00:04:30.240 --> 00:04:31.980 So, first, paradise lost. 00:04:33.259 --> 00:04:35.800 Sin ruined not just us. 00:04:35.960 --> 00:04:38.079 What we've been looking at is how it decimated everything. 00:04:39.060 --> 00:04:41.180 And it decimated our relationship to the world. 00:04:41.639 --> 00:04:46.879 And so, in Gene Redforest 16 to 19, it's all about the curses that were brought upon Adam and Eve. 00:04:47.680 --> 00:04:56.060 And to understand the curses, you've got to step back to Genesis 1 for just a second to see exactly why the curses are listed like they are. 00:04:56.060 --> 00:05:00.780 So, in Genesis 1, 28, God made humanity in His image. 00:05:01.280 --> 00:05:05.540 It says that He made them and He blessed them and He commanded them. 00:05:05.939 --> 00:05:09.800 So, the original command of God was also blessing to us. 00:05:09.860 --> 00:05:11.459 It's our purpose, our mission, our vocation. 00:05:11.459 --> 00:05:12.799 And He said, what is it? 00:05:12.839 --> 00:05:13.579 What are we made to do? 00:05:13.639 --> 00:05:19.779 And He said, first, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and then take dominion over the land. 00:05:20.699 --> 00:05:27.659 So, that's a command to have romantic relationship, get married, be fruitful and multiply means have children. 00:05:28.660 --> 00:05:30.439 And then the very next thing is take dominion. 00:05:30.640 --> 00:05:36.500 In other words, go and work the land, till the land, be farmers, be gardeners, create institutions, work. 00:05:37.180 --> 00:05:38.800 And the land will yield its fruit to you. 00:05:39.080 --> 00:05:41.760 And so, from the very beginning, that's our vocation, that's our purpose. 00:05:42.340 --> 00:05:45.460 Some of the aspects of life that we were meant for as human beings. 00:05:45.459 --> 00:06:00.639 The vocations that we were made for in the very beginning that have such potential to bring us the greatest joys because of sin have now become the locations that can bring us the greatest sorrow. 00:06:01.859 --> 00:06:03.379 That's what the curses are all about. 00:06:04.359 --> 00:06:05.779 And there's four of them. 00:06:06.819 --> 00:06:08.419 Let me mention them to you briefly. 00:06:09.120 --> 00:06:10.439 The first is in verse 16. 00:06:10.439 --> 00:06:15.660 And the first thing, the first curse to Adam and Eve, to Eve, to the woman, He said, 00:06:16.060 --> 00:06:18.819 I will multiply your pain in childbearing. 00:06:19.240 --> 00:06:21.040 In pain, you will bring forth children. 00:06:21.139 --> 00:06:28.720 Now, that word pain is not just a designation for the actual physical pain of labor and delivery, the moment. 00:06:29.720 --> 00:06:36.180 I can attest that it is painful not personally, but I have been a witness and I know that it is a painful event. 00:06:36.180 --> 00:06:41.019 But the word pain has a much broader scope than that. 00:06:41.060 --> 00:06:42.459 And you see that when you read the rest of the Bible. 00:06:43.500 --> 00:06:49.280 I was reading a book this week, looking at a book this week from a historian about 17th century England. 00:06:49.860 --> 00:07:02.920 And the historian made the claim in this book that 50%, about 50% of all deliveries, mom and baby, about 50% ended in death in the 17th century in England. 00:07:03.660 --> 00:07:04.879 So that was not very long ago. 00:07:04.879 --> 00:07:11.860 And he makes the further claim, and I don't know if this is true, but this is one historian's sociological research. 00:07:11.980 --> 00:07:21.659 He said that beyond that, 75% of all children that did survive did not make it in 17th century England past age 5. 00:07:23.300 --> 00:07:25.459 And that's the curse. 00:07:25.459 --> 00:07:26.459 The curse of the curse. 00:07:26.459 --> 00:07:34.879 The curse of the pain of childbearing, the very thing that brings the most joy in life, bringing children into this world, comes with such sorrow. 00:07:35.379 --> 00:07:45.799 Not only the actual pain of delivery, but we could talk for a long time about the deep, deep wounds and pain and struggle of miscarriage, of infertility, 00:07:45.800 --> 00:07:53.139 of postpartum depression, of stillbirth, of all the pain and toil that comes. 00:07:53.139 --> 00:07:55.319 And it's all right here. 00:07:55.719 --> 00:08:00.919 The second curse that we read about, let me take you to the third one that's mentioned in verse 19. 00:08:01.039 --> 00:08:05.019 If you jump down to verse 19, he turns to Adam and he says, 00:08:05.019 --> 00:08:09.120 Because you've listened to the voice of your wife, and then at the end of that sentence, 00:08:09.279 --> 00:08:11.139 Cursed is the ground because of you. 00:08:12.199 --> 00:08:17.180 Thorns and thistles will rise up against you and fight back. 00:08:17.479 --> 00:08:20.419 And you see, to Eve he said, Cursed is childbearing. 00:08:20.519 --> 00:08:26.699 But to Adam, to all of humanity represented in Adam, he said, Cursed is the land, the ground, the earth because of you. 00:08:27.259 --> 00:08:31.899 And that means that not only are we alienated from ourselves, alienated from each other, alienated from God, 00:08:32.000 --> 00:08:35.419 but now he's saying you are alienated from your work, your labor. 00:08:35.700 --> 00:08:37.720 You were made to work the ground, to till the land. 00:08:38.039 --> 00:08:41.200 And he said, Now thorns and thistles will rise up and fight back against you. 00:08:41.860 --> 00:08:49.580 I was reading one commentator on this, and he was saying that the plants, it's not just that we now have thorns, 00:08:49.860 --> 00:08:53.200 it's that the plants are growing their thorns at us. 00:08:53.200 --> 00:08:58.759 And he said, Every time that you go to the zoo in Edinburgh and you pass by the lions, 00:08:58.800 --> 00:08:59.780 well, they're rather tame there. 00:09:00.120 --> 00:09:03.840 But if you pass by the lions, boy, if you pass by the wrong lion out in the wilderness, 00:09:04.320 --> 00:09:05.500 they sniff and they snarl. 00:09:06.060 --> 00:09:09.320 The wolves, you know, they look at you and they're hungry. 00:09:09.840 --> 00:09:12.460 And the sheep are sheepish around us humans. 00:09:13.060 --> 00:09:14.400 And the commentator was saying, Why? 00:09:14.720 --> 00:09:17.840 And it's because every time we men and women, boys and girls pass by them, 00:09:17.980 --> 00:09:20.960 they look up and they know they did it. 00:09:20.960 --> 00:09:23.580 You know, the animals did their job. 00:09:23.660 --> 00:09:26.080 The plants glorified God in all the ways they were supposed to. 00:09:26.500 --> 00:09:28.400 But it's we that decimated nature. 00:09:29.540 --> 00:09:33.280 And the wolves are sniffing at us and saying, You did it. 00:09:33.540 --> 00:09:34.500 You broke the world. 00:09:35.139 --> 00:09:39.720 And now our relationship to nature, creation, and to our work, the labor of our hands. 00:09:39.800 --> 00:09:44.400 Can you imagine a life where you go to work and everything you do is just fruitful? 00:09:44.399 --> 00:09:50.019 Everything you do is so full of joy and fulfilling and fruitful. 00:09:50.159 --> 00:09:51.039 You're never frustrated. 00:09:51.340 --> 00:09:52.220 You love your boss. 00:09:52.779 --> 00:09:53.259 Can you imagine? 00:09:54.480 --> 00:09:56.139 You're never frustrated with your colleagues. 00:09:56.279 --> 00:09:57.220 But that's what was meant. 00:09:57.539 --> 00:10:01.600 And sin has decimated our relationship to work, to our toil. 00:10:02.879 --> 00:10:08.360 In English, we have a way of talking about this. 00:10:08.360 --> 00:10:13.039 You know, between the curse of childbearing and the curse of work, what do we call that? 00:10:13.159 --> 00:10:14.419 One word, labor. 00:10:16.060 --> 00:10:18.000 You know, when a child, it's labor. 00:10:18.840 --> 00:10:20.600 And when we go to work, it is labor. 00:10:20.879 --> 00:10:22.000 What was meant to be so good? 00:10:22.419 --> 00:10:24.200 It's still a gift to us, but it's bent. 00:10:24.820 --> 00:10:25.460 It's curved. 00:10:25.580 --> 00:10:25.960 It's broken. 00:10:26.060 --> 00:10:27.379 It's not what it was meant to be. 00:10:27.379 --> 00:10:32.620 The third we see here, to back up just a bit, to the second part of verse 16. 00:10:33.120 --> 00:10:38.179 Very famous, very difficult at times to interpret what God says here exactly. 00:10:39.100 --> 00:10:39.840 But he says, 00:10:40.100 --> 00:10:45.700 Your desire, Eve to the woman, your desire shall be for your husband, and he will rule over you. 00:10:47.419 --> 00:10:53.299 Immediately we see here that not only is childbearing cursed, not only is our work cursed and the ground cursed, 00:10:53.299 --> 00:10:58.899 the thorns and thistles and the sheep, but also that the relationships between men and women, 00:10:59.679 --> 00:11:00.639 that is cursed. 00:11:00.799 --> 00:11:01.579 That is painful. 00:11:02.039 --> 00:11:02.899 That is hard. 00:11:03.279 --> 00:11:03.479 Amen? 00:11:04.839 --> 00:11:07.699 We struggle with one another, the two genders. 00:11:08.279 --> 00:11:09.039 And what does this mean? 00:11:09.099 --> 00:11:09.399 He says, 00:11:10.099 --> 00:11:12.339 Eve, your desire will be for your husband. 00:11:12.519 --> 00:11:13.939 He shall rule over you. 00:11:14.299 --> 00:11:20.559 And at times, this has been taken as describing something positive, something about complementarity. 00:11:20.559 --> 00:11:27.079 But that's not the case, I don't think, because if you flip over to Genesis 4, verse 7, 00:11:27.159 --> 00:11:31.500 if you have a Bible, you can see this, the same exact pairing is used. 00:11:32.659 --> 00:11:34.979 God is talking to Cain, and he says, 00:11:35.899 --> 00:11:37.439 Sin is crouching at your door. 00:11:38.019 --> 00:11:40.959 Its desire, same word, very rare word in Hebrew, 00:11:41.139 --> 00:11:45.799 its desire is for you, and you must rule, same word in Hebrew, over it. 00:11:46.139 --> 00:11:46.919 See that same pairing? 00:11:46.919 --> 00:11:51.299 Eve, your desire is for him, he shall rule over you. 00:11:51.819 --> 00:11:56.039 Cain, sin's desire is for you, you must subdue it, you must rule over it. 00:11:56.299 --> 00:12:03.479 And in Genesis 4, 7, it's clear that sin is like a lion, a tiger, crouching, wanting to devour the soul of Cain. 00:12:04.459 --> 00:12:07.679 And that's the word that's used in Genesis 3 for Eve's relation to Adam. 00:12:08.659 --> 00:12:09.899 Very rare word, desire. 00:12:09.899 --> 00:12:13.639 And it's saying that women sin against men. 00:12:15.259 --> 00:12:19.019 The desires are not, that women will seek to hurt men. 00:12:19.139 --> 00:12:20.419 And then, you know what he turns around and says? 00:12:20.819 --> 00:12:23.639 And men, Adam, you will rule over her. 00:12:23.799 --> 00:12:25.439 That's not a positive word, it's a negative word. 00:12:26.039 --> 00:12:27.919 You will take dominion, you will abuse. 00:12:29.240 --> 00:12:30.259 And it's a description. 00:12:30.639 --> 00:12:33.879 It's saying that in the male-female relation, in both directions, 00:12:34.519 --> 00:12:35.699 it is bent and broken. 00:12:35.700 --> 00:12:42.180 The first word, desire, is more connected to attacks against the soul, attacks with words. 00:12:42.660 --> 00:12:47.040 The second is a little bit more weighted to it, physical abuse, domination, 00:12:47.720 --> 00:12:49.060 overleading, domineering. 00:12:49.560 --> 00:12:54.320 And we don't have to recount the history today at all of how often it is true 00:12:54.320 --> 00:12:59.300 that men dominate in the most unhelpful and harmful and sinful ways, right? 00:12:59.299 --> 00:13:02.459 And that's exactly what's being described here because of our sin. 00:13:03.299 --> 00:13:08.219 Right here in the beginning of human history, the history is clear on this. 00:13:08.339 --> 00:13:09.179 It's so clear. 00:13:10.079 --> 00:13:16.679 One of the Greek poets named Hesiod wrote a very famous myth about Pandora's box. 00:13:16.799 --> 00:13:19.519 So most of us will be somewhat familiar with Pandora's box. 00:13:20.219 --> 00:13:24.559 And in it, in this Greek myth, Pandora was the first woman that the gods ever made. 00:13:24.559 --> 00:13:33.299 And the box, many interpreters say, is meant to be a metaphor, an image of Pandora's womb, of a womb. 00:13:34.319 --> 00:13:40.239 And in the myth, the one thing that Pandora must not do is open the box or all the evil will come out. 00:13:40.939 --> 00:13:42.279 And of course, she does open it. 00:13:42.479 --> 00:13:44.379 All the evil spills forth into this world. 00:13:44.459 --> 00:13:45.979 The world is completely devastated and broken. 00:13:46.419 --> 00:13:48.879 She shuts it at the last minute and there's a little bit of hope left. 00:13:48.879 --> 00:13:55.960 And many interpreters have come and said the Greek view, the Greek view is that women ruin the world. 00:13:56.600 --> 00:13:57.179 Pandora's box. 00:13:57.960 --> 00:13:59.939 And Aristotle said exactly that. 00:14:00.019 --> 00:14:04.840 So one of the most famous Greek philosophers thought that the big problem with this world is women. 00:14:05.799 --> 00:14:10.220 And unfortunately, some Christians throughout church history and in theology have said things like that, 00:14:10.539 --> 00:14:12.820 misreading Genesis 3 and saying it's all his fault. 00:14:12.820 --> 00:14:18.140 When Genesis 3 actually puts the majority of the blame on Adam, if you look carefully. 00:14:19.620 --> 00:14:27.440 Now, in modernity, in many of the subcultures of the Western world, you well know that many people will say, 00:14:28.260 --> 00:14:29.600 men are the problem. 00:14:30.879 --> 00:14:32.020 Men are the issue. 00:14:32.240 --> 00:14:33.980 You know, if we didn't have men, everything would be okay. 00:14:33.980 --> 00:14:42.399 Men are often depicted as cartoonish figures in modern literature, modern film, modern television. 00:14:43.759 --> 00:14:47.259 And in both directions, we've been blaming one another. 00:14:48.220 --> 00:14:50.019 And the Bible will not let you do it. 00:14:50.240 --> 00:14:52.019 The Bible is democratic. 00:14:52.420 --> 00:14:53.100 It's impartial. 00:14:53.539 --> 00:14:55.139 It says we are equally sinners. 00:14:56.120 --> 00:14:57.320 We equally do wrong. 00:14:57.320 --> 00:15:02.440 And it waits that men, women desiring, men domineering, dominating, abusing. 00:15:02.940 --> 00:15:04.860 And we don't need to recount the history of that. 00:15:04.920 --> 00:15:07.100 We all know how true that is throughout world history. 00:15:07.300 --> 00:15:10.520 Look, paradise lost. 00:15:11.400 --> 00:15:17.400 Can you think of all the ways that our sin has decimated the world life, brought pain into our life, 00:15:17.460 --> 00:15:21.400 the toils and the snares that come throughout this life that we're living? 00:15:21.920 --> 00:15:24.000 Do you, let me put it this way. 00:15:24.000 --> 00:15:25.000 Let me put it this way. 00:15:25.240 --> 00:15:34.460 The Bible gives you such great explanatory power for the fact that romance and marriage and work 00:15:34.460 --> 00:15:38.000 are things that we desperately want as human beings, 00:15:38.139 --> 00:15:40.720 yet desperately can't stand at some times at the same time. 00:15:40.940 --> 00:15:43.240 We want to go to work, yet we hate work. 00:15:44.179 --> 00:15:48.799 We want romantic relationships, yet they are the place with some of the hardest work in our lives, 00:15:48.879 --> 00:15:50.639 the deepest struggles, the greatest sorrows, right? 00:15:51.480 --> 00:15:53.240 And you see, you need this. 00:15:53.240 --> 00:15:55.120 Christianity explains why. 00:15:56.060 --> 00:15:59.700 That these things were made good, but sin has decimated them. 00:15:59.820 --> 00:16:01.080 Sin has bent them. 00:16:01.659 --> 00:16:02.659 Sin has broken them. 00:16:04.060 --> 00:16:05.000 Why the curse? 00:16:05.120 --> 00:16:05.680 Why the toil? 00:16:05.820 --> 00:16:06.320 Why the pain? 00:16:06.399 --> 00:16:09.840 Why did God bring this to us in the beginning of human history? 00:16:09.919 --> 00:16:14.360 Our broken bodies, our labor, our toil, our relationships, feeling so much pain. 00:16:14.840 --> 00:16:18.919 And I think the most important thing that we can take away from this passage today, all of us, 00:16:18.919 --> 00:16:25.659 is that this passage, these curses are here because they are an invitation. 00:16:26.659 --> 00:16:33.159 They are asking you not to move away from God in whatever pain you are experiencing in these domains right now, 00:16:33.240 --> 00:16:34.639 but to move back towards God. 00:16:34.639 --> 00:16:39.059 The curses are there as a goad, and don't kick against the goad. 00:16:39.120 --> 00:16:43.419 They are an invitation not to move away from God in pain, but to come toward God. 00:16:44.159 --> 00:16:45.179 Let me give you an example. 00:16:45.179 --> 00:16:50.299 Do you come to church at St. Columbus? 00:16:50.419 --> 00:16:50.799 Yes, you do. 00:16:50.859 --> 00:16:51.399 You're here today. 00:16:52.139 --> 00:16:54.139 And that means that you did one of three things to get here. 00:16:54.779 --> 00:16:56.659 You either walked up Johnson Terrace. 00:16:57.559 --> 00:17:01.059 You came up the steps of the ETS car park through the close. 00:17:01.539 --> 00:17:03.839 You walked up the mound or the Royal Mile. 00:17:04.700 --> 00:17:08.579 And when you got here, you had to wipe sweat off your face. 00:17:08.579 --> 00:17:12.779 So it doesn't matter if it's two degrees outside, if it's negative two degrees outside. 00:17:12.879 --> 00:17:18.079 When you come to St. Columbus, you have to wipe sweat off your face from whatever direction you come. 00:17:19.059 --> 00:17:24.000 And I've thought in my heart at times, if only St. Columbus was on a level ground. 00:17:24.659 --> 00:17:27.720 If only we had a level ground in a giant car park. 00:17:27.839 --> 00:17:29.859 Boy, what would the possibilities be? 00:17:30.500 --> 00:17:32.859 And after reading this passage, I realized, no. 00:17:34.119 --> 00:17:35.179 It is a gift. 00:17:35.180 --> 00:17:35.220 It's a gift. 00:17:36.620 --> 00:17:39.060 Because by the sweat of your brow, you come to church. 00:17:39.240 --> 00:17:42.940 And by the sweat of your brow, the reason the curses actually exist, the pain, the discomfort. 00:17:43.060 --> 00:17:43.840 We broke the world. 00:17:44.160 --> 00:17:46.580 But when God sends curses, they are a mercy. 00:17:47.880 --> 00:17:51.420 And the pain, the pain, we are not irredeemable. 00:17:51.539 --> 00:17:52.840 The land is not irredeemable. 00:17:53.340 --> 00:17:53.960 Nothing is. 00:17:54.120 --> 00:17:54.799 Only Satan. 00:17:55.759 --> 00:18:00.140 And the pain, the sweat of our brow is meant to drive us and say, come back to the Lord. 00:18:01.820 --> 00:18:03.640 Let it be a goad to you, the pain. 00:18:03.640 --> 00:18:05.900 And when you come to church and you're sweating, you walk in that back door. 00:18:06.000 --> 00:18:10.200 Remind yourself every time, the Lord is calling me by the sweat of my toil, come back. 00:18:10.420 --> 00:18:11.220 There is relief. 00:18:12.240 --> 00:18:17.140 And it's really clear in the New Testament, in Romans chapter 8. 00:18:17.200 --> 00:18:19.540 Romans chapter 8 talks exactly about this. 00:18:19.800 --> 00:18:22.400 And it explains to us what we should think about this. 00:18:22.820 --> 00:18:23.420 And what does it say? 00:18:23.480 --> 00:18:27.160 It says, the creation was subjected to futility. 00:18:28.320 --> 00:18:29.400 Not by its choice. 00:18:29.400 --> 00:18:33.120 It's not, the animals did not want to be subjected, but they were subjected by our choices. 00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:36.259 And it says, in hope, they have hope. 00:18:36.340 --> 00:18:38.320 Even the animals, the sheep, the thorns, the thistles. 00:18:38.680 --> 00:18:42.180 It says, there is hope in them for the liberation that is to come. 00:18:42.620 --> 00:18:44.940 The healing of the land one day that is to come. 00:18:44.940 --> 00:18:51.880 And then Paul turns and says, but you too, you Christian, your body feels the pain, the decay. 00:18:54.680 --> 00:19:00.200 You feel the weight of the curse upon your soul, upon your life, upon your mortal body. 00:19:00.279 --> 00:19:00.940 And it says, why? 00:19:01.980 --> 00:19:07.660 So that we would wait for the redemption of our bodies in the land with patience. 00:19:07.660 --> 00:19:12.519 He tells us, he says, is it really hope if it's already arrived? 00:19:12.600 --> 00:19:14.420 But he says, but you wait for it with hope. 00:19:15.220 --> 00:19:18.880 In other words, the curses are there to tell us that we are redeemable. 00:19:19.600 --> 00:19:21.720 There is hope in front of our eyes. 00:19:22.100 --> 00:19:23.620 Don't run away from God in the midst of your pain. 00:19:23.700 --> 00:19:24.200 Come back. 00:19:24.720 --> 00:19:25.320 Come home. 00:19:25.740 --> 00:19:28.120 And the promise here is that God is going to heal the land. 00:19:29.200 --> 00:19:32.160 Now, we're spending most of our time on our first point. 00:19:32.320 --> 00:19:33.620 The last two will be very brief. 00:19:33.619 --> 00:19:36.359 But let me give you the fourth and final curse. 00:19:37.099 --> 00:19:38.319 The fourth and final curse. 00:19:39.019 --> 00:19:39.919 And that's in verse 19. 00:19:40.199 --> 00:19:45.439 And he turns to Adam and he says, from dust you were made, and to dust you shall return. 00:19:47.799 --> 00:19:52.239 The curse of death is the final and heaviest curse that faces us as human beings. 00:19:52.459 --> 00:19:57.559 And we learn here, we were meant to subdue the earth, and now the earth subdues us. 00:19:59.059 --> 00:20:02.859 We were meant to water the land, and nothing but fruit come from the land. 00:20:02.859 --> 00:20:04.500 And now we fertilize the land. 00:20:06.319 --> 00:20:08.219 And the curse of death has befallen us. 00:20:08.279 --> 00:20:14.959 And there are many religions, many philosophies that have come and said, death is not a bad thing, it's a good thing. 00:20:15.599 --> 00:20:22.659 And just like Christianity gives you the explanatory power to say, I love work and I hate work at the same time, and sometimes I don't understand why. 00:20:22.660 --> 00:20:28.180 It gives you the explanatory power, the ability to say, in the face of death, I hate you. 00:20:29.840 --> 00:20:38.880 And C.S. Lewis writes that every single funeral rite, as he did some research across many cultures and religions, show that no one really experiences death as natural. 00:20:39.540 --> 00:20:43.620 He says, when you look at the funeral rites of the other world religions, nobody wants this. 00:20:43.619 --> 00:20:45.559 We hate it, we hate it. 00:20:45.599 --> 00:20:50.739 And you have the ability, as a Christian, as a believer in the Bible, to look at death and say, I hate you, you are the last enemy. 00:20:51.239 --> 00:20:52.659 It is not natural, it's a curse. 00:20:53.500 --> 00:20:54.179 What do we do? 00:20:55.779 --> 00:20:56.719 We groan. 00:20:58.319 --> 00:20:59.159 We wait. 00:20:59.259 --> 00:21:01.839 Where can hope be found? 00:21:01.839 --> 00:21:05.000 And so, secondly, paradise recovered. 00:21:05.220 --> 00:21:10.639 Hope is to be found in the connection between Genesis 3.15 and verses 16 to 19. 00:21:12.759 --> 00:21:19.459 Now, last week, we said, if you were here, that in Genesis 3.15, there is this great promise in the midst of sin, 00:21:19.919 --> 00:21:27.740 that one day, a male child, a son, the seed of the woman, would be born to the offspring of Eve, Mary. 00:21:27.740 --> 00:21:34.700 And the seed, the boy, he would come and he would crush the head of the serpent, sin, Satan, death, and evil. 00:21:34.799 --> 00:21:38.240 And now, we learn something new, that he would come and he would heal the land. 00:21:39.180 --> 00:21:40.880 He would fix our groaning bodies. 00:21:41.400 --> 00:21:44.299 He would fix the distortion between us and our work. 00:21:44.400 --> 00:21:45.420 He would heal all of it. 00:21:46.079 --> 00:21:50.319 There's a deep connection between Genesis 3.15 and 16 to 19 and the curses. 00:21:51.380 --> 00:21:52.539 And it's called redemption. 00:21:52.539 --> 00:21:58.099 Now, if you read just the rest of the book of Genesis, just stop there. 00:21:58.180 --> 00:21:59.200 Don't read the rest of the Old Testament. 00:21:59.379 --> 00:22:06.019 Just the book of Genesis, you find that this very story, the relationship between verse 15 and verse 16 and 19, 00:22:06.119 --> 00:22:09.000 is playing out in the rest of the book of Genesis. 00:22:10.039 --> 00:22:18.259 The three great matriarchs in Genesis are Sarah, Rachel, and Rebecca. 00:22:18.259 --> 00:22:21.779 And all three of them were barren. 00:22:22.980 --> 00:22:23.500 All three. 00:22:23.720 --> 00:22:25.359 All of them unable to have children. 00:22:26.940 --> 00:22:30.180 And then God miraculously blessed them with children. 00:22:31.200 --> 00:22:31.559 Why? 00:22:33.940 --> 00:22:38.200 Because there must be one day the seed of the woman who would reverse the curse. 00:22:40.539 --> 00:22:45.500 Sarah's boy, Sarah's children becomes Rachel and Rebecca's boy and Rebecca's children. 00:22:45.599 --> 00:22:46.339 And who does that become? 00:22:46.339 --> 00:22:51.259 And that becomes Tamar's kids and Rahab's kids and Ruth's kids. 00:22:51.339 --> 00:22:53.399 And Ruth's great grandson is who? 00:22:53.559 --> 00:22:54.159 King David. 00:22:54.599 --> 00:22:58.740 And David, through great sin with Bathsheba, brings forth children. 00:22:58.899 --> 00:23:04.139 And through Bathsheba, and you flip over to Matthew chapter 1 and you realize through the curse, 00:23:04.480 --> 00:23:09.759 the curse that was placed upon childbearing becomes the very medium and vehicle by which God saves the world. 00:23:09.759 --> 00:23:14.779 The one, the seed, the boy, born of woman, Jesus Christ. 00:23:15.740 --> 00:23:17.740 And in Paul, in 1 Timothy chapter 2, 00:23:19.079 --> 00:23:25.539 he says that Adam and Eve brought such decimation to this world, yet they would be saved. 00:23:25.680 --> 00:23:25.920 How? 00:23:26.619 --> 00:23:28.359 Not by their good works, not by their performance. 00:23:29.099 --> 00:23:30.079 How would they be saved? 00:23:30.079 --> 00:23:32.119 Paul says, by childbearing. 00:23:33.159 --> 00:23:33.939 The seed of the woman. 00:23:34.879 --> 00:23:35.639 Reversing the curse. 00:23:35.720 --> 00:23:39.019 Through the very pain of barrenness, he brings forth a son. 00:23:40.299 --> 00:23:41.480 And we could go on and on. 00:23:41.559 --> 00:23:42.299 Matthew Henry says, 00:23:42.419 --> 00:23:43.879 Did death come into the world with sin? 00:23:43.960 --> 00:23:44.259 Yes. 00:23:44.579 --> 00:23:49.859 Through Adam, he, the son of the woman, he became obedient unto death. 00:23:50.659 --> 00:23:55.519 Thus, Matthew Henry writes, is the plaster, the plaster is wider than the wound. 00:23:56.500 --> 00:23:57.479 Our sins, they are many. 00:23:57.599 --> 00:23:58.479 His mercy is bigger. 00:23:58.759 --> 00:23:59.699 The wound is great. 00:23:59.799 --> 00:24:00.679 The curse is big. 00:24:00.919 --> 00:24:03.039 The plaster, the band-aid is far wider. 00:24:03.439 --> 00:24:05.839 He comes, the son of the woman, to heal all the wounds. 00:24:07.279 --> 00:24:10.719 And you could say, Genesis 3, 16 says, 00:24:10.719 --> 00:24:14.679 The curse is upon childbearing, so the son was born. 00:24:15.519 --> 00:24:17.139 By childbearing, God saved the world. 00:24:17.140 --> 00:24:19.580 Genesis 3, 16b. 00:24:21.220 --> 00:24:24.820 Adam and Eve, relationally, marriage, romance, broken. 00:24:25.480 --> 00:24:27.640 Men dominating women throughout world history. 00:24:29.000 --> 00:24:32.580 But in the gospel, the true and better husband. 00:24:33.860 --> 00:24:38.020 The true and better husband, the one that would come and lay down his life for his ultimate beautiful bride. 00:24:38.500 --> 00:24:38.980 He came. 00:24:40.680 --> 00:24:42.220 Genesis 3, 19. 00:24:43.320 --> 00:24:46.780 Thorns and thistles will rise up against you in your work, in your toil, in your labor. 00:24:47.900 --> 00:24:51.840 Jesus Christ's thorns were shoved into his brow when he went to the cross, you see. 00:24:52.240 --> 00:24:56.520 He, Jesus, bore the curse of the ground upon his forehead. 00:24:57.620 --> 00:24:59.020 He wore the thorns. 00:24:59.759 --> 00:25:00.660 He wore the curse. 00:25:00.900 --> 00:25:04.060 Galatians 3, 13 says that we curse the world. 00:25:04.160 --> 00:25:05.080 Adam and Eve, we did. 00:25:05.300 --> 00:25:06.820 He became the curse for us. 00:25:06.819 --> 00:25:10.259 Genesis 3, 19. 00:25:10.919 --> 00:25:12.480 To dust you shall return. 00:25:12.599 --> 00:25:20.099 So Jesus Christ, the son of God, against everything that should be, God the son was pulverized. 00:25:20.240 --> 00:25:20.819 He died. 00:25:21.740 --> 00:25:23.939 We brought death into the world, so he came and died. 00:25:24.919 --> 00:25:29.579 He came to take every bit of the curse upon himself and reverse the curse. 00:25:29.579 --> 00:25:32.299 And promised that one day he will heal the land. 00:25:32.419 --> 00:25:33.139 He will heal the body. 00:25:33.779 --> 00:25:35.099 We groan with hope. 00:25:35.759 --> 00:25:37.059 We groan, but we groan with people. 00:25:37.939 --> 00:25:38.939 Not without hope. 00:25:39.759 --> 00:25:42.819 And so the final thing we learn about here is this. 00:25:42.960 --> 00:25:44.339 Paradise foreshadowed. 00:25:44.819 --> 00:25:53.319 Look, only Christianity gives you the explanatory power, on the one hand, for why we love and we struggle with these great gifts. 00:25:53.319 --> 00:25:55.939 They're good, but they've become decimated. 00:25:56.139 --> 00:25:57.200 And so we struggle with them. 00:25:58.240 --> 00:26:01.759 But only Christianity also tells you where the balm lies. 00:26:02.399 --> 00:26:05.960 The plaster that can put the healing upon the whole wound. 00:26:06.779 --> 00:26:08.899 And it's in the son of the woman, Jesus Christ. 00:26:10.919 --> 00:26:19.859 In the Lord of the Rings, the return of the king, the very last book, there's this moment right after the ring had been destroyed at Mount Doom. 00:26:19.859 --> 00:26:23.179 And Sam has been sleeping. 00:26:23.319 --> 00:26:24.019 He's been unconscious. 00:26:24.439 --> 00:26:27.319 Sam was one of the hobbits, Frodo's best buddy. 00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:32.699 And Sam wakes up and he's surprised there to see Gandalf right in front of him. 00:26:32.799 --> 00:26:35.659 He wakes up from his sleep and he says to Gandalf, 00:26:36.159 --> 00:26:38.319 Is everything sad going to come untrue? 00:26:40.579 --> 00:26:42.299 What's happened to this world, he asked. 00:26:42.579 --> 00:26:43.179 Now that's right. 00:26:43.339 --> 00:26:44.339 He asked the right question. 00:26:44.679 --> 00:26:46.279 What has happened to this world? 00:26:46.279 --> 00:26:50.700 Let me ask you today, do you have an explanation for that question? 00:26:52.579 --> 00:26:54.099 What has happened to this world? 00:26:55.359 --> 00:27:00.359 And then do you have a way to answer the question, is everything sad going to come untrue? 00:27:02.220 --> 00:27:04.579 And the plaster is whiter than the wound. 00:27:05.420 --> 00:27:07.359 Jesus Christ is the balm of Gilead. 00:27:07.460 --> 00:27:08.379 He can heal the land. 00:27:09.019 --> 00:27:09.879 He can heal the body. 00:27:10.399 --> 00:27:11.960 He can heal everything that's wrong with you. 00:27:12.339 --> 00:27:13.759 Everything that's wrong with this broken world. 00:27:13.759 --> 00:27:17.299 Mike Kruger commenting on this, he says, 00:27:17.759 --> 00:27:20.759 In this sense, every single person has to have an eschatology. 00:27:21.559 --> 00:27:27.960 The believer, the atheist, the agnostic, the Hindu, everyone has to give an account for how evil is going to be dealt with. 00:27:28.879 --> 00:27:30.379 Everybody has to answer that question. 00:27:31.379 --> 00:27:39.339 The question is only this, whether your account is coherent, compelling, and can really heal the land. 00:27:39.339 --> 00:27:43.399 And the answer of the Bible, the answer of the gospel is Revelation 21.5. 00:27:43.819 --> 00:27:44.519 Jesus Christ says, 00:27:44.679 --> 00:27:46.859 Behold, I am making all things new. 00:27:47.740 --> 00:27:49.319 I am making everything sad come untrue. 00:27:50.619 --> 00:27:53.099 Now, let me turn and say to this as we close. 00:27:54.679 --> 00:27:57.139 Romans 16, Paul says, 00:27:57.639 --> 00:27:59.539 You too, if you believe this today, 00:27:59.679 --> 00:28:03.220 You too will one day crush the head of the serpent. 00:28:04.200 --> 00:28:05.539 So Paul includes us in that. 00:28:05.640 --> 00:28:05.900 He says, 00:28:06.059 --> 00:28:07.360 Not only the son of the woman, 00:28:08.059 --> 00:28:09.559 Jesus will crush the head of the serpent. 00:28:09.960 --> 00:28:11.700 You too will stamp on the head of the serpent. 00:28:12.079 --> 00:28:14.980 Evil, death, sin, disaster, disease, the shadow. 00:28:15.120 --> 00:28:16.079 You too will step on that. 00:28:16.839 --> 00:28:18.920 It is the job now, Christian believer, 00:28:19.759 --> 00:28:22.000 to go forth today into the city 00:28:22.000 --> 00:28:24.380 and to be a witness temporarily 00:28:24.380 --> 00:28:26.420 to what is to come in the future. 00:28:27.000 --> 00:28:28.039 When the land is healed, 00:28:28.120 --> 00:28:28.920 when the body is healed, 00:28:29.019 --> 00:28:30.380 when the shadows flee away, 00:28:30.380 --> 00:28:32.160 we now have the opportunity, 00:28:32.320 --> 00:28:34.240 the mission to witness towards that. 00:28:34.840 --> 00:28:36.760 And so in every one of these domains of the curse, 00:28:36.860 --> 00:28:38.640 there is a calling in our lives 00:28:38.640 --> 00:28:40.860 to directly fight against them. 00:28:42.040 --> 00:28:42.920 And so men and women, 00:28:43.500 --> 00:28:44.540 when you become a Christian, 00:28:45.180 --> 00:28:47.300 you've got to say different things about women and men 00:28:47.300 --> 00:28:48.240 than you used to just say. 00:28:49.200 --> 00:28:50.340 You've got to talk differently. 00:28:50.780 --> 00:28:51.900 You've got to treat men differently 00:28:51.900 --> 00:28:52.540 and women differently. 00:28:53.100 --> 00:28:53.840 That's got to change. 00:28:53.920 --> 00:28:55.620 When you go to work, it's got to change. 00:28:55.920 --> 00:28:56.480 Your approach, 00:28:57.280 --> 00:28:58.420 because of the cross, 00:28:58.420 --> 00:28:59.380 because of the power of the gospel, 00:28:59.480 --> 00:29:00.120 has to change. 00:29:00.780 --> 00:29:02.140 But let me, as we close, 00:29:02.220 --> 00:29:04.320 just speak very briefly to each one of these. 00:29:05.480 --> 00:29:06.580 And so let me say first, 00:29:07.840 --> 00:29:10.500 for women who desire to have children, 00:29:11.600 --> 00:29:12.760 and there's loss there, 00:29:12.840 --> 00:29:13.560 there's pain there, 00:29:13.660 --> 00:29:14.660 there's a not yet there, 00:29:14.980 --> 00:29:15.840 there's infertility, 00:29:15.960 --> 00:29:17.060 there's miscarriage there. 00:29:18.500 --> 00:29:19.380 I'm reminded, 00:29:19.860 --> 00:29:21.560 as I try to say something about this, 00:29:21.620 --> 00:29:23.700 the depression maybe that's come after the fact, 00:29:24.200 --> 00:29:25.600 of Henry Nouwen, 00:29:26.300 --> 00:29:28.340 who's a theologian of the 20th century. 00:29:28.759 --> 00:29:30.379 He writes this to pastors. 00:29:30.599 --> 00:29:33.379 He writes this to people trying to help others walk in grief. 00:29:33.439 --> 00:29:34.240 And this is what he says, 00:29:34.639 --> 00:29:37.039 the friend who can be silent with us 00:29:37.039 --> 00:29:38.399 in a moment of despair or confusion, 00:29:38.399 --> 00:29:41.919 who can stay with us in our hour of grief and bereavement, 00:29:42.319 --> 00:29:44.699 who can tolerate not knowing an answer, 00:29:45.319 --> 00:29:46.859 not trying to cure it, 00:29:47.179 --> 00:29:48.099 not healing, 00:29:48.099 --> 00:29:51.559 and face with us the reality of our powerlessness 00:29:51.559 --> 00:29:53.240 in the face of the curse. 00:29:53.899 --> 00:29:55.299 That is a friend who cares. 00:29:56.639 --> 00:29:58.119 And I think what he's saying there is, 00:29:58.859 --> 00:30:00.500 we mere humans cannot fix it. 00:30:02.599 --> 00:30:03.359 Jesus Christ, 00:30:03.480 --> 00:30:04.319 the balm of Gilead, 00:30:04.439 --> 00:30:06.359 does and can bear the grief. 00:30:07.240 --> 00:30:09.359 And only he can heal the land and heal the body. 00:30:10.299 --> 00:30:12.219 And I think the one application, 00:30:12.379 --> 00:30:14.500 I gave it in the beginning of Genesis 3, 16 to 19, 00:30:14.500 --> 00:30:15.680 to take away today is this. 00:30:16.539 --> 00:30:19.000 When the pain is most acute in all of our lives 00:30:19.000 --> 00:30:20.000 in whatever way it is, 00:30:20.099 --> 00:30:21.420 don't run from God. 00:30:22.599 --> 00:30:26.220 Let the pain bring you closer. 00:30:27.859 --> 00:30:29.980 Come to the one who can heal. 00:30:31.019 --> 00:30:33.400 Come to the one who can, 00:30:33.539 --> 00:30:34.759 Romans 8 says, 00:30:35.180 --> 00:30:36.059 creation groans, 00:30:36.200 --> 00:30:37.819 we groan in our pain. 00:30:38.160 --> 00:30:38.779 We groan. 00:30:39.139 --> 00:30:40.359 But then there's one more line 00:30:40.359 --> 00:30:40.859 and it says, 00:30:41.379 --> 00:30:43.000 right now the Holy Spirit 00:30:43.000 --> 00:30:45.359 also groans for us. 00:30:46.460 --> 00:30:47.639 So it says that the Holy Spirit 00:30:47.639 --> 00:30:49.099 right now in the heavenly domain 00:30:49.099 --> 00:30:50.799 representing us before God 00:30:50.799 --> 00:30:52.660 is groaning towards the Father 00:30:52.660 --> 00:30:53.420 for these pains. 00:30:54.720 --> 00:30:55.339 And saying, 00:30:55.500 --> 00:30:56.359 Lord, come and heal. 00:30:58.180 --> 00:30:59.500 And I don't know what that means, 00:30:59.680 --> 00:31:01.079 but I know that Jesus is going to do it. 00:31:03.440 --> 00:31:04.579 Relationships between men and women. 00:31:04.799 --> 00:31:06.399 I don't have time to talk to everybody here, 00:31:06.460 --> 00:31:07.379 so let me talk to the men. 00:31:08.779 --> 00:31:10.480 Men who have families, 00:31:10.599 --> 00:31:12.500 men who want to have families in this room. 00:31:13.079 --> 00:31:15.660 Here we see that two great issues with men 00:31:15.660 --> 00:31:16.559 in Genesis 3. 00:31:17.079 --> 00:31:17.859 One is obvious, 00:31:18.079 --> 00:31:20.119 domination, domineering, abusiveness. 00:31:21.099 --> 00:31:22.839 But the other you might have missed, 00:31:23.539 --> 00:31:24.660 and the other is, 00:31:25.079 --> 00:31:26.420 God comes to Adam and says, 00:31:26.619 --> 00:31:27.879 because you have listened 00:31:27.879 --> 00:31:29.799 to the voice of your wife in Eden. 00:31:30.539 --> 00:31:32.680 He's not accusing Eve there exactly. 00:31:32.819 --> 00:31:33.660 He's saying to Adam, 00:31:34.139 --> 00:31:35.759 you were with her all the way. 00:31:35.759 --> 00:31:37.359 You knew what I said, 00:31:37.440 --> 00:31:38.839 and you let her die. 00:31:40.099 --> 00:31:40.859 What is he talking about? 00:31:40.879 --> 00:31:41.779 He's talking about passivity. 00:31:42.599 --> 00:31:44.700 So on the flip side of the problem of dominion, 00:31:44.839 --> 00:31:46.019 domineering, abusiveness, 00:31:46.279 --> 00:31:47.740 is passivity. 00:31:48.259 --> 00:31:49.539 And it may be that passivity 00:31:49.539 --> 00:31:50.759 is a greater problem 00:31:50.759 --> 00:31:52.140 for the majority of us 00:31:52.140 --> 00:31:53.460 than domination. 00:31:54.220 --> 00:31:54.799 It may be. 00:31:55.379 --> 00:31:56.000 And so I think, 00:31:56.379 --> 00:31:56.759 what does it mean? 00:31:56.799 --> 00:31:57.819 When you look to the cross, 00:31:57.940 --> 00:31:58.339 you can say, 00:31:58.460 --> 00:32:00.000 every aspect of my life 00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:00.559 towards women 00:32:00.559 --> 00:32:02.140 that has been domineering, 00:32:02.339 --> 00:32:02.940 over leading, 00:32:02.940 --> 00:32:04.500 is forgiven at the cross. 00:32:04.559 --> 00:32:05.460 Every aspect of my life 00:32:05.460 --> 00:32:06.539 that's been under leading, 00:32:07.400 --> 00:32:07.820 passive, 00:32:08.240 --> 00:32:09.320 has been forgiven at the cross. 00:32:09.660 --> 00:32:10.380 And today, man, 00:32:10.420 --> 00:32:11.500 you can go forth and say, 00:32:11.820 --> 00:32:12.920 I want to care about 00:32:12.920 --> 00:32:14.220 the spiritual well-being of my family. 00:32:14.720 --> 00:32:15.559 I want to lead. 00:32:16.120 --> 00:32:17.460 I want to take up this calling. 00:32:18.420 --> 00:32:19.820 That's the reversal of the curse. 00:32:19.920 --> 00:32:21.039 That's pushing back the shadow. 00:32:21.840 --> 00:32:22.660 That's participating 00:32:22.660 --> 00:32:23.779 in all that Christ is doing. 00:32:23.940 --> 00:32:24.460 And then finally, 00:32:25.640 --> 00:32:27.000 penultimately, work. 00:32:28.120 --> 00:32:29.240 We don't have to say much here. 00:32:29.240 --> 00:32:31.759 What can we say as Christians 00:32:31.759 --> 00:32:32.759 when we look at our work? 00:32:32.839 --> 00:32:33.319 We can say, 00:32:33.940 --> 00:32:35.980 work is not agony. 00:32:36.180 --> 00:32:38.200 Work is not merely a curse. 00:32:38.480 --> 00:32:39.799 Our work is not a burden. 00:32:40.379 --> 00:32:41.400 It sometimes is. 00:32:41.839 --> 00:32:42.460 But as Christians, 00:32:42.579 --> 00:32:43.160 we come and say, 00:32:43.339 --> 00:32:43.940 in the Lord, 00:32:44.140 --> 00:32:45.759 my labor is not in vain. 00:32:46.299 --> 00:32:47.819 I expect to go to work 00:32:47.819 --> 00:32:48.640 with thorns and thistles. 00:32:48.900 --> 00:32:51.559 I expect to not like this sometimes. 00:32:51.680 --> 00:32:52.200 And yet, 00:32:52.339 --> 00:32:53.099 in the Lord, 00:32:53.440 --> 00:32:54.940 my labor is not in vain. 00:32:55.019 --> 00:32:56.480 I love what Dorothy Day says. 00:32:56.579 --> 00:32:57.099 She says, 00:32:57.700 --> 00:32:59.240 we do not live, 00:32:59.660 --> 00:33:00.220 we do not work, 00:33:00.279 --> 00:33:00.700 I should say, 00:33:00.700 --> 00:33:01.759 in order to rest. 00:33:01.900 --> 00:33:03.700 We rest so that we can go to work. 00:33:04.500 --> 00:33:05.900 Work is a calling. 00:33:06.080 --> 00:33:06.539 It's a gift. 00:33:06.700 --> 00:33:07.640 And every single one of us 00:33:07.640 --> 00:33:08.259 has to ask, 00:33:08.720 --> 00:33:10.259 in what ways has God, 00:33:10.340 --> 00:33:11.720 has the cross itself 00:33:11.720 --> 00:33:13.600 called me to reassess 00:33:13.600 --> 00:33:14.960 the way I work, 00:33:15.240 --> 00:33:16.279 why I work, 00:33:16.960 --> 00:33:18.380 the things for which I work? 00:33:18.440 --> 00:33:19.380 And let me just give you two. 00:33:20.299 --> 00:33:22.519 Do you work for the glory of God every day 00:33:22.519 --> 00:33:25.080 to the point where God is your true boss? 00:33:25.700 --> 00:33:25.880 You know, 00:33:25.900 --> 00:33:26.720 the beauty of Christianity 00:33:26.720 --> 00:33:27.720 is it says that now 00:33:27.720 --> 00:33:28.740 your boss is relative. 00:33:28.740 --> 00:33:30.259 You know, 00:33:30.339 --> 00:33:31.740 your boss matters some, 00:33:31.859 --> 00:33:32.680 but not that much. 00:33:33.700 --> 00:33:34.420 That's good news. 00:33:35.599 --> 00:33:37.120 But your ultimate boss is the Lord. 00:33:37.180 --> 00:33:37.799 You work for the Lord. 00:33:37.880 --> 00:33:38.759 You work for His glory. 00:33:39.259 --> 00:33:40.359 It's a much bigger boss, 00:33:40.400 --> 00:33:41.120 a much better boss. 00:33:41.900 --> 00:33:43.279 And you can go to work every day 00:33:43.279 --> 00:33:44.059 and know a why, 00:33:44.900 --> 00:33:45.799 and you can know a how, 00:33:45.880 --> 00:33:46.759 you can know that you work 00:33:46.759 --> 00:33:48.319 for the common good of humanity, 00:33:48.460 --> 00:33:49.339 to seek the good, 00:33:49.819 --> 00:33:50.700 not just for profit, 00:33:50.900 --> 00:33:52.400 not just to get to the weekend 00:33:52.400 --> 00:33:53.359 and go to the concert, 00:33:53.980 --> 00:33:54.559 also good, 00:33:54.559 --> 00:33:55.859 but you work for something much bigger, 00:33:56.259 --> 00:33:57.099 much bigger than that, 00:33:57.139 --> 00:33:58.359 the common good of humanity. 00:33:59.559 --> 00:34:00.259 And lastly, 00:34:00.399 --> 00:34:00.720 death. 00:34:04.039 --> 00:34:06.259 The Christian who is facing death, 00:34:06.399 --> 00:34:07.240 if you are facing death, 00:34:07.279 --> 00:34:08.299 if you have a loved one facing death, 00:34:08.519 --> 00:34:09.320 so far, 00:34:09.519 --> 00:34:10.340 from what I understand, 00:34:10.679 --> 00:34:12.199 the death rate is one out of one. 00:34:14.380 --> 00:34:16.320 So that means that we will all face death. 00:34:16.320 --> 00:34:19.900 We as Christians have the ability 00:34:19.900 --> 00:34:21.019 to prepare for that 00:34:21.019 --> 00:34:23.140 and to look at death, 00:34:23.180 --> 00:34:23.960 and you can say, 00:34:24.380 --> 00:34:24.940 in Christ, 00:34:25.460 --> 00:34:25.800 death, 00:34:25.900 --> 00:34:26.500 you are a curse. 00:34:26.640 --> 00:34:26.840 Death, 00:34:26.920 --> 00:34:27.800 where is thy sting? 00:34:28.880 --> 00:34:29.660 You can say, 00:34:29.760 --> 00:34:30.880 I'm just passing through. 00:34:32.460 --> 00:34:33.440 Death is an entrance. 00:34:33.559 --> 00:34:34.480 It's not the end for me. 00:34:34.700 --> 00:34:35.640 And you can say today, 00:34:35.840 --> 00:34:37.080 death is a wicked, 00:34:37.240 --> 00:34:37.440 evil, 00:34:37.559 --> 00:34:38.080 terrible thing 00:34:38.080 --> 00:34:38.820 that should not exist. 00:34:39.180 --> 00:34:39.820 And death, 00:34:39.920 --> 00:34:41.300 the lower you lay me, 00:34:41.600 --> 00:34:42.800 the higher you'll raise me. 00:34:44.380 --> 00:34:44.920 And so today, 00:34:45.039 --> 00:34:45.320 friends, 00:34:45.320 --> 00:34:45.900 the pain, 00:34:46.019 --> 00:34:46.320 the toil, 00:34:46.420 --> 00:34:47.820 whatever it is that's going on in your life, 00:34:47.880 --> 00:34:48.380 let me ask you, 00:34:48.480 --> 00:34:50.059 don't move away from God in the pain. 00:34:50.180 --> 00:34:50.940 Come towards God. 00:34:52.100 --> 00:34:52.700 Keep going. 00:34:52.980 --> 00:34:53.880 Keep going in the pain. 00:34:54.000 --> 00:34:55.559 Keep going with Jesus. 00:34:56.780 --> 00:34:58.080 Keep going all the way to the end. 00:34:58.440 --> 00:34:59.260 There's hope in Him. 00:34:59.340 --> 00:35:00.500 He is the great balm. 00:35:01.240 --> 00:35:02.100 And in Him, 00:35:02.180 --> 00:35:02.940 you can say, 00:35:03.280 --> 00:35:04.059 to pain, toil, 00:35:04.180 --> 00:35:05.240 the curses of this life, 00:35:05.580 --> 00:35:07.460 the lower you lay me, 00:35:08.140 --> 00:35:09.039 the lower you lay me, 00:35:09.140 --> 00:35:10.539 the higher He is going to raise me. 00:35:11.900 --> 00:35:12.580 Let us pray. 00:35:12.580 --> 00:35:12.900 Father, 00:35:12.900 --> 00:35:13.000 Father, 00:35:14.000 --> 00:35:17.099 be a balm to our hurt, 00:35:17.639 --> 00:35:18.019 Lord, 00:35:18.320 --> 00:35:18.720 today. 00:35:20.320 --> 00:35:21.780 We despise 00:35:21.780 --> 00:35:26.539 the curses that have brought such shadows to our lives. 00:35:27.840 --> 00:35:29.320 Yet we know that underneath them, 00:35:29.420 --> 00:35:30.500 there is good vocation, 00:35:30.619 --> 00:35:31.440 there is good calling, 00:35:31.980 --> 00:35:32.519 work, 00:35:32.860 --> 00:35:33.519 and romance, 00:35:33.680 --> 00:35:34.160 and marriage, 00:35:34.380 --> 00:35:34.980 and relationship, 00:35:35.180 --> 00:35:35.940 and men and women, 00:35:36.300 --> 00:35:37.960 and the relationships we have in every domain, 00:35:38.579 --> 00:35:40.539 and life. 00:35:40.659 --> 00:35:40.780 Lord, 00:35:40.840 --> 00:35:41.639 you promise life. 00:35:41.820 --> 00:35:41.960 Lord, 00:35:42.059 --> 00:35:44.079 I pray that somebody today in this room 00:35:44.079 --> 00:35:45.500 would break through 00:35:45.500 --> 00:35:48.340 and stare at the face of death 00:35:48.340 --> 00:35:50.440 and realize the hope of life in Jesus. 00:35:51.300 --> 00:35:54.260 Would the plaster be far bigger than the wound for us today? 00:35:54.480 --> 00:35:55.519 We pray in our hearts. 00:35:55.619 --> 00:35:56.360 In Jesus' name, 00:35:56.820 --> 00:35:57.079 Amen. 00:35:57.139 --> 00:35:57.500 Amen. 00:35:57.500 --> 00:35:57.500 00:35:57.500 --> 00:35:57.500 00:35:57.500 --> 00:35:57.500 00:35:57.500 --> 00:35:57.500 00:35:57.500 --> 00:35:57.500 00:35:57.500 --> 00:35:57.500 00:35:57.500 --> 00:35:57.500 00:35:57.500 --> 00:35:57.500 00:35:57.500 --> 00:35:57.500 00:35:57.500 --> 00:35:57.500 00:35:57.500 --> 00:35:57.500 00:35:57.500 --> 00:35:57.500 00:35:57.500 --> 00:35:57.500 00:35:57.500 --> 00:35:57.500 00:35:57.500 --> 00:35:57.500 00:35:57.500 --> 00:35:57.500 00:35:57.500 --> 00:35:57.500 00:35:57.500 --> 00:35:57.500 00:35:57.500 --> 00:35:57.500 00:35:57.500 --> 00:35:57.500 00:35:57.500 --> 00:35:57.500 00:35:57.500 --> 00:36:27.480 Thank you.