You Can't Eat Just One - Pastor Johnnie Simpson Jr.

Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7

15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” 3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” 4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

I go by donut stores often, and I have to exercise discipline when I get breakfast because when I order a kolache, the owners will ask if I want two. If I order two kolaches, they will try to put donut holes in the bag without me asking, or if I order a donut, they will try to throw an additional donut for free. I am trying to be disciplined, so I ask myself, is this a blessing or a test? This situation reminds me of the tagline from the old potato chip commercial, "you can't eat just one."

There is a story about Sam, who decided he was going on a diet. He announced his plan to all his friends and co-workers to make sure he would succeed. Sam was like Oscar Wilde, who remarked, "I can resist anything — except temptation!" Sam's co-workers were pretty good about giving him moral support until the morning he walked into the office carrying a box of freshly baked donuts. "What's with the donuts, Sam?" one of them asked. "I thought you were on a diet." "I am," said Sam. "But I want you to know I wouldn't have gotten these donuts if it weren't for God." That remark begged for an explanation. Sam quickly supplied one. "You see, I was driving into work and knew I'd have to go right past the bakery. I just couldn't get those donuts out of my mind, so I decided to pray to God for help. 'God,' I said, 'if you want me to have a box of hot, delicious donuts, give me a parking place right in front of the bakery.' Sure enough, I found one on my eighth trip around the block."

Sam’s story of temptation and rationalization is not the first story of its kind, we find a similar story in Genesis. This book is part of the Pentateuch or the first five books. Genesis 1:1-2:3 is the first creation story in the book, and 2:4-24 is the second story. Scholars believe the second was written first. I don't know why the older version comes later in the text, but it happens. One scholar says "Genesis thereby invites the reader to see a fuller truth by holding different but complementary viewpoints together at the same time."  

Verses 15-17 God puts Adam in the Garden of Eden and tells them to till the land and keep it. God gives Adam a purpose; then God gives Adam permission and prohibition. God tells Adam you can eat from every tree in the Garden except this one tree; if you eat from this tree, you will die. God gives Adam a wife in verse 22. So, Adam had a job before Adam got a spouse. A serpent comes along in chapter 3 and tricks Eve and Adam into eating from the one tree they were not supposed to eat from; they are shamed by their actions and try to cover themselves with fig leaves to hide the shame and the sin. Fig leaves are not the most comfortable to put on your skin; they are prickly and rough, and I cannot imagine using them to cover your special parts. Adam and Eve broke a direct commandment of God. 

"When this commandment was broken, sin and death entered the world, warping humanity's original desires for God so that humans exalted the creature over the Creator, which is the present source of all human misery. Although tempted by the serpent, the point of origin for evil in the world was the human will itself, in particular the free decision to transgress God's will." 

The serpent never does lie to Eve. Did you ever consider that? Every word out of his mouth is the truth. But the serpent fails to tell the whole truth. He slices off a carefully selected segment of truth, one calculated to impugn God's motives and to puff his listeners up with self-destructive pride. I don't blame only Eve for eating the fruit; the text says that Adam was there when the serpent spoke to Eve. 

Eve was not around when God gave the command to Adam; she came later. God told Adam not to eat the fruit; Eve says that God says don't eat the fruit and don't touch the tree. So, we have gossip and misquotes contributing to the confusion. The serpent also tells Eve she will not die; Adam and Eve die, just not right then. The enemy will capitalize on confusion. If you don't know the word, they can use it against you. The enemy can capitalize off complacency; nothing terrible happens immediately, so we can keep doing what we have been doing.  The very same thing is true of our inner voices of temptation. We aren't tempted by the blatantly wrong things of this world; evil masquerading as good causes the most difficulty. Philip Dormer Stanhope, Fourth Earl of Chesterfield, wrote back in the 1700s: "Vice, in its true light, is so deformed, that it shocks us at first sight; and would hardly ever seduce us, if it did not at first wear the mask of some virtue."

In our minds, that process by which we turn vice into virtue is called "rationalization." It's the same process Eve goes through when she thinks about disobeying the Lord to eat the forbidden fruit. When Eve convinces herself that the tree is useful, beautiful, and a source of wisdom, she can do what would otherwise be unthinkable. Think about all those rationalizations and how easy they are to deploy in the service of sin:

"I'm not committing adultery; I'm just finding the love I need."

"I'm not living a greedy lifestyle of over-consumption; I'm just pursuing the American dream."

"I'm not hurting anybody when I cheat my customers; I'm just following the laws of the marketplace."

"I'm not abusing my child; I'm just enforcing discipline."

Rationalizations can be deadly.

But here's some good news. There's a way out. It's called grace. When we recognize temptation for what it is and acknowledge we can't beat it on our own, God enters and gives us what we need to prevail. It's all a matter of whom we trust. Trust ourselves alone, and we go down in flames. Trust God — the author of grace — and we find, more often than not, the strength we need to resist temptation and live a godly life.

This story of mission and distraction begins our journey through Lent. For the church, it is a time of repentance, of recognizing how we have let ourselves be distracted from the mission God intends for us. God's mission has not changed, and in the aftermath of our stumbling, God still calls us back to the right path. God calls us back every day and every Lent. 

Sin separates us from God, and humans can't bridge the gap between themselves and God through their own efforts. Just as Adam and Eve's fig leaves could not truly cover their sin, humanity's attempts to atone for their own sin are ultimately insufficient. However, Jesus is the ultimate solution to humanity's sin problem. Jesus took on the punishment for humanity's sin through his sacrificial death on the cross, and his resurrection offers the hope of eternal life and reconciliation with God. By accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior, Christians can be forgiven of their sins and have access to eternal life. Adam and Eve's use of fig leaves can foreshadow Jesus' ultimate sacrifice to save humanity from sin. Just as fig leaves could not truly cover Adam and Eve's shame, human efforts to overcome sin are ultimately futile without the intervention of a savior.

Unclimbed Mountains - Pastor Johnnie Simpson Jr.

Matthew 17:1-9

17 After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. 3 Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus. 4 Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” 6 When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. 7 But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” 8 When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”

Robert Frost wrote a poem called The Mountain, about two people conversing at the bottom of a mountain. One person wants to climb the mountain, and the other person keeps telling him why he should not climb the mountain, don't climb on this side, don't go that way, etc., a laundry list of reasons to hold off. The sad part of the poem is the person telling the man in the poem not to climb the mountain has never climbed the mountain himself. A significant line in the poem says, "It doesn't seem so much to climb a mountain you've worked around the foot of all your life." All that man knew about the mountain was secondhand information. 

We can chastise the man, but I would venture to say that is how many of us live our lives, especially when it comes to the knowledge of God. Does what we know of God depend on the hearsay of others, or does it find its grounding in what we've experienced firsthand? If someone were to stop any one of us and ask what it's like to have a "mountaintop experience," would we be able to share anything meaningful?

In this text, we see an extraordinary event on top of a mountain, where Jesus takes Peter, James, and John to witness Jesus' transfiguration, literally a metamorphosis, a start of a new era in the mission of Jesus. In previous chapters, Jesus would perform a miracle or teach in the synagogue, and people would ask, "who is this guy?" In Matthew chapter 17, we learn who he is when Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up the mountain. Watch the text here because Jesus does not take all 12 disciples up the mountain. Jesus did not take all 12 disciples everywhere, sometimes Jesus took all 12, sometimes more than 12, sometimes just Peter, James, and John, and sometimes Jesus was by himself. Everyone is not entitled to every part of your life. 

Conversation

As Jesus was transfigured before Peter, James, and John's eyes, they saw Him talking with Moses and Elijah. This conversation was not an ordinary one, my brothers and sisters. It was a conversation about Jesus' departure, which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Can you imagine being in the presence of Jesus, Moses, and Elijah and hearing them discuss such a profound topic? What a humbling and awe-inspiring experience that must have been for the disciples! I like what Peter says next after seeing Moses and Elijah talking to Jesus. Peter wants to put something at this spot to remember what happened here; Peter wants to worship. Peter, who will cuss a little, Peter who might be willing to fight faster than the average person, is still ok to worship in the presence of God. If there is a chance for Peter, there is a chance for me. 

We, too, must be willing to engage in conversations with God and those He sends to speak to us. We must be willing to listen and obey, just as Peter, James, and John did when they heard the voice of God from the cloud, saying, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him" (Matthew 17:5). When we listen to God, He will guide us and give us the wisdom we need to accomplish the tasks He has set before us.

Confirmation

Second, we must talk about the confirmation from God, Moses, and Elijah being there. God sent Moses and Elijah to confirm Jesus' authority and divine nature. Moses represented the law, while Elijah represented the prophets, and both pointed to Jesus as fulfilling their prophecies. It was a confirmation that Jesus was not just a teacher or a prophet, but He was God's Son.

As we walk through life, we, too, need confirmation from God. We must know that we are on the right path, doing what God has called us to do. We can find confirmation in the Word of God and through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. When we seek God with all our hearts, He will confirm His will for our lives.

Command

Third, we must talk about the commands from Jesus. As Jesus and the disciples descended the mountain, Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone about what they had witnessed until He had risen from the dead. This command was given to protect Jesus' ministry and to ensure that the people would come to know Him on their own without being swayed by the miraculous events they had witnessed.

We, too, have commands from Jesus. We are called to go into the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (Matthew 28:19) We are called to love one another, to serve one another, and to follow Jesus' example of humility and obedience. When we obey these commands, we will see God's kingdom come to earth as it is in heaven.

My brothers and sisters, the transfiguration of Jesus marked the beginning of a new era. It was a moment that demonstrated Jesus' divine nature and confirmed His authority. But it was also a moment that required the disciples to be willing to do the work when they walked back down the mountain. They couldn't stay on the mountain forever; they had to come down and continue spreading the Gospel.

Likewise, when we have a mountaintop experience with God, we can't sit around doing nothing. After the worship, we need to start the work. When we come down the mountain, we can pray, read our Bibles, fast, invite people to church, and invite people back to church. We can climb our mountains; we don't need fancy equipment to do it either; we can take it one step at a time. All we need do is walk, slowly and steadily, up the side of the mountain looming over us all our lives. We don't need an athlete's lung-bursting strength and endurance to do it. All we need is persistence and the willingness to set aside the time necessary to make the ascent. Take as much time as you need; the mountain will still be there.

The choice is up to each one of us. "It may not seem so much to climb a mountain you've worked around the foot of all your life," as the poet says. But one thing's for sure: If you never begin to climb, you'll never know the glories of the summit.

Integrated Faith - Pastor Johnnie Simpson Jr,

58 “Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the descendants of Jacob their sins. 2 For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them. 3 ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’ “Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. 4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. 5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for people to humble themselves? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? 6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe them,  and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? 8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you,  and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. 9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. “If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, 10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. 11 The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. 12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

 

The pandemic was eye-opening in some ways; I paid attention to the influx of people who came out to help others in a time of need. The number of people helping others increased, and the number of people needing help increased as well. Some people were there for show, some to help for a little while, and others to help for a long time. It was still interesting to watch how people responded to others in need. Civilization as a whole is judged by how we operate as a community. We find Isaiah talking about community in the text 

The story starts in chapter 56. Isaiah is talking about the community and its responsibility to each other. This scripture passage takes place when the people are no longer in exile, but their home city and temple are not entirely rebuilt yet. They are almost back to normal, but not completely. Sort of like Dickinson, Hurricane Harvey was nearly five years ago, but every building is not restored; yes, the pandemic has become endemic, but people still can catch it and struggle to recover. Isaiah is speaking to people who are in between right now, not where they were, but also not where they need to be. Isaiah is concerned because even though the people are struggling, they find a way to take advantage of others. 

Faithless Fasting

The prophet was calling out the disconnect between worshiping God and doing the will of God. The prophet's audience was keeping the forms of religion but not the substance of it.

Isaiah is concerned that the obsession with proper worship distracts the people from what determines the community's future—its effort to fulfill the ethical obligations of justice. In Isaiah's imagination, the rejection of the practice of justice is the cause of exile. The community's future will be determined by its willingness to embrace justice and a new sense of community. Where is your heart when you worship, and where is your heart when you do good deeds?

There is a mismatch between the people's lives in society and their lives in the church. The people have started to act like they were before the exile, thinking things cannot get worse. Isaiah has to wonder, haven't you learned your lesson? How many times do you have to almost lose your church before you change your behavior? How many brushes with death do you have to avoid before you start living right? How many financial crises do you have to go through before you do something different? People are caught up in rituals and avoid genuine relationships. The text says that they are pointing the finger at others.

Mr. Beast cured 1000 people's blindness.

Jimmy Donaldson, also known as MrBeast online, is an American YouTube personality, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. Mr. Beast has over 130 million subscribers on his main YouTube channel, 11 million subscribers on his philanthropy channel, 18 million on his backup channel, 31 million on his gaming channel, and 21 million on his reaction channel, where he watches videos and records his reaction to them. Safe to say Mr. Beast has made a substantial living by making videos hundreds of millions of dollars by making videos on YouTube. Mr. Beast has come under scrutiny recently for a video where he helps 1000 blind people regain their sight. Reports say that half of the people in the world who are blind can get their sight back with surgery, but they cannot afford it or don't live in areas where doctors can perform the surgery. 

Mr. Beast decided to pay for 1000 people to get the surgery; not only did he pay for the surgeries, but he also gave some of the people in the video an additional $10,000, and he gave a teenager a brand-new car. Mr. Beast gave one of the doctors who performed the surgery an additional $100,000 to continue doing surgeries later on. Mr. Beast did not show everyone getting the surgeries, just those who agreed to be filmed. Mr. Beast did a great thing, but some people still complained, called his actions demonic, called him the Anti-Christ, and badmouthed the man, who makes YouTube videos for a living, for making a video helping people all over the world. That is what is wrong with the church today. So many would rather point the finger at someone else to diminish their work than get out and do some work on their own. Mr. Beast is literally opening blinded eyes, and some church folk still found a way to complain about it. They value the ritual over the relationship. The Bible does tell us to work in secret, yet we also can "shout it out."

One year during Holy Week, a few Christians from well-endowed congregations in a major metropolitan area spent a night with homeless friends on the street. They were looking for the suffering Christ in the lives of those who spend their days and nights suffering from hunger, disease, and rejection. It was a chilly night, and rain rolled in close to midnight. Looking for shelter, the handful of travelers felt fortunate to come upon a church holding an all-night prayer vigil. The leader of the group was a pastor of one of the most respected churches in the city. As she stepped through the outer doors of the church, a security guard stopped her. She explained that she and the rest of their group were Christians. They had no place to stay, were wet and miserable, and would like to rest and pray. Enticed by the lighted warmth of the sanctuary, she had forgotten that her wet, matted hair and disheveled clothing left her looking like just another homeless person from the street. The security guard was friendly but explained in brutal honesty, "I was hired to keep homeless people like you out." As the dejected group made their way back into the misery of the night, they knew they had found their suffering Christ, locked out of the church.

I could go on, but the point is that we can spend so much time arguing about the church and what the church should be doing that we miss out on opportunities to be the church. 

Faithful fasting

I am not saying we should not be religious; I am saying we should not be fake. In psychiatry, the opposite of compartmentalization is "integration," which means pulling the various aspects of our lives together so that we are working from the whole picture. The word integration comes from the noun "integer," a mathematical term for whole numbers (as opposed to fractions). "Integrity" comes from the same word. The same words can apply to Christianity, too. Recall that Jesus said the great commandment is to "love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength." In other words, don't compartmentalize God.

We generally don't set out to isolate our faith from other facets of our lives. Some of it happens because compartmentalization is a psychological defense mechanism that helps separate conflicting thoughts and feelings and spares us some emotional pain.

Integration is not nearly as comfortable as compartmentalization. There's always the chance that something won't pass muster when we run our behavior at work and play past our spiritual and moral values. That creates internal stress until we resolve the issue by letting Christ fully into the formerly walled-off places. People should be able to tell you are Christian in every setting, not because you browbeat others to constantly call out the bad things in them to make yourself look better. 

People fasted during biblical times as a sign of mourning, to avoid military invasions, to get political points, or to avoid economic crises. They fasted for personal and public gain. Isaiah says fast to improve your relationship with God. 

God will respond when the barrier of insincere worship has been removed. Evil can be set aside and replaced with kindness. God's people will share their food with the poor, understanding that not only do the hungry need our food, but also God's people need the hungry. We can fast for the Lord and feed the hungry. We can go to church and care for the homeless. We can praise God and hold our people accountable to help take care of the least, the last, and the lost. 

Real worship creates right relationship. Committing ourselves to Jesus means we don't divide ourselves into Christian and non-Christian parts. We operate in a culture that is not expressly Christian, and some of us work in jobs that require honoring the rules of church-state separation, but Christ belongs in each part of us.

Restoration will come, healing will come, and joy will come.