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.