Adam and Eve - Greed - Genesis 3

0:00Life hands us hurt we never asked for, leaving us anxious and secure and stuck. But what if your healing is not only possible, but could actually bring healing to those around you? In her new book, Collide, Willow Weston invites you to start bravely stepping into the places you've avoided because Jesus meets us in our mess. If your past is still haunting your present, if being in self-protective mode is hurting you more than protecting you, if you're longing for wholeness, discover healing with Collide, available now at Amazon.com. Purposely Your Life, God's Purpose. Listen at Purposely.com Welcome back to the Bible for Busy People. I'm Jen, and if you were listening last Friday, you might have an idea of where this week is going. I recently read a book called The Anti-Greed Gospel by Dr. Malcolm Foley, and it was all about how the pursuit of self-gain leads to the oppression and exploitation of others.

1:00How the true cost of greed is violence toward fellow image-bearers. It's one of those books you cannot leave unchanged. The link to it is in the show notes, so go get a copy and read it. Foley brings up the point that we often don't address greed the way we do other sins. We don't do a lot of sermons about it, maybe due to the conflict of interest of the pastor being on the payroll. We don't often get outraged by it, nor does it tend to become the first thing to go when it comes to repentance. Maybe due to our society where self-gain is praised and applauded and indicator of worth and success and status. And yet, this is a topic that is warned about again and again in the Bible. It divides us from God. As Foley points out, greed, pride, and self-interest are involved in breaking nearly all of the commandments. It connects to nearly every sin. This week, we're going to be looking at some passages on greed and why God demands that we leave it behind. What is greed? When I looked it up in the Miriam Webster dictionary, it said greed is a selfish and excessive desire for more of something than is needed.

2:05That does include money, but it can also include other resources, power, and anything that falls outside of your boundaries, taking what is not yours for your own self-satisfaction. Another word for it is avarice, or as it is written in Greek, Maman. Maman is wealth personified, associated with trust in treasures or riches. Jesus says you cannot serve both God and Maman. In church history, Maman became known as a demon or a false God, but here's the point of all of that. The worship of money, wealth, and selfish material gain is, in fact, idolatry. This is important to know going into the topic this week. Greed is a trick that goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. We're starting in Genesis 1, verse 27 today, which says, So God created mankind in his own image. In the image of God, he created them, male and female, he created them. God blessed them and said to them, be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it, rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.

3:08Then God said, I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth, and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground, everything that has the breath of life in it, I give every green plant for food. And it was so. God saw all that he had made and it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning the sixth day. Skipping ahead to chapter 2, verse 7, it says, then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east and the Eden, and there he put the man he had formed. The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground, trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Skipping down to verse 15, it says, the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, you are free to eat from any tree in the garden,

4:08but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. For when you eat from it, you will certainly die. A few things we know leading up to this point. Humans are made in God's image, male and female. Humans were given purpose and belonging and a home and all the food that they needed. God said his creation was good and that includes us. As the first humans, the man and woman were given free reign to eat from any tree except for one, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Because as God warned, that one led to death. Isn't it funny how the one thing that we can't have because it becomes the one thing that consumes our minds? I don't know how it was for Adam and Eve, but I do know that the days that I am fasting from food are the same days when I can't stop thinking about food. Feels like every commercial is about food, every advertisement I pass food, you know, restaurants on the street, all of these things, I can't stop thinking about it. There's something in us to ignore all that we do have and to zero in on the things that we can't have. This leads to a decision on our part to either reach for what we don't have

5:09or entrust that desire to God who, as we've seen clearly here, gives generously. Of course, in Eve's case, she had extra help in that direction and no support from her husband, which is another story. Going ahead to Genesis chapter 3, starting in verse 1, it says, 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? The woman said to the serpent, we made fruit from the trees in the garden, 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. You will not certainly die. The serpent said to the woman, for God knows that when you eat from it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God knowing good and evil. When the woman saw that the 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. Then the eyes of both of them were open and they realized that they were naked so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

6:10There are always a few things to note here. First, how the snake talks to Eve and not to Adam, though he was clearly there too. These subtle manipulation of God's actual words, the fact that even though they were made in God's image, Eve was curious about the idea that they would become like God because of the fruit. Here's something that stands out to me, the way the serpent phrases this, it sounds like God is withholding something from Adam and Eve. I guess in a way he was, they weren't ready for all that knowledge and wisdom. Maybe there were things they just didn't need to know, kind of like when I explain to my kids that they can't watch a movie that's rated older than them. There are just things that you're not ready to see or experience yet. You will get there someday. But they didn't trust in God's generosity in both giving to and protecting from. We want God's generosity when it means a lot of blessings, but we don't like it when it means putting a border around us or giving us boundaries and protecting us from something. There's a greed in the way that they wanted insight that they weren't supposed to have. There's a greed in wanting the one thing that they were commanded not to do.

7:12Distrusting God can lead to greed. When the desire to be like God and have that elusive knowledge overtook Adam and Eve, they made the choice to take it for themselves. I wonder if you have examples in your life of something similar. When you took something for yourself that wasn't yours to have or that God had said not yet. How does distrust in God lead to greed? I'll leave you with that question and we will chat again tomorrow. If you are listening to this podcast, I'm going to assume two things about you. First of all, that you're a busy person, and second that you are in need of a restful break. Canon Beach Conference Center is the place for a beautiful coastal retreat. Whether it's one of their enriching conferences or your own church or ministry event, you can find out more at 800-745-1546 or visit cbcc.net. Thank you to Canon Beach Conference Center for sponsoring the Bible for busy people. Thank you for listening to the Bible for busy people. If you need prayer or want to go deeper in your faith, visit our show notes.

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