Genesis 3:6-7

 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband  who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

A delight to the eyes – desirous to make one wise… The fruit appears to be so good, worth even defying God for. But what was the real result.

Fear.

Shame.

Kind’ve the opposite of what both the serpent said would happen, and what Adam and Eve thought would too. Commentators disagree on why their eyes were opened – some say its because they actually were given knowledge of good and evil – found that what they did was evil and had shame about it. Others think that the very act of disobeying God made them realize they were naked – bare – before their creator. They disobeyed and felt shame.

Have you disobeyed and felt shame?

Have you ever been tempted by something that appeared to be so, so good?

What happened after the good part passed?

Shame, fear, hurt, pain, anger, frustration.

Sometimes, for me, it opens up a feeling of nakedness, like everyone can tell that I’ve done something wrong.

Romans 7:24-25

[24] Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? [25] Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

Without Jesus, I have no hope. Without Jesus I have a life of shame for my past mistakes. Without Jesus, I have pain, anger frustration…

But thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord, who has delivered me from this body of death – forgiven my sins and loved me even in my sin.

Amen.

Genesis 3:2-5

[2] And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, [3] but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” [4] But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. [5] For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Eve corrects the serpent – but like many of us, adds to God’s commandments. God merely said that they could not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. She adds, “neither shall you touch it.”

How many times have you added to what God has actually commanded for us?

How many times have you added to what you or someone else was actually supposed to do – according to God, not man?

I don’t know about you, but I do struggle with that. I add on things for myself – get upset when I don’t do them. Or I start to judge those who do other things that actually aren’t against God’s commands.

Anyway, back to the text – in verse 4 we see the serpent respond, and we find that he’s not just curious, he didn’t just mishear God the first time. Here he deliberately deceives Eve.

Yet what he says is half-true…

Adam and Eve don’t die right away, although that’s not what God meant.

Their eyes are opened, but only to see that they are naked – to open them up to shame.

They already are like God, for they were made in His image, but now they’ve experienced sin – evil.

That is the way of sin, though. Half-truths wrapped in a lie.

Glorious chocolate, wrapped in laxative.

An apple that looks so good, so appealing, but once you bite into it, it rots all the way into your stomach.

Sin is half-truths.

Quit listening to half-truths!

Quit listening to the serpent, to those around you that say its just fine, when God says it isn’t.

Quit speaking half-truths! Quit saying that God commands something, that He doesn’t!

If you’re half-right, you’re still all wrong.

Stop listening to the serpent.

Start listening to that smaller, stronger voice – the Voice of Truth.

Genesis 2:21-25

[21] So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. [22] And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. [23] Then the man said,

“This at last is bone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh;

she shall be called Woman,

because she was taken out of Man.”

[24] Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. [25] And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

Two shall become one.

God has stated that it wasn’t good for man to be alone. That man wasn’t destined to be alone. There was to be man and WOman. Eve was taken out of Adam. Made to be a fit for him, a helper, a complement.

Two become one. And I’m not just talking about sex.

I know you were thinking about it… haha.

There’s a change that occurs, a hole that is filled, a feeling of completeness.

Two become one, literally. I’m now 1/2 of a whole, and I can tell that when Sara is gone for a long period of time, or when I’m gone. Life isn’t the same, its not meant to be.

It isn’t good for man to be alone.

But – just man and woman together do not make a whole – we see that in what happens next – the Fall of Man into sin. Without God, we’re a mess. We’re in a mess together, yes, but we’re still a mess.

Two become one, held together by One far stronger, far wiser. If man and woman try to be completely fulfilled only by each other, they will find that they each fail the others expectations.

Without God, without a relationship with Jesus, none of it really matters…

I’m selfish, when I’m not focusing on God first, then my wife.

She’s selfish, when she’s not focusing on God first, then me.

When we both focus on God first, then the other – it is amazing. It is what was meant to be. Marriage reflecting Christ and the Bride (the Church) in love and devotion, in selflessness.

It’s kind’ve been a marriage week, but I feel like some of this has just been rambling, so, let me know what you think down in the comments.

Genesis 2:18

[18] Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”

Helper.

I don’t think I really understood this passage until I married my wife. It’s not really the idea of “help” as we see it every day. It’s more like she complements me, as I complement her. We, together, are stronger.

What I am good at, she is not. What she is good at, I am not.

This is how it was meant to be since the beginning.

This is where I’d like to take the time to thank my wife. For all she’s done, for all she is, and how well we complement each other.

This past weekend, we watched as a new couple started their marriage. Alex and Alyssa Ferrero became married – became helpers for each other. What a glorious thing God has made.

Let no man separate.

Amen.