Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7                      Matthew 4:1-11                     Romans 5:12-19

Welcome to the first Sunday in Lent. And, as I have noted in our Lenten mailing, as well as at other times, Lent is a season of preparation and a time for us to explore and deepen our relationship with God. As such, this is a wonderful season in which to ask questions. And so, as I read over the scriptures for today, the obvious question that presented itself was, “What does God want?” Sometimes, when we step back from the stories and instructions of individual scriptures and we look at the wider view, we can see trends, underlying direction, and deeper purpose behind the broad arc of scripture. And so today, as we move from Genesis, to the gospel story of Matthew, and then onward to Paul’s letter to the church in Rome, we will see a shared theme that is birthed in the earliest days of scripture, watered and matured in the story of Jesus, and finally bearing fruit as it is explained to the church and expounded upon as Paul helps the church to understand what it is that God desires.

And so, as we begin this journey, let us begin at the beginning as we read the story of humanity’s fall in Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7, where we hear this:

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.”

^3:1 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.

As we read this story, we not only see the fall of humanity into sin, but also the character of the actors behind it. The serpent first warps and manipulates God’s instructions to suit his own ends, and later outright lies in saying that eating from the tree would not result in death. Eve, meanwhile, fabricates an additional instruction that God had never given declaring that God had told them never to even touch the tree of knowledge. Adam, meanwhile, who we discover had been present for the entire exchange, has every opportunity to correct any of the falsehoods, but rather than oppose them, stands by passively and agrees to everything instead. Humanity falls because Adam and Eve submit to their selfish desires, and the serpent shows himself to be a liar, thief, and manipulator in moving humanity toward his own ends and purposes.

And that is how the relationship between humanity and the enemy of our souls continues for thousands of years until that same master manipulator encounters Jesus and attempts to use the same tools of trickery in Matthew 4:1-11 where we hear this:

^4:1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be temptedby the devil. ² After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. ³ The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

⁴ Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

⁵ Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. ⁶ “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
    and they will lift you up in their hands,
    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

⁷ Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

⁸ Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. ⁹ “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

¹⁰ Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”

¹¹ Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

First, the devil questions Jesus’ identity saying, “If you are the Son of God…” but also tempts Jesus with his own human weakness by suggesting that he transform stones into bread to break his fast and ease his hunger. In answer, Jesus quotes scripture, so the devil then uses scripture as a part of his next temptation. Again saying, “If you are the Son of God…” but this time testing Jesus’ limits by quoting the passage that promises angelic protection. Like the transformation of bread, this was certainly something that Jesus could have done, but Jesus sees this as not only proving something he feels no need to prove, but as a violation of boundaries by deliberately testing God. And finally, the devil offers to give Jesus influence, wealth, and power but Jesus knew that these were all false promises. Even if he wanted to do so, Satan could not give Jesus the things that he promised. While Satan is the ruler of many earthly kingdoms, God is the creator and ruler of the universe. Satan rules only because God chooses to allow him to do so. Instead, Jesus replies that the command of scripture is to worship the Lord and serve God only.

Jesus resists the temptation of the devil and, through his life, death, and resurrection, overcomes sin for all time. The important piece here, is that Jesus did not just resist sin, or simply overcome the temptation of sin for himself, but that he defeated sin, for all time, and for all people if they choose to believe. In Romans 5:12-19, the Apostle Paul explains it to the church this way:

¹² Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way, death came to all people, because all sinned—

¹³ To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. ¹⁴ Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come.

¹⁵ But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! ¹⁶ Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. ¹⁷ For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!

¹⁸ Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. ¹⁹ For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

Paul’s message is that Adam and Jesus are bookends to the same story, but that those two bookends are not equal. Adam, who is given the responsibility for committing the first sin, brought sin into the world and doomed humanity to both sin and death. But Jesus, Paul says, is the gift from God that came after thousands of years of humanity’s accumulated sin. That gift, the gift of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, brings the forgiveness of sins, justification before God, and the offer of life to all people.

In the measure of scripture, Adam and Eve were given life and a life of perfect closeness to God, but by their sin, destroyed that relationship and doomed humanity to disease, decay, and death. But Jesus, through his birth, life, death, and resurrection repaired what had been broken, made reconciliation possible, and restored the relationship between humanity and God. Because Jesus resisted the temptation of the devil, lived a perfect life, and was obedient to God, even unto death, all of humanity now has the opportunity to be forgiven of their sin and seen as righteous before God.

We, like uncountable generations of humanity, suffer from our inheritance of temptation and an irresistible compulsion toward sin. But we give thanks to God that Jesus has given us the gift of grace, rescue, reconciliation, restoration, righteousness… and life.

Our prayer is that might all accept the gift, and share it with our friends and neighbors.

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*You have been reading a message presented at Christ United Methodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first page.  Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Christ UMC in Alliance, Ohio.  Duplication of this message is a part of our Media ministry, if you have received a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you.  Letters and donations in support of the Media ministry or any of our other projects may be sent to Christ United Methodist Church, 470 East Broadway Street, Alliance, Ohio 44601.  These messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership.  You may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at secretary@CUMCAlliance.org.  These messages can also be found online at https://pastorpartridge.com .  All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.comThe “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™