1/23/22 - The Wisdom of Life or Death - Genesis 2:1-17 - Pastor Jason Fritz

And the LORD God commanded him, “You may eat freely from every tree of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.” Genesis 2:16-17

Originally, God created all things perfectly and he did not intend for any of his creatures to die, suffer, be in poverty, go hungry, get sick, or be in any kind of danger. God made it very clear that there would be an unwanted consequence to Adam’s rebellion. Now what’s interesting is that Adam did not drop dead on that day. However, the relationship between God and Adam was immediately broken. So the consequence of sin was both physical and spiritual. It’s interesting and I’m speculating a bit here…but it seems Adam was not fully aware of what death was until after this when God kills an animal to clothe Adam. Death became an immediate reality and for Adam in that moment it must have been shocking to see the life of the animal drained. Something he had never experienced before. He now understands better that his own physical existence would come to an end.

Note that Adam had an invitation to eat from the tree of life. But there was no temptation in that because he already had life. It seems we humans always want what we don't have even if it costs us. So the temptation for Adam was this: to seek wisdom apart from the word of God. Let me repeat that...

The temptation for Adam was to seek wisdom apart from the word of God.

Moral autonomy leads to death. Adam and Eve tried to sidestep God’s wisdom. They usurped God’s role in determining what was right and wrong. Whenever man does this it always leads to his or her pain and heartache. 

In contrast to Adam we have Jesus, the second Adam. He too was tempted to live apart from God’s word and God’s wisdom. Satan came to Jesus in the wilderness. Consider this in Matthew chapter 4: Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Do you see the game Satan plays? He’s been at it for a long time. This lie is his main source of destruction, “Don’t rely on God, rely on yourself!” Adam got his wisdom his way and it killed him. In contrast, Jesus would spend his entire life submitting to God’s word. The result? For those who believe in Jesus the curse of death that Adam brought has been undone and eternal life is given. What you do with the word of God is everything. The great temptation for both Adam and Jesus is still the great temptation for us today. Especially for us as we live in a postmodern context where truth is what you make it. Or truth is how you feel. And the choice remains - every day you are faced with eating from the tree of life or the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We know how the story ends. The tree of life shows up again when the garden is recreated and at this point in time it will have been well established that God’s wisdom gives life!