Lent 1
Gen
3:1-21
2/21/21
In the
first three Rocky movies, Sylvester Stallone’s character Rocky Balboa faces two
fights that are rematches. However, they
could not be more different. In the movie
Rocky, the boxer’s only goal is to go all fifteen rounds against the World
Champion Apollo Creed – something that no one has ever done. In shocking fashion, Rocky not only goes the
distance but even comes close to upsetting Creed at the end of the fight. He
achieves his goal, even as a loses in a split decision. Then in the sequel, Rocky II, Rocky and Creed
have a rematch. Rocky barely beats Creed
as both fighters are knocked down and Rocky manages to rise up again while
Creed falls just short in his attempt to do so.
In the
third movie, Rocky III, Rocky faces the powerful opponent Clubber Lang, played
by Mr. T. In their fight, Clubber Lang
destroys Rocky as he knocks him out early, and takes away the World Champion
title. It is an experience that shakes
Rocky to his core as for the first time in fighting he experiences fear. Yet trained by his former opponent Apollo
Creed, Rocky eventually recovers the hungry edge – “the eye of the tiger.” In the rematch, he dominates Clubber Lang –
showing that he no longer fears him – and knocks Lang out in the early rounds.
In our Old
Testament and Gospel lessons for the First Sunday in Lent we see an initial
battle, and then a rematch. In the
first, it is Adam vs. the devil. In the
rematch it is Jesus, the second Adam vs. the devil. These two encounters are like the two fights
between Rocky and Clubber Lang. In first
Adam suffers an overwhelming defeat. Then in the rematch, it is Jesus Christ
who never falters on his way to a crushing and final victory.
In our Old
Testament lesson we hear about the Fall.
God had created all of the cosmos, including our world as the place
where man was to live. Here he planted
the Garden of Eden as the home for man. God created Adam from the dust of the
ground and breathed into him the breath of life. God put Adam in the garden to
work it and keep it. He told him, “You may surely eat of
every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it
you shall surely die.”
God gave every tree in the garden to
Adam – every tree but one. He told Adam
that he was not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This tree was the means by which Adam
confessed that God was God. He showed
that he feared, loved and trusted in God above all things by not eating
of this one tree.
Next we learn that God said, “It is not good that the man should be
alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” God creates Eve from
Adam as the helper who corresponds to him – the one without whom life is not
very good. In doing so God establishes marriage as the one flesh union of a man
and a woman. He also establishes the
spiritual headship of the husband. You will note that Adam received the
instruction about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil before Eve
was created. It was Adam who taught Eve
about what God had said.
In our text, the devil approaches Eve in the form of a
serpent and says, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the
garden’?” Now there are two things to
observe about what he said. First, the
question is phrased in a way that is intended to cause doubt about God’s Word:
“Did God actually say….?
This is same tactic that the devil
has been using since that day. Of course
today, he doesn’t speak to us directly.
But he uses the world to deliver the same question. Did God actually say
that he created the world in six days? Did God actually say that the crucified
and risen Christ is the only way to salvation?
Did God actually say that sex is only to be used within marriage? Did
God actually say that he loves are cares for you?
The second thing to note is that the
devil lies by twisting the words into something God didn’t say. Jesus tells us that the devil is a liar and a
murderer. He speaks lies to us through
the world all the time. He says that there is no such thing as truth. He says that you can be “spiritual,” and you
don’t need religion. He says that you are free to decide what you believe is
true for you.
When Eve corrected the devil and
told him that only the tree in the midst of the garden would bring death, the
devil replied, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat
of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and
evil.” The devil said that God was holding out on them. They could be so much more. They could be
like God.
Eve 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. So she took of its fruit and ate, and she
also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. We learn, “Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that
they were naked.” They disobeyed God’s command – they sinned – and in that
moment they recognized that everything had changed.
Now at the beginning of the sermon I said that this was the
initial battle between Adam and the devil.
Of course, in the events that lead to the fall, Adam is barely even
mentioned. That’s how easily and
completely the devil defeated him.
Created first by God and given the role of headship, he
was the one who had taught God’s will to Eve.
Yet now he ignores his role and responsibility as he is guided by his
wife in spiritual matters. We hear God’s rebuke of Adam when he says, “Because
you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of
which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ and then goes on to describe
the curse upon the ground. The devil doesn’t even have to deal directly with
Adam in order to get him to sin.
Yet sin he did, right along with Eve. And the consequences were devastating. We learn in our text that pain, hardship,
strife – all the things we know to be part of life – were caused by the Fall.
What was very good, became something that can be a nightmare because of sin.
As the offspring of Adam and Eve, you are no
different. The devil gets you to doubt
God’s Word as he raises the question, “Did God really say?” He feeds you lies through the world, and you
believe them. He tells you that God is
holding out on you and trying to limit your freedom and your fun. After all,
why should you take out time during your day to read God’s Word and pray? Why should you take time out of your Sunday
morning to come to Bible class and bring your children to Sunday school? Why
should you take time out of your week to attend mid-week Lent services or a
service celebrating the ascension of Jesus Christ? And by the way husbands, many of these things
are a matter of whether you are going to demonstrate the spiritual headship and
leadership God has assigned to you. Or are you going to act like Adam and
ignore the responsibility God has given you?
The devil completely and utterly defeated Adam. But in our text we hear the God’s promise of
a rematch. He says to the devil, “I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise
your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” God says that a descendant of Eve will defeat
the devil. He promises a Savior who will
win a rematch.
Working through the history of Israel – through Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob, Judah and David – in the fullness of time God sent forth this
Savior. He was indeed the offspring of
the Eve. He was also the Son of God as
Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.
Jesus Christ came to fulfill the Father’s will. He came to defeat the devil. But the way in which he would do this is not
what we would expect. In order to provide the answer to sin, Jesus Christ came
as the suffering Servant. He came as the
One who would bear our sins and receive God’s judgment in our place. At his
baptism, Jesus stepped into this role.
From the moment of his baptism, Jesus’ life and ministry was directed
towards one goal – his death on the cross.
In our Gospel lesson we see Jesus and the devil go against each other, one on one. The devil’s goal to is derail Jesus’ ministry. He tries to get Jesus to serve himself, instead of carrying out the Father’s will. Yet where Adam failed, Jesus Christ does not. And this is not the only attack Jesus faces. After predicting his passion for the first time, Peter said, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But our Lord turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
Where Adam was unfaithful, Jesus was
faithful all the way to the suffering and death of the cross. The death of
Jesus by crucifixion certainly looked like defeat. But on the third day – on Easter – God raised
Jesus from the dead. He vindicated Jesus
as the Christ and in the ascension exalted him to his right hand. God
demonstrated that our Lord had delivered a crushing and final defeat to the
devil.
In Christ, your sin is
forgiven. In Christ, death has been
defeated and the resurrection of the Last Day has started. In Christ you have received your Lord through
the work of the Spirit – you have been freed from the devil. You know that this
is true for you because you have been baptized!
Because of Jesus Christ, the devil is a defeated enemy. But make no mistake, his is still a strong and dangerous enemy. He is like the Japanese in the Pacific during the second half of World War II. They no longer had any hope of victory. Instead, their tactic became one of trying to take as many Americans with them in death as they could. No battle illustrates this better than the fight for Iwo Jima that began this past Friday in 1945.
The devil has lost the rematch.
Jesus Christ has won the final victory.
As a baptized child of God, your mission is to follow Jesus Christ in
faith until death or Christ’s return.
The devil will continue to speak the through the world asking, “Did God
really say?” He will continue to speak
lies to you. He wants to reclaim you and take you down into destruction with
him.
So how do we resist these
attacks? Our Lord Jesus shows us the way
in our Gospel lesson. He uses the Word
of God. The Word of God is the tool –
the weapon – by which we are defended.
And when I say the Word, I mean the Word in all its forms as Christ
gives it to us in the Means of Grace.
Through Scripture, Holy Baptism, Holy Absolution and the Sacrament of
the Altar Christ’s Spirit keeps us in the faith and enables us to resist the
attacks of the devil. There we learn we find what God really does say.
There we find the truth. There we receive strength through the Spirit to
remain faithful to our Lord as we look forward to his return and the resurrection
of the dead.
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