Saturday April 2, 2011, & Sunday April 3 2011 Devotionals
The Package Deal
Read the Scripture: Genesis 3:7-8
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.
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Notes from Saturday’s Scriptures
This account reveals three things that mark the beginning of death, and the proof that this story really occurred is found therein, because these three things are true for every person. When we yield to temptation we experience the pleasures of sin. But what this account forces us to face is that with the pleasure comes an undesirable accompaniment, a fall-out of sin, which we cannot escape. It is all a package deal. Here is spelled out for us the three things that mark the beginning of death.
The first one is this: they realized they were naked. They were naked all along, but they did not know they were naked until the fall. Why? Because they had never looked at themselves. Their awareness of their nakedness is a symbolic way of expressing the idea that they experienced the birth of what we call self-consciousness. They saw themselves, and the immediate effect was their feelings of shame and embarrassment.
So, like Adam and Eve, we find ourselves making clothes to cover our self-consciousness. This is true at the psychological level as well. This is what lies behind the universal practice of projecting an image of ourselves. That is a form of psychological clothing. It is a way of trying to get people to think of us differently from how we really are. This is why we all find ourselves struggling with the matter of being honest, of being open. We do not want people to see us or think of us as we are. We do not want to spend much time with any one person because we are afraid he or she will see us as we really are.
The second thing this account shows us is found in verse 8. Hiding is an instinctive reaction to guilt. Here is the first description of a conscience beginning to function; that inner torment we are all familiar with that cannot be turned off, no matter how hard we try. In fact, often the harder we try to ignore it, the deeper it pierces and the more obdurate it becomes. Psychologists agree that guilt is a universal reaction to life, from which, without apparent reason or explanation, all of us suffer.
This sense of guilt haunts us, follows us, makes us afraid. We are afraid of the unknown, of the future, of the unseen.
The third aspect of this is, death is revealed: The Lord said, What is this that you have done? Adam said, Well, the woman that you gave to me, she gave me the fruit, and I ate. It's her fault. The woman said, Well, it's not my fault; it's the serpent's fault. The serpent beguiled me, and I ate. This is the first human attempt to deal with the problem of guilt. This is where blame always comes. Ultimately it points the finger at God and says He is at fault. People are simply helpless victims of circumstance.
This is what lies behind our urge to blame each other and pin the blame for our actions or attitudes upon some outward circumstance.
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PRAYER: Lord, I confess I have seen the marks of death in my own life: self-consciousness, guilt, and blame. Thank You for Your grace, which seeks me out even as try to hide.
Life Application: Why is it so easy to blame leaders, spouses, friends, enemies, and even ultimately God for our troublesome circumstances? What three things mark the birth of death?
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Sunday April 3rd 2011
Sabbath Rest
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Read the Scripture: Genesis 2:1-3
By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.
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Notes from Sunday’s Scriptures
We must recognize that the weekly Sabbath is not the real Sabbath. It is a picture or a reminder of the real Sabbath. The true Sabbath is a rest; the Jewish Sabbath is a shadow, a picture of that rest. All the Old Testament shadows pointed to Christ. When the work of Jesus Christ was finished, the shadows were no longer needed.
Some years ago when I was attending college, I found myself engaged to a lovely girl who decided to take a two week vacation to England a few months before we were to get married. I found myself missing her a lot. We were calling back and forth in those lonely days, and would stare at her picture all the time. She did the same with a picture of me. It was all I had to remind me of her, and it served moderately well for that purpose. But one wonderful day she arrived home, and I saw her face to face. When the real thing came, there was no longer any need for the picture.
This is what happened with these Old Testament shadows, including the Sabbath. When the Lord came and His work was ended, the picture was no longer needed. The weekly Sabbath ended at the cross. In the letter to the Colossians, Paul confirms it to us. He says, Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.
These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ (Colossians 2:16-17).
The shadow-Sabbath ended at the cross. The next day was the day of resurrection, the day when the Lord Jesus came from the tomb. That was the beginning of a new day--the Lord's Day. Christians immediately began to observe the Lord's Day on the first day of the week. They ceased observing the Sabbath because it was ended by the fulfillment of its reality in the cross, and they began to observe the first day of the week.
Though this shadow-Sabbath ended at the cross, the true Sabbath, the rest of God, continues today. That Sabbath is defined for us in Hebrews 4, There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God [it is available to us now]; for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. (Hebrews 4:9-10)
That is what the Sabbath is: to cease from your own efforts and your own works. Well, you say, if I did that I would be nothing but a blob. But the implication is that you cease from your own efforts and depend on the work of Another. This is why Paul cries, I no longer live, but Christ lives in me (Galatians 2:20).
This was also the secret of the life of Jesus, as we have seen. He Himself said, It is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work (John 14:10). This is the secret of the Christian who learns it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose (Philippians 2:13). So the secret of true Christian life is to cease from dependence on one's own activity and to rest in dependence upon the activity of another who dwells within. That is fulfilling the Sabbath.
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PRAYER Lord, teach me to enter into Your true Sabbath rest by ceasing my efforts to please You and serve You in my own strength.
Life Application: Jesus can do much more through us than we can ever do for Him. How do we cease from our own efforts and our own works? Have we found true Sabbath rest in Christ?
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