2007 Christmas Eve Service – “Why
Christ Came: To Claim our Shame”
Genesis 3
Christmas Eve Sermon preached at Curwensville Presbyterian Church – December
24, 2007 – 11:00pm
Prayer Introduction: During the Sundays of Advent we have looked at four reasons why Christ came – connecting with the four candles of the Advent Wreath. Christ came to be our hope, to bring us peace with God, to demonstrate God’s love and to cause us to rejoice.
Tonight I
want us to take a more profound look at why Christ came – to claim our shame and
reverse the curse from mankind’s Fall into sin.
Sermon Introduction: From
I. The Fall (vv.1-6) {Heat}
First I would have you see the Fall – in
There are two common misunderstandings when it comes to the Fall (1) It was the woman’s fault and (2) It’s not fair that we have to suffer for Adam’s sin – since we didn’t do it.
First, let’s look at the error in blaming it on the woman. Let’s not forget that Adam was standing there too. Doing what? Nothing. Isn’t this still the sin we see in so many men – “Yes dear, whatever you say…Fruit from the tree for dinner? Whatever you say dear…” Be a man, Adam! He should have been protecting Eve, not standing there with his finger up his nose.
This is the beginning of the blame game that we all play so well. We blame all of our problems on someone else; and we blame our sin on someone else. “I’m a drunk, because my dad was a drunk.” Or “I have a temper, because I’m Irish.” Or “Well, she did it first!”
No matter what situation we face, we cannot blame the situation for our sin. As my friend, Matt Mitchell, says, “My kids have never caused me to get angry. My kids act up just like everyone else’s, but they don’t cause me to get angry – if I get angry it is because sin is already dwelling in my heart.”
And so we come to the second interpretive error, saying it’s not fair we should suffer for Adam’s sin. The fact is that we would have done it too. In fact, we still do. Satan tempts us with the same thing he tempted Adam and Eve – not a piece of fruit, but wanting to be “like God.”
It is Satan who tells us, “You can determine truth for yourself. Do whatever is right for you. No one else should judge you. You can worship God in your own way. You don’t need the Bible [God’s Word]. In fact, you don’t need God.”
Sometimes we overestimate the Fall’s influence – blaming Adam. Often we underestimate the Fall’s influence – by saying, “I’m basically a good person and can choose for myself.”
The situations we face in our life reveal that we are not naturally good. Have you noticed that when you get hungry, you don’t get nicer; or when you are tired, you don’t have a greater desire to serve others? The difficult situations of our life flesh out the sin rooted in our heart.
The next verse shows the sin that is so deeply rooted in our heart.
II. The Fig Leaf (v.7) {Bad Root & Bad Fruit (thorns)}
READ
We are so often aware of others looking at us. It is what makes people afraid to stand up and speak in front of others. It is what makes us sing softly, or not at all, worrying about the people in the pew in front of you. Have you noticed that you can sing at the top of your lungs in the car, until someone looks at you?
Fear of man is also what fuels peer pressure – wondering what other’s think of us. I can remember in 6th grade choosing to listen to Casey Kasem’s top 40 radio countdown, because that’s what everyone was doing – and I wanted them to think I was cool, too.
And there lies the biggest fear of man – people-pleasing. “People-pleasing is sinful?” Yes, because it means we care more about what people think than what the Lord thinks. We fear man instead of fearing the Lord.
I recently discovered that this sinful root was behind my sin of gluttony. I would get upset because I feared someone was upset with me and I would retreat to the basement with a bag of cookies and a coke and turn on the TV to turn off my hurt feelings.
A bad root produces bad fruit. The fear of man may be the root behind unsuccessful dieting (trying to impress others), anger (at people, as such they are controlling you), depression (giving up at the inability to please everyone), marital strife (my spouse isn’t giving me what I want), over-commitment (don’t want to disappoint anyone), not keeping the Sabbath (busy doing things – like remodeling – that will impress others and/or make someone else happy).
The list can go on and on. But there is another vital piece we haven’t looked at yet. When Adam and Eve feared one another’s gaze they took matters into their own hands; they attempted to cover themselves with fig leaves.
When I was in Israel I had a chance to see some fig leaves. They get pretty big, but not huge – and let’s face it, their leaves. A bunch of fig leaves is not going to be a significant covering. In fact, just covering your private parts with fig leaves is still pretty embarrassing.
The worldly effort at covering up our fear of man is to encourage higher self-esteem. And just as fig leaves don’t really cover nakedness, so self-esteem doesn’t really cover shame. In fact, self-esteem is the worldly version of shame.
We ought to feel ashamed. It was Mark Twain who said, “Man is the only animal that blushes, and the only animal that needs to.” Shame is the proper response to doing something shameful. There is a reason we feel guilty when confronted with our sin – We are guilty!
Encouraging self-esteem isn’t the solution. Confession is. Likewise, self-esteem won’t help someone who has a fear of man. Self-esteem is the cause for their fear of man. We are too worried about our self as it is – worried about the way others view us. Placing more emphasis on self actually makes the problem worse.
Self-esteem is our fig leaves. It doesn’t really cover up the problem. We need a better covering – which takes us to the next set of verses.
III. The Fear of God (vv.8-20) {Good Root & Good Fruit}
READ
In verses 8-20 we see that we should fear God for his justice and mercy. We see his just punishments for all three [man, woman and the serpent] and we see his mercy at the end of verse 15 with the promise that a child would one day be born who would crush the head of Satan.
This is why Christ came.
Jesus is the child who crushed Satan – by his birth, life and death. It is
referred to as the humiliation of Christ. Listen to what is said of Jesus in
Jesus was humiliated to take away our humiliation. Jesus came to be shamed to redeem our shame. Jesus came so that we would fear God instead of fearing man.
Remember, fear doesn’t simply mean being afraid; it also means caring what others think of us. Because Christ came, instead of caring what other people think, we can care more about what God thinks. Instead of being people-pleasers, we can be God pleasers. Instead of loving people wanting something in return, we can love God in return for his love demonstrated to us.
We saw how bad root – fear of man – produces bad fruit; consider how good root – fear of God – produces good fruit.
Dieting to impress others becomes repentance of gluttony, because you are impressed by God’s loving provision of all your needs.
Anger at people who have wronged you becomes a prayerful desire to minister Christ who was wronged for us.
Depression at the inability to be perfect becomes joy in the realization that we are perfect in God’s sight because of Christ.
Marital strife at a spouse who isn’t giving you what you want becomes a self-sacrificing love for your spouse.
Over-commitment to people-pleasing activities becomes proper commitment to God-glorifying activities.
There is one key component we haven’t covered yet – it comes in the last 4 verses.
IV. Forgiveness (vv.21-24) {Consequences}
READ
We reap what we sow. Have you noticed that bad fruit – gluttony, anger, depression, over-commitment – perpetuates a vicious cycle of folly? But good fruit – repentance, ministry, joy, self-sacrificing love – brings a gracious circle of wisdom. And so the Apostle Paul wrote, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21).
Christ came to set us free by the gospel of grace – that the Lord loves us, not because of us, but because of Christ. We don’t get what we deserve and we get what we don’t deserve. Adam and Eve deserved God’s wrath; instead he made a more substantial covering for them.
Instead of covering ourselves with the fig leaves of self-esteem, we see that God has given us the undeserved covering of Christ. We find our esteem in Christ.
Christ came so that we can approach the throne of grace with confidence.
Christ came so that we would show grace to others.
Christ came so that we could abandon the bad root of the fear of man and have the good root of the fear of God and produce the good fruit of grace-filled love that glorifies God.
Christ came. Praise the Lord, Christ came.
MAY THE TRUTH SET YOU FREE – AMEN!