Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Illustration: San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick refused to stand during the national anthem in August 2016 because of his views on the country’s treatment of racial minorities.

His protest caused quite a stir in the US, with the NFL team stating publicly is within Kaepernick’s rights to choose to participate.

His protest ended in March of this year, as it became time for him to negotiate a new contract.

This action caused outrage in some and admiration in others.

A similar action was taken by our own Cathy Freeman at the 1994 Commonwealth Games when she carried the Aboriginal flag as she took a lap of honour after winning the 400 metres.

Questions were asked in Parliament about her action and Freeman was criticised by the then head of the Australian Commonwealth team.

Freeman is caught stretching upward, the sense of movement extended by the curving track and the billowing flag.

The photograph has captured a moment of victory and a moment of reflection.

Freeman carried the Aboriginal flag as she took a lap of honour after winning the 400 metres.

Questions were asked in Parliament about her action and Freeman was criticised by the then head of the Australian Commonwealth team.

How do you feel about Kaepernick’s and Freeman’s protest actions?

Are they being disloyal to their sport and their country?

If you feel like they are being disloyal and breaking the rules, then you might feel justified in thinking they should have been punished in some way for their actions.

Perhaps a fine or even banned from their respective sports?

God’s purpose is eternal and represented in the Bible through four images: a house, family, bride and body.

In other words, God wanted to share with others the love and community enjoyed by the Trinity.

However, He was not looking for action figures to manipulate, but free agents who would willing enter into allegiance with their creator.

That purpose was interfered with and delayed by The Fall, but not thwarted!

God therefore graciously put into action a plan that would restore and renew His creation, and thus put it back on track to fulfilling His purpose.

He put into action a plan because He does not treat us as our sin deserves, He does not punish beyond the natural consequences of our actions and the curses we bring upon ourselves.

I imagine you’re as intrigued by this as much as I, so let’s look more closely today at why the purpose of God needed a plan.

Exegesis

The Garden represented the fulfilment (mostly) of God's purpose

We see in the second creation account of God laying the groundwork for the fulfilment (mostly) of His purpose.

By “mostly”, I mean that the complete fulfilment would not happen without humankind willingly choosing allegiance to God.

So, God created the conditions for our willing allegiance but not in such a way as to manipulate or interfere with our freedom.

Let’s run through the story:

God is the creator.

While is self-sufficient and satisfied in Himself, God created anyway so as to share the love and community enjoyed by the Trinity.

At its creation, the earth was a blank slate, more or less working fine, but something was missing!

“There was no one to work the ground.”

Someone was needed who could take what God had created —already “very good” in its own right— and turn it into something more than it was, a dwelling-place or “house”.

At its creation, the earth was a blank slate, but something was missing!

God did more than create us:

invited us to become co-workers with Him, His hands and feet, His “body” we might say.

God invited us to become co-workers with Him, His hands and feet, His “body” we might say.

gen 2 8

gen 2

God provided food and shelter for Adam and even taught him the basic principles of life, as a parent would for the children in His family.

God perceived the need of Adam for a helper, as He did Himself, so created a “bride” for him in the person of Eve, as God did for Himself in the person of Adam.

gen 2 25

Life was good for Adam and Eve, perfect even.

They had everything they needed, they had each other, and they had God:

God therefore had set up the perfect conditions for a house, a family, a bride and a body, and fully expected that humankind would pledge its allegiance to God and so fulfil His eternal purpose, for His sake and for our sake.

The Fall corrupted the fulfillment of God's purposes

Why did Adam and Eve hide from God?

Because they knew they had done something wrong, something that would certainly displease God.

What had Adam and Eve done?

They ate from the tree that God had expressly instructed Adam to avoid () —the one and only command God had given them, yet representative of all the commands of God in that the command was not arbitrary, but for our benefit.

Adam and Eve had everything they needed for a free, full and forever life, and all He required of them was their allegience.

They ate from the tree that God had expressly instructed Adam to avoid () —the one and only command God had given them, yet representative of all the commands of God in that the command was not arbitrary, but for our benefit.

'It is quite true that man lives by bread alone — when there is no bread.

But what happens to man’s desires when there is plenty of bread and when his belly is chronically filled?

God provided Adam and Eve with everything they needed for a free, full and forever life, which included instructions for how to maintain that life.

The command was not about obedience per se, but an indication of the boundaries in which to stay safe and sound.

The command was not a restriction of their freedom but an expression of the contours of their freedom.

God created humankind as free agents, capable of self-determination.

As a loving father, He provided wisdom to train them in the way they should go, hoping that when older they would not stray from it (see ).

Unfortunately, the serpent was too easily able to ignite in them “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (

At once other (and “higher”) needs emerge and these, rather than physiological hungers, dominate the organism.

And when these in turn are satisfied, again new (and still “higher”) needs emerge and so on.

This is what we mean by saying that the basic human needs are organized into a hierarchy of relative prepotency' (Maslow, 1943, p. 375).

Why did Adam and Eve hide from God? Their reaction demonstrated their immaturity in that it is reminiscent of the reactions of children.

When young children are caught in an infraction, the more immature tend to do one of two things: run and hide, or throw a temper-tantrum.

To run and hide is an effort to avoid detection of the infraction; the throw a temper-tantrum is an effort to distract the parent from the infraction.

In Adam and Eve’s case they did both: they first hid from God (see ), then passed the blame to everyone else (see ).

In one fell swoop, the purpose of God was thrown into disarray.

For such a small matter, it would seem, Adam and Eve gave up fulfilling God’s purpose: the house was vacated (as Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden, see ); the family was estranged (God’s trust was diminished, see ); the bride was no longer pure (no longer permitted to eat from the tree and live forever, see ); and, the body was no longer capable of serving well (even the ground now produced thorns and thistles, see ).

If Adam and Eve had simply admitted their transgression, instead of hiding and passing blame, I imagine the outcome would have been quite different.

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” ().

()

Therefore, we understand better how, due to The Fall, God’s purpose experienced interference because those in whom He had placed hope for all of creation became corrupted, for as it is written,

God could have destroyed humanity and would have been completely justified in doing so

God could have destroyed humanity and would have been reasonably justified in doing so (see conversation with Moses)

How should God have reacted?

Entering The Garden, in the cool of the day, expecting to enjoy the fruit of His labours, to see His purpose blossom into fulfilment, what God did not expect was His house, family, bride and body to hide from Him.

If you’re a parent, imagine the first time you experienced a child hiding from you in a department store.

This happened to my wife and I. Our daughter was old enough to walk fairly independently.

We turned our backs for just a moment to look over here and she disappeared over there to hide amongst the clothes racks.

At first, we called out innocently; then, imagining she is playing a game, we called out again, with a little playfulness; then, the thought that she’d been abducted entered our minds and we called out with urgency.

Still no response.

Now we’re scrambling around, frantically trying to find her, until a store employee spotted her amongst the clothes.

It was all a game to our daughter, but not much fun for her parents.

God called out to Adam and Eve, wanting them to join in His enjoyment of the afternoon breezes, the explosions of colour in the leaves and wafts of scents from the flowers.

Instead, they are nowhere to be found.

Was this a game?

Sadly, no.

Interestingly, when Adam explained why they were hiding, that they now felt naked in front of each other and God, He immediately knew that something was wrong and exactly what was wrong: they had eaten from the tree they were commanded not to eat from (Gen 3:11).

How should God have reacted?

Following the exodus from slavery in Egypt, when Moses was on Mount Sinai for 40 days and nights communing with God and receiving from Him The 10 Commandments, the people fell into sin and acted abhorrently.

As it is written,

God was inclined to destroy the people He had led into freedom, but Moses sought the favour of God and convinced Him not to follow through with this threat ().

While He relented that day, God would have been completely justified in making good on His threat and punishing the people with destruction!

Funnily, perhaps Moses reasoned with God because he didn’t himself appreciate just what was going on down below because, once he saw they people worshipping the golden calf he punished them himself by grinding up the idols, mixed the powder with water, and made the people drink it!

()

God would have been completely justified in destroying humanity on a number of occasions and starting over —He, in fact, did with Noah, but that was an exceptional situation ().

Why didn’t He when Adam described his nakedness and God knew they had done the wrong thing?

Why was God’s reaction then not to destroy them and start over?

It was because God did not create action figures that He could manipulate and bend to His will, but created free agents who might or might not pledge their allegiance to their creator and so fulfil God’s purpose.

If they did pledge their allegiance willingly, that would be so much more satisfying to God than mindless action figures.

God’s purpose, then, required a response to sin other than destroying His creation and starting over.