Religion (4 of 4)
Series: What Does It Mean to Be Human
Jason Dees
Genesis 3
Over the past few weeks we have been in a series where we have been asking the question: what does it mean to be human? One of the things that we have been saying is that it really means to understand the gifts that God has given us and to understand how those gifts are designed. We have been talking about some of those gifts – work, sex and friendship – but today I want to talk about another gift. It’s a little hard to define and even harder to understand, but it is the gift of religion.
I would define religion as a person’s desire to know and please God or a person’s desire to find a right standing before God. In all of these sermons we have been talking about the origin of God’s gifts, and I think the two exerts that I read to you today are the origin of religion. These simple texts teach us a lot about three things:
1. Our Need for Religion
2. The Way of False Religion
3. The Way of True Religion
OUR NEED FOR RELIGION
In the beginning there was no sense of a need for religion. Adam and Eve were walking with God in the cool of the garden. Adam wasn’t looking for a right standing before God, he knew he had it. Eden was a world without sin. Eden was a world where there was no separation between God and men. There was no sense of shame, no sense of sin and no sense of guilt. All was well. Religion, or pursuing and knowing God, was easy because there was no barrier. All God asked them to do was to obey and trust him.
But, of course, they didn’t. They listened to the serpent, and when they did, a new reality came into the garden, a new sense came into their hearts. It was the reality of sin. And what was their immediate reaction? It’s interesting if you look at it:
6 So when the woman 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, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also ...
Series: What Does It Mean to Be Human
Jason Dees
Genesis 3
Over the past few weeks we have been in a series where we have been asking the question: what does it mean to be human? One of the things that we have been saying is that it really means to understand the gifts that God has given us and to understand how those gifts are designed. We have been talking about some of those gifts – work, sex and friendship – but today I want to talk about another gift. It’s a little hard to define and even harder to understand, but it is the gift of religion.
I would define religion as a person’s desire to know and please God or a person’s desire to find a right standing before God. In all of these sermons we have been talking about the origin of God’s gifts, and I think the two exerts that I read to you today are the origin of religion. These simple texts teach us a lot about three things:
1. Our Need for Religion
2. The Way of False Religion
3. The Way of True Religion
OUR NEED FOR RELIGION
In the beginning there was no sense of a need for religion. Adam and Eve were walking with God in the cool of the garden. Adam wasn’t looking for a right standing before God, he knew he had it. Eden was a world without sin. Eden was a world where there was no separation between God and men. There was no sense of shame, no sense of sin and no sense of guilt. All was well. Religion, or pursuing and knowing God, was easy because there was no barrier. All God asked them to do was to obey and trust him.
But, of course, they didn’t. They listened to the serpent, and when they did, a new reality came into the garden, a new sense came into their hearts. It was the reality of sin. And what was their immediate reaction? It’s interesting if you look at it:
6 So when the woman 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, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also ...
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