Genesis 1:1-3:24
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen
Midweek services, whether in Advent or Lent always present a bit of a problem. What texts does a preacher use? For a liturgically minded congregation such as ours, I always fear the risk of “free texting;” choosing one’s own texts based upon themes or topics on which one wants to preach. You end up with hobby horses. And personally I have an aversion to sermon series. What’s a confessional, liturgical Lutheran congregation, who cares about the importance of preaching and the Word, to do?
Well, as there is no Easter without Lent, that is, there is no victorious resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, conquerer of sin and Satan, without His atoning Passion, suffering, and death, and since Lent is meaningless and depressing without Easter, this year we will use the five main Old Testament readings for the Great Vigil of Easter.
From our position here in this valley of sorrow we shall peer beyond the gallows of Golgotha to see the empty tomb illuminated by the glory of the Cross. Lent is about repentant joy, but this does not turn us inward, rather outward, toward Christ. Always toward Christ, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him despised the shame, enduring the Cross, for your salvation. We shall find Christ in the Old Testament; the promise of His coming and the great hope of His all-atoning sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins.
heard this on Ash Wednesday and were reminded of it last Sunday and once again tonight: Remember, O man, that you are dust and to dust you shall return.
1. It comes from this reading tonight. God first cursed the serpent, that wicked foe the devil, saying, On your belly you shall go and dust you shall eat all the days of your
life. And then he turned to the man and said, And you, my friend, are dust.
2. Satan is seeking to devour you. Consume you in both body and soul. And like a cat with a mouse, he plays with his food before he eats it.
II. Where God builds a Church, Satan builds a chapel - Luther
A. The Lord God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - speak and it is so. The Father cleaves the darkness with the speaking of His eternal Word, and the Spirit, who hovers over the natal waters of creation, who is the Lord and Giver of Life, works with the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, to create all things good. TOV.
1. Then, as the greatest Scientist, Botanist, Anatomist, Chemist, and all, our Lord forms the man from the dust of the ground. He breathes into His nostrils the breath of life. He bestows upon Adam the image and likeness of Himself. The woman has it too, for she is taken from the side of the man, fashioned, built, created for perfect union with him as one like unto his opposite, yet equal in possession of the imago Dei and original righteousness.
2. And all of creation preaches to these two members of humanity. The morning stars sing the glory of the Lord, the waters declare His steadfast love. They have perfect, sweet communion with the Blessed Holy Trinity, dwelling in fellowship with Him and one another, gathering for worship and holy communion around the very Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. This is there Church.
B. But, as Dr Luther quipped, “Where God builds a Church, Satan builds a chapel.” Satan slithers into creation, wraps himself around the bounteous limbs of the forbidden tree and entices away our first parents by his poisoned sermon. He tickles their ears. Just as faith cometh by hearing, so does unbelief. Everything preached. What we listen to enters our hearts and minds through our ears. And what takes root there blooms out in our lips and our lives. What comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart and it got to the heart through preaching. Bad sermons lead to bad theology. Jesus warns of false preachers bringing false doctrine. Satan is the ultimate false preacher. And his false doctrine is the root and ground of all heresy - to doubt God’s good and gracious will and Word and to look somewhere else - usually internally, to our reason and senses - for truth.
C. The sin is not in the eating alone. Their sin is in denying the very word of God as good and true and right and beautiful. Though not yet given from the hand of Moses, Adam and Eve in perfection knew the Law perfectly. And they break all Ten Commandments:
1 - Do not fear, love, and trust God above all things.
2 - Take His Name in vain by ascribing to Him what He didn’t say: i.e. “Don’t touch it.”
3 - Despise His Word when they reach for the food of the devil
4 - Reject God given authority, the order of creation, and headship with Eve acts on their behalf and Adam, though with her, is silent!
5 - Murder the entire human race
6 - Are no longer chaste and descent - they know that they are naked and are ashamed
7 - Take that which God did not give them
8 - Adam blames Eve (God), who blames the serpent
9/10 - Desiring to make one wise. They covet the fruit and the power it can give
III. The Ruin of Creation and its Restoration
A. God comes, in mercy and love, seeking His children. He calls to them, those who lost His image, yet still retain a capacity for His Word. He desires fellowship with them still. Desires for them to be restored Him through confession and absolution. Yet they would not. They pass the blame and in so doing blame God. He is just. He warned of severe punishment and it must come.
B. Adam and Eve are cursed. Creation is cursed. Satan is cursed.
C. But the threat and curse to the serpent is laden with a promise for all mankind. Did you hear it? I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her Seed. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise His heal. Working backward from the resurrection of our Lord and His explication of Luke 24. The New Testament is the fulfillment of the Old. The OT is an unpacking of the Torah. The Torah is an unpacking of the first Gospel - Genesis 3:15.
Christ, the Second Adam - taken from the Virgin’s woman/Virgin Dust - must come and make right what had gone wrong. He must undo the curse. He must restore fallen creation. He must defeat the devil, all his works and all his ways. He must stomp the head of the serpent and lift Adam and Eve and all humanity from the ashes, from death, to Himself in heaven, to paradise restored.
Psalm 33:11 The plans of His heart to all generations: He promises a way back. He will put enmity between the seed of the serpent - that is, sin and death - and the Seed of the Woman, that is, Jesus Christ, the GodMan, born of the Virgin Mary. He will undo the curse in His own flesh and blood. The death that was promised/threatened, He shall bear it in Himself, for all humanity. Satan who by a tree overcame will by a tree be overcome. The divine irony is delicious.
And in the meantime, God prepares Adam and Eve, and all humanity, for this life together with Him (Holy Trinity) through the forgiveness of sins. For where there is forgiveness of sins, there is life and salvation. He slaughters an animal - a lamb? - and covers Adam and Eve with the bloody carcass, which covers their shame, their nakedness, and serves as the Substitute for their death. The lamb dies in their place and His blood marks them.
Our Lord has sought you out. Sought fellowship with you once more. The flaming sword of the angel has been quenched in the blood of Christ and the way to the Tree is open once more.
Come, feast on the Tree of Life, for its boughs are laden with the sweet fruit of the Gospel of the full and free forgiveness of all your sins. And where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen
Midweek services, whether in Advent or Lent always present a bit of a problem. What texts does a preacher use? For a liturgically minded congregation such as ours, I always fear the risk of “free texting;” choosing one’s own texts based upon themes or topics on which one wants to preach. You end up with hobby horses. And personally I have an aversion to sermon series. What’s a confessional, liturgical Lutheran congregation, who cares about the importance of preaching and the Word, to do?
Well, as there is no Easter without Lent, that is, there is no victorious resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, conquerer of sin and Satan, without His atoning Passion, suffering, and death, and since Lent is meaningless and depressing without Easter, this year we will use the five main Old Testament readings for the Great Vigil of Easter.
From our position here in this valley of sorrow we shall peer beyond the gallows of Golgotha to see the empty tomb illuminated by the glory of the Cross. Lent is about repentant joy, but this does not turn us inward, rather outward, toward Christ. Always toward Christ, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him despised the shame, enduring the Cross, for your salvation. We shall find Christ in the Old Testament; the promise of His coming and the great hope of His all-atoning sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins.
- Genesis 1:1-2:3 (3:24)
- Assigned reading for Easter Vigil is the narrative of the good creation of God the Father through His Word (the Son) by His Spirit, in six, literal, 24hr days.
- Optional reading to 3:24
- Genesis 1 and 2 is for Easter. Taking us back to the pristine beauty and perfection of the Garden. The restoration that is already accomplished, but not yet consummated through the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
- Genesis 3 is for Lent. It is serves as the terrible reminder that you are dust and to dust you shall return. That you are dying. From the moment of conception. That we couldn’t keep God’s good creation for one whole day before ruining it.
- Assigned reading for Easter Vigil is the narrative of the good creation of God the Father through His Word (the Son) by His Spirit, in six, literal, 24hr days.
heard this on Ash Wednesday and were reminded of it last Sunday and once again tonight: Remember, O man, that you are dust and to dust you shall return.
1. It comes from this reading tonight. God first cursed the serpent, that wicked foe the devil, saying, On your belly you shall go and dust you shall eat all the days of your
life. And then he turned to the man and said, And you, my friend, are dust.
2. Satan is seeking to devour you. Consume you in both body and soul. And like a cat with a mouse, he plays with his food before he eats it.
II. Where God builds a Church, Satan builds a chapel - Luther
A. The Lord God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - speak and it is so. The Father cleaves the darkness with the speaking of His eternal Word, and the Spirit, who hovers over the natal waters of creation, who is the Lord and Giver of Life, works with the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, to create all things good. TOV.
1. Then, as the greatest Scientist, Botanist, Anatomist, Chemist, and all, our Lord forms the man from the dust of the ground. He breathes into His nostrils the breath of life. He bestows upon Adam the image and likeness of Himself. The woman has it too, for she is taken from the side of the man, fashioned, built, created for perfect union with him as one like unto his opposite, yet equal in possession of the imago Dei and original righteousness.
2. And all of creation preaches to these two members of humanity. The morning stars sing the glory of the Lord, the waters declare His steadfast love. They have perfect, sweet communion with the Blessed Holy Trinity, dwelling in fellowship with Him and one another, gathering for worship and holy communion around the very Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. This is there Church.
B. But, as Dr Luther quipped, “Where God builds a Church, Satan builds a chapel.” Satan slithers into creation, wraps himself around the bounteous limbs of the forbidden tree and entices away our first parents by his poisoned sermon. He tickles their ears. Just as faith cometh by hearing, so does unbelief. Everything preached. What we listen to enters our hearts and minds through our ears. And what takes root there blooms out in our lips and our lives. What comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart and it got to the heart through preaching. Bad sermons lead to bad theology. Jesus warns of false preachers bringing false doctrine. Satan is the ultimate false preacher. And his false doctrine is the root and ground of all heresy - to doubt God’s good and gracious will and Word and to look somewhere else - usually internally, to our reason and senses - for truth.
C. The sin is not in the eating alone. Their sin is in denying the very word of God as good and true and right and beautiful. Though not yet given from the hand of Moses, Adam and Eve in perfection knew the Law perfectly. And they break all Ten Commandments:
1 - Do not fear, love, and trust God above all things.
2 - Take His Name in vain by ascribing to Him what He didn’t say: i.e. “Don’t touch it.”
3 - Despise His Word when they reach for the food of the devil
4 - Reject God given authority, the order of creation, and headship with Eve acts on their behalf and Adam, though with her, is silent!
5 - Murder the entire human race
6 - Are no longer chaste and descent - they know that they are naked and are ashamed
7 - Take that which God did not give them
8 - Adam blames Eve (God), who blames the serpent
9/10 - Desiring to make one wise. They covet the fruit and the power it can give
III. The Ruin of Creation and its Restoration
A. God comes, in mercy and love, seeking His children. He calls to them, those who lost His image, yet still retain a capacity for His Word. He desires fellowship with them still. Desires for them to be restored Him through confession and absolution. Yet they would not. They pass the blame and in so doing blame God. He is just. He warned of severe punishment and it must come.
B. Adam and Eve are cursed. Creation is cursed. Satan is cursed.
C. But the threat and curse to the serpent is laden with a promise for all mankind. Did you hear it? I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her Seed. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise His heal. Working backward from the resurrection of our Lord and His explication of Luke 24. The New Testament is the fulfillment of the Old. The OT is an unpacking of the Torah. The Torah is an unpacking of the first Gospel - Genesis 3:15.
Christ, the Second Adam - taken from the Virgin’s woman/Virgin Dust - must come and make right what had gone wrong. He must undo the curse. He must restore fallen creation. He must defeat the devil, all his works and all his ways. He must stomp the head of the serpent and lift Adam and Eve and all humanity from the ashes, from death, to Himself in heaven, to paradise restored.
Psalm 33:11 The plans of His heart to all generations: He promises a way back. He will put enmity between the seed of the serpent - that is, sin and death - and the Seed of the Woman, that is, Jesus Christ, the GodMan, born of the Virgin Mary. He will undo the curse in His own flesh and blood. The death that was promised/threatened, He shall bear it in Himself, for all humanity. Satan who by a tree overcame will by a tree be overcome. The divine irony is delicious.
And in the meantime, God prepares Adam and Eve, and all humanity, for this life together with Him (Holy Trinity) through the forgiveness of sins. For where there is forgiveness of sins, there is life and salvation. He slaughters an animal - a lamb? - and covers Adam and Eve with the bloody carcass, which covers their shame, their nakedness, and serves as the Substitute for their death. The lamb dies in their place and His blood marks them.
Our Lord has sought you out. Sought fellowship with you once more. The flaming sword of the angel has been quenched in the blood of Christ and the way to the Tree is open once more.
Come, feast on the Tree of Life, for its boughs are laden with the sweet fruit of the Gospel of the full and free forgiveness of all your sins. And where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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