From the disobedience of just one bite of fruit, mankind’s nature suffered an epic disfigurement. That simple act has given rise to millennia upon millennia of wretched, destructive, rebellious living. In an instant, the glory of Creation was smeared with dis-ease. It stemmed from the sudden onrush of an ill-gotten knowledge of good and evil. Humanity’s Edenic innocence was forfeited in favor of sin’s vast smorgasbord of lusts and desires. And soon, echoing throughout an eerily still garden, God’s heartbroken, pleading question, “Where are you?”
Ever since that tragedy in the Garden, cultures have valued truth and beauty and kindness and fairness. But those same cultures have been plagued with opposing values because of fallen, uncontrolled egos (aka the fallen nature of man). Here’s the Apostle Paul, ‘ . . . I am all too human, a slave to sin. I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. . . I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.’ Romans 7:14,15,19, NLT. Have we ever experienced conflicting desires in ourselves? Have we ever found ourselves, like Paul, wanting to undertake one course of action, only to find ourselves doing the opposite? We have only to look back at the Garden to see how we got here (BTW, for good news, I recommend reading Romans 7 through to the end and going into Chapter 8.)
With Paul, we, too, can find the answer to the troubles afflicting us. He says: ‘Oh what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.’ Rom. 7:24,25a, NLT. The Risen and Victorious Christ has cancelled sin’s power over us. It is our In-Christ life, lived in the power of the Spirit, that enables us to walk in the joys and freedoms Jesus purchased for us.
One egregious aspect of fallen men’s hearts has been the attitude toward women. In many societies, Biblical and up to present day, there has been a burden placed on women, concerning their place, or lack of, in all aspects of society. The church, unfortunately, has not been spared, with male-dominated leadership excluding women from serving, or even having access to religious education! Fortunately, Jesus provides a Kingdom corrective, and in honor of Mother’s Day here in the US, tomorrow we’ll look at how his life and ministry exemplified proper Kingdom culture – to all saints. Looking forward to seeing y’all, 10 AM, 3 PM UK. PD
Don graduated from Regent University in 1988 and moved to France for seven years, coming back to the US briefly to marry Sue in 1990. The work in France included working in a Christian School and helping plant a church before returning in 1995. He’s been pastor of Peninsula Vineyard since 1999. He enjoys counseling, especially married couples, traveling back to France (with Sue), reading, doing Sudoku puzzles and sleuthing out good, dark chocolate. Don serves as the senior pastor of the Vineyard Church Peninsula, in Newport News, Virginia.