Hello folks.
Last time we talked about the original state of things, and the fall caused by humankind’s choice to go there own way. By choice we didn’t look into things deeply simply because I wanted to explain why sin arrived and has propagated. We will look into it more deeply from other areas of scripture, because it’s important to build the foundation that we are all sinners.
Only when a person realizes how sinful sin is, how desperately God loves them and that He has provided a way for them to come out from under the power of and slavery to sin, will they with eagerness seek out that solution.
Weeds
Today though we’re returning to Genesis and we’re going to look at one of the byproducts of Adam and Eve’s fall from grace: Weeds.
So let’s look at where weeds first sprung up in the Bible.
17 And He said to Adam, “Because you listened to your wife’s voice and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘Do not eat from it’:
The ground is cursed because of you.
You will eat from it by means of painful labor[e]
all the days of your life.
18
It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
19
You will eat bread[f] by the sweat of your brow
until you return to the ground,
since you were taken from it.
For you are dust,
and you will return to dust.” Genesis 3:17-19.
So the ground was cursed by Adam’s decision to defy God by listening to Eve’s voice and taking of the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and eating it.
Only through painful labor, would they eat from things he planted in the ground. And he would be constantly working the ground and clearing it out because the ground would produce thorns and thistles for him to have to clear out.
Note that this would continue all the days of their lives.
Weeds and Sin in a Fallen World
Being that we live in a fallen world and are born in a fallen condition it should be no surprise that we sin. We are not sinners because we win, we sin because we’re sinners! We’re born slaves to sin, we live our lives that way, and we will die that way. We will sin all the days of our lives. But we do not have to live as slaves to or under the power of sin all our lives. God has provided a way for us to come out from under that slavery and becomes slaves to Righteousness.
God hates sin, but He loves (Agape’s – God’s unconditional love) the sinner. He sent His (One and Only) Son via the Incarnation in Christ Jesus. Fully God and Fully man to live the ONLY perfect life ever lived, fulfill the Law and the Prophets, be crucified carrying the sins of ALL who will ever live on the cross, offering to cover us in HIS Righteousness in exchange. He died and rose again 3 days later.
Those of us who awaken to our desperate state through The Holy Spirit’s nudging and accept this gift and no longer slaves of sin but slaves of Righteousness.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things[k] have come. 2nd Corinthians 5:17.
For God was pleased to have
all His fullness dwell in Him,
20 and through Him to reconcile
everything to Himself
by making peace
through the blood of His cross[j]—
whether things on earth or things in heaven.
21 Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds because of your evil actions. 22 But now He has reconciled you by His physical body[k] through His death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before Him— 23 if indeed you remain grounded and steadfast in the faith and are not shifted away from the hope of the gospel that you heard.
Colossians 1:19-23.
Yet all will still sin all of the days of our lives.
Why?
Well those who do not accept God’s gift remain un-regenerate, they continue to be dead in their sin, in slavery to sin.
And those who do accept God’s gift still have the fleshly desires of the old man, even though we have been made new. It is quite possible to live as if still a slave to sin but it is un-natural, and it doesn’t feel right and the reason is right from God’s word as well.
Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship.[a] 2 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.
Romans 12: 1-2
As believers we are to live a life that becomes changed by God and as our minds are renewed by God we will sin less and less. This is simply because our will, our life is being live toward Him because He loved us and saved us and as Christians we are called to change so that we can accurately reflect his character on others.
However we will never be perfect, without sin, in this earthly life because if nothing one sin will always ruin us. And that is the sin of Pride.
So let’s take a look at how weeds are like sin.
“The Joy of Weeding” “The Joy of Sin”
The garden looks great! Your life looks great!
You water the garden regularly. You live you life in an ordinary manner.
Weeds pop up! Sin is evident here and there!
We get down and carefully weed. We try to stop doing what seem wrong.
The garden looks great! Your life looks great!
You water the garden regularly. You live life in an ordinary manner.
Weeds pop up! Sin is evident here and there!
We get down and carefully weed. We try to stop doing what seems wrong.
Breaking the Cycle
Do you see what’s happening here? It’s a cycle of failure right. When we weed we are careful as possible to get down to the root, but eventually that root is back. In the same way the root of our sin is something we cannot touch. We cannot do it by ourselves.
So how do we break the cycle?
By accepting the gift of God in Man Christ Jesus death up the cross for our sins. It’s the only way to break the cycle and set in motion a cycle of change.
For once we accept this gift, we are covered by Christ’s righteousness we are given a teachable heart, and are filled and sealed by The Holy Spirit.
And we enter a life long spiritual battle for Him that goes on 24/7/365.
Being a Christian is not easy, but is we keep relying all on Him, trusting only in Him because trusting in ourselves will lead to failure. And if we focus on things above. not on the things of this worldly fallen system.
So if you have been raised with the Messiah, seek what is above, where the Messiah is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on what is above, not on what is on the earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with the Messiah in God. 4 When the Messiah, who is your[a] life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.
5 Therefore, put to death what belongs to your worldly nature:[b] sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, God’s wrath comes on the disobedient,[c] 7 and you once walked in these things when you were living in them. 8 But now you must also put away all the following: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and filthy language from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old self[d] with its practices 10 and have put on the new self. You are being renewed in knowledge according to the image of your[e] Creator. 11 In Christ[f] there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian,[g] slave and free; but Christ is all and in all.
We are to put off or put to death the things of the old man. And the closer we drawer to God the easier that will be.
When the flesh tugs at we must say no, put that behind us there are such greater things to come that they cannot even be imagined.
Each and every day draw close to the Lord for He promises to draw close to you. Let the passage below be your prayer so that you will be transformed each and every day of you lives.
The weeds of sin will become less and less numerous and we will be able to enjoy our lives with our savior.
Stop resisting and start believing.
We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding,[e] 10 so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God. 11 May you be strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience, with joy 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you[f] to share in the saints’[g] inheritance in the light. 13 He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves. 14 We have redemption,[h] the forgiveness of sins, in Him. Colossians 1:9-14.
Let’s not forget that The Cross Road is a long walk, but it can be done if we give it all to Jesus and allow Him to finish what He started in us. Let us walk in communion with our Creator.
In Christ,
Ross
The Cross Road 