The Fall Archives - Faith Lutheran Church, Wesley Chapel

Kurt Steinbrueck July 2, 2020

Blog Corruption, sin, Sinful Nature, The Fall

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The Real Heart Disease

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? ‘I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.’” – Jeremiah 17:9-10

How do you make decisions?

How do you determine right from wrong?

“Do what you feel is right.” Have you ever heard that phrase or something like it? Is it really the right thing to do?

When Adam and Eve gave into temptation and fell into sin, they took all of us and creation with them. Ever since then, we have had a corrupt, sinful nature.

Sin, not Sins
We often think of our sinful nature in terms of our sins. We do thing that are wrong. That makes us sinners. The truth, however, is that we do things that are wrong BECAUSE we are sinners. Our “sins” are the fruit of our sinful nature. That’s why the Bible almost always refers to “sin,” not “sins.”

The problem is deeper than our sinful actions.

We have an innate desire to determine right and wrong. Often, we use our intellect and our feelings to make this judgment. However, what we need to understand is that every part of us is corrupted by our sinful nature, including our intellect, feelings, and sense of justice.

Our very minds and hearts have the sickness of sin. They are deceitful. Not that we use them to deceive others, but that they deceive us. We cannot rightly determine right from wrong because of the corruption of sin.

Looking Outside Ourselves
So, how do we know right from wrong? If we cannot look inside ourselves, we must look outside ourselves. Do we look to others? No, they are sinners, too. Do we look to philosophy or culture? No, they are formed by sinful people. There is only one source that is not tainted by sin.

We must look to God, specifically to His Word, the Bible. When we come across something we don’t like in the Bible, we must change, recognizing that this is due to the corruption of sin.

What hope do we have?

If we are corrupted thoroughly by sin and God will “give every man according to his ways,” what hope do we have? Thankfully, God’s Word doesn’t just tell us right from wrong. It tells of the One who came to save sinners like us. Sure, our hearts are corrupted by sin and our deeds produce the fruit of death, but He gives us a new heart.

“And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” – Ezekiel 36:26

So, God will judge you by your heart. Before He does, however, He’ll replace your heart with a new heart that does not deserve condemnation. He puts His Spirit in You to give You life, to guide you, and give you new fruit…

“But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.” – Romans 6:22

Dear Jesus,

I confess that I am sinful and unclean. Please forgive me. Give me a new heart. Renew my mind. Fill me with Your Spirit and grow Your fruit within me.

Amen.

In Christ’s Service,

Pastor Kurt

Kurt Steinbrueck August 29, 2019

Blog Adam and Eve, Genesis, sin, temptation, The Fall

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Temptation and Sin

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” – Genesis 3:1-6

We all face temptation every single day. It comes in many ways and tempts us to many different sins. The question is how do we deal with it. Do we give in? Do we resist? Do we ponder the temptation and reason though it or do we reject it straight away or flee?

When Eve was tempted in the Garden of Eden, the devil came to her in the form of a snake and started with a simple question. “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”.

“Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

Even in the question itself, satan was already being crafty. God never said not to eat from “any” tree, only the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Eve corrects the serpent that they could eat from the trees, just not the one, but also follows suit and distorts what God said, adding, “and you must not touch it, or you will die.” God didn’t say that. So, they are both already not dealing directly with what God said.

The devil continues by trying to convince Eve of how good the fruit is and how she will gain knowledge. He also implies that God is selfish and does not care for her, that He is only keeping her from the fruit so she won’t become equal to Him.

Eve then reasons, the fruit is edible and looks good and I’ll grow in wisdom, so…

Eve reasons her way into thinking that what she is doing is good, even though God said not to. At it’s core, this reasoning accepts the premise that God doesn’t want was is good for her and that rebelling against Him is good and beneficial. It rejects God’s love along with His command.

The progression.

When the devil comes to tempt Eve, she doesn’t reject him outright or flee, she listens. How often are we tempted towards some sin and, instead of rejecting it outright and fleeing, we entertain the thought?

Then the devil tells of all the “good” things that will come from the sin and Eve considers it. Hmm. Maybe this isn’t so bad after all? Maybe this is even a good thing. We, in our sinful nature, have an amazing ability to deceive ourselves and convince ourselves of the goodness of almost anything once we begin to desire it.

Finally, having listened and considered the devil’s argument, Eve eats the fruit. Having entertained the temptation and reasoned it’s goodness, we finally give in. Eve’s sin led to her being banished from the garden, her relationship with God being broken, and her eventual death. Similarly, our sin hurts our relationship with God and leads to death.

James describes this progression this way:

“When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” – James 1:13-15

Repentance or Excuses

This would have been the end of story, if not for God’s great love and mercy. Sending Jesus to die on the cross, God created a way for us to be forgiven and our relationship with Him to be restored.

When Adam and Eve were confronted by God about their sin, they gave excuses. We are tempted to do the same, but God tells us that, rather than give excuses, we should confess and turn from our sin (repent). It’s not always easy. Like a child frighted of punishment from their parents, we want to hide and avoid confessing.

This is when we need to remember when Eve forgot. God does love us and wants what is best for us. When He tells us to confess and turn from our sin, it’s because He wants to forgive us and restore us. We can trust Him.

Heavenly Father,

I confess that I have sinned against You. I have rebelled. I have treated You as though You did not know best and my ways were better. I am sorry. For Jesus sake, please forgive me. Help me, as I face temptation, to turn from it. Keep me from entertaining it and desiring it.

Amen.

You can read the full account of the Fall in Genesis 3. Click here to read it.

In Christ’s Service,

Pastor Kurt

Kurt Steinbrueck August 22, 2019

Blog Genesis, sin, The Bible, The Fall

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In the Beginning…

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” – John 1:1-3

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” – Genesis 1:1-2

The Bible starts where you might expect, the beginning. As a story primarily about God’s creation and His redemption of His creation, the beginning of that creation is a good place to start. However, there was something before the beginning.

No, this isn’t a reference to some prequel like the Phantom Menace in Star Wars. What existed before the beginning?

God.

As we see in John 1, before God created anything, before the beginning, was God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God has no beginning and no end. He is eternal.

Eternity is a hard concept. I can understand things that begin and end. After all, everything we know has a beginning and end (except God). I can even sort of grasp the idea of no end. Something that has no beginning, however, blows my mind. God has no beginning. He just is. This gives us a little insight into why God calls Himself “I Am that I Am” when Moses asks His name.

Ok. Fun Fact, But Why Do I Care?

For all of us, our origin impacts us. For some, it impacts social status. However, we have our parent’s genes. Going deeper, we all have God’s fingerprints on us. This identifies us, but it also limits us. We cannot do anything we want, we can do what our genes allow us. We have life, but only because God gives it to us and sustains us.

God is different. He has no one’s genes nor did anyone create Him? He is not limited. He is not sustained by an outside force. He is and continues by His own power and authority. Thus, He will never end nor can anyone or anything overpower Him.

So, when God promises something, you can count on it. Nothing can stop Him from fulfilling His promises. Even promises that are impossible for us, like raising the dead, are no problem for God.

Almighty and Eternal Father,

You are God. You have no beginning or end. You are almighty, all-knowing, and all-present. Your promises are sure. I know my trust in You is never misplaced. Hold me firm in the faith. Remind me that when things go in ways I don’t like, You are still God and Your promises are still sure.

Amen.

In Christ’s Service,

Pastor Kurt

The Fall

The Real Heart Disease

The Real Heart Disease

Temptation and Sin

Temptation and Sin

In the Beginning…

In the Beginning…

Faith Lutheran Church in Wesley Chapel, FL serving Lutz, Zephyrhills, Land O’ Lakes, and New Tampa, FL