Broken Fellowship

1
Broken Fellowship

• Pastor Lee P. Washington
• Reid Temple AME Church

2
Romans 512-21

• Paul traces the entrance of sin into the world
  through Adams disobedience.
• Gen. 3 is crucial to Christian understanding of
  our human sinfulness.
• The intent of the author of Gen. 3 was to paint a
  picture of disobedient humanity.
• Gen. 3 teaches us the lesson of humanity who
  refused to trust and follow the God who created
  them.

3
The Effects of Original Sin

• Original sin fundamentally altered the perfect
  world that God created.
• Sin continues to alter the peace of your mind and
  your life.
• Sin entering the world serves as the backdrop for
  good news about Gods action through Jesus to
  bring salvation.
• Following Adam and Eve leads to a never ending
  cycle of disobedience in our lives.

4
Pre-Sin Condition of the World

• God and humanity interacted freely and naturally.
• Humanity enjoyed an unbroken, unchained and
  perfect relationship with God with the
  environment, and between each other.
• There was abundance of food which was pleasing to
  the eye and good for food.

5
Gods Restrictions

• Humans were not to eat from the tree of the
  knowledge of Good and evil. V17
• Humans were to avoid consuming the fruit of this
  tree because if they did so, they would die.
• This was not an infringement on their freedom but
  as a safeguard for their own-well being.

6
Post-Sin Condition of the World

• Harmony and the peace was fractured and broken.
• Temptation came and carried the day in the midst
  of the perfect world.
• Sin did not strike at a moment of weakness or
  stress.
• As followers of Jesus we no longer live in
  paradise and the risk to fall is greater.

7
The Danger of God Talkv1-3

• The fall came in the midst of the first
  conversation about God or God talk.
• The serpent initiates the conversation by
  pressing Eve and Adam is silent. V6
• The danger is to turn God into an object rather
  than treating God as the subject of a genuine
  relationship.
• Chapter 2 Adam and Eve lived in vital
  relationship with God.

8
The Danger of God TalkContinued

• The Serpent invited Eve and Adam to talk about
  God rather than to speak to or with God.
• God talk is dangerous especially if it is about
  God and not to God.
• It remains crucial for us as disciples of Jesus
  to maintain a relationship with God and to resist
  the temptation of substituting God talk for a
  moment by moment relationship with God through
  prayer.

9
Questioning Gods IntegrityV4-5

• Satan seeks to get us to question Gods words and
  buy into questioning the integrity of Gods
  trustworthiness.
• When deciding between obedience and disobedience
  the crucial question is do you fundamentally
  trust that God has your best interest at heart?
• Satan implies God can not be trusted and is
  holding out on your best interest.

10
Who is Responsible for Original Sin?

• The Snake? The Man? The Woman?
• Why did the snake speak only to the woman and why
  to the woman instead of the man?
• The conversation of Satan involves the
  contradiction of God. v4
• The conversation of Satan cast doubt on the
  motives of God. v5

11
The Issue Of Knowledgev5-7

• The issue of knowledge about God becomes at its
  deepest level an issue of trust.
• Can God be trusted with your best interest or
  does God have his divine interest more at heart
  than interest in humans?
• Gaining knowledge was to be disobedient and to
  lose by drawing the wrong conclusion.
• Knowledge helps to inform our decisions and we
  are responsible for our independent decision.

12
The Issue Of KnowledgeContinued

• If humanity could attain this knowledge, humanity
  would suddenly become like God.
• To live daring lives that achieve Gods will, we
  have to settle in our hearts the trust issueGod
  can be trusted.
• You cant achieve the will of God in the world
  apart from living in a moment by moment
  relationship with Gods word.

13
Acting on Impulsev6-8

• Once we begin to question Gods motives, we are
  left simply to live by our own cunning intellect
  and resolve.
• When trust in God diminishes we are reduced to
  acting on impulse.
• Apart from a vital relationship with God we lack
  the ability to discern good and bad, right and
  wrong. Prov. 1412

14
The Danger of Self-trust

• We often think temptation is based on appearance
  but the key is v6.
• When ones relationship with God deteriorates and
  we no longer know God and worse yet we no longer
  trust God has our best interest at heart we
  resort to self-trust, and live by the flesh.
• What was the end result of self-trust in Adam and
  Eve and what is it for us today?

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Godly Trust Godly Responsev9-13

• Trust is the key to living faithfully and
  courageously for God in the world today.
• Without Godly trust we remain trapped in endless
  cycles of disobedience and broken fellowship with
  God.
• God responded by looking for his prized creation.
  V9 in the midst of tragedy God comes looking for
  us.
• There may be repercussions for our actions but
  there is also hope because Gods mission is
  culminated in the cross of Jesus Christ.

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God Offers us Gods Best

• Are you seeking to live faithfully for God?
• Do you have a vital relationship with God?
• Do you trust God has your best interest in heart?
  Or, do you live your life trusting fundamentally
  in yourself?
• Have you reached the point in your life you are
  ready to hand over all you are to God so you may
  live the victorious life?

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Lesson Summary

• Gen. 3 is crucial to Christian understanding of
  our human sinfulness.
• Sin alters the peace of your mind and life.
• Gods restrictions are not an infringement on our
  freedom but a safeguard for our own well being.
• God talk is dangerous if it is about God and not
  to God.
• God offers us Gods best.