Revenge

My plan is for this to be the last of the articles I write about the sermon I listened to preached by Kris Emerson. The first article was about Adam and Eve’s sin and the second about Cain’s sin. We are looking at these accounts to see what we can learn about sin and our response to it. The last account we will look at is about Lemech in Genesis 4:23-24. I am not sure I have heard or read much about Lemech especially in light of Adam, Eve and Cain. There is not much said about him and it is not very good. First he has two wives. That sin is covered in the first of these articles. I want to cover something else. It seems he claims to have killed a man and a boy for bonding and striking him. Some claim he has not really done this but is treating this punishment. Whether you think this is a threat or has really happened we can learn a lesson. That lesson is how do we respond when we are mistreated?

The Bible does not give us all the details in this situation but let say Lemech had done nothing wrong to the ones who wound and struck him. Was he right in his response to their actions? Absolutely not and that is easy to see in Lemech’s life but what about our lives? I struggle with the idea of trying to treat people right and them treating me wrong. Like Lemech the temptation is there to escalated the situation. Maybe its pride. Lemech sounds very prideful. It takes a lot of humility to overlook a wrong. Proverbs 19:11 Romans 12:17-21 gives us some teaching on this subject. We are not to pay back evil for evil. We are to strive to live at peace. As christians we are not suppose to take revenge but let God repay. Do good to our enemy. Overcoming evil with good. I feel like we should stop, sing an invitation song and repent. That is tough. Jesus did it and through Him we can also.

When Am I Wrong?

We continue with the thoughts from last week from a sermon I listened to by Kris Emerson. I planned on writing one article, but that one is turning into three. I guess I am not only long-winded but long-in-writing as well. Ha! Last week we talked about Adam and Eve, and this week we turn our thoughts to their son, Cain.

You will recall Cain and his brother, Abel, from Genesis 4. Both men brought God a sacrifice, but for Cain and his offering God had no regard. In fact, Hebrews 11:4 tells us Abel offered a better sacrifice than Cain. Why? We do not know for sure. Traditionally, it has been thought that Cain disobeyed God in some way. Maybe he had a bad attitude while offering. I do not believe the text tells us for sure. That does not matter. What matters is Cain’s response. He became angry and killed his brother.

What can we learn from this incident? How do we respond when something we do is found unacceptable. Most of us are doing the things we are doing because we think they are the right things to do. We might be struggling with what the right thing is, but we usually end up taking what we think is the best course. Sometimes, those decisions have come with prayer, worry, study, etc, but we are trying to do the best we can. In the Disney world that we live in, the idea is to follow your heart, and you cannot be wrong. Then someone has the audacity to tell us we are wrong. How do we take it? We get angry, refusing to accept the information, willing to eliminate evidence against us. Kind of sounds like Cain in a nutshell.

It is tough to take a hard look at self and admit wrong. No one really likes to do that, but it is necessary to grow and mature. My goal as a Christian is to become more like Jesus, and that is not easy because it is admitting wrong which means denying self and changing. Are we willing to change when necessary?

Trust and Contentment

I listened to a sermon by Kris Emerson at the Lindale church of Christ the other day while I was running. He was looking at some of the first sins we see in the Bible and what we can learn about how sin might work in our lives. I thought there were some good thoughts there that I might use in a sermon and might still preach, but since we are currently in the New Testament reading program, I thought I would share them in some articles.

The first sin, of course, is Adam and Eve in Genesis three. God has blessed Adam and Eve with all kinds of blessings in the garden, but He withheld one thing from them: the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden. The serpent hits hard at that point. You are missing out. God is holding back blessings from you. This reminds me of my life. I am blessed in multiple ways beyond what I deserve, but there are some things of which God has said I should not partake. I can see those things and think I am missing out. Everyone else is doing it, and they seem to be enjoying those things. Sometimes the one thing that I cannot have overshadows the blessings in my life. Am I going to trust God or take what I want? Does God not care about my happiness? If I had that thing (sex, material things, power, etc) my life would be so much better.

I, like Adam and Eve, find out that which I thought I could not live without does not live up to the hype. In fact, I am often worse off than before. What happened to Adam and Eve? Their eyes were opened. That led to broken fellowship with God, each other (passing blame around), and expulsion from the blessings of God (the garden). Do you think they ever looked back and wished they had never eaten that fruit? If they are like me, they did. Because I have done that in my life. Let me encourage you to trust God and be content with the blessings He has given you.