January 10 Order - SHAME

Ok, we have spent a lot of time talking about darkness, and order. So let me bring this into a focal point for a moment. Why does all of this matter? 

 

Well, first off, we must understand that the evil, or the bad that exists in this world, is simply a rebellion against the created order of things. God has a specifically beautiful plan that brings life to the world. Any time there is something that is functioning outside of that order, it’s evil. And the problem with evil is that it causes death. 

 

So ask the first question? 

 

Why does it cause death? 

 

Well, go back to the beginning. 

 

Where did God create live in Genesis 1:2? 

 

In the middle of the dark, formless, emptiness.

 

Before God started creating, what existed there? ? ? ]

 

Nothing. 

 

Remember what the words dark, formless, and empty mean together? 

 

They were meant to create a sense of anxiety forming nothingness that was trying to consume all things. If you remember what I said, it was like it was a black hole. No life could exist inside this darkness. Evil is simply a rebellion against the order that God created. And the opposite of 

God’s good creation, is the darkness that has no order - and that darkness does what it has always done. . .. . it consumes life. 

 

So when God told Adam and Eve that if they ate from the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they would die. . . this wasn’t a prescriptive word. It was a descriptive word. God was describing what would happen to them. They would be consumed by corruption, chaos, disorder, and anything else that would rebel against God’s purposes and plans. Ultimately causing death. 

 

Get this! To rebel against God’s plan, is simply to allow the all consuming darkness back into your life. And ultimately, it will begin to devour all signs of life. . . . 

 

So the next thought - if only God created a way for us to know if we are rebelling against his plans and allowing ourselves to welcome the destructive powers of the darkness into our lives. . . 

 

Oh. . He did!

 

But before I tell you what he gave us to help navigate his plans, I have to warn you. Most people hate the word I am about to tell you. In fact, the world would tell you to rid yourself of the word I am about to say. 

 

But you must know, God intentionally created this to be a natural understanding that we are welcoming in something that should be done differently. 

 

You know what, before I tell you this word, let me read you some scripture. 

 

Genesis 2:15-25

“The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take dare of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat form any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat form it you will certainly die.” 

 

The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” 

 

Now the Lord God formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them, and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. 

 

But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman form the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. 

 

The man said, 

 

“This is now bone of my bones 

And flesh of my flesh;

She shall be called ‘woman’

For she was taken out of man.”

 

That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. 

 

And and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.”

 

Ok, I said the word in this text that I want to share with you. It’s something that God gives us to keep us from allowing the dark chaos of rebellion to rule over us without us knowing it. Let me give you the definition of the word before I tell you what it is. . . ready. . . 

 

(Webster’s dictionary) A painful emotion caused by consciousness of guilt, shortcoming, or impropriety. . . . 

 

Do you know what the word is? 

 

SHAME. 

 

Shame is God’s natural indicator that we’ve entered into a rebellion that we were never supposed to entertain. It’s a natural emotion that is caused inside the psyche of a person. It causes someone to understand that they’ve done something that doesn’t align with God’s order. 

 

Adam and Eve were naked, and they felt no shame. . . 

 

This is significant to the story. 

 

They were in alignment with God’s plans, so they didn’t have the first hand knowledge of what evil - or dark chaos - looked like. This was God’s intent. He didn’t want mankind to experience it. But listen to what happens as soon as Adam and Even eat from the tree and entertain disorder. 

 

Genesis 3:6-11

 

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. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. 

 

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid form the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “where are you?”

 

He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” 

 

And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

 

See what happened?

 

God didn’t want them to have a first hand experiential knowledge of evil. He was hoping they would remain true to the order of his plan. But once they disobeyed, their eyes were opened and it brought them to a spot of understanding evil. And what was the mark of this understanding? SHAME. 

 

It’s why they hid. 

 

They knew they were in the wrong, and it caused them to hide from God. 

 

Think about this. They were naked this whole time. . . Why did they suddenly want to be clothed and also hide from God?

They now understood shameful thoughts, they knew what it was like to have shameful lust. And this shame, led them to hide from God. 

 

See, God didn’t give us shame so that we would run and hide. He gave it to us so that we would know we were wrong, and turn back to his plan for us. 

 

It’s a God given system of checks and balance to make sure we don’t walk in darkness, but follow his plans. 

 

So while the world tries to justify actions in order to eliminate shame, we should embrace shame and try to understand what why we are feeling shame. Because the truth is, this is a God given emotion designed to trigger a response to step out of darkness and into light. 

 

There is a lot to this, and we will have to dig into it more as time goes on. 

 

But here is the main thought.. .  

 

Shame is God’s design to make sure we stop and evaluate where we are and what we are doing. This way we wont’ continue to walk in sin and open our lives to the destructive chaos of disorder. 

 

What does this teach me? 

 

Well, that God is too kind and merciful to let us walk in darkness. From the very beginning he has been working a plan to make sure we are able to be with him while living an abundant life here on this earth. And he loves us enough that he gave us this natural marker that will keep us from stepping deeper into darkness. . .If . . we will listen.