Humanity & Sin

CREATION OF MAN

In the Beginning
Genesis 1:1, 31; 2:1-2 (ESV)

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. . . . 31 And God saw
everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and
there was morning, the sixth day.

2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2  And on the
seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day
from all his work that he had done.

Three Perfect Relationships

1. Man’s relationship with God

2. Man’s relationship with other People

3. Man’s relationship with Creation

Man’s Relationship with God

 Genesis 1:28 ESV

28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the
earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the
heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Genesis 1:29-30 ESV

29  And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face
of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. 30  And
to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps
on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for
food.” And it was so.

Genesis 2:16-17 ESV

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the
garden, 17  but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the
day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Why not that tree?

Isaiah 43:5-6 ESV

5  Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west
I will gather you. 6  I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold;
bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth,

Man’s Relationship with Other People

 Genesis 1:27 ESV

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and
female he created them.

Genesis 2:18

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a
helper fit for him.”

Genesis 2:25 

And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

Man’s Relationship with Creation

Genesis 1:28,

And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth
and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the
heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

29  And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face
of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. 30  And
to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps
on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for
food.” And it was so.

Genesis 2:20 

The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of
the field.

Discussion Questions
1. Discuss these three relationships. Which of these relationships were you struck by most
and why?

4. Give examples of how these relationships have flourished in your life.

THE FALL

Genesis 3:1-2

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had
made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the
garden’?”

3 CORRUPTED RELATIONSHIPS
1. Man’s relationship with God

2. Man’s relationship with other People

3. Man’s relationship with Creation

What happened to our relationship with God?

Genesis 3:24 

He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming
sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

What happened to our relationship with other people?

Genesis 3:11-12 ESV

11  He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I
commanded you not to eat?” 12  The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with
me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13  Then the Lord God said to the woman,
“What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I
ate.”

Genesis 3:16 ESV

16  To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you
shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over
you.”
 What happened to our relationship to creation?
Genesis 3:17-19 ESV

17  And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have
eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground
because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18 thorns and thistles it
shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your
face you shall eat bread,

Romans 8:19-22 ESV)

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the
creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in
hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the
freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been
groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.

THE UNIVERSAL EFFECTS OF SIN

• Universal Human Sinfulness

• Universal Human Guilt

• Universal Human Death

• Universal Human Corruption

Discussion Questions
1. What are the ways that sin has broken your relationships…tangibly in your life...with
God, with community, with creation?

2. What are the ways that you’ve seen Jesus restore these broken relationships?
IDENTIFYING AND FIGHTING SIN - IDOLS

The primary agent of sanctification is the Holy Spirit (Gal 5:22-23).

The means of sanctification used by the Spirit:

5.The Word of God (John 17:17)

6.Striving through providence (Phil 2:12-13)

7.The community of believers (Heb 3:13; Prov 27:6)

8.Faith-filled prayer (Mt 6:13; Ps 86:11; 119:37)

9.Forgiveness and faith in future grace (Rom 12:1-2; Heb 11:6, 24-26)

Repentance
a. The problem of sin is deeper than you think

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Ezekiel 14:1-5 Some of the elders of Israel came to me and sat down in front of me. Then the word
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of the LORD came to me: "Son of man, these men have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked
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stumbling blocks before their faces. Should I let them inquire of me at all? Therefore speak to them
and tell them, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: When any Israelite sets up idols in his heart
and puts a wicked stumbling block before his face and then goes to a prophet, I the LORD will answer
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him myself in keeping with his great idolatry. I will do this to recapture the hearts of the people of
Israel, who have all deserted me for their idols.'
 b. Repent from the deepest idols

We have as many idols as we have thoughts in our heads, but it is helpful to break them
down into just a few to help us repent. Here are the definitions. See if you can find yourself
majoring in one or two of these:

 Approval idol – I must know that people think highly of me more than I need to obey
& worship God.
 Comfort idol – I must be free from any constraints or pain more than I need to obey &
worship God.
 Control idol – I must avoid chaos and unexpected agenda changes more than I need to
obey & worship God.
 Power idol – I must exert my will and win more than I need to obey & worship God.

Group Exercise

If you need help thinking through your idols, answer these questions:

o What, if I lost it, would cause me the greatest fear or anxiety?

o What, if I failed or lost it, would cause me to feel that I did not even want to live?
What keeps me going?
o What do I rely on or comfort myself with when things go bad or get difficult?
o What do I really want and expect out of life? What would really make me happy?

In these exercises, we’re going to figure out how the idols of our heart show themselves in
sinful patterns in our lives. Notice that the same sins are caused by radically different
motives, so repentance will look differently depending on the root idol (the sin beneath the
sin).
GROUP EXERCISE: IDENTIFYING IDOLS & REPENTANCE

As a group, think of a circumstance in which a person with each idol would be driven to:

Approval Comfort Control Power

Explode in anger

Grumble about
pursuing lost
people

Be judgmental

Give to the poor (a

seemingly good
thing!)

Lose all hope

Not be able to
forgive

Put in too much

time at work

Be apathetic
towards suffering
people
Circle your one main personal idolatry and finish the sentence below with each thing listed.

“My sinful desire to have _________ money

comfort rather than Jesus causes me to use _____________ this way:
approval friends
control religious activities
power sex
leadership roles
kids
nice possessions
my missional community

Example: “My sinful desire to have __comfort__ rather than Jesus causes me to use
_____kids_____ this way: I get angry with my kids they are keeping me from relaxing and
spending time to myself.”

An example of repentance

Here’s a sample prayer of repentance from an idol:

Pursuing and having (idol) does not make me righteous or bring me promised satisfaction.
In fact, my driving desire for (idol) rather than God is wicked and sinful in itself and is
causing me to sin against God and use and abuse others. God help me, I turn from serving and
trusting (idol) rather than You.

Spend some time repenting from your idols that drive all the other sins in your life.