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LEGACY CHURCH 9
 Introduction
Fewer propositions are more convincing in support of the
inspiration of Scripture than the timelessness and universality
of the text itself. Each age sees its own turmoil and hardships
in unique ways. Often it feels like no time before and no time
to come could ever understand the current plight of life. Yet no
matter what a generation thinks of itself, Scripture possesses
wisdom for the day at hand. If this were not enough to astound
us, its wisdom does not only stretch through time, but also
through space. The student of God’s Word need not be born
and raised in a particular location with a prerequisite culture
satisfied. Scripture speaks universally to all people from all
places. It is a feat unmatched by any other holy writ. The Lord
our God spoke with the desire to be heard by all people in all
places at all times. And His Word does just that.

One of the astounding ways in which God ties together His

people throughout the ages is through miracles. The
miraculous would serve as a reminder to a people who needed
reminding of His faithfulness. The miraculous would serve as a
call-sign to the people who did not rightly recognize God’s
people. The miraculous would serve as an inauguration of new
things being introduced to belabored and broken people. And
this is a beautiful thing. When at times we neglect
conversations about the miraculous in our lives today, let us
not forget that we are all tied together by miracles. Each and
every one of us that calls upon the name of Jesus has been
impacted by miracles upon miracles. This may sound
surprising, but it is the remarkable truth. Afterall, our entry
fee into the Kingdom of God was the product of no less than
three miracles.

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 At this point, it’s helpful to define a miracle. For as often as
the term is used in nomenclature, it could detract of how we mean
it as it’s used by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. For example, it
might be confusing to imagine the miracles of Scripture being
somehow equal to the miracles of, say, that one time Johnny
jumped cleaned over the creek behind Madison’s house. Or that
one time Scott asked Emily to the dance and Emily actually said
yes! Or that other time I swiped my card to pay for groceries and
the keypad read “Approved”. (Walmart was a place of many
miracles in my college years). So for the sake of avoiding
unnecessary confusion, let me propose a simple biblical definition.

A miracle is simply the act of God reaching into human history

by supernatural intervention.

This indeed is a broad definition and is inclusive by design.

And that’s the point. I want to encourage us to take the time to
recognize God’s activity and identify it fearlessly for what it is. It’s
miraculous and it’s creating connections each and every time.

Miracles are not blips on a radar screen. They are not

independent instances absent of any influence or interaction with
one another. They are not single-sering amenities useful only to
the recipient and impactful only to those present. Miracles,
rather, are the pattern woven across a tapestry, intertwining
groups, generations, populations, and eras together through
supernatural needlework pointing through the fabric of human
history. By miracles we are tied together. To be sure, by one
miracle we are declared righteous. By one miracle, declared
saints. By one miracle, declared family. And so through a
panoramic vista of God’s miracles conceived within human
history, may our hearts and minds be prepared for remembering
the divine action upon which we believe all the rest are true. Let
us prepare ourselves for the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

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 3/6/19

In Ashes
The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose
from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself
with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
- Jonah 3:6

With contrite hearts, millions of people observing a day

on the liturgical calendar will approach the altar to receive
an anointing of ash spread across their forehead. It’s the
beginning of a new season and while we may not observe it
with similar rituals, the symbol of the ash is worth
contemplation. Ash is what’s left over when everything else
has passed through fire. Ash clings to and dirties whatever it
touches. It can billow like a cloud or it can settle in mounds.
Ash is how we feel when we are broken. Dirty, dusty, without
use or function, just the evidence of a strong fire that
consumed all it could and left the rest behind.

It’s a dismal scene indeed. But then I think of someone

who lived in Nineveh. This town filled with evil, with deceit,
with exploitation and manipulation, where the powerful are
bullies and the weak are victims. I think of someone who
heard about a God who forgave. This person hears this
message of a God who loves the weak and humbles the
strong. This person hears of a God that desires to show
mercy and grace. And then this person looks upon the throne
to find his or her king has stepped down, covered himself in
sackcloth, and is sitting in ash. A kingdom has been turned
upside down. A king sits in ash. And I think to myself how
beautiful is the ash that covers joyful hearts freed in God’s
forgiveness?

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 3/7/19

In Doubt
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say,
‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
- Genesis 3:1

How deeply we want to feel that we are not as easily

duped. With education I might know the facts about the
things in the places and equipped with this knowledge, I will
be no one’s fool. With experience I might see the errors in
the ways of the world and equipped with these tales, I will be
no one’s fool. With counsel I might hear the wisdom in the
words of the wise and equipped with these proverbs, I will
be no one’s fool. And then in all my study, all my time, all my
thought, a single question is asked. No one but my own
doubt doubles back and a fool I am made all the same.

In the world’s very first Bible Study between Eve and the
Serpent, a single question was asked. It did not stir up pride,
it did not stir up argument, and it did not stir up
confrontation. It stirred fear. The serpent asked, “Did God
actually say…?” Doubt was cast in one direction; upon the
character of God. There was no challenge as to Eve’s ability
to understand God’s meaning. There was simply a challenge
to the authenticity of God’s intentions. Did God actually say
such things? Does He actually mean to do for you as He said
he would? The ground on which we cannot give an inch is
not what we believe God has said; it’s who we believe God to
be.

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 3/8/19

Intentions
And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the
fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall
not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the
garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
- Genesis 3:2-3
The first Bible Study in history is off to a rocky start and
it’s not getting any better. The serpent has made the small
group leader nervous with an insidious question casting
doubt upon the character of God. Eve returns the question
with a steadfast recitation of what God did say. However, an
amendment has been made. Eve asserts confidently that God
instructed the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden not
to be eaten. This part is true. But then adds that the tree not
even be touched. From where did this addition originate?

Regardless of God’s original instruction, Eve came to

believe somewhere along the way that the decree included a
prohibition of touching the tree. Yet God’s desire for Adam
and Eve was that they tend to the garden. Have you ever
tried to trim a tree that you could not touch? Conceivably, at
the thought of immediate death resulting from eating the
fruit, Adam and Eve decided it would be beneficial to
establish a boundary that would further prevent them from
ever getting close. And so they decided not to even touch the
tree. In an attempt to follow one of God’s instructions (to not
eat the fruit), they added a boundary (to not touch the tree).
And yet this boundary now prevents them from following
God’s other instruction (to tend to the garden). Our best
intentions can never improve upon God’s purposes. And yet
we behave otherwise. We always have.

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 3/9/19

In Fear
But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not
surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your
eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing
good and evil.”
- Genesis 3:4-5

My son sees an older boy climb on the outside of the

slide, scale to the top, and then jump off to return to the
ground with an action-packed barrel roll. His eyes widen, his
smile broadens, and he looks at me and shouts, “Daddy!”.
He’s looked hoping to find permission from me in the form of
a thumbs-up. When instead he is met with my eyebrows
high, my mouth straight, and my head shaking slowly from
side to side, he is all at once distraught and destroyed. What
follows is a bellowing cry, “You’re not my best friend
anymore!”. I’d withheld the one experience he wanted most
in the world. How could I be his best friend?

The serpent likewise assures Eve, God just doesn’t want

you to have the kind of experience you want. For a split
second, Eve thought there might be a chance that her Daddy
was withholding something good from her. To be like God,
knowing good and evil? That sounds like such a good thing.
And my Daddy doesn’t want me to have it? Imagine the
heartbreak and confusion Eve is experiencing in this
moment. Imagine the hurt. Imagine the doubt. This isn’t
pride that’s leading her astray in this moment. It’s absolute
fear that when God said, “I love you”, He didn’t mean it. The
fear that our Father is withholding good from us is the most
effective and destructive lie at the enemy’s disposable. Stop
believing it.

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 3/10/19

In Pride
Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew
that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves
together and made themselves loincloths.
- Genesis 3:7

Pride is a symptom. It’s a cover up. It’s a red herring,

attempting to draw attention away from the real issue. The
craven trick of pride is that it would like to have you believe
that it is the root of the issue in and of itself. Pride, in
whatever form it shows its face, is just a symptom. Fear is
the root of all pride. Fear is the default of our fallen nature.
Fear is the disease that leads to all the other symptoms of
our depravity. Eve ate the fruit because of fear. Her fear
drove her from trusting in the loving goodness of her Father.
It was fear that made her forget that He is eternally for her
good. And when fear took hold, leading to the fall of Adam
and Eve, we see the face of pride within humanity for the
very first time.

In fear, they ate, they rebelled, they fell, they soiled their
spirits, and they broke their perfect relationship before a
holy God. And in pride they sewed fig leaves together and
made themselves loincloths. It’s nothing but a symptom, a
cover up, a distraction. They are naked before the Lord. And
they covered up with fig leaves. Fear took them down. Then
pride took them over. If the enemy’s greatest lie is that God
doesn’t love us, our greatest lie is that maybe we can make
Him love us if we could just dress ourselves up a little bit.

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 3/11/19

In Faith
The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was
the mother of all living.
- Genesis 3:20

These are the state of things. The garden is no longer

their home, its foliage no longer theirs to tend, the soil no
longer willing to yield its produce, and the earth no longer
eager to be filled with the progeny of a fallen humanity. And
yet there is hope. We refer so often to Eve by name
conversing with the serpent that it’s easy to forget that at
this point, she is still unnamed. She is referred to as only the
woman. It is not until they are facing exile and separation
from the physical presence of God in the garden that Adam
turns to the woman and names her Eve.

In that moment, Adam did something significant. He

lifted his head from the despair in which they were steeped
and he looked up. He looked toward hope, toward faith, and
toward God. A long list of curses and condemnation had just
been handed down, the gates barred, and nothing but toil
promised. There was also the troubling reality of death now
looming upon the horizon of his life. And he turned to the
woman and called her Eve, “because she was the mother of
all living.” In moments such as these, to choose a name that
calls upon a hope in the love of God, in the face of doubt and
fear — this is the stuff of faith. To remind ourselves of the
character of God is our greatest defense in the face of
despair.

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 3/12/19

In Love
And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife
garments of skins and clothed them.
- Genesis 3:21

I have a streak of inferiority in me that likes to poke its

head out in social situations. Anytime I feel a little
intimidated about the setting I’m about to find myself
subjected to, my knee jerk method of compensation is
dressing up. In many of my previous professional contexts,
I’ve been known to be one of the more formally dressed
employees. There was never a dress code requirement for a
coat and tie, but nevertheless I would be wearing one almost
every day no matter my professional role. What my
coworkers thought was an overachieving desire to dress to
impress was in reality a nervous tick of self-soothing antics
of superficial compensations. Covering up with fig leaves is
alive and well in my life.

Consider the compassion of the Lord our God as He

looked upon the pitiful loincloths sewed together by His poor
and broken children. What reason would a holy God have to
stoop to the aid of their ineptitude other than pure fatherly
love? Garments of skins, God prepared for Adam and Eve.
Being covered by God required bloodshed. It did then. It
does now. Whereas my attempts to cover up are silly and
prideful, when God covers us it’s sacrificial. He let us know
the kind of price He’d be willing to pay on our behalf from
the very beginning. And He has never wavered from that
promise.

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 3/13/19

Wrath
...among whom we all once lived in the passions of our lesh,
carrying out the desires of the body[a] and the mind, and were
by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
- Ephesians 2:3

We share a family heritage and a  family curse from that

day in the garden. As people lie, cheat, and steal for the sake
of their own personal gain, irrespective of damages done to
those around them, it is a function of our fallen nature. As
people isolate themselves in their own way of living with the
convictions that their decisions belong to them alone, it is a
function of our broken relationships. As people flounder and
flail after this or that job, this or that pursuit, this or that
cause in search for purpose and meaning, it is a function of
our loss of responsibility. We are fundamentally broken to
our core where satisfaction and fulfillment are merely
fanciful platitudes but have little to no relation to real life.

And these are the desires of the heart and the mind, the
find the solution to personal satisfaction. Toward this end we
constantly strive as children of wrath, ever carried to and fro
by fleeting passions and rational lies. Contentment in our
circumstances evades our reach as we convene to control
those circumstances by whatever means possible. The
pattern set its first iteration in the garden. Fear of withheld
love led to pride covering up our hurt. And we continue to
lay the pattern today. All the while God wants deeply to
provide us lives of fulfillment, of satisfaction, of contentment
by His Son. First, we have to set aside our fear and our
wrath.

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