Dear Family at Christ Community,

    We will begin our new series, Grace in Unexpected Places, in Genesis 3 this Sunday. As part of our worship, we will come to the Lord’s Table together seeking nourishment from the broken bread and filled cup. We need to be reminded of our forgiveness and newness of life in Christ so as to endure temptation, survive our sins, and do the good works that God has prepared for us to bring glory to Him.

    In Genesis 3, Eve sees the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil as being good for nourishing her and Adam. Though God had declared it unfit for them and all of the other trees as worthy to be enjoyed, she reasoned otherwise reducing her focus to this forbidden tree. Eve also desired the supposed wisdom that the fruit would bring in helping them to understand the difference between good and evil. Again, God who is sovereign and omniscient made it clear that they were not ready for such wisdom, yet Eve arrogantly longed for the shortcut to god-likeness. Adam is complicit in all of this through his silence and reception of the fruit when offered by Eve. They choose to gratify the desires of their eyes, the longings of their flesh, and, most devastatingly, their prideful lust to be gods without cost. Thus, Adam and Eve display a love for the world over the love of God.

    We, too as sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, struggle with the same desires, longings, and lust according to Scripture. 1 John 2:15-17 reads:

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

This is why we need to feast on the means of grace and remember the truths of God’s word declared in worship. Unlike the poisoned fruit that exposes our nakedness, the bread and cup serve to nourish us and open our eyes to newness of life in union with Christ as sons and daughters of our Abba Father!

    Take time to ask the Holy Spirit to open your eyes to where you are giving in to “the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life.” Repent of any specific areas or issues that the Spirit brings to mind. Give thanks for nourishment that is truly good born of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Pray for those who are not yet covered in the righteousness of Christ.

In Christ,
Cameron