SONS OF ADAM

Popular websites such as Ancestry.com have helped millions of people trace their family tree. Some who have been adopted hope to learn something about their family of origin. Many people are hoping to discover that they are related to some notable or interesting historical figure. But the results are not always happy. We may discover that our ancestor was a thief or a murderer rather than a laudable hero.

That is certainly true when we trace our human genealogy back to the first family. Instead of success we find failure on an epic scale.

In these first few studies we have been focused on God, who is the perfect Father. As we shift our attention to earthly fathers, we see a different picture. Today’s passage helps us to understand why. All earthly families are affected by the curse of sin. The relational consequences show up early in human history in the form of shifting blame (see Gen. 3:11–13). Tragically, these consequences were passed on to the descendants of Adam and Eve. In today’s passage we learn how Adam’s firstborn son Cain murdered his brother Abel. The motive was spiritual jealousy. God had accepted Abel’s sacrifice and rejected Cain’s. Subsequent chapters show how this tragic cycle of sin continues in all of Adam’s descendants.

This sad fact is important to know and helps us to understand the stories we will study in the days ahead. It also explains much about our own family experience. The stark reality of sin combined with the mystery of God’s grace helps to explain why good parents can sometimes have bad children and why children from bad homes can turn out better than expected. It explains the root cause of abuse within families. The intrusion of sin into human experience means no perfect families populate this world. We are all dysfunctional in some way.

APPLY THE WORD

Are you disheartened by your family tree? Are you discouraged by a wayward child or an unresponsive parent? Take heart: “Where sin increased, grace increased all the more” (Rom. 5:20). God’s grace extends to broken families. He can redeem and transform hurt and pain, forgive generational sin, and restore relationships.

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Read 1 Corinthians 13

What would you expect to pay for a scoop of gourmet ice cream? How about $816? The Scoopi Café in Dubai offers the “Black Diamond,” which is ice cream flavored with Madagascar vanilla, Iranian saffron, black Italian truffles, and edible, 23-karat gold sprinkles. This treat comes with a Versace bowl and spoon that the customer keeps. It’s the most expensive ice cream in the world!

The most, the best, the highest—we find superlatives fascinating. When Paul wrote that he would describe “the most excellent way” (12:31), our ears perk up. This chapter is an encomium, that is, a poem written to praise an abstract idea or quality. Paul used poetic techniques such as hyperbole and metaphor to make his points more vividly.

First, he described the worth of love (vv. 1–3). Its value is incalculable, to the point where anything else, lacking love, is worthless or empty. He used examples that we might (and the Corinthians did) think of as spiritually impressive, which made his conclusion that much more shocking. Second, Paul defined or explained love (vv. 4–7). The Greek word is agape, meaning love that is selfless, self-sacrificing, warm, and full of good will and brotherly affection. It prioritizes the well being of others. This list should take our breath away! Who among us can claim to live like this? Only by the power of the Spirit can we grow in this direction.

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Read 1 Corinthians 12:12-31

A classic series of Peanuts comic strips by Charles M. Schulz features Snoopy taking up jogging. As he runs, his body parts speak up. The lungs complain, “This is hard on us lungs.” The feet whine, “Why do we feet have to do all the work?” And the heart warns, “If I start complaining, you’re all in trouble.”

Sometimes the body of Christ acts this way as well! But that’s not what God intended. By comparing the church to a human body, Paul has highlighted its diverse yet unified nature. He had already taught on the imperative of unity, but unity doesn’t mean sameness. God’s design includes amazing, wonderful diversity, and this is beautifully communicated in the metaphor of the body with Christ as the Head (vv. 12–14). A body has many parts and functions and differences, yet it has a single identity and passes through experience as a unified entity. So, too, does the church.

In Paul’s first cycle of rather humorous examples (vv. 15–20), his point was that no part of the body is inferior or unneeded. Jews were not more important than Gentiles; slaves were not less essential than free believers. In context, then, we know there is no pecking order in the second list of spiritual gifts in verses 28 through 30—none are inferior or unneeded. The second cycle of examples (vv. 21–27) makes the same point from the other direction, as Paul asserted that all parts of the body are indeed necessary and interdependent.

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Read 1 Corinthians 3:1-9

Scientist Carl Hodges believes that a plant called salicornia, or sea asparagus, can help solve the world’s food and energy problems. Salicornia is nourished by seawater and can grow in places with little soil or fresh water. It can also be converted into biofuel (like ethanol). Hodges has already developed successful “seawater farms” in Eritrea and northern Mexico.

Hodges’s goal is a healthy crop to benefit the world. When Paul compared the church to a farmer’s field in today’s reading, he similarly meant that the church’s purposes should be maturity and fruitfulness. Being divided over leaders showed the shallowness of their faith, but a deeper understanding of the gospel, the Cross, and the Spirit would move them in the right direction.

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Read 1 Corinthians 1:4-9

In an interview about his book The Church Awakening: An Urgent Call for Renewal, pastor and author Chuck Swindoll worried that the church today is too focused on entertainment rather than worship. He offered this perspective as a corrective: “When you come Sunday, you’re going to focus on One who is eternal, and we’re all going to meet him together. And in doing so, we’re going to leave different than we came because we will have been in his awesome presence, and we will be ignited by the work of the Spirit within us.”

Paul’s pressing word for the Corinthians was much the same. But before he began exhorting and correcting them, he first affirmed the power of God’s grace in their lives. Compared to other epistles, he spent less time commending them and more time commending God to them. God is the One in whom they should boast and find their true identity.

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Read Colossians 1:3-23

Roman emperor Caesar Augustus understood the value of political propaganda. In addition to his military victories that ended a civil war and his extensive public works campaigns, he also commissioned poets to sing his praises. Virgil, who wrote the Aeneid in honor of Augustus, also penned these lines: “He shall have the gift of divine life, shall see heroes mingled with gods, and shall himself be seen by them, and shall rule the world to which his father’s prowess brought peace.”

Despite the lofty attributes ascribed to him by poets, Augustus did not in fact have divine life. But as we see in our passage today, there is One who is truly worthy of such lavish praise. The apostle Paul wrote a magnificent hymn of praise to Jesus, every word of which is true. This text also describes how our identity as blessed in Christ flows from His unique being and nature.

We’ll focus on two parts of our identity mentioned in this passage. First, we have been rescued and redeemed from the power of sin (vv. 13–14). We had no claim based on our own merit or qualifications to enter the kingdom of God, but we have been given this privilege based on the work of salvation that Jesus accomplished for us (v. 12).

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Read Philippians 4:4-20

In 2013, the animated film Frozen was released—and within days, millions of parents heard the same refrain from their daughters: “I need an Elsa doll! I need an Elsa dress!” Stores quickly sold out their stock of Frozen merchandise, from dolls to costumes to lunch boxes. Two years later, Elsa dolls were still among the top five best sellers from online retailer Amazon.

Many of us think of praying for our needs in the same way: “God, I need a job! God, I need a car! God, I need healing from this disease!” Often our requests are reasonable; human existence does require food, shelter, health, and provision for our physical needs. And God welcomes our requests and cares about what happens to us. But notice that throughout our study of God’s blessings, we have not seen any of these items mentioned. Perhaps God’s perspective on our needs differs from our human viewpoint.

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Read Romans 8:14

The character Superman can fly faster than a speeding bullet and leap tall buildings in a single bound. But Superman uses the alter ego of mild- mannered reporter Clark Kent to veil his true identity. Clark Kent is unobtrusive, wearing inconspicuous clothes—until Superman needs to save the day. Then he hurriedly pulls off his dress shirt to reveal the large “S” emblazoned on Superman’s uniform.

For the rest of our study this month we’ll focus on the ways that we are blessed in Christ. An essential part of our identity is the blessing of the Holy Spirit, who indwells our hearts. Though we might look like everyone else around us, in reality we have the power of God’s Spirit in our lives, shaping our true identity to look more like Jesus. Unlike Superman and Clark Kent, however, we don’t have to keep our true identity a secret.

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Read Ephesians 3

In 1943 psychologist Abraham Maslow published a paper describing his “Theory of Human Motivation.” It became known as the hierarchy of needs, with basic human needs such as food, shelter, and safety forming the base of the pyramid, while self- actualization—the desire to be all you can be—was the pinnacle. In 1969 Maslow revised his theory to add another step beyond self-actualization: self-transcendence. He thought that the self could truly be actualized only when it was focused on a higher goal outside itself, whether that be spiritual or philanthropic.

Maslow seems to have realized that the human search for purpose can never be fulfilled by looking within ourselves. Thankfully, in Christ we are part of God’s eternal purpose. We are part of something beyond ourselves, and this eternal purpose transforms our lives even now.

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Read Galatians 3:26-4:7

Inheritance fraud is one of the most common scams perpetrated today. You receive notification that someone with your same last name (perhaps a distant relative?) has died without heirs. The so-called lawyers who sent the letter say that for a small fee to process some paperwork, the vast inheritance can be yours! But they keep requesting fees and bank transfer details and no inheritance ever arrives.

Thankfully, our identity as heirs of God is secure! We are heirs not because of how impressive our accomplishments are or because we have the right genetic profile—we are heirs because we belong to Christ (3:29).

Our passage today is filled with some of the most beautiful and profound statements about our identity. Through faith in Jesus, we are children of God (3:26). This familial relationship is more than just emotional connections of love and care. It also has legal implications; as God’s children, we stand to gain His inheritance (4:7). We have the Spirit of God within our hearts as confirmation of our status as heirs (4:8). Unlike the inheritance fraudsters who just want to take your money, God gives us the Spirit as a down payment on our inheritance. We have the Spirit dwelling within us now, and one day we will dwell with God fully, worshiping in His presence.

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Read Romans 16

Recent research has found that relationships with coworkers are the most significant predictor of job satisfaction. A study from Tel Aviv University found the level of support from coworkers affected employees’ health more than any other factor in the workplace.

When we are in Christ, part of our identity is “coworker.” We don’t have to be in full-time vocational ministry to be coworkers in Christ; we are spiritual colleagues with other believers based on our shared commitment to Jesus and His gospel. Our passage today provides a snapshot on the importance of being spiritual coworkers.

Paul asked the Christians in Rome to extend his greetings to dozens of his fellow laborers. Some names are familiar: many of us know Priscilla and Aquila, who worked with Paul and tutored Apollos (v. 3; see Acts 18), and Timothy was one of Paul’s most faithful companions (v. 21). But most of the rest of these names appear only here. Why would Scripture devote so many verses to naming obscure people?

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Read Romans 12:1-8

The process of whakapapa is fundamental to the identity of Maori people in New Zealand. More detailed than a typical Western genealogy, whakapapa includes not only generations of ancestors but also references to the land and geography, as well as both historical and mythological stories. Whakapapa also refers to the oral recitation of these genealogies, which can stretch back fifty generations or more.

Western notions of the individual tend to inform the way that we view ourselves. We like the myth of the self- made man, the Lone Ranger, the soloist. We rarely think like the Maori, as part of an interconnected family that extends further than any of our memories. For the next few days we’ll examine what Scripture has to say about this part of our identity. Are we spiritual Lone Rangers? Or are we an integral part of a spiritual family?

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Read Galatians 5:1-15

The 1995 film Braveheart portrayed a fictionalized version of William Wallace, a leader in the thirteenth-century Wars of Scottish Independence. Wallace rallies clans and armies in Scotland for the cause of freedom to repel the invasion of King Edward of England. At his execution in London, Wallace was given the opportunity to beg for mercy, but instead he roars the word most important to him: “Freedom!”

In our passage today, the apostle Paul is nearly roaring to the church in Galatia about the importance of freedom. If they don’t understand that they are free in Christ, they risk being “burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (v. 1).

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Read 2 Corinthians 3

A country’s constitution is the document that describes how the government will work and details the rights and protections enjoyed by citizens. After a two-year process, in 2014 Tunisia adopted a new constitution that protects freedom of religion, banning apostasy campaigns that previously permitted a death sentence for any Muslim charged with apostasy. The constitution also protects the rights of women under the law.

Believers in Jesus have been given the new covenant, which brings life and freedom through the Spirit. We are no longer bound by an old regime of sin and death. In the same way that a change in the Tunisian constitution enacted more freedoms for its citizens, the new covenant guarantees spiritual freedoms for believers in Christ.

The apostle Paul uses a rhetorical device in this passage that we might call “from good to great” or “good compared to best.” The old covenant, established by God with His people through the Mosaic Law, was good. It was given by God (see Exodus 19). In receiving the Law, Moses also received part of the glory of God and had to veil his face in order for others to be able to look at him (vv. 7, 13). If the old covenant was good, then, we have confidence that the new covenant is even better.

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