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Genesis 3:1-7  Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, `You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, `You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'”  “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 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.

Did you ever think how good Adam and Eve had it in the Garden. God had created them and placed them in a place that was good. And they enjoyed a close relationship with their Father in heaven. Sure, they had some guidelines, rules intended for their good so that their life could stay happy. But they grew dissatisfied. They wanted more. They began to feel that God’s rules were restrictions. They thought they were being cheated out of some pleasures, missing out on something. So they took matters into their own hands and went outside of the plan God had for them. They ate the forbidden fruit. They disobeyed God.

What a surprise and shock that must have been. For the first time in their lives, they experienced guilt and the fear of punishment. They now knew what bad was. They knew the difference between good and evil, and it wasn’t pleasant. They didn’t know what to do, so they tried to hide. They wrapped themselves up in some leaves, longing to be back where they had been. What a sorry picture to see them standing there.

But that is not the end of the story. God came looking for them and found them in their guilt and shame and sin. They tried to make excuses, but to no avail. According to his perfect justice, God must punish them. They had done wrong. On that day, Adam and Eve began their life-sentences of pain, sweat and sorrow until they returned to the dust from which they had come.

Yet God loved them still. He would not forsake them. We see His Grace for His disobedient yet dearly loved children. The Lord made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.  God made clothes so that as they went through this world, they would be reminded of His continued care. Their clothing was visible proof that God still loved them. It would be a reminder of God’s promise of a final victory, of the Savior, who would one day allow them to go back to the warmth and comfort and joy of the Father’s house. That must have sustained them through life.

That is the good news for you. God has a covering for you to wear, a robe of righteousness.

“I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness.” (Isaiah 61:10)

That covering came to you through the life, suffering and death of Jesus Christ. He took your sins and paid for them on the cross, rising again so that you might live again with God for eternity in His presence.  Your faith and trust in Jesus Christ assures you of your forgiveness.

A song I learned from the Ongoing Ambassadors for Christ song book sums this up:

I am covered over with the robe of righteousness that Jesus gives to me…
I am covered over with the precious blood of Jesus and He lives in me…
Oh, what a joy it is to know My heavenly Father loves me so!
He gives to me my Jesus.
When He looks at me, He sees not what I used to be, but He sees JESUS.

Thank God for that!

When I was about ten years old, I had an old desktop clock radio that I bought at a garage sale with money I earned from helping my brother with his paper route and from mowing lawns in the neighborhood. It was analog, not digital. You had to manually turn the tuner to find a station. The clock had hands on it, not backlit led numbers or even the kind that flipped to change. It was old, in an off-white clamshell housing. The thing about this radio that made it fascinating for me was that it had a mechanical sleep timer button on top. Each time you pushed the button, it would add about ten minutes to the timer, so the radio would turn off automatically. I say about because it was not exact. There was a “tooth” on the end of that button that would engage a gear wheel and manually spin it to add time to the timer. Sometimes it slipped a bit, so the amount of time it added was not exact. It also had vacuum tubes inside. I know all of this because shortly after I purchased the radio, I took it completely apart. I wanted to know how it worked. And, yes, I was able to put it back together to where it was still operational. In fact, I figured out how to wire my bedside lamp to the timer as well, so that it would turn off when the radio did!

I’ve always been curious about how things work. Over the years I have learned quite a bit and tried to fix things when they break before just replacing them. I think I got that from my grandpa Mattil. I’ve had a lot of success doing so. But not always. There are some things I cannot fix, no matter how hard I try.

When daughter Bethany was about four, she had a toy that broke. She asked me if I could fix it. It was obviously beyond repair. I told her that I was sorry, but daddy could not fix it. By this time in her life, she had made a lot of visits to our doctor for ear infections and stitches and a wide variety of ailments. So she said, “Let’s take it to Dr. Rob! He can fix anything!”  He was a member of our congregation, and I told him what Bethany said the next Sunday. He thanked me for not bringing the toy to him.

I know I can’t fix everything. But I know the one who can. And, no, it is not “Dr. Rob.” It is the maker of all things. The Creator and Redeemer and Sanctifier. The one who revealed Himself to us in His Word. He knows the inner workings of everything, including us.

“[God] forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,” (Psalm 103:3)

“Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.” (Matthew 9:35)

“A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coast of Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by evil spirits were cured,” (Luke 6:17-18)

That’s a pretty impressive resume. But that is just the tip of the iceberg. While we tend to focus on the here and now, Jesus was most concerned with eternity.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

Jesus earned our eternal life. He paid for our sin so we would not have to do so. He gives us what He earned. That is the best news ever. But wait. There’s more. He was not one and done. He still cares for us and wants to help us. He provides the things we need for this life.

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33)

While Jesus may not “fix” everything broken in your life the way you want Him to, He has fixed it so that you will have what you need, including eternal life with Him.

I once did a children’s message that involved a marker that only shows up under a black light. Before the service, I used that marker to draw a cross on my forehead. When the children came forward, I asked them if they could see the cross on my forehead. They were a little puzzled, because it was not visible to the naked eye. I assured them that the cross was there, even if they could not see it. Finally, I told them I would help them see the cross. I took out the small black light and shined it on my forehead, making the cross glow purple. Of course, the children were duly impressed.

I then shared with them that many people can’t see Jesus, even though He is real. I asked them what we could do to help those people see Jesus. One little guy had watched me shine that light on my forehead, and he said, “We need to shine the light for them.” What a perfect answer. In fact, Jesus spoke in those terms when He said, “…let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).

Because the children were responding so well, I decided to keep going with the analogy. I asked, “What can we do to shine the light of Jesus for people to see?” Almost immediately another little guy said, “Just take a light and shine it right in their eyes!”

After the laughter died down, I realized that what at first hearing sounded funny was actually a very good answer. If we want to show Jesus to those who don’t believe, we need to be living lives as followers of Jesus where they can see us. If Christians only hang out with other Christians, how will those who don’t know Jesus ever come to know Him? You cannot shine the light of Jesus for the world if the world does not ever see you.

Peter said it this way:  Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us (1 Peter 2:12). The word “pagans” is referring to those who are not Christians, not followers of Jesus. Peter says we should be out among them, letting our light shine.

The point is simple: If we truly believe that the only way to have forgiveness and eternal life is to trust that the death of Jesus paid for all sin and His resurrection guarantees us victory over death, dare we keep that to ourselves? We need to be out there shining that message into the eyes of those who still don’t know.

What can you do to shine the light in their eyes?

Almost every Sunday in worship services there are prayer requests for the family of someone who has died. The congregation where I served most of my ministry was across the street from a public cemetery, and I saw graveside services being held almost every day.

Death is a reality. We get reminders of that from the media and in our personal lives. We would rather not think about it too much, but when death strikes close to home, we have no choice but to confront and deal with it.

How do you deal with death? You will have to do so sooner or later. And I’m not just referring to the death of others. We all need to face our own mortality. Ready or not, death comes for us all.

So what is the answer? I hope you will turn to the only one who has the solution, and that is God. In His Word, he tells us repeatedly that He has taken care of the problem of death. And that is why each time I conducted a funeral or memorial service, I made every effort to point those present to the promises God makes in His Word.

It was sin that brought death into this world (Genesis 2:16-17), but God has provided the solution in Jesus. He came to take our punishment so that we would not have to die eternally (John 3:16).

In just a few weeks we will celebrate the victory over death that Jesus accomplished for everyone. That celebration is not limited to Easter. It is a daily reality for those who put their faith and confidence in Christ.

While we still have to contend with physical death as a consequence of sin, it is not the end. Those who believe that Jesus is their Savior have the assurance of forgiveness for all sins and the eternal life that He earned for you. We can joyfully and confidently echo the words of St. Paul:

“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  1 Corinthians 15:55-57

The victory Jesus accomplished is given to you through faith. May the joy that the Risen Christ brings fill your hearts! He is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! (Yes, I wrote and said that during Lent!)

Some of the people I see on television and online have me shaking my head. Many of the “celebrities” that young people admire are not very good role models. On top of that, most television programs and movies depict lifestyles that are in direct conflict with God’s Word, but their sins are portrayed as normal and acceptable.

Rather than bemoaning the fact that kids today “don’t have anyone to look up to,” what if each of us would focus on being the man or woman of God you have been called to be? Give them someone to someone to look up to and emulate. The key is to do it in love, showing them, as Paul put it in 1 Corinthians, a “more excellent way”  (1 Corinthians 12:31).

It is not something we can do on our own. It is all God’s doing. He gives us the desire and the power to live in keeping with His will. When you know and believe that Jesus has already paid for your sins, you strive to conform your life to His will. When God forgives you, He is always urging you to “Go now and leave your life of sin” (John 8:11).  His Spirit gives you the strength and resolve and ability to live that new life.

David went out to face Goliath and said,

“All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.” (1 Sam 17:47)

Give me that confidence today, Lord, so I can live for you! I know I often fall short and have not lived as I should or set a good example for others. Thank you for forgiving me. I also know that it is not by my strength or power that I can be the person you have called me to be, but by your Spirit. Fill me and use me today. Amen.

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 2:22-23