Title One of all (Genesis 2:8-17)
Contents
A rich and poor man lived in a city. The rich had very many sheep and cattle, but the poor had only one little ewe lamb she raised like a daughter. One day, a rich man came to visit. The rich man was supposed to treat his guests by slaughtering one of his many sheep and cattle, but he did not do so, and the poor man took the ewe lamb he was raising as his daughter and served him (2 Samuel 12:1-5). This is a story that shows the extent of human greed.
After God created the Garden of Eden and made Adam and Eve dwell there, He allowed them to eat and rule over all things. But one of all things, from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the middle of the garden, he did not allow them to eat. He also warned that if you eat it, you will surely die. However, Adam disobeyed God's word and ate the forbidden fruit. Of all things in the Garden of Eden, why did God forbid one of them, and why did Adam eat even one of them?
God, who knew man's endless greed, forbade one of all things in order to restrain his greed for himself and to slow down the blessings God had given him. But Adam, unable to control his endless greed, ate and ate even the forbidden one of all things.
Blessed care, not a yoke
The command, “From any tree in the garden you may freely eat, but not from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” was not a command to bind Adam or entice him to sin. God gave Adam the privilege of eating and doing all things freely in the garden, even eating from the tree of life. But he told them not to eat only one tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This was a great privilege and grace for Adam. Some say that this command became a snare that led Adam into sin, but it is not.
Forbidding one of all things was, from God's point of view, the same as actually giving everything to Adam. Conversely, what would happen if you allowed only one of everything in the garden and forbade the rest? Even so, Adam was obligated to keep that command. Adam did not realize that even the one forbidden thing was God's consideration to give him greater blessings in the end.
There is an old saying, 'peasant assassinated seed'. In other words, even if the farmer dies of starvation, the seeds are cut and killed. In other words, the farmer does not eat the seeds, even if they die of starvation. Even though we are well aware of this important truth, there are people who sometimes eat the seeds that God has told us to leave for our blessings.
It's not that God asks us to tithe because we don't have money. It's not that you don't have the ability to do it, either. It's not that God asked us to worship because we were so bored and bored. Please realize that one of the ten is not a snare to torment us, but a seed of blessing to give us greater blessings through it. The call to serve and dedicate is not meant to make it harder for you who are weary of worldly work. Working for a fee is tiring, but volunteering without payment actually makes people happy. This is because man is not only a physical being, but a spiritual and spiritual being. Recognizing that one day a week is God's day and asking us to worship is not to interfere with our work.
These days, it is the time of planting and harvesting, and no one regrets the seeds while planting. Rather, there will be many people who will try to sow a little more. And you will realize that you reap what you sowed last fall.
Realize that God's Word is a grace given with special consideration to make your life happy, and I hope you will obey it even if it is difficult and difficult.
Acknowledge that God is Lord!
Article 1, Paragraph 2 of the Korean Constitution stipulates that “the sovereignty of the Republic of Korea rests with the people, and all power comes from the people.” This is the so-called declaration of sovereignty. Due to this provision, Korean citizens can exercise their basic rights as masters of the country as stipulated by law.
Likewise, God wanted Adam to realize His power and sovereignty to create something out of nothing. Creating the Garden of Eden and allowing them to control and eat everything in it was a declaration of God's sovereignty. The reason God, the Lord, gave Adam everything but did not give him one thing was to confirm how much Adam acknowledged God's sovereignty. At that time, it was enough for Adam to just let God do what he wanted. Nevertheless, he tried to have even one of the forbidden things, which was a direct challenge to God's sovereignty and an act of betrayal of grace.
One of the reasons God gave Adam the Garden of Eden was so that God could be glorified as the owner of his life. Therefore, Adam had to do his part in gratitude and contentment with all that was given, acknowledging that God was the owner of himself and all that was given to him.
Even the leader of a country cannot perform his role properly if he does not acknowledge the sovereign people as masters. Even if you look at the unfinished Jasmine Revolution in Africa and the Middle East, you can see the end of the dictators who ignored the people who were their masters and tried to rule themselves. Treating the master like a master is justice and order.
A greedy dog crossed the bridge with a fish in its mouth, and suddenly saw water under the bridge. A dog was seen in the water with a small amount of meat in its mouth. Even though he had a lot of meat in his mouth, the dog coveted the fish the dog in the water was biting. So he barked at the dog to give him the meat. At that moment, the meat in his mouth fell into the water.
Adam's attitude was like that of a greedy dog. Hopefully, we must not become foolish people like Adam, who do not acknowledge God's sovereignty and desire to possess everything, and lose the grace and blessings we have already received, instead of gaining more.
The principle of losing everything because of one
God did not create Adam as a mechanical being. You are made to be a responsible and autonomous being who can think and make decisions for himself. And he set the forbidden fruit as the standard for judging his conscience and morality. He allowed Adam to choose life and death according to obedience and disobedience, centering on the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. As I said before, this was never meant to limit or oppress Adam's free life. Rather, it was a consideration that allowed them to choose true happiness for themselves by knowing God as their Master and voluntarily obeying them with love. However, the covenant with God was broken due to Adam's greed, who tried to take possession of even the forbidden one by abusing his free will.
Nevertheless, God's love and interest in life did not end. Although Adam betrayed God and sinned, God did not forsake his life and sent his only begotten Son, Jesus, to a world full of desolation and sin. Jesus, who came to this earth, gave up His body to establish the kingdom of God to replace the Garden of Eden, which was destroyed by Adam. We must not forget that the only begotten Son, Jesus, had to die on the cross because Adam could not abandon his obsession with the one thing that God had forbidden.
With rights come obligations. In the Garden of Eden, Adam had to fulfill the minimum responsibility to be free and to enjoy true happiness. That is, the only thing from good and evil was to be recognized as God's and not to eat it. Among all things in the Garden of Eden, the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the center was truly important to both God and Adam. By not touching one of them, God's absolute sovereignty is recognized, and life and happiness of all life including him are guaranteed. Therefore, God made them to be cherished.
However, Adam did not understand the deep will of God and committed the folly of trying to put one more on top of everything and losing everything else. This is what we see today as well. Even though one out of ten should be given to God, there are many people who cling to it and reject the blessing God is trying to give. Even though one of the seven days is God's day, there are many people who even use that day for themselves. We shouldn't be the unbelievers like Adam who loses everything by clinging to one of all that God has left for our true happiness.
In the past, when waiting for someone at a coffee shop, I used to stack matchsticks high for fun. Once you've built it up to some extent, you should stop there. There are probably many of you who have had the experience of destroying everything you've worked so hard to build while trying to build one more, one more. Keep in mind that whoever tries to take even the forbidden one loses all that has been given to him.
There was a chicken that laid golden eggs. She laid one precious golden egg a day without fail, but the owner was not satisfied with it. I thought to myself, 'There must be a lot of golden eggs in the chicken's stomach. If I take them out and sell them all at once, I can make a lot of money.” He killed a chicken and cut the ship apart. But none of the golden eggs they thought would be full inside the chicken's stomach. The man who was not satisfied with one golden egg a day ended up losing everything.
The one that is well kept glorifies God and brings great happiness to us, but on the contrary, all happiness is lost due to the one failure to keep, and the one who forbids giving everything, bearing in mind that he even crucified his only-begotten Son, Jesus. Please don't be a foolish person who is greedy for possession. Please give up unbelief that I want to use even the day of God among the many days like a feather. I pray that you will receive greater blessings by becoming a person of faith who knows how to keep things.