LIBERTY IN JESUS

Jim & Phyllida Strickland

Time with Jesus - Monday, 18 February 2013

Hi all,

One of my favourite books of the Bible is Genesis. This book, which many consider to be a myth, is sometimes called the seed-plot of the Bible. Most of what we find therein is found in Genesis in very basic form. Genesis Chapter 1 is sufficient to get theologians and commentators into wonderful and pointless arguments about time, dates, the length of days as well as the size of the universe. The following table expresses the Biblical sequence in very condensed form.

THE BIBLICAL ACCOUNT OF CREATION
Preparation and Separation		Completion and filling
Day 1	Light - heavens & earth – time and space	Day 4	Lights - heavenly bodies - Earth rotates
Day 2	Air & water- Atmospheric conditions regulated	Day 5	Birds & Fish
Day 3	Land & plants established above receding water	Day 6	Animals, Man, Garden of Eden, Woman

Without going into the general details, let’s look at day six of the creation account; in particular at the creation of man. We are told, ²⁷ God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Gen 1:27 NASB

I’ve struggled with this verse for some time and have come to a conclusion. I submit to you for consideration. God created Adam with Eve somewhere within him. Please don’t think the Adam was “pregnant” in a way we would recognise today. I understand from this Scripture, God created the male and female “portions” together, both of which were “in” Adam. Thus men and women are equal in the sight of God. From the point of gender, one is not superior to the other. This is vitally important because it indicates the “one” may contain two “parts”. Rather like the Holy Trinity, where there is three persons in One God, God created a “twinity”! Two people in one! Later, God removed the “female” from him and made Eve. Now they were two separate entities. But they were and are still equal in the sight of God. The difference between them was primarily functional. Adam’s responsibilities were to provide and protect Eve and family. Eve’s responsibilities were to nurture and assist. It was not God’s intention that there is a “gender war” between the sexes. Even today in our fallen state, you find that most men want to provide for and protect their wife and children. That’s how men are. Speaking for me, there is something in me that is only satisfied when I am taking care of and protecting my wife. It’s got nothing to do with making theological decisions. It’s the way I’m “wired”; to provide for and protect Phyllida. At the same time there is an incredible drive in most women to have children and nurture her family; it’s the way women are “wired”. It’s part of the heritage of being a man or a woman. It’s the way God made us. In this regard, the one is not superior to the other. But we are different from each other. We are delightfully different or there would be no physical attraction between male and female. We don’t compete, we complete!

In today’s meditation we look at this more deeply.

Shalom,

Jim & Phyllida Strickland  

Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give		Time with Jesus – Monday, 18 February 2013			Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give
©	These devotionals are the intellectual property of Jim Strickland and copyright protected. You are welcome to copy and distribute them to anyone provided it is for non-commercial Christian purposes					©
INTRODUCTION			DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES	liberty in Jesus
The fall of man had a terrible effect on Adam, Eve and all their offspring all the way down to us today. They may have been tricked into disobeying God. The fact remains, Adam was influenced by his wife and he ate the forbidden fruit. This is not intended as a slur on women. If we look carefully at the dialog between the serpent and Eve, it is clear that she wasn’t quite sure of her facts. She should have been. In the world God created, God spoke initially with Adam. At that time, Eve was only there in the sense that she was still within Adam. God gave very clear instructions to Adam. 15 The LORD God put the man in the Garden of Eden. He put him there to work its ground and to take care of it. 16 The LORD God gave the man a command. He said, "You can eat the fruit of any tree that is in the garden. 17 But you must not eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you do, you can be sure that you will die." Gen 2:15-17 NIrV There is nothing ambiguous about this statement. Before the fall, Adam was in full possession of his faculties. It’s likely that he was able to do and understand things that we cannot begin to comprehend. There’s no question about it. He was “the boss” on earth. He was the pinnacle of God’s creation with authority over the entire planet. Now Eve was taken out of Adam. God did all that was necessary with one of Adam’s ribs. Personally, I cannot possibly believe that the woman brought to Adam was a great big “dumb blond”. She wasn’t there as his plaything. She was his companion; His helpmeet. There is no evidence to suggest that she was mentally inferior to Adam. Now God usually says things once only. In normal circumstances, once is sufficient. It follows that God expected Adam to communicate His prohibitions and restrictions. The question is, did he do it properly? This seems unlikely. A careful reading of Gen 3:1-6 NIrV gives me an uncomfortable suspicion that Adam had not briefed Eve adequately. So she didn’t tell the serpent what God had told them. Then, after eating the forbidden fruit, she gave some to Adam. He was standing with them. Adam should have sent Satan packing. He didn’t. He copped out and did what his wife told him to do. At that point they submitted to Satan, sinned and lost their liberty. It was a catastrophe! Satan was now in charge and sin was the order of the day. Sin would be passed down from generation to generation. As far as Satan was concerned, it was permanent. As far as man was concerned, liberty was lost forever and they were slaves of sin. As far as God was concerned, He would redeem man and destroy Satan. He achieved this in and through Jesus. In some ways, the entire Bible is the account of how God achieved this. In and through Jesus Christ, man again has access to liberty. In Romans, Paul expounds on this. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. Rom 8:2 NASB To misquote Shakespeare; “To sin or not to sin; that is the question”. This is now the situation confronting us. Through Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, we have been given liberty. We are no longer compelled to sin. It is no longer a foregone conclusion. So why do we? God alone knows! Jim & Phyllida Strickland			3 When Adam was 130 years old, he became the father of a son who was just like him--in his very image. He named his son Seth. Gen 5:3 NLT 4 Who can bring purity out of an impure person? No one! Job 14:4 NLT 5 Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Psalm 51:5 TNIV 1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience-- 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. Eph 2:1-3 ESV 14 We know that the law is holy. But I am not. I have been sold to be a slave of sin. 15 I don't understand what I do. I don't do what I want to do. Instead, I do what I hate to do. 16 I do what I don't want to do. So I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, I am no longer the one who does these things. It is sin living in me that does them. 18 I know there is nothing good in my sinful nature. I want to do what is good, but I can't. Rom 7:14-18 NIrV 12 Sin entered the world because one man sinned. And death came because of sin. Everyone sinned, so death came to all people. Rom 5:12 NIrV 19 Many people were made sinners because one man did not obey. But one man did obey. That is why many people will be made right with God. Rom 5:19 NIrV 15 But there is a great difference between Adam's sin and God's gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God's wonderful grace and His gift of forgiveness to many through this other Man, Jesus Christ. Rom 5:15 NLT 2 I am now controlled by the law of the Holy Spirit. That law gives me life because of what Christ Jesus has done. It has set me free from the law of sin that brings death. Rom 8:2 NIrV 57 But let us give thanks to God! He wins the battle for us because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done. 1 Cor 15:57 NIrV	According to the records, Seth was son number three. The first son was a murderer; what a catastrophe! Cain had murdered Abel, because Abel did what’s right. He offered up a sacrifice; one pleasing in God’s sight. Cain brought God the produce he’d worked for with his hands. Abel brought a sacrifice in line with God’s commands. Cain became so jealous; he simply had to kill, And Abel was his victim in defiance of God’s will. The line of Cain was wicked. The line of Seth did right. They tried to do their very best to keep God’s ways in sight. But they had something that they shared throughout all their days. A heart inclined to evil and to follow Satan’s ways. It came in at conception; a hankering to sin. They couldn’t really help themselves and Satan had to win. We have the self-same problem, because we are sin’s slave. We have an inner instinct to always misbehave. Even if we want to, we cannot change our ways. We’re dead in sin and trespasses, until we end our days. But there is a solution. The Lord has bought us back. The cost was astronomic for us to change our tack. We have to trust in Jesus, that He has paid the price; Believe He’s done it properly by His blood sacrifice. For as we start to follow Him and trust in Him alone, We know His Spirit tells us, we’re no longer on our own. The spirit that was ruling us and bringing sin and death, No longer is controlling our each and every breath. Instead, His Holy Spirit seeks to make us whole; And live a life for Jesus Christ, where He is in control. It’s Jesus Christ Who does this. It isn’t you or me. And Satan wasn’t willing to ever set us free. He thought he was victorious; that Jesus Christ had lost. It was a little later he found what it had cost. Jesus had defeated him and set His people free. We’re not in Satan’s kingdom, in chains of slavery. We needn’t be entangled by sin and death and law. And liberty in Jesus means we’re Satan’s pawns no more! So let us praise the Father, for all that has been done. And thank Him for the freedom; we have in Christ His Son. Jim Strickland – Written 18 February 2012