Jump Start # 3133
1 Corinthians 15:45 “So also it is written, ‘The first man, Adam, became a living soul.’ The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.”
Our verse today comes from the resurrection chapter of the N.T. The apostle goes into great detail explaining and giving proof that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. He makes a contrast between the first man and Christ, being the last man. Through the first man, death came. Through the last man, life came.
It is that expression, “the first man, Adam,” that I want to explore with you today.
First, the first man wasn’t a cave man that pulled his woman by the hair and grunted. The Fred Flintstone, pre-historic, transitional species between ape and human image just isn’t supported Biblically. The first man, Adam, could name the animals, work the garden and communicate with God. In fact, if we take a stand with the Bible, the only thing that is pre-historic is God. History begins in Genesis one with the creation. Museums, TV documentaries, thousands of books on anthropology, college professors have this all tangled up and confused.
Second, God was communicating with Adam from the very beginning. I wonder what language God chose. Adam had to understand words, concepts and be able to communicate back to the Lord. God built a vocabulary and a language within Adam. It is very likely the same language until Babel when God separated people and confused their language.
Today, we have to teach our children how to speak and to write. We study languages and see the connections from one language to another. But for Adam, he knew words, ideas and what God meant. When God talked about trees, Adam knew. When God told Adam not to eat from a certain tree, he knew. I think we might be amazed at how intelligent Adam was.
Third, Adam didn’t have the troubles of the world as you and I do. He never dealt with traffic. I doubt he ever had bad weather. No weeds in the garden. No neighbors to complain about. No nightly news that reminded him of the pain and sorrow that we cause each other. No mass shootings. No identity theft. No pandemics. Nothing to fear. Nothing to stress about. No worries.
There is hardly a day, if any day, that we do not hear some bad news, or, we are troubled, stressed, worried, bothered or are hurting some how. Tears, sorrow and pain are as normal for us as the sunshine. It’s the only thing we’ve ever known. This world is all that we have ever known. Adam’s world is like a fanciful dream to us. Wouldn’t it be nice, but we know it will never be, at least not down here. And, this is one of the strong tugs upon our hearts to want to be in Heaven. No tears. No sorrow. No death. No pain. We can’t imagine. For many of us, the day begins with a handful of medicine that is necessary to keep us going. Our bones ache when we get up and our backs hurt when we sit down. And, that’s just the outside of us. We worry that we may run out of money someday. We are concerned about the kids and the grandchildren. We wonder why some are not as spiritual as they could be. We are bothered to hear that some have made wrong choices and have ruined their marriages and killed their reputation.
Fourth, it is interesting as one reads the first pages of the Bible that God didn’t give Adam a whole list of “dos and don’ts.” We read of one negative, don’t eat from the forbidden tree. Not even Ten Commandments. Not a dozen things to do to please the Lord. How simple that seems. How easy we assume Adam had it. Yet, the one thing to keep away from, he didn’t. The one command he broke. The one thing he had to do, stay away from that tree, he couldn’t do. In our minds, we’d consider building a high privacy fence around that tree so it wouldn’t tempt us. We’d think about moving to the other side of the garden and getting away from it. Backseat driving, arm chair quarterbacking seems so easy. Yet, how you and I struggle to stay away from our forbidden fruit. We are on this side of the cross and we have the grace of God to help us, we also have the entire will of God in our hands, and yet, we are tempted. Our eyes can’t stay focused upon Jesus. Our hearts tend to wander. We get easily distracted. The glitter of the world draws our attention.
It is easy from where we sit to think Adam had it so easy. He might say the same about us. Each person and each generation must walk with the Lord by faith. There are challenges, obstacles, duties, encouragement and help that is before all of us.
The first man was Adam. God created him just the way God wanted. And, God has created you just the way you are. Some of us look in the mirror and wish we had a different nose or ears, or hair texture. Some of us wish we weren’t so shy. Some of us wish we had the talent of others. But God has made you the way you are. He has put you in this generation for a reason. You are wired, equipped and surrounded with the tools you need to become a powerful disciple of Jesus.
Finding our talent and then using that talent for the glory of God is what is the major task before us. Bring joy to the Lord by doing what God wants you to do.
The first man was Adam.
Roger