Misfits: Adam & Eve

What does a Christian look like? How does he dress? How does he behave? Is a Christian someone who doesn’t drink, doesn’t smoke, and doesn’t dance? Is a Christian someone who goes to church every time the doors are open? At the church I grew up in, we had Sunday morning service, Sunday evening service, and Wednesday night prayer meetings. Is a Christian someone who makes sure he/she is at all three?
As Pastor John explained on Sunday, for most people, their perception of what a Christian is morphs into the same person. They believe in the cookie-cutter Christian. And as I once heard a Christian comedian say, “If you don’t fit in that hole, then you just aren’t saved.”
A misfit is, indeed, a mis-fit—someone who doesn’t fit the mold of what people think a Christian is or ought to be. Ironically, we’re all misfits. Because the mold, or the standard of what a Christian should look like is Jesus Christ.
As we began our series of character studies from the Bible, entitled “Misfits”, we looked at the first two misfits; the first two humans. Adam and Eve. They were misfits because they did not fit the mold of what God intended for the human race. God intended that we all be people who love Him and perfectly obey Him. Adam and Eve chose to disobey God, became sinful, and passed the Sin Nature on to the rest of humanity.
Within his sermon, PJ suggested that Adam and Eve were the original Dr. & Mrs. Doolittle; that they could talk to the animals, or rather that the animals could talk to them. (I sometimes talk to my dog, but she doesn’t talk to me.) That this may have been the case is implied by the fact that, when the serpent started talking to Eve, she didn’t seem a bit surprised by the fact.
However, I personally would not necessarily conclude that Adam and Eve routinely conversed with all the animals. Numbers 22 tells the story of Balaam having an argument with his donkey. The fact that the LORD opened the donkey’s mouth, so she could speak, makes it clear that, at that time, animals did not have the ability to speak. And yet, Balaam was so upset that he never stopped to say, “Wait a minute. How is it that my donkey is talking to me?”
Regardless of whether or not Adam and Eve’s last name was Doolittle, the serpent spoke to Eve, she sinned, Adam sinned with her, and things went downhill from there.
The one of the overarching themes of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is the loyalty of God. Time and time again, He proves Himself loyal (or faithful). In this case, He proved Himself loyal by killing an animal, covering their nakedness, and promising to send One who would crush Satan’s head (Genesis 3). And so we find that the story, as do all stories in the Bible, culminates with Jesus Christ.


STUDY QUESTIONS

1. In what ways are you a misfit? What forbidden fruit have you eaten from the proverbial tree of the knowledge of good and evil?

2. How has your sin broken down your relationship with God? With other members of your family? How can these relationships be repaired?

3. How has God shown His loyalty to you?