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Warren Seventh Day Adventist Church

Giancarlo De Miranda

The Effects of Sin on the Family

Now I want to invite you to pray with me as we get into the message for this morning.

Father in heaven, we are grateful because you have been speaking to us in many different ways this morning.

You are ministering to our needs and we ask years to hear not only the words but also what the Spirit wants to impress our hearts and Father we pray that the message will come into our lives and the Holy Spirit will transform us according to your will and as I present I pray for a clear mind and may the ideas from your word come forth clearly for we pray in Jesus name, Amen.

Very good, so we're going to talk about the effects of sin on marriage this is a new series that I want to begin and I'm beginning this series but the next 2 weeks we have next Saturday we have a concert here so plan to be here for the divine service we will have a concert coupled with messages from heaven and then Elder Tom Jizerski will share the message with us and then I will pick up the series and I prepared this series because this is something that my wife and I we often talk about the need to talk about family not only marriage but also children and other aspects of family life because we know that Satan is specifically attacking the 2 institutions that God put or gave in the Garden of Eden.

So especially in the last days as the message is pointing people to worship the Creator, Satan is specifically attacking what the Creator gave at creation and He gave the 2 twin institutions they came forth together which was marriage and the Sabbath So that was given to mankind to be a blessing and we know that Satan is really destroying the families and the community and even in the church.

And I have proposed myself to bring out this topic not only a few times but as much as I can and I'd like to begin this series will be I think it will be 4 or 5 5 sermons on the topic of family I want to start by remind ourselves some of the things we already covered but it's always good to remind ourselves of what God's original plan was for mankind and then we will develop from here the other days.

So the Bible contains the basis of the science of whatever you want what does it say there?

If you are a believing Christian you believe that the Bible is the Word of God it gives us what is the science in sociology, about marriage, about family, and I would like to propose this morning that we must follow what the Word of God says if we want to experience success in our personal lives and in the lives of our family and I'm specifically now talking about the book of Genesis that tells the very beginning of the creation of man and right there we find the science of sociology how God created man male and female and they brought the 2 together into an alliance of marriage and they became 1 flesh so let's go on here we're going to discuss more about that it says here it gives God's original plan it gives the original and authentic history of the origin of marriage and of the family the origin of marriage and the family began with God it was a God's invention and it's a blessing that you find in every society it doesn't matter how sophisticated or simplistic the society is every society enjoy the benefits of family but we know that every society also face trouble and in the context of family because of sin and the effects of sin upon the family I want to share this also God's original plan also revealed the purpose of marriage and if you will invite you to open up your Bibles with me let's go to the first chapter of the book of Genesis in the Bible and right there in a simple way I want to describe what was God's intent to create not only mankind but to create the institution of marriage the Bible says in Genesis 1 verse 27 the following, so God created man in his own what everyone?

Image, and this is not only talking about physically but also the character, we were made in the image of God as far as our character, of course it doesn't mean that mankind was not supposed to continue to grow and that experience of reflecting God's image but we were made in God's image meaning there was no rebellion in the heart of man, there was no sin in the heart of man, there was no brokenness, there was no disorder there was no mental illness, no sickness, physical sickness none of those things were part of God's original plan but he says here, for God created man in his own image the image of God he created him male and female he created them so I want you to see that the image of God was reflected and the creation of mankind male and female and the 2 came together as we see in the book of Genesis and that union reflects God's character that union reflects God's what everyone?

God's character that is the primary purpose of God bringing together Adam and Eve it was to reflect the character of God.

Oh yes maybe Adam could reflect God's image and God's glory, God's character but only partially he needed his companion to more fully express God's character the same was for Eve she could reflect God's character but only partially she needed her husband to more fully reproduce God's character and notice what it says in verse 26 if you just go 1 verse before the Bible says then God said let us make man in our image, according to our likeness, and let them, in plural here, both, male and female, have, what everyone?

So the Bible implies that both were created equal.

Not 1 superior than the other, but both were created equal by God.

To put the 2 together so they both could have dominion on this earth and also reproduce God's image to all creation now let's go on here I want to read what it says here they were 1 flash that is said in Genesis 2 24 when the marriage was consummated there can exist no inequality in a 1 the emphasis is on the blending into wholeness.

I want to read a statement here from the book, The Advent Home, on page 25.

It says here, God himself gave Adam a companion.

He provided a helpmate for him, a helper corresponding to him, 1 who was fitted to be his companion and who could be 1 with him in love and sympathy.

Eve was created from a rib taken from the side of Adam, signifying that she was not to control him as the head, nor to be trampled under his feet as an inferior, but to stand, how?

Equal to be loved and protected by him and I emphasize that because in some cultures they tend to see men as superior and women as inferior but that was not God's original purpose in the creation of mankind both were created equal would you say amen for that?

There can be distinction of rules but they are created equal Notice carefully here what it says in this slide.

Marriage according to God's plan was pronounced, what everyone?

The only thing God pronounced not good was man's aloneness and of course that was in the context of a world without sin we know that the Apostle Paul talks about the world after sin and in some cases is preferable not to marry.

I will not go back into that we have already discussed that in a different occasion but God's intent for mankind was that they would enjoy the marriage institution.

Now let's go on here and maybe I should just open this parenthesis for those that are single and sometimes we we long to be married I would say that we can enjoy every phase of our lives.

So you may be single now, but it doesn't mean that God doesn't have a plan for you if that's a desire that you have in your heart and that's a legit desire that you can bring to the Lord in prayer and you should because we cannot enter into the marriage relationship without a lot of prayer but be content with the gift of singleness so let me read this to you the first book Genesis begins with a wedding in a garden okay and by the way the last book of the Bible revelation talks about the holy city coming down from heaven adorn as a bride to her husband so the 2 books of the Bible in the 2 chapters that shows no sin talks about marriage but I want you to know that the last book of the Old Testament concludes with a restoration message for families let's go there quickly Malachi chapter 4 verse 5 and let's see what God has to say for the families especially in the last days because this is a prophecy that has its primary fulfillment in our days and I want you to see a message there directed for the families and that includes our families as well notice what it says there Malachi chapter 4 verse 5 the last chapter of the last book of the Old Testament verse 5 the Bible says I will send you Elijah the prophet this is not talking about the you know the incarnation of Elijah was sending down Elijah from heaven but it's talking about people that preach the message with the spirit of Elijah just like John the Baptist was called an Elijah as well because he preached the message in the spirit of Elijah I will send you Elijah the prophet when will God send Elijah?

Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord if you study that expression the great day of the Lord is talking about his second coming God will send the people preaching in the spirit of Elijah what is the message?

Turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers is that a message for the family yes or no oh yes is God interested in the families does God care what your family's going through does he has an answer for the challenges you face you better believe and he is eager to equip his people with power with wisdom with tools so they can apply to their families whatever situation it is now notice what God said to Abraham in Genesis 12 verse 3 and in you that's because through Abraham the Messiah would come that's what he means and in you how many families?

All the families of the earth shall be...

God's plan for the families is to bless them and you can take hold of that promise that God wants to bless your family he has a deep interest in your family and he want to bestow the blessings but that promise over there was given in the context of the Messiah coming to the world and in 1 sense we all have been blessed in Jesus but we can experience the fullness of his blessing as we receive him into our hearts we just say amen for that and I like to say that marriage in the Garden of Eden was actually a union of 3, a union of how many?

And that's why they experienced what they experienced in the garden before sin wholeness because God was in the center of the family and God is saying to the families of this world I know we are in a broken world and I know that sin has affected the families but it's still my purpose to bless your family through the seed that would come to conquer the devil and that is Jesus Christ the New Testament scriptures have lots to say about marriage as well especially the Apostle Paul but Jesus himself writes about marriage and Peter writes about marriage and that shows God's interest and the welfare of the families now I want to share with you going back now to the book of Genesis let's go to Genesis chapter 2 for a moment and we are going to see there 4 principles in Genesis 2 verse 24 and 25 for a successful marriage.

And that's a work, it's just like sanctification.

And we need to continue to nurture our relationships in order to succeed.

Now let's read these verses, verses 24 and 25 first.

And I highlighted some key words there for us first it says therefore and we're talking here specially in God's ideal plan, ok?

But we need to strive to go into that ideal no matter where we are in our experience it says therefore a man shall what is the first word the next word leave his father and mother and be what's next word join to his wife and they shall become what 1 flesh and they were both naked, the man and his wife and were not what?

Not ashamed, so here we find the 4 principles that I want to highlight when it talks about leaving his father and his mother, it's talking about severance that's the first principle making sure that the couple is not dependent on their parents and they are able to have their own family separate family and build their own family sometimes later in life that changes also because of the effect of sin and the family has to take care of their elderly parents but that wasn't God's ideal for the marriage relationship, but it's God expectation and a plan B that we will take care of our parents.

But approaching to the ideal, the couple that decides to marry should be independent, emotionally, financially, and should have their own life.

They should come together as a couple, live together, do life together and often time we see that people want to be married but have life separate Sometimes they still want to have the privileges of a single person, not really telling or being accountable to the spouse, or not sharing the bills, the finances, or the responsibilities in the house.

We're going to unpack more of that as we move on in our series but they must be joined not only sexually speaking they must join but they must join in their lives, they have to have life together and they shall become 1 flesh, this is again not only talking about the sexual relationship although it includes that but it's definitely talking about intimacy and acceptance, okay?

And then it says not ashamed, so here are the 4 principles.

Severance, independence from their parents, permanence, doing life together, acceptance so you can be who you are, you don't need to try to fake or anything like that so being with my wife I can sometimes...

I like to speak by myself just let you know that, if you ever see me speaking by myself, this is something that I do and I'm often preaching, And I start like practicing my sermons, and I start like imagining that I'm preaching, but for my wife it's like, that's normal, you know, it's just who he is.

But if you see, you're gonna be like, what is he doing, you know, is he okay?

But I don't need to pretend in front of her.

Intimacy, again, it goes back to having life together, experiencing, you know, knowing each other, the likings and what you don't like, what you appreciate, and sharing your intimate thoughts and aspirations in life.

So let's again reveal this God's designed for marriage permanent heterosexual between a man and a woman monogamous between human beings and unfortunately we see that happening in our days, human beings marrying with their pets, but that was not God's plan for mankind, able to do what everyone?

To reproduce that's exactly what we find in the book of Genesis in chapter 1 verse 28 when God says then God bless them and God said to them be fruitful and what?

And multiply So the ability to multiply and that has to be between a man and a woman and it has to be between a human being and another human being.

If we want to experience successful marriages.

On the other hand, it doesn't mean that if it is between a man and a woman is automatically successful there is a package that the book of Genesis and the Bible as a whole brings in order for us to experience success in essence God's original plan, all other passages of scriptures that comes later even in the New Testament concerning marriage point back to Genesis 1 and 2 for instance in Matthew 19 verse 4 and 8 this is Jesus speaking notice what he says have you not heard or read that he which made them referring to God at the beginning so Jesus points back to the beginning when they ask him about marriage and about divorce have you not heard, have you not read that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffer you to put away your wives but from the beginning it was not so and he goes on to say that divorce is in the context of adultery but Jesus is always pointing to the beginning to the beginning, to Genesis chapter 1 and chapter 2 as God's ideal for marriage and for mankind.

Now the fall and the effects of sin upon marriage.

So let's go through that for a little bit.

We are going to see 3 fundamental disorders that sin brought that affected the family number 1 it brought what everyone shame disorder to human case so if you remember in Genesis chapter 3 even she wandered away from her husband and the serpent was used by the devil to tempt her and she rebelled against God and she sinned and she took the fruit that they were not supposed to eat, gave to her husband, he ate the fruit and then all of a sudden they began to experience shame, guilt and they noticed that they were naked and they tried to cover their nakedness with fig leaves but they experienced shame shame did not exist before the fall isn't that beautiful?

It wasn't God's ideal or plan for mankind to experience shame and then another thing that happened because God came to meet with them as he always did and he asked where are you and they were hiding themselves and God asked them why did you hide and they say I was afraid I was afraid fear was not God's plan for mankind that's a direct result of sin we experience fear and that is a disorder to divine but there is another thing also, another disorder that happened and that is egocentrism, always thinking of ourselves a disorder to human and divine at the same time and now mankind became like that it experienced shame and that's why we struggle to become 1 flesh that's why we struggle to having life together and experiencing intimacy that's why we struggle with power in our relationships, because we experience shame, fear and egocentrism we have fear to expose ourselves, to give ourselves fully but a family or a couple that is experiencing growth in Jesus they are able to grow in intimacy and surrender and put down you know the barriers so they can experience wholeness as it was intended by God so let's go back to Genesis chapter 3 wanna go there to verse 16 so let's go to Genesis chapter 3 and verse 16 and I want you to see that there was a curse that was placed upon the family okay but God's curse has the intent to be a blessing for mankind there was a curse upon the earth as well which was intended to be a blessing for falling humanity now God is acting with plan B and in plan B there are some changes that we need to understand so let's begin here I will not read all the curses that God gave to be actually a blessing to fallen humanity But I want to read this 1 which directly impact the marriage relationship Some feel uncomfortable with this passage I will share a little bit more after I read and we may unpack that even more in another occasion but in Genesis 3 16 the Bible says and this is you know God speaking to the woman he said I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception in pain you shall bring forth children and notice carefully here what it says your desire shall be for your husband and he shall what is next word RULE OVER YOU and I understand how uncomfortable this passage can be but it's important for us to understand first what was God's ideal and original plan for mankind they were created equal and both share the dominion, ok?

And power after the fall, because of the condition of mankind, 1 needed to submit it doesn't mean that we don't submit 1 to another as the Apostle Paul says but as the final word according to this text the woman should submit to her husband as in the Lord as the Apostle Paul added in Ephesians chapter 5 as a clarification now I wanna read here another statement actually before I read the statement I wanna share what the New Testament has to say about this pronunciation that the Lord made in 1st Corinthians chapter 11 verse 3 notice carefully here man is head of woman as God is head of Christ and notice this statement here and I'm not reading the scripture I'm giving you what the text says the summary of the text you're welcome to go there but though God is the head of Christ, God and Christ are equals when we study the whole of scriptures that's what we find so that submission has to do with rules and again in the context of sin and plan B God himself needed to adapt in order to save humanity and Christ became submissive to the father and now he compares the relationship in the context of sin between the husband and the wife now noticing Matthew chapter 20 verses 25 and 26 here is a summary there because the disciples they wanted to be in charge they wanted to be the head so to speak they want power and their view of power was the worldly view of power and Jesus told them that with them was not supposed to be that way the Gentiles exercise dominion over them and authority upon them but it shall not be so among you that's not how you exercise leadership from a biblical perspective keywords over you versus among you now notice carefully what it says here the Bible doesn't call for a democratic model it calls for what kind of model of leadership in the family a shepherd model 1 that leads not 1 that use force and coercion so that's what it means to have the responsibility to lead in the family in the Lord Notice in Adventist home page 115 and the Lord said thy desire shall be to thy husband and he shall rule over thee.

In the creation God had made her the equal of Adam.

Had they remained obedient to God in harmony with his great law of love they would ever have been in harmony with each other not an argument not a fight not a disagreement but sin had brought discord and now their union could be maintained and harmony preserved only by submission on the part of the 1 or the other then it goes on to say Eve had been the first in transgression and she had fallen into temptation by separating from her companion contrary to the divine direction not to separate.

It was by her solicitation that Adam sinned and she was now placed in subjection to her husband men's abuse on the other hand, because not following the shepherd model but the model of the world men's abuse of the supremacy thus given him has too often rendered the lot of woman very what?

Abuse of what God has actually said understood the leadership in the context of paganism not in the context of Christianity now there is a distinction of role as we saw if this imbalance happened because of sin and I wanna highlight this and specially men but also women pay very close attention now because I don't want you to leave this message turning to your spouse and using the Bible to harass or to abuse your power or authority because you misunderstood God's original plan and also plan B.

The 1 that bears the responsibility and the 1 that guides as a shepherd with the best interest in mind but notice, if this imbalance in the marriage relationship that 1 needs to submit to the other when agreement is not reached, the husband gives the final word according to the Bible.

If this imbalance happened because of sin, shall we argue to try to maintain the condition which came in consequence of sin?

In other words, not having that wholeness and that harmony that could exist if the life was fully submitted to Christ?

Should we instead, now that we have a disagreement or disharmony in the home, should we now stick to plan B or should we strive to go back to plan A?

Shall we move toward the original Edenic model of equality?

What I'm trying to say is more we approach to Christ more we go back to God's original plan does that make sense?

I will use as an example for instance diet we know that God's original plan was a vegetarian diet and more we approach to Eden more we go back to God's original plan for diet It shouldn't be a surprise that in heaven we're not going to kill an animal to eat okay so more we approach to God's original plan or to God and to Eden in our experience more we approach to his original plan and the same is with marriage because the couple is learning to experience intimacy and the couple is learning to become 1 flesh they need plan B.

1 needs to have the final word because they may have disharmony and in a shepherd model after giving the opportunity to discuss the situation the husband in this model can give the final word but more we approach to the experience of Eden more we will start or stop claiming the right to give the final word and we are going to experience wholeness and equality.

This is actually, for me, it's very exciting.

Instead of holding to my right as a husband, I have the final word.

It's actually shameful to leave by plan B.

It means that we are not still 1 If I needed to go back to plan B to resolve a disagreement it means that we are lacking and God says for now as you guys are learning go ahead and use plan B but as in the Lord okay but I want you to experience wholeness I want you to experience intimacy I want you to experience equality the effects of sin so let's see here what happened a little bit more after sin sin separated relationships between God and man in first place so they hid from God, husband and wife they began to accuse 1 another, the husband said the wife that you gave me caused me to sin and the blaming all this is the impact of sin that needs to be restored in our marriages parents and children come apart in Genesis 4 verse 16 because Cain needed to live he couldn't stay anymore where he was after killing his brother siblings came apart that's right, the effects of sin, abandonment, child pornography infanticide, teenage rebellion, midlife crisis, sibling rivalry, generational gap, single parent families, disrespected parents, unwanted elderly members.

Not necessarily we have guilt on these things, but it wasn't God's original plan for mankind to experience all this dysfunctionality and because of that we need to make sure we go the second mile we go what everyone the second mile in order to be able to pull the family together with the purpose to glorify God what is the solution friends solution goes back to where we started in Malachi chapter 4 verse 5 I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord and he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers we need to go back to God's original plan God's ideal and that includes bringing God into our marriage and into our families so just say amen for that and friends I would like to use this opportunity to encourage you if you have not taken your book steps to personal revival yes we are distributing them in the context of our prophecy seminar but use them also in the context of your marriage and your family, your relationship with even those that are not in your house, your parents God can restore your relationships, No matter how far you are to the idea of God or how close you are, how much you need to progress in this journey, God has an answer for you.

The Effects of Sin on the Family

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