Bible Text: Genesis 3:1-13, Psalm 111 | Preacher: Pastor Karen Bartkowski | Series: Genesis | This is well known story, right?  We heard it in Sunday school.  Even people who don’t believe in God know this story.  Let’s summarize. We have to go back a little to a part of the story we did not read this morning.  God tells Adam, before God created woman that he can have the whole garden, everything is his, the flowers, the trees, the animals.  God says the only thing he can’t have is the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  He says, if you eat from this tree you will surely die.

So, we are caught up and we continue with the story from scripture we just heard.  The serpent shows up and asks Eve an interesting question…Did God really say you couldn’t eat from ANY tree in the garden?  The serpent was already setting Eve up with a trick question.  The original question wasn’t about the tree of knowledge and evil, but about ANY or ALL of the trees in the garden.  Did God say you couldn’t eat ANY fruit?  Did God say ALL fruit was off limits?

Eve wasn’t tricked here.  She didn’t question what God had said.  She stood tall and told the serpent that God had said they could eat from all the trees except the one in the middle of the garden.  She even added that God had said they would die.

She has all the information she needs right?  She remembered correctly what God had said and what God told her not to do.

But, then the serpent then interprets God for Eve. The serpent tells her that God didn’t really mean what God said.  The serpent doesn’t tell Eve she misunderstood, the seprent said that God misspoke. The serpent says, you won’t die.  God is mistaken.

Before that statement, Eve only looked at that fruit as off limits. She didn’t question God.  But, the serpent placed doubt in her mind.  So much doubt that the next thing we read tells us that Eve now saw the fruit differently.  Now she saw it as tasty, beautiful to look at, and holding the key to knowing everything.  She was tempted by food, vanity and power.

If you listen carefully the serpent did not tell her to eat the fruit. The serpent didn’t hand it to her as we see depicted in hundreds of works of art created around this story.  The serpent didn’t force her, or badger her, or even guilt her into eating the fruit.  The serpent placed doubt in her mind about what God had said.  And with that doubt, came her, and then Adam’s succumbing to thinking that they could know more than God.  If she wouldn’t die then why couldn’t she have something that tasted good, looked beautiful and would make her smarter? Eve gets a really bad rap for her decision.  God told her not to and she did it anyway.  God gave her so much, did she really have to have the one thing that was off limits?  How could she possibly think God had misspoken or God was wrong?  Eve takes a lot of blame.  And maybe rightly so, but if we are honest with ourselves, we have all said those things about God,

There are so many messages to learn from this story.  There are a million sermons to be preached about this story that introduced sin into the world.  Sin, the devil, consequences, rules, blame and on and on…

But, I want us to wonder about something else today.  I want to go back in the story and I want us to read between the lines a little.  I want us to see the turning point in this story and it is probably not where you think it is. .

Verse 6 says, “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom COMMA, she took some and ate it.

That is a big comma!  A comma means pause for a second, right? A lot happens in that space of that comma.  She sees the fruit differently than before the serpent made her doubt God.  PAUSE…COMMA…In the space of that COMMA she made a choice.  She made a choice that her eyes, her stomach, her desire for power, her own knowledge made it OK to eat the fruit.  I wonder if she thought about it.  I wonder if she weighed the pros and cons.  I wonder if she made a mental list in her head about the risks and the benefit ratio.  I wonder if she remembered what God had said.  In that time, in the time we see in the COMMA in the scripture, Eve made a very big decision.  How did she make that?  It makes me wonder if she sought wisdom or if she made her decision based on her own human senses?  We may never know what happened in the time of that comma.  But it should help us in our relationship with God and with each other, if we can see what we should do in those comma times.  What do we do in that pause before we act? How do we make hard decisions?  How do we keep from making quick decisions based on what feels good, or tastes good or what we might think would be good for us.  How do we seek wisdom in these situations?  As we continue this series through Genesis and continue seeing what God might be dreaming about for God’s people, Wisdom seeking makes the list.  2 weeks ago we talked about how worship is the primary purpose of the church and of God’s people.  Last week we learned about the importance of equal and supportive relationships with partners.  About being ezers.  Just a side note, if you ever miss a Sunday service and want to read the sermon, they are available on our website.  www.limachurchpa,.com under the discipleship tab.

So, wisdom…that sounds good right?  Don’t we all want to be wise?  Don’t we all want wisdom?  The very well known Serenity prayer, states God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, And wisdom to know the difference. But what does that really mean?  Webster’s dictionary defines wisdom as having experience, knowledge and judgement, especially in the context of actions and decisions.  Wisdom tells us how, when, where and even why to act.  Wisdom tells us what is important and what is not.

In the Bible, there are 5 books known as the wisdom books:  Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon.  The Bible has a lot to say about wisdom, what it is and how to get it…Proverbs 1:20 tells us that wisdom is freely offered by God.  It says this Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the markets she raises her voice; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks: “How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple?  Picture it…Wisdom being offered freely in the middle of town, and people walking right by.  Wisdom says, how long until people take me and use me?

James 1:5 tells us that If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.  Do you hear that, ASK God…God is generous with wisdom.  God wants us to have God’s wisdom, to make decisions using the knowledge we have of God, of God’s character and of God’s desire for us to be in right relationship with God and each other.

In 1 Kings we read the story of King Solomon.  God says to Solomon, ask me for whatever you want me to give you.  Solomon could have asked for a long life, riches, a never ending rule, a peaceful kingdom.  But, he didn’t ask for those, he asked for wisdom.  God was very pleased with his request and granted him that wisdom.  By using that wisdom, Solomon ended up with a peaceful kingdom, respect and success as King of Israel.

Having that wisdom allowed Solomon to make decisions with the confidence he had been given by God.  Through his wisdom, he was able to distinguish right from wrong (1 kings 3:9) If you want a story about how Solomon used his wisdom, read the end of 1 Kings chapter 3).  Tell me next week what you think.

So we ask God for this free gift of wisdom, knowing that it will help us make decisions about what to say or not say, what to do or not do, what is right and wrong in the eyes of God.  But, I can almost see you asking the question, how do I know I have this wisdom?  Is it just some magical transformation I recognize? Maybe for some people it is, but I don’t know any of them.  We have to seek this wisdom that is offered.  We have to do some work on our end to understand this wisdom and know that we are using the gift God has given us and not the distorted gift the serpent offers.

I would give us some places to start…Read the Bible, read the stories about God and God’s people throughout history.  Read about how people used wisdom well.  Pray…ask God for the wisdom God offers, ask for guidance and then BE QUIET and listen.  Have conversations with others about how they understand God’s wisdom.  Come to worship and share in the sacraments.  God is present in this place and we can encounter God, hear God, and learn about God during our time together in worship.  And finally, look to Jesus as the perfect example of God’s wisdom.  Study Jesus’ responses to people and situations.  Wonder about Jesus’ thinking and apply it to your thinking.  Jesus himself, as a gift from God, is the gift of wisdom.

Eve might not have gotten it right in that pause of the COMMA, but Jesus did.  Jesus was in the wilderness, he is hungry and thirsty, he hasn’t eaten for 40 days, and Satan, the tempter approaches.  He challenges Jesus.  He recognizes Jesus’ hunger and he reminds Jesus that he can easily eat if he just turns the stones to bread.  He then offers Jesus all the riches and power in the world.  And then he encourages Jesus to jump off the highest point of the temple to show off that he would not die. He even uses Scripture to try to make his point.  Do these temptations sound familiar?  Kind of like Eve’s right? Food, power and vanity (or recognition).  But Jesus did something VERY different than EVE in the time following the COMMA.  He paused, and then used scripture in response to Satan’s offers.  Jesus used the wisdom found in the scripture, in the power of the Word of God, He used his knowledge of the true character of God to admonish Satan’s twisted and misleading requests and challenges..

What will we do during the comma times?  Will we use the comma to search for the wisdom God has given us?  For the wisdom to know when a decision is based on God’s truth?  For the wisdom to know when we are being deceived or tempted or wronged? Will we rely on what we have learned from the Scriptures and from Jesus’ example?  Let’s pray for this God level of wisdom for ourselves and each other, for our church, our denomination and our world.  In the name of Jesus.  Amen.