The first covenant that God made with His creation is found in Genesis 2:16-17. It is known as the Adamic Covenant. I have heard some theologians refer to it as a ‘covenant of works’ since it was based on Adam and Eve not eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. I have also heard it said that faith was not necessary for Adam and Eve because they were in the presence of God every day in the Garden of Eden. After all, why do you need faith to believe in a God that is walking and talking with you every day? While all of this may be true on the surface, there was most certainly an element of faith in this first covenant.

• Here is the first test of faith in the bible. Eve is confronted with a very real dilemma – conflicting testimonies; the first lie from the father of lies. (John 8:44)
• Here is this crafty serpent telling her that God has some secret reason for making the rule against eating the fruit of the tree; He wants to keep her down.
• Here is the serpent telling Eve that she will not die – calling God a liar.
• Here is Eve tempted to want more that what God has given her.

Pride, covetousness and selfishness (the very things that caused Satan to fall) enter into her heart and she was faced with a crisis of faith. Not faith in regard to whether God exists or not, but rather, whether or not God is trustworthy. Whether or not His word is truth.

Eve desired the control that the knowledge of good and evil would give, though it was not hers to possess. Further, when Adam saw that Eve didn’t die immediately, he may have thought he had reason to doubt God’s word. He partook in the selfish desires of his heart and ate of the fruit.

Adam and Eve may not have needed faith to believe in God, but they needed faith to believe God. The element of faith that was a part of their covenant with God (trust) was thus broken; the element of works (obedience) was also broken, and all humankind was stained with the sin of our parents.

Each of us faces the same crisis of faith every single day. No matter how long we have been Christians, the temptation is always there to covet God’s power and usurp his authority through self-reliance. In this life, none of us will ever be truly righteous (Romans 3:10), none of us will ever be without sin (1 John 1:10). We will always fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), failing to love Him with our whole heart, soul, mind and strength (Luke 10:27). It is only by leaning completely on Him who died that we are granted the ability to become the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21). Don’t trust your own wisdom or understanding. (Proverbs 3:5) Trust (have faith) only in Him (Isaiah 26:4), and Obey (work) His commandments (John 14:15).

Two weeks ago at church, our council of Elders called a man up to the front of the church before the worship service began. They presented him an award for being the most humble Christian at our church. The award was a tiny lapel pin a little smaller than a dime. The man accepted the award with a tearful and red-faced “Thank you all, so much” and returned to his seat. Last Sunday, the man came to church wearing the pin in the lapel of his jacket and the head elder took it away from him because he showed pride by wearing it and didn’t deserve it anymore.

This actually didn’t happen. It is an old joke rephrased. Nevertheless, humility can be a difficult concept to understand. Last week I listened to a two-part sermon preached by John Piper entitled Battling the Unbelief of a Haughty Spirit. You can download it and listen to it yourself here:

Battling the Unbelief of a Haughty Spirit Part 1.mp3

Battling the Unbelief of a Haughty Spirit Part 2.mp3

When I listen to podcast sermons (usually about a dozen each week) I like to take notes on the parts that hit me hard, or speak to my heart. Sometimes I’ll stop the playback and just start writing about instances where I have personally experienced what the preacher is talking about.

Here are the notes that I took while I was listening to the sermons linked above. If you get anything out of this, I encourage you to download and listen to the entire sermon. Not all of what appears below is Piper’s and not all of it is mine.

If you are a Christian and you know anything at all about humility, I am confident that you have encountered this type of pride at least once. Here are two examples: The man who volunteers for the worst task at a church function and then for weeks afterward, brags about doing such a menial job. The woman who helps somebody anonymously and then “lets slip” what she did to one friend who she knows can’t keep her mouth shut. These are examples of a craving that people have for other people to think well of them.

Each of these forms of pride is an example of making much of yourself. As Christians, we should be delighting in Christ alone and in God’s mercy to us.

Isn’t it funny, considering our size and place in the universe, that we humans would struggle with genuine humility?

True humility means casting everything on the Lord. Casting your anxieties on the Lord is humility, because proud people don’t feel that they need help from the Lord. Pride makes people deny their anxieties and want to look like they’ve got it all together. Piper says, “…how easy it is to ‘be made much of’ even for my self-denial.” We have to be such cool customers. God is our LAST refuge instead of our first thought. We are afraid to be vulnerable. We are afraid to look human.

Piper says, “God loves people, but hates pride.” The condition of your heart is of utmost importance. It is almost impossible for anyone to tell the difference between genuine humility and false humility in another person, but it is easy for us to know it in ourselves. This is a skill that we work inwardly on ourselves, not an outward skill that we work on others.

If you are interested in listening to the sermons, you can download them here. Get the Sunday Morning Service from Aaron Varner on 11/1/09 and 11/15/09.

A learning tool that I often employ when I want to learn what something is, is to learn what it isn’t first. I’m not sure if the sermon series will cover this, but I’ve been wondering what the Bible says that Worship isn’t as much as I have been learning what it is.

3 So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground. 4 Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering; 5 but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. 6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 “If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” 8 Cain told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. Genesis 4:3-8 NASB

Why did God have no regard, or appreciation for Cain’s offering?

Experts differ on the answer to that question, but I think it is either that the offering wasn’t what God had specified (though it isn’t recorded in Genesis prior to this) or that Cain’s heart wasn’t right when offering a sacrifice to the Lord. In Hebrews 11:4 it is written that “By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain” and for this gift, he was righteous.

Please note God’s response,  He tells Cain to “do well” so his countenance would be lifted up. In other words, He told him to make an offering in the correct manner so he could hold his head up and not be downcast. He wants Cain to do what is right, so He gave him a second chance, but Cain didn’t heed God’s warning and instead killed his brother; after which he was an outcast and a marked man.

1 Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them. 2 And fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD. Leviticus 10:1-2 NASB

What was so wrong with the fire in their firepans that God would kill them for offering it?

Again we see a form of worship that displeases God. Clearly, these sons of Aaron went against the teachings of God and worshiped in their own way. God does not offer them a second chance like He did with Cain, He killed them on the spot which is exactly what they deserved. Perfect justice was done to these two.

I think that Nadab and Abihu were excessively proud and believed that they could do something different from what God had instructed. Their hearts were clearly not right with God and the penalty for worshiping with proud hearts was (and still is) death.

16 But when he became strong, his heart was so proud that he acted corruptly, and he was unfaithful to the LORD his God, for he entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense. 17 Then Azariah the priest entered after him and with him eighty priests of the LORD, valiant men. 18 They opposed Uzziah the king and said to him, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron who are consecrated to burn incense. Get out of the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful and will have no honor from the LORD God.” 19 But Uzziah, with a censer in his hand for burning incense, was enraged ; and while he was enraged with the priests, the leprosy broke out on his forehead before the priests in the house of the LORD, beside the altar of incense. 20 Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him, and behold, he was leprous on his forehead ; and they hurried him out of there, and he himself also hastened to get out because the LORD had smitten him. 21 King Uzziah was a leper to the day of his death ; 2 Chronicles 26:16-21 NASB

Even more clearly here, it is shown that coming before the Lord and making an offering or sacrifice with a proud heart results in punishment. In the case of Uzziah, a punishment that was arguably worse than death.

Please note the three things he did in verse 16, he was proud, he acted corruptly and he was unfaithful to the Lord. These three things led to his entering the temple and making his unacceptable offering. Pride, corruption and unfaithfulness. One inevitably leads to the next.

9 And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt : 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 “The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself : ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people : swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 ‘I fast twice a week ; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ 13 “But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner !’ 14 “I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other ; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Luke 18:9-14 NASB

These are the words of our Lord, Jesus. He states plainly that a prideful heart cannot worship God in an acceptable manner. We must respond to God with humility and obedience.

Pastor Aaron Varner at West Hill Baptist Church in Akron says, “Worship is responding to God’s nature, words and actions by completely giving myself to Him.”

Let us remember that when we give ourselves to him through worship, or respond to His presence in worship, that we sincerely humble our hearts and never bring pride to the altar.