My Steps To Freedom: P2-SFS - The Origin of the Search

“The Search For Significance –

Seeing your true worth through God's eyes”

Robert S. McGee

Chapter 2- The Origin of the Search

INTRODUCTION

Last week we looked at some of our emotional battles
These issues make us ask the question: has God always had solutions for our emotional struggles, or did he have to wait for psycholgists to come up with the answers?
The Old Testament tells us about the original incident of sin, and the “fall of man”
Gen 3:6-7

BEFORE THE FALL OF MAN

The first man lived in close relationship with God
He was made complete and perfect, in the image of God (Gen 1:26-28)
His purpose was to demonstrate God's holiness (Psa 99:3-5).
God's major attribute is love
So man's purpose included expressing love and patience (1 Cor 13:4), wisdom (James 3:13, 17), comfort (2 Cor 1:3-4), forgiveness (Heb 10:17), faithfulness (Ps 89:1-2, 5, 8) and grace (Ps 111:4)
Man was to be the showcase of God's glorious character. He was a very important creation, to God
God created a woman to fill man's need for companionship and understanding, and gave her to Adam as his wife
God placed them in the setting of a perfect environment, a beautiful garden where God supplied their physical needs
They had the responsibility of supervising this paradise
And God filled their spiritual needs by visiting them and talking with them personally
Adam and Eeve were perfect in body mind and spirit.

SATAN ALSO WAS CREATED PERFECT

Isa 14:12-15
Like Adam and Eve, Satan was created in perfection
When created, his name was Lucifer, which means “morning star” or “light-bearer”
He was to be the highest rank of angel, created to glorify God
He was created as a beautiful and powwerful being, and served in God's presence
He allowed all this to go to his head and rebelled against God
He was thrown out of heaven, with the third of the angels who had followed him
He then appeared to Adam and Eve in the form of a snake, more crafty than any other beast of the field

SATAN'S PLAN

Adam had been given authority over the earth, just as Lucifer had been given a position in heaven
But if, like Lucifer, man rebelled against God, he would lose his authority and perfection
Man would become a slave to Satan and to sin (Rom 6:17), and become subject to God's wrath or punishment (Eph 2:3)
Satan wanted to destroy man's destiny, so that Satan could reign on earth
His method was to deceive Eve, who fell to the temptation to disobey God and eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
Eve thought doing so would make her wise and like God
Adam was not deceived though, he deliberately chose to sin, and thus leave the love and security he had with God (1 Tim 2:14)
Man now lost his closeness with God, he abdicated his position of rulership over the earth and gave it to Satan
In other words, man lost his whole reason for being

GOD'S SOLUTION

God had a solution in mind to restore the original order of things
As the supreme evidence of God's love for us, he sent Jesus to die, so our sins could be forgiven
Jesus became our substitute and we are offered a complete pardon for our sins
If we accept this forgiveness, the penalty is paid, and our relationship with God is now restored.
Man is not lost forever!
We can be restored to the security and significance for which we were created
This forgiveness is a gift, undeserved.

WE CAN'T EARN GOD'S ACCEPTANCE

Are you trusting in your own abilities to earn God's acceptance?
On a scale of 0 to 100, how sure are you that you would spend eternity with Jesus, if you died today?
If your answer is less than 100, you are trusting in part on yourself
The fact is, that Jesus did it all. He restored our relationship with God
Titus 3:4-5
We have probably heard about Jesus and the cross. This is of no value to us, unless we accept the gift God is offerning, for ourselves, and commit ourselves to walking with Him, living His way

WHAT CHANGE HAPPENED WHEN YOU ACCEPTED JESUS?

All your sins are forgiven (Col 2:13-14)
You are now a child of God (John 1:12, Rom 8:15)
You receive eternal life (John 5:24)
You are rescued from Satan's domain, and transferred into the kingdom of Christ (Col 1:13)
Jesus comes to dwell within you (Col 1:27, Rev 3:20)
You are now a new creation (2 Cor 5:17)
You have now been declared righteous by God (2 Cor 5:21)
You now have a loving relationship with God (1 John 4:9-11)
You are accepted by God (Col 1:19-22)

GOD's SOLUTION VERSUS SATAN'S SNARE

Satan would like you to believe that man is supreme, and the center of intelligence
He would like you to think you don't need God.
He would also like you to think that Jesus' sacrifice on your behalf is not sufficient, that you need to do all kinds of things to still earn God's acceptance.
He would like you to depend on your own efforts to earn your significance or self-worth
Becauser of his separation from God, mankind believes this
Satan's lie is this formula:
Self-worth = Performance + Others' Opinions
This means we become dependent on others' opinions before realizing our self-worth
We become dependent on having to do certain thing in order to feel good about ourselves
Our beliefs → thoughts → emotions → actions
But Jesus gave us our significance as an undeserved gift

Discussion Questions

How do you feel about others' opinions about you? Do they shape how you see yourself?

Saturday, January 25, 2014