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So far we have learned the danger of egocentrism and how rampant it is in our lives, and how

accustomed we have become to its presence.

Now that we have learned how deadly it is, we are going to study more the structure of how it works

and why we are so vulnerable to it.

This plays into Paul’s claim that Christians are not ignorant of Satan’s devices.

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We pointed out that Satan did not use open-ended questions such as, “So tell me – what do you and

Adam think about God?”

That is because he would have no control over the conversation with an open-ended question. He could not draw them out of the security of being

centered on God, into the death, damage and misery caused by egocentrism without the change

of focus. Focus is the key that we need to see.

So before we get started today, let’s see how well we do in defining what “theocentrism” is.

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It means that God is the Creator and Definer of everything; that literally nothing is understood apart

from the specific purpose of God. It means that literally everything is purposed by God to conform

us to the image of Jesus.

It means that everything that is not interpreted from a theocentric point of view will be incorrectly

identified and destructively utilized.

It means that only God can accurately assign the purpose for and meaning of everything that we

see and hear. Anything other than or beyond that is wrong by definition.

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Let’s say that the day I married Sue, God sat down with me and said “Mark, I want you to understand My purpose in giving My daughter to you.” What would

He say she WAS given for, and what not for?

In truth, it is hard to know or predict the purposes of God in any but general terms, but it is easy to

identify what He did NOT give her to me for.

He did NOT give her to me to please my flesh.He did NOT give her to me to be my servant.

He did NOT give her to me to make me feel valued, loved, honored or respected.

Those are all entirely egocentric purposes.

Have you ever noticed that when you have struggles in your relationships that it is because someone has not done one of those things we

said God does not give us partners to do?

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All of God’s purposes in giving me my wife are designed to free me from love for and dedication

to myself and to draw me to God.

He gave her to me to love more than myself.He gave her to me to honor, value and to esteem

above myself.He gave her to me to reveal my own egocentrism,

which destroys everything I touch with it.

So, to see my wife for any design other than God’s, will deprive me of His purposes for good,

and will set me up to destroy my relationship with her.

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Suppose I come home and my wife asked me if I mailed a check she gave me for one of her clients,

but I forgot and still have it in my case.

Suppose she gets angry and says something hurtful about how undependable I am and I blow

up at her. Why would that be egocentric?

If I think she is disparaging my value, it is because in my egocentrism I am mourning the loss of

something I should have been getting from God.

If I am theocentric, I won’t even see a loss of value, because there is no loss, and that will free

me to do what I can to serve my wife in love.

That means I have already reassigned her purpose if I believe she is to make me feel valuable, and I

have disregarded the value I have to Jesus.

Which way would you rather live, tormented by those surrounding you, or loving them and seeing

God use you to enrich their lives with His love?

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As it was for Adam and Eve, so it is for us. God’s design for the things and events in our lives will either be embraced in theocentrism with thanksgiving, or rejected in egocentrism,

resulting in frustration and agony.

Where we stand relative to God’s determinations of life, or to our own self-centered reassignments, will determine whether life will be filled with joy or

pain.

We should see that God makes determinations regarding the identity and purpose of everything

He creates, and if we see them differently, we ARE reassigning their identity and purpose.

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God surrounds us with things that must be rightly identified on His terms.

We need to train ourselves, especially when we find ourselves experiencing something other than the peace and joy of God, to identify all things as tools of God to conform us to the image of Jesus.

We know that if we are angry or frustrated, we have already stepped out of God’s circle and we

need to get back to His perspective so that we can get acclimated again to the truth and extract

God’s purpose out of that situation.

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It really is a training that each must take on and make a habit. Here are three steps to learn.

Another word for anger is IRE. So every time you feel IRE with your circumstances, you need

to use this acronym.

To make it easy to remember, let me give you another acronym.

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REPENT/REALIGN – Lord, I repent of my independence and I accept Your direction with thanksgiving. Teach me to see You in this situation so that I can receive it as from Your hand for my good.

IDENTIFY – I’m angry, frustrated, fearful, rejected… which means I am already egocentric and therefore wrong, and am missing totally the purpose for which God set this situation.

ENGAGE – Move forward in the situation, looking for God in it so you can unite with Him through it.

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REPENT/REALIGN – Lord, I repent of my independence and I accept Your direction with thanksgiving. Teach me to see You in this situation so that I can receive it as from Your hand for my good.

IDENTIFY – I’m (angry, frustrated, fearful, rejected…) which means I am already egocentric and therefore wrong, and am missing totally the purpose for which God set this situation.

ENGAGE – Move forward in the situation, looking for God in it so you can unite with Him through it.

Now let’s use our new tool and see if we can’t help Eve and Adam get through the first sin.

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“Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” The

woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden,

God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’ ” The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and

you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and

that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to

her husband with her, and he ate.” Ge 3:1-6

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In the biblical record, Eve switched from a theocentric position to an egocentric one, and in

doing so, annihilated the potential of life.

What happened? How is it possible that Eve would step away from God, with whom she had known nothing but wonderful experiences from

the day of her creation, to embrace something in diametric opposition to what God said, from a

created being she just met?

It is a great question for which we do need an answer now. How DID he pull that off?

If you think about it, what Satan was able to do in Eve was a spectacular accomplishment against

great odds.

So each one of you are Satan’s advisors. How do you counsel him to pull off such an impossible

task? What could you ever offer that could compete with the magnificent capacity of God?

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Remember where Satan begins. Eve loves God and trusts Him completely, has absolutely NO

complaint regarding a perfect existence that he seeks to destroy.

Let’s observe very carefully exactly how he pulled this off.

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“Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” The

woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden,

God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’ ” The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and

you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and

that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to

her husband with her, and he ate.” Ge 3:1-6

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“Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” The

woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden,

God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’ ” The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and

you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and

that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to

her husband with her, and he ate.” Ge 3:1-6

Can you see the strategy, the deadly poison yet?

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“Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” The

woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden,

God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’ ” The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and

you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and

that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to

her husband with her, and he ate.” Ge 3:1-6

His first major step was to turn Eve’s focus FROM God, to SELF, to change her theocentrism to

egocentrism simply by talking about: YOU – YOU – YOU – YOU – YOU!!!

With the focus changed from God to SELF by those leading questions and leading statements –

and that is ALL he did, notice how easily Eve is moved even further from God and what He

originally said.

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“Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” The

woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden,

God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’ ” The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and

you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and

that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to

her husband with her, and he ate.” Ge 3:1-6

How in the world did she come to the conclusion that the tree was good for food? Isn’t that like

saying cyanide might be deadly but it is good for food?!!

By whose standard, did a tree that would kill, become good for food, or delightful or desirable?

Since that evaluation did NOT come from God, and we cannot blame it on Satan, where DID the idea that the Tree of Knowledge was good for food, delightful and desirable, come to exist?

Satan only suggested it – it was only an idea. It became a choice that was birthed in the heart of

Eve, where she made it her reality, even though it was totally and purely false.

The pure genius of Satan’s strategy is simply to take the direct assessments, purposes and

designs of God, for anything He created, and make them irrelevant, optional, and to subordinate

them to the “superior” opinions of man.

What do you think Adam and Eve would have said if just before they were ushered out of the Garden, an angel would have asked them, “Hey, does that tree still look good, delightful or desirable to you?

That is the funny thing about the difference between absolute, immutable truth, and relative opinion. Absolute truth is eternal, and that is all that comes out of God. Anything else is false,

irrelevant and dangerous. It is as simple as that.

Isn’t it amazing how much power and influence Satan gained by taking God’s absolutes and

making them only God’s opinion, and a false one at that? Do we do that today with God’s absolute

declarations?

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Let’s see how common this practice is and how easily it is done.

God says the wages of sin is death.

But I sin lots of times and never died yet.

God says I am to love my wife as Jesus loves the church.

But God doesn’t have to live with my crazy

wife.

God says I am not to steal.

But I only steal from thieves so it’s ok.

God says don’t be drunk.

But I only drink until I’m buzzed, not drunk.

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Let’s see how common this practice is and how easily it is done.

God says don’t commit adultery.

But my wife doesn’t love me any more.

God says in everything give

thanks.

But how can you give thanks for a mess like

this?

God says I am to love Him with all my heart and serve Him alone.

But how can anyone live like that?

God says my life belongs to Him.

But I have no interest in what that means.

We do it more commonly than we want to think don’t we!

Now let’s see how Adam and Eve did it more specifically and how it worked against them.

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God said, “If you eat of the Tree, dying you

will surely die.”

But they said, “If we eat of it, we will

become like God.”

God said, “I love you and will draw you to Myself and become

one with you.”

But they said, “Thanks but we will do that on our own.”

So let’s nail this down. Every sin comes from man’s REDEFINITION of something God created with regard to its definition and/or its purpose.