SWEAT’S STING

Genesis 3:17-19
Bob Bonner
July 11, 2004

This past holiday weekend found Becky and me hard at work in our yard. If you remember, the temperatures were well into the 90's. It didn’t take me long to work up a sweat, which is God’s gift to us, because our ability to sweat helps regulate our body’s temperature. However, there were those times that I found sweat to be less than comforting. To be specific, when salty sweat gets in my eyes, it burns! And should I be wearing contacts, it really burns and tears flow!

Because of the sting of sweat in my eyes, I quickly forgot what reward lay ahead for me when my work was done. I lost sight of the pleasure I knew was to come when the job was finished. Instead, at that moment, I hated my work. There was no joy in my hard work when I couldn’t see and my eyes were burning from the sting of sweat.

If you have ever worked hard in the heat, you know the experience of salty sweat falling into your eyes. When the sting of hard work, the back, shoulder, leg pain and sweat happens, do you ever ask, “Why does this have to happen?” Why do I have to lose sight of the pleasure of hard work when sweat stings my eyes or my back gives out?

This morning, we will see why and at the same time see God’s message of hope and comfort that comes to us and helps us to discover the joy of hard work, even in the midst of struggle. If you have your Bibles with you, please open them up to Genesis 3. While you are turning there, allow me to quickly give you an overview of the section of scripture we have been studying for the past several weeks.

Genesis 3 deals with the consequences of Adam and Eve’s sin, both immediate and long term. In verses 1-13, we looked at some of the immediate consequences which Adam and Eve personally felt as a result of their choosing to disobey God and to eat the fruit from the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Then, in verses 14-19 we see the long term effects of Adam and Eve’s sin; those effects that span the entire course of human history.

In these verses, God pronounces six curses: Two are against the serpent, which declared that Satan would be humiliated and ultimately defeated by Jesus. Then there are two curses directed against Eve and all women who follow after her. Those two curses not only affect women in child rearing but also their ongoing relationships with their husbands. Then lastly, what we want to look at this morning is God’s two curses against Adam.

For Satan, there is no provision for relief from the curse against him. His ultimate destination has forever been determined. But for Adam and Eve, and all who follow after them, these curses also include provisions for relief or victory if we seek to know God.

Look with me at 3:17-19. First, we will read through these verses, and then we will come back to look at them more closely. Beginning at verse 17, we read, “Then to Adam He said, ‘Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, “You shall not eat from it”; cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; and you will eat the plants of the field by the sweat of your face. You will eat bread, till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

As we look closely at verse 17, you will notice that God points out two sins of Adam. We often think of really only one sin, that of Adam actually eating of the forbidden fruit, but that was not his primary sin. The primary sin is that sin which God mentions first in verse 17. God said, “Because you listened to the voice of your wife...” Adam’s sin was not that he listened to his wife to gain wisdom, but his sin was his clearly and knowingly choosing to heed her wishes over what God commanded of him. Adam was not ignorant. His sin was not a matter of lack of wisdom or power judgment that all of us possess, both male and female. His sin was a matter of directly disregarding what he knew to be God’s clearly stated command.

Here is a challenge we all face as individuals. We are first called to follow Christ as individuals, not as a group. It is a personal relationship with you that the God of the universe desires. Hence, we are individually responsible for the choices we make. And the first thing we learn from Adam’s wrong choice is never favor another’s instructions over God’s. To favor or regard anyone else’s instructions over what you know to be God’s instructions is rebellion and sin, and with that sin comes serious consequences.

As a result of Adam’s sin, two major serious consequences befell the entire human race that would follow after him. The first tragic consequence is explained in the rest of verses 17-18.

God says, “Cursed is the ground because of you...” This curse is not just against Adam but would follow long after Adam died. The word for “ground” is literally “earth” and refers to everything physical made from it. These things would be brought under decay and bondage, and in turn would seriously affect our lives.

The most immediate effect of the curse would be felt against our work. Note: having to work was never part of the curse. It is not a curse to work, but rather a blessing to work. Previously, according to Genesis 2:5, 15, the earth cooperated readily with man as he tilled and dressed it. But as a result of Adam’s sin, now that work would become “toil.” The word for “toil” used here is the same word used back in v. 16 translated “pain”, that pain, not just physical but the heartbreaking, sorrowful pain that a mother experiences when giving birth and rearing children.

Like having children, rather than being solely pleasurable, work would now contain an element of harshness, futility and disappointment. I realize this futility and disappointment every time I leave my garden unattended for two weeks during the summer. In two weeks, I turn around and can’t find my vegetables through the weeds! When I go to remove those noxious weeds, I often am surprised to find that some of those little buggers have thorns on them, so I have to use gloves.

A few days ago, I was speaking to a Swedish friend who grew up on a farm during the depression years. He told me the story of watching grown men, tough rugged farmers standing in their fields weeping as they looked upon their burnt crops that had barely had the chance to grow before they were burnt by the sun, due to lack of water. Talk about disappointment, frustration and pain.

But this futility in our work does not just hang over earthen fields. It also hangs over portfolios that suddenly collapse or are turned over to children who foolishly mismanage them, or a stock market crash.

It is the feelings of loss and frustration that comes when a couple watches their home burn to the ground, that home which they built with their own two hands and hearts filled with love.

It’s the frustration of working for months to close a business deal, only to have it collapse at the last moment.

It’s the frustration and disappointment of ministry that is felt when, after years of building into the lives of students on a college campus, the college Pastor returns, after just five years to see how things are going, only to find that the Christian organization is beset by division or liberal teaching or it is non-existent. Although there is blessing in work, there is no work to be done that does not have the curse of frustration and disappointment attached to it. Welcome to life in Adam.

According to verse 18, “thorns, weeds or thistles” didn’t grow in the garden, until the curse. But when the curse came, with it immediately came a lowering of the fertility of the ground. Ever since the Fall, nature has been out of balance and will remain out of balance, because the human race is out of balance. God will not redeem the earth until we have been redeemed first. Then, once we are redeemed, there will be a new heaven and a new earth for those to dwell in, those who know Jesus as savior and Lord.

Today, there still will be some satisfaction, meaning and realized production in our work, according to verse 18, but none will be experienced without the flavor of “toil.” We are told that we will eat of the plants of the field. But note the irony, will you: Adam and Eve’s sin was to eat of the forbidden fruit. The consequence of that sin will forever affect all human’s eating habits. As verse 19 reminds us, “By the sweat of your face, you will eat bread...”

In verse 19 we come upon the second curse, that of the promise of physical death, which is also a picture of spiritual death; that separation from God that would happen to everyone, as a result of sin.

Notice the finality of this second curse: “For dust you are, and to dust you shall return!” Once again there is a great irony here. Adam and Eve, wanting to be like God, eat of the tree of knowledge. They don’t become like God, but become mere dust from which they were supernaturally created. Apart from Jesus living in us, there will be no divinity in us when we die, just dust! No matter how much care we try to take of our bodies, no matter how much effort we make at staying in shape and eating the right foods, we still will die, providing Jesus doesn’t come first. We will still turn to dust, and so will all of our efforts, short of those done in faith to serve God.

A brief argument began with a young man claiming, “My uncle just died, and he died a millionaire.” His older friend quickly responded, “No he didn’t!” The first man shot back, “What do you mean he didn’t? You didn’t even know my uncle!” The older man correctly stated, “I didn’t have to know your uncle to know that he didn’t die a millionaire, because no one dies a millionaire.” His young friend then asked, “What do you mean?” The wiser old man simply asked, “Tell me, who has your uncle’s millions now?”

You and I came into this world naked and ultimately made from dust. One day, we will leave this world, naked or without our physical bodies and we will take nothing with us. We are dust and to dust we all will return.

This curse against Adam and ultimately against us all says that we will endure a life of toil, pain, subjection and ultimately death. These are limits that no one can escape. I personally believe they have been placed on all of us to teach us two lessons: First, God wants us to recognize the seriousness of all sin. Sin will never go unnoticed by God. No sin will ever escape the discipline of God. All sin will have its own consequences.

Second, I believe God has left us with this curse so as to cancel out our ego centric dreams and force us to realize our helpless state left to our own devices. Through these curses we can’t help but see our limitations. No matter how hard we try, we will never beat death on our own. No matter how hard we try or how successful others may think we are, we will all experience futility in our work, along with a certain amount of disappointment and frustration. When we see these limitations we are forced to admit that we are very needy and dependent. Furthermore, there is Someone else, greater than us, and worthy of our worship. If we ever want to be rescued from these curses, and specifically, the curse of death, it will begin with our commitment to worship Him first. If we refuse to worship Him, then we will meet the ultimate death, permanent separation from God.

There is an obvious third lesson to be learned here. We are in desperate need of a rescuer. Because of Adam and Eve’s sin, our lives are now out of balance, and we need someone to rescue us from ourselves; Someone who can put us back into balance as we live here on earth. We need Someone else’s help to overcome death and to be reconciled to God. And the good news is, there is someone, Jesus Christ. He is our daily provision of relief and hope.

Allow me to show you several charts. The first chart shows us is the four elements of the curse against the human race. According to these verses we just studied, I see four elements in these two curses: First is sorrow. This sorrow, this mourning is the continual experience of disappointment and futility in our work.

The second element is PAIN/SUFFERING which is symbolized by the “THORNS” spoken of in verse 18, those things which intermittently hinder our efforts at providing a living for ourselves; those sudden financial surprises and set backs—car breakdowns, health issues, lay offs.

Third, we have the SWEAT/TEARS that are the results our intense STRUGGLE/ CRYING AGAINST A HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT.

Finally, there is the dust of death which is the ultimate triumph over all man’s efforts. Death is the final exclamation point of our defeat.

This next chart reveals how our Rescuer, Jesus Christ, was made a curse for us. According to Galatians 3:13, we read, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us...” Jesus took upon Himself these very same four elements of the curse against us. When it comes to the element of sorrow, we read about Christ in Isaiah 53:3, “He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief...”

When it comes to pain, we read in Isaiah 53:5, “He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed.” In Mark 15:17 we read “And they dressed Jesus up in purple, and after weaving a crown of thorns, they put it on Him...”

When it comes to sweat and tears, remember these words? “And being in agony he was praying very fervently; and His sweat become like drops of blood falling down upon the ground...” [Luke 22:44] Or these words, “In the days of His flesh, Jesus offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death...” [Hebrews 5:7] Jesus sweat blood/strong crying tears.

And finally, as prophesied in Psalm 22:15, Jesus declared, “Thou dost lay me in the dust of death.” Jesus truly was made and fulfilled the curse for us. Isn’t that amazing?!! For all those who put their complete confidence in Jesus as their personal savior and master, Jesus paid it all. Although we will still physically die, we will live forever with God, never to be separated from Him again, all because of Christ’s work on our behalf.

But that’s not all. Catch this third chart: BECAUSE OF CHRIST, notice what Revelation 21:4 and 22:3 teach us and promise to all who put their complete trust in Christ and submit to His control over their lives. In Revelation 21:4 we read, “And He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there shall no longer be any death; there shall no longer be any mourning, [sorrow] or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” Then in Revelation 22:3, it says, “And there shall no longer be ANY CURSE; and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His bond-servants shall serve Him; and they shall see His face and His name shall be on their foreheads.”

Now don’t miss the obvious from these charts. I give you these charts to demonstrate for you how the Bible reveals God’s plan that began with creation in Genesis 1, went on to the human fall into sin in Genesis 3, then to God’s plan of redemption first pointed to in the seed of the woman in Genesis 3:15, to Christ in the Gospels, and finally to the New Creation in Revelation 21-22. From one end of the Bible to the other God demonstrates that He so loved you that before you were born, God had already devised a plan to rescue your sinful life and give you eternal life with Him. Not just an eternal life that would begin when you die, but that would begin with Him, the moment you put your complete life in the hands of Jesus.

From beginning to end, God’s word tells us that God created us out of His desire to have an intimate relationship with us. He wanted you to live a balanced life with Him. But after the Fall, our lives became imbalanced through sin. And the only way balance can return to your life right here and now is when you by faith put your life in the hands of Jesus and submit to His complete leadership. Only as we live in dependence upon Him will we find meaningful life here and now, and in eternity with Christ.

Trusting Christ will not remove the curse of pain and sorrow as we live now. But God will use those things to draw us closer to Him and teach us to walk with Him.

How’s your life? Is it balanced or does it feel totally out of control? If out of control, is God calling you to submit your life or an area of your life to Him? Does He want you to lean on Him, trust Him or get to know Him better? If so, why not surrender the controls of your life to Him right now?

Father, thank you for teaching us from your word that there is not only a curse, but a Rescuer from that curse. Lord Jesus, teach us to view the sorrowful painful struggles of life as you view them...as instruments of your grace...as gifts of love that woo us to depend on you, to walk closely with you. When I get that stinging sweat in my eyes, draw me close to You. Help me to keep this life in perspective. Remind me of the hope I have to come, of your promise that when this world is over there will be no more sweat in my eyes, no more tears, no more sorrow and pain. Thank you for your promises that bring such great hope to our hearts in this fallen world. Amen.

back to top