Delay Your Gratification
What sin did Adam really commit?
In fact, this article is about waiting. And our inability to wait. In case you can’t wait to get to the end of the article (and you probably can’t), I’ll tell you up front. One key element of Adam’s sin was his inability to wait. He was grasping at something for which he was not yet ready.
Wait, didn’t Eve take and eat the fruit? Yes, but Adam watched her do it. He was right there. And if he had not eaten, like Eve, things might have been different. How? It’s hard to say. But it’s good to ask questions, since I believe the brevity and poetry of the account invites us to do so.
Purposeful and Passive
So here’s another question: was Adam passive on purpose? Did he know that Eve was being tricked? Adam is without excuse. He was given the clear command by God himself, should have known better and chased away the serpent. But he didn’t. Why not?
He wanted to eat the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. A couple of weeks ago, we established this Tree was a good tree of wisdom, not a pandora’s box of sin. But he was not ready to eat of this tree, just as a toddler is not yet ready to wield a sharp knife. The toddler will need that sharp knife in time, just as Adam needed wisdom so that he could rule like a King, discerning good and evil. However, he hadn’t got there yet. Let’s not run before we walk. We can’t rule before we can learn to be ruled.
But, just like 21st century man, Adam didn’t want to wait.
Moses, Shmoses
Once you see this kind of sin, it’s visible throughout scripture. God’s people do not like waiting. Moses is up on Sinai talking to God, who has led them out of Egypt with apocalyptic signs and wonders.
When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.” (Exodus 31:1)
Wow. That’s what they said. We’re tired of waiting for that ‘fellow’ Moses. Let’s make something shiny.
In 1 Samuel, Israel cried out that they wanted a king. We can tell from how scripture unfolds that a king was on the way. But the Israelites were reaching for something for which they were not ready. And so they were given a king who was pleasing to the eye, like the fruit:
“Kish had a son named Saul, as handsome a young man as could be found anywhere in Israel, and he was a head taller than anyone else.” (1 Samuel 9:2)
How did King Saul work out? He ignored his prophet Samuel, tried to kill Israel’s saviour David several times over, and ended up using a witch to garner advice from Samuel posthumously. Saul, the premature, immature king was a disaster.
We don’t like to wait. Jesus tells inordinate number of parables about waiting. Kings go off on journeys and place stewards or tenants in charge of vineyards or money and the waiting doesn’t go well.
Delay Your Gratification
In modern parlance, one might say we have a problem with ‘delayed gratification’. The evidence demonstrates that, all things being equal (which is clearly not always the case) life will go better for you if you’re able to delay gratification. Wait until marriage before sleeping together and having children. Wait until you have saved money before you start spending money. Make do with the old phone before assuming you need another even more expensive monthly contract so you can have the next.
So why did God put that tree in the Garden of Eden? To teach Adam to trust, to obey and to… wait, which is one thing we don’t like to do. And one thing we must learn to do.
Looking Forwards
Lent, if you go in for that sort of thing, teaches us a bit of discipline on this score. I love bread. And I love cake. And I like chocolate. I went without those things in Lent, partly to learn some discipline. Lent does not apply on the Lord’s Day, and by Friday, I was looking forward to Sunday, which, in turn, helped me to wait. And it’s interesting that when I get to Sunday, I frequently don’t need as much cake, bread or chocolate as I thought I did.
Perhaps Adam would have gotten used to the sight of that tree over time. But we’ll never know, because he allowed his wife to reach out and take from it almost straight away. And the rest is salvation history.
Water into Wine
Come see me do my Water into Wine show - evangelistic stand-up theology. Seriously. Here are the next eight confirmed shows. If you’d like to add a ninth or tenth, do please get in touch!
30th April 7.30pm Belmont Chapel, Exeter BOOK HERE
12th May 7.30pm King’s Church, Chessington
13th May 7.30pm Christ Church, Balham BOOK HERE
20th May All Saints Church, Eastbourne
21st May 7.30pm St Mary Bredin Church, Canterbury BOOK HERE
25th May 7.30pm St George’s Church, Beckington, Nr Frome
24th June 7.30pm Christ Church, Stone
25th June 7.30pm St Peter and St Paul, Shepton Mallet
Here’s a taster: