The Assumption of Conflict

Part 3. The Keeper

December 12, 2009

Ron Schwartz

http://www.ronschwartz.net/Thoughts.htm

Heart Law

Genesis 2:7-9, 15

7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

The Hebrew word for “dress” is abad (aw-bad'). It means "to (continue to) work at." By implication, it means to serve, to enslave, to keep in bondage, and thus, to govern. The idea was that Adam was given oversight of the garden as both its master and servant. This word conveys the idea of grooming as opposed to protecting.

The Hebrew word for “keep” is “shamar (shaw-mar’). It means “to hedge about (as with thorns).” By implication, it means to guard, to protect, to save, and to watch over, much in the same way that a caretaker would build a thorny hedge around a field to keep out both animals and his enemies.

The tenure of these two words indicate that man was placed in the garden for both its care and protection. In short, the garden was already excellent. Adam didn’t need to improve it, but simply to watch over and keep it from harm. He was to maintain the excellence that it possessed before he arrived. It was his responsibility to protect the garden, and not the responsibility of angels or even God.

When God placed man in the garden, God never specified exactly how He intended Adam to “keep it.” He didn’t need to. Instead of giving Adam instructions defining how to respond to every possible scenario he would face, God placed within him the nature of a protector and caretaker. God didn’t need to tell Adam what to do because He placed within him a predisposition to guard and maintain. All Adam needed to do was to heed the inclination of his heart.

Mankind possesses an inherent propensity to protect and develop that which he owns. He is, by nature, both territorial and developmental: a warrior and an innovator. The old adage, “a man’s home is his castle,” describes this innate need. Whether it is children, wife, job, or property, mankind feels an intrinsic proclivity to protect and nurture that which he possesses.

It’s an interesting parallel to that which we find afforded to Christians. Each of us, though ever so humble, has been given a garden for which we are to “keep.” It includes our families, spouse, children, friends, job, and the body of Christ. In the New Testament, God doesn’t provide us with detailed commands of exactly how we are to “keep” our gardens. Instead, He has placed within us His heavenly nature through the Holy Spirit. All we really need is to follow our hearts.

But above his “heart law,” Adam had a “spoken law,” which came from the one for whom he had the greatest respect. This “spoken law” was above all other laws and contained but a single command.

Genesis 2:16-17

…Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

These two laws were not in conflict. Adam’s “heart law” of nurturing and protecting was designed to help him accomplish God’s “spoken law.” Combined together, these two laws were all Adam required to succeed in that for which he was created: to protect the very thing that he could never have. God entrusted to Adam a tree (the knowledge of good and evil) that belonged to God alone.

Have you ever asked yourself why it was so important that Adam never partake of this tree? In the beginning, everything God created was “good.” The earth, light, cattle, and plants were all good. Even Adam was good. Evil was not a part of the seven day creation account. For evil to enter into the world, the “knowledge” of it would have been necessary. That is why the fruit of the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” was fruit that Adam was never to taste.

Satan’s plan to introduce evil into the world was simple: play Adam’s “heart law” against God’s “spoken law.” Get the two into conflict. Get Adam to choose his heart law over God’s spoken law. Satan knew of Adam’s intrinsic nature to cultivate and improve, and thus intended to use his predisposition for improvement to introduce evil. He understood Adam’s great respect for God and knew that, if spun correctly, Adam’s desire for improvement could cause him to rationalize sin.

Genesis 3:1-5

The serpent was clever, more clever than any wild animal God had made. He spoke to the Woman: "Do I understand that God told you not to eat from any tree in the garden?"

The Woman said to the serpent, "Not at all. We can eat from the trees in the garden. It's only about the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, 'Don't eat from it; don't even touch it or you'll die.'"

The serpent told the Woman, "You won't die. God knows that the moment you eat from that tree, you'll see what's really going on. You'll be just like God, knowing everything, ranging all the way from good to evil."

In the original creation, there was a harmony that existed between the spoken and heart law. Conflict didn’t exist. The architecture God defined as His law has two components: the law of His word and the law of our heart. The essence of God’s spoken word is never in conflict with our hearts. When it appears to be, something is wrong.

Satan twisted God’s spoken words to support his personal goals. “You’ve misunderstood God’s words,” he said. “You don’t understand what He really meant. He didn’t mean that you’d literally die, but that you’d die to your innocence and become a mature god like He is. He simply said that so as not to put pressure on you. He was only thinking of your happiness. However, if you really want to make him happy, you’ll eat the fruit and become just like Him.” The promise was that by disobeying his heart law, Adam would become spiritually mature. How ironic.

This is exactly how God’s words are spun today. The logical conclusion from the rationale of many contemporary Christian leaders notions that sin and compromise promotes spiritual maturity. For instance, they promote going to church over being the church; that being radical and passionate for God is a sign of spirit immaturity; that God is best represented by the classy, refined, fashionable, and genteel leaders who pompously garnish church stages with an aura of sophistication and magniloquence. Zeal has been replaced by elegance, finesse, and refinement. How many times have you heard a Christian teacher encourage Christians to repudiate the heart law that tells them that love is suppose to be with passion and zeal?

Christians listen to clever teachers spin the words of God and know in their hearts that something is wrong; but at the same time, the teacher seems to make sense. So they choose to ignore their heart law and accept the words of a man who professes to articulate God’s words. This is the reason God gave us a heart law: to keep us from being deceived by clever teachers who know how to spin God’s words to achieve their private agenda. God’s spoken words are meant to provide us with a framework and pattern for how God operates and thinks. It is not meant to address every situation and answer every question, nor can it. Our heart law provides direction that is specific for each situation we face. For Christians, the heart law goes beyond mere conscience. It is the leading of the Holy Spirit operating within the context of God’s spoken words.

Adam had the authority to guard the garden. It wasn’t given to angels. If he was nurturing (i.e. “dress”) and guarding (i.e. “keep”) the garden as he was supposed to, what was Satan doing there? Many men derive much pleasure quoting when he said it was the woman who was deceived, and therefore suggest that the fall of mankind was somehow all Eve’s fault. But ask yourself: would Eve ever have been tempted if Adam was doing his job? Had Adam been following his nature as a protector, Eve would have never faced temptation.

Satan has destroyed the garden homes of many Christian families because, quite often, the Adams of the home have not hedged their families about and forced Satan from their homes. Quite often, the Adams and Eves of a Christian home see the warning signs and feel the leading of the Spirit (the heart law), but fail to act because Satan has cleverly twisted God’s spoken word to allow sin and compromise to run amuck in their homes. Spouses committing adultery and children tarnished and corrupted by the world are now the standard that defines Christian homes. Christian men need to take a stand against the influence of Satan and cast him out of their home. Sometimes, this may mean separating children from the influence of a depraved spouse or the ascendance of their friends and schools. They must stop standing by silently, watching as Satan whispers lies into the ears of their family, and cast him from their garden.

Now, to be fair, life is very complex. Many Christian men are simply confused as to how they should respond to the copious number of convoluted and tortuous situations that confront them. They struggle for answers. They read books and articles, attend seminars, search out pastors who have the illusion of wisdom, and diligently enquire answers of their friends. They search through the quagmire of endless self-help teaching about how a Christian man should function, but nevertheless the failure of their homes spiral out of control at an unparalleled rate. Contemporary Christian families are falling apart at alarming swiftness as divorce and parent/child relationships disintegrate in epidemic proportions. Few (if any) know what they should do. Satan is running unchecked in the gardens of Christian men.

Why is this problem so prevalent today? Let’s go back to a previous point. The creation account never qualified what God meant when He gave Adam a garden “to keep.” Did God intend for Adam to garnish the garden by planting, trimming and pruning the vegetation, or did He intend for Adam to “hedge it about” from an enemy? Was He “to keep” the vegetation in the garden or the family who lived there? Could it be that Adam was so busy minding the physical affairs of the garden (i.e. pruning and trimming of the vegetation) that Adam failed to perceive spiritual dangers his family faced? Could it be that Adam failed to comprehend that the garden consisted of more than just flowers, vines, and trees – it also contained his family?

Jesus warned His disciples of a time when mankind would be consumed by materialism:

Luke 21:34-35, "But be on your guard. Don't let the sharp edge of your expectation get dulled by parties and drinking and shopping. Otherwise, that Day is going to take you by complete surprise, spring on you suddenly like a trap, for it's going to come on everyone, everywhere, at once.”

Matthew 24:37-39, "The Arrival of the Son of Man will take place in times like Noah's. Before the great flood everyone was carrying on as usual, having a good time right up to the day Noah boarded the ark.”

Today, most Christian men have turned the spiritual care of their family over to their pastor and church and are focused on the materialistic needs of their families. They work long hours to pay bills, buy nice homes for their wives, and provide education for their children. Like Adam, they abdicate the spiritual responsibility of their family to their Christian leaders. When God placed Adam into the garden “to dress it and to keep it,” it was for more than just simply trimming and pruning vegetation. This was important, of course--the garden provided Adam’s family a good living environment—but it did nothing to protect and provide for their spiritual needs. Christian men must work as diligently to provide for the spiritual needs of their families as they do the material needs. When Eve was tempted, did Adam stand silently by because he trusted Satan? Or was Adam not even present because he was too busy pruning trees and watering flowers? Could it be that Eve slipped into temptation because Adam wasn’t present to protect her when she was tempted?

More often than not, the problem lies not in caring, but rather knowing what to do. Christian men have desensitized themselves from their conscience, trusting instead the direction of men. Christian men must learn how to listen and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. They must learn how to recognize the work of Satan in their garden and cast him out.

Consider what happened to Adam: he allowed a clever teacher to spin the words of God to his family and eventually died along with his family. Men need to stop wavering between all the conflicting opinions of their teachers and follow the law of their hearts. Stop waiting for God to act. He didn’t step in when Eve was tempted and He won’t for you. This is your garden. It doesn’t belong to the angels, it belongs to you. Take responsibility for your families. Don’t abdicate that responsibility to another person no matter how wise he seems. In the end, everyone has their own agenda, just like Satan did. No one will love and care for your family as selflessly as you. You are the keeper for your family. Obey the spoken words of God and the heart law of the Holy Spirit.

My Brother’s Keeper

Genesis 4:8-9

Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." ^[d] And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?"
"I don't know," he replied. "Am I my brother's keeper?"

The word “keeper” is the Hebrew word “raah,” which means “to tend a flock,” “shepherd,” or “pastor.”

God’s question wasn’t complex or threatening. He simply asked Cain where his brother Abel was. Cain’s reply expressed anger and sarcasm. “Why ask me? Am I to shepherd him along with my sheep? Isn’t he old enough to take care of himself?”

Cain was a shepherd. He understood the responsibility he had to his animals. He failed, though, to recognize any responsibility he had to his own brother. He seemed annoyed at God’s question. He behaved as if it was an imposition to be responsible for being aware of the location of his brother.

The responsibilities of a shepherd are broad and ambiguous. They’re more conceptual rather than fundamental or regulatory. There are no rules engraved in stone which defining a shepherds specific duties other than a practical understanding that a shepherd is expected to do “whatever it takes” to provide for the health and welfare of his flock. Perhaps that’s what made Cain so uncomfortable with God’s question: he didn’t want to be a shepherd to his brother. After all, he was already busy shepherding. He was taking responsibility for God’s creation. He was doing the will of God. What more could be expected of him?

Luke 10:30-37

Jesus answered by telling a story. "There was once a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. On the way he was attacked by robbers. They took his clothes, beat him up, and went off leaving him half-dead. Luckily, a priest was on his way down the same road, but when he saw him he angled across to the other side. Then a Levite religious man showed up; he also avoided the injured man.

"A Samaritan traveling the road came on him. When he saw the man's condition, his heart went out to him. He gave him first aid, disinfecting and bandaging his wounds. Then he lifted him onto his donkey, led him to an inn, and made him comfortable. In the morning he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, 'Take good care of him. If it costs any more, put it on my bill—I'll pay you on my way back.'

"What do you think? Which of the three became a neighbor to the man attacked by robbers?"

"The one who treated him kindly," the religion scholar responded.

Jesus said, "Go and do the same."

We find in this story the answer to Cain’s question, “am I my brother’s keeper?” The priest and the Levite had prepared themselves for the “work of the Lord” and dared not risk soiling their robes to help this wounded man. Their work in the temple was too important to throw away for a single man. That man should never have been traveling by himself. He brought these troubles on himself. It wasn’t their responsibility to get him out of the trouble he was in. They simply kept their distance and prayed that God would have His way in that man’s life.

I’m sure that everyone can point to a time in their life when they desperately needed help from a friend. It seems that when we need help the most is when friends are the most unwilling to help. Usually, they find some excuse that has to do with not wanting to soil their spotless robe, so you’re left “half-dead” and to fend for yourself. Friends are never there when they are needed the most.

What seems to happen is that God gives each of your friends “time” to soil their robes in helping you. It’s almost as if your circumstance is a test of their love and true Christian character. Nevertheless, it seems that every time, your friends choose the high road which allows them to proceed along on their journey and escape being pulled into your problems. They simply look up to God and say, “I’ve got my own sheep to care for. He brought these problems on himself.”

When God approached Cain and asked him about his brother, it wasn’t for the sake of Able. God knew where Able was. What God wanted was for Cain to acknowledge his brother and take responsibility for him. This is what many people who fall among thieves fail to understand. Often, their plight isn’t to prove them as much as it is to prove their friends. When I think about how Cain could be doing “business as usual” while his brother’s body lay lifeless on the ground, I have to wonder how God views His people when they proceed along with business as usual while their friends lay “half-dead.”

What most Christian fail to understand is that they are irrevocably connected to the rest of the body of Christ. That means that they cannot pick and choose subjectively with whom they will fellowship and help.

Romans 12:4-6, 9

In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we're talking about is Christ's body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn't amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ's body, let's just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren't… Love from the center of who you are; don't fake it.

1Corinthians 12:12-30

You can easily enough see how this kind of thing works by looking no further than your own body. Your body has many parts—limbs, organs, cells—but no matter how many parts you can name, you're still one body. It's exactly the same with Christ. By means of his one Spirit, we all said good-bye to our partial and piecemeal lives. We each used to independently call our own shots, but then we entered into a large and integrated life in which he has the final say in everything. (This is what we proclaimed in word and action when we were baptized.) Each of us is now a part of his resurrection body, refreshed and sustained at one fountain—his Spirit—where we all come to drink. The old labels we once used to identify ourselves—labels like Jew or Greek, slave or free—are no longer useful. We need something larger, more comprehensive.

I want you to think about how all this makes you more significant, not less. A body isn't just a single part blown up into something huge. It's all the different-but-similar parts arranged and functioning together. If Foot said, "I'm not elegant like Hand, embellished with rings; I guess I don't belong to this body," would that make it so? If Ear said, "I'm not beautiful like Eye, limpid and expressive; I don't deserve a place on the head," would you want to remove it from the body? If the body was all eye, how could it hear? If all ear, how could it smell? As it is, we see that God has carefully placed each part of the body right where he wanted it.

But I also want you to think about how this keeps your significance from getting blown up into self-importance. For no matter how significant you are, it is only because of what you are a part of. An enormous eye or a gigantic hand wouldn't be a body, but a monster. What we have is one body with many parts, each its proper size and in its proper place. No part is important on its own. Can you imagine Eye telling Hand, "Get lost; I don't need you"? Or, Head telling Foot, "You're fired; your job has been phased out"? As a matter of fact, in practice it works the other way—the "lower" the part, the more basic, and therefore necessary. You can live without an eye, for instance, but not without a stomach. When it's a part of your own body you are concerned with, it makes no difference whether the part is visible or clothed, higher or lower. You give it dignity and honor just as it is, without comparisons. If anything, you have more concern for the lower parts than the higher. If you had to choose, wouldn't you prefer good digestion to full-bodied hair?

The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don't, the parts we see and the parts we don't. If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance.

You are Christ's body—that's who you are! You must never forget this. Only as you accept your part of that body does your "part" mean anything.

Think about Job. Job’s friends failed to recognize that once they became engaged with Job, that they were irrevocably a part of his circumstance and consequently as much a part of the test as was Job. To Job’s friends, it was Job who was going through the trial, not them, so they were free to condemn, criticize, and even wash their hands of his predicament. But God didn’t share their detached approach of “body service.” In the end, his friends came under God’s judgment.

The same thing was true with the man who fell among thieves. The priest and the Levite passed by, too busy to help since they were off to do God’s business. But a worthless Samaritan, who held himself in contempt and did not see himself as special in the eyes of God, stopped to help. It is the humble, not the self-righteous, that stop to help those who are left “half-dead” from the tribulations of this life. The self-righteous always have more important things to do.

Conclusion

Our heart law is the primary means which God established to provide us direction in our day to day decisions (i.e. "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.” Jeremiah 31:33). God’s spoken law/word is given to provide us a frame work that describes how God thinks and operates. It provides us with patterns for how the Spirit moves and functions. It is not meant to replace our heart law but to provide boundaries and encourage faith. We must pay careful attention to our heart law when listening to Christian leaders. Often what they say seems to make sense even though our heart tells us it’s wrong. When Christian leaders speak from God their words will resonate with our heart law and God’s spoke word creating revelation. The scripture tells us that “the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be (received) intreated… (James 3:17).” True godly teaching is “peaceable (not causing conflict with our heart law)” and “easy to be intreated (or received).” When it is not from God it creates conflict and confusion in our hearts.

We are to “keep” the gardens in which God has place us and to “be a keeper” of our friends. In both cases we must take responsibility for our friends and family, recognizing that we probably are the only person that can.

Remember, Adam failed not because he listened to Satan, but because he allowed Satan access into his garden. We must stop Satan from entering our gardens instead of trying to prevent our families from giving into his temptation.

It would be nice to live a life free of conflict – to push the responsibility for the spiritual condition of our friends and family on to God, the angels, or the federal government. It would be nice to abdicate our responsibility to pastors or other religious leaders and know that the people we love are cared for, but this is not the case.

It is important to realize that we - as the body of Christ - are irrevocably connected to each other through the Holy Spirit. Unlike our career and dining pleasures, we do not choose our affiliations in body of Christ – the Holy Spirit does. We must comprehend that the saints whose life touch are put there for a reason, and this reason isn’t always clear to us. We are not allowed the freedom to decide whom we will help or pass by. We cannot stand afar off from the parts of the body of which we are connected and criticize and condemn their misfortune and calamity. We must not pull up anchor and sail away from those who have fallen among thieves. Our place in the body of Christ is settled, obligatory, permanent, and unalterable. Deal with it!

You are destined to be on your guard continually, to hedge about your garden keeping it from the tempter. You must take responsibility for your brother because you are your brother’s keeper. You must strengthen the Jobs who face storms of adversity. You must come to the aid of those who fell among thieves. Your support, strength, wisdom, and determination are both necessary and compulsory for their restoration. Consequently, your life will never be free from conflict. There will always be Christian brothers and sisters who suffer adversity. Just like Job’s friends, the Levite, and the priest, as soon as you become aware of their misfortune you are irrevocable connected to their trail, and are therefore a part of the test. How you respond will determine not only their future but yours also.

1Peter 5:8

Be well balanced (temperate, sober of mind), be vigilant and cautious at all times; for that enemy of yours, the devil, roams around like a lion roaring [in fierce hunger], seeking someone to seize upon and devour.

In answer to the countless emails which we’ve received, yes we continue rest in the pit of adversity, and we earnestly covet your prayers. Take care my friends! Thank you for your many prayers and words of comfort. May our Lord and Savior remember you for your acts of kindness. We will not forget you!