The Gift of No Condemnation | Jim Hammond
Recap
Pastor Jim taught on “The Gift of No Condemnation.” The Bible often compares people to trees saying that, like trees, people need to be pruned or trimmed. But Pastor Jim pointed out that when a tree’s leaves become withered, you don’t treat the tree… you treat the roots of the tree. And so it is with people: we too must deal with the root of the problem. The Mayo Clinic says that 80% of all diseases come from stress. Taking us all the way back to the Garden of Eden, Pastor Jim explored the biblical origins (or the root) of stress by looking at Adam and Eve.
Dive Deeper
When people become stressed, it’s because they fear something. If they are under stress for a long time, it will have a negative effect on their bodies.
Adam and Eve were given life, or were “planted,” in the Garden of Eden. They were supplied with everything they needed. Through deceit, Satan managed to convince Adam and Eve to embrace a mistaken identity of themselves… that if they ate that fruit, they could be something else. They could be like God.
Satan still uses this pattern of deceit, telling us we have to perform to become something else. Many Christians have the notion they have to labor to gain approval.
Satan used this tactic with Jesus when He was led into the wilderness to be tempted. Satan tried to get Jesus to perform: “turn this stone into bread… throw yourself off this temple…” Jesus resisted every temptation with scripture.
But Phil. 1:6 says, “Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” God is the one who starts the work in you. It is His performance through the relationship you have with Him. The book of Ephesians reveals that God sees us seated together with Him in heavenly places. He doesn’t see us as sinners.
After Adam and Eve sinned, they heard the Lord walking in the Garden and became fearful. They hid themselves. Why was Adam fearful? Because of what they had done. The fear came from shame and condemnation. It was clear Adam felt condemned because he was hiding.
Thoughts of condemnation do not come from God. The devil is called the accuser of the brethren.
Adam and Eve felt condemned because they partook of the knowledge of the tree of good and evil.
Pastor Jim went on to examine how condemnation will have a devastating affect on a person’s life.
Read About It
Phil. 1:6, “Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
Eph. 2:4–5, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us. Even when we were dead (slain) by [our own] shortcomings and trespasses, He made us alive together in fellowship and in union with Christ; [He gave us the very life of Christ Himself, the same new life with which He quickened Him, for] it is by grace (His favor and mercy which you did not deserve) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ’s salvation).”
Ephesians 2:6, “And He raised us up together with Him and made us sit down together [giving us joint seating with Him] in the heavenly sphere [by virtue of our being] in Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One).”
Discussion Questions
Has this message revealed to you whether you have a problem with condemnation?
Can you point to a time in your life when you felt condemned?
How did you deal with it? Did you deal with it in the flesh? Or did you deal with it like Jesus did?