What Eve Teaches Us About Discipling the Online Generation

“To eat the fruit or not eat the fruit…” Believe it or not, that wasn’t the dilemma Eve faced in the Garden.

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ”

4 “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” Genesis 3.1-6

Satan didn’t tempt Eve with fruit. He tempted her with the knowledge of God. Satan’s coup was getting Adam and Eve to exchange a relationship with God – the result of obedience – for knowledge. Because Adam and Eve chose knowledge over obedience, the world changed.

Knowledge of God does not save. If knowledge were the key, we should all strive to be Pharisees. No one knew more about God then they did. Yet Jesus condemned them. You and I know that a relationship with Christ is our salvation. According to John 14.15-21, obedience is the key to that relationship:

15“If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 17the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be^[c] in you. 18I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.”

Unfortunately we’ve adopted discipling processes that focus on increasing knowledge of God rather than increasing obedience. It should be clear by now that knowledge does not naturally lead to obedience! We must make sure that the focus of discipleship is a growing relationship with God that comes from obeying all the command of Christ.

The internet is a natural knowledge-transfer tool. One of the challenges we face as we reach the Online Generation is avoiding that natural tendency. People can download sermons and memorize Scripture all day long, but that will not save them. They can watch presentations and go to Bible studies, but that will not save them. They can click radio buttons and select options from drop down menus all day but that will not save them. Only a relationship with Christ can save.

As a follower of Christ, I don’t want to play the role of the Snake in the Garden and mislead people into thinking that knowledge replaces a relationship with the Living God.

This week we are going to talk about discipling the Online Generation in ways that develop obedient followers of Christ. Feel free to join in the conversation.