Sermon Cloud

December 14, 2008

Genesis 3 “Christmas in the Garden”

In the words of the great Ricky Bobby, “Look, I like the Christmas Jesus best, and I'm sayin' grace. When you say grace, you can say it to grownup Jesus or teenage Jesus or bearded Jesus or whoever you want.”  I flat out love Talladega Nights.  But part of humor is that it hits some truth.  This is the time of the year that we like to talk about the 8 lb 6 oz version much more so than the simultaneously loving and fierce version we’ve seen in John this year.  One easy way to explain it is that the baby Jesus and the full grown reigning Jesus came to do the same thing:  Heal a broken and isolated humanity. 

This morning we are going answer 2 questions:

1.  Why are we isolated from God and each other?

2.  How will God respond to this isolation?  This answer from the earliest of human history in the garden is a sort of Christmas Eve.  It’s the promise of restoration. 

Why the isolation?

            Genesis 3 tells us why things are so fouled up.  Let’s look at the story.  Adam and Eve were “naked and unashamed” and walked with God and each other in harmony.  A serpent comes on the scene and begins a dialogue with Eve about the one tree they were commanded to not eat in 2:16 because of the sure death that would result.  This serpent is none other than God’s enemy, Satan.  He took the form of a snake and asks her “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?”  Eve corrects him by saying “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.” This could be the first occurrence of legalism in the Bible where we tend to add to God’s commands in hopes that it will keep us from violating the principal command.  Satan responds with a flat out lie and tells Eve that actually God is holding out on her that not only would she not die, but that she would then be like God.  Eve eats from the tree and all of the sudden 7Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

            Did you see it?  They were duped into believing Satan’s lie…that there would be more life in this thing God forbids than in God Himself…and now they were naked and ashamed.  Watch the isolation take off from here in verses 8-13.  Do you see it?  They are hiding from God and blaming each other because of their treason against the High King of the garden!  This is the main “why” of why things are so messed up today for all of humanity.  I chose that word “treason” on purpose.  I think it best explains what was done there where Adam and Eve chose to overthrow God’s rule and do their own thing.  Let me show you two ways Adam’s sin relates to us today so you can understand why it wasn’t just he and Eve that were isolated, but all of us.

1.  Adam’s treason counts for you.  12Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned--  This is talking about what we just saw.  Adam’s treason brought sin in the world, and just like God said, the result of sin is death.  This next part may shock you.  The result of Adam’s sin, death, was passed to all humanity.  In other words, even though you didn’t commit the sin, its effects count as if you did? Sound unfair?  It won’t in a second. 

2. We repeat Adam’s treason.  You only have to look at the next several chapters of Genesis to show that Adam wasn’t alone in His treason against God.  Cain kills his brother.  God chooses to wipe out the world with a flood because of its nearly universal rebellion against Him.  People try to build a structure to the heavens that would unify them in their rebellion against God when they try to build the tower of Babel. And so it continues today.  God tells us how to live and what to believe and value.  The ancient enemy whispers that God is holding out on us and that there are better things in a different path.  We chase those things down only to be left naked and ashamed.  Isolation is ours just like Adam because of our common treason.  Sin will isolate. You may not like this idea, but you won’t understand grace without it! 

            Christmas time is approaching, but this reality is just as sure this time of year as any other.  I’ve notice in myself and in others that almost every serious sin is combined with some form of isolation from other believers.  The Puritans believed that absence from regular worship with the church likely was a cover for a multitude of other issues. Makes sense, right?  If there is something broken and we are ashamed, we are going to keep people at a distance so they don’t know.  And if that’s the angle we take, then we will do our best to medicate the symptoms of our sin instead of attacking its root.  Its like someone that has cancer and the tumor causes fever.  Instead of consulting people that could help and looking at surgery or chemo or whatever, we take Tylenol for the fever.  You will medicate yourself with something when you feel alone (from God and people).  Sex, hobbies, spending/saving money, achievement are a very short list of examples.

Let me make this more personal.  The last few weeks have taken its toll on me.  I’ve been disconnected from my small group and from my wife because of our pregnancy issues.  I find myself with a lack of desire to spend time in with Jesus on my own.  I am constantly tired.  I find myself easily irritated.  How do I deal with my isolation?  Well, my extra 5 pounds I’ve gained in the last 3 weeks.  I’ve used food to medicate my frustration.  And this is what we do until we embrace God’s response.

God’s Response (Christmas Eve)

1. Judgment:  God spells out some of the results of these treasonous acts. I’ll mention them:  Women will have multiplied pain in childbearing (16), there will be fracture in the relationship between the man and woman that will involve a struggle for control (16), and the men who work the ground of the earth will find that the work is now very hard (17).  It will be hard to make a living and put food on the table.  Summing up this punishment God says to Adam 19By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return."  In short, life is gonna be hard and death is on its way.  One final punishment.  Feel the sting of it.   22Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever--" 23therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.  God sends them out of the garden away from the tree of life.  They are exiled from God’s presence and isolated from him.  This response is horrible and gracious at the same time.

2.  Grace: It’s horrible because they are forced away from God and with their newfound broken relationship with each other in tow.  It is gracious because God didn’t kill them immediately and He actually clothes their nakedness (21).  And there’s more.  I skipped over a very important part that signal the purpose for the rest of the entire Bible.  The most important one is the predicted friction between the offspring of Satan and the woman. 15I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel."  This is the promise of Christmas. It’s the first announcement of good news after the fall that points to a future restoration.  You may wonder what in the world the Bible is about.  The bottom line is right here!  The Bible is the record of God restoring humanity slowly to Himself!  Notice this promise of restoration from the isolation.  The Old Testament slowly tracks this progress of restoration that explodes on the scene with the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. 

            I want to come full circle in Romans 5, too.  Earlier we talked about how Adam’s sin counts for us and we carry its curse even though we didn’t do it.  Seems unfair until you read the rest of the chapter. 19For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.  In other words, just like you were counted a sinner by Adam’s work, you are counted righteous by Christ’s work.  Do you see how the curse of what was lost there in the garden was overturned by Christ?  This is not a universal promise, however.  It is given only to those who trust in Christ as their only means to be restored to God.  God has provided the means to end our isolation with God and each other.  Sin isolates, but God’s grace restores!  God is in the process of forming a new community!  I didn’t say it would be easy or that our efforts at connection with God and His people will click the first (or second!) time we try.  It will be muddy, but God is restoring this morning.  You will only really understand grace if you taste your rebellion and feel its sting. 

            Let me close by fast forwarding to the end of the Bible because it so rich with images we have heard today.  1Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. 4They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

            Isolation over!  The nations healed!  There we will finally recover all that was lost in Eden and get some new things, too.  We will be in perfect commune with God and each other…but instead of one little plot of dirt called Eden with one man and one woman, this time it will be a multi-ethnic gathering covering the new heavens and earth.  This morning I am asking you to at the same time consider the horror of sin and the goodness of God’s grace and rest in what He has done.  While we are resting, we are on mission and bringing this redemption to people around us and unreached peoples around the world.  We are living in the “Christmas era” that was promised in Genesis 3.  And baby Jesus was one piece of it, but not the end result.  He grew and lived and died and removed all believers’ guilt and isolation before God.