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Sunday, February 13, 2005
Rev.
Dr. Harold E Kidd
WHERE ARE YOU?
' Then the man and his wife
heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of
the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden, But the
Lord God called to the man, "Where are you?" ' Genesis 3:9-10 (NIV)
If you are familiar with the
Genesis account of creation, it is a wonderful narrative. Of how in the
beginning God stepped out in a vacuum of chaos and by the authority of His
creative word spoke the cosmos into existence saying, "Let there be."
He spoke, "Let there be", and the Sun became our guiding light. He
spoke again, "Let there be",
and the moon, stars, and
galaxies were tossed against the black velvet of night like so many brilliant
diamonds and precious gems giving illumination to the night.
But God was not through with
creation yet. For He spoke again, saying "Let there be", and He laid
a green carpet upon the earth and tacked it down with lilies of the field,
shrubs, precious roses, great cedars and majestic trees. He filled the seas
with all kinds of fish both small and great, and he populated with earth with
all manner of creature, the lion, the tiger, the gazelle, the cattle, the sheep
and the deer. He said to himself, I need an angelic chorus, so he filled with
skies with all manner of bird, to sing praise to his glory. And as the world
turns, God rejoiced in His creation, for it was good. Amen. It was good!
But God said, we need to
create someone who is like us, "Let us make humanity in our own image,
male and female created He them, to have dominion over the earth.” That's the
narrative in Genesis 1.
In Genesis 2, Moses, the
writer of the book of beginnings, describes our creation in further detail,
saying God took him some dust and made himself a man, and breathed into this
dust the breath of his own Spirit, and man became a living soul. And out of
this man God took a rib, and he made woman. And thus we have Adam and Eve.
O, He's a wonderful God.
When we consider what we're made of, that God would love us the way he does.
That he would send His son Jesus for our Salvation, He's a wonderful God. We're
just some dressed up dust, earthen vessels which have become containers for the
glory of God. We are this treasure in
earthen vessels to remind us, declares Paul, that the transcendent glory belongs to God and not us.
God placed the man and woman
in a garden, a virtual paradise here on earth. Adam and Eve had not a care in
the world, for Eden was filled with all things beautiful. The Lord God made all
kinds of trees to grow out of the garden, trees pleasing to the eye, trees
beautiful with luscious
fruit of every kind. In the
middle of the garden God placed the tree of eternal life and the tree of
knowledge of good and evil.
The Lord God called Adam's
attention to the abundance of earthly provision that God had given to him and
instructed Adam, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you
must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat
of it you will surely die." Some wonder why God would place a tree in
Adam's presence that might tempt him. Well, I think the message here is that
God is love. God had made provision for all of their needs. True love must be
grounded in mutual trust.
If we trust the Lord because
we recognize how much he loves us, because of how good he's already been to us,
then it does not matter what is in our midst, our obedience to him is how we
show him that we love Him. God gave to Adam and Eve Free Will. God had given us
the freedom to trust His word through our obedience or to take life and
personal matters into our own hands.
Most of us have experienced
that when we take matters into our own hands, we make a mess out of things.
Free Will, the Freedom of Choice, is the gift God has given us enabling us to
demonstrate by the choices we make how much we love God. Amen. Jesus said to
his disciples, "If you love me, keep my commandments. Not everyone that
saith unto me, ‘Lord, Lord’ shall enter into heaven, but he or she who does the
will of my Father." Our obedience shows God that we love him. Because to
obey God you've got to deny yourself, to obey God you've got to put His will
before your own. To obey God you've got to crucify the flesh and the old sinful
nature. So obedience becomes the form of expressing our love for God.
You know, it is a strange
paradox of how our freedom in Christ comes from being bound to Him. That to
find freedom in Him, we must submit ourselves to His will. The Psalmist said, I
will walk in liberty, for I keep thy Laws. He said, "Come unto me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest; take my yoke upon you." A yoke being an instrument of
obedience.
The text says that before
Adam and Eve disobeyed God they were naked and unashamed, meaning they enjoyed
unbroken fellowship with God. When we are walking in complete obedience to God,
we walk without fear, guilt or shame, and in that sense we walk naked before
the Lord, because as He sees and views our lives, we have no shame because we
are walking according to His word. When we walk in the fellowship of genuine
love, we don't have to put on a pretense or live behind barriers for fear that
others will love us any less because of what they see or find. To be naked and
unashamed means one sees you just the way you are, and it makes no difference
in their love for you.
But when Adam and Eve
partook of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, their eyes were open, they
became conscious of their nakedness, they were fearful of the Lord God who had
created them in His own image and blessed them in abundance, providing for
their every need. And the record says, "They hid." They hid. And Paul
declares in Romans 5, "Through one man's sin, sin infected the entire
human race."
The tragic consequence of
this act of disobedience brought with it a consciousness of sin -- their eyes were opened; of condemnation
-- they
knew that they
were naked; and of separation from God
-- they hid themselves. Sin always separates us from God. Doesn't matter what
kind of a sin it is, we might call it a Big Sin or a Little Sin, but in the
eyes of a Holy God, sin is sin. And sin in whatever form it manifests itself
separates us from God.
In ch. 3, verse 1 the text
says, "And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in
the cool of the day; and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of
the Lord God among the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called unto him,
Adam where are you?"
When humanity asks a
question it is because we are trying to find an answer to something, a problem,
a tragedy, a dilemma, a mystery. We ask questions because we do not yet have
answers. But when God asks a question, He already knows the answer. We ask God
a whole lot of questions. Why Me? How Long Lord? Where are you Lord? But have
you ever surveyed the Bible, to see how many times God has asked us, humanity,
a question?
He asked Adam, "Where
are you?" He asked Abraham, "Is there anything too hard for the
Lord?" He asked Jeremiah, "Is there no balm in Gilead?" He asked
Ezekiel, "Son of man, can these bones live?" He asked Elijah,
"What are you doing there under that juniper tree?" He asked Malachi,
"Will a man rob God?" He asked Simon Peter, "Who do you say that
I am?" He asked a demon-possessed man, "What is your name?" He
asked Saul, "Saul, why do you persecute me?"
When God asks a question, He
already knows the answer. But He raises questions in order to help us see the
true nature of our dilemma. I think I need to say that again. When God asks you
a question, it is not because He doesn't know the answer, but it is because He
wants to help us see the true nature of our dilemma, and to discover in Him
the answer.
When Jesus asked the lame
man who had been at the pool of Bethesda for 38 long years, "Wilt Thou be
made whole?" He already knew that this man's problem was not his sickness
but his complacency and his complicity in having accepted his condition. And so
the question of the Lord to this man was, "Do you really want to get
well?" Don't tell me you want to get well but are not doing anything to
try and help yourself. Getting well takes some effort. Getting well takes some
determination. Getting well takes some patience and trust in the Lord. Getting
well may call for a change in lifestyle, diet or habit.
The question, "Adam,
where are you?" is asked by God in order to get Adam to face the reality
that something in his relationship with God has changed and changed for the
worse. A guilty conscience had replaced a clean conscience, fear of God had
replaced a loving trust in God, separation -- they hid themselves -- replaced unbroken fellowship -- they were naked and unashamed.
Notice this is the first
question ever asked by God in the Bible. It is the first question perhaps,
because if humanity is not right with God, how can we ever hope to be right
with each other? Things don't get right in this life, unless we get right with
God first. Doesn't matter what it is. We've got to be right with God if we ever
hope to have other areas of our life blessed.
Howard Hughes was a man of
great intelligence and vision. Hollywood has just released a movie entitled The Aviator, which chronicles his life.
He had all the wealth in the world, all the planes in the world, all the women
in the world, all the good times in the world, all the world-wide press, but he
died an empty shell of a man. I just wonder, did he have fellowship with God?
God's question to Adam is a
question God is yet raising today, because estrangement, separation, is one of
the most cancerous spiritual diseases that is eating up the people of this
world. Estrangement - meaning we are no longer in harmony. Estrangement - we
can no longer walk together in agreement. Estrangement - what we had is now
being held together by such a small remnant of what once was. Separation has us
killing us. Separation has us treating each other like the enemy.
Separation in many of our
families, separation in our fellowship as friends and good neighbors.
Estrangement, separation, is the reason God sent Jesus to restore a
relationship that had been torn apart by sin. Separation -- estrangement -- can
lead to a host of other spiritual and social problems -- mistrust, fear,
conflict, prejudice, envy, strife, violence, war and murder. The question God
asked to the first human family is a question He is yet asking today.
Who is your neighbor, who is
your brother, who is your sister? This is really a sermon that needs to be
preached in a series of 2 - 4 messages. Because there is so much in this text
that time will not allow us to cover.
Notice that God raised this
question designed to get Adam to look at his condition. Where are you? God will
not allow us to remain in broken fellowship with him if He can help it.
He will raise the question,
"Where are you?" Thank God for those men and women, fathers and
mothers, who love us enough to raise the question when they sense something is
not right, "Where are you?" Thank God for those co-workers,
classmates, and friends who will not allow us to walk around when something is
wrong in our relationship and act like nothing is wrong. Thank God for those
who say, "Talk to me" because they sense something different in our
behavior.
"’Where are you?’
because I sense that something is wrong." "Tell me,
I can sense that something
ain't right." And when friends and those who love us do that, they are
helping us.
Where are you? When
estrangement comes, someone has to take some initiative to restore the breach.
And in this text it is God who takes the initiative. The One who has been let
down is the One who makes the first move. In some cases, if a first move is
going to be made, it might have to come from the person who has been the one
who has been offended.
Yes, like God, sometimes the
person who has given their all and done the Good in behalf of others might have
to be the very one who takes the initiative to restore the estranged
relationship. Because like Adam, sometimes if we've committed the offense, we
might be too guilt-ridden or afraid to take the first step towards reconciliation.
Sometimes those who have done the wrong do not yet know how to make it right.
The fact that God raised
this question is a sign that God yet loved Adam and Eve. Disappointed, yes.
Going to enact some judgment, yes. But he still loved them. And he would set
up a Plan of Salvation to send His only begotten Son Jesus in proof that His
love will never let us go!
He refused to allow this
relationship to remain estranged. "Adam, why do you know that something
ain't right with us? Have you been eating from that tree I told you not to
touch?”
God does not allow us to
stay in our estrangement. And when we feel distant from God, it is not because
God is far from us, but usually it’s because we have moved away from God. But
this text shows that the Lord will not allow us to remain hidden from His
presence. Even when we try to hide from Him, He's yet looking to help us find
ourselves. The
Lord will come looking for
us. Hallelujah!
Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to
the heavens, you are there; and if I make my bed in hell, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn, you are there,
If I settle on the far side of the sea, you are there."
Psalm 139:8-9