Title: Finding Your Way Again!
Series: Fresh Start #1 - Pastor Tony Rivers - January 15, 2012- Genesis 3:9-10
Genesis 3:9-10 diagrammed:
God called to the Man:
"Where are you?"
He said,
"I heard you
in the garden
and I was afraid
because I was naked
and I hid."
INTRO:
When Bob got home last night, his wife demanded that he take her someplace expensive…
so, he took her to a gas station.
And thats how the fight started…
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Curtis and Leroy and their wives were visiting a big city shopping mall. They were amazed by almost everything they saw, but especially by two shiny, silver walls that could move apart and back together again.
Curtis asked Leroy, "What is this?".
Leroy responded, "I have never seen anything like this in my life. I don`t know what it is!".
While they were watching wide-eyed, an old lady in a
wheelchair rolled up to the moving walls and pressed a button. The walls opened and the lady rolled between them into a small room. The walls closed and they watched small circles of lights with numbers above the walls light up.
They continued to watch the circles light up in the reverse direction. The walls opened up again and a voluptuous 24 year old woman stepped out.
Curtis said to his wife, "You try it."
And thats how the fight started…
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Another modern take could be:
Adam told Eve as he was headed out to the fields to work for the first time ever
Honey, I’ll be late for dinner!
And thats how the fight started…
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Humor is often a way of dealing with uncomfortable yet serious situations. Today, we are looking at something very serious.
Where are you?
January is historically a time for fresh starts, New Year resolutions and personal inventory.
I find myself taking a personal inventory every year at this time. Typical questions are along the lines of
"What did I do last year?"
"What do I want to accomplish this year?" and
"What is holding me back?"
Most New Year resolutions are a response to something we don’t like about ourselves or our environments.
It is only natural to address shortcomings, failures and setbacks. This is the case in one of the most famous Christian stories of Scripture, the account of Adam and Eve.
In Genesis 3, Adam and Eve make the worse decision of their lives. There’s only 2 trees that God told them to stay away from and in direct disobedience to God, they eat fruit from the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil.
As you picture the scenario in your mind, notice Eve, all alone in the garden. She is standing there stroking the mane of one of her pet lions, gazing at one of the trees which Adam told her was off limits because God told him not to eat from it, and not to even touch the fruit from this tree. She is surely wondering why? Why this tree? Why this fruit? What is so special about the fruit from this tree that we can’t even touch it? As she contemplates this question along with “Wonder what Adam wants for supper?”, in walks the serpent. The short story is that Eve messes up by eating the fruit and Adam, who is apparently along for the shopping trip at the farmer’s market, also messes up when Eve passes him an apple.
That’s when the drama started!
What happens next - They cover up, they try to fix it themselves, they deny the seriousness of it.
Their is this period when they are in denial. "Maybe it’s not so bad." "Maybe I can just run away from God and hide." "Maybe I can explain it."
But then Adam hears the sound of God.
Soon after, in a hair-raising moment, God says, "Adam, Where are you?" (Gen 3:9)
Adam and Eve sinned against God. Their response to the big mistake was first to try to cover it up, then to hide from it. I often wonder how God felt when He called out to them? What did His cry sound like? Was it the "ADAM!" with an inflection like that of a mother that sees her child hiding after he wrote on the wall with his new crayola crayon? Or was it more of a call of desperation like that of a parent that just discovered their child missing?
I can only conclude that God is surely a just God.
In the beginning we see Him setting up a recovery program.
The first intervention of sorts!
And at extreme personal cost to Himself.
Please turn your Bible to Genesis 3. We will be reading verse 9-10.
Follow with me in your Bibles as we read Genesis 3:9-10.
NEED:
Some of you are worried that you have messed up so bad that God won’t use you anymore? You are riddled with some type of guilt?
The psalmist new this feeling when he said, "My Guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear." Psalm 38:4 (King David)
Maybe you just fell like you could crawl under a rock and die!
Some of you feel like you have spent your years and with no more youth left, your vision and desire have simply dried up.
Wherever you are today, I have some really good news for you...God isn’t through with you yet. If you are still here, then you are still useful! If God was finished with you, He would put you out of your misery. But you are still breathing, at least I think you are, and you are still moving, so you are by default still useful to God.
You just need to Find Your Way Again!
So how do we find our way? Our text gives us 3 clues as to how you can find your way again.
BODY: Finding Your Way starts with:
Statement 1: Discovering where you are!
EXP: God calls out to the man: "Where Are You?" and Adam says: "I heard you in the garden..." Literally, I heard the sound of you.
Can you imagine the desperation of a parent who has raised a child, showered them with love, given them everything they needed and most everything that they wanted only to discover that their precious offspring has run away in search of a "Better Life?"
What goes through the mind of a father who drops everything to hunt for his little girl who has run off to Hollywood in hopes of becoming the next famous actress? How does he feel when he finds her, broken and abused, on the streets, living in prostitution? Laden with addictions that she will fight for the rest of her life?
Their must be a struggle in the parents heart. A line between tough love and compassionate discipline versus blind grace. I don’t know how I could balance my outrage in such a situation. How would I balance my love and desire to extend Grace and yet bring restitution?
ARG: If you are worried that you have outlived your usefulness. If you are concerned that you have missed your opportunity. If you are distraught that you have failed God, those things are clues that the Holy Spirit is moving you. You may have failed? But that doesn’t mean that God is through with you. He wants you to find your way again.
ILL: Friday at quitting time, Jim said, ‘Boss, have you got any extra work I can do tonight?’ Sure do but I can’t pay you overtime. That’s okay, I just don’t want to go home. Why not? Well, I’ve been in the doghouse since last night. I see...Why? What did you do to deserve that? I still don’t know, it must be one of those woman things. I was minding my own business relaxing in front of the TV.
My wife enters the room & asks, "What’s on the TV?"
And honestly, I swear all I said was, "Dust!"
She’s been mad ever since!
APP: 1) Address the issue! This starts with listening to the Holy Spirit speaking to you. Do a self inventory. Right now, pray, "father, where am I?" Is there anything that is holding me back?
In Genesis 3:13 God addresses the issue. He says, "Adam and Eve, What have you done!?" Instead of backing away, God hits the problem head on.
He lays out the consequences for the wrong and the parties involved accept those consequences. Perhaps they didn’t have a choice, and obviously they are disturbed by them, but nonetheless, they accept them. He then passes out the judgement on the spot. The serpent is cursed, the woman is changed, the man loses his privileges. The bottom line is that everyone has to face the music. Why not face it sooner than later?
2) Deal with the temptation. Adam and Eve were removed from the garden immediately and a gatekeeper was setup to keep them from entering the garden and making things worse. Gen. 3:22-24 God establishes roles for the man and for the woman.
In vs. 16 he says to the woman, your desire will be for your husband and he will rule over you. In vs. 19 he says to the man, you will work for your food.
• “But remember that the temptations that come into your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can’t stand up against it. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you will not give in to it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13 (NLT)
Dear Lord,
You know the temptations that I am facing today. But your Word promises that I will not be tempted beyond what I can bear. I ask for your strength to stand up under the temptation whenever I encounter it. Your Word also tells me you will provide a way out of the temptation. Please, Lord, give me the wisdom to walk away when I am tempted, and the clarity to see the way out that you will provide. Thank you, God, that you are a faithful deliverer and that I can count on your help in my time of need. Amen
3) Learn from the experience. The most important result and the most exciting part of the story is that God immediately set out to bring restoration. He set in motion a plan to bring about a savior. Genesis 3:15, God tells the serpent that He will use the woman’s offspring to "crush your head". In verse 21, God made garments of skin to cloth Adam and Eve. We find Him meeting our needs, covering our shortcomings and pointing us in the right direction. God is more concerned about the situation than you are. So learn from the experience and move forward.
Transition: Finding your way starts with Discovering where you are, and then Realizing that you have a future;
Statement 2: Realize that you have a future!
EXP: Notice in Verse 10, Adam says, and I was afraid because I was naked.
Every Saint has a past, Every Sinner has a future.
Some of you would say, "But Tony, I messed up! You don’t understand, I _____ (fill in the blank)." And I would say, "So What!" You would argue that all
those other Christians are so great.
Listen to me - Every Saint has a past that they wish they could hide or do over. Life is messy and you just get some of it on you no matter how hard you try.
BUT Every Sinner also has a future! God has a bright future planned for you!
When Adam and Eve messed up, God didn’t forsake them. They changed the nature of the relationship, but God didn’t forsake them. As a matter of fact, in the
judgement God pronounced that he would defeat satan once and for all through Eve’s decendents!
ARG:
Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Psalm 118:1 "Give Thanks to the Lord, for he is good, his love endures forever."
Expecting that God has used us up is completely contrary to Scripture.
ILL: Hebrews 13:5-6 "Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”[a] 6 So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”[b]
Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook - “Just when you think it can’t get any worse, it can. And just when you think it can’t get any better, it can.”
APP: Jeremiah 29:12-14 goes on to tell us, "Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity."
Transition: Finding your way starts with discovering where you are, Then realizing that you have a future and finally, Watching your strengths grow out of your weaknesses;
3: Watch your strengths grow out of your weaknesses
EXP: In verse 10, Adam says, "I hid."
Adam is feeling shame and remorse. These are new feelings for him. Now he is shunning the approach of the one whom he used to welcome wholeheartedly. So he hides!
But out of this failure, God does something rather remarkable. God takes the weakness that Adam just admitted to him and God does something powerful through it.
I am not excusing sin, but you know as well as I do that the person who has gone through something horrible is much better prepared to help others in that area than someone who hasn’t had that negative experience.
God is glorified through our weaknesses.
2 Corinthians 12:9 God:"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Paul: Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
ARG: Some of you are hiding. But can you really evade God? If you have struggled with something, then maybe that is where God wants to use you.
Psalm 139:1 "You have searched me, Lord and you know me."
Psalm 139:7 "Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?"
ILL: There is a story about a young boy who had no left arm. And he was tempted to get discouraged and allow this handicap to get the best of him. However, instead of wallowing in his sorrow, he used his weakness to his benefit.
So the boy began lessons with an old Japanese Judu instructor. And after about three months in, he began to notice that the master only taught him one move.
“Sensei” the boy inquired, “Why am I only learning one move?” “This is the only move that you need to know” the master replied.
Several months later, the sensei took the boy to his first tournament. Surprisingly the young boy was doing very well. Regardless of his handicap, he remained mastered his first two rounds and defeated his opponents. It was amazing how with just this one throw, the boy was able to over-power them.
The next opponent came, he struggled a bit but that didn’t phase him. He remained strong and yet with this one move he pulled through victorious. In his last match, his opponent was quite bigger, quicker and stronger. It appeared as though the young boy was going to lose. The referee even called time-out in fear that the he was going to get hurt but the sensei insisted, “no, let him continue.”
Toward the end of the match the boy’s opponent let his guard down. With limited strength and confidence, the boy was able to use the one move to pin his opponent down and won the tournament.”
After the tournament the boy asked, “Sensei, how did I win with only one move?” “You won for two reasons,” the sensei answered. “First, you’ve almost mastered one of the most difficult throws in all of judo. And second, the only known defense for that move is for your opponent to grap your left arm.” The boy’s weakness became his greatest strength
APP: Matthew 11:28-30 "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
CONCLUSION: Finding your way starts with Discovering where you are, Realizing that you have a future and, Watching your strengths grow out of your weaknesses;
ILL:
CALL TO ACTION:
Pray with me:
Lord, I am weak and you are strong. Today, Father, I surrender to you. Hear my cry, O God; attend to my prayer. From the end of the earth I will cry to You, When my heart is overwhelmed. Lord, I trust in you, not in myself. Thank you that you have chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty. Right now, I confess to you that I am struggling with a weakness.
"Come to Jesus, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and He will give you rest.
Take His yoke upon you and learn from Him, for He is gentle and lowly in heart,
and you will find rest for your souls.
His yoke is easy and His burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30
"And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever." Philippians 4:19-20
