PILLARS 14 - Heaven on Earth Part 1: Kingdom of heaven (Mt 6.9-13)

Your kingdom come.  The Kingdom of heaven.  Last time we looked at heaven.  How the presence of God can turn any place into paradise.  How heaven is not just about a specific place or destination but more about an eternal relationship with the God of heaven, the God Who made the universe and made you and me to enjoy a personal relationship with Him.  Forever.  That begins when we decide to trust in Jesus’ death on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins.  It can begin today in fact!  But to that point Jesus talked about the kingdom of heaven being within us [Lk 17.21].  For sure, there will be a physical kingdom of heaven one day when Christ comes back to rule as King over all the earth, but the King of kings would reign in each of our hearts TODAY.  Your kingdom come.

We see this in the Lord’s Prayer - let Your KINGdom come, let what You want be done.  Reign in me - today.  Everyday.  Yes, there is a future component to this, but this entire prayer is tied to today.  Daily bread - today.  Forgiveness - today.  No temptation, deliverance from evil - this day.  We’re not putting any of these things off till eternity.  They play out in our lives each and every day.  Your will be done (literally, let what You want come to be).  When is that supposed to happen?  Someday, yes, but also today.  Let Your kingdom come.  Someday yes, but also today - and it begins in my heart.  The kingdom of heaven.  It’s about me and you cultivating our supreme loyalty to King Jesus.  This day.  Surrender.  Reverence.  Devotion.  Today.  And tomorrow.  What He wants.  He is King.  The kingdom of heaven is within you - that’s where it begins today.  Heaven on earth.

The kingdom of heaven. [Phil 3.20][2Cor 5.20]  As citizens of God’s kingdom, our loyalty to His kingdom, to THIS King, supersedes all others.  We represent the values and promote the interests of the kingdom wherever we live on earth.  It’s what the angel said to Joshua outside Jericho [Josh 5.13-15].  God’s not taking sides, He’s taking over.  On a human level, we instinctively roll like it’s us vs. them.  The enemy.  We’re so quick to take sides.  To form up ranks and oppose and separate from our fellow man.  People who look different.  Talk different.  Believe different.  Who vote different.  People who aren’t from around here - strangers (xenoi).  We let our differences divide and distance us from our fellow man, from our would-be neighbors.  We do this as children.  Instinctively.  We make fun of the person who is different.  We shun the new kid.  The stranger. (and not totally without cause, kids).  But sometimes we get it in our heads that the person standing opposite me is my enemy.  Somehow they’re a threat to me, to my family, to the life I aspire to enjoy on this earth.

This shows up at the Olympics, doesn't it?  That normal nationalistic pride.  We root against the strangers, don’t we?  Ethnic pride.  Ethnocentrism.  It’s as old as the Tower of Babel.  Whether there's only one culture like at Babel [and we say, WE are great!], or many cultures [where we say, WE are greater (i.e. than them)!].  The LIE says, different is bad.  Our flesh is so easily prone to look down on those who are different.  If we have even a bit of power we see them as inferior.  Racism - America has no monopoly on this.  It rears its ugly head in every culture on earth.  And our flesh can have a natural distrust of strangers.  Xenophobia.   Fear of strangers.  We have this in good ol’ East Texas, land that I love.  Most folks in these parts live a certain way, talk a certain way, have certain values.  If you’re not from round here, it can be hard to break in, hard to fit in, can’t it?  Many here at HF know what I’m talking about…

In Mt 24, Jesus is talking about the kingdom of heaven.  The fig tree [24.32] - when you see the leaves coming out, you know summer is near.  I.e. He's telling us that there will be obvious signs when Christ is about to return as King.  He adds that no one will know the exact time [24.36] - so we need to be ready, on the alert - AND we need to be about the business of the kingdom [24.37-38].  UNLIKE the people in the days of Noah, who were NOT ready.  They were so caught up in living this life - eating & drinking and marrying - that they missed the boat.  Literally.  And I wonder if many in the US aren’t in danger of missing the boat.  The Kingdom of heaven - and its business - takes precedence.  We can be concerned about preserving our lifestyle.  We do enjoy such wonderful unprecedented liberty and peace and prosperity in our land.  And strangers have a way of changing the status quo.  Can’t relate to em.  Can ya trust em?  Jesus is reminding us that His Kingdom, The kingdom of heaven, trumps all earthly priorities.  

So Jesus relates the parable of the ten virgins.  They are given one main objective - be ready for when the Bridegroom comes.  And half of them weren’t ready when He came.  They didn’t prioritize the kingdom.  Next Jesus tells the parable of the talents.  The Master entrusts His resources to His servants, and they are engage in business of the Master’s kingdom until He returns.  Two of His servants do that, but one does absolutely nothing with what the Master gave him.  And when the Master returns, what does He call this third slave who did nothing with the Master’s resources [25.26,30]?  Wicked.  Lazy.  Worthless.  Really harsh words from the God of grace.  But the utter lack of engagement in the Master’s business is evidence that the one who is by all appearances a servant of the Master, in fact is not.  Which brings us to the last half of Mt 25 [31-37, 46].  Some of the most sobering verses in the entire NT.

The kingdom of heaven, which takes up residence in the hearts of its citizens, comes oozing out in the form of kingdom priorities.  It manifests in the form of supreme loyalty to the King.  To His kingdom.  And it reflects the supreme values of the kingdom: not the least of which is: compassion.  Compassion towards those in need.  Those who are hungry.  Thirsty.  Naked.  Sick.  And strangers.  Vulnerable.  They need help.  Strangers are far from home.  Possibly dealing with loss of home, job, etc.  As much as anything strangers are deprived of community.  And community - specifically the community of God - is God’s intended vehicle for dispersing His blessings [Gen 12.2-3].  When I was a stranger, Jesus says, when strangers showed up at your community, you invited them in.  Literally, you synagogued with them.  The synagogue WAS the community.  And it’s a verb.  You synagogue, you gather together with your community.  And in this case, the community welcomed strangers.  You didn’t necessarily require that they convert.  But you extended God’s blessings to them.  You were a good neighbor to them, you showed them compassion.  Like the Good Samaritan.  The guy in the ditch was a stranger.  [Maybe an Enemy?  A danger?]  But the Good Samaritan made space in his life to help that person cuz he had already made space in his heart for the King —> Kingdom of heaven.

This happens to be the business of the Kingdom.  You will bless the nations.  The business of the kingdom is to extend the blessings of God to strangers.  Spreading to all peoples the knowledge that there is a breathtakingly good God Who made us to enjoy His goodness forever.  And the only way to do that is through a personal relationship with that promised Seed of Abraham [Gen 22.18].  Blessing strangers, introducing them to the Kingdom of heaven.  To the King Himself.  Jesus.  There are billions and billions of people around the world who are separated from the God Who loves them.  Walking in darkness.  Some 1.5B Muslims.  ~30M in a [terror-ridden] land called Afghanistan.  It has become highly problematic for outsiders to go in now.  But guess what God our Savior has done?  He has arranged it so that 55k of these Afghans had to leave everything and come to the land of the infidel.  God says, here you go.  It's the Heart of King of heaven which drew so many strangers to seek a more blessed life in the so-called Nation-under-God [Lady Liberty]  May that same King of heaven give us grace and a heart to see these and all our neighbors with His eyes, with compassion… The sacrifices will be worth it.  If it costs us our lives it will be worth it - cuz our King, Jesus, He is worth it.

"Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Gen. 12:2  "And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing; 3  And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who ¹curses you I will curse. 

And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

Genesis 22:18 “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

Philippians 3:20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;

2Corinthians 5:20   Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

PILLARS 13 - Heaven [Revelation 21.1-4]

God provided a way for people to be restored to an eternal relationship with Him by sending Jesus Christ to die on the cross as the perfect sacrifice for sin.  For all who repent and trust in Jesus' death on their behalf, God forgives all their sins and declares them to be right in His eyes.  He gives these Christ-followers the gift of eternal life, seals them with His Holy Spirit, and adopts them into His family.

Today we’re talking about heaven.  What it is, and how to get there.

We are wired for heaven, aren’t we?  For paradise.  We search for it all of our lives.  Chase after it.  You maybe can't explain it, but you feel it.  You've felt it your entire life, you know it’s there, like a splinter in your mind, that there’s something missing in the world.  A dreamy mirage.  A time out of time.  Paradise.  That ancient garden.  And we spend our entire lives trying to get back there, to the garden.  Catch a glimpse of it.  Or some earthly iteration of it.  These are the places, the moments that cause us to say, ah!  Not like at the doctor’s office [tongue depressor].  Ah with an extra H!  Yes, these are the moments that dreams are made of.  Dreaming of the beach [sunny Cyprus].  Of that idyllic mountain lake.  Of that beautiful garden with a comfy chair and a tall cold or hot beverage.  Sit back, kick your feet up, and drink it in.  Ahhhh.  Trying to find just that little bit of heaven.  That fleeting bit of respite, a momentary interlude of rest and quiet, that place of perfect peace.  OR transcendent joy.  Maybe it’s finding that special someone?  These are the moments when you want to hit the pause button, and go timeless.  We live for these moments, we long for these glimpses of heaven, trying to get back to paradise.  

Sadly, all these glimpses are just that.  Fleeting at best.  Nothing in this world ever fully satisfies.  I’m with CS Lewis - “If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.”  We WERE made for another world - or at least a different version of this one.  

But so, what IS heaven?  IS it a place? Can we locate on a map?  With our gps?  Is it in the clouds or the stars somewhere?  2nd star to the right and straight on till morning?  Is it just some fictional neverland?  We do believe at one point there WAS a garden [tho we’re not sure of it’s exact location].  At one point there IS (or will be) a city.  The Bible does describe a huge celestial city, with indescribable dwellings and streets of gold [Rev 21.9-21][The measurement of 12k stadia = 1363 miles --> that's Dallas to LA or Winnipeg].  But the distinguishing feature of that heavenly city isn’t where it is, or what is there - it’s Who is there [Rev 21.22-23].  That’s what makes it heaven.  The presence of God turns any place into paradise [note these other sacred places: the burning bush Ex 3.4-5; the transfiguration - Mt 17.1-4; Rev 21.3].  Heaven can literally be anywhere - as long as the Lord is there - AND we have the eyes, the heart to see Him.  To trust Him. [How about Moses up on Sinai IN GOD'S PRESENCE with no food or water for 40 days...?  He had all he needed/wanted...]

Of course, our longing and searching for paradise/heaven shows us not only that we were designed for it but also that we are not there.  What happened?  We’ve discussed how God created man in His image, for a personal relationship with Him, and how man just thumbed his nose at God.  Man chose to reject God.  We decided to cast God and what He wanted OUT of our lives, and we got exactly what we wanted.  We got cast out of God’s paradise.  And the significant part of that casting out was the death.  We died.  Our bodies began to die - all manner of brokenness invaded our world - AND our spirits died in that moment.  We became separated from God.  Paradise lost.  This death and separation then passed down to all people.  We all emerge from the womb tragically separated from God.  We’re born with the curse of sin flowing in our spiritual veins.  We choose from the get go to go our own way, to live into what we want instead of what God wants.  This is the textbook definition of sin - and we’re all guilty [Rom 3.23, Rom 6.23].  Which means that paradise, God’s kingdom, the kingdom of heaven, is at an insurmountable distance from each one of us [without some outside intervention].

Cuz how DO we get there?  How do we truly and fully get back to the garden, to heaven?  Is there some “Stairway to heaven"? There are different ideas as to what that song is really saying.  But there is one line that is repeated, three times: She’s buying a stairway to heaven… No she isn’t.  We think money —> heaven.  Or money = heaven.  No it isn’t.  All the things we think money can buy: it can buy stuff.  A whole lotta stuff.  A whole lot of [cotton candy].  And all those moments of respite and sipping that drink are fleeting at best.  Temporal.  All too temporary.  A lot of good looking stuff that leaves us still feeling empty.  So much fluff.  Sometimes we think we find heaven in another person - but they’re just as broken and empty as we are.  No finite created thing can provide true lasting happiness and contentment.  Much less heaven.  When the God of heaven is missing from our hearts it leaves a God-shaped hole that only He can fill [and it’s a BIG hole, Pascal calls it an infinite abyss - and no amount of stuff or money can ever hope to fill it.  John Rockefeller when asked how much money was enough, famously replied, "$1 more".  Money can't hope to fill the hole, much less NOT buy eternal life.  You can’t take any of it with you.  Not even one measly penny.  The LIE says, I earn my way into heaven.  No, I don’t.  NO amount of money, no good work will ever make me good and clean enough to enter God’s perfect holy presence - this is a rescue which I cannot ever effect. [Eph 2:8-9]  Heaven is a gift - there is nothing I could ever do to buy my way in, or otherwise earn access.  [Rev 21.6]

BUT because heaven is about a Who, an eternal relationship with that Who, it means that heaven is not strictly confined to some future distant celestial city.  Heaven CAN be found in the here and now, in my heart.  The kingdom of heaven is IN you, Jesus said (Lk 17.21).

We were made for this.  We were made for this.  That’s exactly what we say in those times and in those places when we’re experiencing some kind of heaven on earth, isn’t it?  I was made for this.  And that’s the point.  That’s the truth we’ve been considering for the past several weeks.  There IS a God Who made all things, and He made us, all people, IN HIS IMAGE.  Wired for personal relationship, one which begins and ends with a personal relationship with Him.  To know Him.  That’s what Paul tells us in Philippians 3:8-11 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ…that I may know Him…  Paul knows, THAT is heaven.  THAT'S the very best thing in the universe, and nothing comes close [Philippians 1:23 But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better.].  Knowing Christ - THAT is heaven [John 17:3 “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”].  That is the miracle, the wonderfully impossible and indescribable promise of Emmanuel.  God with us.  I am with you, always, He says.  Heaven - the God of Heaven - comes to camp out, to make His home in our hearts.  Truly, heaven on earth.  In my heart.  Always.  Everywhere.  And Jesus is the way.  He is both the There AND the Way to get there.  The LIE says, there are many ways to God.  No.  No, there aren’t.  Only one Person ever lived who was sinless, innocent enough to pay my sin penalty and yours (that’s what He was doing on that cross) [Jn 14.6].  And only one Person ever lived Who rose from the dead to prove the truth of His claim.  Every other religion, every other purported path depends on works.  Me working my way to heaven (or whatever alternative spiritual goal I’ve concocted).  That's the difference between religion and Christianity.  Religion - any religion - is me trusting in MY efforts, MY work.  Christianity is me trusting in Christ's work.  And the City of Heaven is the people who have said, “I do” to Christ in their hearts.

Heaven - we were made for this.  But we were also undone for this.  Paradise is lost.  We lost it.  We were kicked out, driven out when we drove God out of our lives.  When we chose to put something else in God’s place.  And we’ve all done it.  But God made a way back.  A way to know Him.  A way to be right with Him (Romans 3:24 …being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus - i.e. in His eyes I’ve done everything right).  That’s what it means to be forgiven.  Do you know Jesus yet?  Have you said “I do” to Him yet?  He is knocking at your door…

PILLARS 12 - The Glorious God’s Most Glorious Design Pt 3

God gave man a unique sacred crown.  A unique sacred calling.  A unique sacred command.  And God gave man a unique sacred companion.  [Gen 2:18-24]  God devotes an entire section in the account of Creation to the special creation of woman.  God first makes Adam.  The crown of His creation.  Puts him in the Garden of God, to take care of the works of God’s hands.  Gives him that first sacred command.  The crown.  The calling.  Picture Paradise...  It was truly exceedingly good.  And then there in Paradise we see the one thing in all Creation which - up to that point - was NOT good.  Gen 2:18  Then the LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” [Hebrew: the word for "alone" is bad- or separate.  So in a sense the Hebrew says it is bad (not good) to be bad (alone)].   Isolation can turn any paradise into a desert, a palace into a dungeon.  

[From wikipedia: The lack of human contact, and the sensory deprivation that often go with solitary confinement, can have a severe negative impact on a prisoner's mental state^[31] that may lead to certain mental illnesses such as depression, permanent or semi-permanent changes to brain physiology,^[32] an existential crisis,^{[33][34][35][36]} self-harm and death.^[37] Prison inmates assigned to solitary confinement were 3.2 times as likely to commit an act of self-harm.  The United Nations considers solitary confinement exceeding 15 days to be torture]  

So, for the record: It is not good to be alone (long-term).  Made in God’s image, we’re all wired for interpersonal relationship.  And we all need help.  First and foremost, of course we understand that God is our Comfort and our Helper (Ps 46.1).  But our need for help, for companionship, exists on a human level as well.  Adam had a healthy open relationship with the Lord, and still it was NOT good for him to be “alone”.  Not good, bad.

Who do you think needed to know this?  Adam.  And so the oh-so-good God drives this need home for the man: 19-20 Out of the ground the LORD God [had] formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name.  The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him.  All these potential companions - but not one of them truly addressed his separateness, his isolation.  The Lord here is showing Adam - and us - our need for human companionship.  The phrase in the Hebrew means “exact correspondence”.  It speaks to our God-given need for human relationship.  Some think it's better “flying solo” - but that’s a lie: the LIE says, I don’t need anyone.  And don’t miss this - God knew what He was doing.  He designed us with this need.  And animals don’t cut it.  No other creature is going to ask us, “how are you doing really?”  We humans are wired for human companionship.  We need each other. [Ecclesiastes 4:9  Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor.]

Of course at this point in Creation God is specifically talking about a perfectly suited life partner for the man.  That word “suitable” literally refers to something opposite.  This sacred companion has an ideal, God-designed complementary function.  And so for the man God creates woman.  21 So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. 22 The LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.  Not out of a different pile of dust (like He did for EVERY OTHER CREATURE, incl the man), but out of Adam’s rib - she’s as similar to him as she could be, can relate to him, communicate with him like no other creature.  BUT she is also opposite.  She is a wonderful impossible.  She is fashioned by God - it’s different word in the Hebrew.  Every other creature God formed [like a piece of pottery].  But God fashions the woman: this is the word “build”.  [pottery vs building a house - it's much more involved and precise, you need blueprints, etc].  Every detail about woman - how she thinks & acts, how she feels, her anatomy - she is the perfect God-designed complement to the man.  And Adam’s reaction leaves no doubt that finally, after looking at ALL these other creatures, that she is exactly what he needed.  God knew/knows exactly what we need(ed). 23  The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”  What Adam sounds like in the Hebrew is, [“WOW!!!”]  Woman is man’s unique sacred companion.  Exactly how God designed it.  Not just very good - very best.  The jewel in the crown.  Precisely how God planned it, drew it up and built it.

At which point God instituted a sacred union.  24 For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his woman; and they shall become one flesh.  She doesn’t belong to him - they belong to each other, and God Himself brokered the deal.  This is a holy lifelong partnership.  They will work together, carry the crown together, fulfill God’s calling of subduing and ruling the earth and all its creatures together, they will carry out God’s sacred commands together (including now the whole business of multiplying).  They’re the perfect complement to one another.  TThey fit perfectly - even as there is an oppositeness to this partnership.  Like two magnets.  

This sacred - even mystical relationship also happens to be a deliberate picture of Jesus & the Church, aka the Bride of Christ.  [Ephesians 5:28-32 So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body.  FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND SHALL BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH.  This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.] 

And then let’s not miss God’s final act in this union: God brings the woman to the man [2:22].  That’s the final (too often missing) piece of the puzzle.  Sometimes we run ahead of God and His provision.  Sometimes we don't think we want His provision.  We pursue what we want, what we think we need, and when we think we need it.  When we leave God out of the bringing, when we just leave Him out altogether, when we reject His exceedingly good design, all kinds of things get messed up.  Confused.  Broken.

Note that God does not create a second man.  Not only would that NOT be complementary, there would also be no children.  Before God tells the first couple to subdue the earth, He tells them to fill it.  To be fruitful and multiply.  To have babies.  And God engineered it such that to carry out this first great commission you need a man and a woman.  God’s design is one man and one woman.  One of each.  Male and female He created them.  The male has the seed, the female has the egg, she has the womb.  That’s God’s glorious design, and frankly, THAT is science.  It’s anatomy.  It's hardwired into our DNA.  Male and female God created them.  From the very beginning, God knew exactly what He was doing - and He still does.  And what we do, what man does, is try to figure out ways to circumvent God’s design.

Fast forward thousands of years, after sin and death entered in, man rejecting God and abusing His gifts, generation after generation of brokenness, rearing its ugly head.  The LIE comes in and says - what does the LIE say?  There are so many… The LIE says, God did not design any of this.  We reject His design.  This is how people have rolled from the very beginning.  We’ve left God out of so much, and look at what we’ve got.  There are always consequences for rejecting God’s design.  It’s how things got broken in the first place.  The LIE says, it’s all about how I feel (and to be sure, feelings in this area are stronger than any other --> some very good feelings, but there's so much confusion).  And we insist, God’s design doesn’t matter.  What God says doesn’t matter.  Personally, if I had to choose between what God says, and what I feel or you feel or anybody else feels, I choose the God of the universe.  The LIE says, God made a mistake.  Really?  What source am I using for this information?  My feelings?  God does not make mistakes.  Me? I make plenty.  So much brokenness - and confusion.  Broken families, broken marriages, broken people (breaking one another).  Confusion - about gender, about sex, about marriage.  Confusion about life, about who I am and why I’m here.  And such strong feelings.  We’re NOT saying that God doesn’t care about my feelings.  Of course He cares.  But my feelings never determine what is right.  There is a way which seems/feels right to a man, but its end is the way of death - Prov 14.12.  Death of course = Separation from God.

And THAT is where we wind up today.  Because before God says anything about even filling the earth (much less subduing it), He makes us in His image.  Image bearers.  Eternal souls, designed and made by Him to relate to Him, to know Him, to enjoy Him, to glorify Him by enjoying Him forever.  This is who we are at the very core of our being.  We are spiritual beings, designed for eternity.  And the LIE says, we are primarily physical.  It’s all about the physical, about our sexuality, that’s what defines us.  And that’s a lie.  It’s a tragically broken view.  The most important thing about you and me is that God made us in His image, to enjoy Him and His goodness forever.  Yes God blessed the sexual act with physical enjoyment, but He designed that to be experienced in a lifelong union between a man and a woman, one with [God at the center].  He does the bringing.  And He brings the joy - a temporary one in this life, and unending joy in the life to come for those who trust in Him.

So much brokenness.  So much confusion.  And questions.  We're all broken in different ways.  And being broken means that we all struggle with living into God’s design.  That’s normal.  And questions are normal.  Questions about how and why God made me.  Questions about gender, about sexuality.  That’s normal - that is to say, questions are normal.  It’s okay to have questions.  But our questions, our brokenness, our struggles, our missteps, our feelings are opportunities to trust the Lord.  Will we trust the One Who has the answers? [Prov 3:5-6]  

The lie says, I can’t change.  The lie says, it’s too late.  But it’s never too late with the Lord.  His mercies are new every morning.  With man this may feel impossible, but with God all things are possible.  And now He’s given us His Son, Who makes all things new.  AND He’s given us His family - married or single, we don’t need to journey through the questions and the struggles and the brokenness alone.  We are never alone.  God calls many of us into the sacred union of marriage, but He invites all of us to journey together with Him, in common unity, sharing His love with one another as we enjoy His goodness AND face the brokenness together.  It all begins w trust.  Am I willing to trust Him?  How 'bout you, my friend...?

PILLARS 11: The Glorious God’s Most Glorious Design Part 2 (Genesis 2:15-17)

Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.  The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely;  but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not ¹eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”  Gen. 2:15-17

We’re looking at the truths that support and secure our faith.  Last time we began a closer look at our glorious God’s most glorious design: man.  Human beings.  We saw how God made people different than all the rest of His creation, in that He made us IN HIS IMAGE, in His likeness, designed for intimate relationship - with Him AND with each other, and w the capacity to rule over/take care of God’s creation.  God gave man a unique sacred crown, crowned us with glory and honor above all the other creatures.  And He gave us a unique sacred calling.  God put man in charge, to cultivate and take care of His stuff.  And it/this is ALL God’s stuff.

Today we see that God also gave man a unique sacred command.  16-17 The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”  This in fact happens to be the very FIRST command God gave to man, chronologically.  

Now the language of all commands takes two forms.  One is the imperative - do this, don’t do that.  It’s technically an appeal to the will - yet it doesn’t force the will.  The other form we see when sometimes God communicates what He wants in the form of the “future indicative”.  It is the language of certainty.  You will do this.  You will not do that.  It's perhaps a stronger tone [every kid here learns this tone].  A bigger no-no.  That’s what we get here.  It’s a BIG no-no - within an even bigger green light.

Now with every other living creature, as far as what God wants, the imperative is how it plays out.  Animals do exactly what God designed/tells them to do.  God says Be fruitful and multiply, and that’s what happens.  Creatures of instinct: they just do what God wired them to do.  Their instincts carry the day.  But man, made in God’s likeness, has the capacity for both higher reasoning AND for moral choices.  God gave man the ability to say no to our instincts, to our feelings (even to God’s commands).  People have the God-given ability to do what we know is right.  Or not.  And only man gets this unique command.  Here’s a tree, just one tree out of an entire garden full of them.  Have at it!  Enjoy every last one of them to your heart’s content - except for this one.  From this one tree, you will not eat - that would not be good for you.  But so that means you’re going to need to make a choice, make a distinction between all these other trees, which are perfectly delicious, and this one tree.  Now eating of course is all well and good, NOT evil - it’s necessary, but you are going to have to make a wise, reasoned choice - even if circumstances or your feelings seem to be dictating otherwise.  And only man is presented with this moral choice.  God not only endowed man with this capacity for higher reasoning, He gave us what we call free will.  We were able to freely choose if we would follow and trust the Lord.  If we would fulfill our calling to cultivate and guard His creation.  Or not.  And right here, we had the freedom to choose whether or not we would listen to the Lord and enjoy all the fruit on all the trees in the garden except for this one.  Or not.  [i.e. we were "able to sin"]

IMPORTANT: The overarching implication of the command - along with the crown and the calling - is that our loving Creator in effect is saying, I am for you!  I am SO for you!  I AM good, I know what’s good (for you!).  Better than anyone else.  Better than you.  Open your eyes, look at all this, taste, be amazed at how good in fact it is.  And I am the Source of all this (not to mention the End), the Architect, the Engineer of all this.  I even happen to know the one thing in all of this which is NOT good (more on this later).  But I’m asking you to trust Me.  Trust My plan.  Trust how I’ve designed it.  Trust Me.  I'm giving you a choice...

Trusting the One Who gives the command looks precisely like doing that which He has commanded.  So, what did man do with this command? [Gen 3.6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.]  [Man thumbed his nose at God - and still does - what has man been doing with the command ever since?  Proverbs 14.21 And there is a way which seems (feels) right to a man, but its end is the way of death.]  By this point God had even given man a unique sacred companion, to help him carry the crown and the calling and the command (we’ll look at her next week).  But when push came to shove, Eve looked at that fruit on that one tree, the ONLY fruit that God had forbidden, the ONE thing that they were not designed to do - but it looked so good, it felt good - how could it not be good?  It tasted so good.  It can’t be wrong cuz it feels so good, right?  Good feelings = Right, right?  This feels so right.  Wrong.  That is NOT how God designed it, and we thumb our noses at God’s exceedingly good design to our very great peril.  

BTW the design is still exceedingly good.  Nothing wrong w the design.  Still today, there is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.  "But, this feels right.  This feels like the way to go.  Why should I be expected to go against what I feel?"  Because THAT'S not how God designed it.  And only He truly knows what is best for us.  He is God, and I am not.

The LIE says, I determine what’s right.  I know what’s best.  It’s the lie of [adolescence - who so often are convinced they know everything, including what's best].  And just like with teens and parents, there’s this tension, two factions warring against each other.  One is my feelings, fueled by surging hormones and this youthful impatience and arrogance.  The other is the authority of God and His Word.  Established truth.  What did God say?  How has He designed it?  It's no coincidence that THIS is precisely where that crafty serpent goes [Gen 3.1].  Did God really say?  We question God’s Word.  We question His design.  We question Him, we doubt Him.  We disrespect and relegate Him.  We disrespect the Authority - I can do that!  Even better!  You will be like God, the serpent suggests…  Never mind that we’re already like Him.  But we see what we don’t have, and we want that.  We want to be in charge.  We put ourselves in God’s place.  OR we put other things in His place.  It’s a trap…

Doubting.  Questions are good, it’s how we learn.  There’s nothing wrong with asking questions.  The desire to learn, and to understand - that’s a divine impulse.  No other creature does this.  Animals just do.  They eat and sleep and make messes and babies.  But people - we build [libraries], full of books that are full of words.  Storehouses of knowledge.  We built the internet!  [Could you even imagine a puppy on the internet?][Not that all of the internet is good or even useful].  But questions.  They’re how we learn.  Gather knowledge.  Ask all the questions you want - and go find the answer.  Most questions have answers.  Yes, there are things that we won’t fully understand or explain in this life [Deut. 29:29  “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.”]  But everything you and I NEED to know, God has revealed to us.  There’s nothing wrong with the question - it’s what we DO with it.  Did God really say this?  Is this really true?  And the real question there is, do we trust the One Who knows the answer?  Are we genuinely open to the answer - or is our mind already made up?  When we let the question lead us to doubt God and His Word and His goodness, then we’ve fallen into the trap of the serpent.  Did God really say?

Sadly what we see as the narrative unfolds is man rejects God’s command.  He rejects God.  Ultimately man chooses something OTHER than God and what He wants.  [Romans 1:28  And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper.].  His choices put him into an adversarial position with both God AND creation, such that God now has to [guard] His creation from man.  Man is expelled from the Garden of God, [which now has to be guarded by angels], and subsequently must toil and sweat and fight the ground from which he sprang simply to find food and survive.  AND he has to fight off the beasts, many of whom now carry this fear of man.  He’s lost this life of peace and safety.  Separated from the life of God, now waging a lifelong losing battle with brokenness and death.   AND his choosing mechanism is fatally compromised [we were able to sin —> but now we're unable to not sin].  

ALL the brokenness of the world entered in right here.  It’s called the Fall - we can see big falls on YouTube, but THIS was the biggest.  'Cuz we fell from Paradise, from glory.  Adam - and all his descendants - reject the crown and the calling and the command, ultimately rejecting a relationship with God, that for which we were ultimately designed, in His image.  The design is still exceedingly good.  We still bear His image - but now we’re broken.  Helpless.  In desperate need of rescue.  Spiritual intervention.  Which of course the Lord has graciously arranged through the gift of His Son.  [Colossians 1:21-22  And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach.]  He’s the Way for each of us to be restored a right relationship with our Creator, to be able to experience the exceedingly good goodness of God and His design.  We trust in the One God has sent to make things right.  Jesus.