Reconciled

Happy first Sunday of Advent! Advent looks forward to the return of Jesus. Adventus in Latin literally means “coming”. Our Advent series is called In the Fullness of Time, and during this season we’re going to look at some of the great longings of the human heart and how God has and is meeting those longings through Jesus.

Have you ever gotten separated from your group? Or experienced being lost?

I remember vividly my separation anxiety as a child. Go to Walmart with mom. Toy aisle called to me. But wouldn’t go look on my own for fear mom would forget about me and leave me. Irrational, but kept me paralyzed. Not the only times I’ve felt this kind of fear.

Deer hunting. If you are uninitiated, let me explain. You go out when it’s perfectly sunny and you find a good spot. You put your tree stand there. Then you walk back to the main trail - a couple of hundred yards away - tying little pieces of toilet paper to tree branches. The theory is that when you go back the next morning - in the pitch black - you can follow your trail to your stand. Yet, in the pitch black of the deep woods, the whole time I’m walking to my stand this is this latent fear that somethings happened to my markers and I’ll get hopelessly lost in the woods. Fun!

And do even get me started talking about corn mazes. Terrified of them! I’ve learned there is a name for my condition - mazeophobia. I know it’s completely irrational, but when I enter a maze I have this low-level feeling of panic that I might not be able to find my way out. I’ll be the one guy in a million who dies of thirst and starvation in a two acre corn maze.

Have you ever been afraid of being separated or lost? Science tells us that this is a common human fear. It’s part of our primal instincts, bc becoming separated is synonymous with being vulnerable and open to attack. Psychologist Dr. Karl Albrecht says that there are actually only five fears common to all people from which all of our other fears are manufactured. Within the list of the big five is the fear of separation. This fear can be about becoming physically separated or lost, but also manifests in the fear of abandonment or rejection, or the loss of social connectedness. For some, the silent treatment, when imposed by a group, can be devastating.

I imagine all of us can related to the fear of separation. And while this kind of separation can be frightening, it’s not the state of separateness that the Bible is most concerned about. We have a much more serious form of separation that afflicts us - separation from God. From first to last, the Bible tells the story of a Creator God who made humans out of the overflow of his love for the primary purpose of enjoying perfect union with him. This metanarrative is expressed numerous times in the OT/NT with the phrase: “I will be their God and they will be my people”. We were never made to live independently from him. Yet, as we will see this morning, this is exactly where we find ourselves. The great urgency of the Bible, and the great longing contained in the human heart - even when we may be unaware of it - is to be restored in relationship with our Creator. The good news of Advent is that where we have been separated by sin, we are now reconciled by Jesus.

Pray…

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Genesis 3:8–15 (NRSV)

They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” He said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent tricked me, and I ate.” The Lord God said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this, cursed are you among all animals and among all wild creatures; upon your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”

The second chapter of Genesis describes a Creation in complete harmony - God with human, human with human, and human with creation. Chapter three describes how this perfect harmony was destroyed. To put it simply, an enemy slipped in and sowed lies and rebellion, causing the humans to disobey and act independently of God.

This scene opens with “the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden”. This is poetic language, and it is describing the kind of relationship enjoyed by God and people. We get the impression of the nearness of God - that coming to be with his people was a common thing. Up until this point, the humans have never felt anything other that pure delight and anticipation when they heard the Lord coming. But now something has changed.

Now, rather than anticipation, they feel worried and fearful. And so they do something they’ve never felt the need to do - they hid from God. It’s important to note right from the start that the separation between God and humans was not of God’s doing but ours. We separated ourselves from him. We’ve been doing it ever since.

Not in bushes, but avoidance

Fear of drawing near - using God to shield us from God

Then we get to one of the first questions in the Bible: “Where are you?” Why does God ask that question? Does he really not know? It’s not a question about location. It’s a question of proximity. God is asking where the distance came from. Something has changed in his relationship with people. Though he created them for closeness, they have now become separated.

This separation has been the burden God carries ever since this moment. It is the one great quest of the biblical story - to bridge this gap and restore what is lost.

We’ve tried to fix this separation on our own. We’ve tried to come to God through our own means. We’ve tried to appease him with sacrifices. We’ve tried to earn his love through good works. We’ve attempted to get his notice through our good moral behavior. Yet every single one of these attempts has fallen short of restoring the breach between us. We simply, from our side, cannot bridge this God-sized gap.

But at our lowest moment, this passage gives us hope and offers a clue as to what God will do on our behalf to put an end to our self-imposed separation.

After he curses the enemy - you will eat dust - he says this:

Genesis 3:15 “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”

This is called the proto-euangelion. The first gospel. It’s the first time the good news is presented in the Bible - though it is veiled at this point. God is going to act decisively through another woman to bring forth One specific offspring who will deliver a death blow to the enemy. Through this coming offspring God will heal the rift of separation between himself and his human creation.

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Centuries go by, and while God provided a way for his people to draw near in worship, the wound of separation is never fully healed. Until we read this:

Galatians 4:4–5 “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children.”

Here is the good news. The separation we caused, the divide that we could not bridge, has been removed by Jesus. What we were powerless to do, God has done for us in the most remarkable way - by becoming one of us. Where we have hidden from God in fear, he has pursued us and sought us out. Where we were separated by sin, we are now reconciled by Jesus.

The gospel in chairs… God is like Jesus…

2 Corinthians 5:19 “… in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them…”

Notice that it does not say God is reconciling himself to us; he never turned away. Rather, he is reconciling us back to him by showing us the extent of his love for us through Jesus. This was and is Jesus singular mission, as he said it: Luke 19:10 “For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”

In the fullness of time God has satisfied this longing of the human heart to be restored to God. He has healed our division through his Son. We no longer need to fear where we are. In Jesus we’ve been found.

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Ministry...

Where are you?

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Communion

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What an amazing time of worship we’ve had today. I’m glad you’ve been a part of it. If you’ve been blessed today, why not invite a friend to join you next week. We have some invite packs on the back table.

*** Announcement reminders ***

Dismissal prayer

Now as we prepare to take this time of worship into the week ahead, the Lord who loves you reminds you that:

2 Corinthians 5:18 NRSV

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation;

GO BE THE CHURCH!!