IN THE MIDST — WEEK 1

The Center of the World

Text: Genesis 2:8–9; 3:1–24 (LSB)

INTRODUCTION

Before we move forward into a new series, we need to name something honestly.

Almost every time Christians today hear that Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father, it is framed almost exclusively in terms of intercession for His people. And that is gloriously true. He does intercede. He does keep. He does preserve His own.

But Scripture does not stop there.

Not long ago, I attended a function where Christ’s session at the right hand of God was mentioned. And the statement was simple: “We know Christ is at the right hand.” And everyone nodded. Everyone was comforted.

But what followed focused entirely on intercession—Christ praying for His people—while the rest was quietly ignored. No mention of enemies. No mention of the footstool. No mention of reigning.

And I remember sitting there thinking: That’s it. That’s the imbalance.

Psalm 110 does not say only that Christ intercedes at the right hand of God. It says that He reigns there—until His enemies are made His footstool.

Indefinitely. Without interruption. Without delay.

Yet in much modern preaching, that second half is often muted or ignored. The throne becomes a place of comfort, but not of conquest. The session becomes pastoral, but not judicial. Christ is portrayed as praying for His people—but rarely as ruling in the midst of His enemies.

And that imbalance matters.

Because the New Testament overwhelmingly uses Psalm 110 not to describe Christ waiting, but Christ reigning. Not postponing authority, but exercising it. Intercession is real—but it exists within His reign, not instead of it. He intercedes while He rules. He preserves His people while His footstool is being formed.

Psalm 110 forces us to recover that truth.

Christ is not seated in heaven merely to comfort the Church. He is seated to govern history. He is seated to subdue enemies. He is seated to advance His Kingdom—in the midst of resistance.

And that phrase—in the midst—is where we are headed next.

Because this is not a new pattern. It is the ancient way Yahweh has always worked.

He ruled in the midst of Egypt, making a distinction between His people and His enemies. He ruled in the midst of exile, preserving a remnant. He ruled in the midst of hostile nations, advancing His purposes without retreat.

Psalm 110 shows us the throne. This series shows us the pattern.

Not escape. Not evacuation. But Yahweh reigning in the midst.

So as we close The Forgotten Psalm, we do not leave Christ on the throne—we follow Him into the world He already rules.

Because the same King who intercedes for His people also reigns until His enemies fall.

And His people are called to live faithfully in the midst.

With that foundation laid, we now go back—not forward—to the beginning.

SCRIPTURE READING

Hear now the Word of the Lord.

Genesis 2:8–9

And Yahweh God planted a garden in Eden, toward the east; and there He placed the man whom He had formed. 9And out of the ground Yahweh God caused to grow every tree that is desirable in appearance and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Genesis 3:1–24 (LSB)

1Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which Yahweh God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” 2And the woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 3but from the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God said, ‘You shall not eat from it, and you shall not touch it, lest you die.’ ” 4And the serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! 5For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6Then 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, so she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. 7And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.8Then they heard the sound of Yahweh God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Yahweh God in the midst of the trees of the garden. 9Yahweh God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10And he said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” 11And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12And the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave to me from the tree, and I ate.” 13Then Yahweh God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” 14And Yahweh God said to the serpent,“Because you have done this,Cursed are you more than any of the cattle,And more than every beast of the field;On your belly you will go,And dust you will eatAll the days of your life;15And I will put enmityBetween you and the woman,And between your seed and her seed;He shall bruise you on the head,And you shall bruise him on the heel.”16To the woman He said,“I will greatly multiplyYour pain and conception,In pain you will bear children;Your desire will be for your husband,And he will rule over you.”17Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’;Cursed is the ground because of you;In pain you will eat of itAll the days of your life.18“Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you;And you will eat the plants of the field;19By the sweat of your faceYou will eat bread,Till you return to the ground,Because from it you were taken;For you are dust,And to dust you shall return.”20Now the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living. 21Then Yahweh God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and He clothed them.22Then Yahweh God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us to know good and evil; and now, lest he send forth his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat and live forever”— 23therefore Yahweh God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. 24So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.

This is the Word of the Lord.

I. GOD ESTABLISHES THE CENTER (Genesis 2:8–9)

“Yahweh God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden… and in the midst of the garden, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”

Moses is not giving us decorative detail. When Scripture slows down like this, it is directing our attention. The placement of these trees is not incidental geography; it is theological architecture. God is teaching us something about how His world works before sin ever enters the picture.

God intentionally places something in the midst. What is placed at the center is meant to govern everything around it. Before Adam is commanded, before he is tested, before the serpent appears, God establishes a center of authority.

That matters, because the center is not chosen by man. It is revealed by God. Adam does not negotiate it. He does not help define it. He receives it. From the very beginning, Scripture makes clear that authority is not created by humanity—it is disclosed by the Creator.

Two trees stand in the midst of the garden. That does not mean there are two competing centers. It means there is one source of authority expressed in two inseparable truths.

The Tree of Life declares that life flows from God alone. Adam does not generate life. He receives it. Dependence is not a result of the fall—it is part of creation.

The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil declares that moral authority belongs to God alone. God defines what is good. God defines what is evil. Adam is not invited to discover morality independently, but to live under God’s word.

Life and obedience are not separated here. Blessing and submission are not divided. To live is to live under God’s definition of reality.

And it is important to see that Adam himself is not placed at the center. He is given dominion, but he is not sovereign. He is called to rule under God, not in place of God. Creation does not orbit around man; man orbits around God.

Eden, then, is not merely a garden. It is the world’s first sanctuary. God walks there. God speaks there. God commands there. This is temple language before there is a temple. Heaven and earth meet here. God dwells with man as King.

And at the heart of that sanctuary—at the very center—stands God’s authority.

From the very beginning, humanity is taught this foundational truth:

Life works only when God defines good and evil.

Nothing has changed since.

II. GOD’S PRESENCE IS ASSUMED, NOT DEFENDED

Genesis does not pause to argue for God’s nearness. It does not try to prove that God exists, or that He is present. It simply assumes it.

God speaks. God commands. God walks with man.

These are not treated as extraordinary events. They are treated as normal life. That is important, because it tells us something about the way the world was created to function. God’s presence is not an intrusion into creation—it is the natural environment of creation.

In Eden, God’s nearness does not need explanation. Adam is not surprised by it. He is not overwhelmed by it. He does not try to escape it. God’s presence is not framed as mystical or distant. It is relational, personal, and authoritative.

Later Scripture will make this explicit. God will say, “I will walk in your midst.” The Gospels will say, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” Revelation will say, “The Lamb stands in the midst of the throne.”

But here, none of that needs to be stated yet. It is simply assumed.

That tells us something critical: distance from God is not original. Separation is not natural. Alienation is not how the world was designed to operate. God-with-man is the default setting of creation.

Eden shows us that God’s presence is not merely comforting—it is governing. God speaks, and His word defines reality. God commands, and obedience is expected. God walks with man as King, not as a guest.

This is why Scripture does not treat God’s presence as something to be defended in Genesis. It treats it as something that later must be recovered.

The tragedy of the fall is not only that man becomes guilty. It is that what was once normal—life lived openly before God—becomes disrupted. The story of redemption is the story of God restoring what was assumed in the beginning.

In Eden, God’s presence is simply normal.

This is what the world was created for.

III. THE SERPENT ATTACKS THE CENTER

(Genesis 3:1–5)

The serpent does not begin with open rebellion. He does not deny God outright. He does not command Adam and Eve to disobey.

He begins with reinterpretation.

“Has God really said…?”

That question is not innocent. It is strategic. The serpent is not interested in the fruit itself; he is interested in undermining authority. The issue is not appetite. The issue is who gets to define reality.

By framing the question this way, the serpent subtly shifts the discussion. God’s word is no longer treated as final and authoritative. It becomes something to be examined, weighed, adjusted, and eventually corrected by human judgment.

This is why the temptation does not begin with desire, but with doubt. Once doubt is introduced, obedience is already weakened.

The serpent targets what God placed in the midst because rebellion always begins by challenging the center. If the center can be moved, everything else can be reordered. If authority can be questioned, obedience becomes optional.

Notice what the serpent does not do. He does not remove God from the conversation. He redefines God’s role within it.

God is still acknowledged—but no longer obeyed without question.

That is why every false gospel follows the same pattern.

First, God’s word is questioned. It is treated as unclear, outdated, or incomplete. Second, God’s authority is diminished. His commands are reframed as suggestions or ideals. Finally, man is invited to take the throne—to decide for himself what is good and what is evil.

This is not merely ancient temptation. It is the repeating strategy of rebellion throughout history. Wherever God’s word is softened, His authority soon disappears. And wherever His authority disappears, something else inevitably takes the center.

The serpent understands this. That is why he attacks the center first.

IV. SIN IS A GRASP FOR THE CENTER

(Genesis 3:6)

When Adam and Eve eat from the tree, they are not merely disobeying a rule. Scripture will not allow us to reduce sin to simple rule-breaking. What takes place here is far deeper and far more destructive.

They are attempting to re-center reality around themselves.

Up to this point, God has defined what is good and what is evil. His word has functioned as the fixed point around which everything else turns. In the moment Adam and Eve take and eat, they are no longer receiving God’s definition of reality—they are claiming the right to define it themselves.

This is why the serpent’s temptation succeeds. Once God’s authority is questioned, disobedience becomes conceivable. And once disobedience becomes conceivable, self-rule is only a step away.

This is the essence of sin:

Refusing to trust God to rule.

Adam does not simply doubt God’s goodness. He replaces God’s judgment with his own. What God placed at the center is pushed aside, and man steps into the middle. Authority is seized rather than received.

And once God is no longer in the midst, chaos inevitably ensues.

What happens in Genesis 3 is not merely the fall of man—it is the collapse of the created order because the center has been seized. Disorder is not accidental; it is unavoidable. Creation cannot remain stable when the One who holds it together is displaced.

That is why the effects of sin are immediate and comprehensive. Shame appears where innocence once lived. Fear replaces trust. Blame replaces fellowship. Distance replaces communion.

The problem is not simply that a command was broken. The problem is that the center was taken.

And once God is no longer in the midst, nothing else can remain in its proper place.

V. EXILE IS REMOVAL FROM THE MIDST

(Genesis 3:22–24)

After sin, Scripture shows us consequence—not chaos, but judgment with precision.

Adam is driven out. The Tree of Life is guarded. God’s dwelling presence is no longer freely enjoyed.

This is not accidental. It is deliberate.

Exile is not merely a change of location; it is a theological relocation. Adam is removed from the place where God walked with man. He is cut off from the center. Cherubim are stationed, and the way back is closed. What was once normal—open fellowship with God—is now forbidden.

This is covenant justice, not cruelty.

God does not act in anger without purpose. He acts as a holy King enforcing the terms of His covenant. To allow fallen man to take hold of the Tree of Life would be to grant eternal life in rebellion. Eternal life in sin would not be blessing—it would be unending curse.

So judgment, here, is also restraint.

By guarding the Tree of Life, God restrains sin from becoming eternal. He closes one door so that grace may later open another. Exile is painful, but it preserves the possibility of redemption. God limits the spread of death in order to secure the future of life.

And even in exile, God does not disappear.

Though Adam is removed from the garden, God does not remove Himself from history. From this point forward, the Old Testament repeatedly shows us the same pattern: God coming in the midst—not because man deserves it, but because God is faithful.

He comes in the midst of Egypt to protect His people and judge their oppressors. He comes in the midst of Israel’s camp to dwell among them. He comes in the midst of the land to make distinction between righteousness and rebellion. He comes in the midst of exile to preserve a remnant. He comes in the midst of hostile nations to advance His purposes.

Exile does not mean absence. Distance does not mean abandonment.

The great problem introduced in Genesis is not only guilt—it is distance. Man is alive, but separated. Breathing, but barred. Created for God’s presence, yet removed from it. And the rest of Scripture is God’s answer to that condition.

Genesis does not end with man reigning. It ends with man outside.

But it also ends with God still acting, still speaking, still moving toward His creation. The cherubim guard the way not because God is finished with man, but because God is not finished yet.

And the story will not end with exile.

VI. CHRIST RESTORES THE CENTER

What Adam lost, Christ restores.

Adam grasped authority — Christ obeyed

Adam was expelled — Christ was cast out

Adam lost access to life — Christ is the Life

Jesus Christ did not merely come to forgive sins. He came to restore God to the center of His world.

The One seated at the right hand of God is the same One who restores Eden, governs history, and reigns in the midst of His enemies.

APPLICATIONS

What occupies the center of your life governs everything else. Your priorities, decisions, and hopes flow from whatever sits at the center. When God is central, life finds order; when He is displaced, confusion follows.

Sin rarely begins with open rebellion. It begins by questioning God’s authority—“Has God really said?” Once God’s word becomes negotiable, obedience soon becomes optional.

God’s commands are not restrictions meant to rob joy. They are life-giving boundaries designed to protect us. From the beginning, God’s word was meant to preserve life, not diminish it.

Removing God from the center always brings disorder. When God is no longer in the midst, chaos follows—shame, fear, blame, and brokenness. Creation only works when it orbits its Creator.

Christ restores what Adam ruined. Where Adam grasped authority, Christ obeyed. Where Adam brought death, Christ brings life. Redemption is God restoring Himself to the center of His world.

Faithful living does not mean escape from the world. It means obedience in the midst of it—walking faithfully under the reign of a King who already rules.

CALL TO REPENT AND BELIEVE

From Eden, to Psalm 110, to this very moment, God confronts humanity with the same question:

Who belongs at the center?

Most of us in this room have already answered that question with our lips. We have confessed Christ. We have named Him Lord. We have bowed the knee.

And yet Scripture presses us to ask it again—not because salvation is uncertain, but because drift is real.

Like Adam, we still feel the pull to trust ourselves. Like Adam, we still feel the temptation to soften God’s word. Like Adam, we still feel the desire to rule quietly where God alone should reign openly.

So this is not a call to panic. It is a call to return to seriousness.

To remember that Christianity is not merely forgiveness—it is submission to a reigning King.

The gospel is not that Christ died so we could rule our own lives more comfortably. The gospel is that the rightful King has taken His throne.

The reigning Christ—who intercedes for His people—also died for His enemies. He bore the curse Adam unleashed. He stepped outside the city so we could be brought back in. He rose victorious, not to wait, but to reign.

And He still calls—graciously, firmly, lovingly:

Not back to self-rule, but back to life under His rule.

So the call remains, even for the Church:

Repent — turn again from self-reliance, quiet compromise, and functional independence from God. Believe — trust Christ fully, not only as Savior, but as King.

And when you speak with others—neighbors, children, friends—this is the language you can use:

“The question isn’t whether you believe in God. The question is who’s at the center. Because life only works when Christ is there.”

This is not about fear. It is about alignment.

Not about escape. But about living faithfully in the midst—under the reign of a King who is good, just, alive, and already on the throne.

CLOSING PRAYER

Father in heaven, You alone belong at the center of all things. We confess that we have questioned Your word and trusted ourselves.

We thank You for Your Son— the last Adam, the reigning King, the faithful intercessor— who restores what was lost and rules without rival.

Grant us repentance and faith. Teach us to live faithfully in the midst of a world You already reign over. Place Christ again at the center of our lives, our church, and our witness.

We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.