Advent: Longing

Intro

The months of November and December have always been my favorite months of the year. I love the summer months, but the seasons of both Thanksgiving and Christmas have always held a special place in my heart. I went home last week and I got to see friends I hadn’t seen in more than a year, and family that I haven’t seen in months. I got to sleep in my old room, eat breakfast at my old kitchen table, get tacos from the best taco stand in the country. I got to do all of these things that I once took for granted. Then, Friday, so two days ago, my parents, my sister and brother-in-law and I drove down to my granddad’s farm. Growing up, we’d spend every Thanksgiving holiday at my grandparent’s. My Grandmother and mom would cook tons of incredible food, and my brother, sister, cousins, and me would spend all day driving around my grandfather’s land in one of his ATVs. And Friday, for the first time in about 10 years, I got to do that again. And as I was driving around through creeks, past cows and deer, and all kinds of other wildlife, I was hit with this heavy nostalgia. For the first time in my life, I actually missed home. I missed being there. I had this longing for something that 1. doesn’t really exist any more. All of the nostalgia was towards this simpler way of life that’s no longer there and won’t ever be there again. My brother and sister are grown and married, my grandmother has since passed away, friends are scattered all over the country. I was missing the way things used to be. I was missing my childhood. But, at the same time that I was missing all of these things, I felt this very intense longing for something. And I can’t figure it out, even right now as I talk about it. I don’t know if it was a longing to go back, or a longing for a different life. All I know is that inside of me then and even now, there was this overwhelming desire for something more. And I think that describes how this Christmas season should be viewed. Today, December 1st, is the first day of Advent. And Advent is this season of longing, or waiting with anticipation, where we look back on the coming of Jesus as a child, and we look forward to Jesus’ second coming, when he returns for his people. For the next few weeks, as Christmas approaches and as our winter retreat approaches, we’ll talk about longing for Jesus, preparing to meet Jesus, and experiencing Jesus.

And so, for this morning, I’m sure all of us have felt a longing that we can’t explain and that we don’t know how to satisfy. We aren’t alone in this. For all of human history and for all of biblical history, everyone has felt this. And this feeling began in Genesis chapter 3.

Genesis 3:1–24 NIV

1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ” 4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. 8 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. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” 10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” 11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” 12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” 14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” 16 To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” 17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” 20 Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living. 21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

Exposition

This is where it all began. All of the sin, all of the hurt, all of the broken relationships, every painful awful thing that happens in this life began here. The longing for something that is unattainable began here. Right before this story, in chapter 2, is the climax of creation. God had made Adam, the first human, out of dust. He breathed life into his nostrils. And we quickly see that Adam is a very special part of creation. We read that God has made a garden where he and Adam can dwell together, or live together. And this garden is beautiful. It says that in this garden God sprung up every tree that was pleasant to look at and were full of food. Rivers flowed out of the garden. It was this beautiful, peaceful place where God and man dwelt together. And God placed Adam over the garden. He was in charge of taking care of it and he was given authority over all living things. Then, God realized that he shouldn’t be alone. He needed a helper, someone to come alongside of him and partner with him. So, he makes Adam fall asleep, and he takes one of his ribs, and he makes Eve, the first woman, and she becomes Adam’s wife. And they lived together - they had companionship. So, in the beginning we see Adam and Eve enjoying an unbroken relationship with God and with each other, and they had everything they could ever want or ever need. They lived in a land with God and without longing. Everything was great. But, in the midst of all of this, before Eve was created, God gave one prohibition to Adam. He says in

Genesis 2:16–17 NIV

16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

Then we get to chapter three, and the serpent comes in, or the Devil, and he’s “more crafty than any other beast of the field,” and he creeps up to Eve and he says “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” Is that really what God said? From any tree? Well, God didn’t say this. He told Adam, and I’m assuming Adam told Eve, that they could eat from any tree in the Garden, but they couldn’t eat from the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil. If they do, they’ll die. God was very specific in his prohibition. And Eve responds saying “We may eat fruit from the trees in the Garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.” She gets most of it right, but God never said anything about touching the tree. Either Adam added this in when he told the command to Eve, or Eve has added it in herself. And then the serpent jumps in. He’s like, Naaa, you won’t die. God’s lying to you. Satan is saying, you can’t trust him. He doesn’t know what’s best for you. Why would he give you all of this, but then tell you that you can’t eat from this tree? He must not really love you. He knows that when you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, and you’ll be just like him, knowing Good and evil. And God wants to keep you from all of that? Don’t listen to him, listen to me. He tempts Eve with being just like God. And now she has a choice: trust God and what he’s commanded, or believe the lies of the serpent. And all of us face this choice daily. We either choose to trust God or we choose to trust something else. And this is the core of sin. This is the core of the whole human drama. We chose something other than God, and everything fell apart. And the reason that we do this comes from the decision that Eve makes in verse 6: “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” They ate the fruit. Both Eve, and Adam. They believed that there was something better than what God had given them. They believed there was a way of life better than the life they had with God.

Application

And then it all fell apart. Everything broke. Adam and Eve become aware of their nakedness, so they do everything they can to cover themselves up. They grab leaves and twigs and they try and make clothes out of what they have. They’re trying to cover their shame. A problem we have today. Anytime we sin, or at least I do this, my first response is to hide it. I try to cover it up myself, and make it seem like nothing happened. We do everything in our power to cover up the shame we experience from our sins. But, God walks into the Garden, and Adam and Eve hear him, so they run and hide. And God knows at this point, but he calls to them and he says “Where are you?” And Adam speaks up, probably with a quivering voice, “Oh, hey, I heard you, but I’m naked so I hid.” And God says “Who told you that you were naked? You at from the tree didn’t you? And what does Adam immediately do? He blames Eve and God. God, the woman, the woman that YOU made, she gave me the fruit and so I ate it. Instead of owning up to his portion of the sin and confessing to God, he shifts the blame on to Eve and God. And then Eve immediately shifts blame to the serpent. No one wants to take responsibility. But both Adam and Eve broke the command. And now, their relationship with each other is broken or cursed, and so even today, all relationships are broken and stained by sins. Original sin and our currents sins. But, their relationship with God, who walked with them in the garden, is now broken. A holy God cant live in relationship with sinful creatures. And this is how the chapter closes. God kills an animal and takes the skin and clothes Adam and Eve with it. This is the first sacrifice and it covers them. The twigs and leaves the gathered couldn’t do it. Something had to die. Then, he kicks Adam and Eve out of the Garden.

And this is where our longing began. We’re longing, whether we realize it or not, for something. We’re searching for something. We’re searching for meaning, we’re searching for acceptance, we’re searching for certainty, happiness, for rescue, for belonging, for wrong to be made right, we’re searching, I think, for home. The consequence of the fall is that we’ve been exiled from the Garden. We’ve been exiled from intimacy with God. All of our relationships have been fractured in some way. Creation has been cursed, and we have storms, and earthquakes, and famines and all other sorts of evil. We’ve been cursed with sin, and everything has been broken, and we’re desperately searching and waiting and longing for it to be made right. We’re restless in our search for meaning and for home.

And this is what this Christmas season is about. How can this all be made right again? How can we be restored? How can the separation between us and God be closed?How can our longings be truly and fully met?

Even in the midst of Adam and Eve’s sin, God had a plan. Look at verse 15. It says “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” This is the first reference to the Gospel. God has promised that there will be an offspring of the woman who will crush the head of the snake. Who will defeat the hold that Satan has on this world and on us. From the very beginning, God’s plan was to restore everything through Jesus Christ. The Israelites knew that there would one day be someone who would come along and free them from their bondages. They longed for that day. And Jesus has come. He was born, and he died, and he crushed the head of the serpent, defeating death and sin and separation, and so restoring the relationship between us and God. The longing that we feel that we can’t describe with words is the longing to be in a relationship with God. says

Ecclesiastes 3:11 NIV

11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

God has put eternity in our hearts. Nothing outside of God himself can fill a void that big. We try and try to fill ourselves with other things. I was convinced when I was in fifth grade that if I got a PS2 for Christmas, I’d be happy. Christmas came around, and I anxiously opened every gift, and the last gift that I opened was in this big square box, it was kind of heavy, and I just knew it was a PS2. I could literally feel it. So I’m tearing into this thing. Wrapping paper is flying, bits and pieces of cardboard are going everywhere, and I finally get it opened, and it’s a CD burner. And I was still kind of excited, but very disappointed. And then, a month later I got a PS2 for my birthday. And it was fun for a few weeks, but after that not as much. Then I got some new games, and it was fun for about a year, but then I needed new games again. I kept having to add to it. It never fully satisfied me. And life is like that. We think certain things will fill us up, but they don’t. They can’t. Nothing outside of God can fill the eternity sized hole that’s in our hearts. A hole that I think was placed there after Adam and Eve’s sin. And a whole that can now be filled because of the birth, death, and promises of Jesus Christ.

So, if you feel a sense of longing this Christmas season, you’re not alone. All of us feel it. I’ve been following Jesus for a long time and I still feel it, and I have to remind myself that nothing other than Jesus himself can fill that longing. Going home was good and hard. Wauchula would be a very easy place to work and make a lot of money and have a lot of things and make a name for myself, and I felt that a lot this last week. I could have a really comfortable life there. But I know, even when I don’t feel it, that that wouldn’t fill my longing. Only Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us, the one who has come to make all things new, only by following him can our longings be satisfied.