Where Are You?

On the Sunday morning that Jesus rose from the grave.

Mary Magdalene stayed near the tomb,..

and the gospel of John tells us,..

that Jesus saw her and asked her why she was crying.

Mary did not recognize Jesus,

but she thought that he was the gardener,...

taking care of the garden.

So she asked where they might have taken his body.

Of course, Mary was wrong about one thing,

but she was also right about something else.

Mary was wrong to thing that Jesus was still dead,

he was not dead, but alive.

But when she assumed that Jesus was a gardener,

she was not wrong about that.

Jesus is the ultimate gardener.

He created the garden of Eden,

and when on earth,

he loved to hang out in gardens,

like the garden of Gethsemane.

And of course Revelation tells us,...

that Jesus is planning to plant another garden.

Turn with me and lets read and be encouraged by it.

Let’s read God’s word and be blessed by it.

come on somebody we have a lot to be thankful for! Amen!

https://elevationchurch.org/sermons/life-between-two-gardens/

You know as I read these verses in Revelation,

I receive great hope that one day,

I receive great hope for one day...

all things will be made right.

all things will be made right..

But I want to make sure that I have great hope…

But I want to make sure that I have great hope…

and great faith to live out what I need to live out Today,

Because Sometimes life can be hard.

You see “What God uses to develop your faith is disappointment,…

and what the devil uses to destroy your faith is disappointment.”

I want to dive into disappointment today,…

because that is something that we can all relate to.

I want to identify where does disappointment comes from,…

I want to identify where does disappointment comes from,…

and what we are going to do about it.

Here is the deal, we’ve all either just been through stuff,…

or we are in the middle of some stuff,…

..or we are headed towards being in some stuff.

And you may say pastor that is not very positive, no I’m positive.

We either been through some stuff,

or we are in some stuff,

or we’re about to go through some stuff. Right?

So I would like to open God’s word,…

and discover what do we do about the disappointment ..

the disappointment we all face every single day.

we all face every single day.

But first let’s discover where disappointment comes from,

and to do that we are going to turn over to Genesis,

the very first book of the Bible. Starting in Gen. 2:5, 8, 9, 15-17

that the man did not write one ,…

because the very next the Lord said,

ahh, it is not good for the man to be alone.

I will make a helper suitable for him.”

And women have been making lists for their men ever since,,

So, Adam names all the animals,

then God causes Adam to fall into a deep sleep,

and he takes part of his rib

and from that he fashions a woman.

And then God brings the woman to Adam,

listen to what he says, it’s so poetic,

it’s almost like rivaling any awesome song you can hear today. Read -25

Read

that she had apple bottom jeans and boots with fur.

I can’t find that in all my reading,…

but that’s what I heard being said. Read Verse 24, 25.

They felt no shame,

they were standing there completely vulnerable,…

before one another and before God himself.

There was perfection in their relationship,

there was perfect communion with God.

The atmosphere, the environment, all of it was perfect,

everything was amazing.

But then we find read up to…“Did God really say,”

Don’t you kind of wish that the woman,…

at this point would’ve said,

if your so interested in what God had to say,

go ask him yourself, right?

That would’ve saved all of us a whole lot of trouble, wouldn’t it?

But that’s not what happens.

“Did God really say?”

And isn’t it also interesting,

that the devil always wants to make us question God’s word.

I mean, God is the Creator,

but the enemy is the pervertor,

not only does he want to make us doubt God’s Word,

he wants to make us believe

that God’s Word is too difficult to understand

and too hard to live out.

The thing about it though,

is that the God of the Universe,

hand fashioned our brain,

I’m convinced with his word in mind.

We were made to be able to

not only to get into God’s Word

but for God’s Word to get into us. come one somebody...

That’s amazing right?

But the enemy wants to pervert that.

And then look at what he does,

when he quotes back what God said,

the enemy’s first three words that he said God said,was

“You must not…”

Now what were actually God’s first three words?

God’s actually first three words were “you are free.”

We serve a God of freedom..

but the enemy wants us to believe that..

we serve a God of restriction,

the enemy wants us to believe

that we serve a “You must not…” God.

But that’s not true.

We serve a God of freedom.

He has woven the theme of freedom,

he wants his people to free all the way through the Bible.

Now he does give us some restriction,

but it’s for our protection.

We serve a God of freedom.

But look how the enemy twists that,

when he quotes God, he said,

God said, “you must not eat from any tree in the garden

and the woman said to the serpent,

we may eat from the fruit from the trees in the garden.

But God did say you must not eat from the fruit of the tree...

that is in the middle of the garden.

You must not even touch it, or you will die.

Now that is not at all what God said,

she added that last little part,

I think its very dangerous when we add our opinion on top of God’s Word.

So many times people will ask me,

what is your opinion about this issue and that issue

and I at times respond,

“Why does my opinion matter when God’s Word is so very clear?”

We have to get into God’s Word

and let God’s Word get into us

and God gives us the answers that we need.

No need to be adding our opinion to God’s Word.

Verse 4 “You will not certainly die,”...

the serpent said to the woman.

“For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened,

and you will be like God,

knowing good and evil.”

“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…”

wait just one minute.

So I used to think as I was reading this story,

that it was kind of challenging

that God put would out this tree in the middle,

the tree of the knowledge of good and evil

and hang on it fruit that was so pleasing to the eye

and good for food.

Like Brownie alamod fruit

how could she resist.

And to put that amazing fruit there

and say, “don’t eat from it,”

that seems kind of complicated to me,

until I kept it in the context that is really in.

And you remember when we read in ,

there the detail about all the trees in the garden,

were good for food

and had amazing fruit on it.

They all had the brownie alamod fruit hanging on it, right?

She was surrounded by God’s provision

but she stared at the one thing God said not to have.

And we will steer where we stare.. right?

Same thing, we want what we want

and we get fixated on something,

even if God says no.

We try to say yes.

Because here is the thing,

we may sometimes think

that God is withholding something from us.

God is not withholding something from us,

God is protecting us…

from all that’s contained in that fruit,

that we have no idea.

That fruit was the knowledge of good and evil.

The human heart was never supposed to know the knowledge of evil.

It is too heavy of a weight.

God was not withholding from us,

he was protecting us.

You know what the knowledge of evil is?

It’s all those things we experience

and we say it’s not supposed to be this way.

A cancer diagnosis, infertility struggle,

betrayal, heartbreak, devastations that we see on the nightly news.

You’re right, it’s not supposed to be this way.

God never intended for us to know the knowledge of evil,

but Eve looked at the one thing

she wasn’t supposed to take

and took some and she ate it

and she gave some to her husband

who was with her and he ate it.

then Suddenly the eyes of both of them were opened

and realized they were naked.

I wonder what that moment was like,

did they look down and go ohh?

Or did they look across and say, oh no bro,

you have to cover that up.

You need some fig leaves

and do something about all of that.

I don’t know, I wasn’t there.

But this I know, they weren’t just physically naked,

they were also emotionally naked.

They never felt the weight of guilt before,

but they do now.

And they were spiritually naked,

they never felt the weight of shame before,

but they do now.

And so while Adam and Eve are hiding,

here comes God walking in the cool of the day.

And I just imagine in all that God would’ve been justified in saying,

but he doesn’t.

He simply asks them two questions.

I’m stunned by this,

and I think that maybe God,…

would like to ask us those two same questions today.

The first question he asks, “Where are you?”

Now their physical location was not a mystery to God.

He knew exactly where they were located.

He us God. He knew exactly where they were located.

But Adam and Eve are hiding,

and they are afraid.

The sound that used to be such a delight to them,

when everything was perfect,

the sound of God walking in the garden,

it used to be like, “Daddy’s home,”

and I imagine them running through the garden and so excited.

But if you were a child,…

and you ever had your momma say this to you,

“you wait till your daddy gets home,”

you know the sound of daddy getting home,

on those days are not so nice, right?

And I imagine now,

the very sound that used to bringing them such joy,

is now making them so afraid.

And so I think God is asking, “Where are you?”

Because they lost their spiritual orientation,

they’ve forgotten where to go too,

when they are afraid.

I think God asks me that question some mornings,

when I wake up and I’m gloomy.

Have you been ever been gloomy?

when you just wake up,

and for no particular reason,

you feel like the weight of the world is on you,

your kind of grumpy

and you know you should listen to a praise song

but you say, no, let me hop on Facebook for a minute,

let me hop on Instagram.

And I’ll hop on Instagram

and start scrolling and it doesn’t make my gloominess better,

it multiplies my gloom

because everybody looks happier than me,

they are enjoying a warm, sunny, vacation,

with palm trees in the background,

their house is better decorated then mine,

and my friends got together

and went out to dinner last night,..

and I am like what?

They didn’t even invite me?

And my gloominess is multiplied.

And God is asking, Mariya, “Where are you?”

Where are you girl?

You need to get off of Facebook

and get your face in my book,

because that is where hope can be found.

I know what you need... right!.

The second question God asked them,

found in , “Who told you that you were naked?”

Remember that Adam, Eve, and God,…

are not the only ones in the garden at this point.

The enemy is also there,

and I know from reading , .

10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:

v. 10.“Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.

v 11. They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.

The enemy is called the accuser of the brethren,

he accuses us day and night.

And so I know that the enemy is there

and I believe that the enemy would love for,…

Adam and Eve to believe,..

and for you and I to believe,…

and for you and I to believe,…

that we haven’t just done something wrong,…

we are something wrong.

And he accuses us so he can try to lock us in chains of shame. right?!

You see the enemy would love for us to be imprisoned,

you know by all this stuff.

I think God asking,

who told you, that you are naked? is really saying.

In another words,

who told you were anything less than,..

the amazing child of the Almighty God.

Who told you, you were naked!?

You see I think some of us have words,…

that have been sitting on us for a long time,

and pain that we carry around with us,…

that was from a long time ago.

And at some point in your life

somebody spoke a line to you

and it became a lie that you believed about yourself.

And then that lie that you believed about yourself,…

suddenly became a label, that you put on yourself and your identity...

and now that label has become a liability,…

in all your relationships of today.

And somebody will say something to you today,

and will offend you

but you have a way out of proportion reaction to the offense at hand.

Why? Because you are still carrying the pain,…

of that line that became a lie,

that became a label and now is a liability

and you are holding this person accountable

for things they haven’t even done.

for things they haven’t even done.

who told you you were naked?

We cannot let their word become the words of our story.

We gotta let God’s words

become the words of the story our lives. Amen?

Well, after this then God had consequences for them

because sin always comes as a package deal with consequences.

There is no sin that you commit

where there is not a package deal

with consequences that comes with...

and there were consequences.

But sin also demands a sacrifice...

lets look at : 21, 22, 23

Every time I read this verse it is hard for me to hear

that God banished them from the garden of Eden.

If you ever read that and thought ahh. …

That sits heavy on you... right?!

Looking at the original meaning...

of what Moses wrote here.

It means that God Sent Out,

not banished, in other words... God sent them out

which tells me he was doing it for a purpose, a reason.

Interestingly enough, that Hebrew word of sent out....

is closely related to the New Testament Greek word...

from when God so loved the world that he gave, or he

sends in His Son Jesus ...

again its appointing to what Jesus will one day be able do for us

again its appointing to what Jesus one day will do for us

what we can’t do for ourselves.

But why did God send them out of the Garden.

Why did they have to leave?

Look at the text its very clear...

remember there was another tree in the garden...

of the tree of life,

they were allowed to eat from that..

when they were in perfection.

To eat from the tree of life meant

their life will be perpetuated for eternity

and that was good when they were perfect.

But now that sin has entered in their bodies

is in a state of decay and are separated from God.

If God would have left them..

and they would have eaten from the tree of life

then they would’ve been stuck in that state forever

and God loved them too much to do that.

So he sends them out

and gives them a gift that will feel nothing like a gift at all.

He will allow their physical bodies to die...

so that they can trade that then for a spiritual body.

That through the forgiveness of Jesus Christ

they can enter back

into that perfect relationship with God.

This was not an act of cruelty

it was an act of great mercy. Amen!!

Now, let me just point out one more thing though.

From all that we’ve read we now know..

that the human heart was created..

in the context of the perfection of the Garden of Eden.

So when Adam and Eve were sent out

God did not strip from them that awareness of perfection.

The awareness of perfection is etched...

into the very DNA of our soul.

We know perfection exist but we can’t find it.

No wonder we are disappointed...

this is where disappointment comes from.

Have you ever been taking a picture with a group of friends..

and you all smile and before they posted you say let me see it.

And then you hold it like this and…what are you looking at? aha..

Yourself.. right...mmmmm...and if you happen to be in the middle hips tucked behind the person beside you

and you look real good

you’ll be like oh yeah we gotta post this one right away

its good for everybody uh-huh.

But if you are the sad fool that got stuck on the end this way...

all wide looking, you know what im saying...

and everything and your arms are not,not good.

and chin something... something…happening

you will hit the trash can on their phone.

And you will say it was blurry, everybody’s eye were shut.

let me get up here in the middle lets take that picture now…right?

We know perfection exists we keep looking for it

but even then even if the picture is a really good angle of us,

we still crop it, we edited it right, we filter it.

And that’s not even good enough

now we posted to make sure other people think it’s perfect..

then we hit refresh, refresh, refresh...

how many likes do I get right!?

We know perfection exists

and that’s where disappointment comes from.

So here’s my question.

Why didn’t God strip the awareness..

of perfection out from our hearts?

Because its his way of drawing our heart to him..

the one who is perfect.

The only one who is perfect ..

the answer to every desire for perfection..

that we keep chasing...

and if lesser love ever satisfies us...

we would think we had no need for God.

So my friends that’s where disappointment comes from.

We hold everything up to this standard..

this expectation of perfection...

and then are experience hits right here..

and fertile ground between those two is disappointment.

Now if the worst disappointment that we face today is…that...

We go through drive thru coffee line

and they frapee our latte and waylay our whole day..

we’re like oh I’m just gonna put a little Jesus on it..

and its gonna be okay and..

will handle my disappointment. Right?

And that’s good that’s good.

But a lot of us are going through disappointments

that are pretty serious..

heartbreaking actually

and its not just disappointment really...

its like a devastation a disillusionment.

What do we do about that?

Well we heard in Revelation that there will be a new day.

So let’s turn back to Revelation

because I want to show you something else that I think is profound.

Let’s look at 6

and then lets look no longer there will be any curse.

Let me give a spiritual orientation here...

we start out in the perfection of Eden..

but we don’t live there anymore

so we live with the anxiety of the first Eden.

In that we just read from my Bible says..

that’s when Eden is restored.

So we not only live from anxiety of the first Garden of Eden..

but we live in to the anticipation...

of the perfection of Eden’s return.

But right now we’re simply doing life..

between the two Gardens.

And I wonder if that could help...

make sense of some of the disappointments.

And maybe we can stop expecting a perfection...

out of ourselves and others..

out of our relationship that not even God expects.

Like I wonder if we could just give..

people a little more grace right?!

Stop expecting our jobs to be so perfect.

Stop expecting church to be so perfect.

Stop expecting your neighbor to be so perfect..

your spouse to be so perfect...

your kids to be so perfect.

I wonder if we can step back a little bit..

and acknowledge yeap..

I am doing life between two gardens right...

Its not always gonna be that way...

but it is that way just today.

Now, what do we do about it.

To do that I want you to turn to

there’s a middle garden in this life between two gardens.

In Jesus just had his last supper

with the disciples they walked across the Kidron valley..

and now they’ve gone to this place...

they would meet at often outside the city..

a place called the Garden of Gethsemane.

Gethsemane means the place of the pressing of the olive.

Mrk 14: 32.33, 34... This is what Jesus says,

Verse Mrk 14: 32.33, 34... This is what Jesus says,

(knowing fully well that soldiers are on their way to arrest him and take him on the road to the cross.)

I don’t know about you but as I read these words of Jesus

I find myself saying there are no words of Jesus...

that I can relate to more then this.

Because I know how it is to walk through something..

and feel so overwhelmed with sorrow..

and say I think this might kill me.

Have you ever been there?

I know what it feels like to come into church..

and sit back there and feel like you barely can walk it ..

and barely breath and not to be able to hear the whole messages.

But sometimes its sentences you may hear...

here in church can change your lives.

That’s why we come to this church to be inspired..

and be touched by the word of God and inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Some of you walked in church today ...

and you are right there... feeling like you may be hanging by a thread.

I’m so proud of you for being here..

you know that’s is exactly where you need to be.

It’s the best place to come..

because we care about you..

and we appreciate that you are here..

and together we can proclaim..

and stand firm in our God. and proclaim the promises of God.

A place where we can be reminded…

that our God is good..

and that we serve a good God.

That’s why I think Jesus said to the disciples..

stay here and keep watch.

I used to think he said that...

bc the soldiers were coming..

and he didn’t want to get caught off guard.

But Jesus is God with full divinity..

and absolute humanity..

he knew where the soldiers were.

But I think there is another meaning...

But I think there is another meaning...

But I think there is another meaning...

I think Jesus is saying staying here...

and watch how I do this life between two gardens.

Stay here and watch me cause you gonna need this..

you gonna need this as you go through.

times of deep sorrow..

and deep heart brake..

stay here and watch me, keep eyes on me.

Because he knows how it feels to be betrayed…

he knows how it feels to be heartbroken..

he knows the weight of all of that.

And the reason God sent him..

was not just to make an atonement for our sins..

but what a great gift that was…

but also so that he could be..

a merciful and faithful high priest to us.

We can trust his teaching because...

we can know that he felt what we feel.

We can know that he wants to love and restore us.

We know that we ought to keep..

our eyes and knees in prayer.

Because he is the only one...

who can deliver from any disappointment..

from any struggle that we may face.

Friends, we live between two gardens..

and we have great hope today...

our hope is that we will be together in that beautiful Garden..

the Garden that he has prepared for us...

that offers peace and love, unity, reconciliation.

We experience disappointments because of the first garden..

but remember the second garden...

keep your eyes on Jesus,

and we shall be with him in that perfect, glorious, second garden with Him forever. Amen.