In an effort to spend more time with my family and less time working, I have shifted my sermon writing technique from a prose style to an outline style. This means that the audio version of the sermons are going to contain a lot more details on the various points.

However, that doesn’t mean that there is no value in these notes as they do include the Bible references as well as the overall jest of the sermon.

I pray that it blesses all you out there in the blogosphere. 🙂

Leaving the Garden

1.    Introduction / Recap

a.    The Importance of Stories – Stories provide a frame work for how we view the world – they help direct our lives and impact the choices we make.

b.    False Stories

i.    American Dream

a.  “Dream of Abundance,”

b.  “Dream of a Democracy of Goods,”

c.  “Dream of Freedom of Choice,”

d.  “Dream of Freedom of Choice,”

ii.    “White Picket Fence”

iii.    “John Wayne Story”

iv.    “The Retirement Story”

c.    God’s Story – we have been called – invited – to join with God in His story. But in order for us to join with God, we need to know His Story.

i.    What is He doing?

ii.    What is the overall focus or the metanarrative of the Bible?

d.    The Kingship of God

I will put my dwelling place among you, and I will not abhor you. I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people. -Leviticus 26:11-12

e.    Five Act Play

i.    The lost Shakespeare play missing the last act

ii.    The 5 Acts of God’s Story

Act 1 – God is King

Act 2 – The Struggle of Kingship

Act 3 – A Kingdom of Priests

Act 4 – Jesus: The King in Flesh

Act 5 – Being the People of the King

iii.    Over the last two weeks we looked at the First Act

1.    Act 1 – God is King

a.    Scene 1: Creation

b.    Scene 2: Made in the Image of God

2.    Act 2 – The Struggle of Kingship

a.    Scene 1: Leaving the Garden

2)    Setting the Stage

a.    The book of Genesis was written by Moses during the Israelites journey in the wilderness

b.    During the time that God gave Moses the Law

c.    There are some amazing parallels and echoes of God’s kingship between the two

3)    Read Gen 2:4b-17

4)    Not a repeat

a.    Some folks say that Gen 1 and 2 don’t tell the same story – that they are in error

b.    Yet, they were NOT supposed to tell the same story

i.    Gen 1 is a story about the Kingship of God – it was to teach the Israelite people that God made everything and that He is in control

ii.    Gen 2 is about humanity and our place in God’s Mission

5)    The Imagery of Eden and the World

a.    Temple => World

i.    In ancient times after a king or god had defeated their enemies, they would build a temple in remembrance of their victory. Inside this temple would be an image of the king or god to remind their subjects who was king

ii.    In a similar way, after Moses told the Israelite about God “defeating” all the other gods (not that it was much of a fight) – he begins to tell them about the “temple” God had made – i.e. the world

b.    Tabernacle

i.    To show this – let us look at the tabernacle God told Moses to build in Exodus

ii.    In this tabernacle there was the:

1.    Holy of Holies were God talked to the High Priest

2.    Inner Court were the priests performed their duties

3.    Outer Court were the people worshiped God

c.    Earth

i.    Genesis 2 lists the same three components:

1.    The garden

2.    Eden

3.    Rest of the world

d.    The garden

i.    This was Holy of  Holies were God walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the evening

ii.    Adam was to be the High Priest that met with God

iii.    Adam had a job to do

The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. –Genesis 2:15

iv.    Just like the High Priest who took care of the Holy of Holies

e.    Eden

i.    The Hebrew word means “a plain” – this was plain in which the garden was located

ii.    It was Inner Court where the High Priest – Adam– brought the message of God to the ‘other priest’ – A&E’s children – who were than supposed to take the message to the outer court

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number…” –Genesis 1:28a

f.    The rest of the world

i.    The Outer Court where the people worshipped God.

….fill the earth and subdue it. –Genesis 1:28b

6)    God’s Mission

a.    God had a mission – He wanted to fill the earth with His glory

b.    Jesus had this same mission:

“…you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” –Acts 1:8b

c.    Revelation 21 declares the fulfillment of this mission

I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. – Revelation 21:22-26

7)    God Invites

a.    He invited Adam and Eve to join WITH Him in this mission

b.    This is why He gave them the authority over everything

…Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. –Genesis 1:28c-30

8)    Humanity’s Choice

a.    Two trees in the garden

In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. –Genesis 2:9b

b.    Adam and Eve had a choice

i.    To follow God as their King?

ii.    Or to try to be their own king?

LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will certainly die.” –Genesis 2:16-17

c.    Love DEMANDS a choice

i.    It is not love if it is forces

ii.    If you do not have a choice then it is not love – it is control

d.    God wanted humanity to love Him

i.    to walk with Him

ii.    to be His children – not servants

9)    The Choice

a.    The choice was not between ‘good’ and ‘evil’

b.    It was the choice on who decided what was ‘good’ or ‘evil’

10)    Read Genesis 3:1-19

11)    Our Choice

a.    We have the same choice as Adam and Eve

i.    Is God king? Do we let Him decide what ‘good’ or ‘evil’?

ii.    Or are we king? Do we want to make that decision?

12)    God is still King

a.    Here is the cool part:

i.    God did not stay in the garden!!!

ii.    He came out with Adam and Eve – He joined them

13)    The Mercy of God

a.    God’s mercy overruled judgment

b.    Instead of death

i.    Which was the punishment was for disobeying the king

c.    God killed an animal and made garments for Adam and Eve

i.    Foreshadowing of Jesus who would die for us

ii.    Covering our mistakes – our nakedness

The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. –Genesis 3:21

14)    The Mission Continues

a.    Despite Adam and Eve’s mistake – God’s was still on a mission

b.    He still wanted His glory to go out into all the world

c.    So He drove Adam and Eve out of the garden – out of the Holy of Holies because

i.    God didn’t want them to live forever in this state

ii.    Their bodies could not withstand the fullness of God’s glory

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.” So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.  After he drove them 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. –Genesis 3:22-24

15)    Giving away the Authority

a.    Because Adam and Eve – humanity – wanted to be king, we gave away our authority

b.    Satan is now the ruler of this world

16)    Enter Jesus

a.    Jesus – by entering into this world has fully man and fully God – defeated evil, sin and death

b.    Jesus took back the keys

“Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. –Revelation 1:17b-18

c.    Jesus holds all authority on heaven and earth

d.    And He invites us to join with Him in fulfilling God’s mission

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” –Matthew 28:18-20

17)    The Impact of the “Fall”

a.    The ‘fall’ did not catch God by surprise

i.    God knew about Adam and Eve’s choice

ii.    He knew about the choice of humanity to try to be King instead of following Him

iii.    There was no “Plan B”

b.    Yet, God cared enough about us that He gave us the choice – even though it pained Him

iv.    God weeps over our sorrow

v.    God cries when we cry

vi.    God died for us – so that we could be set free from the bondage we put ourselves into

c.    It is bad – just not as bad as we sometimes make it out to be

vii.    Now were in the Old Testament does it explain or talk about Adam and Eve’s decision

viii.    The focus on Gen 3 did not come until later – after Jesus and the early church

ix.    The Israelites were not interested in explaining ‘sin’ and ‘evil’

x.    They just wanted to know that God was there helping them and will set things right again

d.    Sin makes the joining God in His mission harder…but not impossible

18)    The Choice Revisited

a.    God is calling us to make a choice

b.    We don’t have to be perfect

i.    We don’t have to have everything put right

ii.    God uses us just as we are

c.    All He is asking is whether or not we are going to let Him guide us

i.    Are we going to say:

“Yes, Lord, You are King. I will follow You for you know better. You know how to navigate the pitfalls and mine traps of this world. You, and you alone, are the way, the truth and the life. I will follow you.”

d.    Joining with God on His mission means a crises of faith

i.    It means changing the way we live

ii.    The way we think

iii.    The way we do things

e.    Yet we GET to join with God – the creator of Heaven and Earth

i.    This is not a have to

ii.    But a GET TO

f.    And as we join with God, He repairs:

i.    Our relationship with Him

ii.    Our relationship with ourselves

iii.    Our relationship with others

g.    We still have trials and struggles – evil is still around

i.    We just have someone to walk with

ii.    Someone who knows what it is like and who will comfort us and guide us

h.    We just have to make a choice:

i.    Follow God as King?

ii.    Or try to be our own king?

19)    Communion

a.    Luke 22:13b-20