“The Saddest Moment in History”
Genesis 3:1-13
How many of you think this world is messed up?
How many of you think there is something terribly wrong with the way things are?
One of the most amazing things to me is, that, as far as I know this world is all I have ever known.
I mean, I was born into this world.
I don’t remember not existing.
I don’t remember anything before the time I was born, but I can say this world is messed up!
Isn’t that weird?
My son Owen is 3.
Recently we went somewhere or did something, as a family, that my wife, and Mary Ellen had done before Owen was born.
So, I told Owen that we had been to this certain place before--but before he was born.
And he just wasn’t able to comprehend what I was saying.
So, again, I said: “Owen, we, Mary Ellen, your Mommy and I have been here, but YOU have not been here.
You didn’t exist yet.”
To that, Owen replied, “I don’t remember being here because I was just a baby.”
He couldn’t imagine not existing.
In any event, I think it’s very interesting that we—You and I—can say that this life is messed up or that it’s strange or whatever when we don’t know anything different!
I mean, it’s messed up, compared to what?
It’s strange, compared to what?
There is something in us that realizes that our present condition is not the way things are supposed to be.
There is evil in the world.
We hurt one another with our words, our actions.
We kill.
Our relationships are strained.
And there is something else missing—something MUCH bigger.
Down through the ages, people have called it a “God-shaped Void.”
It’s hard to put our finger on it, but we all know it is there.
The relationship we were ULTIMATELY created to enjoy is blurred, it’s broken.
The very reason we were created has been damaged.
And so, we float, like a ship with no sails, drifting at sea.
We have no foundation—nothing of substance grounding us.
Can you relate?
Have you ever felt lost?...
…broken?
Have you ever felt as if there is something missing in your life?
Have you ever felt alone?
Do you feel that way now?
God created us to be in relationship: in relationship with God and in relationship with one another.
And it’s a relationship of trust.
A relationship of love.
It’s a relationship where there is no reason to feel afraid of the other.
It’s a relationship of complete unconditional love.
And that unconditional love is not something we have to work at.
It is just there.
We were made for God.
We were made for one another.
But we were also given free-will.
God didn’t create a bunch of robots.
What would be the point?
Did you all ever have a furby?
Mary Ellen did.
Now they are in the attic.
One day I was hunting for something in the attic and the furby woke-up and started talking to me.
It nearly scared me to death.
In any event, one of the ideas behind a furby or any kind of talking toy is that it’s supposed to be, well, kind of like a friend.
But is it really?
I mean, it’s not alive.
It doesn’t think for itself.
So, it really doesn’t make a suitable companion.
And it eventually ends up sitting on a shelf in our room and then moves up to the attic or a garage sale or in the garbage.
God didn’t have any interest in creating a bunch of furby’s.
God created humankind, YOU and ME for an eternal relationship.
A love relationship that goes on forever.
In Genesis 1:26-27 God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness…
…So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them.”
And God put us in a beautiful garden.
And everything was good.
We could completely and totally enjoy creation.
We could do anything we wanted.
There was just one thing—one thing—we were not allowed to do, and that was to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Sadly, we did that one thing.
And when we did, evil was given a foothold.
We opened the door to the devil.
“So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked…”
Now, I don’t think they suddenly realized that they didn’t have clothes on, although that is part of it.
But they were suddenly aware of things that they had never before been aware of.
Thoughts and ideas entered their minds; thought and ideas that they didn’t even know existed.
They had lost their innocence.
And suddenly things started getting wacky and their lives were in turmoil.
Then, they heard the sound of God walking in the garden, “in the cool of the evening” just like He always had before and they hid!
They ran for cover.
Remember when you were a little kid and you saw your mother or father or grandmother or whoever—and it was just the greatest thing in the world and you would go running to them and jump into their arms with the greatest joy?
That’s how it had always been between Adam and Eve and God.
But, now, suddenly things had changed.
Now, instead of being excited to have God show up—they became afraid.
It was a horrible thing.
Now, instead of running into God’s arms—they ran away!!!
And we, as a human species, have been running ever since.
It is the moment in history when FEAR enters into the relationship between God and people.
We were never supposed to be afraid of God.
We were never supposed to be afraid of the ONE Who loves us more than we can imagine.
We were never supposed to be afraid on the One Who wants to go for a walk with us.
What a sad, sad moment in time!!!
We are told that “The Lord God called to the man and woman: ‘Where are you?’”
Can you imagine the sorrow and pain that God experienced at that moment when He couldn’t find those whom He loved?
Have you ever lost track of someone?
Perhaps, when you were a little kid, you got lost—separated from your parents at a crowded mall or amusement park.
That’s a scary feeling isn’t it?
And so, what do you do?
You start to panic as you go looking for your loved-ones and calling out their name.
Or if you are a parent, you know the feeling of losing sight of your child—if only for a second.
It makes your heart skip a beat.
There is almost nothing more upsetting in all the world.
I think that’s how it was for God in the Garden.
And then, when God found the man and the woman—they were hiding from Him—they were afraid of Him—even though He had never done anything to hurt them.
Talk about a heartbreaking situation.
And so, when God finds the man and woman He’s like, “What is going on?”
And they say: “[We] heard the sound of you in the garden, and [we] were afraid, because [we] were naked; and we hid ourselves.”
Then God said, “Who told you that you were naked?”
The loss of innocence.
A relationship broken.
A heartbroken Father.
Notice that God did not give up on the man and woman, though.
God went looking for them, even though they were hiding.
And God looked and looked for them until God found them.
And God is doing the same thing today.
We hide from God.
We hide because we don’t trust the unconditional love God has for us.
We don’t believe that we are good enough for God to love us so.
We think God is like some mean old Santa Clause making a list and checking it twice…
…and because we have been naughty—we are in BIG trouble!!!
But that is not WHO God is at all.
God Loves us.
God created us to be in relationship with Him.
And, so God came to this earth in the form of a human being, and died for us in order to show us how much God loves us.
And when and if we dare believe this—we are saved.
Now, have you ever broken a bone or something?
Raise your hand if you have.
If you break an arm or a leg, the doctor saves that arm or leg by putting it back together and then putting it in a cast.
And then, comes the time for healing.
It’s the same with our relationship with God.
When God comes to us and we allow Him to save us, it’s like God puts a cast on our brokenness.
Then the time for healing begins.
And that is the beginning of our Christian journey.
And it is the most exciting journey in the world.
It is a journey where we learn to walk, all over again, with the God we were created to walk with.
And the more we walk with God; the longer we are in relationship with God—the better life gets.
The more things in our lives become right as we fall more and more in love with God and thus, more and more in love with other people and ourselves.
So, yeah.
Life is messed up.
But it doesn’t have to be.
We can allow God to find us.
We can stop hiding from the ONE WHO loves us.
If you haven’t done so already, won’t you do this today?
