OPEN: Recently, President Elect George W. Bush has been going through the process of having Congress approve his cabinet selections.
During John F. Kennedy’s presidency, there was one member of his cabinet who had a unique relationship with the President: the Attorney General was his brother Robert. Robert Kennedy was reported to have greeted new lawyers entering the Department with the following message:
“This may appear to be a large organization, but when you do something well, I’ll hear about it and it will go on your record. I want you to recall that I was recently a lowly worker in the Justice Department myself, but that I now serve as Attorney General, due to perseverance,long hours, hard work, and the fact that my brother became President of the United States… not necessarily in that order.”
APPLY: It helps to be related.
One of the key messages of the Bible (from beginning to end) has been: We’re created in God’s image.
That gives a unique relationship with God. And because of that relationship, God places immense value on you and me.
In Genesis One, God created the Light and said: "That’s good"
He created the sun, moon and stars and said: "That’s good"
He created the vegetation and said: "That’s good"
He created the animals and said: "That’s good"
But on the 6th day, after having created man and giving him dominion over all the works that He had created, God said: "That’s VERY good." Or in other words: "That’s REAL good."
In Psalm 8:4-9 we read the question: "What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!"
And then in John 3:16 "For God so loved the world… gave His only begotten Son…
ILLUS: One author noted this and commented: "God is crazy about you. If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it. If God had a wallet, your photo would be in it. He sends you flowers every spring, and a sunrise every morning.
Whenever you want to talk, He listens. He could have chosen to live anywhere in the universe, but He chose to live in Your heart. Face it, God is crazy about you."
I. The psalmist though, does ask an interesting question: "What is man that God is mindful of him?"
That’s an interesting question. But, why would the Psalmist even bother to ask it?
Well… it’s because sometimes we’re not all that attractive. We sin. We fall short. We say things and do things and think things that, at times, makes it so we can’t even stand ourselves.
We may even subconsciously think… ”If my spouse (or my kids, my friends) knew what I’ve done or thought… they wouldn’t have had anything to do with me… SO, why would God want to???
And yet the Bible tells us God is crazy about us. There are times when that just doesn’t make sense to us.
II. Now hold that thought for a minute - and let’s look again at our text: Genesis 3:8-9
Some Bible scholars suspect that God’s walking in the Garden was a normal, routine event (notice, Adam & Eve "recognized" the sound - they’d heard it before).
Now, why would God bother to walk in the Garden on a regular basis? He had a glorious throne room filled with a multitude of awesome angelic beings. And if He wasn’t spending time there, there was an entire face of the planet earth with its manifold wonders that would have been worthwhile to visit.
BUT here’s God routinely returning to walk in the Garden… Why? There’s only one answer that seems reasonable: God came to the garden to be with Adam & Eve. He came to walk with them and talk with them.
ILLUS: The writer of the Hymn called "In the Garden" must have had this in mind as he wrote:
" And He walks with me and He talks with me
and He tells me I am His own.
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
none other has ever known."
God’s desire - from the beginning of creation was to walk with us.
Psalm 89:15 "Blessed are those who… walk in the light of your presence, O LORD."
Genesis 6:9 "Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God"
Genesis 17:1 "… the LORD appeared to (Abraham) and said, "I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless."
Genesis 5:24 "Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away"
(commenting on Enoch, Hebrews. 11:5 noted: "before he was taken… he pleased God")
God’s desire, from the beginning of creation - has always been to walk with us.
III. But on this occasion (here in Genesis 3) something was different. Something had changed.
God was there to walk in the garden… but Adam & Eve weren’t there to greet Him.
Where were they?
They were hiding.
Why were they hiding? They were naked as jay birds. (pause)
But they were naked before they sinned… why should this occasion be any different?
It wasn’t their nakedness that was the problem - it was their sin. Their sin had robbed them of their innocence, their confidence, and now it had robbed them of their intimacy with God.
IV. That’s what sin does to us. Whenever we sin we’re robbed of our innocence, our confidence, our intimacy with God. Whenever even the thought of our sins comes into our minds we want to shrink away from God,dig a hole and bury ourselves. Whenever the hint of our sin is in the background of our minds, we don’t want to talk to God, we don’t want to pray with Him. We don’t even want to think about Him if we can help it. We don’t want anything to do with God for awhile because we don’t think He wants anything to do with us.
V. We weren’t built to live that way for long. We weren’t designed to survive with guilt hanging over our heads. AND we’re not at ease with the idea of God’s rejecting us. SO, we have to do something about our sin. But what???
Well, a lot of times we try to do what Adam and Eve did (vs 7). We often try to cover our sins as Adam and Eve tried to cover their nakedness with fig leaves. We think that if we disguise our sins well enough - God won’t notice.
That’s what Adam & Eve thought to do by covering their nakedness with leaves. They thought if they covered their nakedness that way, God wouldn’t notice. Does that make sense?? Of course not, it was foolish. So also it’s foolish for us to try to cover our sins and try to deceive God.
VI. How do we try to cover our sins?
Some people try good works. They think to themselves "If I am good enough, I can cover my nakedness and God won’t see what I’ve done wrong. All He’ll see are the good things I’ve accomplished."
Other people try being religious. They attempt to cover themselves with a lot of church activities, and righteous behavior. The Pharisees were like that. You’d have a hard time finding anyone who prayed more, tithed more, and went to worship more regularly than the Pharisees. And yet Jesus called them "whitewashed tombs." All clean and freshly painted on the outside - but inside they were filled with dead bones.
To God, all of our efforts to cover our sins (whether by good works or religious involvement) have the same effect on God. It looks like a "white washed tomb." A person who tries to do fool God that way is like someone who hasn’t taken a bath in months - then douses themselves with perfume. They end up with a sickening stench that’s only partly disguised.
Now, that’s not to say that God doesn’t appreciate good works, or intense involvement in church. IT’S JUST THAT if we think that those activities will cover our nakedness in God’s presence, all we’ll be doing is kidding ourselves.
God’s not looking for "religiosity" or "a righteous pose." What HE wants is a relationship with us. He wants to walk with us and talke with us. BUT the only way we’re going to feel comfortable walking with Him is if we succeed in covering up our nakedness.
VII. But, wait a minute Jeff. You just said we couldn’t cover up our sins. Well, you’re right, we can’t cover up our sins… but God can.
In Genesis 3:21, we find an interesting side note in the story. It says: "The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them."
Adam and Even had tried to cover their own sins with the leaves of trees or bushes, but here God replaced their coverings with clothing of his own design… the skins of animals.
Now for God to put animal skins on Adam and Eve, what had to happen to the animal?
It had to die!
God sacrificed the life of a guiltless animal so that man’s nakedness could be covered. When WE needed the nakedness of OUR sins covered, God sacrificed the life of His only son.
Romans 4:7 says: "Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered."
Why did God offer to cover our sins with the blood of His Son? Because He wanted to spend time with us. He loved us.
CLOSE: I want to close this sermon with an illustration that helps to show the difference between the world’s attitude of God wants and what God really wants from us. The difference between the attempts to make ourselves look good to Him… and the real close fellowship God actually wants.
Conrad Hyers in his book, And God Created Laughter tells a of an 8 year old girl who wrote to Abraham Lincoln, who was then running for President suggesting that he grow a beard. In her opinion, Lincoln would stand a better chance of election if he grew one to hide the homeliness of his face. Lincoln could have been offended, but instead he answered her letter personally and thanked her for her suggestion, furthering adding that he’d like to visit with her when his campaign came to her area.
On the day that Lincoln’s campaign train was scheduled to pass through the town, practically the whole town was assembled at the station. There were the leading Republicans wearing their top hats, the shiny marching, band, the townsfolk in their finest attire. Almost everyone was there... al except the little girl. She was left home. After all, her father reasoned, Lincoln would be interested only in the politicians and their speeches - the votes and the voters - not the attentions of a little girl.
It so happened, however, that as the campaign train approached the town, it was forced to stop for repairs. Lincoln, not wanting to sit in the warm train, set off across the field afoot in search of the little girl’s home.
When Lincoln introduced himself at the door, the maid was speechless. But the little girl and her playmate, the maid’s daughter, welcomed him in as if they were expecting him. The two girls had been having a pretend party, drinking pretend hot chocolate out of their small teacups and they invited Mr. Lincoln to join them. After a while, Lincoln said he must be going, thanked them for the party, and asked them how they liked his new beard. Then he walked to the waiting train.
When Lincoln boarded the train, it started on its way and went right through the town without stopping. Right past all the waiting dignitaries, politicians, loud playing band and flag draped platform; right past ladies and gentlemen in their Sunday best... for Lincoln hadn’t come to visit people who were putting on a show for his benefit. He had come to visit and say thank you to a little girl who just wanted to spend time with him.
That’s what it’s going to be like when Jesus comes again. He’s going to come for those that want to spend time with Him because they love Him. He won’t be coming for the people who are only concerned with putting on a show and "looking good."
AND He’ll only be coming for those whose sins have been covered - are yours?
