Taking off the Fig Leaf this Christmas

Message Title: Taking off the Fig Leaf this Christmas


Description: Our story is filled with times where we try to hide from God and push Him away, but how has and does he respond?


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Walk with God
I want to start today in Genesis. We’re going to begin in 3:8, and we’re going to read two verses and then jump back to the beginning.

Genesis 3:8-9
And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”

We have jumped right in middle of the story, but let’s just focus on this one idea of God walking in the cool of the day. We get the idea from this passage that God would often come down to earth in a form that Adam and Eve weren’t blinded or overwhelmed by. But God contained himself and expressed himself not as a God who is everywhere, but a God who is in one place at one time.

When God came down, he came to spend time with Adam and Eve. We see this by his question: “Where are you?” God would just come on in the Garden and they would meet up and hang out, go for a walk, talk, or whatever. This was something normal. They would do this often.

Take over the world
Let’s turn back to the first chapter and go to verse 27.

27And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28And God blessed them; and God said to them, “be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. 29Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food” and it was so.

God clearly states that things like spinach and salads are things that no human being should ever eat. We may be stuck with squash and lima beans, but God never intended for us to eat this rabbit food.

No, really…God creates male and female and tells them to give birth and fill the earth and to subdue it. God wanted mankind to bring all of creation under his/her control. We were created to rule over the animals and the whole earth.

Eden
Turn one chapter to the right and we’ll pick up at 2:7. In chapter two, the creation story is told with a different perspective. The author sort of zooms and focuses in on man and brings us more details about our origins.

Genesis 2:7-8
Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. 8And the Lord planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed.


Genesis 2:15-
Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. 16And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; 17But from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die.”

Then the Lord God said, “IT is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” 19And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. 20And the man gave names to all the cattle, and t o the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him. 21So the Lord caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh at the place. 22And the Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. 23And the man said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. 24For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. 25And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

This is way more than a flesh skin thing. A far larger issue than two people with no clothe on. An emotional intimacy, there are no barriers, there are no secrets, there is no betralal, there are no fronts, there is no hypocrocy, they are deeply connected with each other and there is no shame—There’s nothing to cover up, nothing to regret, nothing to hide, no I’m going to show them this side of me, but this side over here I’m going to hide.

We know that God gave man all of the earth, but this is where it starts: The Garden of Eden. It is in this garden that man begins to subdue and keep the earth. God wants them to attend to, to watch, to preserve, to guard and maintain this garden. Now, after God created Adam, the passage says that “God planted a garden.” God doesn’t create a garden, but God plants a garden. He threw seeds on the ground or He dug a hole, or however it worked then, and then the garden grew. Now, remember that man is alive at this time. After God planted the garden, He showed it to Adam.

Remember how God used to come down and go for walks with Adam and Eve, I believe that this is what God is doing here. Come Adam and let us explore this garden. Let’s go for a walk. And as they pass by the different trees God says, “This one taste great, why don’t you try it?” God takes Adam by the river that runs past the gold. God shows Him the Tree of Good and Evil and says not to eat from it. And they just have a grand time exploring God’s creation. They have a great time enjoying each other and all that God made. And Adam would ask, “Why did you do this and why that?” And God would answer him and they just had a good time.

But then God begins to think that this world is not complete. Adam needs a helper, so God creates every kind of animal. So this time, as Adam waits for God to come so that they can go for a walk, instead of seeing God come alone, he’s followed by tons of these weird looking creatures. And God’s like, “Instead of a walk today, Adam, you’re going to name every single creature that I created.” And that was their activity for that day or for that week or whatever. But it was new and wonderful and amazing.

But then God sees that non of these creatures really meet the needs of Adam. The dog came close, but it was the whole urinating on the tree thing and licking itself that God said, I need to create something better. So as Adam is waiting for God to come down the next day, He sees God entering the garden wearing this greenish teal uniform with a thin white overcoat, and a stethoscope around his neck, and this huge saw in his right hand. And God’s like, “Adam, lie down! We’re not going for a walk today, because I’ve got a little operation to do.” Adam is up for something new and exciting, so he lies down, God gives him the sleeping gas, and then saws away. God takes his rib and forms a woman. When Adam wakes up, he sees the woman and is like, “this is very good. God, I’ve got another rib if you would like.” And so now God gives Adam a manual on how to properly treat the woman, but he placed it down somewhere and hasn’t found it since. But Adam is thrilled and loves the experiencing this garden and world with Eve. And now the three of them go for these walks and every time they’re wondering, what will God show us next. What next thing will he amaze us with?

And they just have this wonderful time together, exploring creation, each other, God, and everything. There is adventure and a deep connection forming between God and his creation. It is the Garden of Eden, the garden of pleasure. It’s not the things that make it great. It’s not the trees and the fruit and the rivers that make this such a pleasurable experience, but it is God. Look at all that God has done to bring this experience of joy and pleasure to his man and women. He’s always doing something for them and bringing them happiness.

Story—Jonah about how my 2 year old son runs and hides when I tell him that I’m going to change his diaper.

The story of Adam and Eve, our story goes down hill from here.

Genesis 3:6-13
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 moment they ate the fruit, the passage says, “they realized they were naked”. Where once there was honesty, openness, and vulnerability, and transparency, all of a sudden they realized that there are things to hide, there are things to cover up, and now there’s this barrier that comes between them.

This barrier is not just something that affects Adam and Eve’s relationship, but affects their relationship to God. This is also reflective of their sin and the separation it brings. They have things they wish to hide from God and there are times when they want to hide from God. They are scared of that intimacy because of what God will find. From this point on, there’s this gap/separation between God and mankind. From this point on, mankind’s relationship with God has changed. God no longer goes for walks with man, but now God focuses on redeeming the fallen and broken man, so that that He could be with us and we could be with Him.


Mt. Sinai
In Exodus 19, God desires to begin the restoration process, and he chose to start with the Israelite people. After God freed them from Egypt, God led them, walked before them, and guided them by a piller of fire at night and a cloud during the day to Mount Sinai. Let’s read God’s intentions in Exodus 19:6

Exodus 19:6
Now then, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priest and a holy nation.

A priest was a person who ministered to God for the people and minister to the people for God. They were a mediator of sorts. And God wanted this nation to be priest to the world. That every nation would come to the Israelites and they would be the connection to God.

Let’s pick up in verse 10

Exodus 19:10
The Lord also said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments; 11and let them be ready for the third day, for on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. 12 And you shall set bounds for the people all around, saying, ‘Beware that you do not go up on the mountain or touch the border of it; whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death. 13No hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned or shot through; whether beast or man he shall not live. When the ram’s horn sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.

So God sets up some guidelines. It appears that God is coming to come down and speak to all of the Israelite people and tell them his plan and his laws. God is about to establish a very special relationship with the Israelite. God is about to team up with them, so that they can minister together. As they minister to the world, they will grow close and intimate. There would be this incredible relationship that wouldn’t quite be how it was with Adam, but it would begin to rebuild that bridge. It would be good. But when the time comes for them to go up to the mountain, something happens.

Exodus 20:18
And all the people perceived the thunder and the lightning flashes and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood at a distance. Then they said to Moses, speak to us yourself and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, lest we die.” And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid; for God has come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of him may remain with you, so that you may not sin.” So the people stood at a distance, while Moses approached the thick cloud where God was out.

God wants to begin this redemption process by making the whole nation of Israel a kingdom of priest, but what do they do? They sow fig leaves together and hide. Basically, they’re scared and don’t want to come in direct contact with God. They want to hide behind Moses. They don’t want to hear God’s voice. They are scared. Once again man decides to hide from God as well as put something between them and God.

Our very own fig leaves
And don’t tell me that all of a sudden we don’t hide from God anymore. Don’t tell me that you never place anything between you and God. Don’t tell me you do not sow fig leaves for clothes.

We can allow the many activities of the season come between us and God. We can let work be a leaf that separates us from God. We can make a hobby or a person a leaf. Christmas can be a leaf.

In the story of Jonah in the Bible, Jonah ran from God because he didn’t want to do what God told him to. It says that Jonah tried to run away from the presence of God. Jonah hid behind a bush. Sometimes when we know that God desires something from us, whether it’s a life calling or a one time task, and we don’t do it, then we’re trying to hide from God. We’re putting this leaf between us. Or perhaps you read something in scripture about how your life should be, but you ignore it and don’t change. You’re trying to hide from God.

Every time you do something, which is wrong, and you push your conscience away, you’re trying to hide from God. Every time you get in an argument with your spouse and it begins to escalate and you think you should do the humble thing and calm down, but instead you subdue that thought and keep feeding the fire…you’re hiding from God. Maybe you have a problem stealing, and when you ignore the thought from God that says don’t do it, but you do it anyways, you’re hiding from God. Or the times when you are watching tv or searching through the internet and you know that you’re looking at or watching something that you shouldn’t, but you try to ignore that voice from God, you are hiding. Or maybe, as you’re talking to someone and you know you shouldn’t mention something or say something, but you do anyways, you’re hiding from God

Or you can hide as these Israelites hid. They hid behind Moses. They didn’t want to hear directly from God, so they asked Moses to speak to them. We can hide from God by only getting God’s word from a pastor or a teacher and never meeting with God ourselves. We can actually hide within religion. We can go to Church and get caught up in Church activities and keep ourselves to busy to hear from God. We can listen to the preacher or read the bible with the purpose of getting ammunition to fire at somebody else. So we listen to sermons or find jewels in the Bible that we can preach at another. We don’t allow God to speak to our hearts, for we cover it and harden it.

In Romans 7, Paul talks about how he does things he doesn’t want to do. He has great intentions, but he seems to stumble. Sometimes, we sow leaves together and put them on without really wanting to. Whether it’s not being able to get free from that addiction or not able to stop a wrong and bad habit, we seem to always find ourselves pushing away from God

For others guilt keeps them even longer away from God. For some they just feel so bad after the do something wrong that they are too embarrassed to come before God, so they stay away from Him. They feel to bad and remorseful to even think about God.

And yet we can have this anger towards God…this resentment towards Him for a situation that’s going on or for death or for any problem in our life. And we can blame God and so this anger becomes a leaf that causes this separation between us and God.

We pile leaf over leaf. We hid behind all kinds of bushes.


God’s Spirit
Turn with me to 1st Corinthians 6

After Jesus ascended into heaven, he sent his Spirit to his followers. All the people who desire to be with God and live in His presence by receiving the gift the Jesus offers will receive the Holy Spirit.

In first Corinthians 6, Paul reveals what happens when we accept Jesus as our Savior and receive this Spirit.

1st Corinthians 6:17
But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.

1st Corinthians 6:19-20
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your won? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

God does this incredible thing where he actually allows us to join and become one spirit with him. Before, people would travel for days to come to Jerusalem where the temple stood in order to worship God, because that is where he dwelt, but now God says, you are the holy temple. I live in you. My presence is always with you.


But there is more to this. Let’s take a look at 1st Corinthians 12:7. In this passage, Paul is talking about the Spirit that we are joined with gives us certain gifts and abilities.

1st Corinthians 12:7-11
7But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; 9to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various (T)kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. 11But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.

So to everybody who is joined with the Spirit of God receives a manifestation of that Spirit, which means we receive a characteristic of God. For some it’s extraordinary wisdom. Others it’s knowledge. Some people will have this incredible power to perform Miracles, while others will have the ability to decipher if one’s actions are coming from a place of goodness or wickedness. And the list of gifts continue. So each one of us receives at least one of these gifts, but nobody gets them all.

Do you know what this means. This means that if every single Christian comes together and begins to act in unison according to God’s will and desire, then the church becomes the presence of God in the world, because we are manifesting all the attributes of God. We become a kingdom of priest.

Just by ourselves we’re only ambassadors, but united we become the body of Jesus. We actually take on and exemplify God. We become the manifestation of God’s body in the world. It talks about this in Romans 12.

So God, who desires to be with us, actually enters into people who accept Jesus as their savior, but for those who don’t. For the people who have not made a decision to accept Jesus as their Savior, God has created his Church to be his representation. We, collectively, become a physical image of God that people can see.

God is allowing us to be a part of a cosmic work that he is doing. God is letting us do something that is of his level. He let Adam name the animals. He made Eve from Adam. God invited the Israelites to be his kingdom of priest. And God is inviting us to be his body to the world.


Why Christmas?
Story—about how Jonah knocked over the manger scene at the Christian book store and we had to buy it. And about my cat eating baby Jesus from a nativity scene

Why are we so enthralled with Christmas? I know it has a lot to do with the gifts that are exchanged, but as a church we have been celebrating Christmas for hundreds of years and for the majority of those years, gifts weren’t a big part of Christmas. Why do we celebrate it so much? Because of the salvation Jesus brings? Then shouldn’t the predominant image be one of the crosses instead of the nativity scene? Why do we fill our houses with nativity scenes and our yards with neon nativity scenes? Why do have plays about Jesus birth? Why do we reenact all the events surrounding his birth? Why is this such a special time of year?

Why is Christmas more celebrated than Easter? For Christmas we have four Sundays leading up to the birth of Christ. Four Sundays of expectation and excitement. But for Easter all we have is lent, which not everybody celebrates. Easter doesn’t transform that time of year as Christmas does. Why is that?


Emmanuel
Turn with me to Matthew 1:23. Matthew inserts this commentary at the end of the story of the Angel telling Joseph how Mary got pregnant. Matthew writes this

Matthew 1:22-23
22Now all this took place that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, 23”Behold the virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us.”

I think we love this nativity scene because it proclaims this powerful truth that we find it hard to believe. This nativity scene exemplifies and assert a message that runs throughout the whole Bible. It cries out the very fact that we fell in love with God for. And yet it speaks of a reality that we find so hard to understand. The message in this nativity scene is simple: God is with us. God loves us so much that he came to us.

This isn’t like the other times God has come. Right? He’s come in a burning bush, as fire by night and cloud by day. He’s come as a grown man to Abraham, but this nativity scene is different. God actually gave up so much and came as a vulnerable baby for us. How can we view this scene as anything different than God’s pursuit of love for us?

Even though we’ve hidden from God and covered ourselves from him. Even though we’ve ran away and pushed God away so many times, it’s like this scene gives us hope that he is still pursuing us. He is still eager to be with us. He is eager to bless us by letting us be a part of his cosmic work.

This nativity scene is a visual reflection of the words God speaks in the garden: “Where are You?” Do you remember in that story how Adam and Eve hid when they heard God coming? What made them come out from behind the bushes? The passage says that they came out immediately after they heard God ask, “Where are you?” They heard such love in God’s voice that it dispersed any fears that they had. God asked, “Where are you” and then they pop out and say, “we were hiding cuz we were afraid. There was something in God’s voice that made them realize and remember that He is Love

And that’s what this nativity scene does. As we look at it we hear God say, “Where are you?” I’ve come looking for you.” And it’s a voice not of anger, but a voice of love

Where are you? Where are you?

Where are you?

Where are you this holiday season? Are you hiding behind a bush? Are you running around the Garden forgetting about God who is looking for you? Are you ignoring and pushing away his voice? Are you too busy sowing leaves together?

Where are you?