The first Christmas did not happen in a vacuum. We do not understand the need for the Christmas story simply from the perspective of the birth of Christ; we need to go to the beginning of the human story to really understand why God in the person of Jesus Christ had to come to earth. What necessitated the need for God to become a Man, live a sinless life and die a cruel death? The bible states that we, as human beings, are the crowning achievement of His creation. We are made in the image of God.
However, even in the sinless paradise that man found himself in, there came a temptation—the temptation was simply that God, our Creator, was withholding from the created. God’s goodness was challenged and as a result, the first human couple rebelled from an amazing transparent and sinless life to one now tainted and ultimately corrupted by evil. The result was that the image of God was marred in us as humans and now sin works at dehumanizing us. What I mean by that statement is that in creating us as human, we are to reflect the nature and goodness of our Creator.
Now with the birth of sin in the human family, sickness, alienation, and death were the outcomes for all generations. But God in His great mercy and love had designed a plan to reclaim us all from this terrible state through the substitutionary sacrifice of the Son of God.
Beginnings are often very fragile times and open to blatant temptations or subtle spiritual attacks. We see that in the early life of Jesus, as Herod tried to murder him. Instead, Herod killed all the little boys two and under in the little town of Bethlehem because of the visit by the Magi. The enemy is always threatened when God is implementing His plans through the lives of His children.
Nineteenth Century, Danish theologian, Soren Kierkegaard tells the story of a king like no other king.
Every statesman trembled before his power. No one dared breathe a word against him, for he had strength to crush all opponents. And yet this mighty king was melted by love for a humble maiden. How could he declare his love for her? In an odd sort of way, his very kingliness tied his hands. If he brought her to the palace and crowned her head with jewels and clothed her body in royal robes, she would surely not resist–no one dared resist him. But would she love him?
She would say she loved him, of course, but would she truly? Or would she live with him in fear, nursing a private grief for the life she had left behind. Would she be happy at his side? How could he know?
If he rode to her forest cottage in his royal carriage, with an armed escort waving bright banners, that too would overwhelm her. He did not want a cringing subject. He wanted her to forget that he was a king and she a humble maiden and to let shared love cross over the gulf between them.
…The king, convinced he could not elevate the maiden without crushing her freedom, resolved to descend. He clothed himself as a beggar and approached her cottage incognito, with a worn cloak fluttering loosely about him. It was no mere disguise, but a new identity he took on. He renounced the throne to win her hand.[i]
What Kierkegaard expressed in parable form, the apostle Paul expressed in these words about Jesus Christ, the king of the story.
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; Rather, he made himself nothing, by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross![ii]
You may at this point be wondering, what does this have to do with the Christmas season? Everything! The king came with a purpose in mind, to win the hand of His true love. How did He go about it? He came into his own world as a baby to redeem us from our sin. Though I’m generally not surprised by human failure, I still marvel at God’s grace. Today, we’ll see how God comes to restore our relationships. Where sin and death had entered our world, where relationships were deeply affected and barriers created between the man and woman and God, let’s look at how God comes to repair and restore those relationships.
THE FIRST THING WE NEED TO CONSIDER WHEN GOD COMES TO US IS THAT HE COMES IN GRACE
Grace is the idea of undeserved favor. Grace is a gift. It is something we get even though we deserve worse. When God comes to us, He is coming offering us grace, His favor.
The key to restoration in relationships is the spirit and tone in which we relate to each other.
Notice how gently and graciously God came to the couple hiding in sin. He didn’t come in anger. The reality was that God was there the whole time, but He didn’t stop them from making a wrong choice. He comes after the failure and invites them into an opportunity to acknowledge their sin. This is how God comes to each of us. Before they heard his voice, they heard the sound of the LORD walking in the garden.
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.[iii]
Dr. Waltke frames this incident: “The Gardener has not abandoned his garden. The proof of love is the unwillingness to abandon the object of love even when love fails to achieve its desired end.[iv]
Now we know that this is an expression of speech, because there is nowhere that we can hide from God. He is everywhere. This is an expression of speech to show God’s graciousness in approaching us in our sin and shame.
The problem was not in the voice, of course, for the voice of God was gentle and filled with love. God sometimes speaks in judgment; then the voice is terrifying. But this was not the case in Eden. Everything in God’s manner was as before. …He was walking not running. He arrived in the cool of the day, the most pleasant time, rather than in the heat of the afternoon or in the dark of night, when all human fears seem doubly fearful. He did not come suddenly. He came by degrees, calling as he came. No, it was not the voice or manner of God’s coming that was terrifying to Adam and Eve. It was the fact that they had sinned, and when one has sinned against God even the tenderest of voices can be frightening. So they hid![v]
“But the LORD God called to the man, where are you (Genesis 3:9)?” God asked a question to draw them out of hiding. God did not come as an accuser. Accusation is the work of the devil. The bible calls the devil, the accuser of the brethren. God still comes in gentleness and grace. That is how he comes today. God is still asking each of us this same question: Where are we in relationship to Him?
Another important consideration is how we approach people. Are we like God in our approach? Notice Paul’s challenge to the God’s people in Galatia.
Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.[vi]
In Gary Thomas’ book Sacred Influence, he shares the story of Ken and Diana (fictitious names), a couple in deep marital crisis.
Ken came to Diana one day saying that he cared for her but didn’t love her anymore. The timing of the announcement couldn’t have come at a worse time, as their teenage daughter was in crisis. Diana had been dealing with major stresses at work which in hindsight had not helped their marriage.
Diana told Ken that he needed to stay regardless of what he felt about her, for the sake of their daughter. They now shared the same house, but they were emotionally miles apart. It was this crisis that caused Diana to renew her faith and find comfort in God’s word.
Then came the phone call, ‘Do you know what your husband is doing with my daughter?’ Ken had developed an Internet relationship around a mutual interest and was planning on meeting this other woman, who also was married and had children. That’s when Diana took the action that both she and Ken believed saved their marriage.
She drove to a friend’s place and angrily told her friend what was happening. Her friend had experienced a similar incident and understood the sense of betrayal that Diana was going through.
Then Diana returned home to confront her husband. Today, Diana believes that venting her anger, disgust and disappointment on her friend instead of Ken saved their marriage.
She drove up to her house and said to Ken, ‘We need to talk.’ Then she gave him the name of his chat room friend. His face turned white. The gig was up. With remarkable detachment, without accusation and fiery emotion, they talked. Finally, Ken became to see the ridiculous nature of the situation. Diana spoke forcefully but maintained a light enough air to raise her eyebrows and elicit some comic relief at just the right moments.
Not once did she swear or call Ken any of the names she had uttered at her friend’s place. Ken later told Diana, if she had reacted to him in the way she had talked to her friend, he would have bolted, but instead he saw a picture of God’s grace and mercy through his wife, and it made all the difference in the world. He contacted the other woman and ended the relationship.[vii]
When God comes to us, He comes in grace.
THE SECOND THING WE NEED TO CONSIDER WHEN GOD COMES TO US IS THAT HE COMES IN JUSTICE
But what is justice? According to Webster’s Dictionary one definition of the word justice means the “use of authority to uphold what is right, just or lawful.” We need to understand that as part of God’s creation we are all accountable to Him.
A. Our accountability to our Creator is assured.
He will judge us for our sins if we don’t address them at the cross. In other words, if we don’t come to God for mercy and forgiveness now in light of the loving action of Christ’s death and resurrection, we will be faced with unresolved sin issues at the end of the age.
We are all morally accountable to God. In all of our denials of God, our rejection, our unbelief, and rebellion as human beings, the reality is that we all will give an account. “For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written: ‘As surely as I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God. So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.’”[viii]
Here we see in the very beginning an accounting of their actions. But why does God have to judge our sin? Frederick Buechner put it so well:
Romantic love is blind to everything except what is lovable and lovely. But Christ’s love sees us with terrible clarity and sees us whole. Christ’s love so wishes our joy that it is ruthless against everything in us that diminishes our joy. [What diminishes our joy but the sin within our lives.] The worst sentence love can pass is that we behold the suffering which love has endured for our sake and that is also our acquittal. The justice and mercy of the judge are ultimately one.[ix]
B. God’s response to Adam’s answer of being naked and hiding from God’s presence is to confront the issue of sin in his life.
And he said, ‘who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?’[x]
Most of us hate confrontation, yet leaving things unresolved only makes matters worse. We have to address issues that only alienate and will eventually affect others in a negative way. In other words, we must address “the elephant in the room.” Not dealing with sin eventually brings alienation.
C. Then we see the real consequences of sin.
1. Sin brings guilt.
Notice that they now realized that they were naked and hid from God. They had violated God’s word, which is His will. Theologian Augustus Strong states:
guilt is an objective result of sin… is an offense against God, an act or state of opposition to his will, which has for its effect God’s personal wrath. This guilt, or obligation to satisfy the outraged holiness of God, is explained in the New Testament by the terms debtor and debt.[xi]
That’s what Jesus meant when he taught His disciples to pray. The former tax collector Levi, who became known as Matthew, relates sin as a debt that needs to be paid. “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors (Matthew 6:12).”
2. Not only does sin bring guilt, but also condemnation.
The serpent was the first to be condemned without any opportunity to confess because he, the devil had already been addressed by God. The woman was condemned to sorrow in childbearing and subjugation by the man. The man was to live in struggle, toil, hardship and eventually be returned to dust from which he was made.
3. Finally, we see the act of separation that occurred between the couple, and then ultimately the separation from paradise and their unique, unhindered relationship with God.
How does sin affect relationships? It causes separation, and a barrier.
THE FINAL THING WE NEED TO CONSIDER WHEN GOD COMES TO US IS THAT HE COMES IN GOODNESS
After their failure, God could have rejected Adam and Eve, but what He did instead was to demonstrate just how good He really is. We all have sinned. It is the plight of the human race. So here we see God showing us how He is going to address the issue.
A. First, God made a provision because of our sin.
“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel (Genesis 3:15).”
Here is the first promise in Scripture of a coming Savior to address the sin issue and destroy the works of the devil.
B Secondly, God tempered judgment with mercy.
He clothed them in their nakedness. He provided a sacrifice for their sinfulness.
Redemption is not only promised in word, but it is pictured in deed. Man attempted to cover his shame by the leaves of the fig-tree, but this was far too slight a covering for so deep a shame. …The mention of skins suggests the fact and necessity of the death of the animal before they could be used as clothing, and it is more than probable that in this fact we have the primal revelation of sacrifice.[xii]
“The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them (Genesis 3:21).”
C. God made a provision to terminate our eternal condition.
“If Adam and Eve had been allowed to live forever, they would have lived as sinners. They were to be set free from sin only by a literal death and resurrection.”[xiii]
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 the man 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.[xiv]
If humanity lived an endless life in sin, evil would only accrue over time, and it would be unbearable to try and survive in this world. However, the wages of sin brings death (Romans 6:23).
D. Finally, God, in Christ, addressed the consequences of our sin.
In Romans 8, we read of the great reversal to our sin, and its consequences.
1. In Christ, the issue of guilt is addressed.
“Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies (Romans 8:33).”
What animal sacrifices could not do, Christ’s sacrifice accomplished: the removal of guilt.
The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason, it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.[xv]
2. In Christ, the issue of condemnation is addressed.
“Who then is the one that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life— is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us (Romans 8:34).”
3. In Christ, the issue of separation is addressed.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.[xvi]
When God comes, He addresses the issue of our sin, of our separation not only between ourselves and our God, but also amongst ourselves. Until we deal with the sin issues in our lives, we are left living in guilt, condemnation and separation; but when God comes and we respond to His invitation, He removes the guilt, the shame, the condemnation and the separation.
https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2024/04/29/15/34/flee-from-god-8728247_1280.png
[i] Soren Kierkegaard, “Philosophical Fragments,” 31-43; in Philip Yancey, Disappointment with God, 103-104.
[ii] Philippians 2:6-8, The New International Version of the Bible, Zondervan, 2011.
[iii] Genesis 3:8.
[iv] Bruce Waltke, Genesis, (Grand Rapids, Mi: Zondervan Publishing 2001), 92.
[v] James Montgomery Boice, Genesis, Vol. 1, (Grand Rapids, Mi: Baker Books, 1998), 185-86.
[vi] Galatians 6:1-2.
[vii] Gary Thomas, Sacred Influence, (Grand Rapids, Mi: Zondervan, 2006), 205-209 paraphrased.
[viii] Romans 14:10b-12.
[ix] Frederick Buechner, Jesus the Judge, Preaching Today, Tape No. 129.
[x] Genesis 3:11.
[xi] Augustus Strong, Systematic Theology, (Rochester, N.Y.: A. C. Armstrong and Son, 1889), 346.
[xii] W. H. Griffith Thomas, Genesis, (Grand Rapids, Mi: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1974), 51-52.
[xiii] Boice, Genesis, 242.
[xiv] Genesis 3:22-24.
[xv] Hebrews 10:1-4.
[xvi] Romans 8:35, 37-39.
