Eden is Not Enough
Psalms 22:1-11
Jim Davis
Our souls are longing for something that Eden couldn’t fulfill.
Eve
only had to be ask one question to persuade her to become dissatisfied with
Eden. Satan asks, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the
garden’?” Then she is told: “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes
will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”(Genesis 3).
Satan robbed Adam and Eve of their true identity.
He gave them one that left them hiding from God as they made garments out of
fig leaves. God immediately steps in and makes them clothes from animal skins.
It’s an equivalent to atoning for their sins. God wasn’t ashamed of them; they
were ashamed of themselves. God didn’t make garments for them because he was
ashamed of their nakedness. It because they were ashamed of themselves, of
their own naked bodies.
The Garden of Eden wasn’t created to fulfill the deepest needs of humanity.
The
Tree of Life was placed in Eden as a reminder there is something more than
this world has to offer. Even if you live in Eden. It was planted there to
point them to the very source of life.
Most of us are concerned about identity theft.
Afraid
we will wake up one morning with our credit cards maxed out and our bank
account emptied. What if I told you that you live in a world that seeks to
steel your true identity?
This is readily seen in our advertising persuading you to create a new you
through some miracle life changing product.
They
are
selling
everything from luxury cars to viagra. They are selling everything from
cosmetics to designer underwear. Most of it is sold on the premise of giving
you a new image of yourself.
Advertising is designed to sell us things you never new you needed.
So often, things you really don’t need. To give you a new look, make you a
master chef, etc. There was a great fad over bread machines a few years back.
Everybody began thinking they needed one. I am thinking that we don’t need to
eat a lot of bread. I knew I didn’t. I was given one by someone who had grown
tired of it. I used it a couple of times; then I gave it away to my
granddaughter. It is probably stuffed away in her closet.
The world is a master at filling our lives with things that are unfulfilling.
It surprises us when we see some famous person who seems to have it all die of
an overdose.
It is
mind boggling. Yet, stories like this are almost a daily occurrence.
God made us in his image.
The
world blinds us to our true purpose and our true identity.
The World Challenges Christ Identity
The world tends to rob even the best of people of their God given image as it
gives us a false sense of security.
It is
almost unbelievable when you hear our Creator hanging on a cross crying out “I
am worm not a man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people.” He was
despised and rejected by a world that held him in very low esteem (Isaiah
53:3). The world questioned the Creator’s Identity to the point he began to
wonder about himself. The world was seeking to rob the Creator of his
identity.
The Psalmist sums up the thoughts of the Creator as he is hanging on the
cross.
Psalms 22:1-19
My God,
my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why
are you so far from saving me,
so
far from my cries of anguish?
My God,
I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
by
night, but I find no rest.
Yet
you are enthroned as the Holy One;
you are the one Israel praises.
In you
our ancestors put their trust;
they trusted and you delivered them.
To you
they cried out and were saved;
in
you they trusted and were not put to shame.
But I
am a worm and not a man,
scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
All who
see me mock me;
they hurl insults, shaking their heads.
“He
trusts in the Lord,” they say,
“let the Lord rescue him.
Let him
deliver him,
since he delights in him.”
Yet
you brought me out of the womb;
you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast.
From
birth I was cast on you;
from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
Do not
be far from me,
for trouble is near
and there is no one to help.
The Creator is left crying out “I am a worm and not a man.”
The
cruelty of this world has a tendency to blind us to our intrinsic value and a
need for a relationship with God.
We are
left feeling as though we are never what we were meant to be. There on the
cross the Creator feels as we often feel.
Psalm
22:1-3
My God,
my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why
are you so far from saving me,
so
far from my cries of anguish?
My God,
I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
by
night, but I find no rest.
The Creator feels betrayed.
The Creator begins reflecting on what God did for Israel. His ancestors had
trusted God for deliverance and God came through. They cried out and were
saved. They were not put to shame. Yet, here I am despised and rejected.
Psalms
22:3-5
Yet you
are enthroned as the Holy One;
you
are the one Israel praises.
In you
our ancestors put their trust;
they trusted and you delivered them.
To you
they cried out and were saved;
in
you they trusted and were not put to shame.
Feelings of worthlessness sweeps over the one who gave us life as the agony
increases.
He begins to have feelings, no one cares, people are mocking me and insulting
me. Jesus begins thinking:
Psalms
22:6-8
But I
am a worm and not a man,
scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
All who
see me mock me;
they hurl insults, shaking their heads.
“He
trusts in the Lord,” they say,
“let the Lord rescue him.
Let him
deliver him,
since he delights in him.”
The identity of the Creator is challenged.
The
mob cries out, if you are, who you claim to be, come down off that cross. In
times like these we question our own identity.
There
are times where there seems to be no help from the one you expect help. We
begin asking: What have I done? Why are they treating me this way? I should
have done things different? I am not who I thought I was? The very one who has
led you to trust them turns their back on you. You desire help you don’t have.
Psalms
22:9-11
Yet you
brought me out of the womb;
you
made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast.
From
birth I was cast on you;
from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
Do not
be far from me,
for
trouble is near
and
there is no one to help.
The Creator’s thoughts conjure up hopeless despair.
Psalms
22:12-18
Many
bulls surround me;
strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
Roaring
lions that tear their prey
open their mouths wide against me.
I am
poured out like water,
and
all my bones are out of joint.
My
heart has turned to wax;
it
has melted within me.
My
mouth is dried up like a potsherd,
and
my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
you
lay me in the dust of death.
Dogs
surround me,
a
pack of villains encircles me;
they pierce my hands and my feet.
All my
bones are on display;
people stare and gloat over me.
They
divide my clothes among them
and
cast lots for my garment.
This is what makes God so appealing.
God comes in human flesh willing to live with the emptiness we so often feel
on the inside. He chose to walk through a lost world in human form. The common
man readily heard Jesus——simply because he felt what they were feeling in
their hearts.
Reclaiming Our Identity
There has never been a time when the world has worked so hard to pin a new
identity on each of us.
The world is seeking to define us by our sexual desires, skin color, how we
are supposed to think about the world, our politics, our moral values, how we
are supposed to feel about these differing identities, etc.
Our modern world is beginning to truly see what it means to be lost in a
biblical sense.
It is as though the world is crashing down around us. Most of it is because we
have lost sight of our true identity. There is nothing worse than a lost
identity. We see it in the streets with that person with a needle stuck in her
arm. We see it in the person who seems to have it all who overdoses or commits
suicide.
A person, my wife and I knew committed suicide.
To this day it is hard to grasp. He was comfortably retired, was doing some
traveling around the world. He was articulate and intelligent. Seemed to have
people around him that loved him. I would have never thought he would do this.
Somehow he just lost sight of everything and took his own life. The aura he
projected wasn’t one of an unhappy person.
I read
something the other day Stedman Graham said concerning our identity.
“Identity
is about positive traits; it also can be negative traits. It’s a combination
of things that you do; it’s your talents, it’s your strengths, it’s your
passions, it’s what you love, it’s what you care about. What we try to do is
teach people how to develop a positive identity of themselves so they can
self-actualize their potential as a human being.”
Thinking positive and self-actualization can be a good thing. However, we
can easily self-actualize a great self-image as we lose sight of our true
identity.
Self-actualization may lead us to create a great self-image.
The
image we project can have a powerful influence on others. A person dresses a
certain way, drives certain cars to leave an impression. The image we project
does not define individual traits or qualities. They just make up the total
impression one leaves on the minds of others.
A person
can start wearing glasses and radically change his impression on others.
Wearing dark glasses have more of impact than regular glasses. The amazing
thing is the person is the same person. It is this aura, this image he
projects that people react to.
The world believes our identity is tied up in our self-image.
I read this the other day. I am not sure who wrote it.
“Identity is on the inside as opposed to the outside. Most people define you
by the outside based on your color, based on your religion, and based on your
environment, [based on your accomplishments or lack thereof], all of the
external things that make you think that's who you are.”
Often religion and the world seeks to clean us up outwardly while leaving an
internal mess.
We eat
the right foods, develop the right habits, say the right things, think
positive thoughts, wear the right clothes, believe certain things, etc.
Once the world stamps its image on you it is hard to shed.
This
is why child abuse is so horrible. A child’s sexual abuse, physical abuse and
mental abuse stamps an image on that child’s heart. It imprints on our minds
and heart. It is an image that will take a life time of management to
overcome.
Let
it never be forgotten that glamour is not greatness; applause is not fame;
prominence is not eminence. The man of the hour is not apt to be the man of
the ages. A stone may sparkle, but that does not make it a diamond; people may
have money, but that does not make them a success.
It
is what the unimportant people do that really counts and determines the course
of history. The greatest forces in the universe are never spectacular. Summer
showers are more effective than hurricanes, but they get no publicity. The
world would soon die but for the fidelity, loyalty, and consecration of those
whose names are unhonored and unsung. (James R. Sizoo Bits & Pieces, June 22,
1995, p. 11.)
I have always questioned how we treat a person who has created a criminal
offense.
The
person is labeled as a criminal for life over one offense. A person commits a
felony offense. The person is branded as a felon all his/her life. Can’t vote,
own a gun and lives with the title of felony. Must tell any potential employer
he/she is a felon. They have paid for their crime, but they are still felons
for the rest of their lives.
Conclusion:
God came to live in the shambles with us to help us recognize and reclaim our
true
identity regardless of what the world says.
Nothing in Eden was designed to bring satisfaction without God who is the
source of all life.
Heaven
is not about living in the new Eden John pictures in Revelations. It is about
the restoration of the Tree of Life found there. The ability to live with God
in the Garden. We already know what happens in Eden without God.
We are not different from those building the tower of Babel.
They
were building a tower to make a name for themselves. Confusion was their lot.
It was much different for Abram when God steps into his life and says follow
me and I will make your name great.
Jesus told the thief on the cross, today you shall abide with me in paradise.
He told the adulterous woman to go her way and sin no more.
He offered the Samaritan woman, who was considered an outcast among the Jews,
access to the River of Life.
Christ offers us an opportunity to become a new creation, a creation much
different than the world has created for us.
He
does this as he reconciles us to God.
2
Corinthians 5:16-21
So
from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once
regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in
Christ, the new creation has come:[a]
The old has gone, the new is here! All
this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the
ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in
Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us
the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as
though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s
behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so
that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
As Christ was forsaken on that Cross, he made a way for God to take my sin
away without me paying the consequences myself.
It gives us a chance to start life with our slates wiped clean. Gives us a
chance for a new beginning and a God given identity.
Romans 6:3-4
Or
don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were
baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism
into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the
glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
