"The Tale of two Gardens"

The Tale Of Two Gardens

Genesis 3:8-13 (NLT)

When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the LORD God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the LORD God among the trees.  9  Then the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” 10  He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.” 11  “Who told you that you were naked?” the LORD God asked. “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?” 12  The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.” 13  Then the LORD God asked the woman, “What have you done?” “The serpent deceived me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.”

Matthew 26:36-41 (NLT)

Then Jesus went with them to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and he said, “Sit here while I go over there to pray.”  37  He took Peter and Zebedee’s two sons, James and John, and he became anguished and distressed.  38  He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” 39  He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” 40  Then he returned to the disciples and found them asleep. He said to Peter, “Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour?  41  Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak!”

The Bible presents us with the story of two gardens. The Garden of Eden and The Garden of Gethsemane.

Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s will in the Garden of Eden. However, in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus said “nevertheless not as I will, but as you will. Isn’t it interesting that there is this huge contrast between what took place in the Garden of Eden and what took place in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Jesus offers us the greatest lesson of obedience in The Garden of Gethsemane. Whereas we can learn about the painful consequences of disobedience when we look at Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. In that first Garden, Adam and Eve listen to a voice they had no business listening to and as a result they took a fall. They fell into sin. They fell into disobedience. But in the second Garden, Jesus took a stand. He set his own feelings aside and he obeyed the voice of God the Father.

Genesis 3:9-10 says (NLT)

Then the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” 10  He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.”

 The true intent of this rhetorical question is revealed in Adam’s answer (verse 10)

 The real question was “why are you hiding?”

 The shame by being disobedient drove them to hide

Think of that. Because of sin in the first Garden, God sought Adam. However, in the second Garden Jesus  sought God. He left the disciples to go and seek God Almighty.

Matthew 26:39 says (NLT)

He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”

Really pay attention to the contrasting events that happened between the two gardens.

 In Eden, Adam hid from God.

 In Gethsemane, Jesus made himself fully available to God.

 In Eden, the devil deceived Adam and Eve to a tree that led to their spiritual death.

 In Gethsemane, our lord Jesus began that journey of love, pain, and sacrifice that ended on the cross, but led us to eternal life.

Now these two gardens are symbolic of a state of living for each and every one of us. We all have choices. We all have a measure of control when it comes to how we live and what we do each day.

What I’m trying to put across to you or rather what I’m trying to demonstrate is that when it comes to your spiritual life, you’re either living like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. That is a space where you believe the lies of the enemy, you act on those lies, and you disobey God. It’s a state where one lives in sin and hides from the presence of God because of their shame.

Your other choice is living like Jesus in The Garden of Gethsemane, sacrificial living.

Your will God and not my will. The type of living where it’s all about God.

 You may be sorrowful and troubled at times, but you still choose to obey God. (can’t have progress without pain.

 You may be overwhelmed, but you still choose to obey God. (if you want to fly, give up everything that weighs you down)

 You may want to quit and throw in the towel, but you still choose to obey God. (be strong and courageous)

 You may be craving the desires of the flesh, but you choose to obey God. (freedom is not attained through the satisfaction of desires, but through the suppression of desires)

 You may want to curse and cuss people or even choose, but you still choose to obey God

You see it is people that present the biggest problem when choosing to be obedient to God’s will, plan and purpose in your life. The devil speaks to you through people.

 Let me be clear: people are never the devil or the enemy. But people are the enemy’s tool of choice to access our lives

 The devil is a spirit, and it needs a body to do its work; just like it came to Eve in the form of a serpent

1 John 3:8 (NKJV)

He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.

 Luke 22:3 (NKJV)

Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve.

That’s why we have to set boundaries with people. And the boundary line is different for different people. But sometimes the line can be fuzzy. It can be so difficult, especially with those closest to us. But here is where I go first to get clarity:

Am I more committed to being obedient to God or

 Making the other person happy?

 To avoid conflict?

 To sidestepping criticism?

 To protecting my reputation?

If I’m choosing anything over obedience to God or his will, plan and purpose for my life, I just found the line!

Deuteronomy 5:33 (NIV)

Walk in obedience to all that the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess. I want to encourage you today friends. Be like Christ. Separate yourself from others and seek the face of the Lord in prayer. Seek to be willing and obedient.

Pray that when we encounter moments, situations or events that leave us in a troubled state, may we remember to trust and lean on you. May we remember to act with your will as our motive and not my own selfish desires. Lord Jesus could have preserved himself. He could have spared himself the agony and pain that He endured on Calvary, but yet he chose out of love, out of His great mercy and out of obedience to sacrifice himself so that we who were lost could be saved. We must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.

Philippians 2:6-8 says (NLT)

Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. 7  Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, 8  he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. I don’t know about you, but I thank God for that extraordinary kind of love.

Romans 5:8 (NKJV)

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Help us in our lives so that we might be obedient to your voice, to your will, to your way. Jesus became flesh and led by example showing us that it is possible to live an obedient, Godly life.

By Jesus being obedient in the Garden of Gethsemane, he removed all sins from mankind

Romans 5:19 (NKJV)

For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.

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Illustration

Charles Stanley tells about a man who worked in one of the great forests of the South. His faithful dog burned to death in a great fire that had swept through the forest. Charles Stanley said the little dog had been left under a tree to guard his master’s dinner pail and wouldn’t leave it even when the flames roared around him. The worker was brokenhearted when he found the charred remains of his little friend. With tears streaming down his face, he said: “I always had to be careful what I told him to do, because I knew he would do it.” This, and more, is the kind of obedience to which Christ has called us.

Matthew 10:38 says (NLT)

If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine.

Lord I ask you give us the strength to be obedient to take up our own cross and chase after you.