This Week's Light Service Sermon

Light Service Sermons for the Month
Overcoming Barriers to Relationships
Overcoming Fear and Shame
DATE: February 27, 2000
TEXT: Genesis 3:1-10

"Where are you?" When that question first echoed in the Garden of Eden, it sounded strange, eerily alone.
"Where are you?" It was God's question. It didn't mean the Lord needed a road map or coordinates to find his people. On the contrary.
"Where are you?" is a relationship question. It suggests that what was once something good, something whole had now somehow changed.
God had a relationship with Adam and Eve, a total, mutual, free and trusting relationship, or so it was in the beginning! But then something happened and that something was trust.
Genesis 2:25 describes how it had been, saying "The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame." Now I don't think the issue of shame had to do with their lack of public modesty. I think it had to do with the absolutely solid relationship they had with God. In the beginning, Adam and Eve were fully present in a wonderful relationship with God. He was always there and they were too! So there had been no need for either to ask: "Where are you?"
But it all changed.
The account in Genesis makes clear what happened, why everything was different: Adam and Eve gave into temptation and disobeyed the only order that God had given. It was then they felt shame.
What is so powerful about this account of the first occasion of humanity's disobedience of God is that it rings so universally familiar and true. As the Psalm writer once said, "we all fall short of the glory of God." And when we do, to cope we hide from God.
"Where are you?" God asks.
When the man and woman betrayed God's trust, everything changed. Genesis says that immediately their eyes were opened and what had been a absolutely pure relationship, without any hidden pretension, had now become tainted and they hid themselves. True their eyes were opened but instead of being a freeing experience, they were now infiltrated by fear and shame. Once upon a time they could move freely about without shame, with the assurance they were loved and trusted.
But the real tragedy of Adam and Eve's disobedience was that it resulted in them fleeing the very thing they were created to crave the most--a relationship with God.
They had never been embarrassed before to appear in front of their creator. They never had any cause to be. But now, now, they had disobeyed his one--think of it, he had given them only one--commandment. And they were ashamed of themselves. And they hid from God out of fear of what it might mean:
"I'm afraid for you to really see me." "I'm afraid you will see my faults." "I'm afraid that if you find me, you'll hurt me." "Perhaps worst of all, I'm afraid if you really know me, you'll reject me--believe that I'm worthless."
And so we hide, hide from the one who could restore the relationship, hide from the one who can offer forgiveness, hide from the one who loves us. For fearful hearts, hiding is a typical coping mechanism. Run from the one you have rejected before they reject you.
And if there is a suspicion--true or not--we might be rejected, then protect yourself. Listen to Adam, "The woman . gave me some fruit." And then Eve, "The serpent deceived me." Do you see the insidious nature of this betrayal. Now it is not just God who they betray, Adam and Eve turn on each other.
And then came the cover-up, each one denying responsibility, each one blaming the other. Until we get to "The Devil made me do it!"
Isn't it amazing what happens when we hide from God, when we make a habit of hiding from God.
Even Jesus, (until the time was right) withheld himself from total, vulnerable relationship with people like us.
JOHN 2:24-25 "Jesus didn't entrust his life to them. He knew them inside and out, and knew how untrustworthy they were. He didn't need any help in seeing right through them"
The moral of Jesus' story is blunt: If you turn yourself over to people in this world, you can get crucified!!!
Yet what does the Bible say? It says God went looking for them. "Where are you?" Don't run from me. Come to me. From the very beginning, we see the graciousness of God, the love of God, the desire of God to be a part of our lives. But still we run from his grace. Indeed, we have run so often and so far we have forgotten what we are missing.
VIDEO: What is grace?
Oh how far we have come since the Garden? For most in this world, "how far" can be answered by "we don't even know what being in a relationship with God means." Grace has become a foreign word; love and forgiveness has become so rare, we are surprised when it comes, if it comes at all. When people run from relationships they are deprived of so much more than they ever lost.
You and I are made relationally dependent. We can run, pre-occupy, sublimate our basic drive but we cannot hide from the fact that the only fulfillment we will find in this life is in "knowing and being known." Relationship.
Hiding from relationships out of fear or shame stunts, cripples, and frustrates our God-given nature. Hiding through avoidance, through work; hiding through intoxication or entertainment.
No matter what form of hiding, it always leads to sadness and despair.
So how can we come out of hiding?
1) Recognize that Adam and Eve were all wrong about the God who sought them. "Where are you?" was not, and is not, meant to be a threat. It was and is an honest seeking after us who have chosen to separate ourselves from him. "Where are you?" springs from God's grace, his desire to restore the relationship
When people with whom we have broken trust come looking for us, I would encourage you to come out of hiding. I think you will be surprised with the grace and love that you will find.
We can be sure, what Jesus reveals is who God always is: a constant reconciling love--grace--that seeks people, even when we flee Him out of fear.
2) God is patient. He will wait for us, keeping the secret of who we are until he reveals us as a perfect, new creation. Genesis 3:21 says that "The Lord made Adam and Eve garments" in tender, merciful love, God dealt with them on their own terms. He respects us even when we hide from him. For now, God has blessed the hiding, so that it is not so much shame anymore as it is modesty.
If you happen to be the one who must be the seeker, be patient with the one in hiding. Respect that person, waiting for the Spirit to work his will in the one hiding.
3) When God seeks people out, his visit consistently begins with the message "Do not be afraid!" That's the message from the empty tomb -- to Zechariah, to Mary, to the shepherds, and Jesus' consistent encouragement to his followers. "Do not be afraid."
It is a message appropriate and valuable to anyone who is afraid and hiding from relationships. God deals with our fearful hearts, speaking to us in a way that calls us out.
4) Jesus, most of all, shows that when God comes to people-in-hiding, it means good things for us. And not only in relationship to God: 1 John 1:7 promises that an effect of Jesus in our life is that we can grow in relationships of love, honesty and trust with others.
And what God promises us is a relationship that is far deeper than pleasantness or friendship. In the light of Jesus, we can come out of hiding in relation to others -- and admit who we really are -- and be healed.
The number one way to overcome barriers to relationship is to ". confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed." (James 5:16)
AMEN