The Garden of Redemption

Today is Palm Sunday which is the day we remember how Jesus entered Jerusalem at the time of the Passover with crowds welcoming him as a king.  John 12:12-15.  There are two competing images we see in this story.  One is Jesus coming with a crowd cheering him as their king and waving palm branches in the air which were symbols of victory, and the other is Jesus riding on a donkey – which was a fulfillment of prophecy but also a symbol of humility.  Victory and humility.  Strength and power and God’s deliverance was coming but it was going to come through humility, grace and mercy.  This entrance tells us that something very unique is going to happen and that God was going to save – which is what Hosanna means – but that God’s salvation was not going to come through earthly power and brute force but through God’s grace and love. 

Five days later that salvation came.  Jesus was proclaimed a king and God proclaimed victory over sin but that salvation and victory didn’t come by a ruler forcing his way upon others but by a messiah, the Son of God, laying his life down on a cross.  The cross is a symbol of God’s strength and power overcoming sin but that victory came through an act of sacrificial love and mercy and for us to understand the work of salvation on the cross we need to understand the back story of Adam and Eve in a garden. 

Through our look at gardens during this Lenten season we have learned that God created the world to be a garden where everything fit together in perfect unity and where all of life was good – very good.  But Adam and Eve chose to disobey God and follow their own will.  They did the one thing God asked them not to do and they ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil and in that moment – paradise, which means the king’s garden, was lost. 

When Adam and Eve missed the mark and turned away from God’s will, sin entered the world, but the story of Adam and Eve is our story.  We still fall short and miss the mark of how God wants us to live and every time we do this it is our sin that destroys the beauty of life in the garden.  While we long to return to the Garden and dream of life in the Promised Land or the Kingdom of God, we know that on our own, we can’t get there.  We cannot redeem the world and restore the garden of God, but what we can’t do – Jesus can.  So in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus made the decision to take on our sin and the sin of the world.  Jesus was willing to drink from the cup of God’s wrath and experience the divine judgement of sin so that we wouldn’t have to.  The sin that entered the world through Adam and Eve was going to be fully paid for by Jesus. 

The Apostle Paul said it this way in his letter to the Romans.  Just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people.  For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.  Romans 5:18-19

The sin of Adam led all of us out of the garden but the faithfulness of Jesus leads us back in.  What we lost in Adam was restored in Jesus and this restoration and redemption took place in a garden.  In a garden, Jesus choose to follow God’s will and take up a cross to pay the price for our sin but the gospel of John also tells us that it was in a garden that the work of redemption took place.  Jesus actually paid the price for our sin in a garden.  At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid.   John 19:41. 

It was important to John that we understand that the work of redemption takes place in or near a garden.  We come full circle here.  Adam and Eve made the wrong choice in a garden and life in the garden was lost but Jesus not only made the right choice but he followed through on that choice in another garden so that the penalty for sin could be paid and life in the garden restored. 

So the crucifixion took place in or near a garden, but this is not how we usually picture this in our mind.  We often think of Calvary as a desolate hillside and barren wasteland far outside of the city, but John makes clear that near where the crucifixion took place there was a garden.  It was close enough that for John he places both of these events in a garden. 

In Jerusalem there are two places where we think the crucifixion and burial of Jesus may have taken place.  The first is in what we know today as the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. 

While today this is inside the city walls, when it was first recognized as the possible place of Calvary it was outside of the city.  When Helena, the mother of Constantine, became a Christian she traveled to the holy land and it was around 325 AD that she found the place where she believed the crucifixion took place. 

To honor a holy place in those days they would build a church on that spot, so a church was built.  As they excavated the area to build the church they found a tomb not far away and they believed this to be the tomb of Jesus so both of these holy sites became part of the church. 

Here is a cross section of the church and you can see how close these two locations are – about 150 feet.  It is hard to see how the cross and the tomb could both have been in the same place because of the massive basilica that has built on this site and today the city of Jerusalem is built up all around it, but what we can’t really see here we can see in the other place people have speculated to be the site of Jesus crucifixion and burial. 

For a great visual of how the area of Jesus Crucifixion became the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, check out this national geographic website. 

In the 19th century scholars and archaeologists started to question whether or not what was enclosed in the Holy Sepulcher was in fact the actual place of Jesus death and burial and so they began to look at other locations outside the walls of Jerusalem.  A cliff that resembled a skull was considered a possible sight for Jesus crucifixion because Golgotha means – place of the skull and this place looked like a skull. 

"Skull Hill" in what is known as The Garden Tomb in Jerusalem

When excavating was done, several tombs were found

Tombs on the grounds of The Garden Tomb

as well as evidence of a garden that dates back to the first century. 

A win vat on the grounds of the Garden Tomb.

What makes this location so interesting is that we can see here what it would have looked like for Jesus to have been crucified and buried in a garden.  Within a very small compound we can see the cliff side, the garden and the tomb.  It would all have been in what John called a garden. 

For more information on The Garden Tomb, check out their website. 

Whether either of these location is the actual place Jesus died and was buried is not important, what is important is to understand that the work of Jesus on the cross took place in a garden.  What John wants us to understand is that what Adam and Eve lost in a garden due to sin - Jesus was going to restore in a garden by his obedience to God.  Through the faithfulness of Jesus on the cross, our sin is forgiven, our lives are redeemed and we can once again walk in the garden with God.  This work of redemption is what we call the atonement which literally means AT-ONE-MENT.  Through the cross we are made one with God or restored into a relationship with God. 

As we look at the cross and think about what Jesus did for us in the garden to redeem us there are three important things to see.  The first is that the cross exposes the magnitude of our need.  Last week we talked about the cup that Jesus struggle to accept and this cup was the cup of God’s wrath – a wrath that was intended for us.  This does not mean that God is angry with us in a personally sense.  God’s wrath does not include any kind of personal animosity – quite the opposite.  God loves us.  What makes God angry is evil.  God’s wrath is directed at the sin that holds us captive and God knows that on our own there is no way we can free ourselves from this sin or stand up under the penalty of sin.  On our own there is no way we can make our way back to the garden or be brought back into a relationship with God and so what Jesus does on the cross he does for us because we can’t do it for ourselves.  Jesus does this work in the garden because we can’t.  The cross shows us just how much we need God to be our Redeemer.

Second, the cross reveals just how much God loves us.  Jesus chose to carry a cross.  This was God’s plan and Jesus’ choice.  God willingly came to pay the price for our sin and Jesus willingly choose to carry the cross and die for our sin.  1 John 4:10, This is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sin.

The cross isn’t some tragic accident that happened to Jesus, it was what he chose to have happen.  God was willing to give himself for us so that we could be considered righteous in God’s eyes and God does this because God loves us and knows that there is no other way.  In his book The Cross of Christ, John Stott says it this way: God’s love is the source not the consequence of the atonement.  The death of Jesus isn’t what opens the door for God’s love, the death of Jesus is the outpouring of God’s love for us.  It was God’s love that led Jesus to the cross so the cross reveals to us how much God loves us. 

The third thing we need to see in the cross is that Jesus died for us.  It is the death of Jesus, the blood he spilled on the cross that pays the price for our sin.  It is the death of Jesus that redeems us and brings us back into a relationship with God.  Ephesians 1:7 - In Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.  

Sin came to us all through Adam and Eve and the consequence of that sin was alienated from God.  The penalty for all sin was paid by Jesus on the cross so that we don’t have to be alienated and separated from God.  Jesus paid that price and died our death so that we can be made one with God.  That work of redemption and atonement is what Jesus did on a cross and in a garden so that we could live in the garden with God.  Through the cross of Jesus we find victory.   Through the humility of Jesus and the love of God we are saved. 

Victory through humility.  It is the message of Jesus on Palm Sunday and it is the message of God’s work on the cross.  Victory through humility is also the message of our own faith.  We find victory when we are willing to humble ourselves before God.  We find victory when we stop trying to earn our standing before God or pay God back and simply humble ourselves before God and accept his love and grace.  Faith in God simply means humbling ourselves before God’s love so that we can experience life. 

Victory through humility also needs to be our life of faith.  When we offer ourselves in humility to God and the world – we find victory.  When we are willing to humble ourselves and serve God and our family and our community and world – we find victory in life but we also bring the victory of life and the victory of God to our world.  When we humble ourselves and serve we are helping bring in the Kingdom of God.  When we humble ourselves and love we are helping people see the power of God’s Promised Land.  When we humble ourselves and serve we experience victory and the power of life in paradise – which is life in the king’s garden. 

  
Next Steps
The Garden of Redemption

1. What do you see when you look at the cross of Jesus?
• What does it say about our need and God’s love?
• What work did Jesus do on the cross for us? 

2. Why was it important to John that we know the work of Jesus on the cross took place in a garden?  John 19:41

3. Jesus paid the price for sin so that we might be redeemed. 
• How does this “good news” motivate you to live more fully for God? 
• What is one way you can work to renew your life? 
• What is one way you can draw upon the power of God and help recreate the garden of God?

4. The story of Palm Sunday and the cross both talk about victory through humility. 
• Identify one way you can humble yourself and serve God and others. 
• How can this service lead to victory for you and others? 

5. Read the story of Jesus death in one of the four gospels.
Matthew 26-28   Mark 14-16   Luke 22-24   John 18-21

6. Join us for these times of worship:
• Easter Cantata this afternoon at 4:00 PM
• Maundy Thursday Worship at 7:00 PM
• Good Friday Worship at 7:00 PM
• Easter Sunrise Worship at 6:30 AM
• Easter Morning Worship at 8:15 AM & 10:45 AM

The Garden of Gethsemane

Life began for us in a garden where God wanted to give us everything and walk with us through life.  This paradise was lost when Adam and Eve listened to the voice of the serpent and followed their own will instead of listening to and following the will of God.  While they didn’t sit down and pray these words, their message to God was, not thy will but my will be done.  They cared more about their own will than being faithful to God so they turned away from God and paradise was lost.  The goodness, beauty and harmony of creation was lost.

We know that the story of Adam and Eve isn’t just the story of two people who lived long ago, it is our story and while we may not actually sit down and pray, not thy will be my will be done this is often how we respond to God.  While we want to be faithful and work for the Kingdom of God, we too often look to our own will and way.  We fail and miss the mark and we know that on our own we cannot recreate the King’s Garden. What we can’t do, however, Jesus can.

It was in another garden that Jesus began the work of redemption and recreation.  In another garden Jesus suffered, died and rose again so that we could be forgiven and restored into a relationship with God which means being able to return to the garden and walk with God.  This work of Jesus began on the night he was betrayed and arrested.  John 18:1 and Matthew 26:36-46

Gethsemane was a garden, not the way we think of a garden with fields of flowers or rows of produce, it was more of an orchard or a grove of trees.  The word Gethsemane means Oil Press.  What they would have been pressing to make oil were olives and so they would have put the oil press among the trees so that they didn’t have to transport the olives.  Today, across the Kidron Valley from the city of Jerusalem there is a grove of olive trees that have been there for over 900 years.

Olive Trees in Gethsemane

What is interesting is that that testing on these trees have shown that they all come from the same parent tree which means that there was some kind of deliberate attempt to keep this garden going with some very specific and special trees as the source.  What we believe is that this is the garden of Gethsemane.  This is the place where Jesus prayed and where he suffered and where the decision was made to redeem all of humanity and restore the garden of God.  So let’s look at the work of Jesus in this garden.

Jesus and his disciples had just finished the Passover meal and Jesus knew that Judas had betrayed him and that his arrest, trial and crucifixion were all coming.  Jesus took his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley to a place where they often went to pray – Gethsemane.

 From the upper room, Jesus would have traveled these stone steps to skirt around the walls of Jerusalem and make their way across the valley and when they arrived in the garden Jesus invited Peter, James and John to go with him a little further to pray.  It was then that Jesus threw himself on the ground in anguish.

The words we find here don’t do justice to what Jesus was experiencing.  It says he was sorrowful and troubled but those words could also be translated as tormented, agitated and despondent.  The gospel of Mark uses a word for deeply distressed that has also been translated as horror struck.   Jesus is in real pain here, so much pain that the gospel of Luke said Jesus’ sweat was like drops of blood.  The question we have to ask ourselves is why was Jesus in so much pain?  What was this cup that God was asking him to drink? 

I always thought that this scene was the human side of Jesus coming through and that the distress pressing in on Jesus was due to the looming reality of the crucifixion.  Crucifixion was one of the worst ways to be executed and the pain was excruciating and Jesus knew this was coming, so was this distress a real aversion to the pain of the cross?  I’ve always thought that was the case because it is how most of us would feel.  If we had to make the choice of dying a cruel, violent and painful death or just walking away – many of us might just walk away.  And Jesus could have done that.  He could have just walked away, actually Jesus had three choices here and they can all be seen when we look at the garden.

Just over the hill from Gethsemane was the village of Bethpage and Bethany where Jesus knew people and he could have fled there at night and from there he could have escaped into the wilderness.  Jesus did not need to stay in the garden and on the road to the cross, he had a choice.  The other choice Jesus was faced with – literally faced with – was to enter into Jerusalem with all the power of God.  When you looked over to the city of Jerusalem from the garden, this is what you would see.

The Golden Gate as seen from Gethsemane

This is one of the walls of Jerusalem and this entrance is known as the Golden Gate and the prophets said that when the Messiah came he would enter the city through this gate and the glory of God would be seen.  So Jesus didn’t have to run away and he didn’t have to enter the city as a prisoner, he could have marched into Jerusalem through this gate bringing with him the power and glory of God.  I was struck by how close this gate was to the garden and what a temptation that must have been for Jesus.

Jesus had a choice to make, he could follow his own will just like Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden, or he could follow the will of God.   Jesus could flee to safety and live to fight another day.  He could follow what might have been a very real temptation and human desire to force his hand and enter the city with power or he could follow the will of God which Jesus knew meant dying on a cross.  This is the choice Jesus faced and as we can see it brought great anguish but not for the reason we might think.  The bitter cup and the pain Jesus was looking at was not physical, it didn’t come from thinking about the physical pain of the cross, it was spiritual and it came from thinking about drinking from the cup of God’s wrath.

The cup of God’s wrath is a way of talking about God’s divine judgement on sin.  Job 21:20,  Ps 75:8.  What God is asking Jesus to do here is take on himself the sin of the world knowing that when he does this he will be alienated from God.  The divine relationship between father and son will be severed for a moment and the mere thought of this alienation is what causes Jesus pain.

In his book Basic Christianity, John Stott describes that moment of separation like this: Jesus was bearing our sins.  And God ‘who is of purer eyes than to behold evil’ and ‘cannot look on wrong’ turned his face away.  Our sins came between the Father and the Son.  The Lord Jesus who was eternally with the Father, who enjoyed unbroken communion with him throughout his life on earth, was thus momentarily abandoned.  He tasted the torment of a soul estranged from God.    This is the cup that Jesus is being asked to drink and not for his sake but for our sake and the sake of the world.

The punishment Adam and Eve brought into the world through their sin Jesus was going to pay once and for all.  The separation that came when Adam and Eve were driven from the garden because of their sin was going to be reconciled by Jesus who in the garden choose to be faithful.  While Adam and Eve said, Not thy will but my will be done and paradise was lost, Jesus said Not my will but thy will be done and paradise began to be restored.  Redemption was coming.  Reconciliation was coming.  Relationship with God was coming.

So what was lost in the garden by Adam and Eve choosing their will over God’s was restored by Jesus choosing God’s will over his own.  And because Jesus makes this choice in a garden, the door is opened for us to live in the garden with God – not just in the future when we die but today and tomorrow.  Because of Jesus, this prayer in the garden can now be our prayer and every time we pray for and follow God’s will, a part of paradise is restored, a part of God’s kingdom comes to earth and a part of the Promised Land is seen.  This can be our prayer, but the choice is ours.

Every day, the choice is ours.  Every day we have the choice of God’s will or our will.  In relationships we can choose our will or God’s will.  At our jobs we can choose our will or Gods’ will.  In school we can choose our will or God’s will.  In our finances, in our choice of entertainment and how we interact with others on social media and in how we spend our time we can choose our will or God’s will.  There really are only two prayers we are given each day and it is up to us which one we will pray.
Not Thy will but My will be done
or
Not My will be Thy will be done.

Which will we choose?  If we choose God’s will, how can we be certain what God’s will is?  Jesus knew God’s will fully because he was God, but how can we know God’s will?  It takes a lot of intentional focus to know God’s will and to be confident in what God is asking of us, but we can and there are some things we can do to make sure we are hearing and following the will of God.

First of all, the word of God gives us a lot of direction and insight into the will of God.  It’s here that we find that God’s will involves love and mercy and justice.  It’s here that we find that God’s will involves care for our family, friends and neighbors.  God’s word helps us know God’s will which means if we are going to seriously pray, not my will but they will be done, we need to be engaged in the word of God daily.

Worship also helps us hear and experience God’s will because it is here that we are often more open to the leading of God’s Holy Spirit.  When we gather and have our hearts and minds fixed on Jesus it is often easier to understand God’s will and then find strength from others to follow that will.  Even Jesus took his disciples with him to pray in hopes that they would give him strength, so gathering with others for worship is important.

The example of Jesus also shows us the will of God.  We learn God’s will in relationships when we look at how Jesus treated those around him.  We learn God’s will in serving others by looking at how Jesus served.  We learn God’s will in dealing with the power and authority of this world by looking at how Jesus dealt with the power and authority of his day.  The choices Jesus made give us direction on the choices we need to make.


We can also understand God’s will by paying attention to what is going on around us.  Who do we find always crossing our path – is that someone God is asking us to help or serve or talk to?  What do we find ourselves doing again and again – is that what God has made us for?  Is that part of our passion and God’s will for our lives?  What is it that we can’t stop thinking about and dreaming about?  What is the vision of God’s kingdom that we simply can’t let go?  That just might be God’s will for us.  Paying attention to all that is going on around us and in us helps us pray with more boldness, not my will but thy will be done.

What we learn from Jesus in this garden is that God’s will for us is not always comfortable and convenient.  What Jesus faced was not going to be comfortable.  Physically it was going to be agony.  Emotionally Jesus was going to be rejected and abandoned by everyone.  Spiritually Jesus was going to face darkness and isolation.  This was not going to be comfortable and God’s will for us is not always comfortable.  It is often hard and sometimes painful which means we need to be prepared for that as we pray.

God’s will is also not always convenient.  It wasn’t convenient for Jesus to move forward here.  It might have been more convenient to walk away and find another time and place to do what God wanted him to do.  Many times God calls us when it is not convenient and we have to make sacrifices to follow God’s will and not our own.

Looking at all of this in our own lives – it seems impossible.  It seems like there is simply no way for us to pray, not my will but Thy will be done and then follow God’s will – but we can.  We can find victory and we can walk in faith because of what Jesus did in this garden.  We are not destined to follow Adam and Eve out of the garden because we have been redeemed by the choice that Jesus made in a garden.  Jesus chose God’s will and in that choice, the process of redemption began.  More was to come but the restoration of the King’s garden began with Jesus’ prayer and Jesus’ choice in the garden.  May this be our prayer and may this be our choice so that we can begin to experience the fullness of life in the garden. 

 
Next Steps
The Garden of Gethsemane

1. When have you prayed, “Not thy will but my will be done? “
• What was God asking you to do?
• Why did you not want to do it?

2.  Read Matthew 26:36-46
Jesus was in great anguish during this time of prayer.
• Was Jesus’ pain more physical, emotional or spiritual?
• Can you identify all the anguish Jesus faced in this moment?

3. To learn more about the cup of wrath Jesus was to drink read
• Job 21:20
• Psalm 75:8
• Isaiah 51:17-23

4.  The following activities can help us know God’s will:
• Reading Scripture
• Regular Worship
• Following the example of Jesus
• Taking advantage of the opportunities we have
• Paying attention to who is in our lives and what is going on around us and in us
Which area do you need to focus on more to understand God’s will for your life?  Name one way you can do that this week.

5. Jesus took Peter, James and John with him to pray, who can you ask to walk with you as you faithfully follow God’s will for your life?

6. Begin every day this week with the prayer, ”Not my will but Thy will be done.”

The Garden and The Kingdom of God

The Bible tells us that life began in a garden.  When God created the heavens and earth, it was created to be a garden where everything fit together with such perfection that when God finished his work he looked at it all and said this is very good.  But clearly when we look around today we don’t see everything as very good.  We see violence, division, abuse and injustice.  We see poverty and needless starvation as some people work to grab hold of all power not caring that others are cast out into the dark.  Life is not the way God intended it to be and we learned that this is because of sin – we miss the mark.  Instead of listening to God and doing what he asks us to do, we listen to the voice of the serpent which tells us to ignore the voice and the will of God and take hold of what we want in life - no matter what.

Adam and Eve did this and they were driven from the garden.  Paradise was lost, but deep inside of them was an image of life in the garden and a desire to return.  We still long to experience the life God created us for.  We still long to live in the garden of God. In the Old Testament this idea of living in the garden of God was talked about as the Promised Land – a land that God would give to his people where they would be blessed and then in turn be a blessing.  The Promised Land was to be a place of joy, gladness and thanksgiving where justice, righteousness and salvation were experienced by all.  It was to be a place where God’s people would do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with God. 

While Israel finally settled and became a nation in the physical land God gave them, they never fully embraced the life that God wanted for them so when Jesus arrived, he lived in what we know as the Promised Land but like the prophets before him he had to keep calling people to live the kind of life that God wanted them to experience.  Jesus’ first and in many ways his only message was a simple one, repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. 

The word repent is the word metanoia which means to change your mind.  I used to think this way – I now think this way.  I used to see the world this way – I now see the world this way.  I used to live this way – I now live this way.  Repentance means we literally turn and see, think and act differently.  Jesus didn’t call people to change their location, he called them to change their heart and life because the garden wasn’t a place on a map it was an attitude of the heart that gave direction to one’s life. 

What made Jesus different from the prophets before him was that he didn’t just preach about the Promised Land or the Kingdom of God and he didn’t just teach about the kind of life God wanted us to live – he lived it out fully in his own life.  Jesus was the very embodiment of the kingdom of God in this world.  In fact, when Jesus preached, the kingdom of God is at hand, in many ways he really meant it was at hand – at their hand – within their grasp because it was right there in Jesus.  In Jesus we see the actual life God wants for all of us.  In Jesus we see the life wants each of us to experience and live out.  In Jesus we see the promise God made to Abraham fulfilled.  Jesus was blessed by God and he lived a life that was constantly a blessing to others. 

There are 118 reference in Jesus’ teaching to the Kingdom of God, but there are so many more examples of this kingdom pouring forth from Jesus’ life into our world.  Luke 8:22-25.  Here is Jesus calming a storm and the disciples are so amazed at his power that they ask themselves, who is this?  He commands even the winds and the water and they obey him.  Jesus’ life is filled with power over all the forces of nature.  He calmed the storms, walked on water and turned water to wine, but it doesn’t end there.

Luke 8:26-39.  Here Jesus drives demons out of a man who had been possessed for many years.  Everyone else had given up on the man and he lived among the tombs – in many ways he was dead, the walking dead – but Jesus drove out the demons and restored his life.  Jesus then restored a girl’s life.  A girl of 12 had died and when Jesus arrived at the house the people were weeping but Jesus simply said, don’t be afraid; just believe and she will be healed.  The girl was healed.  She was raised from the dead.  One again the power of God’s kingdom was coming through Jesus. 
 The garden was to be a place of life and healing and power and Jesus gives us a glimpse of this kingdom in all that he did.  The garden was also to be a place of forgiveness, grace and love and Jesus always offered grace and mercy to those in need.  Jesus welcomed outcasts, forgave sinners, called everyone to new life and created a community of all those who had been redeemed by the love and grace and power of God.  This is what the kingdom of God is all about.  This is what life in the Promised Land was all about and Jesus’ own life shows us how it is possible in the here and now. 

So the Kingdom of God was seen in Jesus, but Jesus also taught us about this kingdom and invited us to live according to its values and principles and much of Jesus’ teaching used images of a garden.  The garden images shouldn’t surprise us because most of the people in Jesus’ day were still very much tied to the land so they knew all about seeds and plants and gardens, but it is also important to see that when Jesus called us to embrace the kingdom of God it was an invitation to live once again in the garden of God. 

Again, let’s look at Luke 8.  Before we see the power of God’s kingdom in his life, Jesus told a story about a sower going out to sow seeds.  The sower is Jesus and what he is doing is the work of God.  Jesus is planting a garden.  Luke 8:5-8. 

So through Jesus, God is once again planting a garden and now we are the soil.  Here, the garden God wants to create isn’t in some plot of ground, it is in our hearts and lives.  God wants us to experience life in his garden and so he gives us the seed, the potential to experience this life.  It is now up to us to decide what to do with it.  We can disregard the seed, we can allow the seed to find a home but then turn away from it when hardships come, we can even experience the life God wants for us but then turn away from it when the worries of life hit home, or we can allow that seed to really take root in our lives and create something special. 

What I love about this parable is that it is telling us that the kingdom of God can still be experienced, the garden of God can still grow but it will only grow in us if we are willing to allow that to happen.  We have to be willing to receive all that God has for us.  We have to be willing to nurture and care for the life and faith God gives us and we have to be willing to work to bring in a harvest. 

So the kingdom of God is a garden that God wants to plant and create in us.  It is a life God wants us to experience but it is also a way of life that God wants us to work for in this world.  In Matthew 20 and 21 Jesus tells two parables about the kingdom of God that again use images of a vineyard or a garden.  In each of them, God is seen as the owner of the land who creates a garden and then calls people to work in it.  Matthew 20:1-2 and Matthew 21:33-34.

We are the workers being called into the garden to work.  We are the tenants God has given his garden to and so we are not only to live in the garden or experience the blessing of it – we are to work in it and through that work be a blessing to others.  The work we are to do is simply to do what we see in Jesus and follow his teaching. 

Like Jesus we are to offer grace and forgiveness.  We are to work for justice and make sure those who are in need are cared for.  We are to clothe the naked, feed the hungry and give water to the thirsty.  We are to share the love and grace and power of God with others.  We don’t work to receive the gift of life – we are called to work to bring this gift of life to others.  Life in the garden of God is a free gift and once we really let it sink into our lives and allow it to change our thinking, living and loving we will give ourselves to make it grow in the world. 

While life in the garden is a gift given by God, we are all here because someone else gave themselves to work for God’s kingdom.  I am here because Mrs. Mack, my youth choir director, told us we could be an active part of the life and worship of the church and she helped us do just that.  I am here because Mrs. Barrett was patient with me in Sunday School.  I am here because the Fosters and Robinsons committed themselves to spending every Sunday night with us as youth group leaders and opened their homes and hearts to us for years.  I am here because my parents showed me that faith was important through prayer at the dinner table and a commitment to worship and to serving in the church and community.  I am because a group of guys in college invited met to a bible study and patiently answered all my questions and showed me how living for Jesus could be a blessing and not a burden.  I am here because these people and so many more were willing to work for the Kingdom of God. 

It’s now our time.  Generations of people have cared for and worked in the garden so we could experience the kingdom of God and the life God has for us – now it is our time to change our thinking, our loving and our living and work to help people experience more of the life God has for us.  Today we are the ones being called to go work in the fields and we are the tenant who have been given the garden.  Jesus said that he is the vine and God is the gardener and we are the branches and we are to bear much fruit.  Our lives need to bear much fruit which means we need to give ourselves to working in the vineyard. 

So what work can we do?  How can we help people see and experience life in the garden?  How can we change our thinking, our living and our loving so that our desire is to work in and for the Kingdom of God.  As you leave today we want to give you a pack of seeds to plant.  These seeds are to be a reminder to us that we are each called to work in the garden of God.  Plant them in a place where when you see them grow you will be reminded to work for God’s kingdom.  As you plant them, share with us on facebook where you are planting them and how you want to work for the Kingdom of God and how you want to help others experience life in the garden. 


Next Steps
The Garden and the Kingdom of God

1.  Read these parables about the kingdom of God.  What do you learn about the values of God’s kingdom and the work we are called to do? 
• Luke 8:1-15, 13:18-21, 20:9-19
• Matthew 13:1-52, 20:1-16, 21:32-46


2.  Where do we see the kingdom of God in the life of Jesus?
• Luke 8:22-56, 13:10-17
• Matthew 14:13-36
What does the life of Jesus tell us about the life that God wants for all of us and for our world? 


3.  In what ways are you experiencing the kingdom of God?


4.  Where do you need to experience the power of God’s kingdom in your life?


5.  How can you work to bring the Kingdom of God into this world?  How can you give yourself to the work of the church so that others can experience life in the garden?


6.  Plant the seed pack given today in a place that will remind you to always be working and living and loving in a way that will bring God’s grace and power into our world.  Share your planting of these seeds with us on facebook.

The Garden and the Promised Land

 We are in a series called in the garden because gardens are an important part of the biblical story and our story.  Life began in a garden, the Garden of Eden, and life ends in a garden.  Some people see heaven as the Garden of Eden restored.  In the middle of the scriptures we have the life of Jesus who suffered, died and rose again in a garden and the first person to see Jesus after his resurrection actually thought Jesus was a gardener.  So our life, salvation and eternal life all comes from the work of God in a garden.

Last week we learned how life in the Garden of Eden got so messed up.  Adam and Eve listened to the voice of the serpent and their desire wasn’t to walk with God but to be God.  They weren’t content being children of God they wanted to be like God in all ways so they took control of their lives and did the one thing God told them not to do – eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  In that moment – paradise was lost – life in the King’s Garden was lost.  What was beautify, righteous and holy become soiled, broken and filled with sin.  Adam and Eve were driven out of the garden and to this day we live in a world that is broken and filled with sin – but we were created to live in the King’s Garden which means that there is a part of us that longs to return to that garden.  There is a part of us that longs for life with God and for life the way God intended it to be lived.   

In the Old Testament we see this longing to live with God and the longing God has to live with us in His garden in the ideas about the Promised Land.  God called a man named Abram to leave his home and go to a land that God was going to show him and give him and in this land God would bless him, Genesis 12:1-5.  Later on we hear this land described as well watered, like the garden of the Lord. (Genesis 13:10)  So the Promised Land was a garden.  It was to be a beautiful place where God would bless his people and where God’s people would be a blessing to the world.  In some sense, people would be returning to live in the garden with God.

While for Abram and his family, and later for Moses and the people of Israel, the Promised Land was a specific geographic location, the original idea God had wasn’t so much a location but a way of life.  If we go back to Genesis 12, the land was simply going to be a place where God would bless Abram and his family and where they could be a blessing to others.  The important thing wasn’t the location as much as the way of life to be experienced when we walk with God.  It was going to be a place where love for God and love for others was going to be the way of all people. 

But let’s be clear, the location God led them to was a lush and fertile garden.  In fact, when the people of Israel were returning to the Promised Land after their time in Egypt they sent spies to check out this land and this is what it says, When they reached the Valley of Eshkol, they cut off a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes.  Two of them carried it on a pole between them, along with some pomegranates and figs.  Numbers 13:23. 

The Jezreel and Jordan Valley, which make up much of the geographic area we think of as the Promised Land are very fertile and lush lands. 

As you drive through this region you see field after field of grain, produce and orchards.  It is a garden where everything grows, but the Promised Land was never just to be a location that looked like this.  In fact, at the end of Moses life he is taken to the top of Mt. Nebo and shown the entire Promised Land and here is what it looks like from the top of Mt. Nebo. 

You don’t see any lush green gardens here.  You don’t see all fertile land with an abundance of vegetation.  It’s out there in certain locations, but this is hardly what we would envision as the garden of God, which tells us that the Promised Land is so much more than the location of a specific garden.  It was life with God and life the way God intended it to be for us.  In all of us there is a longing to return to this garden.  We all long for a life filled with God’s grace and peace and goodness.  We all long to be blessed and to be a blessing.

Moses and the people of Israel did enter into this Promised Land, this specific location, but they never fully embraced the life God had for them so in time they were driven out of the garden.  Just like Adam and Eve didn’t follow God, neither did the people of Israel and so they too were driven out of the garden of God.  The nation of Israel was defeated by the Babylonians and most of the people were taken into captivity and forced to live in exile but while they were living in a foreign land, their hearts longed for the garden of God.  The Prophet Isaiah wrote to the people of Israel living in captivity and this is what he said – Isaiah 51:3-5. 

Isaiah talks about restoring Eden and returning life to the people but for Isaiah this didn’t mean returning to specific location it was describing a certain kind of life.  The Promised Land was a place filled with joy and gladness and thanksgiving.  What the garden of God is all about is justice, righteousness and salvation.  So we can talk about the Promised Land as a garden, but the fruit in that garden is joy, gladness, thanksgiving.  The trees that bring life to the people are justice, righteousness and salvation. 

Adam Hamilton has said that the Promised Land is not a location - it is an idea and it is an ideal.  The idea is that God’s garden is more than what we can see with our eyes, it is a way of life that passes our highest hopes and dreams.  It is a place of joy, gladness and thanksgiving.  The ideal is that God’s garden is a life that we are called to live and a kingdom that we are to work for, a place of justice, righteousness and salvation. 

The Promised Land is the life we long to live and what this life looks like might be different for each of us.  For some the longing is to live in a world where all children are loved and cared for.  For others the focus might be racial reconciliation or economic justice.  For some the idea of God’s garden is primarily a place where families are held together in love or people are being drawn to God.  While we might long for all of this, in each of us there is a dream of what life in the garden is to be like.  We each have our own personal longing for life in the Promised Land. 
To give you an example of what I am talking about – watch this. 

Martin Luther King Jr. had a vision of the Promised Land.  He had a dream of what this garden of God was to look like and he held that vision up for the world to see but it wasn’t just a dream or idea, it was also an ideal that he worked for.  It was a dream he gave his life to. 

Racial justice and equality was the Promised Land for King – what is it for you?  What dream do you have for your own life, your family, our church, community and world?  What is it that your heart longs for and what is the ideal you will give yourself to?  Each of us was created to live in the King’s Garden which means that in each of us there is a longing to experience the fullness of life with God and life the way God wanted us to live.  We have lost this life but we still long for it and still need to work for it.  What dream do you have?  What vision of the Promised Land moves you and motivates you to work and serve and sacrifice so we can get to the Promised Land? 

Ron Heifitz is an author on developing leaders and he has a great illustration that can help us here.   

The bottom line is life right now.  This is where we live with all the problems and brokenness we see around us.  The upper arrow is life how we want it to be.  In our conversation, this is live in the Promised Land.  It is truly life in the garden. 
As you can see there is a gap in the middle.  While we live along the bottom line we long to make our way to the top line.  We long for God and to experience the fullness of life.  In leadership, Heifitz says that the role of the leader is to help move people from here to there.  Adam Hamilton has said that the role of the church is to help the world move from here to there.  Our role isn’t just to long for life in the garden but to help people see this life and to help make that idea or dream a reality.  It is to help move the needle closer to the Promised Land. 

Every time we lift up a vision and share our own hopes and dreams and every time we pray for and work for the world to become this more beautiful place we are moving the needle toward the Promised Land.  Every time we dream big dreams about how the world can be better and plan how to make that happen we are moving the needle toward the Promised Land. 

So the Promised Land calls out to us.  We long to experience its beauty and power but it also is a dream and reality we need to go out into the world and work for, so let me close with this image of the statue Christo Redeemer. 

You have probably seen it before but there are two ways we can interpret what Jesus is doing here.  First, we can see this as Jesus with his arms open wide to welcome us into the Promised Land.  He is gathering us in his arms, welcoming us into his garden, calling all those who are weary to come and experience rest.  So this is an invitation into the Promised Land, but we could also say that Jesus has his arms open to send us out into the world to work for the Promised Land, to create it in our lives and families and community and work to make it happen. 

So yes, let us long for the garden, let us look for it in our world and be inspired when we see it, but let us also work for it and give ourselves to it so others can experience the fullness of life in the garden. 



Next Steps
The Garden and the Promised Land

1.  In the Old Testament, the Promised Land was described as a land flowing with milk and honey. 
• How would you describe the Promised Land? 

2.  We all long to live in this Promised Land.  We all long to return to and live in the Garden of God. 
• What values are most important to you when you think of life in the Promised Land? 
• What dreams for our world inspire and motivate you?

3.  At times we catch a glimpse of the Promised Land in the world around us (Stories of forgiveness, racial reconciliation, economic justice, food for the hungry, care for the hurting, healing for families…).
• Identify a time recently when you were able to see into the Promised Land. 
• What it was like? 
• How did it inspire you? 
• How can you share this vision with others?

4.  The Promised Land is an idea (dream for a better world) and an ideal (something we work for). 
• What idea and ideal are you willing to give yourself to? 
• Is your dream as big as the Promised Land and as life giving as our God?  If not, why?

5. Identify one way you can work to bring the needle closer to the Promised Land for you, your family, our community and world. 
• Accomplish this work before Easter. 
• Invite others to join you.