Decades ago, John Lennon invited us to imagine a better life. To this day his lyrics captivate people from all parts of the world: "Imagine there’s no heaven. It's easy if you try. No hell below us.Above us only sky. Imagine all the people, living for today.Imagine there’s no countries. It isn’t hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for, and no religion too. Imagine all the people, living life in peace.Imagine no possessions.I wonder if you can. No need for greed or hunger, a brotherhood of man. Imagine all the people, sharing all the world.You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us, and the world will live as one."
These lyrics speak to the brokenness of our world. This is a theme we are going to take up this Easter season. If you could change just one thing about your world, what would you change? What is the greatest calamity facing mankind?
•Is it the uncertainty of heaven? A fear of hell?
•Is it anxiety about tomorrow and inability to live for today?
•Is it international conflict—wars, killing, and death?
•Is it religious pluralism? How about religious intolerance?
•Is it hatred, discord, anger, injustice, revenge, or social upheaval?
•Is it materialism, greed, hunger, bigotry, or selfishness?
Fill in the blank. This world would be a better if _____________. How would our politicians answer that question?
Nobody faults John Lennon for being dreamer. He is faulted for dreaming of the world becoming any better without God. For John Lennon, God was the problem and not the solution. Imagine there’s no heaven, no hell, nothing above us, no transcendent God, and no religion too. If only we could drive God out of our imagination, out of our thinking, out of this world, life would become infinitely better according to John Lennon.
Satan was the first to suggest that we don't need God.
This song is nothing but an echo of the oldest lie ever whispered into the ear of mankind. It was Satan who first suggested that we didn’t need God. He suggested that we could become like God, knowing good and evil, and judging for ourselves what is right and most perfect.
You see, the world has it all backwards. As we draw near to God through Jesus Christ,faith increases and uncertainty about heaven decreases.Assurance of salvation increases whilefear of hell decreases.Trust in God increases, but anxiety about tomorrow fades.Love for all people flourishes while wars and killing die.Grace and mercy abound while hatred, discord, anger, bigotry, and intolerance fade.Generosity thrives as materialism, greed, hunger, and selfishness dwindle away.
As we draw closer to God religion also decreases. Religion is a blind attempt to relate to God.It is a substitute for relationship. The most religious people often know and love God the least. Jesus says that the true worshipers worship God in spirit and truth. Religion is mechanical. Religion argues and even kills to be right. Religion pretends.
The reality Lennon needed to most know, he couldn’t begin to imagine. He couldn't imaginea brotherhood of man filled with sincere faith, hope, love, grace, mercy, and generosity not in spite of God, but because of God!
The Bible shows us two places that should captivate our imagination.
There are two places in the Bible that should captivate our imagination more than any other places.The Garden of Eden detailed in Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 and the new heaven and earth detailed in Revelation 21 and Revelation 22.In both places there is abundant life because of God.
In Genesis 2:7 (NIV) it is the Lord God who forms man, "from the dust of the ground” and who breathes into his nostrils, "the breath of life" and causes the man to become, "a living being."
In Genesis 2:9 it is the Lord God who establishes the tree of life and the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden.
In Deuteronomy 6:2 it is the Lord God who establishes his commandments so his people, "may enjoy long life." Have you read God’s offer of life or death in Deuteronomy 30:11-20 (NIV)?"Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, 'Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?'Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, 'Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?'No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it. See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them,I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."
The Bible talks about belief in God, praising God, and drawing near to God.
Do you believe as Job believed? Job 33:4 (NIV) says, "The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life."
Do you sing as the psalmist sung? Psalm 56:13 (NIV) says, "For you have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life."
Have you begun drawing near to God through Jesus Christ? John 3:16 (NIV) tells us, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
John 3:36 (NIV) says, "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him."
Romans 6:23 (NIV) tells us the consequences of sin by saying, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Are you broken?
Are you broken? Is your life filled with pain and sorrow? Is your life filled with doubt, uncertainty, fear, worry, conflict, war, murder, religion, strife, materialism, greed, hunger, or selfishness? There is no life apart from Jesus Christ, only more brokenness. There has never beenlife apart from Jesus and there never will be.
In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve had life and they had wholeness. But I want to show you what happened when they walked away from God. I want to show you what life was life East of Eden, where Adam and Eve were banished for imaging a life without God.
If I might direct your attention behind me. (Note to reader:As each point is explained below, a young woman dressed in black shatters a mirror with a hammer.)
What happened to Adam and Eve apart from God?
East of Eden, apart from God, their worship was shattered.Adam and Evetraded relationship for religion. They traded certainty for doubt. They traded faith for fear. They traded rebellion for trust. They traded peace with God for shame and guilt. They traded blessing for curse, life for death. They traded what was pleasing to God for what was pleasing to their own eye. Adam and Evetraded away the truth of God for a lie andwhat was good and holy for what was evil.
Instead of walking with God, living in his presence, knowing him fully, and seeing him face to face, Adam and Eve hid among the trees in fear. Instead of taking God at his word, Adam and Eve judged for themselves what was right and good. Instead of depending on God, Adam and Eve sought life independent of God. Instead of reflecting God’s holy character, Adam and Eve sinned. Instead of having access to God, angels guarded the way to the tree of life.
East of Eden, apart from God, their world and God's creation was shattered. Adam and Evetraded harmony and order for disorder and chaos. They traded fulfillment for physical toil and hardship. They traded breathtaking beauty for destruction and disaster. They traded abundance for hunger,health for disease and decay,and prosperity for poverty.In Genesis 3:19 (NIV) God declares, "By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return."
East of Eden, apart from God, their inner self was shattered. Adam and Evetraded confidence for insecurity, peace for anxiety,self-respect and esteem for shame,and innocence for guilt. They traded hope for depression and despair,purity for impurity,joy for discontentment,self-control for self-indulgence, and patience for impulsiveness.
East of Eden, apart from God, their relationships were shattered.Adam and Evetraded love for hate,trust for distrust,generosity for narcissism,transparency for dishonesty,nakedness for secrecy, and personal responsibility for blame. "The woman made me do it." They traded their oneness for competition. "Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you."
What do you want to change about your life right now?
What do you most hate about your life right now? What do you most want to see changed? Is it your shattered worship? Your shattered world orcreation? Your shattered, broken self? It is your shattered relationships with your father, your mother, your son, your daughter, your wife, or your siblings?Who?
We believed the lie that life would be more abundant without God and now we are paying dearly. We are collecting the wages of our sin. We are under God’s curse. We are cut off, banished from the Garden of Eden, and banished from the life of God. Our world is decaying. Our inner self is dying. Our relationships are broken.
The only way you are going to turn things around is to draw near to God. If you learn anything from the pain in your life, learn one thing. Pain is a symptom of life apart from God. Pain is God’s gift to you to turn you back toward life. Pain is our choice. It's our chosen consequence, not God’s design.
God’s design is Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. God’s design is Revelation 21 through Revelation 22. James 4:8 (NIV) says, "Come near to God and he will come near to you."
Ephesians 2:12-13 (NIV) says, "Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ."