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Friday, June 20, 2014

WHO TOLD YOU THAT WAS A GOOD EXCUSE?

            
Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”
So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?” (Genesis 3: 9-11)

In Genesis chapter 3, God came down for His usual evening meeting in the cool of the day with Adam, but Adam wasn’t there.
The Lord called, “Adam, where are you?”
God didn’t ask because He couldn’t find Adam.  We wish that was why God asked.  We wish that we could hide from God when we sin, but that’s not the case.
God was really asking, “Adam, why aren’t you where you were supposed to be?  Why aren’t you in the place where I told you to meet Me?”
When the Lord shows up in worship, at your church, on Sunday morning----- Where are YOU?
Since the very first time, mankind’s sin has caused us to miss worship, to skip his time of fellowship with God, and then to make excuses.
“Lord,” said Adam, “I just couldn’t make it.  See, I’m naked, Lord.   I didn’t have a thing to wear.  And I couldn’t show up like that.”
And God said, “Who told you you were naked?”
Again, it’s not that God didn’t know.  God wasn’t requesting information.  God was saying, “Who told you that you were naked because I never brought up the fact that you were naked?”
You say you can’t serve because you’re not educated.  Well, who told you that you weren’t educated?  Who brought it up? Because God never brought up the fact that you don’t have a degree.
You say you can’t give because you’re not out of debt.  Who told you that you’re not out of debt?  God didn’t bring that up when He invited you to test Him with tithes and offerings and see won’t He open up the windows of Heaven and pour out a blessing that you don’t have room enough to receive. (Malachi 3: 10)
You say you can’t lead or help in ministry because you’re not comfortable with the responsibility.
Well, who told you that you’re not comfortable enough?  God didn’t bring up comfort when He called Moses to go back to Egypt and lead Israel out of bondage.
God never brought up comfort when He called a prophet, or a king, or an apostle, or a poor Jewish girl from Nazareth to go and walk out a great calling before His people.
 Adam wanted his lack of clothing to excuse him from showing up where God called him to be to do what God had called him to do.    What excuse are you using?  And who told you that that’s a good excuse? 
Cause God didn’t.
And by the way, when Adam said that he’d skipped the meeting with God because he was naked----- Adam wasn’t naked anymore.
Before God showed up in the Garden, Genesis 3: 7 says Then the eyes of both of [Adam and Eve] were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.  
YOU, like Adam, need to stop bringing up old stuff as an excuse for not walking in your calling now.
O.K., you messed up a marriage.  Where are you supposed to meet and serve God now?
O.K., you used to be an addict.  Where are you supposed to meet and serve God now?
O.K., you were a fool in college.  Where are you supposed to meet and serve God now?
O.K., you have been shirking and shaking your responsibilities in the church for a long time.  We get that.  Come back.  Meet God where He placed you and serve Him NOW!
But I have to warn you:  When you come back and face God, He is going to skip right past your excuses and force you to deal with the REAL PROBLEM.
Naked wasn’t Adam’s problem.  He had been naked and serving God just fine for the first 2 chapters of Genesis.
Naked wasn’t the problem.  Naked was a circumstance.  SIN was the problem.
So God called on Adam to deal with the real problem. 
“Ain’t nobody worried about you and naked,” God said.  “But tell me this Adam: Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?” (Genesis 3: 11)
(This is where God cocks His lip, fold his arms, and taps His foot)
See, all that other stuff---about how you grew up, and how folks mistreated you, and what you didn’t used to have----- that’s all just circumstantial.
Stop putting the blame on your parents, or your boss, or White people, or immigrants, or the media, or your ex, or the woman whom You gave to be with me, Lord (Genesis 3: 12).
What did YOU eat that you weren’t supposed to?
What is YOUR SIN?   
What is YOUR role in your failures?
What did God tell YOU to do that you ain’t doing?
What (or whom) did God tell you to leave alone that you’re still messing with?
Adam never dealt with that.  And so, God stopped asking.   God stopped asking Adam to meet Him and serve in His garden.  But, Adam’s PURPOSE in the garden was to serve. So, since He couldn’t fulfill his purpose, he had to go.
Oh, wait.  You might be thinking that Adam’s purpose in the garden was to be fruitful, multiply, and have dominion.    I see where you’re coming from.
That’s was Adam’s purpose in the larger world, but to fulfill that purpose in a state of perfection and favor, Adam had to fulfill His purpose in the place where He was to meet God and serve.
When Adam lost Eden, he lost God’s favor.  Adam and Eve still went out to multiply and pursue dominion, but now they had to pursue it on cursed ground, through thorns and thistles, by sweat of his brow, with the ever-present oppressive possibility and inevitability of death dogging his every move.
Only grace kept Adam and Eve alive.  But grace doesn’t stop bad from happening.  Grace makes it possible for you to carry on despite the bad that happens.
Grace gave Adam and Eve a 3rd son named Seth.  But Grace did not stop the curse from manifesting in Cain and making him the murderer of his own brother.
Our lives are a constant cycle of frustrations and failures.  We survive.  We persevere.  We find happiness because of grace.
But if we would meet God where He wants to meet us, deal with our own sin, and submit to His plan and calling, then we would experience something even better than grace.
We would experience FAVOR.
Now don’t get too crazy over terminology.  Grace and Favor are overlapping and sometimes indistinguishable concepts.  The point is that things can be better.
We can do better than just kinda, sorta, barely survive.
We can live and live life more abundantly.  We can.  You can.
But you have to stop making excuses.  You have to get up and show up where God called you to meet Him, experience His presence, and walk out the holiest, most spiritually intimate part of the God’s great calling on your life.
See you, Sunday.
  
---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church in Montgomery, Alabama, executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO) and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
To listen to sermons and learn more about the ministry at Hall Memorial CME Church, visit www.hallmemorialcme.blogspot.com .

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Support by check or money order may be mailed to
Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Road
Montgomery, AL 36116

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