The Christian Life Is Like Living in the Garden of Eden — Sandeep Poonen

Life in Christ as a Spiritual Garden of Eden

I want to share something from Genesis chapter 1 and 2. I want to share a truth that has been really being impressed on my heart deeply, that of the life that we ought to live as Christians. We know that in Genesis chapter 1 and 2 is where God created Adam and Eve, and God created them innocent, and God looked at it and said it was very good.

And I want to talk about some things that the Lord has really impressed on my heart, to talk about how our lives ought to be. We started off full of sin, but God wants to give us a brand new life. We may think of our lives, and just imagine if you were Adam and Eve.

Imagine if you were them. You either could have been Adam or Eve. All of us are either man or woman. Just imagine if you were there. Imagine if you were in the Garden of Eden. No sin. And imagine if we could do it over.

Would we do it differently? I sure hope so. Definitely hope we won't hit the heat of that tree. But the wonderful good news is that in Christ we are, just like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. God has us in Christ, in the Kingdom of Heaven.

God says in Colossians chapter 1, through the Holy Spirit, Paul says that God transferred us from the Kingdom of Darkness into the Kingdom of Light. Children, even you know that you've all heard the story of the Garden of Eden.

You know how wonderful and like paradise it was. You've seen the pictures and all of that. Do you know that when we talk about Jesus, we are telling you the reason we ask you to believe in Jesus and ask Him to come into your heart and to receive Him so that you may be born again.

The reason we say born again is because we're saying we are all part of this Kingdom of Darkness. But when we're born again, God takes us and puts us into the Kingdom of Light. It's almost like we're back in the Garden of Eden.

We may not feel it that way, we may not see it with our eyes that way, but spiritually that is what has happened. He has transferred us from the Kingdom of Darkness into the Kingdom of Light. And as it says, He has seated us in the heavenly places with Christ and in Christ.

And there are some things if we look at Genesis 1 and 2, it's good for us to think about how they lived and how we ought to live with the parallel that it's not in the physical world, but in the spiritual world.

So just like Adam and Eve opened up their physical eyes and their physical senses and saw the Garden of Eden, we ought to have our eyes opened spiritually to the spiritual Kingdom of God, the spiritual Garden of Eden that we're living in.

So I hope all of you can imagine you are just like Adam and Eve, spiritually in Christ. And if I were to ask people, what is the first thing God told Adam and Eve? Most people will say the first thing God said was, be fruitful and multiply.

That's what most people think about God telling it to Adam and Eve. But actually, if you look at Scripture and you can look at Genesis 1, verse 21 and 22, God didn't say, be fruitful and multiply first to the humans.

Do you know children who God said, be fruitful and multiply first to? Let me read it to you in Genesis 1, verse 21. God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves and the waters swarmed after their kind and every winged bird.

So He created the sea monsters, maybe the big whales and the sharks and all the birds. And you know what He told them in verse 22? Be fruitful and multiply. So there's nothing special about this command to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

Ruling Over Sin as God’s Image-Bearers

So we're just not like any other animal if we're being fruitful and multiplying. Now see in verse 28 though, God created man. 26 actually, it starts where God says He finally finishes all the rest of creation.

In verse 26, God says, God said, let us make man in our own image according to our own likeness. And here's what's going to be interesting about our likeness and our image, and let them rule. Not be fruitful and multiply, let them rule.

Over all the creeping things, over all the fish of the sea, and all the birds that fly in the air, and all the cattle, and all the animals, and the herds, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

And then God created him in His image. And then in verse 28 again He says, be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth. But now you need to rule, subdue it, and rule over all the living creatures. Spiritually, the creeping things, the creepy things in the spiritual realm is sin.

The winged birds are the things that, all those thoughts that fly around our hearts, that are in our minds all the time, all of that things, right? If you just imagine it spiritually what that is as it relates over sins.

It's all the desires of your flesh that go against God's will. It is all those thoughts that go contrary to God's will. God says, rule. From when? From day one. That's the first thing He says. Let me make man in my image and now rule.

So the moment you're born again, the moment God transfers us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light, God says, I'm going to make you in my image because I'm going to put you in Christ, who is in the image of God.

And He's going to give me a command which says, rule now. Rule over every feeling. Rule over every destructive thought pattern that says you're not good enough. Rule and subdue it. Adam and Eve didn't say, but God I can't do it.

He says, I created you in my image. I placed you in Christ. I birthed you in this kingdom of light in the Holy Spirit. Now rule and subdue it. That's the number one thing that I wanted to stress that God repeated it twice in verse 26 and in verse 28.

I want them to rule and then He created them and said, now rule and subdue it. We ought to live with the mentality that we are rulers. Not rulers over people, but rulers over all of sin. That has to be our very identity that when we are born again, God has given us the first command, which is now rule.

Young man, young boy, young girl, older man, older woman, doesn't really make a difference. Remember when you were born again. Remember when you were baptized. God's command. God looked you in the eye and said, now rule.

And it is a shameful degradation from being a human being created in the image of God to back to the animal. What is the animal doing? Looking for food and being fruitful and multiplying in all the earthly things.

Storing up. Some animals store up more meat than others meet. So whatever they consider wealth, they're just doing that. And we're doing the same thing. Storing up money that's going to burn anyways. Storing up food.

But not ruling. Not ruling spiritually. Then we are no different than the animals. So the message, whatever we call victory over sin or ruling over all of sin, is from the very beginning. And God created us in His image.

And when we are birthed in Christ, we are created in His image to rule. Please turn with me to Romans 5, verse 17. Romans 5 is a beautiful chapter. There's so much to meditate on in Romans 4 and 5, which is the introduction into the Christian life.

But Romans 5 draws one important picture. Paul draws a picture between two men. Adam and Jesus. And God draws a picture and says, you're in one of those two men. Every person is going to be a product of one of those two men.

Adam, and of course Adam and Eve, are of Christ. So you're either birthed and you're in the tree of Adam, or you're in the tree of Jesus. And what God is saying here through Paul, is that when you are born again, and when God brings you into the kingdom of light, you're now of the tree of Jesus.

You have been taken out from the tree of Adam and planted into the tree of Jesus. And see this now in that context, in Romans 5, verse 17. Now if you're the tree of Adam, because of the transgression of one, because of just Adam's sin, death reigned, ruled, through the one.

That passage is building up this point, which is transgression and sin ruled because of the sin of one man, Adam. How much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness, you look at that word, will reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ.

Picture is very clear. Which tree are you in? The tree of Adam? Now, Adam and Eve in Genesis chapter 1 and 2, were supposed to reign. Something happened in Genesis chapter 3, they didn't reign. And so death and sin came into this world.

But then God sent His Son, Jesus, and then because of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, now God says, you have a chance to come off a new tree. The tree of Adam or the tree of Jesus. Which tree are you in?

One thing is reigning. One thing will rule. Sin will rule you or you will rule sin. Very simple. From day one, God wants you to have that mindset. I'm not saying God wants you to have those results. God wants you to have that mindset.

We may lose a few fights here and there, but the war consists of many fights. But the mindset is, I have been created to rule. Over every filthy thought. Over every spirit of anger. Over every loose word.

Over every spirit of unforgiveness. God created me to rule. It's a mindset I'm appealing to, not track record. I'm not asking you, are you ruling right now? My question is much more fundamental than that.

Are you living your life with the mindset that you are to rule? That's step number one. I hope I'm very clear about that. It's not a very complicated point. But it's a shift in our minds that I think is so fundamental.

That I don't even know of most Christians. I don't even know most of us. Who have been hearing the gospel and the new covenant. Have a mindset waking up every morning. And saying, today God has created me to rule.

He's put me in Christ. And I'm supposed to be ruling. It's as obvious and should be as obvious to us. As if I go into the house and I see a dog and a human being. There's an expectation that one of those two beings must rule.

But we've been to houses, I think. Almost all of us, if not all of us, have been to houses. Where the dog rules the family. And there are other houses where the family rules the dog. Dog is loved. We know who the ruler is.

With sin we're supposed to absolutely rule it. Without any love for it. And we go to Christians lives and we see one of two patterns. One where people have a mindset to rule the sin. And another one where sin, they call themselves Christians, all kinds of things.

But sin rules them. May not be all sin, some sin. God told us to rule over everything. Over every living thing that moves. Every little sin, living sin that lives in us. God says subdue it. In Genesis 1, verse 28.

A Redeemed Perspective on Work

Next thing, Genesis 2, verse 15. Genesis 2, verse 15. Do you know what Adam was going to be doing six days out of the week? Working. He had a job to do. Adam and Eve were created with a job to do. That sounds a lot like us.

We have jobs to do. Adam and Eve were asked to cultivate and keep the garden. We're asked to do different jobs. We go to jobs Monday through Friday, different things we have to do. Takes up the majority of our time.

We have also jobs to be fathers and mothers of family. To go to school of your children, things like that. This is how it was in the Garden of Eden too. So we don't need to be watered the majority of our time.

We spend taking care of the different jobs we have to do. Whether it's family, whether it's work to make the money. But what I also want to underline is, there's no big perk out of it. Just cultivate and keep it.

Don't make lots of money. Don't make more and more money. Don't make it your idol. Don't obsess over it. Don't make a big deal out of it. Don't let it consume your thoughts. And that's how that verse spoke to me.

I see that my work has a constant tendency to dominate my thoughts. I'm thinking about it. Sometimes I'm in the shower. Sometimes when I'm going to bed. And I'm at rest because all my deliverables got done for the week or the month.

And I sleep easy. But when I don't, I'm constantly restless. I'm like that too. But the Lord is asking me to think about verse 15. Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, no sin. Just cultivate and keep it.

Do the best you can. Don't obsess over it. Don't make your worth out of it. Don't define success by it. Don't define failure by it. We ought to be teaching our children this too. Because there's going to be successes and failures in our jobs and in our lives.

We're going to have children. Some people can't have children. We're going to have children. Some of them are going to have sicknesses. Some of them may even die. All kinds of things may happen. Don't define success and failure by those things.

Here's how we define some of those things. Rule over every sin. That's number two. It was just a redeemed attitude about work. It's going to take up a lot of time. It's going to be my job six days out of the week.

Five days out of the week. That's what Adam was doing. Six days of work. Cultivate it. Keep it. You've got to tend to it. You've got to prune it. There are different things. Cultivate it. Dig. Cultivate means to dig.

Do different things. Nothing more than just cultivate. No big emphasis on it. That's a message for all of us too. Ask ourselves to judge ourselves. Lord, I want to be in the kingdom of light. I want to act as if this is the Garden of Eden again.

The Abundance of God’s Promises

Number three. Number one, we ought to rule. Number two, have a healthy perspective about work. Number three, in verse 16 and 17, the Lord commanded the man saying, from any tree of the garden, any tree of the garden, you may eat freely.

But from this one tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat. For in the day of it, you will die. You will surely die. God gave Adam and Eve an abundance to eat from and one commandment of what not to eat.

Similarly, in the new covenant, listen to me carefully, family, because this is also something we miss. In the new covenant, have we seen our life as an abundance of promises compared to some commandments?

It's not one commandment, it's some. But weigh it. Weigh the promises and the commands. Do you feel like you are in the Garden of Eden? Do you hear God telling you like in the Garden of Eden, eat freely.

How many trees? I don't know, count the number of trees in the Garden of Eden. Just keep counting. There's so many trees in the Garden of Eden, eat from any one of them. Just this one tree, just don't eat from that.

Now look at our relationship with God. Now let us look at our interaction with God's word. A ton of commands, ton of commands. Yes, there are some commands, there are lots of commands in this book. But weigh them compared to the weight of the promises.

And that's what God was speaking to me. Are you acting like you are in the Garden of Eden? Is my burden easy? Is my yoke light? If you are in the Garden of Eden, do you see the promises I have for you?

Do you see how much I have loved you with an everlasting love? Have you put way too much? Are you obsessing over this one tree? You are constantly looking at it. Tree of knowledge, Lord, why don't you let me eat this one tree?

Well, look around the Garden of Eden. See every tree that God gave for you to eat. This is a verse that we have underlined many times, 2 Peter 1 verse 4. The great heritage, maybe we should turn there, just so that you know what the great heritage is of the New Covenant.

What is the greatest perk of the New Covenant? I'll tell you what the greatest perk for me is, for working in my job. It's the money I get into my bank account. That's it. It's the greatest perk. That's why I do it.

What's the greatest perk of being in the New Covenant? Why do I go to India? What's the greatest perk? Because my family is there. See my dad and my mom. What's the greatest perk for being in the New Covenant?

What is the greatest advantage of being in the New Covenant? 2 Peter 1 verse 4. Here's what it is. That we may share, partake, sit at the table with God and partake, it says, of His divine nature. Not divine actions.

Divine nature. To taste of God Himself. Not just do good things like God does good things, but to taste of His nature. Have we ever met a very, very godly man or a godly sister, and we've been impressed by the humility or the godliness of their life?

And you say, I wish I could act like them. Well, think way beyond that. Imagine if you could taste of their very nature, and God has transformed them into. It's a completely different level. But here's how we do it.

Verse 4. By His magnificent promises. Not by obeying the commands. Obeying the commands is definitely part of the pathway, but it's through His magnificent promises. This is how we partake of the divine nature.

Read that in 2 Peter 1 verse 4. And so going back to Genesis chapter 2 verse 16 and 17, you saw all the trees in the Garden of Eden, and there's one tree that God says, don't eat of it. Now we must also have that attitude towards God.

An abundance and overflowing vast ocean of promises. Endless supply like a river, constant gushing down. And compare that one little cup of water, that God says, don't touch that. All of them are pleasing to the eye.

All of them are looking delicious. It says that God created every tree that was pleasing to the sight. That's in Genesis 2 verse 9. Every tree is pleasing to the eye. But it says to one of the ones that's pleasing to the eye, don't touch that.

And God needs to show us all the promises that are in God spiritually. Remember, I'm not talking physically. In this world we'll have trouble, we'll have difficulties. But we can have a wealth and a vast abundance.

A vast abundance of promises. So let me repeat so far what I've got. God is a Garden of Eden spiritually. In the kingdom of God, God wants us to rule. Number two, God wants us to work, but not make it a big thing.

God wants us to see the promises as being a vast garden. And just one little tree that says, those are the commands of God, don't do this. Number four, see what God did. Then after this he says, I don't want you to be alone.

Unity in Marriage and the Body of Christ

Verse 18. God says, it's not good for man to be alone, I'll make him a helper. And he goes and shows all of the created beings, And you can't find anybody that's suitable for verse 19, for Adam. So God puts him to sleep.

And then fashions Eve. And see what it says in verse 23. This is now bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man. She was taken out of man. She's off my same bones.

She's off my same flesh. Spiritually, that tells us how we ought to be, for those who are married, with our wives. I've got to see that my wife, in the kingdom of God, spiritually. We'll have our personality differences, I'm not trying to make my wife like the same foods I like, or watch the same things I watch, or listen to the same music I listen to.

We may have all different kinds of tastes. But spiritually, I must see that we are off the same bones, and off the same flesh. She's come out of me. My own body, as we heard in the conference last week, lives in beautiful harmony.

You don't see the hand constantly slapping the leg, and slapping the head, back of the head, constantly. A lot of reasons why the hand could hit the head, for all the poor decisions the head makes. The hand doesn't do that.

The hand is in beautiful harmony with every other part of the body. The hand doesn't go and slap the foot when the foot stubs itself. The whole body feels pain. But the hand doesn't go and start smacking the toe.

What are you thinking, you crazy toe? It lives in harmony, always tries to help. Now this is the picture that God says, Your wife came out of that, with her own body. Not just because it's somewhat different now, looking, and other things.

That's what man said. You came from my very bones. You came from my very flesh. So why do I never hit my toe when the toe gets in, and stubs itself? But I hit my wife, verbally. With my words most of the time.

Hopefully nobody's hitting them with their hands. But with dirty looks, bad moods, gotta sleep on the couch tonight, all that. How could that happen? Not in the kingdom of light. And this extends even for those of us, for every one of us in the kingdom of light, as it relates to brother and sister.

And brothers with each other, sisters with each other. To see the members of the body of Christ that God has placed me with. And look at them spiritually and say, You're bone of my bone. You're flesh of my flesh.

We're not going to put up with you. It's not what one hand does to another hand. We don't put up with the other hand. We're rooting for it. We're seeking the best for it. And to think about Adam. I hope we can meditate on these things as we go back.

Think about the Garden of Eden. Think about Adam and when he saw Eve. Think about how Adam looked at Eve. He didn't look at her and say, Wow, you're so beautiful. He didn't say that. You know what he said?

He said, You're bone of my bone. The flesh of my flesh is such a deep connection between us. It's not face deep. It's not body deep. It's all the way down to my bones. And then I ask myself, Lord, I want to look at your body that way.

The brothers and sisters you've given to me in the church. I don't want it to be based on behavior. If they are in Christ, they may be less mature than me. But I want to see that they're bones of your bones.

They're also members of the body of your body, Lord Jesus. They're part of your flesh. I want to root for them. I want to seek to do whatever I can do to build them up. For all of these things, our mind and the eyes of our heart need to be open.

You see, Lord, this is the heritage. I'm not speaking as one who's arrived, as you should know for sure. But my eyes have seen what I'm supposed to live. I'm seeing Genesis 1 and 2 and saying, God, this is how you wanted me to live.

You wanted me to live with my brothers and sisters, with my wife, in this way. She's bone of my bone. She's flesh of my flesh. That's why it says in verse 24, that's why Moses put that commentary. Because he's the one who wrote this book.

He said, that's why a man should leave his father and mother. Because when I get married, I see how deep that connection is that God is establishing between husband and wife. Similarly, when God puts me into his body, and the local church, I must see how deep that connection goes.

That even physical family is less important than the local body. Did you see the connection? Man should leave his father and mother, and be joined to know the other members of the body that are in Christ.

That's what Jesus said. Who's my mother and my brothers and my sisters? Those who do the will of God. That's that deep richness of connection that we have now, that we've been transferred out of the kingdom of darkness, and put into the kingdom of light.

Resting in God’s Love Before Service

And then the last thing was, God asked us to have, the first day after he told us all of this, he created man and woman, and created those things. He said, now just rest. How long did it take to make all the stars?

I think he took just a day. You know how many stars there are on this earth? You can't count them. I'm sorry, not on the earth, but in the universe. You can't count them. He did it all in one day. In your little stars.

In that same period of time, God says, now rest. Be at rest with me. Don't do anything. Don't cultivate the garden. Rest in me. Come sit on my lap. Rest in my love. First day, before you do anything, before you seek to obey all the commands, rest in my love, and let me sing over you.

Let me sing over you all my promises. Let me tell you the plans I have for you. That's where we start. That is Genesis chapter 1 verse 2. I'm sure there's a lot more. Number one, God asks us to rule. Number two, God says, all this work that you're going to do most of the time, all these activities you're going to do to take care of your family, to take care of your work, all that stuff, cultivate and keep it.

Don't make a big deal out of it. Don't let it drive your definition of success. Number three, look at the garden of promises. The vast garden. I want to make it pleasing in your eyes. All these promises of God.

I've loved you with an everlasting love. Look, I've inscribed you on the palm of my hands. Anybody, even a nursing child may forget his newborn child, but I won't forget you. How precious are your thoughts to me, oh God.

These are promises. Your grace is sufficient for me. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Look at the garden of promises. Don't get tripped up by these small few commands. Look at it and see an ocean of promises.

A little cup of commands that God says, don't touch that cup. Focus on the vast ocean of promises, of God's love for us. Number four, seek to be united. The garden of Eden, it's not good. It's not good to be alone.

It's not good to rule over sin in your private life, to have a healthy perspective of work, and to obey all the commands and enjoy the promises, if you're alone. Seek to be one with other people. It's not good to be alone.

Let me give Adam a helper. I need Sandeep to see how he needs to be helped. And he gives me brothers and sisters in the local church. He says, here's how they can help you. And I got to see them as bone of God's bone, flesh of Jesus' flesh.

And then after he shows us all of those things, he says, now come and sit on my lap and rest. Rest in me. Enjoy my love. Then go out and live your life. And this is the life God's calling me to live. This is the life God's calling us to live.

What a wonderful life to be born again. What a wonderful life. Why is life so hard and difficult? You in the garden of Eden, spiritually, have we seen, have our eyes been opened? If we haven't, let's ask the Lord.

Let's ask the Lord to open our eyes to these truths. That God is placing us like Adam and Eve. And saying it can be so in your lives too. In Christ, it can be like that. What he did for Jesus, he will do for you.

May God help us.