Bliss Maximized

Genesis 2:18 ESV

18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”

Among the most precious of memories that I have as a child were when my grandma would take me to Steak n’ Shake for lunch on Friday’s during the summer.

Friday was payday for my grandma, and that meant that she was taking me to Steak n’ Shake for a bowl of chili, a side of cheese fries, and a strawberry milkshake. And because that was the case, anytime that I think about Steak n’ Shake, those times spent with my grandma always come to mind.

But something else that always comes to mind, an image that always seems to pop into my head when I think about Steak n’ Shake is the way that their milkshakes look.

Their milkshakes are always served in those glasses that are narrow at the bottom and then widen as it reaches the top. In addition to that, they are served with a good portion of whipped cream on top. But what always makes a Steak n’ Shake milkshake a Steak n’ Shake milkshake in my mind, is the cherry that they put on top.

Now, whether that cherry is on top of the shake or not, it’s still a good shake, but not having that cherry on top takes away from the experience, it makes the experience not as good as it could be, because that cherry on top seems to put the finishing touch on an already enjoyable experience.

Well, in the same way, as we continue in our series of messages here this morning, what we see happen is God graciously will and determine to make an already good situation for man, even better.

When we look at the first chapter of the book of Genesis, this first book in the Bible, what we will see repeated several times throughout is God determining that those things which He created were “good”.

Genesis 1:4, “And God saw that the light was good”. Genesis 1:10; “And God saw that it was good”. Genesis 1:12; “And God saw that it was good”. Genesis 1:18; “And God saw that it was good”. Genesis 1:21; “And God saw that it was good”. Genesis 1:24; “And God saw that it was good”. Genesis 1:31; “And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good”.

Thus, I think that it is safe to say that everything that God has made, is good.

But today, in the text which we will be expositing, we find something interesting. What we see residing in God’s good creation is an aspect that God says is, “not good”.

We find this declaration of something being not good in the first half of our reading where it says,

Genesis 2:18a ESV

18a Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone;

So, we begin here with the word “then”. Now, the “then” spoken of in this verse indicates chronological order. Thus, we look to what comes before what is written and we see that what happens here, happens afterGod had given man the command to eat of every tree in the garden except from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Therefore, sometime after the giving of this command, does what we read of here in our text take place.

Thus, we come to the point where God has created everything, and everything that He has created is good. Indeed, as we spoke of last week, God is the Author of man’s bliss, of his perpetual happiness, and this is made evident in that God placed man in the garden of Eden, that place where he will experience this bliss.

Now, as we have said in previous sermons, the garden consisted of every tree that was good for food and pleasant to the sight, thus, it consisted of the best food and the most beautiful of sights. And God gave man the right to eat his fill in the garden and to gaze on the beauty of the garden. These things obviously contributed to man’s bliss.

And still another thing that contributed to man’s bliss was this command of God for man to forbear from eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

As we said last week, the presence of this tree indicated to man that he lives not by bread alone but by every word which proceeds forth from the mouth of God. Its presence would remind him that God is ever to be honored, worshiped, and obeyed, and that staying clear from this tree would accomplish just that, and that doing these things would contribute to man’s bliss.

And thus, everything that God did, everything that He created was good. But there was an aspect of God’s creation that God said was “not good” that would not contribute to man’s bliss.

Now, we need to first make it clear that God did not create something that was not good, for creating something that is not good is not something that God can do, but rather, the certain lack of a certain something is what was not good here, not the creation itself, but the lack of something in this creation.

And what God says is not good, what God says will not contribute to man’s bliss in the creation as it then was, is that man should be alone.

You see, while God had made everything in number, in multiples, He had made, had formed man alone. And God says that this aloneness on the part of man is not good.

Now, man was never truly alone as though he had no companionship; after all, he had God. No, the aloneness on man’s part is in reference to having no other like himself.

And the reason why this aloneness on the part of man was not good is because God had made man to be a sociable creature. We know personally that it is pleasurable for man to exchange knowledge and affection with those of his own kind, to inform and be informed, to love and be loved. This brings us, brings man great joy, great happiness.

Some may say that this desire of God for man to not be alone was solely for purposes of reproduction. You know, as if God made multiples of everything and then made man alone and said, “Whoops! How is he going to reproduce if he’s all by himself?!” but, you know, in all reality, if God really wanted to, He could have filled the earth with people when He first created man, and He could do so when He said that it is not good for man to be alone if He really wanted to.

Now, we obviously know that it is through the joining of male and female that God causes man to reproduce, but I don’t believe that that was the prime motivation of God when He declared that it was not good for man to be alone.

No, as I already said, I believe that the reason why God said that man’s aloneness was not good was because man being alone hindered his bliss, it hindered his perpetual happiness from being maximized.

Because of this, God made a declaration. A declaration which is found in the second half of this verse, where we read God saying:

Genesis 2:18b ESV

18b I will make him a helper fit for him.”

Now, we step back here, and we look at the big picture. God creates for His own good pleasure. He does not create because He’s bored, or because He needs company, He most certainly does not create because He will be less God if He does not create. No, He creates because He wants to create, because it is His good pleasure to create. Because He wants to do something good, He does it. That, my friends, is what we call grace.

God created all things, yet He willed to form man, to carefully sculpt him, and make him the pinnacle of His creation. That, my friends, is what we call grace.

God willed to make a garden in Eden, a place unlike any other on earth, and He willed to place man in this garden for man’s perpetual enjoyment. That, my friends, is what we call grace.

And now God, seeing that man’s bliss is not reaching its highest potential because he is alone, He wills to and declares to make another like man. That, my friends, is what we call grace.

God sovereignly declares, “I will make him a helper”. This one whom God will make, the one whom God will form who is like man, that is, of the same nature as man will be for man a helper. Now, how will this one whom God forms who is like man be a helper for man?

I know that some of the ladies here will say, “That’s obvious! Men need all the help they can get! They can’t do anything without a good woman around!” And true as that may be, it goes much deeper than that.

God willed for man’s bliss to reach its fullest potential, and this was accomplished through the establishment of a proper helper for man. You see, what this helper was to accomplish was the fulfillment of man’s bliss.

That doesn’t mean that God made females so that their male counterparts could be fully satisfied while they themselves were not fully satisfied and missing out. No, this bliss is a mutual bliss. It was to be maximally enjoyed by the female just as much as it was by the male.

And the way in which this bliss was to be most enjoyed was not by making male and female and then separating the two, no, it was and is to be enjoyed most by the joining of male and female, husband and wife.

In other words, God made the female that she may be fit for the male, that she may compliment the male, and in like manner, God made the female so that the male may be fit for her, that the male may compliment the female.

For this reason should a Christian be most adamant about preserving and advocating for the institutional, biblical bond of marriage between a male and a female.

And for this reason should a Christian be most adamant about speaking and standing against unnatural unions between a male with another male, or a female with another female.

Now, the reasons as to why the people of God should be against such unnatural unions are manifold. For one, unnatural unions are what the name of the union suggests, they are not natural. Thus, these unions may properlybe called “odd”, “abnormal”, “strange”, or even, “perverse”. And for these reasons a Christian, a true child of God should be opposed to something so unnatural.

But the chief reason as to why a Christian, a true child of God should be opposed to such unnatural and perverse unions is because they alter what God intended in marriage.

As has been said, God made the female that she may be a helper “fit” for the male. In other words, God made the female so that she may be joined to the male and that both the male and the female’s joy would then be complete.

Now, we know that because sin has come into the world, man does not experience unending, uninterrupted, full bliss in this world as it currently is.

Thus, even a proper marriage does not bring man the bliss that he desires, though it most certainly does bring great happiness and joy to husband and wife.

But even though marriage does not bring us this maximum bliss that was experienced in the Garden of Eden because sin has now entered the world, still it is most natural for a male and a female, a man and a woman to want to marry.

And the reason why this is, is because as we have seen, God made male and female, husband and wife to help one another and experience the utmost joy.

And because this is what God has ordained, for this reason, we should be most opposed to unnatural unions. Because at the very core of these unnatural unions is a desire, indeed, a perverse desire to have what God desired man to have but to have it their own way, a way that is contrary to what God has ordained.

The reason why we as Christians must be so opposed to these unions is because what these unions represent, and display are a desire to have the blessings of God without God Himself.

Beloved, may we ever look to our neighbors, especially to our spouses and thank God that it was in accordance with His good pleasure to graciously bring us together.

Amen?