Creation of the Family

Gen. 2:18-25

Theme: God gives important elements when He created the family.

Welcome to Celebrate the Family here at Mountain View Baptist Church! We are honored to have you with us today as we recognize the Biblical family. The definition and meaning of the family is under attack today, and it is my desire to show you the Biblical creation of the family.

Welcome to our first time guests today. Please stop by our welcome center as you leave so we can connect with you. We would like to get better acquainted with you and your family.

As we celebrate the family, there must be an authority on the subject of the family. The only reasonable authority is the Creator, God Himself. Here in the book of Genesis, in first verse the Bible says, “in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Before there was a family before there were children, before there were a father and a mother and a heaven and an earth, there was God. God is the creator and the authority on the subject of marriage. It was the first divine institution God gave to us here on the earth.

There is a great deal of the confusion on the subject of marriage and how we define marriage. Just a brief internet search will reveal numerous definition of marriage. As societal morals have changed, so has the definitions of marriage. Let’s be clear the definition of marriage and the family has not changed. God has established the home and the family. There is a confusion because when you don’t look to God who created marriage, you will write your own idea of marriage.

There are three important points about marriage in this passage we don’t want to miss.

Point 1. . .

Pattern of marriage

God has established a pattern for marriage at the very beginning. God took effort and creative power to make a woman for Adam. Make no mistake, this is God’s clear pattern. It is clearly man and woman. Man and woman is God’s custom and only design. Nowhere in the Bible do you find the pattern of marriage is between a man and another man or a woman and another woman. It is clearly a model and pattern for the foundation. All throughout God’s Word, a home and a family is a man and a woman. In the beginning of man’s life and time, God set the pattern in place. He set the creative model for mankind to follow.

God did not create the union of Christ and the church after the pattern of human marriage—just the reverse! He created human marriage on the pattern of Christ’s relation to the church.

John Piper

Any other pattern clearly disrupts God’s design. It is a rebellion to God’s design and it is totally out of the oder, design, and plan of God. The same design is seen in the church according to Ephesians 5:30–32 “For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” The church is the bride and Christ is the bridegroom. There are not two brides as a marriage or two grooms as a marriage.

Many traditional marriage ceremony has these words: “Marriage is born in the loving heart of God for the blessing and benefit of mankind.” No matter what the courts may decree, or society may permit, when it comes to marriage, God had the first word and He will have the last word.

This creative pattern establishes the foundation of a Godly society. The home is the picture of the gospel. As the husband and wife submit to God’s creative plan, this means we yield completely to His will. The gospel is pictured in the home in that Christ so loved the world that He died for our sins, He was buried, and He rose again the third day. The father in the home is a representative of a loving father and the wife is a picture of the submissive bride who surrenders to the father her spiritual guidance. Satan is seeking to stop the gospel and he will work within the home to blur the picture of the gospel when the design is interrupted.

When there is criticism of the Bible or the church or people in the church or some teacher or TV personality or movie star or musician criticizes God and His Word, Satan is clouding the picture of the gospel. The way to combat this attack on the family is to fill your home with God’s Word. Read it around the table, put up Scripture verses on the wall, and point your children and grandchildren to Bible verses to help them to know God. When a society or a group of people who go against God’s pattern, the very foundation and moral fabric will erode. God will bring His judgment on the rebellion.

The pattern of a man and a woman is natural and normal.

Point 2. . .

Purpose of marriage

Marriage is not a civil contract but it is a covenant binding man and woman together. Verse 24 uses the word oneness because marriage is a oneness of in this covenant. In the Old Testament when they would make a covenant between two people, they would slay an animal. The body of the animal would be divided on the ground and both parties would walk between those parts as a binding agreement.

This covenant relationship also pictures the gospel for when we accept Christ is our Savior, He is our Lord forever. Our relationship with Christ is forever settled in heaven. We are kept by the power of God.

Notice here there is a statement in verse 18 which gives us insight into the purpose of marriage. The Bible says it is not good that man should be alone. He could have fellowship with God, enjoy the beauty of the Garden and eat the fruits, and enjoy the daily work God has for his life. God knew Adam needed a helper and there is no helpers in all of creation. God made a special helper and companion to Adam so he can accomplish God’s will on the earth.

This part of God’s creative order is seen in the companionship the wife brings to the man. This companionship involves both seeking God’s will and obeying God together. This is why families should go to church together, pray together, talk with each other and to rear children together.

Companionship involves being together, talking together, and sharing life together. Growing in our walk together by helping each other. The attack on the family has tried to reprogram how we think about the family. Rather than enter a covenantal relationship in marriage, they move in together; however, there is an interesting statistic: 20 million cohabiting individuals according the 2022 Current Population Survey. While married couples make up the majority of households, marriage is declining. Studies have shown that couples living together before marriage are more than likely to divorce that an hos who dod not live together. The risk is 50-60% higher.

Companionship is built on trust and commitment as here in this passage. A wife brings to much to a man’s life that he doesn’t have. She bring love, compassion, beauty, tenderness, and the emotional element missing in most men. You can tell a bachelor pad when he lives by himself. He will have dishes in the sink, dirt on the floor, and bed unmade. More than likely he will have a bicycle or motor cycle in the living room and pictures of his dogs on the wall. There will be barbells next to the couch and most often clothes on the floor. A wife will see to it that all these things will be corrected. Her companionship brings out the best in the man and I do believe when a husband is living for God, he will bring out the best in his wife. In no possible way is the a lesser creature, for they were both created in God’s image 1:27.

Matthew Henry: “She was not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to equal with him, underst his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved.”

1 Corinthians 11:7 “For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.”

The purpose of this companionship is to serve God in their community. Marital couples help each other to grow in their walk with the Lord.

Marriage is not a concession to our sinfulness; marriage is a provision for our holiness.

J. Alec Motyer

They are not to live for themselves and their desires but to honor God in their marriage. Couples should find a local church and get involved, find opportunities in the community to share their faith, and teach their children and grandchildren how to live for God.

Point 3. . .

Permanence of marriage

Verse 24 tells us both are their parents and cleave to their spouse. It is significant that Adam and Eve have no parents to leave. This tell us that God intends this as a statement of permanence. I do realize that God allows for the marriage bond to be broken because of infidelity of a spouse or just plain desertion.

Marriage, and the process of coming to it, is not heaven! It is the bonding together of two needy sinners in order to make a partnership which is substantially greater than either of them alone.

Sinclair Buchanan Ferguson

God is commanding us to stay in the marriage and work through your difficulties. When two imperfect people come together, you can be assured there will be problems. There will be failed expectations, there will disagreements, and there will be difficulties. When Adam and Eve were married by God, they probably did not have a clue that their son would be the first murderer on the earth. This must have been very difficult for the family to go through. Knowing that one of your children killed your other child.

“His original plan was one man and one woman to be one flesh for one lifetime.” (Wiersebe).

It is in the marriage Christian character is developed where we learn faith, hope, and love with each other and from God. Martin Luther called marriage “a school for character.”

Marriage is where God gives the couple the right to enjoy sex and have children.

This one flesh union implies one of heart, one of love, and one of direction. Death brings an interruption to this relationship and releases them of a covenantal relationship.

This is the creation of marriage by the Creator. While world looks to the trends or the courts for meaning of marriage, we look to the Creator. Do you know Him today? Have you accepted Him as your Savior?

If you are a Christian, is Christ in the center of your life? Are you living for Him? Is He in the center of your marriage? Today would be a great time to start with Him.