Made To Do Like God

Introduction

Series Context: Last week we began a new sermon series called Bookends, in which we are spending the first half studying the book of Genesis (the first book of the Bible), and the second half studying Revelation (the last book of the Bible). And we discussed last week how these two books form, what I call, the push and pull on our life. Genesis stands behind us telling us who we are, where we came from, who God is (foundational truths of Christian identity), the push on our life. And Revelation serves as a vision for what God is accomplishing right now in our midst, who we are becoming, the pull on our life.

Recap: Last week we look the creation account in Genesis 1. And we saw that all of creation is the theatre of God’s glory. We looked at God’s power is on display on creation, God’s order is on display in creation, God’s goodness is on display in creation, and finally how God’s image is on display particularly in humans, who are made in the image of God.

Immediate Context: This week, as we move into chapter 2 of Genesis, we hone in on that sixth day of creation, when God made humans in his image. Genesis 1 was a macro picture of all of creation. Genesis 2 then retells the story by zooming into that sixth day, and specifically targeting the creation of man and woman. And what this second chapter does is it informs us more specifically of not just what it means to be made in the image of God, but what humanity, as made in the image of God, was commissioned by God to do. This is a vital chapter. If we are going to know what our purpose is, what we are aiming to do in this life, we have to go back to God’s commissioning.

Big Idea: Humanity is commissioned to showcase the glory of God by behaving like God.

Meaning & Application

I THROUGH OUR WORK

First, we are commissioned to showcase the glory of by behaving like God, in our work.

The Text: In our text today, we see that God had an explicit purpose in placing Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. There was something they were to do.

Genesis 2:5 “When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground,”

Isn’t that a funny little phrase. “There was no one to work the ground.” Eden was beautiful. Eden was teaming with potentiality. But Eden had not yet reached it zenith, because there was no one to the work the ground. Eden was beautiful, but it was not yet complete. It would be complete, once a proper agent was created by God to enter into the Garden of Eden and to maintain it. Nancy Guthrie says it this way, “Eden was unspoiled but also unfinished.”

Co-opting Man: And then just a few verses later in verse 15,

Genesis 2:15 “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.”

So God, we could say, created mankind to complete the work that he had begun. He would be like a mini-creator. Not in the same way as God because God creates ex nihilo “out of nothing.” But Adam would use his intellect and his imagination to envision what he could make of God’s world. His creativity would be put to use. His labor would be put to use. To bring order and beauty.

“Work/Serve”: They were placed in the Garden to “work it and keep it.” The word translated “work” is a very common Hebrew word that simply serve. In this context, it is simply saying that Adam would work the ground by the tilling the soil. But there is a note in the wording of that word “serve.” Adam was placed in the Garden of Eden, not to be served, but to serve.

“Keep/Guard”: The second is word used here is to “keep.” That’s an interesting word that normally has the connotation of “guarding” and “protecting”. So in chapter 3, next week, this is the same word that is used to talk about the angels who stand guard outside the Garden of Eden guarding the entryway to it. Adam was to “guard” the garden of Eden. In other words, Eden was something to be protected, not possessed, or used for one’s own benefit. Eden was a sweet and precious gift that Adam was entrusted with guarding and maintaining.

Work Comes Before the Fall: We see here that man’s work of “keeping and guarding” the garden came before the Fall. Work is not a result of the Fall. Man’s ideal situation is not to be laying on a beach in the Caribbean eternally sipping on lemonade out of a coconut shell. We weren’t made for that. As image bearers of God, we were made for good and godly work. This is part of the way that we reflect God’s glory.

Like God: In Genesis 1, we saw that God “worked” for six days creating the universe. He then rested on the seventh day, not because he was exhausted, but because he was setting a pattern for man to follow. In the same way, man who is made in God’s image, is to work six days, and on the seventh day, rest. And if sin had never entered the picture, mankind would still be working. His work would not be exhausting, and the sabbath day would not be needed to recuperate after long exhausting hours. His enjoyment of the sabbath would be simply to pause from his work, in order to enjoy his God and the fruit of his work in a focused way.

What Was the Work Like: By the end of chapter 3 (next week), sin enters the story, and part of the curse upon man is that our work will be full of thorns and thistles. It will be difficult. It will be full of challenges and sweat and exhaustion. But those thorns and thistles in our work does not does fundamentally change who we are how our work is to glorify God.

Implications: So if we are goign to talk about man’s purpose, what are made to do. We are made to work. This has som implications

1) Laziness Is Ungodly: First, laziness is ungodly. Man was created to work. Sin has made our work full of thorns and thistles (as we’ll next week), but it has changed the fact that God has made us for work. To add to his creation. To bring order and beauty to his creation, as little creators. Whether you are bagging groceries, driving a truck, managing a house, teaching in a classroom, serving as a lawyer, our work is part of what it means to be made in the image of God. Laziness is ungodly.

2) Overwork is Ungodly: Second, overwork is ungodly. If we are to be like God, we are to work six days, and rest one. We must not forget that we are servants. Failure to keep the sabbath, is a demonstration that we are serving something other than God in our work. Christians are not like everybody else. We work six days, and on the seventh day (that’s today - Sunday), we rest from our work, and we devote the day to God, and to the fruit of our labor.

3) All Work is Sacred: Lastly, all our work is sacred. Many of us have grown up with the idea that pastors and missionaries have the sacred jobs, and everyone else has to settle for a secular job. No, Adam was a gardener. His tilling of the soil was sacred, commissioned, work. Your work (so long as it is not inherently wicked), is sacred work. If you are making cappuccinos, you are bringing order into Eden, being like God in creating something beautiful. If you are a homemaker, you are being like God in bringing order to a home, discipline to your children. If you are a teacher, an artist, a banker, an economist, your work is no less sacred than my own.

We are commissioned to showcase the glory of by behaving like God, in our work.

II IN OUR HOMES & THROUGH OUR MARRIAGES

Second, we are commissioned to showcase the glory of by behaving like God, in our homes and through our marriages.

The First Marriage: A rather large part of this passage is dedicated to Adam’s relationship to Eve (verses 18-25). This relationship not only the very first human relationship, but it was the very first marriage. We see in verse 24 the foundational text of all marriage,

Genesis 2:24 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”

It’s “Not Good”: If you recall our study from last week, after every day of creation in Genesis 1 the text says that God saw what he had made “and it was good.” Then after the sixth day of creation, after God had made both man and woman, God looked down and saw that “all he had made was very good.” And we talked about last week how the goodness of a thing highlights that thing’s ability to accomplish the purpose for which it was made, namely to glorify God. Here in verse 18, we zoom in on that sixth day of creation. the sixth day is not yet complete. God has made man, but he has not yet made the woman. And for the first time we see God declare something not good.

Genesis 2:18 “Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.””

Big Picture: I want you to see verse 23. When Eve is presented to Adam as his wife, he cries out in a beautiful poem of joy.

Genesis 2:23 “Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.””

We should feel Adam’s excitement here. Marriage is God’s precious gift to humanity. Marriage in and of itself in some ways reflects God. We read in veres 24,

Genesis 2:24 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”

In marriage, a husband and a wife, are two individuals who reflect the Trinity of God by becoming one. God is a Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (three persons in one God). While that is categorically different than an earthly marriage, an earthly marriage is a good representation of that. It highlights God.

Singleness: This does not mean that someone is single for their whole life is unable to fully live up to their potential. Indeed, Jesus Christ was single, the Apostle Paul was single. I have done quite a bit of shepherding and getting resources out there to help those who are single see the beauty and the goodness of singleness to the glory of God. But this passage, I want to lean into marriage, and instruct us, how to have godly marriages that showcase the glory of God, because this is the passage that is the foundation of marriage.

Counter Cultural: What I want to do is look at this text and show us from the text, the different roles that men and women are to play. Men, in marriage, are the leaders who carry authority in the home. Women, in marriage, are in the helpers who serve their husbands and their children in the home. While this will look different from home to home, the principle remains the same. And I want linger here and make this very practical for us. As I do so, I know that I’m pushing on very sensitive topics. One of the reasons it is sensitive is because we have been bombarded by anti-Biblical spirit that has tried to convince us that men and women are fundamentally the same. The Bible stands in stark contrast to that. It says that while we share many of the same qualities “bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh,” we also differ in some important ways.

Start with Adam: Let’s start with Adam. In this text, and if we borrow just a bit from the next chapter, we can see at least three implications for men, as to how to glorify God in their marriage.

Carries Responsibility to Lead: First, men are to lead. We see this in verse 16. When God instructs Adam not to eat from the tree, this is before Eve was created. The implication here is that Adam had the responsibility to teach Eve what God’s instructions were. Indeed in a godly, properly functioning, men will take responsibility for the spiritual leadership of the home. Many men in this room, perhaps your wife is the spiritual leader, or spiritually stronger than you. That’s okay, and thank God for our godly women! But that’s not the correct order. You need to begin a journey to grow in your faith intentionally, so that you can lead your families properly. Be intentional. Do not just veg out when you get home. Pursuse your wife. Pursue your child. Encourage reading over TV watching. Encourage board games over video games. Lead the home!

Carries Authority: Second, Adam carries authority in the marriage relationship. Naming a thing, especially a person, is a sign of authority. This is why parents name children, its a statement of their authority over that child’s life. Adam named all the animals. And then in verse 24, he names the woman Eve. This authority is not a domineering, do what I say authority. But it is a real authority. A husband is the head of his wife. This is exactly what the Apostle teaches in the New Testament

1 Corinthians 11:3 ESV

But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.

Husbands, are to exercise authority in their home, lovingly under the ultimate authority of Christ.

Carries Responsibility to Protect: Third, Adam is to protect his wife. As we’ll see next week, the serpent undermines this order of things, by attacking the wife. He doesn’t go through Adam who is the head, but he goes around the head, and attacks Eve. And we’re told that Adam stood by passively and let it happen. Men, you are not only your households physical defenders against wicked men who mean harm, but you are their spiritual defenders, guarding the ideas that come into the home, the way the family thinks about their lives.

Next Eve: Now let’s look at Eve. How does a woman glorify God by being like God in her marriage. Mankind is a relational creature, and Eve was created to fulfill that need. Her purpose was to serve as a companion to Adam, so that they could get about their work of glorifying God together in different roles. Specifically, Eve is called a “helper fit for him.” This is very important language that helps define the marriage relationship. A very literal translation of this phrase would be something like this, “a helper opposite of him.” Eve was made feminine as a counterbalance to Adam’s masculinity.

The word “Helper” in the text is the Hebrew word ezer. It is a very significant word. On the surface it means that Eve was not made to do the same thing as Adam. Adam was commissioned to tend to the garden. Eve was created to come alongside Adam in that work and support him, strengthen him, and help him (to tend to Adam). Far from some kind diminished view, the word ezer is most often used in scripture of God. God is often seen as mankind’s helper, especially of the poor, the needy, and the fatherless.

Psalm 72:12 ESV

For he delivers the needy when he calls, the poor and him who has no helper.

And so a woman, is like God and models God, as she exemplifies being a helper to her husband, just as God is a helper to his people. How can a godly wife do this.

Encourage His Leadership: First, let your husband lead. In other words, invite his authority in your life. In Genesis 3 we will see that part of the curse over woman for her sin, was that she will fight against her husband’s authority in her life. But godly women, submitted to Christ, get back to God’s design. Your husband might not be doing a great job. Look for ways to encourage his leadership, not pedantically like he’s a little boy, but encouragingly, building him up.

Take Tasks off His Plate: Second, take tasks off his plate, specifically as it involves household affairs. Look for ways to lighten his load. Your husband carries all kinds of stresses that you do not carry. Help him. Keep the home organized and well run. Labor to create an environment of peace in the home, while he is gone, so that when he returns he is stepping into a place of peace. Dare I suggest, prepare him meals. If you don’t know how, learn how. You are his helper. Help him in this way.

Seek Alignment: Third, seek alignment. Over the course a marriage you will encounter times where you in disagreement. This is not necessarily sin, to disagree. But it can spiral into sin. The process for disagreement should showcase the different roles. Women, you are not a pushover. But you are also not to be your husband’s constant argument. In general, men are not designed to fight women, we don’t know how. We can fight men, but we innately want to go easy on women, to not crush them. When a wife has a fighting spirit constantly, it can wear a man out. Seek alignment. And be willing to submit to his vision and direction.

Closing: What have we seen here. This passage is the foundational text of marriage, it all started here. And we see that we are commissioned to showcase the glory of by behaving like God, in our homes and through our marriages.

III THROUGH OUR COVENANT KEEPING

Third, we are commissioned to showcase the glory of by behaving like God, in our covenant keeping.

Covenant Introduction: In the first few chapters of Genesis, God enters into a Covenant with Adam in the Garden of Eden. This is a term that we use often in scripture, and that we will encounter many more times in our study of Genesis. But “covenant” is the primary means by which God relates to humanity. It is a promise, that comes with terms, a relationship with boundaries. While the term “covenant” does not appear in Genesis 1-3, later biblical authors reference that Adam was in a covenant with God. So we read in Hosea 6:7,

Hosea 6:7 ESV

But like Adam they transgressed the covenant; there they dealt faithlessly with me.

Covenant of Works: This covenant that God entered into with Adam, we call the Covenant of Works. What was the relational promise in the covenant of works. Dr. Stephen Myers summarizes this very well for us. He writes,

“God was Adam’s Creator. He had given Adam commands that he was to follow, and indeed, in following those commands, the intensity of Adam’s blessing would only increase. In the covenant of works, God was revealing His character to humankind, and if Adam would render the obedience required, he would be conformed to the image of his Creator. Eventually, that rising crescendo of blessing would reach a pinnacle—the reward of the covenant of works.”

What this means is that Adam and Eve’s relationship to God was covenantal. The relationship was purely on grace and God’s abundant goodness. Certainly mankind was special, made in the image of God, but we are just still just creatures. He is God. See God’s goodness and abundant grace in offering a covenantal relationship.

What Law: What law was Adam to obey? There are a few mandates in the first two chapters of Genesis that are included in this Covenant of Works. But there is one main law. That is found in 2:17. We read,

Genesis 2:17 “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.””

This seems at first glance like a strange law. Why make a tree in the first place that could do so much damage. And secondly, why place in the center of the Garden of Eden. Actually, there are a few reasons for that.

Lordship: That Adam might experience in a tangible way, what Lordship to God really means, by submitting to a law as seemingly arbitrary as not eating from a particular tree. In other words, would Adam just take God’s word for it, because he’s God?

Joy of Submission: Second, that Adam would experience a joy of submission to God. That every day as he passed that tree, he would experientially choose submission over curiosity. And that submission would a delight.

Beauty of the Forbidden: Third, that through the tree’s beauty, Adam would learn that true happiness does not consist of simply earthly things. That ultimate happiness consists in refraining from certain things in order to embrace the ultimate thing, God.

Life or Death: God stands before Adam, and offers him life or death. God looks to Adam and he says, “Choose me, let me be your God. Delight in me, and I will grant you life upon life. Choose the forbidden tree, then you are choosing to be your own god, and that path will bring upon you untold misery, death in all of its forms. What will you choose?”

Adam Chose Death: Next week we will read chapter 3, and we will see that Adam chose to be his own God. Adam chose misery over blessing, death over life.

The Tree: There are some very interesting parallels between this tree in the midst of the garden and another tree we discover in the New Testament. Interestingly, both Luke (in Acts) and Peter, in 1 Peter refer to the cross of Jesus Christ as a tree. Peter writes,

1 Peter 2:24 “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”

Why, do they use the word “tree.” Is it simply that the cross was made of wood. Theologians over the years have seen something a bit more profound going on here. As we reflect on the tree that our Savior was hung (that cross), and the forbidden tree in the Garden of Eden, some very intereting parallels emerge. There are many, but for the sake of time I will highlight af ew of them.

Garden: First, both the tree in Eden, and tree that Christ hung on are told to be in a Garden. John 19:41 tells us

John 19:41 “Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden…

Why does John provide that detail. He is making a connection. He making us consider another garden with another tree.

In the Midst: Second, the phrase “in the midst” is used in both accounts. In Eden, the tree was “in the midst” of the garden.

John 19:18 KJV 1900

Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.

This little phrasing, by John, again is hinting that he is making a connection. But what is the connection?!

The Knowledge of Good and Evil: Here is the point, of all the places in the world, where do we most clearly see the reality of “the knowledge of good and evil.” Adam experienced it in part when he ate of the forbidden tree. The text tells us his eyes were opened, and he gained a knowledge he had not previously had. Oh but there is a greater Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. At the cross we learn the full weight of God’s goodness, and the full weight of our evil. For on the cross, that ultimate tree, goodness incarnate suffered under the greatest evil the world ever devised. At the cross, we see the evil of the world all in visual display, placed on one man’s shoulders. Hell itself loaded up like a great burden placed in vivid sight for all to see, on the shoulders of Christ. If you want to know wickedness, look to the cross, where your wickedness, and my wickedness are on full display on our savior’s shoulders. He experienced the fulness of Hell as he hung on the cross. The consequences of that forbidden tree, death, came upon Christ. But at the same time, if you want to know the fullness of the goodness of God, look to the cross. For at the cross, God himself gives his life to rescue us from our sin. At the cross, God himself bestowes undesereved and unmerited favor upon his children.

The Choice is Before You: That first tree, brought a curse upon humanity of death. But that second tree, brought the blessing of life to all who will receive it. And so, like Adam, the choice is before you today. What will you choose, life or death. Whereas Adam was forbidden to embrace the tree or face the consequences of death, on this side of the cross, the script is flipped. Embrace the tree where Christ was crucified for you, and find life, covenantal life everlasting. But turn from that tree, and face the fulness of the consequences of the curse. The choice is yours. What will you do.

Conclusion

I close today by reminding us of our aim in this study. We are studying Genesis to form our minds on who we are, where we came from, what our identity. We are commissioned to showcase the glory of God by behaving like God: in our work, in our families, and in our covenant keeping. May God get all of the glory, and may we get all of the joy!