God Introduces Man

God Introduces Man

Intro: We know the Bible is the story about God, but what if he was the only character? Would you want read or hear the stories then? It may turn out sort of like the Wizard of Oz repeating, “I am the Great and Powerful Wizard of Oz.” Watching a comedian or a one man show may be good for an hour or so, but we want to see how the lead character, like Jerry Seinfeld or Tim Allen interact with the world they live in or have created in their shows like Seinfeld and Home Improvement.

Genesis One gives us the 30,000 foot view of creation. Genesis two starts to come down in altitude so the buildings, roads and cars become clearer and we can see some more details on how God created animals and plants and most importantly for the story, and us, man.

Intro: We know the Bible is the story about God, but what if he was the only character? Would you want read or hear the stories then? It may turn out sort of like the Wizard of Oz repeating, “I am the Great and Powerful Wizard of Oz.” Watching a comedian or a one-man show may be good for an hour or so, but we want to see how the lead character, like Jerry Seinfeld or Tim Allen interact with the world they live in or have created in their shows like Seinfeld and Home Improvement.

We know the story and we know what happens in the next chapter, how sin enters God’s perfect world so the question you might ask is “Why did God make man if he knew that mankind would throw mud onto the brand new perfectly white carpet?”

Genesis One gives us the 30,000-foot view of creation. Genesis two starts to come down in altitude so the buildings, roads and cars become clearer and we can see some more details on how God created animals and plants and most importantly for the story, and us, man.

We know the story and we know what happens in the next chapter, how sin enters God’s perfect world so the question you might ask is “Why did God make man if he knew that mankind would throw mud onto the brand new perfectly white carpet?”

Sermon idea: God creates man and brings him into the story to reveal His glory

Man is an important character in the story of God and we are the pinnacle of God’s creation.

I. God Introduces Man to His Home (4-15)

Sermon idea: God creates man and brings him into the story to reveal His glory

A. Earth

B. Garden

I. God Introduces Man to His Home (4-15)

Verses 4-15 are the creation of the Earth, the creation of Man from the Earth or the dirt, and then the creation of the Garden that God places the man in to care for the Garden.

II. God Introduces Man to His Neighbors (16-20)

The Author of Genesis has briefly introduced man into the story in when He says, let us make man in our image. He made them male and female. Again, the first chapter is a more general account of creation and genesis two gets into a little more detail. They do not contradict each other like some might think. Scholars “have shown that they are two complementary descriptions that present a congruent narrative, the second picking up on the skeletal telling of the former. They possess a number of similarities in literary structure and content that recommend that they are the product of one hand.”[1]

A. Command (How to use the fruits of the plants)

For people hearing the story, we see how God is the creator and we are part of the creation God is self-sufficient. We are dependent on what God gives us. The interesting thing is that the Garden account in Genesis is different from all other creation myths in the Ancient near East cultures that some naysayers or perhaps even liberal scholars say that the Hebrews copied and adjusted other cultures creation stories.

B. Dominion

III. God Introduces Man to His Wife (17-25)

The Hebrew God, here in chapter 2 referred to as the Lord God, Adonai which is the word used for Yahweh, Elohim “Elohim is appropriate for the majestic portrayal of God as Creator of the universe since it properly indicates omnipotent deity, whereas Yahweh is the name commonly associated with the covenant relationship between deity and his people, Israel.”[2]

A. Helper Needed

This name reminds the people hearing this story of God the covenant maker and keeper. God is constructing the world in part to have a place to keep the covenant.

Wherefore those that think it enough to attain to the state of Adam in innocency, think it sufficient to be mere naturalists; think themselves well, without being made spiritual: yea, let me add, they think it safe standing by a covenant of works; they think themselves happy, though not concerned in a covenant of grace; they think they know enough, though ignorant of a mediator, and count they have no need of the intercession of Christ.[1]

The descriptions of the earth and the plants being formed is the pre-fall world and it will be contrasted in chapter three with the post-fall description of the plants and shrubs.

B. Joined Together (προσκολληθήσεται)

Illustration: Even in our post-fall world we get an idea of how the garden must have looked. If you have been to the Redwoods, Yosemite, or Lake Tahoe you see the grandeur. Imagine being surrounded by red trees that are hundreds of feet tall many as tall as the statue of Liberty, that are 20-25 feet in diameter. The smell of the dirt and wood that helps create the forest floor. The rivers that run through the forests, feeding the plants and animals.

The Bible says that we are created from the dirt of the earth and this earth is still good. And God breathed the spirit of life into Adam.

Adam is completely reliant on god for everything he has. Adam did not make the garden, he was put there to work it. He did not raise the animals, he is there to name them. Adam did not create his wife, God did that for him. So it is with our salvation. It is personal, it is ours. My family is not saved through me. But we are not the ones saving anyone. God alone has done that. Christ alone accomplished that This was one of the five solas if the reformation. We do not have apart in our Salvation or justification. We play a part in our sanctification. God’s creation glorifies himself. Christ’s sacrifice glorifies the Father. Paul tell sus likes that we are to “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”

Application: Man is dependent on God for our very life and where we live our lives at.

God makes a covenant with Adam and here, like the subsequent covenants he makes with Abraham, and Moses and David, God is the one to up hold his bargain.

Man is created form the dirt,

[1] John Bunyan, An Exposition of the First Ten Chapters of Genesis, vol. 2 (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2006), 427.

God provided the first breath through the Spirit of Life

God created the garden to provide everything Man needed. Verse 9 says And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The tree of life was created in the Middle of the Garden to ensure that Adam was equidistant from God no matter where he went. Dietrich Bonhoeffer notes that the tree of life was in the middle. Life comes forth from God is in the middle. Adam’s life comes from the middle which is not Adam himself, but God.

It is like our universe, with the planets revolving around the sun. The Earth revolves around the sun and We get light and life from the Sun but we never touch it, we never leave our orbit and so we are perfectly sustained with the light and warmth.

If we can stay in our orbit around God in obedience, we will be perfectly sustained. The garden was designed to keep God and man in harmony and covenant.

"But this is what I commanded them, saying, 'Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you will walk in all the way which I command you, that it may be well with you.'

Through the perfectness of Christ, you can have your life and home provided for you again. The earth will return to the perfect state after the arrival of the new heaven and the new earth.

says Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.

You can have the breath of true life breathed back into you by accepting the prompting of the Holy Spirit and truly believing that Jesus died on the cross for your sins to restore the harmony between you and Adonai Elohim, the covenant creator.

TS: Adam was not meant to live alone in the garden however, like we are not meant t live alone today. God gave Adam neighbors to share his home with.

II. God Introduces Man to His Neighbors (16-20)

One of the fun parts of moving is getting to meet your new neighbors. Who they are, what they do for a living, where they have been? In base housing, sometimes you meet people who were stationed at the same base around the same time you were and may even know some of the same people. The Good news is that God is with Adam in the Garden and God introduces Adam to his neighbors, first the trees of life and knowledge of Good and evil and then the animals. In essence God is saying you can live here, but here is the agreement, you can eat from all of these other trees, but avoid that tree. Pretty simple, one rule.

The prohibition against eating the fruit of the “tree of knowledge” gave Adam opportunity to worship God through loyal devotion. Luther likened the tree to “Adam’s church, altar, and pulpit. Here he was to yield to God the obedience he owed, give recognition to the Word and will of God, give thanks to God, and call upon God for aid against temptation.”[3]

Here Adam is given a choice, obey and everything is good or disobey and there are consequences.

God is Generous with his provisions but he sets limits for Adam because Freedom without boundaries becomes anarchy.

Application: We can better spend out time focusing on God and what he has provided us with instead of what he has not given us.

God created Adam to work. God gave Adam a purposeful existence and Adam seems content for now to get to work naming the animals, and just be in the garden. The introduction of sin made working a chore. Imagine the line of animals before Adam, coming to him waiting to be named by him. Harry and sally the hippos, Gerald and Fiona the Giraffes, Larry and Edna the lions, Murray and Shirona the Eagles.

God provided Adam with a purpose, food, friends, and a place to live. How many of you have those things right now? How many of you are happy with those things though?

What is our purpose? To work? That is only one part and that is more on how we fufill the purpose.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism asks the question, “What is the chief end of man?” “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.”

If we are chief purpose is to Glorify God, then that makes our lives easier in a sense when we are faced with dilemmas or questions on what you should or should not do.

When we are trying to discern what we should do or not do, because we are on this side of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, ask yourself, is what I am doing glorify God.

. The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. 6 The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.7 I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also, my heart instructs me. 8 I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.

. Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the LORD.

, . For you are bought with a price: therefore, glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.... Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

Paul is addressing food and drinks sacrificed to idols and if you should or should no eat or drink them based on that fact. But it can be expanded to

. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.

“He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace” ().[4]

What does this mean for our neighbors now? In regards to our neighbors, how we interact with them glorifies or denigrates God. Who is your neighbor? “Everyone” is the basic answer that Jesus gives in the story of the good Samaritan.

What is the best way to glorify God before our neighbors? Tell them about God. Tell them and show them that You are joyful and have a purpose because God saved you and turned your life around and he is now providing things beyond what the world deems important or necessary. But he has provided you with the reconciliation between God and you through His son Jesus. And that you wan them to know him too.

TS: Do we have to do this job alone though? The answer is no. God gave us a specific helper to work side by side in glorifying God.

III. God Introduces Man to His Wife (17-25)

Adam has the animals, he gave them all names but none of them looked like Adam. They were all different. None of them had speech or opposable thumbs. Little known fact, lions cannot cook. So God fixes the problem or enacts his next phase of the plan.

21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 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.”

24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

This full description of the woman’s creation is unique to the cosmogonies of the ancient Near East. The Hebrews’ lofty estimation of womanhood and its place in creation was not widely held by ancient civilizations, and Israel itself failed at times to give proper recognition and honor to women. The law of Israel, however, was designed to protect those who were commonly subject to abuse by society: the orphan, widow, and alien (e.g., levirate marriage, ). Genesis’s account of the woman’s creation demonstrates that God intended women to be equally important in the purposes of Providence.[5]

The creation of Woman also shows that we are meant to be with other people. “God has created human life to have fellowship with him but also to be a social entity, building relationships with other human beings.”[6]

Man and woman share in the “human” sameness that cannot be found elsewhere in creation among the beasts. In every way the woman shares in the same features of personhood as does the man. In 1:26–28 this equality of the man and woman as image bearers has priority over their differences in sexual roles, although both were crucial to realizing the intended blessing.[7]

Adam is completely reliant on God for everything he has. Adam did not make the garden, he was put there to work it. He did not raise the animals, he is there to name them. Adam did not create his wife, God did that for him. So, it is with our salvation. It is personal, it is ours. My family is not saved through me. But we are not the ones saving anyone. God alone has done that. Christ alone accomplished that This was one of the Five Solas if the reformation. We do not have apart in our Salvation or justification. We play a part in our sanctification. God’s creation glorifies himself. Christ’s sacrifice glorifies the Father. Paul tells us likes that we are to “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”

God makes a covenant with Adam and here, like the subsequent covenants he makes with Abraham, and Moses and David, God is the one to up hold his bargain.

Application: Man and woman are created equal but different. Complimenting each other.

Man and woman share in the “human” sameness that cannot be found elsewhere in creation among the beasts. In every way the woman shares in the same features of personhood as does the man. In 1:26–28 this equality of the man and woman as image bearers has priority over their differences in sexual roles, although both were crucial to realizing the intended blessing.[8]

The term helper is not derogatory or secondary like you are just the person who holds the flashlight. There is no sense derived from the word linguistically or from the context of the garden narrative that the woman is a lesser person because her role differs. In the case of the biblical model, the “helper” is an indispensable “partner” (REB) required to achieve the divine commission. “Helper,” as we have seen from its Old Testament usage, means the woman will play an integral part, in this case, in human survival and success. What the man lacks, the woman accomplishes. As Paul said concisely, the man was not made for the woman “but the woman for the man” (cf. ). The woman makes it possible for the man to achieve the blessing that he otherwise could not do “alone.” And, obviously, the woman cannot achieve it apart from the man.[9]

In our terms this is called complementarianism.

1. Complementarians believe that God created male and female as complementary expressions of the image of God—-male and female are counterparts in reflecting his glory.

2. There is no rank. Complementarians do not believe that men, as a group, rank higher than women. Men are not superior to women. Women are not the “second sex.” Men have a responsibility to exercise headship in their homes and church family, and Christ revolutionized the definition of what that means. Authority is not the right to rule—-it's the responsibility to serve.

3. True complementarianism is not a patriarchy-or ruled by men. Complementarians stand against the oppression of women. We want to see women flourish, and we believe they do so when men and women together live according to God's Word.

4. Complementarians believe that males were designed to shine the spotlight on Christ's relationship to the church (and the LORD God's relationship to Christ) in a way that females cannot, and that females were designed to shine the spotlight on the church's relationship to Christ (and Christ's relationship to the LORD God) in a way that males cannot. Who we are as male and female is ultimately not about us. It's about testifying to the story of Jesus. We do not get to dictate what manhood and womanhood are all about. Our Creator does. That's the basis of complementarianism.

The opposite is called egalitarianism which in one or two sentences God created male and female as equal in all respects. makes no distinction between woman and man insofar as both are equally made in His image, and both are given the responsibility to rule over His creation. But remember Genesis chapter 1 is like big overview and then chapter 2 is a closer look at what actually happened, especially with regards to the creation of man and woman.

These issues, even though this was written thousands of years ago has been making headlines for the same amount of time. Can a woman lead a biblically lead a church? Can she be he one to lead her family? This is not about who works and who stays home with the kids. Those are decisions that have to be answered by the couples.

This is about men being Biblically responsible for their households and serving their wives while they lead them. Modeling sacrificial servant leadership like Jesus modeled for the church.

Paul tell us in Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Christ is our example that we should sacrifice for others, this extends past our wives and husbands but to all people because we are commanded to love our neighbors as ourselves. That is the second greatest commandment.

Conclusion

The two main characters, God and mankind, have now ben introduced to the story. They are living in perfect harmony, working for God tending His Garden.

Walter Breuggeman, who is a commentator and theologian sums up as “The destiny of the human creation is to live in God’s world, with God’s other creatures, on God’s terms.”[10] And we have seen this with our job to work the land, take care of God’s creation and live with other people, particularly if we are married.

The covenant is perfect and perfectly adhered to by both parties. The covenant that would be broken by the first Adam but restored by the Second Adam, Jesus.

This is one reason we take the Lord’s supper. To remember the covenant made with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Like any good book or story, there needs to be a problem that needs to be solved, otherwise the story is not really worth reading.

[2] K. A. Mathews, , vol. 1A, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 191–192.

[3] K. A. Mathews, , vol. 1A, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 210–211.

[4] Read more: https://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/7-important-bible-verses-about-purpose/#ixzz5deVqp6LD

[5] K. A. Mathews, , vol. 1A, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 212–213.

[6] K. A. Mathews, , vol. 1A, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 213.

[7] K. A. Mathews, , vol. 1A, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 213.

[8] K. A. Mathews, , vol. 1A, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 213.

[9] K. A. Mathews, , vol. 1A, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 214.

[10] K. A. Mathews, , vol. 1A, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 183.