Sermon Tone Analysis

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.