“A Man by God’s Design”
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Good morning church. It is so good to be here!
I’m thankful that the Pastor has given me this opportunity to share God‘s Word, with God‘s people, in God’s house. So church, this morning we need to take first things first. This is going to be a Father’s Day sermon.….and it is not to shame anyone or beat anyone up.....but I think before we can talk about being good fathers on Father’s Day, I think we need to talk about what a man is.
Do you realize that this world has no idea what a man is? In this, my birth month of June, our country and the world are celebrating the diversity of genders that people choose. How many different genders are there….2, 5, 10, 20.....who knows? I was reading an article about the over 50 different genders you can choose for your profile on Facebook. Another article said it was over 70 different genders, so I am not exactly sure how many it is. I was sharing that information with a friend this week and they found it unbelievable. So I went to my Facebook page and played around with the settings until I found the place where I could update my gender. There was a drop-down menu where I could select between about 10 different genders...half of which I had never heard of before. But Facebook is very helpful. If I held my cursor over the gender, a little popup window would come up to explain to me what it was...and even that was confusing. To access the other genders, I simply had to start typing in the custom box and a little menu would popup to make suggestions of which gender I was trying to type. However, I was reading another article that said Facebook was out of date because the social media site Tumblr will allow you to choose between up to 112 different genders....Good Gracious!
What does this all mean!
Well, the Bible says that there are 2 genders. (scratch my head and frown)
Who’s right? (throw my hand up and look around)
Well….At this time I ask that you open your Bibles to Genesis 3:9. I will be reading from the English Standard Version of God’s Holy Word.
But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”
Church, I have entitled this message, “A Man by God’s Design”.
I only read one verse, Genesis 3:9, which is going to be our key verse today. But we’re going to be looking at some selected verses from chapters 1-3 to get an understanding of how man was designed by God. Now what I’m going to share this morning is not an exhaustive list of how man was designed, but some key things that I picked up as I researched and studied this portion of scripture. I believe that this will help men be better men, fathers to be better fathers and women to know what a man by God’s design is supposed to look like.
In Genesis chapter 1, we see that God created this universe in 6 days. I’ve already preached a sermon on creation, but in summary on:
Day 1 - God created light and separated the light from the darkness, calling light "day" and darkness "night."
Day 2 - God created an expanse to separate the waters and called it "sky."
Day 3 - God created the dry ground and gathered the waters, calling the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters "seas." On day three, God also created vegetation (plants and trees).
Day 4 - God created the sun, moon, and the stars to give light to the earth and to govern and separate the day and the night. These would also serve as signs to mark seasons, days, and years.
Day 5 - God created every living creature of the seas and every winged bird, blessing them to multiply and fill the waters and the sky with life.
Day 6 - God created the animals to fill the earth. On day six, God also created mankind…male and female.
So first, we see that man was created for:
1. Reflection
1. Reflection
Genesis 1:26 (ESV)
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
Since Genesis tells us that man is made in the image of God, then man reflects certain characteristics that belong to God. The first and foremost characteristic is that of personhood and the three qualities that make that up. Man also has a soul that differentiates us from animals. I will talk about that under another point. So in reflecting God:
Man is Rational
Man is Rational
This means that man has a mind and can think. Rocks, plants, water and fire cannot think. Animals have minds and can think in a limited sense according to their instincts. Many animals can be trained to do many wonderful things, but they are incapable of man’s ability to think in the abstract. Man can contemplate not only such concepts as beauty and logic, but he can even imagine things that can only exist in his mind.
Man is Emotional
Man is Emotional
This means man can experience feelings caused by the thoughts of his mind. Things such as love, hate, compassion, anger, peace, anxiety, joy, depression, etc.
Man is Volitional
Man is Volitional
This means that man has a will and can make choices based on his ability to think and experience emotion. Animals make choices based on instinct, but man can make choices based on abstract thought.
These three abilities give us what is commonly referred to as personhood, and that is a reflection of God. There are, however, certain other attributes that belong to God that man does not share such as omnipresence (everywhere at the same time), omnipotence (all powerful), omniscience (knows everything that can be known), immutability (character and attributes do not change), eternal existence (past as well as future) and sovereignty (unquestioned rule over all). These attributes separate God from man so that man is only made in the image of God and is not God’s clone, despite the claim that many men have made over human history that they were a god or a little god. I’ve heard televangelists say that we see plants and animals producing after their kind in Genesis, and then we have God producing after His kind too when He created us. Don’t believe that foolishness! It is Satanic. that’s the same thing the serpent told Eve in Genesis 3….that she could be like God. We share some characteristics with God, but there are some that we will never share with God!
But man, being made in the image of God, does mean that man was created to share with God certain other characteristics which theologians refer to as His communicable or moral attributes. These include such characteristics as holiness, righteousness, love, goodness, kindness, justice, mercy, longsuffering, graciousness, etc.
When God created Adam and Eve and placed them in the Garden of Eden they possessed these attributes in perfection and their rational, emotional, and volitional abilities were experienced in their fullness. But the fall of Adam and Eve into sin affected all these things. Though made in the image of God, that image was now tarnished. His shared attributes with God were corrupted as were his abilities to think, feel and choose.
Men, are you reflecting God or rejecting God?
Second, we that man was created for:
2. Representation
2. Representation
Genesis 1:26 (ESV)
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
God just got through creating the universe. Now he has man as His manager or steward over all creation....made in His likeness! We were made to rule over this earth.
Psalms 8 points this out. In verses 6 through 8 we see:
You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet,
all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
Then Genesis goes on to say in verse 28:
Genesis 1:28 (ESV)
And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
God wanted His representatives (man and woman) to fill the earth with His image by reproducing....having children. They were to rule over all living things that move and subdue the earth. In other words, make the earth productive, useful and ordered for God’s purposes.
Men, are you a representation of God or a rogue that is doing his own thing?
After reflection and representation, we see that man was created for relationship.
3. Relationship
3. Relationship
then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
It’s interesting to note that chapter 2 is not a separate creation account, but it does compliment the overall creation account in chapter 1 by giving us additional details. Primarily these details are around the 6th day of creation in which man was created.
Everything else in creation up through the creation of animals on day 6 was done by God speaking things into existence. Now we have God taking His time and forming man...almost like a potter with clay on his potter's wheel…shaping and forming man just the way he wanted man. Then He breathed into man’s nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul. Do you realize that animals don’t have souls. People are the only things in all creation that have the ability to have a spiritual relationship with God because we have a soul. We were created for a relationship with a God that loves us.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Unlike religion, a relationship with God comes from His amazing love and grace reaching out to us. It’s always been God’s desire to reveal Himself to us since creation.
For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.
Men, are you a man in relationship with God or are you running from God?
Next, we were created for:
4. Responsibility
4. Responsibility
Genesis 1:26 (ESV)
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
Genesis 1:28 (ESV)
And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Genesis 2:15 (ESV)
The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
Genesis 2:19–20 (ESV)
Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him.
On the first day man was created he had a full time job!
Before creating Eve:
Before creating Eve:
1. Work the garden of Eden. (to Serve or to Worship)
2. Keep the garden of Eden. (Keep Charge or Obey)
3. Named the animals.
After creating Eve:
After creating Eve:
1. Named the first female, Woman and then in chapter 3, Eve.
2. Fruitful
3. Multiply
4. Fill the Earth
5. Subdue the Earth
6. Dominion over all earthly creatures.
Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,
So work comes from the Lord. We have men today that want no job or responsibility. I’ve seen men that are proud not to work and have women take care of them. To them I say, it is disgraceful! You are dishonoring to yourself, to your family and to God.
Sometimes in this country it seems like the main goal for men is to get rid of as much responsibility as they can and have as much recreation as they can. Men, there is a time for recreation, but that is not what you were created for! Men were created to be responsible to God!
Men, are you known as a recreating man or a responsible man?
Next, we come to the 5th R:
5. Rules
5. Rules
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden,
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.”
Do you know how we know what is right and what is wrong? .......
Whatever God says is right is right and whatever God says is wrong is wrong!
We already know that everything that God created was good, so I don’t think this tree was some kind of magical or mystical, evil tree. It probably looked like some of the other trees in the garden. What made it off limits was that God said don’t eat from it. It appears that this tree was a test of obedience for Adam. At this point he was by himself, so he was the one that God gave the rule to. He might not have understood what evil was, but Adam already knew what was good, because God is good!
Jesus said there is no one good, but God.
And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.
We know that all of the creation was good. The only thing bad would be disobeying God’s command.
Unfortunately today, like we see with Adam, nobody likes rules. Tell the truth men, we hate rules! We don’t like to follow rules at school, on the playground, at the gym, at work, at church, driving down the street.....nowhere. Men without rules or who won’t follow rules are frightening, dangerous and completely out of control. They have no boundaries. They think to live without rules is to be truly free! Truth be told, we see men like that everyday. But God is a God of rules and order.
I heard a story once about a train engine. It was riding along by itself on the tracks and it saw a horse running in a field. Oh that train longed to run free like that horse. It hated the tracks that it was bound on and wanted the freedom of the horse. However, the train saw a sharp curve coming up, and it thought, “if I can build up enough speed, I can jump these rails and get off these tracks!” So the train built up a trememndous speed, and sure enough the train jumped the tracks and landed in the dirt. The train started tooting it’s whistle, “I’m free, I’m free, no more rails for me!” But the train soon discovered that he couldn’t move at all in the dirt. You see, the train was way too heavy and could not get any traction for its wheels. It was stuck. It was too late now, but he came to understand that freedom for a train is life on the tracks. That is how it is designed.
And church, I’ve seen far too many men end up in the ditch of life because they wanted to be free from God’s rules. But freedom for us men is following God’s rules. That’s His design for us.
So before creating Eve, God commanded man to:
So before creating Eve, God commanded man to:
1. Eat freely from the trees of the Garden of Eden.
2. Do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Then in Genesis 2:24, we see:
Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
After creating Eve, God’s command to future married men was:
After creating Eve, God’s command to future married men was:
1. When getting married, leave your father and mother.
2. And cleave to your wife.…that means stick to her like that gorilla glue in that girl’s hair. You‘re supposed to stick to her permanently.
Men, are you following God’s rules or are you in rebellion?
The 6th “R” is:
6. Romance
6. Romance
Genesis 1:28 (ESV)
And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
The only Biblical way of fulfilling God’s plan of being fruitful, multiplying and filling the earth is this marriage relationship between husband and wife.
Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”
In the middle of day 6, God already knew that He was going to create a woman to be a partner with the man. Now what is interesting is that he gets the man to see his need…a need that only God could fulfill.
Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name.
The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. 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. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 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.”
Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.
Now does this mean that God wants everyone to be married? No. We do know from the New Testament that God has given some believers the gift of singleness (1 Corinthians 7). They are perfectly fine serving God in their single state. With that being said, men, if you are out of control sexually, then the answer is not to be the pimp, playa, gigilo, womanizer, or whatever they are calling fornicators and adulterers today. The answer is to seek romance.....seek a mate with God’s direction.
Marriage is a life long commitment between one man and one woman. The Bible says the two shall become one flesh…that is one flesh physically when the marriage is consummated and one flesh spiritually in a supernatural way. Paul describes this in 1 Corinthians 6:15-20.
Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
As a result of the first couple experiencing marriage in this perfect setting, they are described as being naked and were not ashamed, indicating the lovely innocence and intimacy available in marriage.
Ladies, how in the world can we expect men to respect this 6th “R” of romance when they don’t understand who they are or what their purpose is?
They don’t know they are made in God’s image to reflect him.
They don’t know they are supposed to be God’s representative to reign over creation.
They don’t know before they can have a proper relationship with you, they need to have a proper relatinship to their Creator.
They don’t understand that they were created for responsibility.
They don’t know that they were created to be a God’s rules follower not a God’s rules breaker.
A lot of men don’t understand any of this, that is why they can roam around, looking for rendezvous or hookups, instead of romance.
They have no respect for women, and how in the world can they have respect for women when they are so far outside of God’s design for a man.
That’s why we have so much:
sexual violence against women
pornography
strip clubs
prostitution
sex trafficking
sexual hookups
sexual transmitted diseases, and the like.
That’s why a lot of men can say foolish things like:
“She’s a friend with benefits.”
“I got’s to get mine!”
“Papa was a rolling stone.”
and after they find out the girl is pregnant
“That baby ain’t mine.” or
“I ain’t paying no child support. They gotta find me.” or the say....
“Let’s get rid of it.”
I just read yesterday in the news that rapper, actor and tv host of “The Masked Singer”, Nick Cannon, is expecting his 7th child soon, so that will make 4 kids since this past December with 3 different women. Good gracious.….completely out of control.
Listen to me church, it’s hard for a man to be a good father, when he does not understand what it means to be a man. If he’s getting his definition from this culture, then he doesn’t have a chance in the world of being a man by God’s design.
Man was created for a romantic relationship with a wife to fulfill God’s plan, not a wreckless rendezvous or a hook up.
This brings us to the last 2 “R’s”. So the 7th R is:
7. Rebellion
7. Rebellion
When we are not living in the way that God has called us, we are in some form of rebellion. That’s not good.
In Chapter 3, we see that Adam fell down on the job when his woman was being attacked by the enemy. Satan filled her head with lies about God and Adam did not fulfill his role of authority over the serpent, wasn’t tending and keeping the garden, protecting his wife, or ultimately obeying God. He was a bad representative, bad reflection of God, irresponsible and a bad spiritual leader for his wife. Essentially, he failed in every area that he was supposed to lead in. All of the 6 R’s that we just went through in the first 2 chapters were abandoned.
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
Consequences:
He was immediately spiritually disconnected from God.
Adam did not immediately die physically (he died physically later), but he died spiritually because he was separated from God. The communion with God was gone.
He felt shame.
He hid from God.
Then comes our key verse:
But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”
I like the way Rev. Lester put this, God didn’t ask this question for information (since He knows everything), but for publication.
“Where are you?!”
God is still asking that question to men today. Do you hear Him?
“Where are you?!”
Lastly, he blamed God.
And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”
So this ugly scene in Genesis 3 that ushered sin into the world ends with the last words of man blaming God for his rebellion. Everything bad in the world starts here with man not living by God’s design. He essentially says, “God, if you hadn’t given this woman to me then none of this would have happened!” There was no repentance by Adam. When we see men repent, God shows mercy and forgiveness.
So, no repentance.
No assuming responsibility.
Therefore, we see judgment from God.
Some of you might object that it was Eve and not Adam who committed the first sin on earth. That is true, but since Adam was the first to be created, headship was given to him. God went to him first. Even the first woman, Eve, came from Adam. So he is seen as acting for all his descendants....that includes you and me.
Now some of you men out there might be like me. (Pat my chest). You messed those first 6 R’s up and found yourself broken like Adam......and in rebellion against God.
Which bring us to our final R:
8. Restoration
8. Restoration
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”
This verse is God speaking to the sepent, Satan. It is known as the proto-evangelium or the “first gospel”. The Gospel did not start with the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in the New Testatment. It started right here in Genesis 3....well actually it started before then. God is omniscient, so He knows everything there is to be known. Before Genesis 1:1, He knew Adam would fail and He already made provision for us to be restored back into a right relationship with Him from the very beginning. . This verse proclaims that God’s people will finally triumph over the serpent.
There will be enmity or hostility between he woman and the serpent that will extend to both of their seeds or offspring. Satan is the serpent and all unbelievers, who are called the Devil’s children in John 8:44 are his offspring. Christ, a descendant of Eve, and those in Him, that is all believers, are her offspring. One writer put it like this:
” In the midst of the curse passage, a message of hope shone forth—the woman’s offspring called “He” is Christ, who will one day defeat the Serpent. Satan could only “bruise” Christ’s heel (cause Him to suffer), while Christ will bruise Satan’s head (destroy him with a fatal blow).”
All this was done by the incarnate Christ when He suffered and died for the souls of men (Hebrews 2:14–15).
Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.
During this Juneteenth weekend, wouldn’t it be great to be free from slavery. I’m not talking about the slavery of African people in this country that Juneteenth commemorates. I’m talking about a lifelong slavery to sin and the Devil.
Because of what Jesus did on the cross, he “crushed” the devil’s head, defeating him forever So we can live a life by God’s design. The protoevangelium shows us that God always had the plan of salvation in mind, and informed us of His plan as soon as sin entered the world. “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work” (1 John 3:8).
Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.
For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.
The one man’s disobedience was Adam’s sin. The one man’s righteousness was Christ’s life. Jesus Christ is sometimes called the last Adam. We see that in 1 Corinthians 15.
So, the first Adam became a living being.
The last Adam, Jesus, became a life-giving spirit.
The first Adam was from the earth, a man of dust.
The last Adam, Jesus, was from heaven.
The first Adam was placed into a paradise and turned it into a world of pandemonium.
The last Adam, Jesus, was placed into a world of pandemonium and promises us a paradise!
The first Adam was too proud to repent.
The last Adam, Jesus, humbled Himself, submitted to God the Father, to even suffer death on a cross!
The first Adam bring us death.
The last Adam, Jesus, bring us new life!
The first Adam bring us hell.
The last Adam, Jesus Christ, brings us heaven.
The first Adam brought the curse.
The last Adam, Jesus Christ, became a curse on the cross and brought us the cure!
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
A personal relationship with God begins with knowing His Son Jesus Christ. Our earthly relationships change. You and I are destined for change. But Jesus is changeless. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. When you draw near to Jesus Christ, you will be changed.
Do you want to be changed today men?
Do you want to be changed today fathers?
Do you want to stop living your life your way, and start living it God’s way....by God’s design?
Do you want to be restored....put in right relationship with God today?
I invite you to come!
Let us pray.