Genesis Session 4

We are diving into the first half of Genesis chapter 2 this evening and what we are going to look at is a more detailed account regarding the creation of Adam and Eve.

The first half of the chapter deals specifically with the creation of Adam. and what we are going to see is that this creative act is unlike anything else God created.

Recall that last week, we referred to this creative act as something unique. Chapter one gave us some good insight as to why and how mankind is unique.

First, they were created in the image of God.

Second, They were not designed for a specific space, but rather were created to have dominion over all the spaces God had created - land, sea, air, and space.

Third, they were created for His glory… and at the end of the day, God declared things to be VERY good.

As amazing as these points are, chapter two gives an even more detailed account.

It can be said that Genesis 2 gives a detailed account of Genesis 1:26-27. Those verses read,

The New International Version Chapter 1

26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

27 So God created mankind in his own image,

in the image of God he created them;

male and female he created them.

“Let us make man…” So God created… In the image of God...

Again, what these words should tell us is there was direct intentionality regarding our creation and… the fact that we are made in His image means something… special.

So let’s jump into Genesis 2 and look at the details surrounding the creation of Adam. We’ll start in verse 4.

The New International Version Chapter 2

4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.

5 Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground, 6 but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. 7 Then the LORD God formed a man w from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

8 Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 9 The LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

10 A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin j and onyx are also there.) 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

We are going to walk through this passage tonight and as we do I want you to see this important point: Adam was unlike anything else that God had created thus far. He was uniquely created for God’s unique purpose.

Formed in a Different Fashion

When something is made different than all the rest… it typically speaks of what? What kind of clues might such a distinctive creative act point to? (Give opportunity for answers)

It is designed for something special. It is designed to do or accomplish or serve a higher purpose.

It is loved or placed higher than anything else around it. It holds a special place in the creator’s heart.

In the creation story, we need to realize that while all things were created and declared to be good by God… not all things were created equal. GOD SET MANKIND APART FROM ALL THE REST.

As this chapter just made clear, Adam was made in a way that was different from all the rest.

We know that in six days, God spoke all of the universe into motion. But we need to be careful that we do not skip over something very important regarding the creation of humankind.

God DID say “Let us make man” similar to how He said “Let there be _________________.” The creative act of man was announced through the power of God’s spoken word… but man was made by the hands of God. Man was formed in a different fashion than the rest of all the world. Genesis 2:7 makes that clear. Man was formed by God from what? THE DUST OF THE GROUND.

Our form was made from the elements we would be given to rule. The rest of creation was something that came from nothing. Mankind was made of something already created - he was created out of that which God would give him stewardship over.

Guys, this body, this form, is “earthy” because it was made of the earth! And I believe this is why guys are built with an innate sense for adventure… or with a heart that is “wild” as John Eldredge would say. In fact, he states in his book Wild at Heart,

Adventure, with all its requisite danger and wilderness, is a deeply spiritual longing written into the soul of man.

Where does this sense of adventure come from? I believe it comes as a direct result of how God created us! From the dust… from that which would be given to us to take care of!

But there is something else to be noted here. God formed us from the dust, but our life comes from somewhere else. The man did NOT become a living being until God did what. God BREATHED life into man.

Nothing else in creation received this breath of life and this should serve as a sign to us. A sign of what? For me… it indicates the uniqueness of our soul. The life found within humankind was breathed into our divinely formed and inspired created bodies.

Guys, we are FORMED of the earth, ALIVE by His breath. That is how we were made. That is how man came into existence.

We are uniquely created and given a unique purpose.

Fashioned for Divine Purpose

Secondly, I want us to see the uniqueness in what God had the man do. Remember, man was created in the image of God which means we do not operate only through animal instinct, but because of God’s nature that is within all of us. And I want you to see how that nature comes alive within man in Genesis 2.

God set forth a pattern in the first chapter of the first book of the Bible. It is so important that it is the first thing we read within His Word. We hit on it briefly last week but in short, that pattern is there is a time for work, and a time for rest. And this might seem overly simplified but look at what chapter 2 has to say.

In the creative act, verse 5 of chapter 2 drops an interesting clue. No rain had come yet meaning the vegetation had yet to sprout… but look at the observation given. There was no one to work the ground. No steward had been yet assigned by God.

Once all had been created, God does what with Adam? He places him in the Garden of Eden to do what? “To work it and take care of it.” (v. 15).

BEFORE there was a command not to eat the forbidden fruit, God made man STEWARD over all He had created. God would then place boundaries regarding this stewardship.

And this is where I want us to spend some time breaking down what this means. In this one simple act, God established a very important pattern for how man is to live.

One - WORK was a part of God’s creative design. Work is NOT a result of sin, but is an instruction of God.

When we take the value of work away from our lives, we remove from ourselves an attribute given to us by God.

Consider the damage that has been done to the heart of man as the value of work has diminished.

A man loses a part of himself when he loses sight of the value of work. God placed that value within us, guys. It’s a value that gets us up in the morning, a value that drives us to provide for and protect our families. God CREATED man for His GLORY (identity) and PLACED man for His WORK (calling).

Two - With work came RESPONSIBILITY. The daily tasks will NOT take care of themselves. Just ask a farmer!

Now, the toil of work IS a part of the sin curse. But the responsibility of work comes with being a man. God provided the Garden for man to have AND to take care of.

Three - With responsibility came BOUNDARIES.

Boundaries, limits, schedules, whatever you want to call it come naturally with work. And Himself displayed this when He took a day of rest. God also set for man another boundary. He placed ONE restriction in motion. The rest was for man to govern.

Four - With Boundaries came FREEDOM.

Sounds like an oxymoron right? Often we think of freedom as something that has NO boundaries… yet what is freedom if there are no boundaries that can be broken?

Remember, God did not create man to fill a space… therefore God did not create man to be governed by his current circumstance. God created us to be free and to be stewards.

But what would we be if there existed no opportunity to fail? We would truly be products of the “space” God placed us in. Instead, God gave man the ability to choose for himself.

God could have made the choice for us by not giving man access to the forbidden tree. Yet, He wanted our desire to love Him to be a choice… not a forced circumstance. God desired for man to choose to obey His Word out of love NOT out of obligation.

This pattern for life cannot be ignored. It is the very pattern that the enemy came to disrupt.

As we will see in the next chapter, the enemy came and caused humankind to question the plan or pattern that God had established.

With this disruption came the breakdown of everything we just looked at. The moment sin entered the picture, the picture became tainted with death.

Freedom gave way to SLAVERY as sin had now bound the hearts of God’s creation.

Boundaries gave way to REBELLION as God’s Word and calling were brought into question.

Responsibility gave way to ENTITLEMENT as they took what had not been given.

Work gave way to TOIL as the call had been corrupted by sin.

Application and Closing

Remember, When God created Adam and Eve, he did not create them for the space they would fill, rather, created them for the image they would bear.

God’s work was VERY good… but a very real enemy was on the loose looking to bring harm to what God had created… and maybe even try to harm to the image of God by attacking the one who bore that image.

The enemy’s attack was both precise and personal.

As we will see in future studies, the enemy has been working to undo all the good work that God had done in the beginning. What I want us to realize is… God has unleashed a plan that will forever undo all of the works of the enemy.

Remember, Genesis is the origin story of how things came to be.... both good and bad. I would offer tonight that we truly cannot appreciate all the good God is doing without fully understanding all the bad He is delivering us from!

Man was formed in a different fashion. Man was Fashioned for God’s divine purpose. The cool thing is, after sin entered this world, God made a way for His creation to be about His purpose once more!

Jesus is that answer. He came to undo all that sin had done.

We find renewed glory in Him - meaning we are made righteous in the eyes of God through the work of the Son. our identity is FULLY restored in Jesus!

We find renewed calling (placement) in Him - through Christ, we return to the placement or calling of God on our lives. We return to the pattern He established and follow out of love - not obligation.

Break free tonight and remember who Gad created you to be!