Genesis Session 5

Tonight I want to turn our attention to about the midway mark on day six of the creation story.

As we read through chapter one and looked at the creative work of God, there was something we noted that took place on each day in response to what had been made.

On days one through five, when God saw what He had created, it was declared to be… good.

On day six, after God had completed His creative work, He saw that all was VERY good.

BUT… before day six came to a close, there came a point when God realized something was NOT good. He recognized a need and He immediately addressed that need. This need was realized shortly after God formed Adam from the dust of the ground. Adam was unlike anything else God had created at this point.

Adam was formed from the dust of the ground.

God breathed the breath of life into His nostrils.

Adam was formed/created in the image of God.

All of these things are good! However, there was something that caused God to step back and say, “hang on a minute… this is NOT good.”

Had God created a flaw within man? Had God messed up in some way when He formed Adam from the ground up? Such was not the case… and we learn what God was referring to from His declaration in Genesis 2:18

The New International Version Chapter 2

18 The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

God identifies the problem through His observance. We do not see a request come from Adam that a “suitable helper” be made for him. Rather, God observes this need and declares the situation to be not good.

At the heart of this declaration is revealed an important part of how God created us to be. The problem God calls out is… relational meaning - God created us for relationship.

Adam had fellowship with God in this moment, but because of the way God had formed man, the need for a “suitable helper” was evident. So far, nothing that had been created could fill the need God recognized in Adam’s life.

So what did the Lord do? He went to work in order to fill the need. Genesis 2:19-20

The New International Version Chapter 2

19 Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.

But for Adam no suitable helper was found.

That’s a lot going on throughout the sixth day! And I have to wonder… was Adam just being too picky? God had just created all of this life, all of these beings from the ground (note they did not receive the breath of life from God as Adam did). God made them, Adam named them, but in the end… No suitable helper was found.

The RELATIONAL need called out by God was far more than a need for companionship. Adam needed someone he could RELATE to.

Adam was created in the image of God… so his helper would need to have this same quality or characteristic.

Adam recieved the breath of life from God meaning… He had a soul. The life given to man was different than the life given to the rest of creation. Adam needed someone like him, but not like him, to complete the relational picture God had set into motion.

So God… answered the need by completing the perfect picture.

The COMPLETED and PERFECT Picture

Genesis 2:21-25 tells the story

The New International Version Chapter 2

21 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib x he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

23 The man said,

“This is now bone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh;

she shall be called ‘woman,’

for she was taken out of man.”

24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.

25 Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

God created woman to complete the relational picture He began with man. And like Adam, Eve was created in a way that was different from all the rest.

God performed surgery on Adam.

Adam was put under, and God removed from Adam one of his ribs. Eve was the ONLY creative work that came from something already alive. And because she came from someone already living, she retained the same qualities that God had placed within Adam.

She was made/created in the image of God. (she was NOT created in the image of man but she took on the same qualities that God placed within the mean)

She was alive through the same breath of God that was breathed in Adams nostrils.

Eve was created to COMPLETE the relational PICTURE that God saw as incomplete in Genesis 2:18. That completeness was fully realized in verse 24. The union, the intimacy that is shared is something that can only be found between man and woman. Man and woman were created to compliment each other, PERFECTLY.

In that union, the two become one. The relationship becomes a deeper bond. This is far more than companionship or fellowship. This is life in relationship as God designed it to be.

And note something VERY important here… there was NO SHAME in this picture. Why? Because sin was not a reality yet.

Purity was the norm. And, in that purity is found oneness.

Watch this: Man on his own was NOT one flesh. Woman on her own was NOT one flesh. Again, this speaks of the relational union God designed between the two.

In this purity there was no arrogance, no chauvinism, no immorality, no selfish tendencies, no lust, etc. There was just love at its purest form.

And it was after this was done that God declared the sixth day to be VERY good.

This was the intended design… but we know a lot has changed since Genesis 2. We will start to talk about the fall of man in our next study, but church we know that after sin entered the equation, perfection began to give way to corruption.

But there is something I want us to realize this evening. Although sin has created issues in the area of relationships, there remains a way to experience the same fullness in the marriage relationship that God intended for us to experience. The key is making Christ, our redeemer and Savior from sin, the center of that relationship.

A PERFECT Picture in an IMPERFECT World.

We are going to move from Genesis and look at a passage in Ephesians 5. The passage we are going to look at has the title “Instructions for Christian Households.”

I believe everyone in the room desires for their household to be a reflection of God and His love. The household begins to take shape when the bride and the groom say their “I dos.” First and foremost… if you desire for your home to be blessed by God:

You will save yourself for marriage meaning it’s hand off until the rings go on.

You will choose not to cohabitate until you share the same last name.

You will choose to place Christ at the center instead of culture.

After all, A Christian household is a Christ-like household.

So what does this mean to place Christ at the center? Ephesians answers that question. But understand that if we want our relationship to be redeemed… to be as God designed it to be, then Jesus is the only one who can help us make that happen.

Look at what Ephesians 5:21-27 has to say.

The New International Version Chapter 5

21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.

Paul lays out some interesting stuff here. And in both situations, he begins by saying submit to one another.

To the wife he says submit to your husband as you do the Lord.

The the husband He says to love your wife as Christ loved the church.

With both, we see the need for submission… and the need for sacrifice. In our marital relationship, it takes two to make this happen, but we find both of these qualities in who? In Jesus.

When we take this instruction to heart, a complete picture or image of Christ comes alive in the marriage.

Jesus submitted to the will of His Father… to the extent of offering His life for our sins.

Jesus sacrificed for the church… to the extent of giving His life for our sins.

Both attributes, SUBMISSIVE love and SACRIFICIAL love, form a PERFECT picture of the LOVE of Jesus!

My point in talking about this tonight is this: God created Adam and Eve to experience a perfect, intimate, relational union as husband and wife. Yes, sin messed things up a bit… however, Jesus overcame all of our sin and can help us to restore that relationship back to what God intended it to be.

God created us to be relational. Both Adam and Eve were created in unique ways that set them apart from the rest of creation. Adam was created and became caretaker by God’s placement. Eve was created to become Adam’s “helper.” I would translate that as Adam’s missing piece. She was not created to be lower than him, but to complete the relational picture.

BOTH carry the image of God. BOTH were created intentionally. BOTH were created in unique ways. And… according to Ephesians, both are called to look out for the other, “submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”

What was… can be… but only with the help and direction of Christ.

Yes, we will contend with the difficulties of this world so long as we are living in this world. BUT… our marriage relationship does NOT have to take on the look of culture, but rather can bear the image of Jesus!