Foundations of Our Faith: The Story of Genesis
10/12/2003 - The Story of Creation, Humankind
It's not every day that you hear about a tiger attack. But this week we've been hearing about two. On Friday night, October 3, Roy Horn of Siegfried & Roy was mauled by a Royal White tiger named Montecore at the Mirage hotel in Las Vegas where they have performed thousands of shows together since 1990.
Apparently, Roy tripped and fell and the tiger lunged grabbing him by the arm. He tried to free himself by hitting the tiger on the head with a microphone, but then the 600-pound animal grabbed him by the neck and dragged him off the stage. It all happened so fast that most of the 1,500 people in the audience thought it was part of the act. But it wasn't.
Since that night Roy Horn has been in critical condition in a local hospital, the show has been permanently cancelled at the Mirage, and all 267 employees have been told to look for work elsewhere. It was tragic.
About the same time we heard another story of a tiger attack, this one in New York City. A man by the name of Antoine Yates had one of his legs tore down to the bone by a 425-pound Bengali tiger that he's been raising since it was six weeks old. He also has a five-foot long alligator crawling around in his Harlem apartment.
And when someone asked him why, he said from his hospital bed, "I was trying to create a Garden of Eden, something that this world really lacks." Well New York officials didn't think that was such a good idea, so they confiscated the terrified tiger and shipped it to Ohio, where the Garden of Eden really is, and sent the alligator to Indiana.
The Garden of Eden. We all long for the Garden of Eden, that perfect paradise. But it's not going to come in a Manhattan apartment. Instead, it's going to come in the form of a new heaven and a new earth that God is going to create one day.
In Revelation 21:1, 22:1-3 we read, Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away ... Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be any curse.
That's where we're headed if we've trusted Jesus Christ as our Savior. It's a breathtaking place, a wonderful place that we will explore for an eternity. And so was the original Garden of Eden, the garden from which we all came. It was a breathtaking, wonderful place. And today we're going to go back to the garden, back to the beginning as we continue our series called Foundations of Our Faith . If you have a Bible turn to Genesis 1.
Last week we looked at the creation of the cosmos. And we saw that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. God was at the beginning. He created everything we see out of everything we can't see. He started each day with his Word and ended each day with joy. He's a God who talks, a God who feels, a God who lives in community, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and longs to live in community with us. We gleaned some pretty good lessons from the creation of the cosmos.
Now this morning we're going to look at the creation of humankind. Follow me as I read Genesis 1:26-28, 31, Then God said, "Let us make human beings in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." 27 So God created human beings in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground ..." 31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning - the sixth day.
The crowning achievement of God's creative process was humankind, man and woman, you and I. About everything else God said, "It is good." But about us he said, "It is very good." We are very good creations of God. We're not simply a random collection of molecules stuck on the edge of the Milky Way galaxy in some far corner of an expanding universe. We are the apple of God's eye. He made us. He loves us.
That truth should blow us away. It blew the mind of David the Psalmist who wrote in Psalm 8:3-6, When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what are mere mortals that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? You made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. You made them rulers over the works of your hands. You put everything under their feet. That's how important we are to God.
Nothing in all of creation more fully expresses the glory of God than we do. Why? Because we alone are created in the image of God. God created light and water and plants and birds and fish and animals, but they were not made in his image.
You're special in God's eyes simply because he made you. You don't need to do anything for him to be fond of you. He loves you just the way you are. You're not the product of some primordial ooze. God wants you to value your life because he values your life. That's why we send shoeboxes to needy kids at Christmas time, to remind them that God is their maker, he knows their name, and loves them dearly.
We were created to reflect God's image and to rule over the rest of God's creation. Someone has said that the command to be fruitful and multiply is the only command we've ever really obeyed! That's why there are six billion people on the planet.
Now what does it mean to be created in God's image, in God's likeness? Does it mean that we look like God? Sometimes we use the expression. "He's the spittin' image of his father." No. Jesus said in the passage Tim taught two weeks ago, God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:24).
God doesn't have a physical body. We're not created in God's image physically, we're created in God's image spiritually in at least four ways.
First, we see God's image in our personality. We have a mind, a will, and emotions. That's what makes up a personality. God has a personality. He has a mind. He thinks. He has a will. He decides. He has emotions. He feels. Our personalities are all different to be sure, but that's just evidence of God's incredible creativity.
Second, we see God's image in our sexuality. We live in a sexually confused world. But that's not God's fault. God wants us to have a clear picture of who we are sexually. Male and female, God created them. The sexes are not the same. The distinctives that make up a male reflect the image of God. The distinctives that make up a female reflect the image of God. That's why male and female together are needed to give us a full picture of who God is. God is not a man. God is not a woman. God is spirit.
It's true that the Bible refers to God as our Father, not our Mother, and uses the pronoun "He" and not "She." And Jesus, the Son of God, came into this world as a man. He wasn't androgynous. But God has a feminine side as well. There are times in the Bible when God refers to himself as a mother pregnant, giving birth, nursing, holding, loving, caring for her children (Deuteronomy 32; Isaiah 49; Hosea 11). God has a perfect masculine side and a perfect feminine side.
God made us sexual beings to reflect his two sides and that's wonderful. He wants us to celebrate our sexuality and be pleased with who he's made us to be. And I know that may be hard for some of you because of the hurts that have come into your life in this area or the wrong choices you've made. But God didn't make a mistake when he made you a man or when he made you a woman. Trust him on that.
Third, we see God's image in our morality. We all have a moral conscience. As soon as God started creating things he started saying, "Good." That's a moral statement. When we say something is good or something is bad we're acknowledging some standard of comparison. God made us to be moral beings with the freedom to make good choices and bad choices. Being created in God's image means I know what's good and what's bad and can make choices between the two.
C. S. Lewis wrote in The Case for Christianity, "Human beings, all over the earth, have this curious idea that they ought to behave in a certain way, and can't really get rid of it." A sense of morality is stamped on each one of us.
Fourth, we see God's image in our spirituality. We, like no other of God's creatures, have the ability to relate to God. Adam walked with God and talked with God and we can do the same today. That's what spirituality is about. It's about having a personal relationship with the personal God of the universe. It's about enjoying a friendship with the God who made you. Dogs and cats, birds and fish can't do that. But we can and it's fantastic!
Genesis 1 focuses on the chronology of creation. The Hebrew name for God in chapter one is Elohim, the all-powerful God who creates the cosmos out of nothing. Genesis 2 expands on the events of sixth day and the creation of humankind. The Hebrew name for God used in chapter two is Yahweh, the immanent, personal God who longs to be our friend.
Look at Genesis 2:4-8, 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 and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field 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 the Lord God formed a man 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.
God made man out of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. The Hebrew word "breath" is the exact same word as "spirit." God has breathed his spirit into our lives. That's why we're different than everything else God made.
The most significant thing about us is not what we're made of, but who breathed life into us. If we reduced the human body to chemical components alone we'd be worth about $5.00. That's not going to do much for your self-worth. But our worth isn't found in the chemicals that make up our body, but in the breath of God that lives inside each one of us. That's what gives our life value! You're not worth five bucks. You're priceless.
I love Psalm 103:13-14 that says, As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him. For he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. I think of that verse often when I'm just wiped out. God knows how weak I am. He knows at the core we're just dust and he won't put us through more than dust can bear. He's compassionate towards us.
God makes Adam in His image and then gives him three very important things, three things that reflect the kind of responsibilities and opportunities that God often gives to us.
First, God gives Adam a garden. Genesis 2:14, The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
God gave Adam a garden as an opportunity for him to express God's image. It was a place where Adam could be responsible, could rule, could express his personality, could be creative. It was a place where Adam could work and do things that made him feel valued. And one of his first jobs was to name all the animals.
Genesis 2:19-20 says, Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. 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. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field.
That was quite a job. I don't know how he got it all done in eight hours? Maybe he worked overtime, started it on day six and stayed at it for weeks to come. Or it's possible that the days in Genesis 1 & 2 are not literal 24-hour days, but longer periods of time. I doubt know. But I do know that God gave Adam a beautiful place to live and a job that was fulfilling to him.
But he also put in the garden two very special trees, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Look at verse 9, And 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. The trees weren't evil. They were good.
The tree of life was the tree of eternal life. This tree was so powerful that after Adam and Eve sinned they had to be expelled from the garden so they wouldn't eat from this tree and live in an eternal state of sinful, separation from God.
This tree of life appears again at the end of the Bible in the book of Revelation. Revelation 2:7 says, Those who have ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To those who overcome, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
The paradise of God is another name for that new heaven and new earth mentioned in Revelation 22. And one day you and I as believers in Jesus Christ will be able to look at God's throne and while we're worshiping him be able to reach up and pick whatever fruit it is off that tree and take a bite out of it. That will be amazing. God gives Adam a garden.
Second, God gives Adam a command. Look at Genesis 2:16-17, And the Lord God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."
God gives Adam a command that's the pattern of all God's commands. It honors our freedom of choice. You are free, he tells Adam, free to obey or to disobey. One of the ways we are made in God's image is that we have freedom of choice. God made a good thing called freedom and gave it to each one of us. We have the freedom to obey God or the freedom to disobey God. It's always been that way. God will never force himself on us. So the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was absolutely necessary in the garden for Adam to express that freedom.
And like all of God's commands, this first one was given to protect Adam from hurting himself. We saw that last summer in our series on the Ten Commandments that we called The Tender Commandments of God. They are for our protection and our own good.
So God tells Adam, "Here's the deal. Eat anything on the menu. Anything you like and you will be happy. But don't eat this one thing. It'll make your life miserable. In fact, it will kill you."
Did he eat it or not? Come back next week to find out!
God gives Adam a garden, a command, and finally a woman named Eve. Look at Genesis 2:20-25, But for Adam no suitable helper was found. 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 closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib 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 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. 25 The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
The garden gave Adam the opportunity to express his personality. The command gave him the opportunity to express his morality. And the relationship with Eve gives him the opportunity to express his God given sexuality.
"Adam needs a helper," God says. That word "helper" doesn't mean someone to serve him, cook his dinner and do his laundry. It's not a demeaning term. The word "helper" is often used in the Bible for God himself. He's described as our helper. It means someone to complete him. Adam was deficient and needed Eve to complete him.
God met Adam's loneliness by bringing a healthy relationship with a woman into his life. It met his deep need for human community. And he knew it when he saw her. It was love at first sight! The literal translation of bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh is "WOW!" That's what I said the first time I saw Jennifer! "WOW!" Bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. That's how I felt. She didn't feel that way. She didn't say, "Wow!" But she came around!
And then the very first thing God does for the very first man and woman is perform a garden wedding. And tells them that oneness is to be the goal of their marriage. It's important to understand that it's not the man alone who is created in God's image. It's the male and the female together who best reflect the nature and community of God. Which is why marriage, the union of a husband and a wife, is the God given illustration of the Trinity, two becoming one with Christ at the center, just as God is three in one.
Let me say two things to those who are married today. First, never lose the wonder of the person that God brought into your life to complete you. Don't turn completion into competition. Learn to celebrate the God given differences in your relationship. Eve was different than Adam and he knew it the moment he laid eyes on her. Work at the Wow! It will keep your marriage energized.
Never lose the wonder in your marriage and never stop pursuing the oneness of your marriage. Oneness is the goal of marriage and not just physical oneness, but spiritual and emotional as well. We all know that. That's why struggles in our marriage are so painful. They tear us up, because we were meant to be one.
Wonder and oneness will keep your marriage alive.
Wonder and oneness will give you a maximum marriage. I'm not giving you a quick fix for years of chronic marital problems. I'm extremely concerned about the condition of some of the marriages in our church community. Some of you need to do some hard work with the help of a counselor or a mediator or another couple because the wonder and the oneness have long been gone from your relationship. But that's where the work needs to bring you back. And God longs to help you get it back.
God is working in all of our lives to make us more like his Son Jesus Christ. It's an incredible thing he's doing. He uses everything in our lives to do it, problems and pain and disappointments. He uses his Word and relationships to make us more like him. And some day that image will be fully restored when we see him face to face. That's what we have to look forward to if we know Jesus. Do you know him? Do you have that personal relationship with the personal God who made you, who loves you, and who knows your name?