Genesis 2 – Keepers of Paradise

Posted by on January 13, 2013 under Front Page Posts, Sermons

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Genesis 2 and 3 go together.  Chapter 2 is the high and Chapter 3 is the low.  There are four movements across these two chapters.

  1. God creates man and places him in the garden
  2. God creates woman, thus beginning human community and the process of life – “be fruitful and multiply” is God’s agenda all through Genesis
  3. Man and woman break the boundaries of God’s world (his creation) and the relationships become distorted.  It starts to unravel
  4. There is judgment and expulsion from the garden.

Because we are so familiar with the ending, we tend to read chapter 3 into chapter 2.  We will be careful not to do that today.  Chapter 2 is important.  God’s vision of humanity living and thriving in his creation shines through the corruption of Chapter 3.  Let’s rediscover it.

The Tiller and Keeper of the Garden

  • God forms man and he comes to life when God breathes into him
  • That creative breath is a wind – like the wind that hovered over the waters of chaos in Chapter 1
  • Life is spiritual.  It should not be reduced to DNA or 98.6 degrees and breathing.
  • It is not enough to form the man and make him into a living being.  He needs purpose.
  • Man has a place in God’s creation.  A purpose and destiny.
  • Man has a vocation – a calling.  We are co-workers with God in the care of his thriving creation
  • A vocation is more than a means to earn money.  The goal of life is not riches and success.  Those are illusions and they may deny one’s calling.

Permission, Provision, Prohibition  (Humans in Relationship with God and Creation)

  • Adam’s work is not what earns his keep.  God provides all things.  His work is his place in the creation – and it is good when he fulfills his calling
  • There are all sorts of trees in the garden.  And God provides the water.  And there’s no fear of flooding.
  • There are two special trees in the garden – Life and Knowledge of Good and Evil
  • The trees represent boundaries and trust.
    • A place in the world – the man has freedom: he may eat from any tree.  He has authority over the creatures in the garden.
    • And there are boundaries – to keep him from dying.  This is no blind command; it is a warning for his protection.  All things are permissible – but this one thing is not beneficial.

The Companion and Helper (Humans in Relationship with One Another)

  • Something is lacking.  There is something incomplete.  Man is a living being, and he has purpose, but he is unique.  He is alone.  If the garden is going to thrive then the man needs a companion.
  • The search begins – naming and defining.  Here is the power of words.
    • “She is a part of me – We are different, yet the same.”  Here is the beginning of human community.  
    • Our culture can keep telling us how different men and women are and that Men can stay on Mars and Women can stay on Venus – but God’s story says that we are made of the same stuff.  By God’s design we are meant to be a community to overcome loneliness and to work together!
    • There is no shame, nothing hidden in the first human community.  It is good.

Gender Politics

There are politics surrounding gender.  Issues of equality, women’s rights, parental rights, role of women, (role of men?), family issues.  Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus!  Cultural consensus tells us that men and women cannot understand each other.  There is tension between men and women – in the workplace, in politics, at home, and maybe even in the church.  But the story of Genesis 2 gives us a much better vision:

 

  • The story of Genesis 2 reveals that God’s intent was for man and woman to complete each other.
  • There may be something to the sentimental notion that woman was made from man’s side.  Not to rule over him or to be ruled by him, but to rule beside him over all the creation that he and she were created to keep.
  • God’s vision: neither gender has “more rights” than the other, neither gender is more important.  In Genesis 2, there is unity.
    • Before we jump to 1 Tim. 2:11-15, we should note that Paul is commenting on Genesis 3, not Genesis 2.  Paul is concerned with the deception and the beginning of sinful corruption.  Paul is commenting on the current situation, not the intent of God.  Paul is commenting on the conditions, not the idea.
    • Man and Woman are both necessary for God’s thriving (fruitful and multiply) agenda.
    • Both man and woman are necessary for life.  Man and Woman give life – side by side.
    • In God’s original vision there is no shame between the Man and the Woman.
    • In marriage the two become one flesh – there is unity.

 

  • As God’s people, we strive for God’s vision – not our preferences, not our own biases or experiences..
  • We must hold up God’s intent for man and woman.  This includes man and woman in marriage as well as man and woman in community.
    • Relationships of unity in marriage.  Recognizing the unity and oneness.
    • Relationship without shame and with integrity.  (In 1 Cor. 6:14-16, Paul references God’s idea vision in Genesis 2)

God can be trusted!

    • God has boundaries for humanity, and he has a calling for humanity and he has given much freedom and permission. 
    • God says, “Work the garden with gladness and joy  – trust me.”
    • God says, “Enjoy your community, be thankful for everything you’ve been given – trust me.”
    • God says, “Beware of trusting in your so-called knowledge, it just might deceive you – even worse it may kill you!”