All right friends,
thanks for being back with us today.
We continue through Genesis two.
And you might remember yesterday,
we saw the creation of
man,
literally man in this case,
as this story separates the creation of male and female.
And remember that God essentially formed the man,
built the man out of the dust,
out of
essentially clay and then breathed into him.
So then verse 15 is where we are today.
The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden
to till it and keep it.
And the Lord commanded the man,
you may freely eat of every tree in the garden,
but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil,
you shall not eat for in the day that you eat it,
you shall die.
So here we have again,
unlike the other story,
we have almost a little bit of a
classic,
almost mythic kind of sense.
And I don’t mean that in the sense of untrue,
I just mean these details where the man is not created
where he ends up.
God has built a garden and God takes the man there.
Now how he does that,
you almost get the sense of like he picks him up
and puts him in the garden or travels with him, however it is,
but they end up there.
And in this story,
man has a task to till
and keep the garden.
Now that was implied in the first story,
but it’s stated explicitly in this story,
the man has a job to do.
And unlike the first story,
the man’s existence, the man’s
role in the garden also has a limitation.
You can eat freely of all the trees.
We saw that language in the first story,
but here we have this reference to a specific tree
that is forbidden.
In fact,
the warning is that on the day you eat of its fruit,
you will die.
So there’s a threat to the man in the garden
and there’s a limitation of the man’s freedom.
And while there is
enough, there is abundance,
there’s also a certain risk and a certain limitation.
Yeah, so I wanna just kind of pause here
as we turn to this section,
the idea of this tilling,
this task that God has given to this man.
I’m looking back here a little bit.
So this is chapter two and we’re looking at verse seven.
It’s about in the middle of your screen here.
Just let’s look at the creation section here of the man.
The Lord God
formed man from the dust of the ground,
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.
Man became a living being.
We’ve already talked about this.
We’ve already fleshed out how in this setting,
we have this sort of different detail,
this thrust of the breath God who had in the first story
been speaking creation to existence.
Now it’s the breath of God that enlivens this man.
So the point I wanna make here is where our story here
today diverges from that first story.
Because if you remember,
split into that sixth day,
we had this pause,
this break of pacing
in the first creation story where we get sort of this
purpose behind what God is doing.
When God is making,
God says that we’re going to make
humanity in the image of God.
We got this imago de idea.
Here,
man is defined much more by the task that God assigns
than we see this background conversation about the image
that humanity will bear.
There’s a sense in which the human does bear this image
of God in this sort of underwork,
this task that’s been assigned.
But we don’t get this purpose that we got in the first story.
What I think is interesting about this Clint is
how instrumental this is.
What I mean by instrumental is by how simple the story progresses,
God makes the human,
God puts the human
in the garden, God gives the human the task,
till it,
keep it.
And there’s a very kind of simple,
grounded,
earthy reality to this story.
It’s not peeling back the scenes really.
We’re not seeing that heavenly conversation about
what was intended.
We instead see the meaning of life from the perspective
of one who would be living that life.
Your role,
your job is to be put here and to serve
to do this task,
to keep up this end.
And I think that’s a very different sort of take on the creation.
And I think in many ways,
very helpful.
That’s a beautiful kind of image that we get here in its simplicity.
Yeah, again, I think this story is more relational.
Its focus is less on the mechanics of creation
and more on the situation.
And the situation is the man has a task.
The man has an invitation to the abundance of the garden,
but the man also has a limitation.
Do not eat
of that one tree.
You can have everything out here
except this.
And of course, we know what happens when you tell a person,
except this, that’s down the road a ways,
but that seed is planted here and we see it on the horizon.
Also, I think, you know, it goes without saying,
well,
it probably shouldn’t go without saying,
a
lot of work has been done to try
and reconcile these stories.
And there’s some really good work that has been done.
But if you want to read them as separate,
notice the biggest fundamental difference
between the stories is that man is created first.
Essentially,
man is the beginning of the creation
in chapter two and the culmination
of the creation in chapter one.
They’re very different starting points.
So let’s continue ’cause this next part I think is important.
Verse 18,
the Lord God said,
“It’s not good that the man should be alone.
I’ll make him a helper as a partner.”
So out of the ground,
the Lord God formed every animal
of the field and every bird of the air
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 the cattle,
the birds of the air
and every animal of the field.
And we’ll just put a pin in that right there.
We’ll stop there.
So though the man doesn’t share in creation,
the man is invited to share in creativity.
And this is,
I love this, if you’ve ever played
with a child and done this kind of imaginative work,
what do you wanna name this stuffed animal?
Or what do you wanna call this thing?
Or there is a child-likeness to this,
that God creates animals who again,
are being created after man in this story.
And each time one is created,
God shows it to the man
and the man names it.
Now, informed by chapter one,
we understand the power of a word.
We understand the power of voice.
Throughout the Old Testament,
we’re going to see the power of names.
They have meaning,
they matter.
And here,
God leaves the naming of creation to the man.
This is an amazing part in the story
that God, like a proud parent,
makes something,
shows it to this man and says,
what do you wanna call it?
And whatever he calls it,
that becomes its identity.
Not just what it’s called,
that becomes what it is.
And now, at a functional level,
this story tells how things got named,
right?
People always want, why do we call it that?
Why do we call that?
Well, Adam did that.
But at a spiritual level,
this is a remarkable inclusion of man
into the activity of God.
And I think it shouldn’t be just read over.
Yeah, because when God puts Adam in the garden,
when God makes this human,
and God gives that human a task,
we receive implicitly at first,
this idea that God has an intention.
And we see that explicitly now in verse 16,
when the Lord commands the man.
When God gives this command,
you’re free to eat of the tree of the garden,
tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Yes, that sets up the story to come,
but now we also have this reality
that God is giving a creative role and task
to the human who’s created.
My point is simply this,
that the creator in this telling of creation
gives purpose, meaning, and intention to the creation,
and specifically to this one who was created.
So when God puts the man in the garden
and then gives this task of tilling it,
of managing it, and now this creative ability
to name the things in it,
what’s happening is God is paving the way forward.
This is the life that’s intended.
This is the best way to live.
This hooks into future themes
that we’re gonna see all throughout the book of Genesis
about God’s commands to the people,
God’s covenant with the people,
God’s promise that if you follow in my way,
then I will bless you,
I will keep you,
I’ll be with you,
right?
So right from the get-go,
we understand that there has been intentionality
and purpose built into the very creation that we live in.
And it follows then,
that to whatever extent
we’re able and capable of following God’s command,
then we will share in the blessing of those who live
in the way that God intended the creation to be lived in.
We live in the purpose and in the intention
of what was originally made.
So what I find amazing about this story
is that this connection of vocation and work and task
that we have as humans connected to divine intention
and purpose and meaning.
And we see how when these things overlap
that we see God’s blessing and intention
and work within it. It’s a really beautiful symmetry
between these two stories.
In each story,
there is a task,
there is an elevation of the person
within the scope of creation,
the first story uses the word dominion,
the second story says you can eat everything but that
and you get to name the animals.
It is remarkable how these stories
from very different pathways end up on similar ground
that God and humans share a connection
that is unlike God and the rest of creation,
where God has deemed creation good,
where God has been active in its making,
its being made,
God is accountable for it,
God has sort of turned it loose.
It is the human who stands in that role of caretaker,
of namer,
of overseer, of subdue-er to use the language of the first story.
And so both stories deliver you to a similar place,
but they get there by very different roads.
And in the first story,
we’ve already seen there is a risk.
Don’t eat that fruit,
that fruit is essentially poisonous,
that that will harm you,
but it’s in the garden.
And the other thing we see here
as we finish this last verse, verse 20,
but for the man,
there was not found a helper as his partner.
So there is not only a risk in the garden,
there is a problem.
As God looks upon the man and his place
and role in creation,
God sees what is a thing
that needs to be addressed.
The man is alone.
Maybe the text doesn’t use lonely,
but I think the inference is there,
that the man does not have a partner,
he is by himself.
And fundamentally,
the creation is made to be relational,
especially in this second story.
And so that sets the stage for then what comes next.
So I’m gonna just take one step out of the text itself
to ask an overarching question here, Clint.
And that is, why does God make the human?
And that may seem like a really maybe elementary question,
but just consider that for a second.
God, the perfect creator of all things,
as Christians, we understand God to be
this perfect triune relationship.
God is never lonely.
Why does God make someone to till the ground?
I mean, God makes this thing,
and yet God creates this person
who now comes into the world with a problem
that comes with it,
because now this human
does not have a helper suitable to the task that God made.
There’s a sense in which we are beginning to understand
that God, from the very beginning of creation,
is not afraid of encountering the challenges
that we experience as humans.
As conditional beings, we look at an unconditional God
and we discover that God is willing
to get into the muck with us.
Not only is this story earthy,
as we see God turning dust and
dirt and earth into a living, breathing human,
we see God willing to encounter these challenges
so that God makes a human full well-knowing
that’s gonna create this problem down the road,
and then God is willing to work on that problem.
I think there’s a kind of creativity and
persistence and faithfulness that’s shown to us about who God is
in just these words.
Just as we start the creation story,
we see that God has a kind of intentional connection
to our own lives that’s beautiful,
and we might miss it if we look for this for,
you know, all of the, what’s the scientific or what actually happened,
what’s the literal interpretation,
what it looked like if you had a camera there.
Those are interesting questions,
but let’s not miss the fact that God has committed
to deal with these created beings from the very beginning.
That’s good news for us,
and we’re gonna see that flushed out as this book continues. Absolutely, the last thing that I would say
in regard to this particular story,
as we look at that first story,
it’s really pretty overarching.
God looks at the whole of creation and calls it good,
turns over the whole of creation to the task of men
and animals to fill it and multiply.
And in this, we have the inference,
doesn’t say much about it until later in chapter three,
but there is more world out there.
God has sanctioned
a part of the creation called Eden,
a garden,
and God has put the man there,
and God has centered his creative work in that place,
made all the animals,
made all the trees.
Now, clearly this is an enormous place,
but it’s a limited place.
There is something,
the inference is, there’s something outside of it.
And so again, I would say especially in this second story,
we have that idea of God’s sheltering,
of God protecting.
God has made not every space for the man,
but this particular space and hollowed it
and made it just right and sanctified it.
And it is good that we don’t see that language used
in the same way in this story,
but it is certainly a good place for the man
with the exception that we’ve just noted,
he has not found,
there has not found for him
a helper or partner,
and this is the fundamental problem
in this creation story.
There’s going to be another problem in the next chapter,
but in this chapter,
this is the fundamental problem
that the man is alone,
and the work of God is, for that reason,
not finished yet. One final note here as we conclude, that is,
we’ll get to this later and spend more time.
After Sin and Adam and Eve are expelled from the garden,
we’re told that they’re going to toil hard,
that their work is going to be difficult.
I’d just like to note that in this telling of the story, work is included.
So work is from the very beginning part of God’s intention,
this idea that we as humans have tasks
that we work in the world,
that we seek to apply ourselves.
This was intended from the beginning.
Let’s not sort of pass that over and think that
the Garden of Eden was a place of complete rest
and respite that was paradise,
where no one worked.
That’s not the image that we have.
This human is made to till,
to name.
It’s only after sin does that work become difficult,
does it become a burden.
And so let’s just keep that in mind here as well,
that God’s plan and intention is for you
to be able to constructively work in your world.
That’s a gift, and you should celebrate it.
All right, well, that’s all I’ve got.
Friends, thanks for being with us.
Definitely check out the latest podcast episode
that released this morning if you haven’t already.
Hope it will encourage you as we continue
to explore this idea of mission.
But that said, otherwise, we’ll see you on Sunday
for worship at 8.50,
and then we’ll be back again
on Monday at two o’clock. Have a great weekend, everyone. Thanks. Thanks.