We are continuing our Christian Foundations series
that began with Psalm 37, Trust God and Do Good.
Today the title of our sermon is Life -Centered
and Rooted. Life -Centered and Rooted. And it
will go through Genesis, part of Genesis chapter
1 and chapters 2 today. Let us pray. Our God
and our Father, we thank you for sending the
Spirit to give us life and to empower us for
the call you have given us to carry your words
of life to the ends of the earth. Please allow
the words of my mouth and the meditations of
all our hearts to be acceptable in your sight,
O Lord, our rock and nearest kinsman, Redeemer,
Jesus Christ, our risen Lord. Amen. Our text
today is found in Genesis chapter 1 beginning
in verse 26. Then God said, let us make man in
our image according to our likeness. Let them
have dominion over the fish of the sea, over
the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and
over all the earth, and over every creeping thing
that creeps on the earth. So God created man
in his own image. In the image of God he created
them. male and female. He created them. Then
God blessed them and God said to them, be fruitful
and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Have
dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds
of the air, and over every living thing that
moves on earth. These are the words of Almighty
God. Receive them in your hearts. As a reminder,
Sometime on Saturday evening I send out on the
realm the listing of these three points and then
the supporting verses either directly spoken
of although sometimes just for your information
There's a longer passage there that kind of gives
greater and more full context that I don't always
get into all the details on a Sunday morning
So I encourage you to look on the realm look
check your email box for those things So the
three things that I want us to see through this
passage today are this. We are created for worship.
We are created for worship. God made all people,
every single one of us, either male or female.
God made all people either male or female. And
there is but one mission. Final thing, there
is but one mission. Before we go all the way
into this, I just want to say this. One of our
problems is we do not have a united mission a
lot of times in our churches and many times in
our households. We have to have a united mission.
There's one mission. We're going to talk about
that today. And all of this is from a life centered
from worship. rooted in creation life centered
from worship and rooted in creation Satan is
the enemy to truth and therefore an enemy of
Christ and if an enemy of Christ then an enemy
to the bride of Christ the church as one commentator
puts it Satan is destitute of truth his interest
in the world is supported by lies and falsehoods.
Jesus himself said in John 844 that Satan was
a murderer from the beginning and does not stand
in the truth because there is no truth in him.
When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own
resources for he is a liar and the father of
it. Those who would follow the father of lies
and falsely shepherd God's people Jesus spoke
of those folks in this way in John 10 that they're
a thief and that thief does not come except to
steal kill and destroy I This is Jesus speaking.
I have come that they may have life and that
they may have it more abundantly So the contrast
is between lies, death, and destruction in Satan
and his children or abundant life found only
in Christ Jesus and by the power of the Spirit
in this church. We are surrounded by a great
many lies. I imagine even without the big things
that have happened If you are 10 years older
today, there were things that 10 years ago you
took for granted as truth. And then here you
are 10 years later and you understand truth in
a very different fashion. We are surrounded by
a great many lies. Satan has more and more loudly
perpetuated lies about what we are made for and
our mission. in the world. And because all these
lies are out there, and he brings lies, death,
and destruction, confusion, anger, despair, and
depression are the emotional and intellectual
realities of our time. If we do not know who
we are or what we are or what we are made for,
We live a stymied and frustrating life Satan
desires to steal kill and destroy mankind by
countering God's design and mission for us Since
we were made male and female and for dominion
and fruitfulness all ideas and actions that strive
to make people androgynous That's a big word
kids out there. You're going Well, there goes
Pastor again saying something else I don't know.
So to be androgynous is in all things to be genderless.
That is saying that, doesn't matter if you're
male and female, all things are suitable. And
this is counter to our God -given creational
identities and callings. To be androgynous, is
defined as neutered. That is to say, you're not
male or female. In being neutered, fruitfulness
and dominion is taken away. It takes both sexes,
male and female, to be fruitful and to take dominion
as God has given it to you. It is no wonder that
there is so much angst in the world. Satan has
sold the lie of autonomy from God, escaping from
the things that God has bound us with. Satan
has sold that lie on every street corner and
sometimes, yes, even sometimes in the church.
So what are we made for and who are we? We are
first created as worshippers of the Almighty
Triune God. Dearly beloved, as the Word of God
proclaims in so many places, starting in the
Garden of Eden, we were made for face -to -face
relationship with God with joyful obedience,
melodic song, gratitude, humility, and a true
table of breaking bread in His presence. This
of course was disrupted by sin in the fall But
God has been working his plan of reconciliation
and redemption through his son Since the first
Adam's fall and this was fulfilled in Christ
Jesus death on the cross resurrection Ascension
and in ascending of the promised Holy Spirit
To the earth to hover over his people and the
waters of baptism to transform our hearts, minds,
affections, and actions. If we do not make Lord's
Day worship and fellowship the center of our
lives, everything else will be off and out of
calibration. If we forsake the assembling of
ourselves with God's people on the Lord's Day
in worship, joyfully receiving His call, confessing
our sins, being consecrated. Children, you know
this. Being consecrated by the word sung, read,
and preached. Which is God, of course, changing
us and turning us into a living sacrifice by
His word, cutting us up, rearranging us, casting
some things off, and then conforming us to Christ
Jesus. And by being transformed by the fire of
the Spirit, we are able to join the table of
fellowship with God the Father through the Son
by the power of the Spirit. This gracious unity
with the Father and the whole congregation sets
us up to be commissioned, flowing with the Spirit
as the river of life to our separate posts. The
river of life is flowing out into the world and
you all have been given your outposts that is
centered on the church and in worship and in
Christian fellowship and it is flowing out to
your post. There we will produce fruit all year
round transforming the nations. We must acknowledge
that to take dominion and to be fruitful cannot
be done in isolation from God or our fellow Christians.
Our lives must be centered from worship. This
alone changes us and the world. You know, we
often lack faith, stressing. Having difficulty
really believing that simply doing what God says
and how he says it Will right the ship and see
the nations converted confessing Christ and Worshipping
God and in all things living for him and his
glory You know, especially for men we're doers
right women are glorifiers men are doers We want
to get out there and we want to wrestle the world,
and there's a place for that. We're going to
get to that. But we have the tendency to want
to fix everything. God reminds us that unless
he builds the house, unless he builds the world,
that is through his spirit, through his church,
through his people, that the laborers labor in
vain. I pray every morning that each of your
mornings, you are praying, asking God to bless
you, to build the house through you in morning
prayers. And then reflecting at night, giving
him thanksgiving and praise and assessing his
work through you. The triune God created the
heavens and the earth, not as something to be
consumed, but as a tutor and a mission. In creation,
we learn of God, Romans 1, and ourselves. Later
on in Romans 1, we learn all about how sinful
and corrupt we are. And you know what else we
find in the scriptures? We find our mission.
I'm going to list off a few scriptures here for
you, but we see our mission defined in Genesis
1 28 Genesis 2 15 Genesis 9 1 Leviticus 26 19
Matthew 6 10 and Matthew 28 18 through 20 and
that's just to name a few I Know it doesn't seem
like for you But go read those. And again, I
sent that out to you. Go read it. The Christian
life is not merely intellectual or some kind
of spiritually, ethereal, mystical thing. This
is the error of Gnosticism. You see, the heresy
of Gnosticism is this, that our goal in life
is to become so spiritual in some thing outside
of us, it's out there. But not to have it impact
the world in which we live in. That soil outside,
our households, our buildings, everything that
we do. God has a call for us and our mission
in all of those things. It's not simply out there.
God made all things in his creation. And what
did he do? He declared it good. And on the sixth
day when he made man, he declared it what? Very
good. God has been actively involved with his
creation. God didn't just, okay. He created the
world, and He spun it out there, and it's just
working, and He's way back here. No, He's been
involved with this creation, especially men,
since day one, and will be active in it with
men throughout all of history and even throughout
eternity. God the Father sent the Son into the
world, and we see this magnified in this, that
God the Father sent the Son into the world as
a man in flesh, who as Titus 2 says, concerning
our Savior, the God -man Jesus, who gave himself
for us that he might redeem us from every lawless
deed and purify for himself his own special people.
And we could stop right there. Oh man, work of
Christ for me. So good for the internal me. But
it doesn't stop there. It says, zealous for good
works. Trust God and do good God made all peoples
from one man and one woman God created us in
his image a relational creative and glorifying
image As you know God took that which was Darkness
formless and void and he filled it incrementally
making it increasingly glorious and good each
day. Now this is really important. Moms and dads,
even moms and dads of older children, you look
at your children and you say, they're not done
yet and they're wearing me out. You ever think
that? All right. Now, I hope you're not telling
them that, but children, it is a reality. And
so part of what you're supposed to do is joyfully
obey your parents. Ask clarifying questions in
a respectful manner. But you are glorifying God
in your attitude towards your parents. Parents,
your attitude towards everything you're doing.
And I know, it feels like, oh, when they just
get older. Well, I have children. My youngest
turns 20 this week. Up to 35, and you know there's
a mess of them. I see continuously areas they
need to grow. It's not done. I'm praying. I'm
working. My active work in it on a daily basis
is significantly different. Actually, I think
it takes even more prayer and more faith in God,
more pleading with God when you have to step
back from it than when you're actually in the
midst of it. Turn to Jesus. lean on him, but
understand that in God's instructions, what he
teaches us, that he made things incrementally
better over time, making it more and more glorious,
more and more in some ways gratuitous. He could
have given us food that was bland, but no, he
gave us this idea we make it incrementally better.
What do animals do? They go and they just eat
their food. What do we do? We cook it. We season
it. We figure out different ways to cook it and
season it. We're constantly making it, changing
it, glorifying it. When you get wore out in your
marriages, child rearing, your vocations, and
all the work in this world, ordinarily, what
God is doing is teaching us that changes happen
incrementally over time. Be patient. Be long
-suffering. Be understanding. Be joyful in the
slow process. And I know, moms, dads, you're
thinking, this is the thousandth time. All right,
maybe it's the 888th time. But that I have told
my child this. Trust God. Do good remain steady
and steadfast Do not be dismayed or disheartened
or frustrated Be faithful trust God and do good
and watch what God does Slowly over time in every
area of your life When God got to the sixth day
his crowning creation was to make man And to
make him in his image and to make them male and
female There are only two genders male and female
God by a sovereign will Chose for each one of
you that you would either be male or female Children
look up here look up here. This is really important.
You have no idea the chaos That's going on in
the world out there God sovereignly before the
foundations of the world chose that you would
either be a girl or a boy. Don't wish you were
a boy. Don't wish you were a girl. God made you
this. Be joyfully content in it and find God's
grace and glory for you in this of being male
or female. For we are not to think that it would
be better to reject what God has assigned us
remember when we reject what God has given us
We are charging God that he is sinned Lord have
mercy Rejoice in it being made male or female
embrace your God given differences as men and
women as they are glorious and yes, also important.
We're gonna step a little deeper and look at
the creational implications of this. In Genesis
chapter two, beginning of verse 18, it says this,
and Yahweh God said, it is not good that man
should be alone. I will make him a helper comparable
to him out of the ground. Yahweh, God, formed
every beast of the field, every bird of the air,
and brought them to Adam to see what he would
call them. And whatever Adam called them, each
living creature, that was its name. So Adam gave
names to all the cattle, the birds of the air,
and every beast of the field. But for Adam, there
was not found a helper comparable to him. The
first thing that we have to notice here is that
God said it was not good for man to be alone
Okay, now we need to recognize That being made
in his image the triune God Is three persons
distinct from one another Yet they are a perfect
society of love who are distinct and yet submits
to each other for the glory and benefit of others
having made man in their image, they see that
man and his aloneness is not good. God brings
all the animals who come from the same ground
as Adam. This becomes very important, right?
And so he does this. When God does this, he brings
all the animals before him. Adam begins his place
of taking dominion. You see, naming things is
Dominion over it. Have you ever driven by and
seen a street name that had like a family name?
Joe Carter Road. Ever seen something like that?
It's like that all over the South, if it's not
like that around here. I know in the city of
Annapolis, you might not recognize it, they might
not have the first name, but there's a lot of
streets over there that are named after family
names. That's not uncommon. Why do people do
that? That's our street. We made that. We built
that. We did those things. So here Adam is naming
all the animals. He is taking dominion. When
your parents name you children, names matter,
and they chose your name. This is important.
But you see, none of the animals were found as
a comparable helper. Adam could guard and tend
the garden. But he could not complete the task
of fruitlessness or fruitless being fruit, fruitfulness.
He could not complete the task of being fruitful
and taking dominion over the whole earth alone.
So God did something radically different to solve
Adam's dilemma. God made the animals and Adam
both from the dust of the earth. Adam. was different
than the animals, and that God was intimate with
him, and that he breathed his own breath into
man. But his origin was still of the dust of
the earth. In Genesis 221, we see this, and Yahweh
God caused a deep sleep to fall on to Adam, and
he slept, and he took one of his ribs and closed
up the flesh in its place. And then the rib which
Yahweh God had taken from the man, He made into
a woman and He brought her to the man. God put
Adam in a death sleep. And during this death
sleep, God tore Adam open. That's what that word
means. It's literally the word tear, tear open.
These are the same words that are used for the
sacrifices in the Old Testament where they tear
an animal. in half. God tears him. And he took
a piece of his side and made woman who would
be his helper or easer, which is not like, you
know, you're on a carpentry work site, right?
And you got the finished carpenter and he's doing
all this. And you know, what does the helper
do? He picks all the trash up off the ground.
That's not a helper like that. This is a helper
that helps him complete his mission in a glorious
fashion, in a distinctive way, as a woman. You
know, God even uses this same word, helper, to
describe himself with covenant Israel. Happier
you, O Israel, who was like you, a people saved
by Yahweh, the shield of your help and a sword
of your majesty. I'm certainly not saying that
in this way God made woman comparable to himself,
but that it is a glorious help. It's a help in
a way in which a man cannot do on his own. Another
reference for this is Psalm 146 .5. Happy is
he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose
hope is in Yahweh, his God. This helper for Adam
is glorious and an end. A genuine need for him
to be fruitful and take dominion. She is different
from Adam, not just physically, but also in origin
and purpose. God gives the man to the woman.
And in verse 23 of chapter two, Adam says, this
is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.
She shall be called woman because she was taken
out of man. Therefore a man shall leave his father
or mother and be joined to his wife and they
shall become one flesh Where we hear Adam first
speak it is in glorious poetic prose He didn't
just speak it. It was a poetic prose Glorifying
his words and thankfulness to God towards that
woman Now Adam, which means from the ground or
soil or Adama, right, he gets that name, that
first name. He also has a second name, man, or
ish. Adam's first name is rooted in his origin
and his task to till the earth, to take dominion
over the earth. And his new name, man, originates
from his relationship or relation to his wife.
Two orientations, one for the task and one for
his relationship with his wife. The woman also
has two names. Isha, her name, that name being
an origin out of man. That is to say, from man,
woman. And of course later she gets Eve as relating
to her orientation towards her children. They
have one mission, to be fruitful, multiply, to
take dominion to the earth. Now listen, I'm not
talking about, not any couple in here. is set
forth to rule the whole earth. That is Christ's
job. But God has given you a particular place
of responsibility, a particular patch of dirt,
a particular vocation, a particular thing that
He has called you and your household to. And
that is your unified mission. If you have a divided
mission, wife one way, man this way, in the larger
mission goal, Your household's divided and cannot
stand. That's what the scriptures teach us. They
have one mission that's gloriously and radically
different orientations in that united mission.
God created Adam and Eve and so all mankind in
His image and male and female. Even in the fall,
the curses of sin are linked. to their pre -fall
orientations. And I know you're saying, Pastor,
this is probably getting complicated. Hang with
me because this is important. Here's what God
said after the fall. I will greatly multiply
your sorrow to the woman, and your conception
in pain you shall bring forth children, and your
desire shall be for your husband, and he shall
rule over you. Those curses are tied to what?
Her orientations of her names who she is She
came from man desire for her husband Childbirth
her orientation towards her children's her origin
and orientation and to the man he says this Cursed
is the ground for your sake and toil you shall
eat it all the days of your life Both thorns
and thistles shall bring forth for you and you
shall eat the herb of the field and in the sweat
of your face you shall eat the bread till you
return to the ground. For out of it you were
taken, for dust you are, and dust you shall return."
The point of all this is to point out that for
every man and woman there are in God's creation
order not only differences physically, but also
differences in orientation. God has made men
and women for different things. And when wicked
men and gullible women attempt to change what
God has sovereignly proclaimed in both creation
and his revealed word, it brings hardship and
destruction to all people and the whole world.
There is something else of note here and that
is, That there are obviously built -in potential
struggles in balancing dual orientations Okay
By that I mean if the man's orientation is towards
his labor and vocation and towards his wife and
his wife's orientation Excuse me to her husband
and to her children right There are built -in
tensions. You don't have to add any sin in it.
There's just built -in tensions there. Am I right?
If you've been married a little while, you know
that's true. Here's the thing. This is a feature
and not a bug, as these were put in place before
sin entered the world. God did this when He created
all of these things and people in this way. And
he said it was very good. So by God's design,
there is a built -in sinless strife and conflict
so that we may mature to greater glory in imaging
our God. Don't try to make your wife like a man
or your husband like a woman. Or for that matter,
don't mess around with your children in that
same way. Mothers. Don't try to turn your boys
into little girls. That's usually the problem
that we have, but also don't turn your girls
into boys. We talked about this strife just a
little bit. Have you ever thought to yourself,
husbands, why does she have so many words, so
many details, so many things? I wish you'd just
get to the point. So I could tell her how to
solve it Okay, or on the other side of it wives
have you ever thought to your husband? Why is
he so obtuse and mysterious and not really saying
what's on his mind and? When he does it comes
out like a hammer Am I speaking reality here
So some of that is built in by God's design and
it isn't sin You have to recognize that you have
these dual orientations. Now, here's the thing.
In our sinfulness, we often default to dealing
with those things in very sinful ways towards
one another. Am I telling the truth? Discontent,
anger, impatience. But what God has done here,
is He has given us a way to mature. And we can
do it in a God -honoring way, glorifying and
being thankful for these wonderful differences.
I'm just going to tell you, if I had to mother
my children, if my wife would have died after
child number eight was born, I didn't need help.
It had been a wreck. Praise God for His sustenance
in that. I'm not fit and cut out to mother. You
see, all of this is for our Christian maturity.
This becomes like two voices singing in harmony,
or two dancers who flow about in glorious choreography
developed incrementally over many years. By God's
design and marriage, we radiate God's image in
a way that cannot be done without both one man
and one woman. So we are able to complete our
mission given to us by God That is taking dominion
and being fruitful and multiplying filling the
earth In God's image taking the area of responsibility
in our realm given to us by God and Rearranging
it so that God's will in heaven is done here
on earth When this happens we are truly fulfilling
Matthew chapter 5 where Jesus says You are the
light of the world a city set on a hill cannot
be hidden Listen when we live as Christian families
as we live as a unified Christian church When
we have a centralized mission of worshipping
God and flowing out from that Living as God has
designed us to live and taught us to live Right?
It is radically different. And people see that
and go, what is that? And Peter tells us, what?
Be prepared for the answer when they ask you.
It also says, do they not light a lamp and put
it under a basket? No, but on a lamp stand. And
it gives light to all who are in the house. Let
your light so shine before men that they may
see your what? Your good works. On your inside,
internalized, that are never shared with anyone
else, know in every aspect and every area of
your life. See your good works and glorify your
Father in heaven. This is converting the nations.
Now for those who are single, there are several
things to know. Yes, God's ordinary means for
transformation of the world is worship. and marriage.
And this can be a hard thing because some of
us are having difficulty finding a partner. Some
of you may be widowed. Some of you may have some
type of hardship that is preventing you. Now
Jesus says this in Matthew 19 in a discussion
with his disciples after speaking to some lawyers.
Right on marriage and divorce and he says this
when he's speaking about the challenges of marriage
And I say to you whoever divorces his wife except
for sexual immorality and marries another commits
adultery and whoever marries her who is divorced
commits adultery and in this point where Jesus
is talking about faithfulness fidelity and particularized
reasons For divorce not easy divorce Not just
because we don't feel like we want to work on
it anymore. His disciples said to him, if such
is the case of the man with his wife, it is better
not to marry. They're like, man, if this is the
burden, maybe it's just better not to get married.
Jesus responded and said to them, all cannot
accept the saying, but only those whom it has
been given. So there's a norm and there are a
select few that are given this or sometimes it's
for a period of time For there are eunuchs who
were born thus from their mother's womb and it
could be disease or malformity or other sovereignly
arranged things by God and there are eunuchs
who were made eunuchs by men mutilation and There
are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs
for the kingdom of heaven's sake he who is able
to accept it Let him accept it. Now listen to
me for just a moment here. Jesus is talking about
a very small narrow, even for those that are
dedicated themselves to God. This is a very small
narrow thing. There's a lot of bad teaching on
this. They're telling young people, oh, go live
your life. Go figure it out. Have children later.
Get married later. No, no. No, no. God has made
you for this. This is part of his working in
your life. Seek marriage, seek the good things.
And for those who are in a difficult spot, sovereignly
administered to by God, be joyfully content,
keep asking him for relief, keep working through
these things. And in the meantime, understand
that God does call a few and he has a plan for
them to be fruitful. Where do we see this? Acts
chapter 8 with the Ethiopian eunuch, right? He
is saved, and he carried back the gospel and
established the church in Ethiopia. We could
certainly say Paul, who at least at the time
that he was writing that, had not been married
or was not married at that time. We don't know
what happened beforehand, and he never speaks
to it. But by the Spirit, he certainly speaks
with a lot of wisdom to married folk, I'll tell
you that. We also see in Jeremiah 11, this is
where it's, again, very narrow, where God actually
tells the prophet not to get married and not
to have children, and yet through the prophet
of Jeremiah, many were saved, edified, and blessed
by his work for the kingdom of heaven. These
are special circumstances and not the norm. Do
not become discouraged. no matter which side
you're on here, whatever your circumstances you're
in, joyfully accept that you were made male or
female, joyfully and obediently love one another,
serve Christ, be a blessing. And of course, all
of this, we say like, this stuff is just beyond
me. I'm having so much difficulty carrying the
load of these things. Well remember and I don't
want to belabor it I keep bringing it up almost
every single week since we started this series
in John 14 Right We're not left to make bricks
without straw. We are not orphans because Jesus
Always keeps his word He says this if you love
me keep my commandments And I will pray the father
and he will give you another helper and he that
he may abide with you forever the spirit of truth,
whom the world cannot receive because it neither
sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for
he dwells with you and will be in you. I will
not leave you as orphans. I will come to you."
That should encourage us. It is the work of Christ
that reconciles us to the Father and the power
of the Spirit that enables us to do all of these
things. Because of our loving Father sent the
Son to die, and rise again we are delivered from
our sins and now the Holy Spirit proceeds from
the Father and the Son and in that we can know
that we are created for worship and that God
has sovereignly made all people male or female
and so we can live out our one mission a life
centered on worship and rooted in creation. Let
us pray. Our God and our Father we give you thanks.
for the revelation of your word. We praise you
that you have created the universe and made us
uniquely in your image and male and female. With
joyful and humble gratitude, we thank you for
making us men and women and the glorious and
gloriously found in our radical differences in
our singular mission. Help us, we pray, to embrace
the truths of Your Word and stand to our assigned
post, trusting in You and joyfully doing good.
We ask all this for the sake of Jesus Christ,
Your Son, who reigns with You in the Holy Spirit,
world without end.