Made for relationship (Genesis 2)

Short teachings from Hillcrest Church further exploring Sunday's teachings.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey, how are you doing? Hope you're well. Tim here, and we are diving deep into our series Living Sent. So this past Sunday we looked at we looked at Colossians 1 to talk about what is the gospel. At the end of Colossians 1, Paul says, This is the gospel that you have heard. And I talked about the ways the gospel can get reduced. And then we looked at the gospel talked about in Genesis 1. And I used this idea of kind of these four relationships, how they were created for good, how they were broken by sin, how Jesus stepped in and lived like the full human life in each one of those directions, and then took the consequences of sin upon himself to enable uh to enable humans to then enter into this kingdom uh life. And I just wanted to uh this week explore this a little bit more and just show how this shows up throughout scripture. I thought I'd just start at the beginning, you know, um, that that we were made for these four key relationships and just talk a little about that. You know, I think uh, you know, the easiest place to see this is Genesis, um Genesis 1 and 2. Genesis 1 and 2, we see humans um made for relationship, made for a relationship with God, uh uh to be rightly integrated in ourselves, to be uh in right relationship with others and with all creation. I think we see this in how um in how Genesis 1 and 2 talk about uh human beings. I mean, I think probably Genesis 2 in the most narrative form, we can see it. Um these four relationships. So um Genesis 2, it talks about God. Um says in 2.7, the Lord God formed uh man. And there's some debate, is that man or human, the human one? Because the term, it's you know, it's interesting in Genesis 2, the term Adam can be used for human one, man, or Adam. And it and it seems to slide back and forth uh and scholars debate over, but uh regardless, uh then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. And that God, of course, takes the man in verse 15. The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. Uh um so we see um this this uh the first man um created by God, um placed in a certain kind of relationship with non-human creation, with physical creation, to work and care for the Garden of Eden. And then God gives the man a command you are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. For when you eat of it, you will certainly die. And so now God is God has given instructions and saying, hey, this is what it looks like uh to trust me. Um and I think it's also fair to presume that uh the man's relationship with God was not just mere like kind of obedience to commands, clearly that's part of it, but also later on in chapter three it talks about God walking through the garden in the cool of the day. Um, and I think it's very fair to presume that this is something that God did uh with the first man and woman, that there's this communion uh between uh humans and God. And so I think, you know, in terms of the different relationships, um, we can begin to name some of them. We've seen a relationship between man and creation that he's um called to to um serve and protect it, to care for it. Uh and even, you know, I talked about on Sunday. I think we can even talk about one place that we relate to physical creation is our own bodies. Um man was made from the dust of the ground, and that's what you know, his body is a part of how he experiences creation. And and in and um as part of that, like our bodies aren't something to be escaped from. I think sometimes there's a misconception that Christianity says that we have this like immaterial soul that's good, and our bodies are, I don't know, mixed, maybe bad, and we're just trying to escape, but that's we are a uh we are a soul-body whole from the very beginning. And this is part of how we relate to creation in our bodies. So the first man has this relation, relationship with creation, um, and then this first man has a relationship with God, you know, trusting him as king, walking with him in the cool of the day, presumably. Um, and then we can go on, uh, verse 18 the Lord God said, It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him. And of course, this is when um uh the first woman is made. Um and uh in that we see that that we were made, you know, man had some kind of relationship with animals, you know, names and animals, um, but there's this relationship with other other human beings that was needed, other imagery. We are made to have relationships with other other humans, like made for relationships. So that's uh that's the third one. And then I think you could talk about the fourth kind of relationship with our own selves. Um in verse 25, Adam and his wife were both naked and they felt no shame. And for me, there's this sense of um uh you know, to be the it's this picture of before sin has entered the story, um Adam and Eve, there is a complete transparent vulnerability and no hiding, no shame, no embarrassment, no uh self-judgment, self-loathing, no arrogance. They were like it's that and it's and you gotta understand, um Genesis is writing in highly um loaded language. I don't I think we're meant to understand that when when we're told that they were naked and felt no shame, it's not merely just and they didn't happen to have any clothes on. It's like it's meant to it's meant to point to the fact that in every way they were vulnerably known by one another. And there was there was no barrier between them. And I think this points to like a total, like at peace, like they were absolutely at peace with themselves. And so I think in this way in Genesis 2, we can see all these relationships. Um, we can see this relationship uh with God uh as King and Creator, this relationship with creation. Um, and I think you could eat there's more to be said about even that. You can go back to Genesis 1, um, verse 28, where God says, uh be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth and subdue it. Um and uh theologians talk about that embedded in that is the great cultural mandate uh to fill creation with all the creativity um the image bearers can come up with. So we're related to God, we're related to creation, we're related uh to one another rightly, and we're related to our own selves. We and and just this is what the kingdom of God is looks like. This is one when God is king and things are um, you know, Jesus prayer, thy kingdom come, thy will be done. When a world is in line with the will of God, this is what it looks like. Humans are thriving in right relationship in every direction. And so this is the the the the good vision of the kingdom of God at the beginning of the biblical story that uh that I think we need to that we need to understand. And so just to start off, um, yeah, you were made for relationship. Uh you were made to know the living God, to walk in trust with the living God. Um, but even the you know the statement all you need is God isn't totally, that's not well, it seems like God doesn't think all you need is God. You were made to be in relationship with God. You're also be made to be in relationship with others. God says it's not good for a person to be alone. You were made uh to be in um caring, trusting, uh, transparent relationships with other human beings. Um you were made to be in right relationship with your own self. We're not meant to be at war with ourselves. Um and you were made to be rightly related to this incredible cosmos that God has placed us in. And so this is how the story begins. Um and uh and we'll pick up with where it goes next time. Grace and peace.