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[Stephen Apt in mid-sentence] good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.
Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground
all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky.
He brought them to the man to see what he would name them.
Whatever the man called each living creature
that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock,
the birds in the sky, and the wild animals.
But for Adam no suitable
helper was found. So the Lord God caused man to fall into a deep sleep,
and while he was sleeping, He took one of the man's ribs
and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman
from the rib He had taken out of the man and He brought her to the man.
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." That is why a man leaves his father and mother
and is united to his wife and they become
one flesh. Last summer
I was walking through the grocery store
when I saw a magazine with the front cover that said
Tom Cruise's Life Alone.
The actor and his now ex-wife had recently been divorced
at that time. It was just another Hollywood marriage
plagued by divorce. And yet the front cover got me thinking
and so when I got home I googled shortest lasting marriages.
And there were some on there that I was expecting to see,
for instance, Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries 72-day marriage was on there.
But the number one shortest lasting marriage goes to Britney Spears.
Her very first marriage lasted a mere 55
hours. It's kind of sad to see what Hollywood and what people
have made of God's gift of marriage.
And yet we don't have to look to Hollywood
to see mistreatment of marriage.
We can start by looking in our own hearts.
This morning we're going to take a look at Genesis chapter 2
and we're going to picture perfect -
the perfect giver and the perfect gift.
When Genesis chapter 2 starts off we are on the sixth day
of creation in the Garden of Eden. God has had
a very busy week of creating the world, the birds in the air and the fish
in the sea. Earlier on that sixth day
God created all of the land animals and Adam. And He placed them
in the Garden of Eden. God looked at His creation
and it was good. It was very good. The sun was shining,
the birds were chirping in the air, the lion
and the sheep were lying down right next to each other.
You could hear the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers as they gently flowed through the Garden.
And Adam being the crown
of God's creation stood and looked at
everything that God had placed under him. It was peaceful.
And yet God's finishing touches on His masterpiece
weren't quite done yet. We see in the opening verses today
God say, "It's not good for the man to be alone,
I'll make a helper suitable for him."
God didn't just overlook this fact before. He didn't say
everything was good but then forget to do something.
But instead He lets Adam exercise his mind
and come to the realization that he needed a partner.
And He also led Adam to recognize that God
is the perfect giver.
So God brings all of the animals
by Adam to be named. And at first you might think that this is just some
random fact that is thrown into our text,
but actually it's God's object lesson for Adam.
Each animal comes walking by Adam - each male
and its female counterpart.
The lions walked by, the tigers walked by,
the rabbits, the penguins, the deers,
the geese. As each group of
animals walk by, Adam becomes more and more aware,
hey, wait a second. All of these animals have a partner
and yet I'm alone. Where's my partner?
You can almost picture Adam sitting there wishing and hoping that
everytime he hears the brush rustling
that's the one that God made for him.
You can almost see him as his ears perk up as the brush rustles
closer and closer just to end in disappointment
as this one's not for him either.
After all the animals had walked by there was no
helper suitable for Adam.
Adam realized he was alone. He was the only one
made in the image of God.
And now that the lesson had been taught, God goes from teacher
to physician. He puts Adam into a deep sleep
and takes out one of his ribs and he forms Eve.
Adam wakes up, his ears perk up,
he hears God sending something else his way.
Is it another animal? The brush its rustling closer and closer.
And then he sees her - the one the perfect
giver made for him. This one, Lord.
This time. The excitement
and the delight that Adam had for Eve
because the perfect giver provided again.
Adam exclaims, "This is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called
woman because she was taken out of man.
Adam realized that this one was for him;
just like the animals had their partners
this was his partner. When he looked at
Eve, he saw the perfect helper,
the one would help him through life's journey.
He saw the perfect supporter. The one who would support him
no matter what. When he looked at Eve,
he saw someone made like him in the image
of God delighting in God's thoughts.
And the perfect giver gives them one more gift.
The text says for this reason
a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife
and they will become one flesh.
The word used here for united literally means to cling to.
It's like the skin clings to your bones.
It's almost as if they are one.
Marriage is meant for one man and for one woman for life.
And we know that because later in the Gospels,
Jesus tells the Pharisees, "Therefore what God has joined together,
let man not separate."
How far we have fallen from this perfect scene.
So often we tend to only see the flaws
in our loved ones. Husbands are tempted to lord over their wives.
Wives are tempted to not respect their husbands.
Parents annoy and frustrate their children.
We lose our patience with the ones that we love the most.
It's like we take a knife and we cut the skin all the way down to the bone.
Our sinful nature takes God's gift of marriage and family
and tramples on it.
Because we've lost that perfect
image of God, we no longer see God
as the perfect giver, someone who knows who and what we need
in our lives.
Instead we see Him as someone who takes pleasure
out of seeing us miserable.
Because we've lost that perfect image of God, we no longer see Him
as the perfect giver. And so we rebel
and we don't appreciate the gifts that He so graciously gives us.
But that's exactly why Christ came.
Christ came into this world and He lived that perfect life.
He honored the gift of marriage and family.
He honored His mother Mary and His stepfather Joseph.
And He loved mankind, His bride, His
unfaithful bride, so much
that He willingly shed His innocent blood
to win souls back to Him.
Because of Jesus' perfect life and resurrection
we now have a seat at the wedding banquet that will never end.
We have a seat at the head table with Christ.
And we receive a foretaste of this banquet
every time we receive the Lord's Supper,
Christ's body and blood shed for our forgiveness,
until our bridegroom returns with the wedding processional
to take us to be with Him forever in eternal paradise.
It will be a honeymoon that never ends.
It will be picture perfect and we will be
with the perfect giver.
Because of what Christ has done for us
we now can picture perfect.
We can picture perfect and we now can appreciate
the perfect gift.
Since we learn to see God as the perfect giver
we now can appreciate His gifts that He gives us
for the good that they actually are.
Because of what Christ has done for us our hearts are no longer hard.
Through faith in Christ we can see the gifts He gives us
as blessings. Instead of seeing the flaws
of our loved ones we now can see them as gifts
that the Heavenly Father has so graciously given to us.
Those flaws will always still be there
this side of heaven. But we know that
Christ has died for those flaws
and He helps us out with our flaws.
We forgive our loved ones because God first
forgave us when we didn't deserve it.
We love our families because God first loved us
and He gave them to us as gifts.
Husbands through their faith in Christ are now
able to love their wives and not lord over them.
They're inspired to serve their wives just as Christ served the church
and gave Himself up for her.
Even with her flaws they're able to say, just like Adam did,
"This one Lord, this time"
and have that same excitement and delight.
Through their faith in Christ wives are able to respect and love their husbands
just as the church respects and loves Christ
who died for her.
Through their faith in Christ parents are able to love their children
and realize that they are gifts that the Heavenly Father
has given them. They know that the Kingdom of Heaven belongs
to such as these.
Children are able to see their parents as ones
whom God has placed over them, to love them,
and cherish them.
Children will not be nor will their parents be perfect
this side of heaven. There will be those tough days when
you want to lose your patience or do lose your patience.
Seek Jesus. Seek His forgiveness.
Seek strength and patience from the one who is the most patient.
Seek it from the one who has unconditional love,
a love that loves us despite how sinful we might be.
It's a love that dwells in you and it's a love that compels you
to love your families.
We don't have to look to Hollywood to see mistreatment
of marriage but thanks be to God
for His grace and His unconditional love for us.
He has washed us and cleansed us
so that we can picture perfect.
And because of what Christ has done for us we now recognize
the perfect giver and appreciate
the perfect gift. Amen.
Please stand.