God's Plan For Intimacy

God’s Plan For Intimacy

Genesis 2:18-25

A small child came home from Sunday School and told his mother: "The teacher told us how God made the first man and the first woman. He made man first, but the man was very lonely with no one to talk to, so God put the man to sleep, and while he was asleep, God took out his brains and made a woman out of them.”

That teacher needs to go back and re-read the story of Creation. We’re going to go back to the beginning today also. To re-discover why God made things they way that He did, and why He made us the way we are.

I. The Dilemma of Adam

a. On six different occasions, God made the comment that what He had created was “good.” When he had completed all of the days of creation, He stepped back and looked at it all, and said it was “very good.”

b. But then, in Genesis 2, God made a startling statement. God saw something in His creation that caused Him to say, “it is not good.” And when God says something isn’t good – it’s not good.

c. What wasn’t good about it? Haven’t you ever wished that you could have walked with Adam? Imagine what it must have been like for Adam.

i. He had a perfect environment. No pollution, no traffic jams, no disease. His mind was not corrupt, his heart was pure. What wasn’t good about this perfect place?

ii. He possessed everything. He had access to anything and everything he wanted. No worries about food or clothes, no bills to pay, no IRS, no budgets, no retirement funds. Everything that His Father had created was his. What wasn’t good about that?

iii. He had an exalted position. God had put him in charge of….everything. He had dominion over all of the creation. There was no need to climb the ladder, he was already at the top. No insecurities, no jealousies, no pressure to perform. What wasn’t good about this place God had created for Adam?

d. Pay close attention to this. Adam had everything most modern people think is important. Yet, if something didn’t change, God knew that Adam wouldn’t be fulfilled. He might not even survive.

e. We live in a society that tries to con us into believing that a perfect environment, more possessions, and an exalted position, are what you need to live a happy and fulfilling life. The lesson we learn from Adam is that he had all of these things and yet it was “not good.”

f. Does this mean that if you achieve an exalted position – CEO, president, superintendent, chief, senior executive, professor, whatever – you still might not be happy? Does this mean that if you accumulate unlimited resources – stocks, bonds, 401K, real estate, automobiles, houses, etc. – you still might not be fulfilled? Evidently so.

g. What I had overlooked for many years, until it was finally pointed out to me, was that Adam had a perfect relationship with God. He walked and talked with God on a daily basis. He had intimacy with God! Some of you may want to stone me for this or label me a heretic, but just here me out. Although Adam had a perfect, intimate relationship with the Father, that relationship alone could not fulfill his deepest needs. There are needs in our lives that only God can meet, but there are other needs that God alone cannot meet. That was what God saw when He looked at Adam, and said “it’s not good.”

h. So what was not good about Adam’s situation? What was his dilemma? Apparently just one thing: Adam was alone. Adam’s aloneness was a significant problem that had to be addressed. God had created him with certain needs – physical, emotional and spiritual needs – and Adam could not meet his own needs. They could only be met through meaningful relationships with someone like himself, and a relationship with his Father God.

i. Let’s face it, we’re no different than Adam. We all have the same physical, emotional and spiritual needs as he did. We are born into this world needing attention, affection, approval, and comfort. And these needs don’t go away with age or maturity.

j. Yes, we all have needs. The problem we all face is how we’re motivated to have these needs met. Sometime these needs can pull so hard that, if we’re not careful, we’ll fall into one of three traps.

· Self-centeredness… can be seen in the person who is feeling “needy” and begins using every method at their disposal to have their needs met. They may use manipulation, demands, threats, and even conditional love. The tragedy is that “taking” will never bring the satisfaction we crave. Here’s a “reflection of life” scenario that illustrates the futility of “taking” to have your needs met.