Islington Baptist Church May 14, 2000
Genesis 2:18-25
I’ve entitled today’s sermon “And God created woman” for today you and I are going to consider Eve’s creation. What better day for us than on Mother’s Day, for Eve is the great grandmother of us all. Eve was the first mother.
As we consider Eve’s creation we will answer the question “Why was she created” and secondly we will consider God’s blueprint for marriage: For our text indicates that Adam and Eve were married by God.
READ TEXT v.18-25
Note: The first 5 books of the Bible were written down by Moses. Not his words. God’s words, for as II Peter 1:21 says “For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit”
Note: We are going to be considering the creation account recorded in Genesis ch.2 today; not Genesis ch.1. As you may know Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 both give an account of our origins. Each account must be treated separately and as the readers we must understand that they are NOT contradictory but complementary. By way of example or parallel I refer you to when you and I study the life of Christ as recorded in the Gospels. As we study those books were find ourselves reading 4 accounts of Jesus’ life. These accounts differ in detail for a variety of reasons but in all cases the accounts are complementary and NOT contradictory. We must treat and understand Gen.1 and Gen. 2 in the same light as we do the 4 Gospels. The 2 creation accounts are complementary, NOT contradictory. The 2 creation accounts serve different purposes and just as we don’t jumble/merge/unite all the details of the 4 Gospels together, so when you and I consider Genesis 1 and 2, we are not to do the same either; if we did we would not be able to understand the unique purposes for why they were written down as such.
LET’S WALK THROUGH THE TEXT
THE FIRST QUESTION WE ARE GOING TO ADDRESS TODAY IS “WHY WAS A WOMAN MADE FOR ADAM?”
Verse 18 gives us our answer.
2 reasons 1. The man is alone and that’s not good 2. He’s in need of a suitable helper
1. The man was alone and that wasn’t good.
God created us to be in meaningful relationships with other people. When we aren’t: loneliness sets in.
There are lots and lots of lonely people out there. A lack of a significant relationship with another person often results in loneliness. The problem for us is that we also get hurt in relationships. These hurts cause us to detach from others so that we can protect ourselves. The problem is that when a person detach’s they also cut themselves off from healthy relationships to. We get hurt in relationships, we also can get healed in relationships.
Adam was all alone. Sure, God was with him and there were all the animals. Yet he was all alone. His work only served to accentuate his aloneness. Part of his work was to name the animals, but in that process it became obvious that none of those creatures could be of assistance to him, none of the animals he named was in any way like him and no doubt their pairings highlighted to him his lack of someone to complement and help him.
God created woman to take away Adam’s loneliness. Eve’s creation satisfied Adam’s longing for companionship.
I found some very wild verses last night in I Cor.11:7-12 that directly relates to God’s creation of woman “ A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man. For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. For this reason, and because of the angels, the woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head. In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God.”
I know that for some these are tough verses but the truth of the matter is that God created “the woman” later called Eve, to take away “the man’s—Adam’s” loneliness.
As you and I consider this point think of this old saying: “More women can live without men, than men can live without women”
A problem today is that in many marriages both spouses still feel lonely.
-not enough time is being spent together. The 6 or 10 minutes per day of 1 on 1 couple time that is average in North America is not enough.
-Challenge you to spend at least 30 minutes per day, just talking with each other, not about the kids, etc. 30 minutes a day of couple time…
When our marriages are working as they should, there’s no reason for your man to be lonely or for you to be lonely. God made marriage and when done right the husband and wife together meet each other’s emotional, physical, and relational needs.
II. THE SECOND REASON A WOMAN WAS MADE FOR ADAM WAS THAT HE WAS WITHOUT A SUITABLE HELPER.
A reason in part for Adam’s being or existing was to care, manage, work, rule, the world that God had created.
Note v.5, v15 “work the ground” “to work the Garden and to care for it”
Our text shows Adam in action. One of the first orders of business was for him to name all the animals that God had made. To name something signifies that you both understand its nature and that you have the right to exercise authority over it.
It seems clear from our text that Adam, all by himself was not going to be able to completely do the job that God had given him.
God’s diagnosis was that Adam needed a helper. Adam needed someone like himself who could come along side of him and help him to accomplish the job that had been given to him.
HENCE, EVE, THE WOMAN WAS CREATED TO HELP ADAM DO THE JOB GOD HAD GIVEN HIM.
The end result is that we have a picture of a couple serving God together. Marriage is here being defined as 2 people- who are now 1—serving God together.
WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND WHAT THE SCRIPTURES MEAN HERE BY “HELPER”
Even though Eve was under Adam’s headship or authority (illustrated by his naming of her), the term used in our text for “helper” does not mean a junior, lessor, or subordinate person. In fact, the word is most often used in the OT of God as the helper of Israel. In the case of God as helper, it is obvious that he is infinitely greater than the one being helped.
The helper spoken of by the term in our text is one who comes alongside to do what the other, typically, cannot do on their own.
When it comes to the marriage relationship the Bible here teaches us that the woman is her husbands helper.
As his helper you are his equal who walks beside him, helping him to do what he cannot do on his own. In my own marriage I see how true this is. Without Sue’s helping me in my calling to be your Pastor and leader I would be lost. In turn I support Sue in her endeavors, striving to help her to be accomplished in her dreams and goals as well.
SO FAR WE HAVE IDENTIFIED THE REASONS BEHIND EVE’S CREATION. Verse 21-22 tells us how God made the woman.
I find it interesting that people would dare to mock this account of how the first woman came to be. To propose that mankind somehow evolved out of nothing and some slime deserves to mocked. To believe in an all powerful God who can create beautiful things out of nothing deserves every persons attention: for evidence to an all powerful creator God abounds.
I also find it interesting that in this age of science that has sheep and various human tissues being cloned that people would doubt that an all powerful God could create a woman out of the tissues from a man’s side. If scientists can clone a sheep then certainly God can make a woman out of Adam’s genetic material.
SOME HAVE ASKED: WHY WAS THE WOMAN MADE OUT OF ADAM’S RIB?
In explaining this text Matthew Henry has said “The woman was not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected by him, and near his heart to be loved by him.”
If you are a husband you must understand that your wife is your equal. She also needs your protection—unless of course she has a black belt in karate. She is also to be deeply cherished and loved by you.
ADAM’S ALONENESS AND THE JOB GOD HAD GIVEN HIM TO DO LED TO THE WOMAN’S CREATION. THE BIBLE RECKONS THE RELATIONSHIP THEY HAD TOGETHER TO BE A MARRIAGE RELATIONSHIP. AT THIS TIME WE ARE GOING TO CONSIDER TODAY’S TEXT AS BEING PART OF GOD’S BLUEPRINT FOR MARRIAGE.
When Adam came to/woke up, the Bible says that God brought the woman to man. As God had brought all the animals to Adam to see what he would name them, so to God brought his latest creation before Adam to see what he would name her. And name her he does.
Verse 23 is a wild and joyful verse.
“Here is one like me!”
“Here is one with whom I am literally one with, for she is bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh”
“She shall be called ‘woman’, for she was taken out of man”
One aspect already mentioned has concerned the fact that the one who names has authority or headship over the one named. In marriage relationships the man is to be the head of the home, loving and leading his wife to the same degree that Jesus loved us—seen in his giving of his life for us. This is the first part of God’s blueprint for marriage seen in this text.
In the person before him Adam recognized that God had given him one who was his perfect match***
Some of you who are unmarried may be wondering if there is a perfect match out there for you that God will provide.
**If you pray and wait patiently enough for God’s best, God will bring the right person along for you. Don’t settle for second best, wait for God’s best. In July I am going to be doing a sermon entitled “Marrying Mr. or Mrs. Right and we will consider who qualifies for you as eligible marriage material.
Now I know I don’t have to say this, but if your married, you shouldn’t be wondering if there is a perfect match out there for you. You’ve made a lifetime commitment and need to work with the diamond in the rough that you have.
When it comes to God’s blueprint for marriage
1. There’s the issue addressed of who is the head of the home
2. There’s the fact that God will provide those who wait with a perfect match
Verse 24 gives us some more info on God’s blueprint for marriage.
Content wise v.24 follows v.23 quite well. In v.23 Adam speaks of the sharing of flesh and bone with the one God presented to him. In essence they were of 1 flesh. Quite literally they had a one flesh relationship.
In verse 24 the marriage relationship is spoken of as a one flesh relationship. There are some symbolic aspects to this and some literal (though not quite as literal as Adam and Eve)
In the NT Jesus quotes from v.24 in Matthew 19. In responding to a question on divorce Matthew 19 Jesus says “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”
In quoting from v.24 of our text Jesus helps drive home its meaning to us.
1. One thing pretty clear is that v.24 is all about marriage.
2. The only marriage recognized by God is between a man and woman. This is part of God’s blueprint for marriage
3. God’s standard for marriage is that it is until death. This is also part of God’s blueprint for marriage
4. Another thing v.24 teaches us is this. If you want the one flesh experience that Adam and Eve had then it entails first of all a leaving of your parents and a secondly a cleaving or uniting with your spouse. Again, this is part of God’s blueprint for marriage
The only time 1 plus 1 ever equals one is when a man and a woman leave their respective families and cleave/unite with each other. A new relationship is formed. A family unit is created.
A healthy marriage only ever has 2 adults in it. If you’ve got to call your mom on the phone every night to work through your problems with, there’s one to many people in your marriage. If dear old dad continually walks in and tells you what you ought to be doing then there’s one to many people in your marriage.
5. A one flesh marriage like Adam and Eve had obviously implies an active sex life. It’s part of a healthy marriage. How else can you be one flesh? I Cor. 7
6. A one flesh marriage is more than just a sexual union. It is an ever deepening relationship that involves the uniting of ones hopes, dreams, values, priorities.
Some couples just don’t get this. While I’m not talking about the abandoning of ones individuality, their needs to be more “our” talk then “my” talk in a marriage.
7. If you want the “one flesh experience” get married!
Sex is for marriage. That’s God’s standard. Sex is not be played or experimented with. It is special act that God says is for the married.
In I Corinthians 7:8-9 Paul says “Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I am. But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion”
Commit to saving yourselves for marriage.
Some of you might have already given your body to someone else. Sex doesn’t make a marriage, it’s part of one, but it doesn’t make one. Confess your sin, resolve to no longer sin sexually, trust in God’s forgiveness, save yourself for marriage.
CONCLUSION
I found an interesting quote about marriage the other day. “Some people think marriage is a 3 ring circus. First there’s the Engagement ring. Then comes the Wedding ring. And lastly there’s the SUFFER---ING”
Every marriage needs constant attention and work and at the center of every marriage there ought to be Jesus Christ as the Lord of that marriage. Otherwise, their may indeed be suffering.
To further illustrate that Jesus needs to be at the center of our marriages, consider this story of a little boy who sat through a Sunday School class and learned about the time Jesus went to a wedding and turned the water into wine. “And what did you learn from the story?” asked his father. The boy thought for a moment and answered, “If you’re having a wedding, make sure Jesus is there.”
Why was woman created
1. To take away Adam’s loneliness
2. To come alongside of Adam and help him to do the work God had given him which he couldn’t do on his own
What’s God’s blueprint for marriage
1. Male headship, that mirrors the example of Christ
2. Waiting for the perfect match that God alone can provide
3. Man and a woman only
4. Until death
5. All about 2 adults, not 3 or 4. Married to each other not ones parents. Leave them out of it.
6. Involves an active sex life (I Cor. 7). Sex is only for marriage
7. A couple united in Christ, in purpose, in vision, in their priorities
Next week our topic is going to be “God’s call to singleness”. “Marriage, as great and necessary as it is for many, is not for all.
