THE ADAM PROJECT
First Things First: Genesis 1:26, 27; 2:4-7
We would do well to start preaching the gospel not in terms of just religion, or having a relationship with God but preaching it on the basis of a covenant that God makes with people. In fact the Bible is divided into two testaments the Old and New testaments or covenant. What is a covenant? A covenant is a pact between two people or two parties that involves promises on the part of each to the other. Covenants in the scriptures were more than just simple agreements or contracts. A contract always has an end date, while a covenant is a permanent arrangement. Another difference is that a contract generally involves only one part of a person, such as a skill, while a covenant covers a person’s total being. The word for covenant in the Old Testament also provides additional insight into the meaning of this important idea. It comes from a Hebrew root word, which means, "to cut." So it could be referred to as “cut covenant.” because it involves animal sacrifice.
1. God in his grace makes the first move to start and set up the covenant.
2. Neither God nor we can break this covenant.
3. God promises to bless us in his love and grace.
4. God sets the terms and requirements of our covenant.
5. God is our friend who acts in alliance with us.
A. God and His Rule Must Be Our Priority
If we are going to understand what covenants are we must go to the beginning. The first five books of the Bible, which were written by Moses, are called the Law, the Torah or the Pentateuch. They are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, numbers and Deuteronomy. Genesis begins with God. God is always first. He should be the foremost person in our lives. I am not a fanatic, you say. I am a good person and church has its place. I think when people say that they are saying, “God has his place…” meaning that their desires are ahead of God in their list of priorities. God is just a person who is there when they need him. He is a resource; he is a “break glass in case of emergency” kind of Deity to them. Well, let me ask, “If you say you believe in God then why did he create you? Do you think he created you with the intention that you live your own way?” You were created to know, serve and worship the Creator. By the way looking at some of you, you are not doing to well on your own.
“First, God. God is the subject of life. God is foundational for living. If we do not get the sense of the primacy of God, we will never get it right, get life right, get our lives right. Not God at the margins; not God as an option, not God on the weekends. God at the center and circumference; God first and last. God, God, God.” Genesis is God’s construction of his Kingdom in its embryonic form. God gives our lives significance and meaning. God made the world where everything and everyone is created with an intention and design. He does not work impersonally from space, but he is in operation in the here and now. No matter how good or bad anyone is, we continue to be a part of his project-the Adam Project so there is no place to drop out.”
B. Clearing Up the Dense Confusion
We see the Spirit of God brooding over a convulsing mass of darkness, making the first move. He is not without audience. The angels that he has created are standing by. In fact the creation event was a exciting time for them. God says in the book of Job, "Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone--while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? (Job 38:4-7NIV).
There are four words that describe the earth’s condition. It was “without form and void” heavy darkness and unpopulated by human or animal. The Hebrew words for without form and void are tohu and bohu, meaning confusion and emptiness. And there was only heavy darkness. God is not only the author of all being, but He is the source of life and motion. Dead matter would be forever dead if he did not bring life to it. God can raise the dead. And this makes it realistic to us that God should raise the dead.
People’s lives are reduced to a lifeless condition by the sin of man, under which the creation sobs in pain. They are dead. There are grave dwellers still walk are not some horror movie-spiritually they are dead. That is why the work of God’s Spirit in the soul is a new creation, this chaos represents the state of a person who is not in covenant with God there is disorder, confusion, and trouble it is empty of all good, for it is without God; it is dark, it is darkness itself. This is our condition by nature, until Almighty God in his grace effects divine change in our hearts. The Spirit of God moves upon us and no one can resist him.
C. God, Turn the Lights On!
God says, “Let there be light” (Ge. 1:3) and God who is Light appears, driving away the confusion, emptiness and darkness that reigned over this planet and divided the night and day. God begins to work on earth like a parent creating an extra room for a coming baby and he speaks into existence every color of the spectrum he places a large star next to the earth for warmth and brilliant, innumerable stars beyond our solar system and a huge rock that seems to rock the oceans back and forth like a cradle. God places animals on earth like a father who showers an arriving newborn child with gifts not just to amuse him, but to teach him lessons about life.
There is nothing worse than living in darkness. The violence we see today is a darkness that shrouds over the hearts of our neighborhoods. The fear of the future that overshadows people concerned about their families. Anxiety burglarizes people of their mental health. The worse darkness comes when a person wonders after death where will they go. One man asked, “Will the landing lights be on when you touch down in eternity?” This darkness is the absence of understanding of who Christ is and what he came to do. Paul says, “God who said, "Let there be light in the darkness,” has made us understand that it is the brightness of his glory that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. But this precious treasure-- this light and power that now shine within us-- is held in a perishable container, that is, in our weak bodies. Everyone can see that the glorious power within must be from God and is not our own.” (2 Cor. 4:6-7TLB).
That is why you must know Christ the light of the World for who he is! It must consume your life, like the light of a flame consumes the fuel that feeds it!
D. Adam, the First
God says over his shoulder to all the angels, “Let us make a man-- someone like ourselves, to be the master of all life upon the earth and in the skies and in the seas." So God made man like his Maker. Like God did God make man; Man and maid did he make them.” (Gen 1:26-27TLB). There is one more creation left. And God summons all his counsel, power, majesty and glory and his voice shrills the newly formed planet with thunders of joy. Silence falls upon the universe as they see the Lord of glory appear on earth-in an image never seen before. With a short word a mist rises up from the grounds of a place called Eden that moistens the earth. It seems that God reaches into the earth and begins with muddy hands to sculpture a self-portrait upon the ground. Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, lime iron, sulphur and phosphorous are but a few of the ingredients that he used to make his man. God gazes down at the apex of his creation. All that was around this man he created with the word of his mouth, but he formed man out of the dust of the ground with his own hands but he presses his lips to Adam, the First and breathes into him and his lungs take the first breath-GOD’s breath of life and man became a living soul!
Adam was made in the image of God (Genesis 1: 26-27) in his nature, makeup, not those of his body (for God has not a body). Adam was given authority like God has over the Creation. He was allowed to name the animals and he was to have dominion over all creation. We see God in Adam and Eve. Adam is created in God’s image because he is like God in all in his purity and integrity. God’s image upon man consists in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness (Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10).
His understanding saw divine things clearly and there were no mistakes in his knowledge. He complied quickly and with the will of God, without resistance. He was not controlled by his appetites or passions. All his thoughts were governed by God’s Spirit. Whether a person is a Christian or not their life is sacred because the image of God while it may be disfigured is not eradicated or removed. That is a good reason why we should not speak ill one of another (James 3:9), nor do harm to another person (Gen. 9:6), and a good reason why we should not lower ourselves to the living in sin. We should devote ourselves to God’s service. But oh, how we have fallen! The image of God upon man has been vandalized and defaced! Look at how small, the remains of it, and how great the ruins of it! The Lord restores his image upon our souls by his purifying grace!
Yes, it is true that “all have sinned and fallen short of the image of God.” (Rom. 3:23). He would eventually fall from that image to something much less than God intended. He became his appetite. If you and I hunger for God we will become like God if we hunger for the things of earth we will become like them. You and I are made in the image of God not the product of some primordial broth. Evolution is a yarn spun on the loom of bad theology, it is not a science, but the failure of a man named Darwin to let God answer the question of life with his Word speaking and his Spirit bringing light and order!
