Part 3 “What God Designed You For”
Gen. 2:18-25, 3:8-9
Intro -Easter is coming in two weeks…that would be a good Sunday for us to invite a friend, neighbor who doesn’t normally attend church…I’m going to present a clear, gospel message…
…let’s be praying for that service in particular…
On the Sunday’s leading up to Easter I am focusing on the theme of reconciliation…which is at the heart of our church’s mission statement and at the heart of the gospel…and which is the grand story of the whole Bible…
“…that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.” 2 Cor. 5:19
I’m wanting us to take a good look at the beginning of the story of reconciliation by spending time in the first few chapters of Genesis…
-two weeks ago we took a deeper look at God’s original design for humanity by focusing on Gen. 2…a passage in which we discover God’s original design for perfect human existence…we discovered the good news of what God has designed you for…the kind of God-given existence we were created to have…
We looked at the first three things we were designed for:
• for a place 2:15
• to honor God with our work 2:15
• with freedom of choice 2:16-17
-we were challenged to consider whether or not we need reconciliation in any of those three areas…and if so, to ask God to bring us into alignment with His original design for us…
-in other words, to embrace the place He has put us…instead of resent it…
-to work for Him first in our jobs instead of for us or any other human reason…
-to exercise the gift of our free will by choosing to love and obey God…instead of eating the forbidden fruit…which is “pleasing to the eye” (3:6) but deadly to the soul…
Today we will finish the chapter by looking at the final two things God has designed us for…turn to Gen. 2:18-25…
Prayer…
Fourth thing we were designed by God for is:
4. human companionship 2:18-25
-read 2:18-25…
Here’s the good news: God created us and designed us as relational beings with a need for human companionship…
v.18, “It is not good for the man to be alone.” In other words, it is good to have human companionship.
And as you can see this leads into the whole area of marriage, which is the closest relationship human beings can experience…and marriage is an important subject that needs to be emphasized especially in these days… but it is not where I will be going today. That will have to wait for another time.
I want to focus on the root principle being taught here which is that human beings were created to be in relationship with one another…that it’s not good for anyone to be alone…
God did not create us to be isolated from others, independent and self-sufficient…we were not designed to go it alone in life and to avoid meaningful human companionship…
And as I mentioned in our look at Gen. 1, the fact that we are created in the image of God means that we were designed for relationships…because God is inherently a relational Being…His triune nature, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, make this very clear…v. 26, “Let us make man in our image…”
…within the nature of God there is a community…there is relationship…and being made in His image means we share that built in capacity and need for relationship, for meaningful human companionship…
Now I know that we have various temperments and so experience this relational need differently…there are introverts and there are extraverts…
-by show of hands, how many of you would describe yourself as an extravert? me (this is the right way to be by the way ). How about an introvert? (we’ll be praying for you…)
eg. 5 yr old granddaughter Mavis: “I love going to parties with lots of people. It gives me energy”!
7 yr old grandson Floyd: “I hate going to parties with lots of people. It makes me tired.”
Point is, introvert or extravert, all of us were created as social beings with a need to be in relationship with others, to find human companionship…that is good news. This is what you were designed by God for…
The Quality of Companionship
But it’s not just about having a bunch of facebook friends…a virtual relationship that is distant and safe…or a bunch of people we smile and wave at as we move past them…it’s the quality of companionship that is important here…
And the Bible gives us the standard in v.25: “naked and they felt no shame…”
Now again I know this is talking specifically about the marriage relationship which originated with Adam and Eve, but the root principle still stands: the kind of human companionship we were designed to have, whether married or not, is open, honest, transparent, vulnerable, free…
“naked and not ashamed…”
If you are married and have that kind of relationship with your spouse, you are very blessed…
…if you are married and don’t, then God is certainly wanting to restore that original design in you…to help you return to, or discover for the first time, what it can be like to be so close and real with someone that there is complete freedom, full disclosure, no secrets, no shame, no reason to hide any part of yourself, good or bad…
But married or not, God still wants you to have that kind of human companionship with at least one other person that meets your need to be known, loved, accepted, understood, cared for…and that enables you to meet their need for the same things.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.
Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
The imagery of a three-stranded cord speaks to the key to true companionship; that it involves not just two people, but a third Person, the Person of Christ. When God is part of the relationship, then there is the potential for true companionship, the kind of quality companionship God has designed us for…
Because, when God is woven into the fabric of a relationship, He brings a strength that transcends human ability…He brings a love that transcends human love…He brings all the riches of heaven to help us when we bring such meager human resources…
When I become truly honest and open with God, then it becomes possible to be truly open and honest with another person…
-when I can be vulnerable and feel safe with God, then I can become vulnerable and feel safe with another person…
-when my life is inter-woven with Christ, then it can be inter-woven with another person…like a cord…
Need for Reconciliation
I believe God is speaking to many of us these days about the need for reconciliation in some relationship with another person…
And if you need a compelling reason to do something about it, then Adam and Eve give us one: their sin affected their perfect companionship with each other… 3:7, they felt shame about their nakedness and covered themselves with fig leaves…a barrier went up between the two of them…and God has designed us for openness and transparency in our relationships, not for barriers and brokenness…
But there’s more: their sin and the consequent relational barrier not only affected the two of them, it affected their companionship with God…as we also see in ch. 3…they hid from God…they were no longer free to enjoy perfect companionship with God…
If it’s not compelling enough for you to reconcile with someone because God wants you to live in harmony and unity with the people in your life…then perhaps it is compelling enough to know that your relational brokenness is affecting your relationship with God…
…not to mention how it is also hurting a number of other people…
So a practical step we can take to bring reconciliation to our human relationships is the subject of our fifth and final thing we were designed by God for…
We were designed by God for…
5. Friendship with God 3:8-9
-even though ch. 3 is full of bad news, there is actually very good news if you look for it…
…read 3:8-9…
The good news is that we were designed to enjoy a personal, living, walk with God…to enjoy conversation with Him…spending time with Him…just being with Him…we were built for free and open companionship with God…
The Quality of Friendship
The quality of friendship with God we were designed for can be found in 3:10 as the opposite of “so I hid”…we can have friendship with God when we have “nothing to hide”…
-when we say along with Adam in v.10 “I heard you…” -when we say “here I am Lord…”
-when we hide from God we are living far below the kind of friendship He has designed us for and longs to have with us…
-we hide from God for the same reasons Adam and Eve did…because of fear produced by guilt and shame…
• guilt is feeling bad about what we’ve done…
• shame is feeling bad about who we are…
-we consider ourselves unacceptable, unworthy, sinful, disappointing, someone God will have nothing to do with…
Well, here’s some really good news: Jesus’ death has broken the power of guilt and shame…through His death on the cross, Jesus took upon Himself our guilt and shame caused by sin…
Col 1:21-22 “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation…”
-even right now God is calling to some of you, “Where are you?”…
-now He knows exactly where we are all the time, but the call is an invitation to come close to Him…
…and all you and I have to do is answer, “Here I am Lord…”
And He will find us and come to us and…(listen carefully)…love us, receive us, accept us, not punish us, or rebuke us or reject us…
Your friendship with God is made possible because of what Christ did for you, through His death on the cross…it’s not based on how good or deserving you are…it’s based on the undeserved gift of God’s grace…
…so now, for the person who is in Christ, there is confidence, freedom, safety, boldness to approach God…to draw near to Him…to be His friend…
And that’s the practical step I mentioned earlier…how we can begin to make things right with another person…since the barriers are down between you and God, then they can also come down between you and another person…since Jesus has secured our reconciliation with Him, we can now be agents of reconciliation with others…
…start with prayer, that God would prepare the way, soften hearts…
-and then take a step toward the person, humbly initiating an honest, loving, conversation…
“Healing happens when the wound is exposed to the atmosphere of grace” Max Lucado
First Service Conclusion
I want each of us to take the closing part of the service to meet with God through worship and prayer in order to draw close to Him and respond to His call for us…
…and also talk to Him about what we need to do about our need for reconciliation with other people…
Prayer…Song…
Second Service Conclusion
I want each of us to take the next part of the service to meet with God through worship and communion in order to draw close to Him and respond to His call for us…
…and also talk to Him about what we need to do about our need for reconciliation with other people…