Taking Care of Business

Stewardship  •  Sermon  •  Submitted
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The Foundation of the World

Communities are in ruins, young men are absent of guidance
Learning from Television and Social Media the classes of defiance
It is time to step up, to take care of the things God blessed us with
Instead of making excuses of what the world stressed us with
There are some basic tenets and competencies that exist and have existed since creation. Those tenets are obedience, companionship, family, and stewardship. These expectations existed before a temple, church, tabernacle or offering plate. The grace of God, and the blessings bestowed on man began with that powerful phrase, “Let us make man in own image”. Similar to a father blessed to have a child, and as the Father like myself, walks in a room with my sons, chest out and stepping lively, I may hear a phrase, “Those boys look just like their father”. Any place God puts us there is some responsibility attached to it. Adam was placed in the Garden, there was responsibility attached to it. Eve was placed in the Garden with Adam. They had a responsibility of stewardship to God, and a responsibility of stewardship with each other.
Adam being the first man created, from the dust of the earth in the image of God was placed in the garden, amongst the animals as a steward of what God created. Just like us, we have been created, called and placed in certain sections and God expects us to manage it well.
We all have a Garden of Eden that God has called us to manage. This place in particular is a place of blessings. The name of the second river is Gihon, it is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush. The name of the third river is Hiddekel; it is the one which goes toward the eat of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.
One of the main needs of any garden is water, and the Garden of Eden was surrounded by it. Many times where God has placed us is surrounded by blessings, but our mindset and paradigm have to shift in effort for us to see it sometimes. Poor management got Adam and Eve evicted from the Garden. Often times we are surrounded by blessings, and when things go left we have to look at ourselves first before we prepare ourselves to blame God.
“Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to ten and keep it”
There are four important points in this text alone.
God took, God put, God said tend and God said keep:
Manhood is about placement, direction, and responsibility.
The Lord God took Adam, he accepted man in this place. This word took means to grasp or take hold of an object with the hand, or to be obtained. To receive, God accepted Adam. Basically this initiative resided with God and was transferred to Adam.
Just like earth in general, our situations, communities and families are polluted, run down and toxic because the transferred responsibility has not been upheld.
Not only did he take him, but he put him in the garden. He settled him in the Garden. Similar to the idea of settling down. When a man gets married we coin it with the adage, “Settling down”. Although the Garden of Eden was a place of work for Adam it was also a place of replenishment.
Stewardship is a responsibility but it should not turn into an obligation of resentment.
Stewardship also takes work, God put and took Adam to tend the garden. He was there to work, or expend considerable energy and intensity in a task or function. Stewardship takes work, but the blessing is the fact that many of the things we are managing God provided for us not because of who we are, but because of how good he is. Stewardship is a form of worship as well, this work tend can also be defined as service, to show God how thankful we are for the blessings he has bestowed upon us.
Last but not least God expected Adam to keep it. Keep or to cause a state or condition to remain. The condition of the blessings God gives us should be the bare minimum of how they should be. I remember my mother would always say, “Leave things better than you found them”.
In effort to keep what God has blessed us with, we have to observe for oneself. Pay attention, watch oneself, guard oneself. “Beware of Him and obey His voice; do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions; for My name is in Him.
God tells Adam to keep it, the commandment follows. “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day you eat of it, you shall surely die.

God is Sending Help

Understand something, God knows what we can manage on our own and what we need help with. Verse 18 states “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”
Be mindful, that Adam was not by himself. He had God, he was surrounded by animals. There was an whole vision that God had, that Adam could not achieve by himself. Therefore out of man, God created Eve.
Eve is designated a helper or one who assists and serves another with what is needed. It is a help rooted in strength, someone comparable with the power to accomplish a task.
Comparable - this is the position of the wife. Not a spousal secretary to field responsibilities you do not have time for, but a partner that mirrors your leadership. A spatial position anterior to another object. Anterior - nearer the front, especially situated in the front of the body or nearer to the head.The opposite of posterior.
Mirrored (Comparable), or anterior meaning she is always at the forefront of my mind, everything I do, I do with her at the forefront of my mind. Therefore she is a reflection of me. If she’s toxic, if she’s lazy, if she’s conniving, there is something wrong with my end of the mirror.
Anterior, not posterior. At the forefront of my existence, not the end of the line in my existence. If I’m a good steward of what God blessed me with, the things I’m managing are always at the forefront of my mind.
If Christ is the head of the church, Jesus should be a comparable partner, or at the forefront of the church as it pertains to vision, actions, and direction.
The climax of this story is the situation in which Eve is approached by Satan. The bible says that Adam was with her. He had the opportunity to be a good steward of the situation by he stepped out of view of the one who would mirror his actions. “She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate”. Eve could not mirror the actions of Adam because he gave her nothing to look at. Therefore the action mirrored was the action pressured by Satan, when we fail to be good stewards, we leave our families subject to the foolishness presented to them.
13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve. 14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.
Adam was not deceived, but because he did not provide a mirror image for Eve to look at, she fell victim to temptation.
This is the great thing about Jesus, God took him and put him on earth to tend and keep mankind. He came down and gave us an everlasting example of what it means to be a good steward of the calling of God!
Communities are in ruins, young men are absent of guidance
Learning from Television and Social Media the classes of defiance
It is time to step up, to take care of the things God blessed us with
Instead of making excuses of what the world stressed us with
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