Human Sexuality is a Signpost

Aaron Whitmire

Genesis • Sermon • Submitted 4 years ago

Genesis 2:18–25

Sexuality

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Human sexuality is a signpost that points to the gospel.

Notes

Transcript

Genesis 2:18–25 NKJV

18 And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” 19 Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him. 21 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. 22 Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. 23 And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.” 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

Introduction

A while back my oldest daughter and I took a trip to the grocery store to pick something for supper. It was later in the evening so lots of people were getting off work and they must have needed to stop and get supper too. Needless to say, the checkout line was pretty long. Now, as we were standing there, I noticed that the man in front of us was staring at something. I mean he had that glazed over radar effect going on because his eyes were locked in place! I thought to myself, “Whatever he’s looking at sure must be interesting!”, and then I saw what it was. It was the magazine rack a couple of lines down from the line we were in, you know, the tabloids. Right smack in the middle, was a picture of a woman who was so scantily clothed that a light sneeze would have caused it all to fall off! Now, the fact that she was dressed like that and having her picture made was no surprise to me, after all, it a pretty common theme in our society, and it has been for a long time now. However, what did surprise me was that the magazine was at just the right height for my six-year-old daughter or eight-year-old son not to miss it, and the giant three letter word in red letters on the front said it all. SEX. You know, it’s not enough that we have an entire industry devoted to exploiting sexuality, but we seem to work really hard at indoctrinating our children at the youngest age with a view of human sexuality and marriage that points in the polar opposite direction of what God’s Word teaches. As we stood there in line, I just got madder and madder because, one, I could hear all of the questions my daughter was going to ask me when we got in the car if she saw the picture, and two, because the twisted view of human sexuality that stuff like that teaches is a slap in the face to my wife, and for that matter, any woman! Why? Well, it’s because human sexuality is a signpost that points beyond itself to the gospel. You see, when God created us male and female, he did it for a reason, so that in the relationship that exists between a husband and a wife he might point everyone who sees it to the relationship between his own Son and his bride.

Meant for a Mate

Genesis 2:18–20 NKJV

Take a look at verses 18-20. Some things just go together don’t they, peanut butter and jelly and biscuits and gravy. To save my life I cannot imagine having a meal on New Year’s Day without pork, collard greens (even though I don’t like them), and black-eyed peas! Some things are just meant to go together, they’re meant to have a mate, the correct mate. When you read about God creating all of the animals one thing you’ll notice is that in the account he tells them to be fruitful and multiply. Well, simply put that’s not possible for them to accomplish unless they have a mate that they fit with, one that complements them physically. When I look at verse 18 the very first thing that jumps out at me is that for the first time, we get a negative and it comes straight from the mouth of God. He says, “It is not good that man should be alone.”, but there’s an issue here, at this point in the story Adam doesn’t know that. So how does God handle the problem? He says, “I will make him a helper comparable to him.” Now that word there, “comparable” is kind of interesting. In the original Hebrew it’s the word נֶגֶד (ně·ḡěḏ) and it at its most basic it means “like” or “fit for”. Different English versions of the Bible translate it with lots of different words. For example, the ESV uses the phrase “fit for”, the CSB has it as “corresponding to”, both the NASB and NIV translate the word as “suitable”, and the NKJV has the word “comparable”. The point that each of these is trying to get across is that Adam’s helper, the mate that he’s meant for, needs to be similar to him while at the same time being different both physically as well as mentally/emotionally because as we’ll find out later on, their roles are going to encompass different spheres. Here, I think it’s important to point out what the text doesn’t say, it doesn’t say that his mate needs to be his mirror image. Now, the way God gets this message across to Adam is fascinating because he could have sat down and had a conversation with Adam, or he could have simply imbedded the knowledge in him, after all, he is God. Instead, God chooses to teach Adam through an object lesson that you read about in verse 19. All of the animals are brought to Adam where he gives them names. We’re not told in the text here the instructions and criteria God gave Adam to give the animals their names, but I wonder if it might have had something to do with the function or role each animal in the world because in the last part of verse 20 it says that Adam wasn’t able to find a “helper” that was comparable or like him. That word “helper” is really important because it refers to one who assists someone else with what’s needed. Now, I don’t know about you, but I know lots of ways that many different animals can help us humans, they can help us with physical labor and they can even supply companionship at its most basic level, but what they cannot supply is the intimate relationship that comes from another human being, and add to that the fact that Adam was called to be fruitful and multiply, something that only comes through human sexuality and the union between one man and one woman. Human sexuality, being male and female, is important folks; it’s extremely important to God’s plan! The point is that Adam was meant for a mate that was made like him but at the same time different, and that is only achieved through the narrative that is set forth in Scripture, not the narrative you’re taught from a magazine rack in a grocery store!

Made for a Mate

Genesis 2:21–24 NKJV

21 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. 22 Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. 23 And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.” 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Now, after God showed Adam the necessity of having a helper that was comparable to him, verses 21-24 tell us how God made this helper and also a little about the purpose behind it. How many of you remember Christmas when you were a kid? If you were anything like me, it was hard for you to go to sleep. Man, I was so excited about what good ole Saint Nick might bring that I would lay there sometimes for hours. When I read these verses, I wonder if Adam might have been a little bit like that because verse 21 says that “God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam”, and it was while Adam was snoozing that God did his work. We’re told that he took one of Adam’s “ribs” and then “closed up the flesh in its place.” Then, verse 22, God took the rib and he “made it into a woman.” The text literally says that God “built a woman from Adam’s side”. Now, we’ve got to be careful here because the text doesn’t tell us a lot about how God did what he did and the word that’s used for “rib” can simply mean “side”. I think the most we can say is that whatever God did and whatever he took from Adam was just right because of Adam’s response when he sees his wife for the first time. I like the way the HCSB translates this because it seems to picks up on the relief as well as the amazement of Adam when he sees his bride for the first time, “This one, at last, is bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh; this one will be called woman for she was taken from man.” So, imagine, if you will that you’re Adam and you’ve spent a lot of time naming all of those animals, only to finally realize that not one of them is suitable for you. Don’t you think you’d have some questions; don’t you think you might be a little concerned. I mean, how are you supposed to accomplish the task that God set before you, be fruitful and multiply? Maybe you’re concerned about this to the point that God has to “cause” you to go to sleep. But then after you wake up, oh what a surprise you’re met with! “At last” verse 23 says, finally, you find out that there’s someone just for you, someone that will complement you and help you accomplish the task that God has set before you, and guess what, there’s a greater purpose behind all that’s happened to you, and that’s where verse 24 comes it. Now, here’s where you’ve got to understand that we’re looking back on all of this in retrospect. From our perspective we have all of pieces to the puzzle of redemptive history to help and inform us; what’s happening here in the text with Adam and Eve is loaded with meaning and here’s why. A few thousand years later another man would have his side ripped open by a Roman spear while he was hanging on a cross outside of Jerusalem. He was then taken down placed in a tomb and after three days the Father said, “I’m closing up that wound, now rise!” Friends, when Jesus Christ stood to his feet and walked out of that hole in the ground in the Middle East, he began building a woman, his own bride! Human sexuality is a signpost that points beyond the simple act of a three-letter word written in big red letters on magazine rack. It points to the gospel pictured in the relationship between Christ and his church. How can I say this? Because Paul tells me that I can!

22Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord, 23 for the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of the body. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so wives are to submit to their husbands in everything. 25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her with the washing of water by the word. 27 He did this to present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or anything like that, but holy and blameless. 28 In the same way, husbands are to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hates his own flesh but provides and cares for it, just as Christ does for the church, 30 since we are members of His body. 31 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh” (Ephesians 5:22–31).

The relationship between a husband and wife is described as a covenantal one, one in which communion is shared, not one in which the husband dominates his wife. God intended for Adam to have dominion over all his creation, but that dominion was to be a shared responsibility in which a couple, that is, two humans that are different, but at the same time fit for one another are fruitful multiply and fill the world. This is why you and I are made male and female. (This is why it’s Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve!) Does it mean that it’s sinful to be a single person? Of course not, because single people find communion within the body of Christ, the church, but what it does mean is that imbedded in us as human beings is the realization that God intended marriage to be between one man and one woman and that marriage and human sexuality points us to the gospel because it is a picture of Jesus Christ and his church! (Pause) But what happens when this gets messed up? Verse 25 points us to the answer.

When Things Get Twisted

Genesis 2:25 NKJV

25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

Verse 25 is an amazing verse. Here we’re told that Adam and Eve were naked and not ashamed. What happened? Simply put, prior to sin entering the picture both Adam and Eve were in perfect communion with each other and with God. There was nothing that stood between them. They were both perfectly fit for their respective roles that God had set up for them in his creation, but when sin entered the picture that changed. How so? The answer is actually really simple, inadequacy. You see, when we see one another for what we really are we recognize the inadequacies we have in fulfilling our desires, which by the way are driven by both our sinfulness as well as the powers of evil using them against us. What this causes us to do is worship ourselves instead of the one who created us (read Romans 1:18-32) and it turns us in upon ourselves and causes us to look for satisfaction in a picture of half-naked man or woman on a magazine rack in the local grocery store, instead of in our Savior, Jesus Christ. Now friend come in real close because what I’m going to say here is REALLY important! You have to see yourself for who you really are, a sinner, and when does that happen? It’s happens when God opens your eyes to see the fact that that person standing there gawking at the magazine in a grocery store, that’s you, and you don’t need the story the world teaches, instead you need Jesus. if that’s you, are you ready to come today.

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