The Beginning of Humanity
In The Beginning (Genesis 1-12) • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 51:20
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· 34 viewsAs we look at the beginning of humanity, we remember where we came from and how we came to be. Where we came from tells us something about who we are and what we are becoming. Most of all, we need to understand God’s design and purpose in creating us human, so that we can become all that God meant for us to be. I hope that this message will also be encouraging for women today, to know that you have such an important role In God’s plan for humanity.
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Theme for 2022 is “Begin Again”
This eight-part series is called “In the Beginning” and will carry us through May, June and into July with some breaks in between.
I thought it would be good for us to reset our thinking by going all the way back to the beginning.
Lets look at how God began everything and how God begins again.
Today is also Mother’s Day.
Last week we suggested that people might want to wear something in memory of their mother or from their children.
i would encourage you to ask people what they are wearing and why.
I know that mother’s day gets complicated by emotions like grief and regret.
But it is good to remember and honor where you came from.
As we look at the beginning of humanity, we remember where we came from and how we came to be.
Where we came from tells us something about who we are and what we are becoming.
Most of all, we need to understand God’s design and purpose in creating us human, so that we can become all that God meant for us to be.
I hope that this message will also be especially encouraging for women today, to know that you have such an important role In God’s plan for humanity.
Genetic scientists tell us that all of humanity has a pair of common ancestors. The Y chromosome that designates men as male comes from a single male ancestor. And the mitochondrial DNA that all of us carry comes from a single “Mitochondrial Eve” who they believe live between 100 thousand to 200 thousand years ago.
However, if you work at it from the other end, you can merge all of our family trees back to the point where, statistically speaking, we are all related. For example, if you go back a hundred generations, not only is the population of earth much smaller, but each of those people is more likely than not to be somewhere in our family tree, making us all “cousins” so to speak. Using this method, it is reasonable to conclude that the human family is somewhere between 4000-7000 years old. That seems to agree with the biblical account.
We all share a common humanity.
The basic building blocks of this humanity is the family: men, women and children.
Today, masculinity, femininity and the family unit are under attack.
We have forgotten what it means to be human.
But lets go back to the beginning to learn what God intended for humanity so that we can “begin again.”
God created man.
God created man.
We said last time that God when God created the world, He created light, beauty and order.
God filled the earth with creatures.
He gave all of the creatures the ability to reproduce, so that his beauty and goodness would multiply and eventually fill the earth.
And then He created man, and man was not just good, but very good!
As we look at Genesis chapter 2. I want to also revisit the end of Genesis chapter one to see what we can learn about the importance of God creating man.
Man represents God’s goodness.
Man represents God’s goodness.
God created the world from his own substance and it was good.
He made light out of darkness.
He made order out of chaos.
He made beauty from a watery wasteland.
And then he created man from the dust.
“Adam” sounds like the Hebrew word for mud or clay (adama).
He’s a “mud-man”
But unlike the mud from which he is made, he has life, beauty intelligence and purpose.
Where does that come from?
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
Man reflects God’s image.
Man reflects God’s image.
The concept of image is confusing for us today, but in the world of the Bible, it made perfect sense.
The image of God distinguishes man from all of the other animals.
We may share 98% of our DNA with a Chimpanzee, but the ability to know and contemplate God is distinctly human.
I heard of people teaching their dog to pray before eating his food.
The dog in this case is reflecting the faith of his master.
I doubt that without conditioning he ever would have learned to do that on his own.
Our ability to fellowship with God is part of that image.
Image is part of what it meas to be a Son or Daughter of God.
Not only does a son or daughter often look like the parent, but under certain circumstances they will represent the parent.
In Bible times, to be the son of someone is to represent them.
You carry the family name and thereby represent the family.
Image is also a delegated authority.
In addition to being a son who resembles the father, the father would also delegate authority to the son to manage his affairs.
The signet ring or seal was a sign of that authority.
It was like having your dad’s credit card or being able to sign his checks.
God has delegated authority on earth to mankind to manage and steward the earth.
And we thought we had a “blank check” to do whatever we want!
Roman coins had the image of the Emperor pressed onto them to show that commerce was conducted under the authority of the Emperor.
24 “Show me a denarius. Whose likeness and inscription does it have?” They said, “Caesar’s.” 25 He said to them, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
Jesus looked at the coin and said that because it bears his image it belongs to the Emperor.
But then he turned to the people and said, “give to God what is God’s”
In other words, “Whose image do you bear?”
You belong to God!
You are entrusted with his image, which means you represent Him, and He has given you authority.
What else has God given you?
Man is entrusted with God’s life.
Man is entrusted with God’s life.
4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. 5 When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, 6 and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— 7 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. 8 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Notice that everything, plants, animals, even the mist comes out of the ground and has life.
But God breathes his life into mankind.
God puts His own Divine Energy - His own Life Force into the man that He created.
All of life derives its energy and existence from the environment.
Plants, animals and humans all come from the same basic matter and breathe the same air.
But God placed something inside of mankind that he did not put in any other being - His own personal presence.
The Bible goes on to talk about man being separated from God and from His presence.
All through the Old Testament, God’s Spirit - which is also His breath or wind - comes on people at various times and for various reasons.
But then we meet Jesus _God in human flesh - who had the Spirit without measure.
Jesus dies for our sin ans rises again and then gives the Spirit - the very life of God - to those who believe and receive Him.
Without that life of God in you, you aren’t really living!
Sure, like the plants and animals you live in and receive life from your environment.
But if you are in Christ and His Spirit is in you, then the source of life is in you like a fountain of life overflowing to the world around you.
So far we have only used the term “man” and “mankind” - ladies, here’s where you come in - in fact, you are already in the story.
God created woman from man.
God created woman from man.
We have been using the word “man” up to this point, but that word is inclusive.
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
This is a nice little poetic way of saying that “man” was split in two and became “man” and “woman.”
Why is that important?
You may have been taught that man was created in the image of God and that woman was created in the image of man.
That would make woman lower than man.
It would make her subject to man for her identity.
But that is not what the Bible teaches.
The Bible teaches that man, who at this point is inclusive of both man and woman, is created in the image of God and that they become two - man and woman, both created in the image of God.
A woman is everything that “man” is.
A woman is everything that “man” is.
Everything that we have said thus far about man is also true of women.
Women are created in God’s image and likeness.
Women reflect the beauty, order and design of God.
Women are “very good” and perpetuate God’s goodness.
Women are image-bearers who represent God in this world.
Women share in the authority, responsibility and rulership of this earth.
Ladies, you are not second-class citizens in this world or in God’s Kingdom!
It is true that both male and female derive their being from God and reflect God.
God, therefore, has both male and female attributes.
But I am not in favor of using female pronouns for God for one simple reason:
The male gender pronoun is inclusive, just as the first mention of man in the Bible is also inclusive.
Whenever you read “man” in the Bible or other masculine pronouns, you can infer the feminine also unless the context indicates otherwise.
But feminine pronouns are exclusive- they refer only to females - and that is why I prefer not to use them.
Ladies, you are included in every promise of God to mankind!
You also share the responsibility.
Just don’t think that because we may fail to use feminine pronouns that you are in any way excluded.
Woman is man’s compliment.
Woman is man’s compliment.
19 Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. 21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”
When God made woman from man, the text says that he used a rib.
Unfortunately, sometimes we read that as if the part that God took to make woman is small, insignificant or expendable.
But that is not the correct picture.
Some translations now contain a footnote that says that she was taken from his side.
In other words, God split on man into two parts - man and woman.
That is also what Gen. 1:27 states.
When God took from Adam to make Eve, He didn’t just take a rib.
He took a great deal of his sensitivity and capacity for emotion.
He took some of his ability to multi-task, leaving him with “tunnel vision.”
He took some of his attention to detail (or maybe just the ability to see dirt.)
Now these are all just gross generalizations, but you get the picture.
Women are many things that Men are not.
In that way we compliment and complete one another.
Men are focused and get things done, but women keep us organized.
Men are protectors and providers but women are nurtures and relaters.
Men can be very logical (but they won’t ask for directions) whereas women are feelers, but feelings have their own sort of logic.
I could spend a whole sermon on the complimentary differences.
Right now I am speaking in generalities, but there are so many nuances to gender and personality.
The point is that we need each other because we balance one another.
I would just add for the sake of those who are single that this does not mean that any individual is incomplete without a mate.
The truth is that as couples we still have missing pieces that God supplies either by growing one or the other of us in that area or by the grace that He supplies.
And anyone walking in relationship with God can be made complete in Him.
What else does the creation of woman tell us?
She is also his equal.
She is also his equal.
Yes, the Bible talks about the husband being the head of the wife, but that distinction is one of function, not value or ability.
The Bible calls woman a “helper.”
You might read that as being his servant, but that is not what it means.
She is his associate, his colleague, his partner. (Ezer)
God is called our “helper.”
4 Behold, God is my helper; the Lord is the upholder of my life.
Does that make God your servant or your cherished partner whom you would not want to be without?
My frustration with the whole women’s equality movement is that it has focused so much attention on trying to prove sameness instead of equality.
Women and men are not the same, biologically or otherwise.
They do not have the same God-ordained roles and function.
There are some thing that women are better at; and some things that men are generally better at.
And there are exceptions to all of those generalization.
But that should never cause any of us to doubt that we are equal in terms of honor, value and importance in God’s eyes or anyone else’s.
Another way that people twist the Genesis story to degrade women is by saying that women were created second.
But the Bible has an answer for that:
11 But among the Lord’s people, women are not independent of men, and men are not independent of women. 12 For although the first woman came from man, every other man was born from a woman, and everything comes from God.
Happy Mother’s Day! - we all owe our existence to a woman.
We are all “helpers” in that we are all on the same team, working toward the same goals.
God created humanity from woman and man.
God created humanity from woman and man.
What is the goal in creating humanity?
God wanted a family.
God wanted a people with whom He would have fellowship.
God wanted these people to represent Him and to partner with Him in spreading His goodness throughout the earth.
So man is created “very good!”
From that one, God makes two so that they will have fellowship with God and with each other.
God’s strategy is multiplication.
God’s strategy is multiplication.
28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Those two are going to multiply themselves and fill the earth with God-designed, life filled, image-bearers who will be responsible for all of creation.
Humanity is supposed to be the pinnacle of God’s creation to manage the earth in such a way as to reflect and increase the Presence of God in this sacred place.
God planted a garden (v. 8) implies that God’s creative work was only begun and that God intended to partner with humanity to complete it.
But instead of Humanity helping God eradicate the chaos, the chaos got into humanity and God needed to redeem humanity back to His image and purpose.
We are now “new creation” in Christ Jesus!
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
New creation; a new humanity that is restored to God’s design and purpose
The plan of the enemy was to turn us against each other and against God.
Men and women as rivals instead of as partners.
Families producing dysfunctional and broken individuals instead of life-giving image bearers who reproduce God’s goodness.
Societies as places of power grabbing oppression instead of managing and stewarding the earth.
The chaos has penetrated our lives, our homes and our communities, but we were created to drive the chaos out!
How did we get things so turned around?
And how is God going to untwist this story?
God’s method is union.
God’s method is union.
24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.
Adam and Eve were the first marriage and in marriage is a picture of God’s method.
We know that God is three persons but one in essence.
All three were active in creation - Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Why would God make two out of one and then tell them that the two are meant to become one?
God wanted to teach us how to be in an equal, complimentary and harmonious relationship.
Paul says it is a mystery, but that marriage is really about Christ and the church.
32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.
God wants us to be in relationship with Him.
But we can’t even begin to comprehend Him.
Three-in-one; what is that? How does that work?
So God says, let’s start with two in one. See if you can get that right.
The church is the bride of Christ, meant to be in union with Christ.
But right now we are more like a “bridezilla” wanting everything our way and it is all about us.
What is we just learn to fall in love with Jesus? And make it about Him?
Union is giving a part of ourselves without losing ourselves in the process.
It’s just the reverse of what God did to Adam when he created Eve.
It’s also how we learn to be “in Christ” and part of His body.
God’s desire is for relationship.
God’s desire is for relationship.
I googled “What does it mean to be human?” and found this great summary on BBCearth.com which I will quote in part.
We weren’t the strongest animal, but we had an unusually large brain and held ourselves upright, giving us a high vantage to scan the distant horizon for enemies, and the freedom to use our hands for other purposes. Over time we began to fashion tools. These were primitive, but could tear through skin and muscle and gave us an advantage as we prowled our wild habitat for prey.
We might have continued our short life of hunting, savagery, and brutishness right through to today, but for one important development - language. Other animals could communicate, but we evolved astonishing vocal ability, able to create sounds that represented not just objects, but also concepts. We learned how to express ideas. We could speak of danger, hope, and love. We became storytellers, able to weave together common narratives about who we are and how we should live. From this point on the pace of change was electrifying.
Twelve thousand years ago, we learned how to domesticate plants and other animals for food, and were able to settle in one place. We became a social animal, building complex communities that become kingdoms, learning to trade with each other using a concept called money.
By 2500 years ago, a small group of humans in Southern Europe and the Middle East started to ask big questions about who we were. What is the best way to live? What is a good life? What does it mean to be human? How we responded to these questions is how we built our civilisation, art, and philosophy. Five hundred years ago, the scientific revolution began, allowing us to harness the resources of our planet to live longer and more productive lives.
When the digital revolution began only 50 years ago, the world shrank. We became a global village, our hopes and dreams converted into an infinite stream of ones and zeroes echoing throughout cyberspace. Today, we stand astride the world as a god, with both the power to destroy our own planet and to create life.
We may even be the last of our species to be fully human as bio-technology and artificial intelligence begin to rip apart the very core of who we are. Indeed, our Being Human campaign is led by Sophia, an incredible lifelike robot who is developing her own intelligence. She looks human, she sounds human, but she cannot yet think or feel like a human. How many years until she is truly one of us? Or we are one of them?
Our story is remarkable. The greatest story ever told. And while it is the story of astonishing development for our species, it is also the tale of billions of individual lives echoing down the millennia, all of them full of hope and promise, fear and disappointment. As we discover more about reality, we continue our ascent into insignificance, becoming a vanishing footnote in space and time, a speck of dust in the vastness of the universe. But to be human is to be at the centre of our own universe, to experience life in all its colours and all its potential. This is what we want to celebrate with Being Human - the awe of being alive and the thrill of discovering what it means to be us, the greatest wonder in the world.
I think this is a good summary of human growth and development which focuses on our achievement, but it is missing the most important ingredient - relationship with our creator.
We are not the center of our own universe - He is.
The greatest thrill in life is discovering what it means to be His.
When we do, we will no longer be a vanishing footnote in space and time.
We are more than a speck of dust, we are dust infused with life.
We learn that our unique ability to communicate is because we were designed for relationship.
We are designed for relationship with God and with each other.
When we realize that, perhaps we will stop worrying so much about who we are as individuals and how the world sees us; and see ourselves as God sees us, in His image.
Jesus Christ is the exact image of God and we are in Him, a new humanity being restored into the image of our Creator.
We were created to know and to be known.
Not just in terms of facts and scientific knowledge.
That is such a Western way of looking at the world.
We were created to love and to be loved.
That is what it means to be human.
Questions for Reflection:
Questions for Reflection:
Do you see yourself as someone created in God’s image? Are you reflecting His goodness and creativity? Are you multiplying and increasing God’s glory?
How do you see yourself as a man or a woman? Do you embrace who God created you to be? Are you functioning as a helper or as a competitor?
Does knowing where you come from help you to know where you are going? What does it mean to be “new creation”? What do you think it means to be human?