Genesis 2:15-25

THE FAMILY ACCORDING

TO GOD’S PATTERN

Intro: We are here today to celebrate the family. We are here especially to honor what God does in His providence in bringing people together in intimate family units.

      We are here to celebrate what the Lord has done for this family. We praise Him for how He has worked to enlarge this family for His glory. We praise Him for what this family teaches us about grace, love and glory of God.

      Today, I would like to draw our attention back to the dawn of time to the first family that ever existed. I would like for us to learn what we can from that family so that our own families might be found pleasing to the Lord.

      There are lessons here that we do not want to miss. I want to take a few minutes to talk to you about The Family According To God’s Pattern. God has a clear pattern, a template if you will that He expects every family to fit into. Let’s examine that pattern together for a few minutes today.

 

  I.            THE FOUNDATION

                    OF THE FAMILY

·         In this passage we see how the first family was formed. God made a man in His image and He named Him Adam. God placed Adam in a beautiful garden called the Garden of Eden, Gen. 2:7; 15-17.

      When the Lord considered the man in the garden, God said, “it is not good that the man should be alone”, Gen. 2:18. This statement stands out in sharp contrast to God’s summation of His creative work in Gen. 1:31. In that verse, God summed up His creation as being “very good”.

      God knows that every other being He has created on the earth has its counterpart, but Adam does not. So, God causes all the animals to pass before Adam. Adam names that all and realizes as they pass by that none of them are compatible with him, Gen. 2:19-20. Thus, God uses this event to awaken the realization of loneliness in Adam’s heart and to create a desire within Adam for companionship, for someone he does not have.

      Up to this point, Adam has been satisfied with his life and his surroundings. He is in a beautiful garden; he enjoys the presence of God; he has everything he wants and everything he needs. Now he knows that he does not have everything. A desire is awakened within Adam for a companion; for someone to complete him.

·         After shaping this desire within Adam, God took definite steps to satisfy that desire.

1.  It Involved Sleep – When it came time for God to make a helpmeet for Adam, He caused Adam to go to sleep while He did His work, v. 21. Adam was totally uninvolved in the selection process. It, like everything else in life, fell to the sovereign choice of God.

 

(Ill. There is a lesson here for those of you who are looking for that future spouse. The best thing you can do is just let that area of your life go to sleep and trust the Lord to bring that person into your life in His time and in His way.

      If God can be trusted to save your soul from Hell, do you not think that He can also be trusted to bring you the mate He wants you to have? May I remind you that the “just are to live by faith,” Hab. 2:4.)

 

2.  It Involved Surgery – While he was asleep, God performed surgery on Adam. He opened him up and took out a rib. It was from this rib that God made the woman.

 

(Ill. Surgery always involves pain. Often, finding a mate involves pain and even after a mate has been secured and vows have been exchanged, there are still painful times. However, we must learn to trust the Lord during the difficult times and to remember our commitment made to our spouse. We must fight for our marriages.)

 

3.  It Involved Symbolism – Notice where the woman came from. In taking her from the side of man, God was painting a picture that speaks volumes about what the marriage relationship should be.  Matthew Henry put it this way, “Eve was made by God not out of Adam’s head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, from under his arm to be protected and from near his heart to be loved.” 

      Far too many men walk around boasting about how they are “The head of the house!” They lord their supposed authority over their wives and treat them like dogs. Any man who does that is an idiot and needs an attitude adjustment! Here is what the Bible says about this matter – Eph. 5:21-33; 1 Pet. 3:7.

      The man is the head of the house. But, that position is not about authority. It is about responsibility!  The man will give account for his family to the Lord. It is a serious matter!

 

4.  In Involved Satisfaction - When Adam woke from his sleep, the first thing he saw was this brand new, absolutely beautiful, absolutely perfect woman there with him. Adam’s response is to say, “Now this is one like me”, v. 23.  Quite literally, Adam said, “Yes!”; or, as one theologian put it, “Hot diggety!” What Adam meant was that, finally, here was one that he did not want to live without. Here was one who was compatible with him, one with whom he could carry out the Lord’s command given in Gen. 1:28. Here was finally one who was compatible with him, who completed Him.

 

      (Ill. The lesson here is that in any marriage, there must be that element of heartfelt love and the sure knowledge that this is THE person God has created just for me. Marriage is not something to be entered into lightly. It should be prayed about and strictly observed according to the Lord’s commandments. If His Word is ignored, there can be nothing but trouble in the marriage relationship! It involves a response and that response is to say yes to that person that God has picked and prepared just for you.)

 

·         So, this first family was formed by God, and He blessed this union. He commanded to “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it,” Gen. 1:28. This command was fulfilled when Adam and Eve came together in a physical union, Gen. 4:1. That physical union resulted in children being born into the family. Thus was this family expanded and blessed by the hand of the Lord.

      God has done the same thing for this precious family. He handpicked Valerie and Jason for one another. They came together as husband and wife and the product of their union was their precious daughter Abbey. God has added to this family in a special way by allowing them to become the parents of Sam, Anna, Ella and Summer Grace. I will say more about that aspect in a few moments.

·         So, we see from these truths that the family was formed in the grace of God, for the glory of God and for the good of humanity.

 

 II.  THE FUNCTION OF THE FAMILY

·         The family was originally designed by God to glorify His name, to populate the earth, and to show His grace and love to the world. When the family functions as it should, the world can see a reflection of God’s grace in action.

·         For instance, consider how the Lord takes two total strangers and brings them together as husband and wife. It is worth noting what God says about this in Gen. 2:24, “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”

      To “leave” means to “depart from, to leave behind, to let alone”. Leaving the parental relationship to enter the marriage relationship means you are willing to place every other relationship at a lower priority than relationship with your spouse. This excludes, of course, your relationship with God. Your husband or wife is to be more than just a spouse. They are to literally be your best friend, Mal. 2:14. 

      Leaving implies that every activity outside of the marriage relationship must take a backseat.  This includes things like businesses, hobbies, friends, careers, sports, even church work. Outside of one’s relationship with God, there is no other relationship as important as the one you have with your spouse!

      To “cleave” means to “adhere to, to stick to, to be bound together by some strong bond.” Cleaving isn’t an instant thing. Rather, it is a lifelong pursuit. It begins at the marriage altar and continues to the deathbed. It speaks of total and absolute commitment. This is a word that is lacking in our modern society, especially when it comes to arena of marriage. The modern mind set says, “Well, we’ll try it for a while and if it doesn’t work, then I’ll just find me a new one.” That is a far cry from what God intended in the beginning! You see, “cleaving” is not a passive endeavor. In other words, it doesn’t just happen; it comes about as the result of effort.

      I say that any marriage is worth whatever effort is required to save it! By the way, the New Testament word for “cleave” means, “to stick like glue, to be welded together so that the two cannot be separated without serious damage to both.”  If we really believe that two become one flesh when they are married, then we would also believe that anything that tore that apart was a serious matter. That is why Jesus says, “What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder,” Mark 10:9.

·         God designed the family to display His grace and glory to the world. Since the dawn of time, mankind has attempted to redesign the family. The various perversions constructed by the minds of sinful men are aberrations of what the family should be. The family that God designed, a father, a mother, and the children given to them by the Lord in His providence brings honor and glory to His name in the world.

 

III.     THE FRUIT OF THE FAMILY

·         The family we are here to celebrate today, the Dowdell family, is special, different, and wonderful when it is compared to most other families.

Ø  It is special because it is a living picture of the grace of God in salvation.

Ø  It is different because it is a blended family.

Ø   It is wonderful because it is a family that has been designed by providence and sovereign choice.

·         Let’s consider for a few minutes what makes this family so unique.

·         When Abbey was born, Jason and Valerie were overjoyed. To them she resented the wonder, the glory and the grace of God in their lives. To them, she was, and is, hope fulfilled. To them, she was also the first of more. They wanted more children and hoped, as time passed, to see that dream made a reality.     Sadly, the tragedy of disease brought an end to their hopes of having anymore natural children. While their hope of having natural children was taken away, the dream of having more children never died completely.

      As a result, Jason and Valerie opened their hearts and theirs home as foster parents. Among the children placed in their home were Summer and Ella. Their siblings, Sam and Anna were placed with another family. Through a series of extraordinary circumstances, which they have already shared with us, and through the grace and ministry of Almighty God, all four of these precious children were placed in the Dowdell home. All four of these children were adopted by Jason and Valerie. That is the special blessing we are here to celebrate today.

      By adopting these children, Jason and Valerie have given us a powerful demonstration of what God has done for us in the Lord Jesus Christ.

·         Every one of us, by birth, was in a family that needed help. We were born into Adam and we were all doomed by our connection to him. (Ill. Rom. 5:12; 1 Cor. 15:22) In Jesus, we are adopted out of our old family, and placed in the family of God. God does not do this because we deserve it. He does it because He delights in doing it through His marvelous grace.

·         Here is what Paul says, “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son,” Col. 1:13. He also says this, “For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father,” Rom. 8:15.

·         Human adoption is a wonderful thing. When human parents choose a child to adopt, they do so because they have found a child they love and want to be a blessing to. That is wonderful.

      Humans have been adopting children for thousands of years. In fact, adoption was quite common in the Roman world of the New Testament. When a Roman citizen adopted a child, certain rules applied that brought great benefit to the one being adopted. The word “adoption” in the New Testament means “to place as a son”. The picture of adoption is a beautiful picture of what God does for the repentant sinner.

      In the ancient world the family was based on a Roman law called “patria potestas”, or “the father's power”. The law gave the father absolute authority over his children as long as the father lived. He could work, enslave, sell, and if he wished, he could even pronounce the death penalty on his children. Regardless of the child's adult age, the father held all power over personal and property rights.

      Therefore, adoption was a serious matter. Yet, it was a common practice to ensure that a family would not become extinct by having no male children. When a child was adopted, three legal steps were taken.

1. The adopted one was adopted permanently. He could not be adopted today and disinherited tomorrow. He became a son of the father forever. He was eternally secure as a son. (Ill. Consider the fiasco in Tennessee this past week. The mother who sent her adopted son back to Russia is a perversion of what adoption is meant to be.)

2. The adopted one immediately had all the rights of a natural child in the new family. The court order that placed Sam, Anna, Ella and Summer Grace in the Dowdell family was a type of the new birth. The instant that order was issued, these children became a part of a new family. That is just what happens when a lost sinner believes the Gospel and is saved by grace!

3.  The adopted one completely lost all rights in his old family. The adopted son was considered to be a new person, so new that old debts and obligations connected with his former family were cancelled out and abolished as if they never existed.

·         That is what happened to us when we came to Jesus Christ for salvation. We were instantly adopted into God’s family and became “children”. We were removed from our old family, and placed in Jesus. We were removed from the death and darkness of our past, and reborn into the family and kingdom of God, Col. 1:13. So now, in Jesus Christ, we are the sons of God, 1 John 3:2; Gal. 4:6. That will remain our standing throughout eternity! This is what Jesus made possible through His death and resurrection.

·         That is what makes this family, the family made up of Jason, Valerie, Abbey, Sam, Anna, Ella and Summer Grace so special today. They symbolize for us exactly what God has done for us in the Lord Jesus.

·         The function of the family is to glorify God. This family does that in ways that most of our families cannot reproduce. In this family, we see a demonstration of unconditional love, uncommon grace and unusual compassion. In this family we see the evident hand of a providential God. In this family we see the outworking of grace, power, love, prayer and hope. In this family we see the hand of God. In these things, we praise His name!

 

IV.    THE FUTURE OF THE FAMILY

·         If you trace the course of the first human family, you know that it is a history of death, pain, sorrow, suffering and misery. From the day Cain killed Abel unto this day; human history is an unbroken litany of destruction, difficulty and death.

      However, in the midst of all that pain, I see the continual gleam of hope.

Ø  When Abel died and Cain was banished, God gave Adam and Eve a son named Seth.

Ø  When Abraham and Sarah were unable to have children, God gave them an Isaac.

Ø  When Isaac needed a bride, God gave him Rebekah.

Ø  When Rebekah was unable to have children, God gave them Jacob.

Ø  Through Jacob twelve sons were born. The sons of Jacob were a motley crew. They were a family of weak, immoral men. Yet, out of one of those sons, a man named Judah was born the family that produced the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.

·         I am trying to remind you that the human family has always had its problems, but it has always found hope in the providence and promises of Almighty God. Nothing has changed. Families are not perfect, but they are a “God thing”. They are a reflection of His love for, and His work on behalf of, lost sinners.

·         The Dowdell family has grown instantly from three souls to seven souls. There are trials, struggles and hardships that come along with that kind of growth that few of us can even come close to understanding.

      I believe that God has put this family together. I know that He will look to the needs of this family. He will provide sufficient grace for every struggle you will face in living together, solidifying your family and raising these children.

·         Many in our day would question the motives and the reasoning behind what Jason and Valerie have done here. But, when I look at this family, I am encouraged and I am reminded afresh that there is hope for the family. There is hope for this family and there is hope for our families. That hope is found in the Person of our God Whom we know because of our relationship with Him through our Savior Jesus Christ.

 

Conc: There is much more that could be said about the family. These scattered thoughts should serve to remind us that the family is important. The family must be supported, prayed for, maintained and honored.

      This family, for which we are so thankful, and which teaches us so much about the grace of God, should be helped, prayed for and ministered to. I call on their extended family, their church family and their friends to look to their needs. Help them materially, physically and monetarily. Most of all lift up their hands in prayer day by day. Let’s help them to continue to be a family that reflects the glory of God to all who see them!