This is a sermon series called Origin Story: Genesis 2:18-25, “Marriage.” July 26, You can watch more here.
Well, this morning we are going to see God’s Word speak to marriage. I love our passage this morning. My wife and I have probably walked 30-40 engaged couples through this passage in preparation for marriage. And the subject of marriage is an exciting topic in our culture right now, because our culture has two competing ideas on marriage right now.
First view, not interested in marriage. Marriage is expensive. Marriage is an institution. Marriage is designed by governments to control and oppress. Women don’t need marriage because they can make their own money. Men don’t need marriage, because they have pornography, so that in our culture today, especially in Austin, it’s common to find people who want nothing to do with marriage.
But, there are some people in Austin who are very excited about marriage. The excitement doesn’t have anything to do with Jesus, but people love the wedding dress, decorations, invitations, event venue, and finding that special someone. But God’s Word gives us a different perspective toward marriage this morning. Let’s look at Genesis 2, verse 18:
Genesis 2:18, “18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.”
This is the first time we have seen the phrase “not good” in Scripture. Over and over we’ve seen good, good, good, very good, good, good, and then bam, NOT GOOD. Keep in mind, Genesis 3 hasn’t happened yet. The fall of humanity hasn’t taken place. Humanity is in perfect harmony and union with God, and yet God’s Word says, “it is not good for man to be alone.”
It doesn’t mean a man or a woman can’t be single their whole life, but it does mean the creation of marriage plays a foundational role in the establishment of humanity, so that God says, “I will make him a helper suitable for him.” Do you see that in verse 18?
Genesis 2:18, “18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.”
This language “helper suitable” might rub some of us the wrong way, but God’s Word is introducing marriage between husband and wife as a complimentary relationship with one another. Write that down in your devotional. Marriage isn’t supposed to be one spouse dominating over another spouse. Marriage also isn’t supposed to be both spouses being so equal to one another that they serve the same purpose, but God’s Word is saying, “Husband and wife are both equal in value” (Genesis 1, male and female, made in His image) but they have a complimentary role with one another.
Our culture says one role is more important, but God’s Word is saying the husband and wife are like your heart and lungs. They are completely different organs with different functions. Your lungs can’t do what your heart does, and your heart can do what your lungs do, but together they make life possible.
In addition, the word “helper” isn’t describing the wife as a lesser role in marriage. The wife isn’t an assistant to the husband as the “helper.” In fact, the word “helper” is the same word used to describe the Holy Spirit as our “Helper.” So that, the word “helper” isn’t a soft word but a powerful word for the wife in marriage as she compliments her husband as “helper suitable.” Look at verses 19-20:
Genesis 2:19-20, “19 Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him.”
Last Sunday Jerry walked us through verses 4-17. Didn’t he do a great job? In verse 4 we got to see humanity is given responsibility to cultivate and keep the garden, so that again, in verses 19 we see Adam exercising authority over creation as the birds and the beasts are given names.
But, in verses 20 we see none of these animals were the right fit for Adam, so that the passage is written in a way to build anticipation for the marriage that is to come. Kanye just did a concert in San Antonio where he is standing on a giant inflatable globe with a microphone which to be fair, is very Kanye. In the clip Kanye just plays one note of the song “Runaway” and then stops and the crowd goes bonkers. Why? It’s because Kanye is building anticipation to draw the audience into the moment. That’s a little of what’s going on in our passage, and in some ways, that’s what’s going on in the life of our church family right now.
The Lord knows what 2027 looks like. He knows how all this is going to unfold, but the slowness of the Lord isn’t to be mean, but instead He is creating these moments to draw us closer to Himself and closer to one another for His glory. Isn’t that beautiful? Look at verse 21:
Genesis 2:21, “21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place.”
Notice the man contributes nothing to the process of Eve being created. This is entirely God’s handiwork being put on display, because the introducing of the gift of marriage into humanity isn’t a human invention. Write that down! Biblical marriage is a divine creation! I know marriage is hard. Genesis 3 introduces sin and when man and woman come together in marriage it is going to be difficult. My parents got divorced when I was 3-years old. I grew up with my mom going through 7 marriages, so when I come to faith in Jesus I thought, “I am never getting married.”
But, by God’s grace, my wife and I have been married for 27-years and I can tell you, even in the goodness of our marriage, there are moments of difficulty. There have been times my wife and I have looked at each other and wondered, “Why did we get married?” But the gift of marriage is critical to humanity, because it is out of marriage we see families and families produce clans and clans produce tribes and tribes produce countries, so that civilization as a whole all starts with the gift of marriage! Look at verse 22:
Genesis 2:22, “22 The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.”
Notice the word “fashioned.” In the original language it means “built” which means God’s Word is making a point to show us that He is intimately, carefully, and intentionally involved with Adam back in verse 7 and intimately involved with Eve in verse 22. (Male and female He created them.)
Then, notice at the end of verse 22, the God of Scripture builds her and brings her to the man, so that in verse 22 we are seeing our first wedding ceremony. Listen, I know it’s fashionable today in our culture to hate on men and hate on the idea of a father walking his daughter down the aisle, because women aren’t possessions. Blah, blah, blah, I get it!
But the reason the father walks the daughter down the aisle and gives away his daughter is not to enforce patriarchy. The act is meant to be a throwback to Genesis 2 when the God of Scripture brings the woman to the man as his bride, because a biblical wedding isn’t about the party, the food, or the dances being put on display. A biblical wedding is about the glory of God being put on display as He brings man and woman together in marriage to fill the earth with His glory! Look at verse 23:
Genesis 2:23, “23 The man 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.”
This wording in verse 23 is meant to read as poetry or as a song. It’s as though Adam has been looking at all these birds and beasts like, “Not like me, not like, not like me, not like me…” and then he sees woman and he’s like, “Hey, she’s like me! She is bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh.” Kind of sounds like a Luke Bryan song, “Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh, Back of the truck like a Sunday mess.”
Look, I am sure there is a lot of heartache that comes with marriage, but there is also a lot of sweet memories that can come with marriage. Ephesians 5 specifically speaks to a husband “washing his wife with the Word” so that the husband is learning about the strengths and weaknesses of his wife over the life of a marriage, and instead of using those things against her, the husband can, listen to me, the husband can encourage his wife and speak truth over her, because just as he has been called to cultivate and care the garden, so is God’s Word calling him to cultivate and care for his wife so that she grows and blossoms under his care. Amen? It’s possible!
Husbands, listen to me, you can do this! You have been indwelled by the Holy Spirit, gifted the role as husband, therefore, lean into it. Get into God’s Word. Get connected with other men who are growing in character. We will meet again tomorrow! And, maybe we can get tastes of heaven on earth in marriage! We have a resource called Prepare and Enrich where Holly and I can walk a couple through some resources for a married couple to encourage and equip to live out the roles He intended. It can happen! Look at verse 24:
Genesis 2:24, “24 For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.”
In verse 22 we see the union of marriage, in verse 23 we see the vows, and in verse 24 we see the honeymoon. Notice the three movements; leave, cleave and they become one flesh. This idea of leaving is that the husband and wife are no longer receiving financial, emotional, relational and spiritual support from mom and dad.
Instead they “cleave” to one another as husband and wife. It doesn’t mean parents no longer matter, but that the union of husband and wife in marriage is creating a new family. This is why God’s Word uses the language of “one flesh.” The husband and wife are no longer two different families with two different perspectives. They are one flesh. Ephesians describes the wives body belonging to her husband and the husbands body belonging to his wife. Why? They are one flesh!
When a husband and wife are in an argument and one of them wins the argument, then they both lose, because they are one flesh, therefore, the marriage is constantly growing in this area of operating as a win-win; one flesh! Again, God’s Word isn’t describing every marriage operating in these truths all the time. Genesis 3 is coming. Marriage is going to have difficulties, but God’s Word is describing the idea of marriage that is to be held in high honor!
And it isn’t because marriage is what’s most important in life. It’s because the gift of marriage in humanity ultimately points us to Jesus, because in Mark 2 in the New Testament, Jesus refers to Himself as the “bridegroom.” Isn’t that interesting? Jesus is the ultimate husband! Just as a bride in a wedding is clothed in white, blameless and pure, not because of her morality, her virginity, or her purity. How silly? No, that bride is dressed in white as a reminder of the purity we are given in Christ as His bride.
And then, in Revelation we see the image of a wedding banquet where Jesus comes to gather those who are His as His bride, so that just as Adam joyfully receive his bride, so is Jesus willfully, joyfully coming to redeem His bride. Amen? Look at verse 25 for my favorite verse:
Genesis 2:25, “25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.”
Isn’t that great? This isn’t merely physically being naked and not ashamed. This is perfect union in marriage. It’s total openness before God and one another. Nothing is hidden. No unresolved conflict. No hurt feelings. No pretending. It’s perfect! Humanity in perfection relationship with itself and with Him!
Listen to me, in Christ, this is the opportunity we get as a church in central Austin to live out on earth as it is in heaven. It doesn’t mean we are perfect, but we are redeemed in Christ. We are reconciled in Christ. We are no longer living under shame, but through faith in Jesus we are unashamed. Amen?
As His people, we get to confess, forgive, encourage, reconcile, serve, and bless others as an extension of His grace. Isn’t that beautiful? I mean, let’s just take a moment and imagine marriages built on His grace in our church family. Husbands and wives forgiving and growing in Christ. Husbands and wives navigating adversity under His care and His provision. C’mon!
Imagine friendships with one another that aren’t driven by stage of life so that singles hang out with singles, married, with married, parents with parents, because we enjoy the gift of marriage, but marriage or the lack of marriage isn’t our identity. C’mon! Genesis 3 is going to bring sin and shame. Humanity will try to cover up that shame with fig leaves and the clothes and status and addictions and accomplishments and money and physical appearances, but God’s Word is reminding us that He didn’t create this world to live under sin and shame, so that Genesis 2 is reminding us that this world is His world!
Jesus comes to bear our shame at the cross. That’s Hebrews 12! Jesus comes to clothe us in His righteousness. That bride is dressed in white as a reminder of the purity we are given in Christ as His bride. Amen?
North Village Church
This sermon is brought to you by North Village Church, a non-denominational church in Austin. established in 2009 and built around Jesus and Bible teaching. Are you looking for a church in Austin? At North Village Church we put Jesus at the center of our church family. We worship together every Sunday at 10:30am, encourage Christ centered fellowship through groups, and host special events such as Bible studies and Theological Training, to ensure that we are rooted in in God’s Word. We also serve our local community in association with several Austin based organizations.
North Village Church is made up of professionals, married couples, singles, and families who are wanting to experience the life-transforming power of Jesus. If you are a family with children or teens, we can support you with either or both our Kids Ministry and Youth Ministry. You are welcome to contact us if you would like more information.
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