The Lord's Prayer: a talk

Matthew 6:1-18 God’s Secret Service Talk @NSCCCS 20070325
William Ng

Main Point: We only live to please God and not people.

Sub Point: God will justly repay what is done, whether in secret or in open.

1. Fresh organization (Matthew 6:9-10; 5:1-10, 48)

2. For His eyes only (6:1-4, 5-8, 16-18)

3. Forgiveness, the essential response to God (6:12-15)

4. Our secret service

1"Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

2"So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 3But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

5"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

9"This, then, is how you should pray:
" 'Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
11Give us today our daily bread.
12Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.^[a]' 14For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

16"When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 17But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you…”

Matthew 6:1-18 “God’s Secret Service”

1. Fresh organization (Matthew 6:9-10; 5:1-10, 48)

Fresh Organization

We should always shudder with fear and excitement when we listen to Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount. Because Jesus is showing to His dearest friends and followers a fresh organization of our present world. He tells us what this organization, or God’s new kingdom looks like, feels like and what the people act like. And we see from the middle of this passage that the standard of God’s new kingdom is perfect.

It’s in verses 9-10:

“…'Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven…”

What is heaven like? It’s perfect! God is bringing that heavenly world to our present earth. That’s a world being organized by God, a world under His rule with people listening to His ways. That is exciting news. But it is fearful news, because we as Jesus’ friends, we hear what we are to be like. The opening of the Sermon on the Mount called Jesus’ friends blessed, remember those poor in spirit, those who mourn, those who are meek, who thirst and hunger for the right, the merciful, the pure, the peacemakers and those persecuted for following Jesus. In summary, 5:48 tells us that Jesus’ friends, who are part of this new kingdom are to be “perfect, therefore, as [our] heavenly Father is perfect.”

God’s people will be willing

A massive part of our lives will be to respond to God’s teachings and be willing to be His people of the new kingdom and work out His teachings in our lives. Jesus wanted our active will and participation in this kingdom when He asked us to pray the Lord’s prayer:

“…'Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven…”

But because it’s God’s kingdom, which He’s bringing, and we are weak humans who cannot meet His standards, we must ask for His help. So why don’t you pray with me:

[Prayer. Note this prayer is important as we bring the hearers to depend on God’s grace and mercy.]

2. For His eyes only (6:1-4, 5-8, 16-18)

Good works for His eyes only

Jesus wants us to be doers of good, but more than that, He wants us to have God as our only audience. We are to do all our work for His eyes only. And we do not want to please our peers, friends or even leaders or parents. Instead we please God alone and God is our only audience. 6:1 tells us clearly:

“Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.”

How to give, pray and fast

And Jesus mentions three righteous acts of giving money to the poor, praying to God and fasting, where we are to avoid a public audience.

Have a look at 6:2-4. In those days, the temptation was to boast in how much you could give to the poor. The synagogue was an organization that would have the role of looking after the needs of the poor. They didn’t have social services then. And on top of the tenth of what they earned given as offertory, people would give more to meet the needs of the poor. But it is easy to brag, to let the neighbours know how much you are giving, to ask the Rabbi to make a special announcement or to publicly shower food and coins to a blind man on the market street.

But Jesus says that when we give we don’t need to tell the whole world, we don’t even want the person sitting next to us to know how much we give, and if we could help it we don’t even want our left hand know what our right hand is doing. So secret is our giving that only God our Father, who sees everything we do, is to know! He is our only audience.

Similarly from vv.5-6, we don’t shout on top of our voices and kneel in the middle of our rooms to pray. We are to find a private room, close the door and pray to our Father, who is our only audience when we pray. There is no need either, in vv. 7-8, to use fancy words, complex sentences to manipulate God into giving us our needs. God sees our hearts, and He knows our needs already when we pray to Him. So our prayers can be short, straight to the point and we can use our own words to pray to God, our only audience.

And it’s the same when we fast. Now I know not many of us fast, but Jesus treats it as something that His disciples do normally. Fasting teaches us that we depend on God¹. But when we fast, it’s not public, we don’t mess up our hair, forget to wash our faces and write on our T-shirts “Holy Man Fasting”, but it’s a matter between us and God, because He is our only audience.

God justly repays

The reason to choose God as our only audience our friends, peers and leaders is that God rewards justly. Look at what happens when giving is done in secret, verse 4b: “…then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” It is repeated again in v.6, “Then [our] Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward [us].” And just in case we missed it, Jesus tells us again when we fast in v.18, “[so] that it will not be obvious to men that [we] are fasting, but only to [our] Father, who is unseen; and [our] Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward [us].”

You see, when we live for other peoples’ praise, “Ooh, look how generous he is,” or “Hey, isn’t so and so a great prayer?” or “Did you know that this leader fasts 3x a week?”, God gives us what we asked for: the praise of other people. If we only look for boasting in this life time, that is what we will get and no more. The congratulations, the high from feeling great about ourselves and our paper certificates, will turn to dust and burn with the end of this world. Men’s praise will be forgotten, useless and empty.

But our Father in heaven loves to reward things done for His eyes only. He will say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant²,” when we see Him face to face at the coming of the new world. Because He sees right into our hearts and looks for the attitude that aims to please Him and Him alone.

Jesus isn’t talking about earning our favour with God, or pleasing our perfect Father so that He pays our good work with salvation. That’s blasphemous, contrary to Jesus’ teaching and His work. No, Jesus is saying that those who are already in God’s kingdom and saved, they are the ones who will want to please God alone, they are to say no to the temptation to gain earthly praise at the loss of God’s own praise³.

So when we work for God alone, He sees our hearts, and will justly reward us with the praise He so enjoys giving to His children. He is to be our only audience and the only audience that matters.

3. Forgiveness, the essential response to God (6:12-15)

Forgiveness is our basic need

Our Father, understands our deepest need and this is in the centre of the whole Sermon and in the middle of the prayer that Jesus modelled for us. We are ignoring the prayer as a whole because that is another challenging lesson by itself. Concentrating on vv.12-15, we see that our deepest need is the forgiveness that comes from our Father. Our most urgent prayer is that God will cancel the debt that we owe to Him as we sin against Him, fail to do His will, forget to honour Him, and even as we fail in our relationships with other people because He cares for the ones we sin against.

Once forgiven, we will forgive others

But Jesus told us to pray, “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” Why does Jesus expect that God’s people to have already forgiven others who owe them, who sin against them, who have hurt them? Because those, who experience the deep, wide, long and broad forgiveness of God, have the capacity to forgive other people. And an unforgiving heart is a sign that we have not tasted the forgiveness of God.

Try a little mental test with me. Think of someone who’s hurt, sinned against or mistreated you. Turn all your energy into hating that person with your heart and mind… do you notice what’s happening? We do not remember or feel the love of God, the mercy of God and His forgiveness whilst we are hating our sister/brother like that. It’s like trying to move and be still at the same time, to sleep and be awake in the same moment, it cannot be done.

But on the other hand, think now, and give thanks with your heart for the love of God shown towards you, freely and deeply. When you remember this, you can extend the same forgiveness toward your enemy. These two attitudes, thoughts and emotions are compatible, but an unforgiving heart, is incompatible with an understanding of God’s kindness to us. So we pray to our Father “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”

4. Our secret service

Today’s challenge to live with God as our only audience from Jesus’ lips is real in so many ways.

a) CLAY parallels: Giving, serving, leading

Empty Praise

Do all ministries for God, do them well,

Do not minister for our own good, own name, own reputation…

Face is not only big in Chinese cultures, it’s big in all earthly cultures…

Empty, useless rewards, waste of our lives…

Does not result in good ministries…

Godly Freedom [to serve God]

I think there is incredible freedom when we reject peer pressure, peer review and peer judgement…

Instead, use our freedom to serve God… because His reward and praise is best and sweet.

E.g. Unrewarding ministries, hard ministries, dangerous ministries, unwise ministries…

b) Private time = secret service to God

Not Sunday time, not fellowship time, but every other time…

Esp. in relationships with others away from home, away from Christian circles, away from CLAY because He sees all, delights most in our daily walk with Him.

c) Care in our study and work

School work, uni-work and work-work…

Work as though we are working for the Lord.

d) Attitude of forgiveness

Forgiveness…

Whom do we need to forgive?

1 Must find biblical support apart from Matthew.

2 Matthew 25:21-23.

3 Luke 17:7-10. Even when we do God’s will, God does not necessarily need to give us praise, yet He delights in praising His servants, cf. Matthew 5, 25.

Labourers for the Gospel: a Talk from Romans 16

Romans 16:1-27 "Labourers for the Gospel" 2006-12-17

William Ng

1. Structure

   1. Commendations (1-2)

   2. Greetings to the church in Rome(3-16)

   3. Warnings (17-20)

   4. Greetings from Corinth (21-23)

   5. Doxology (24-27)

2. Points

   1. Main point: Those who labour for the Gospel are honoured by God

   2. Sub-point 1: Gentiles, Jews and all kinds of people have been brought into God’s church

   3. Sub-point 2: God triumphs over Satan’s attempt to break the church

   4. Sub-point 3: The Gospel must be made known to everyone

3. Applications

   1. Support people who preach and tell others about Jesus

   2. Welcome all people into the church

   3. Do not welcome self-serving people who lead others away from God

   4. Praise God for His great power and wisdom shown in the Gospel

   5. Labour for the Gospel this Christmas by evangelising everyone

Talk Outline

1. Greetings to the church in Rome

   1. Honour to the labourers

   2. One Family

2. Warnings to the church

3. God’s power and wisdom

   1. Gospel Revealed in Christ

   2. Gospel made known to everyone

Talk Romans 16 (17^th Dec 2006)

When we hear talks that explain to us the full picture of the Gospel and talks that urge us to live godly lives because of the Gospel, we might forget that Paul was not actually giving a sermon. All this time, in Corinth, Paul was dictating a letter to his friend Tertius (verse 22), that was going to be posted – Palestinian style – to the church in Rome. This letter was to be delivered by hand, and the lady mentioned in verses 1 & 2, Phoebe, was most likely the bearer of this letter. Snail mail back then was slow, long and dangerous: journeys had to be made over land, and sometimes even by ship, before a letter could be delivered. Phoebe would have needed a certificate or letter of commendation from Paul, so that she could travel safely through cities and towns. This long letter of Romans eventually got there, and was treasured by those at church there, or else I don’t think they would have made copies of it, to keep, to read, to reread and to share with other churches. In this last section of the letter, we are learning about the real person carrying the letter, about those Christians actually receiving the letter and about Paul’s relationship with these Christians. Let’s look in detail at how Paul greeted the church in Rome!

1. Greetings: church in Rome (1-16)

Honour to the labourers

The first thing you will notice is that Paul gives great honour to the labourers of the Gospel. Look at how Paul describes Phoebe in verses 1 & 2. She is a servant of the church at Cenchrea, she has been a great help to Paul. And we can imagine that apart from physically bearing this letter to Rome herself, she was likely a women of some wealth, who used her money, her influence and assets to help Paul and other Christians who worked for the Gospel. Paul asks for the church in Rome to welcome her, as a dear sister, and to supply whatever she needed, to treat her as one of the saints, which means someone from God’s own chosen family. Why? Because she is one who labours, and worked hard and gave up herself, her money and power, to help Paul and others tell the gospel.

And it’s not only Phoebe who worked hard, other labourers of the Gospel in Rome were also known to Paul, and he greeted them with great joy and fondness. Look at Priscilla and Aquilla in verses 3-4. This couple literally risked their lives for Paul while they travelled with him on one of his missionary trips around Corinth. Not only Paul but also the Gentile – the Christians of non-Jewish background – Gentile churches also owed a whole lot to this couple, and their labour (verse 4).

Andronicus (verse 7) was a fellow-prisoner, Urbanus (verse 9) was a fellow-worker. Paul showed so much appreciation and honour to those who have shared in the Gospel work. He greets them individually, by name, with high praises, and it is obvious that he is full of thanks and joy, that he prays for them regularly¹, because of their hard work.

And did you also notice that the women mentioned in this list of greetings were given high praise as well? In a society where women did not often get recognition, Paul highlights their achievement and labour for the Gospel. Mary (verse 6) worked hard for the church in Rome, Junia (verse 7) also shared suffering as a prisoner with Paul, Tryphena and Tryphosa (verse 12) were both workers in the Lord, Paul called Persis (verse 12) “beloved” for her hard work, and Rufus’ mother (verse 13) was like a mother to Paul. Paul praised all these women and thanked God for their hard work, alongside himself and other Christians. Paul was hardly a chauvinist, but he gave due honour to everyone who worked hard for the Gospel.

[In our local church, we are to give thanks for those who work hard for our sakes. I have a church friend who doesn’t say much, and isn’t the most popular person at church, but he is always helping set-up, pack-up, and he leaves early after church to save seats for church lunch at Macquarie Centre. We are to remember and appreciate people like this friend of mine, who quietly labours for the gospel.]

God also esteems these workers, He views them highly and their efforts are forever commemorated in His word. How do you view those who labour for the gospel? Do we care for our missionaries that we send overseas? Are we generous in giving to their needs? Do we take an interest in their lives? Do we read their prayer letters and pray for them regularly? When we hear about gospel work in beach missions, in outreaches, are we excited?

More often, we take more interest lives of anti-christian stars. We think highly of smart people, rich and successful people, good-looking people, but we don’t look twice at those who give up things to work for the gospel, to teach Sunday school, to set-up community churches. But we have been given God’s goggles through Paul’s greetings. Let’s change our minds and eyes so that we delight in giving thanks for gospel workers and labourers, let’s give them our prayers, our time and help and money, because the work that they do is God’s priority.

One Family, Different Members

The second thing to notice in the language of Paul’s greeting is that God’s church is a close-knit family, even though there are many different members. The members have come from different social groups, different ethnic and racial groups, and are made up of different sexes. Paul calls Andronicus and Junia (Verse 7) and Herodion (Verse 11) “his relatives”, which is his way of saying they were like him: Jewish. I can assure you that there were more Jewish Christians in the church in Rome apart from the few mentioned here. To have Jewish and Gentile people worship together then is like having Lebanese Muslims and Chinese Christians together in the same place, all praising the Lord Jesus now. The Jews and Gentiles were different culturally, in customs and traditions. Yet they were in the church together.

The members also came from different ranks in society. As I’ve mentioned before there were certainly some slaves, or ex-slaves who were liberated, in the congregation of Rome. They met with bigger names like Narcissus² (Verse 11) and Aristobulus (Verse 10), who had households of Christians. These influential and wealthy Christians met with slaves and ex-slaves. Imagine churching with President Bush? Or the Murdochs? Or the Costellos?

We finally see that through Paul’s language, God’s church in Rome is a family to Paul. Paul can’t help himself but to speak affectionately of those that he knew well in the church, he uses the words beloved or “dear friend” for Epaenetus, Ampliatus, Persis and Stachys. Priscilla, Aquilla, Andronicus, Junias, Urbanus are his “fellow workers”. He deliberately calls everyone else dear “brothers” and “sisters”. Paul tells them to greet one another just as he greets them, warmly, from their hearts and with “holy kisses” (Verse 16), which back then was customary and acceptable for close relatives and friends, much like our pats of backs/shoulders and firm handshakes now.

The Gospel was able to break down so many barriers in Rome. Has the gospel done this in our local church, or in our Sydney churches? It pains God so much to see little ghettoes, little groups, people who only associate with their “in” group and exclude the “out” group. It grieves God to see people who make much of themselves whether they are rich or poor, people who make judgements and slander others on looks, on accents, on tastes. It annoys God to see people divide over traditions, customs, or even races and colour of skin. And all these things are happening in our local churches, even in our own congregations.

The Gospel must change our expectations of the church and drive our relationships within and without. We Christians in this room are in Jesus, we are each other’s brothers and sisters, we are working together, we are to welcome each other all the time, with friendship, warmth and help. We are to relate to our christian brothers and sisters from other congregations, and take an active interest in them and pray for them. And the Gospel doesn’t just stop there. It brings together people from different races, so we are to welcome Whites, Blacks and Browns into our church home, we are to open ourselves to Arabic customs, including their Muslim, or even Orthodox Christian customs, so that they can hear the Gospel. We are to welcome the poor, the intellectually disabled, as well as the mega-rich and the powerful. Anyone who walked from the streets of Sydney, can feel welcomed here, as we let the Gospel teach us that in Jesus, everyone can become a child of God.

[Start small…]

2. Warnings to the church (17-20)

[Paul also warned the church about self-serving people who are Satan’s workers, from verses 17 to 20. These people are good talkers, because they can deceive with “smooth words and flattery” (verse 18). Their end goal is to serve their own appetites, this means their physical and sexual desires and probably their own egos as well. And with this group of people, there is no need for welcome, but the opposite, the church in Rome is to keep away from them (verse 17). Instead, they are to lead lives of godliness, which means ones of obedience (verse 19).

To encourage the church, Paul asks them to remember that God will soon bring about the complete defeat of Satan (verse 20). God will achieve peace by eventually destroying all evil. And the christians there are to trust in this God. They will also need the grace that is in Jesus Himself (verse 20), because without God’s help in Jesus, we will not survive Satan’s attacks, nor will we have power of the Spirit to lead us to obedient lives.

So be on the look out. Trust in the God who brought peace to all man kind through Jesus’ death for sins. When evil attacks us, within the church, ask for God to give us His grace. From the Bible, we know that attacks do come. But from the same word, we know that God has triumphed over Satan and evil, and the final day of victory will be “soon”!]

3. God’s power and wisdom (25-27)

In the last sentence of letter to the Romans, Paul condenses all the gospel goodness into one chunk. It looks long, but all it is is a doxology or praise to God. [Look at the red letters] Praise for what? Verse 25 tells us that it is for the gospel, the proclamation of Jesus Christ.

Gospel Revealed in Christ

The Gospel that we have was hidden, it was a mystery but now it is revealed in Jesus, through the writings of God Himself in the Old Testament. You see, God had always wanted to send His Son Jesus into the world, to save His chosen people, the Jews, from all their sins. But from the time of Adam, to Abraham, to David, God’s people have been unable to come into relationship with Him because of sin. So God’s writing always promised that one day, He would come to save His people from their sins³. He made these promises through His prophets. When Jesus came, when He bore the sins of everyone on His on back, when He gave up Himself to die on the Cross and take on the punishment for all sins on Himself, when He rose to life as Victor over sin and death for all, He revealed the Gospel story that the Old Testament Law, Psalms and Prophets pointed to.

Do you know how precious that Christmas story is? The true meaning behind Christmas, is that God loved the world so much, that He would come into the world as a humble baby boy, to grow as one of man, and to sacrifice Himself at Easter for all of man’s sins! That’s why the Herald Angel sings! That’s why Glory belongs to the newborn King at Christmas! Because that long awaited Son of God was born, to fulfil the prophecies made in the Old Testament, so that God could bring the whole world into friendship, unity and peace with Himself and each other! That’s why there is Joy to our world, because at Christmas 2000 years ago, the Lord Jesus has come, the Saviour now reigns, No more will sins and sorrows grow and Jesus rules with Truth and Grace! And for this Good News of Christmas in the Gospel, we praise the God who sent Jesus, for His power and wisdom.

Gospel made known to everyone

And so we must be a labourer of the Gospel ourselves, starting from this Christmas. In verse 26 we know that the Gospel is now made known by God’s command, so that all nations might “believe and obey”. God sent out this Gospel to the nations, all nations, that means all our friends, all our relatives, all our workmates, all our neighbours could believe and obey the Gospel. We have heard that God honours those who work hard in the Gospel, we have heard why the Gospel shows God’s power and wisdom, so our response is to be a Gospel labourer.

This December is a great season, because no Christmas is ever dull or meaningless. No Christmas is ever about shopping dully for our appetites, or meaningless partying. Christmas is always about Jesus the Christ, the King. When we meet at family dinners, pray for opportunities to explain the Gospel. Be a labourer for the Gospel when we spend time with our little cousins, with our school friends, and even with our shop-keepers. Is there a Christmas message being explained somewhere? Let’s take our friends to it! Are our friends twiddling their thumbs on Christmas eve? Throw a party for them and explain the gospel to them. God’s Gospel is made known to the whole world, and our prayer is that this Christmas, they may have eternal life, joy and peace with our God through our labour for the Gospel.

1 Ro 1:8.

2 Though they are probably dead at the time, their wealthy households had Christians who attended church.

3 Jer 31:31-34 is a classic example.

Romans 16

Personal Greetings

1I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant^[a] of the church in Cenchrea. 2I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been a great help to many people, including me. 3Greet Priscilla^[b] and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus. 4They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them. 5Greet also the church that meets at their house. Greet my dear friend Epenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in the province of Asia. 6Greet Mary, who worked very hard for you. 7Greet Andronicus and Junias, my relatives who have been in prison with me. They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was. 8Greet Ampliatus, whom I love in the Lord. 9Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and my dear friend Stachys. 10Greet Apelles, tested and approved in Christ. Greet those who belong to the household of Aristobulus. 11Greet Herodion, my relative. Greet those in the household of Narcissus who are in the Lord. 12Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, those women who work hard in the Lord. Greet my dear friend Persis, another woman who has worked very hard in the Lord. 13Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, who has been a mother to me, too. 14Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas and the brothers with them. 15Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas and all the saints with them. 16Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ send greetings.

17I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. 18For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people. 19Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I am full of joy over you; but I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil.

20The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.
The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

21Timothy, my fellow worker, sends his greetings to you, as do Lucius, Jason and Sosipater, my relatives.

22I, Tertius, who wrote down this letter, greet you in the Lord.

23Gaius, whose hospitality I and the whole church here enjoy, sends you his greetings.
Erastus, who is the city's director of public works, and our brother Quartus send you their greetings.^[c]

25Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, 26but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him— 27to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.

Footnotes:

1. Romans 16:1 Or deaconess

2. Romans 16:3 Greek Prisca, a variant of Priscilla

3. Romans 16:23 Some manuscripts their greetings. 24 May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all of you. Amen.

A Perfect Start: a talk from Genesis 2

Genesis 2:4-25 "A Perfect Start" For Switch 2006-10-22

William Ng

Main Point: God created humanity, man and woman together, for the good purpose of ruling the world in His way.

1: God has made man and woman for relationship with Himself under His care and rule,

2: God has given man and woman a good world that they are to manage and enjoy.

3: God has made man and woman for relationship with each other.

Main Switch: We must worship our amazing God because of His good plans and creation,

Second Switch: We must listen to God our Creator and Lord in the way we live.

Third Switch: But we must also realize that our present relationships with God, each other and the world are broken…

Genesis 2:4-25

A Perfect Start

1. Relating to God

2. Lord(s) of the Land

3. Humanity and the sexes

4. A Big Switch

Talk on Genesis 2:4-25

“A Perfect Start”

Last week, I hope that you were smacked by the awesome Cosmic creation of an Almighty God who made the vast universe or “heavens”, a Meticulous God who made the Earth and everything in, on and around it, and a Generous God who made humankind in His image to subdue the world. Well, Genesis 2 is an upclose and personal retelling of a special part of that creation. It tells the story from the ground-level, and zooms right into the scene of the Design and Creation of Man and Woman.

The writer of Genesis is giving us readers a clue that he is moving and focussing onto a special part of the story. Verse 4 says, “This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created.” The Genesis writer uses the words “This is the account” at important scenes of the biblical history¹ whenever he wishes to direct the story on a certain path, or focus our eyes along a certain way. Here in the second part of verse 2, the writer directs the story, not to Mars, or another galaxy, not into the heavens, but onto earth and not at any time but: “When the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.” When is the scene? It’s when God made the earth. Where is the story going? It’s going to focus on the earth. The writer switches from using the phrase “the heavens and the earth” to “the earth and the heavens.” The focus of biblical history is going to be on earth.

As you read verses 5-6, the writer takes you in with his camera lens as he zooms onto a particular time of the earth, the very beginning. Now imagine standing there, in the beginning, when no plants have sprung up yet, no crops are growing on the fields of the earth, and no rains have been sent down by God, and then – hold on – what is God doing there? He is making a man. He forms him from the dust of the earth. He makes Adam. From now on the Story is on Adam, the first man.

1. Relating to God

(vv4, 7-8, 9, 10-15, 16-17, rest…)

This passage tells us how Adam – and so all of us humans – are relate to God. Firstly God is a personal, committed, friendly God. God is a personal and committed God. We see this in the special name for God in this chapter. It’s not used often in Genesis, so when it is used, it’s used for a special reason. Verse 4 calls God “The LORD God”, not just “God”, but “The LORD God”. The words “the LORD” is the personal name of God in the Jewish bible text, or Yahweh. Only God’s people knew this name because He told them this name when He called them through Moses². It buzzes with ideas of his personal commitment to His people, it stands for relationship, it tells us that God is Adam’s personal God. He’s not just the Almighty Creator in the Heavens, He’s the LORD God, a God, whom Adam can call, can SMS, can blog on and be blogged back, at anytime.

Look now at how God makes Adam. In verse 7 we see that God forms him from the dust. Adam is a man of the earth, formed from the earth. God on the other hand is the maker of the Heavens and the Earth. God is of Heaven and the Earth is His footstool³. The separation between God and man is an infinite gap: it’s like a grand canyon or a deep chasm or a vast heavenly space that a man of the earth can never, ever cross.

Not only that, this Adam, man of earth, is given an extraordinary life from God. In verse 7 we see how God breathes a supernatural life into Adam and he becomes a living being. Without the breath of God, there is no life for man. So man is always dependent on God the life-giver. So every breath you take, this one, that one, and the next one, is another breath that God gives you. Every beat of your heart, this one, that one, and the next one is given by God. He gives it and He can take it. At anytime if God so chooses to, He could take your breath away. Just like that. This is why man cannot live without God: the man of earth is dependent on God.

This God is also such a generous God. Just look at how lush, rich and watered the land of Eden is from verses 10-15. Eden is full of life, which is suggested by the 4 rivers that flow from it. The land of Havilah around Eden is laid with precious gold, bdellium and onyx. And what about the Garden in verse 9? It’s full of every type of good, fruit bearing tree. Not only that, these trees are also a delight on the eyes. Not like some of the shrubs and dried-up trunks near the carpark here. God has separated Eden from the wilderness and vegetation of the land, and filled its lush garden with every type of tree to die for, with fruits of juicy, cool sweetness. This God knows how to be generous.

There is another thing that made life in this Garden just wonderful and it’s this: the LORD God was present in this Garden, no joke. His presence was in the Garden. Genesis 3:8 tells us that God walked in the Garden. In chapter 2, we see God pointing out to the man Adam all the wonders of the Garden that He made, take him on a guided tour, place him here, leave him there, etc. And if you were there, just as Adam was, you could hear God talking, feel His presence, talk with Him and just hang out with Him. God’s presence was really dwelling in the Garden, and relationship with Him was real.

You’ve already heard that this Life-giving, Heavenly and generous God is a personal God, who is committed to Adam and human beings and, who wishes to have a real relationship them. How was Adam to relate to God? By living under God’s rule, listening to God’s commands and trusting in God’s provision. This is why God placed the Tree of Life and Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the middle of the Garden, in verse 9. Firstly, Adam the man was free to eat from every tree except one in the Garden, including the Tree of Life. We know from eating the Tree of Life the Man could live and continue to live from Genesis 3:22. Adam was to trust in God’s good provision by eating freely from the Tree. Yet he was to listen to God’s command to not eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. To disobey God’s command is death. To distrust God’s wisdom is deadly. To doubt God’s goodness will surely kill Adam and everyone after him.

Let’s tease out what the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is. Well, it’s at least a symbol of God’s command in the middle of the Garden. Every time Adam turns his head around the Garden he will see the tree. It’s placed in the centre so that everyday he is reminded of God’s command, God’s rule and God’s wisdom in prohibiting him from taking from the tree. He’s free to choose, every moment he sees the tree, to take or not to take. And each time he will be making a choice of whether to listen to God, or not to listen to God, whether to obey, or not to obey. The Tree symbolically reminds him to trust and obey God’s command daily.

The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil also grants moral independence. To Know Good and to Know Evil is to determine, choose and to experience what is Good and Evil. The word “knowing” in the bible has more meanings than just head knowledge. So in the end, it’s about Humans becoming like God. When Man wants to determine for himself without God what is Good and what is Evil, he is trying to be God, he’s trying to do what only God should do. And God promises that this rebellion leads to death. You’ll hear more on this next week.

So humans were made for personal relationship with a good, generous and committed God under His rule.

2. Lord(s) of the Land

(vv7, 8, (10-15), 18-20)

Let’s think about the world and all other creatures on the land that God had created. One thing sure thing is that Adam the man is to enjoy the Garden. Look at verse 8: “Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed.” The word “put” is like saying God reserved the place for the man, or He rested the man in the Garden, or He safely placed him in the Garden. It’s not dumping. But it’s lavishing the man with goodness in the Garden.

And did you remember how lush the watered and full of life the Land of Eden was? Remember all the lovely, ravishing and delicious trees that God brought forth in the Garden? Adam the earth Man was to enjoy all the goodness and grandeur in God’s Land. And verse 15 expands the picture, when the writer tells us that “LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” Adam was to be a keeper and manager and carer of the Garden. He was to be creative in nurturing the Land, just as God was in making it so good. Adam was to use his powers to make the garden look beautiful, look cosy, do a bit of landscaping, just as God had carefully designed the whole earth for man. Adam was to keep things orderly in the Garden, making sure it is kept safe, kept neat, kept well. He is not to exploit it, rip it apart, tear the trees down, exhaust the soils, or just do nothing, do zilch, or do jack all. Adam was to do a creative good work on earth, just as God does. God completes His powerful work of the Creation of the world, and later on in history, He undertakes the establishment of an everlasting Kingdom through Jesus’ work in history.

The bible already gives a great example of a type of creative good work Adam could do. Adam started to rule over the animal kingdom. In verses 19 to 20, God also formed animals from the land and birds in the air. And Adam names each and every one of them. Naming is a special task, it means sorting and categorising everything. Looking at the strengths and functions of each kind of animal, judging what each does and giving appropriate names to each animal. The name someone or something in the Old Testament is often to be the lord of something, the master of something, the one who determines the fate of someone. The earth man is exercising his rule over these animals, as God had wanted him to do⁴, when he gave Man and Woman the command to rule over fish of the sea, the birds of the sky and every creature that moves along the ground in Chapter 1.

So God has given the good world for Man and Woman to enjoy and to manage.

3. Humanity and the sexes

(vv18 & 20, 22-23, 24, 25)

And now, we get to a real important part of God’s design of Adam. In verses 18 and 20, we see that "It is not good for the man to be alone.” And so God says, He “will make a helper suitable for him." God never meant to make Adam a Nigel. Adam the man was made for relationship, firstly with God, but also within a community, a society, a people. Man was made a social creature. So God made the Woman. Carefully note how God makes her. She is made from the bone and the flesh of Adam in verses 21 to 23. Woman is of the same stuff as Man, they share the same substance and they share the same life. Another thing about Woman is that she is a suitable helper for the Man, mentioned twice in verses 18 and 22. It means that whatever the earth Man lacked, the Woman was able to provide. They complement each other, makeup for what the other needs and complete the picture of humanity. The Woman is a helper for the Man in his task of caring for the Garden, in ruling over the animal, in living in God’s world. So the Bible tells us that Man and Woman together makes humanity, not one without the other, not one abusing the other and not one ruling over the other. Woman and Man are equal and they complement each other as God’s highest creation over the earth, as God’s image and representative rulers over the world⁵.

[In this Man and Woman, God also laid out the pattern for the continuation of humanity: Marriage. And just look at how smacked the Man is when he sees the Woman in verse 23. He says “This is now the flesh of my flesh” and “bone of my bones”. At last, someone he can really relate to, be with, commit to, care for and love. God’s pattern for marriage is laid out in verse 24. Firstly the man leaves his family. This is a public move to enter into a unique relationship. All other relationships, not matter how important, are left behind for this marriage. Second he is to cleave to his wife. So he is to be committed to his wife, faithful to her only, stick by her at all times and never to leave her. This is what it means to cleave. Marriage is also between a Man and a Woman. To imagine a marriage between Man and Man or Woman with Woman so is to reject God’s plans and purposes for humanity. It is to not trust Him. Lastly, the Man and Woman are to be one flesh. This is physical and spiritual and emotional unity. So there is no sex outside of marriage, it is to be in a committed relationship between Man and Woman, for them to enjoy, it is also for them to produce children for fulfilling God’s purpose for them to be fruitful. The Man and Woman also have unity in how they live, in their plans, in good times and in bad times they are one and are standing strong together. They are to be of one flesh.]

So God made Man and Woman for relationship with each other, in humanity and also in marriage.

4. A Big Switch

Big Switches must be made everytime you hear from the Bible. I will point out a few from Genesis 2 today. Keep in mind though that we know all the ideal relationships in Genesis 2 are now broken because of Genesis 3, which you will hear next week. There are still big switches to make. And then after this, we’ll have question time. Firstly: We must respond to this personally committed God, and we must respond to Him with open arms. The God of Adam is the same God today, He hasn’t changed, unlike our friends, our pals and gals or even our family. This same God has called all of humanity after Adam and Eve into relationship with Him. As you keep coming to Switch, you will hear how God works in our history to keep calling people from everywhere to Himself, even after the Fall, even after we reject His messengers of the Old Testament, even after we crucify His only Son Jesus, He has been calling you. You must not reject this God. You cannot hang up on Him. But you must freely choose to relate to Him. Remember how delicately the God of Heaven made the man of earth? What a privilege it is to be able to hang out with God? What an honour that though you can’t have access to your principal, your lecturer, the prime minister, the President of USA, but you can have access to God because He is the LORD God, a personal, committed and generous God. If anyone in this room doesn’t know how to start a relationship with God, talk with your leaders, talk with your christian friends, ask your christian family. We must invite this God into your life.

Secondly: We must choose on where we stand with God’s command, we must judge whether God’s ways are good, whether His ways are to be our ways. A lot of us have learned a lot about so many of God’s ways, from the Bible, from older christians, from christian teachers, family and leaders. Just the 2 trees in the Garden, we have daily reminders in our head and hearts of God’s goodness to us and God’s warning for our lives. Daily we know that to try to be God, or to take from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil will lead to death. And we know that to trust and obey God, or to take from the Tree of Life, will lead to life. Whenever we willing choose our way over God’s way, we don’t actually think God’s way is good, we don’t trust that He is good to us, and we think that we know better than God. Don’t be a tool, don’t be a fool. Know that God’s ways are best, trust that He gives us the best, and obey His good command that leads to life. And if we still foolish rebel aginst Him, ask God for that forgiveness which He promises in the rest of the Bible. We know we are in a sinful world, we experience the death and foolishness of our rebellion everyday, but know that God has an answer in His Bible, and pray for His help.

I’ll end by naming two areas in our lives in which many people need to switch over to God’s ways. The first area is sex, the second area is our attitude to Work on Earth. Firstly, sex and how the idea has been divorced and separated from marriage. From the very first chapters of the Bible⁶, we see human beings choosing for themselves what is good and evil in sex. God makes it plain that the Man and the Woman in marriage is to enjoy sex in a committed, permanent and exclusive relationship. Sex is a reflection of the spiritual and emotional unity the Man and the Woman shall have. And that unity will be delightful and shameless.

But look at our high school and university and adult worlds. Because human sexual desires are real, the world has used sex in manipulation of humans. So many young girls these days are being used by a market which says to arouse the desire in other people is to be beautiful. So clothing becomes unconsciously a stumbling block for many others who want to reserve their sexual desires until the time where they can be committed to their marriage partner.

Many youth are unconsciously or consciously giving into the lie that sex outside of marriage is nice, easy and essential. Yes it may be nice for a while, but without the public commitment and promises of marriage, people are just manipulating each other for sexual pleasure and the result is usually hurt, guilt, jealousy, anger as well as physical consequences of unwanted disease, pregnancy and hardship. God meant sex to be used in love between a Man and Woman who are committed to each other for life. To just have sex is for a man and woman to use one another for fun, without commitment. In the end, at least one is using or manipulating the other.

We must not be like godless people, who support the manipulation and abuse of other people for sexual pleasure. We will not be abusing the power of sexual desire shamelessly for our own flattery or false sense of beauty in how we dress. We will not give into the shameful use of pornography for gaining sexual pleasure by abusing images of sexual objects and forget that they are God’s creatures who need commitment, relationship and care. God’s way on sex is best, and we must choose it and know that His ways are ultimately for our good.

And on work on earth. Here, we need to switch from a narrow, self-centred focus of work to a God-centred, purposeful and constructive work. Apart from the good work of sharing the good news, Christians are still to care for the earth and work on it creatively for good. That was God’s command to Adam, when He placed him in the Garden as its keeper. Even though our efforts in the world are tainted by the Fall, we are still to take good care of God’s world. We can do this locally at school, here in our community, over in our companies, or collectively as a society, or even as a nation.

Locally we care for the property of our schools, we are involved in work which makes life better for others, we take care in cleaning up our own mess, we use our artistic freedom to lighten up the environment and not just do and dump whatever we feel, whever we feel. In our neighbourhood we can build good relationships, we are to be helpful, polite, not parking our cars such that we cause jams in the church road. In our church community we are to help pack up chairs, setup the chairs, clean up the lunch tables. In our companies we act for their good, we deal fairly, we build other team members up and teach them, we order the work place and encourage others to follow. We don’t just use and waste. In our society, we support good public works, social works. We look to build up those sections that are disadvantaged, we do not support destructive industries like gambling, smoking and pornography. In our nation we make the most of God’s blessings, we don’t consume until all that is left is just waste. We won’t be greedy and overconsume such that we have left over meals, shoes, books, computers and just all that stuff. We help save water and pray for rain for our farmers. And we share all our first-world blessings with those nations who are poor, in need of refuge, in need of money, adoption, and so on. These activities are not God’s first priorities, because He aims to save the whole world from their rebellion and bring them into relationship with Himself through Jesus Christ. But these activities are consistent with God’s orders for Adam and will allow the most important gospel activities to happen locally, nationally and globally. So we are to work creatively for the world’s good, for the gospel’s sake.

1 E.g. at Gen 2, 6, 10, 11, 25, 37

2 Ex 3:14-15.

3 Isaiah 66:1.

4 Gen 1:26

5 Gen 1:26.

6 Gen 6.

Genesis 2

¹ Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.

² By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested ^[a] from all his work. ³ And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

⁴ This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created.
When the LORD God made the earth and the heavens- ⁵ and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth ^[b] and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth ^[c] and there was no man to work the ground, ⁶ but streams ^[d] came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground- ⁷ the LORD God formed the man ^[e] from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

⁸ Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. ⁹ And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

¹⁰ A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. ¹¹ The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. ¹² (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin ^[f] and onyx are also there.) ¹³ The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush. ^{[g] 14} The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Asshur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

¹⁵ The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. ¹⁶ And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; ¹⁷ but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."

¹⁸ The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."

¹⁹ Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. ²⁰ So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field.
But for Adam ^[h] no suitable helper was found. ²¹ So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs ^[i] and closed up the place with flesh. ²² Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib ^[j] he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

²³ The man said,
"This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called 'woman, ^[k] '
for she was taken out of man."

²⁴ For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

²⁵ The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

Footnotes:

 Genesis 2:2 Or ceased ; also in verse

 Genesis 2:5 Or land ; also in verse

 Genesis 2:5 Or land ; also in verse

 Genesis 2:6 Or mist

 Genesis 2:7 The Hebrew for man (adam) sounds like and may be related to the Hebrew for ground ( adamah it is also the name Adam (see Gen. 2:20).

 Genesis 2:12 Or good ; pearls

 Genesis 2:13 Possibly southeast Mesopotamia

 Genesis 2:20 Or the man

 Genesis 2:21 Or took part of the man's side

 Genesis 2:22 Or part

 Genesis 2:23 The Hebrew for woman sounds like the Hebrew for man.