About

Call to worship: 1 Peter 1:22-2:5

Text: Genesis 2:4-17

Summary:

Moses puts the creation of the first man under the microscope. God has planted all that will grow, but its cultivation awaits the creation of God's co-worker, Adam. Adam is then created. God forms him and breathes the life of God into the man He's made. God puts Adam in the garden He planted. In the garden are two trees of note: the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Life, joy, and ministry depend on an obedience forged by a will that freely decides to trust and follow the revelation of an all-good Creator. The cultivation of this garden stands at the epicenter of the world. It's a garden-temple-sanctuary, meant to house communion between God and Man, Heaven and earth; and God charges Adam to work and keep it. It comes back to the trees, where God gives both an invitation and a warning. Obedience will perpetuate life as God intended; disobedience, a death, the hazard of which is beyond the limits of speech.

Main idea(s):

In Adam, we were made to work with God for all the beauties and benefits of Heaven on earth.

Sermon Outline:

1. The making of Adam. (2:4-7)
2. The planting of Adam. (2:8-14)
3. The tasking of Adam. (2:15-17)

Prepare

Discussion Questions:

1. Read Genesis 2:4-17.
2. What does this account of creation relate to what's gone before it? What has the emphasis of God's creative focus? What details do you find shaping and important in the making of Adam? How does God's making of Adam serve as a type? See 1 Corinthians 15:42-49. Why is it important that we believe in the historicity of Adam and the following account of his life?
3. Who planted the garden of Eden? Why did God plant the garden of Eden? Who did God put in the garden? What two trees of note are in the garden? What's the significance of the tree of life? What's the significance of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? Is that tree necessary for knowing good? Must we commit or experience evil in order to know it?
4. Why does Moses give so much space to these four rivers in 2:10-14? If they are branches, what's the trunk, and from where does it flow? What's the significance of this for our understanding of the garden's placement in the world, as well as Adam's impending office and task within it?
5. What twofold task does God give to Adam? Working and keeping are words used again by the same author with reference to the office of the Levitical priests at the later sanctuary. What's the significance of that for what the garden is? What's the corresponding significance for what the world is supposed to become? What role does the Word of God play in the achievement of Adam's task? We've already seen a kingly aspect to Adam's office. What's the import of adding a priestly (work and keep) and prophetic office (obey and testify to God's Word)? Using this text, in what (several) ways does the rest of the Bible lead us from Adam to Jesus? Among whom has Adam's role been reprised in Jesus?