been working through a series this August. I told you initially it was a marriage series and really since then we haven't talked about marriage much. But hopefully as I go through this morning you'll realize that it is the foundation for any concept that we would have of marriage or relationship or community. And it's really essential to us knowing who we are as individuals and who we are when we're going through struggles. And as we as we experience sin and we turn to Christ and understand his redemptive work in our life, that this idea of being an image bearer is so foundation to all of that, that we do not turn away from God during our trials or suffering, that we do not impute a motive to God, that we would not say that this is God doing this thing to me and I am suffering because of God. But I could turn to this God because I can see from the beginning what it meant to be an image bearer, what it meant to be one of His. And that turns me to Him in those times when I desperately need Him most. And if we struggle with this understanding of who we are as image bearers, who God is in light of that, and his desire to abide with us and all that he's gone through to secure this relationship through the work of Christ. And we will turn from God and we will shake our fists at God. And we will go down a very difficult road when we find ourselves there. And Satan loves that. If he has one particular tactic, one particular scheme, one particular thing that he can use very easily to draw us away, that is it. He can turn our attention away from God in those times of trial and turn ourselves inward or turn our hearts to the world. He has us in the place that really that grip that he has at that time is very difficult to overcome. I would also say that now that we are going to talk more specifically about marriage in the garden, this is a hard topic. And I come this morning recognizing that. I do lots of marriage counseling. I've met with many people in this room related to their marriage. I've met with many people from other churches related to their marriage. I've worked through my own marriage. And this is a tough topic. We live in a centrist broken world. Marriage is very difficult and filled with trials. We oftentimes experience profound suffering in the context that God has given us for protection and care and blessing. afflicted, suffer, oppressed, and some of the most grievous sins known to mankind are lived out in the context of marriage. And the confines of marriage often are used to justify some of those sins. So if you need to, if you need to, if you need to, if you need to, if you need to, go out in the fellowship hall, or you need to just skip this message and listen to it later, I would be completely fine with that. I understand that it's not going to be easy for some of us. Well, as I mentioned or alluded to just a minute ago, everything that we've been talking about for the last four weeks and five sermons is marriage. It's about marriage. It's the context of marriage. It's who we are as individuals, because only two individuals get married. We first are individuals before God. We first are individuals trying to understand who we are in light of our existence and all of our capacities. And so this series has indeed been a marriage series to this point, although we have not specifically talked about marriage. We have seen as image bearers that we have been handcrafted, that we are uniquely crafted as embodied souls with gender and purpose, that we were created for a home, created to abide with God in the garden, that we are created with honor as vice regents, these stewards that we're going to care for the creation, crowned with glory and honor, that we had unique capacities as humans, incredible rational minds, emotions, language, will, all these things that God has given us to carry out this dominion mandate, but also to be in relationship with him and one another. He gave us, we talked about hands or the purpose, what we were going to be doing and given this dominion mandate and both the husband and wife, both the man and the woman were given a dominion mandate. Part of that, that we were created in holiness to abide with God. That we had hearts that longed to know this God, that wanted to worship this God and that he'd given us this Sabbath as a provision for us to put aside the dominion requirements and the labor requirements to sit with him and to worship him and to acknowledge him. And then finally, last week, we talked about our happiness that we've been given these senses and we've given all these things that we can engage with and encounter along the way that are so pleasing to us as we taste certain food. I was listening to some of my son-in-law's and daughters in the kitchen last night talking about the smoked ribs of something. And the flavor. And they were just all talking about this thing. And I was like, that's it. That should draw our hearts to worship. Like, why would God give us the blessings all the time throughout our days? All the span of our life that we get to experience in this life. Things like food and smell and sounds. It's just amazing. With that backdrop, we begin our section for today. Let me read our passage. It comes from Genesis chapter two. Verses 18 through 25. Genesis two, 18 through 25. Then the Lord God said. It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him a helper fit for him. 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. The man gave names to all the livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But Adam, there was not found a helper fit for him, so the Lord God caused the deep sleep to fall upon the man and while he slept he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh and the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to him. 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. Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife are both naked, and were not ashamed." This is the reading of God's holy word. First of all, just the context for this passage. It would seem that there could be a sense of conflict. We read in chapter 1 about God treating man and woman as image bearers, with gender, and then now we have a second account of creation and they could appear to be in conflict. In chapter one it could appear like they were both created together. Man and woman showed up together. They were both image bearers. They were both blessed. They both had this dominion mandate. However, what we see in chapter one is kind of a panoramic view of creation. Again, starting with day one and going all the way through day six. And we see this panoramic view of creation. And in that panoramic view, we see the creation of man and woman. Now, in chapter 2, it's like we move into this microscope and we begin looking specifically at the details of the creation of Adam and Eve, the first beings. This is a retelling of the creation story. There is no conflict. Both Adam and Eve enjoyed God as they enjoyed the creation as they were created. But they were not created simultaneously. They were not spoken to existence. They were created differently. And there was a sequence to their creation. Second, Adam and Eve's beginning. Look at verse 18. Then the Lord said, God said, It is not good that a man should be alone. I will make him a helper fit for him. Where Adam was created out of the dust, we saw at the beginning of chapter 2, formed, not spoken into existence like the rest of creation, but the hands of God formed Adam, breathed life into him, and he became a living thing, both embodied, he had a body and a spirit, he had this breathed life. Adam was then put into the garden. But Eve was not created at that time. After Adam was created and before Eve was created, God remarked that while all of creation was good, there was a situation that was not good or ideal. And we see that God says it's not good that Adam should be alone. Although previously he said that everything was good. So is there a conflict? No, there's not a conflict. God has created Adam and then he's stating a purpose for the creation of Eve. And part of that creation was Adam is just not what Adam should be when Adam is alone. That Adam should not be alone. That this is not the finished product. I'm not quite done yet. Although it may appear like I have created and we are finished, it's not complete. Adam, there needed to be another creation to finish this. Adam could not do what he was required to do. He needed help. He could not glorify God the way he was intended. intended to glorify God. He could not image God the way he was intended that Adam and Eve were intended to image God more fully and more completely. He could not have children. He could not perceive and understand the world from a masculine sense because he was ill-equipped to see it completely because he needed help to have a fuller view and understand more fully what he was called to. Primarily though, what Adam was missing was the object of his love. We read last week that Jesus said that the two commandments, Matthew, there's two commandments. The first one, to love God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength. Well, Adam could do that alone in the garden. The second commandment, like unto it, is to love your neighbors yourself. But Adam had no object of his love. The fact that Adam was called to love as a primary characteristic and a primary function of his existence as a human and as a man, but he had no object or orientation for that love until Eve was there. And now it was complete. Now all that he was called to, all that he was called to before the Lord, the fulfillment of all the moral law flowing out of him, now had an object. and someone to lavish this with his love, to give sacrificially his love to. And it would have been the natural outworking of him as a human called into this context. Next it says, I will make him a helper fit for him. This idea of a helper is a struggle for us sometimes. Because we often see this concept as a helper, as in a servant. In our context, in our culture, when we talk about a helper, primarily that's what we're talking about. Someone who is a servant. One beneath. Somebody helping the other person. maybe at their beck and call. This image is only ever used to express one with capacity, strength, and resources helping one in need of a weakness. Let me say that again. In the Bible, this image of Helper is only ever used of one with strength and capacity and power helping someone in need. It's never used as a servant. There's never a context or even a hint that that's what it's referring to. More than any other use, it's used of God himself helping people that are in need. He's a help against his adversaries in Deuteronomy 33. There is none like God who rides through the heavens to your help, Deuteronomy 33. Happy are you, O Israel, who is like you, a people saved by the Lord, the shield, of your help. May He send you help from the sanctuary and give you support in Zion. Our soul waits for the Lord. He is our help and our shield. But I am poor and needy. Hasten to me, O God. You are my help and deliver. O Lord, do not delay." This is not the idea of someone in authority having someone under his authority coming to him to then offer the help that she could or this individual could. It's really an idea of this one that has capacities that Adam doesn't. Strengths that Adam doesn't. And is able to come to him and help him in his weakness, in his need. It's not a servant offering themselves, but coming as one to provide aid. An essential need. I'm coming alongside you because you have an essential need that I have the ability to help with. All of her capacity, gifting, and image-bearing qualities. oriented to this one that could use the assistance or help. The next part of that is fit for him. And that is a difficult one because it's the only place where it's actually used in this context. Usually it means corresponding to or parallel to or a counterpart or a mate opposite of. To be according to. It's used throughout scripture, but here it's the only time it's used in this context. And this idea that it is a counterpart, or a corresponding to, is important. We have Adam, and now we have one that is corresponding to Adam. Unlike Adam in many ways, but together, fit. Like they click. Like, this is the way Adam was designed, and this is the way Eve was designed. And together they are, they click together. They have different strengths and capacities. They understand things differently. But God created them that way so that when they click together as counterparts, they image God more fully and they help one another. They are more complete. Really, what we're talking about is an orientation more than anything. Eve came, was given as a helper, oriented to Adam. All of her image bearing qualities, all the blessings, all the things that she had in her capacity had an orientation and that was to Adam. While also Adam had a primary orientation. All of his giftings, strengths, all of his love oriented to this one. And now we have two individuals oriented fully, completely, purely for the good of the other person. And they fit together. And it's beautiful. It is the most remarkable thing in all of creation at this point. They would create such individuals, knowing them so well, but fit them together in a way that they're so useful to each other. It is not that Adam was deficient. or not a perfect creation. He was just incomplete. Adam was a sole image bearer, an incomplete representative. Together, man and woman were a fuller picture of that image. This, really, we would describe as companionship. What's the purpose of marriage based on Genesis 2.18? It's companionship. That we would have a companion. not just any companion, but in the garden, a perfect companion that would fit together perfectly and we would actually be perfect companions. Perfect companions. It was not good that Adam was alone. God will make another like him, only a counterpart to him, and they will fit together. Now, when I am talking to people, And almost every marriage counseling I go through, I go through this section from Genesis 2, I mean 1, all the way through where we're at. It usually don't take five weeks. But I get here. And I realized a while ago that when we start talking about being companions, when I'm talking to the wife about being a companion, she and I are kind of tracking. When I'm talking about a companion to the husband, He and I are kind of tracking, but they are not tracking together. They are actually viewing this concept from very different places. And it creates, even from the very beginning spot of what marriage should be, companionship, We see that there's often, not necessarily conflict, but miscommunication for sure. A man is usually understanding this term, this concept. Again, I'm stereotyping, not every man, but most men that I work with are viewing this idea of companionship in terms of partnership. We are going to get more done together. I'm going to do this and you're going to do that. two strands together are stronger than one strand. We're gonna have this really cool schedule, we're gonna be able to do all these things, and we're gonna accomplish all this stuff, and you're gonna get that, and I'm gonna do this, and we're gonna, and my expectations now for a marriage are based on our partnership. And I'm gonna be discouraged based on how you're performing, and what we're assessing is your part of the partnership, and I'm gonna evaluate my performance based on my part of the partnership and what I'm accomplishing. Not everybody, but most people are. Women, when we start talking about companionship, are usually talking to me in concepts of relationship. It's going to be much funner for us to do this together. We're going to get to sit and talk about the nuances and the beauties of all the things that have happened to us. I'm going to get to share my heart with you, and you're going to get to share your heart with me, and we're going to know each other so well, and we're going to understand life okay. Unless you're Marcy and Hanson, then it's completely reversed. It's a stereotype, But usually, I don't find two people who see it the same. If they're different, they're both different. It's like flopped over. But you can see why we have a problem. So I'll give you an example. I had a friend who loves to do outdoor work. The husband loves to do outdoor work, has all these projects, kind of retired, so they're able to spend a lot of time outside, all these projects. Well, they also like cooking dinner together. Every afternoon he'll come in and they'll cook dinner together and it's a time where, now he's accomplishing things and now he gets to share time with his wife and it works out fine. One day he was out doing a task in the yard and near completion, but at time for dinner he was not quite done, but he says in his mind, well it seems reasonable that if I'm out here continuing this job and continuing to accomplish this good thing, that my wife will be in the house cooking dinner. Well, his wife is in the house thinking about what scenario and she's like, well, if you love me, he would come in the house. Like, where is he? Why is he not in here yet? And I will wait for him to cook dinner because I love cooking dinner with him. And so he comes into the house. Dinner's not cooked. And both of them look at each other. And they're assessing the situation from their understanding of companionship. And he looks at her and says, are you lazy? Like, why would you not just start dinner? Like, you know I'm hungry. It's late. And he's upset. And she looks at him and says, you don't love me. Like, if you loved me, you would have come in and cooked dinner with me. Like, why would you? You're dismissing me. You're indifferent to me. You don't love me. Now, that was not true about either one of them, but the assessment that they came to as they had this moment in the kitchen, and it was based on he was thinking in partnership terms, she was thinking in companionship terms, and they just kind of passed each other right there. And all of a sudden we have this big thing going on, because now we're convinced. You're lazy. You don't love me. And back and forth you go, and off we go to heartache and discouragement. comes from this idea of companionship. I don't have a definition for it. I think each one of us is going to have to work through, how are we going to define that? But I think it's an important conversation if you're going to be in a marriage. Like, what is companionship to you? And how do we understand that? Because you're going to find probably you don't see it immediately. But that's the purpose of marriage. Adam was not good at Adam, but was alone and for companionship. Number four, Adam's preparation for Eve. Verse 19 and 20. 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. The man gave names to all livestock, 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. Adam names the animals. Nobody knows what's going on here, honestly. I've read so many different commentaries on this. We know for sure he named the animals. We know that he went kind of systematically through that. We know that he sees the animals. Maybe not all the animals. A lot of people said just the animals in the garden. He is given a task to name them. And we know he's faithful to that task and he names them. And then at that point, there's a divergence of what's really going on here. The best I can understand and the way I would understand this is that he's taking responsibility. There's a sense that as these animals come to him, he's naming them, he's interacting with them, he's seeing them. He's been given dominion mandate over all of this, right? And he really doesn't know what all of that entails. He can see the trees and the grass and the water and stuff, but he doesn't have a good grasp of the rest of it. So God brings them to him, he sees them, he identifies them, he names them. And what do we name? Well, we name children that we're taking responsibility for. Right? I didn't name your children. You named your children because they're your responsibility. What else do we name? We name pets, things that I'm taking responsibility for. I think that as this happened, the animals came, he gave them a name, and he took responsibility for this dominion mandate and this shepherding capacity over these animals. He's identifying, yes, this is my responsibility. I'm taking responsibility. I will be the shepherd. Now, I read a couple commentaries that I want to make note of. I don't usually read commentaries, but I'm going to read this one. Jameson, Fawcett, and Brown said, the design of this singular scene was to show him that none of the living creatures he saw were on equal footing with himself, and that while each class name came with its own mate of the same nature, form, and habits, he alone had no companion. We could definitely see that. Right? If they brought both the male and the female of each species to him and he named them, he would identify that he was alone. Okay, I can go along with that. This is the funniest thing I've read in a commentary in a very long time. Because this goes on, the next sentence says, Besides, in giving names to them, he was led to exercise his powers of speech. to be prepared for social discourse with his partner a creature yet to be formed and basically it says He needs to name the animals to learn to speak because there's this woman showing up, and she's gonna expect it And this is preparation for that. I was like are you kidding me that is that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, but I Did think it's funny and worth noting I'm sure it was helpful to him. Just out of the get-go, they probably had different patterns of speech. Okay, Adam did at the end of naming. He did know he was alone. I think he did take responsibility. The animals also saw Adam, and the one that had been given dominion mandate for their care, this king of creation, as he named him. So at the end of all that, he knows he's alone, he has no companion, and he's taken responsibility for his dominion mandate calling. The rest I don't know. We can say much at this point. Fifth, creation of Eve. So verse 21 and 23 through 23. 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. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man, he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, this at last is bone of my bones and flesh to my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. Well, here we have a creation unlike anything before. We've seen Adam created, we've seen the creation of everything else, but now we have this very strange and very unique thing happening. Adam was put to sleep, and while he was sleeping, he was opened up, a rib was taken out, and out of that rib was formed this new creation, this woman. Now, again, there's a lot of speculation on what's going on here. What we can say for sure is it's unique, and it's different. And it does seem to indicate a special relationship. Both were created out of dust, but they were created out of one another, which creates a special bond. And we know that special bond. There's a special bond between a mother and a child. Like as a mother gives birth to a child, there's a relationship connection there immediately because they are of one substance. They have been taken from each other. And we would say that that could be what's happening here. That there is this intimate, profound relationship where they weren't just spoken into existence, they weren't both just created out of the dust, but they came from one another. Now, there's Jewish traditions about this. I'll just mention one of them. One says that Eve was taken out of the rib, not the foot to be trampled on, not the head to rise up over, but out of the rib, out of the side, because they were equal as image bearers. They were both created by the hand of God and they were to work side by side in together. It's a Jewish tradition. We do know what happened, but we don't know why necessarily. Then we see that in verse 22, in the rib that the Lord got it taken from the man and made into a woman and he brought her to the man. We see that as this happened and as the creation happened, that God took the woman who was fully formed, and then he brought her to Adam. God's bountiful provision for Adam, for Eve as well. It delighted Adam. It was definitely a special gift, a treasured gift. She wasn't just deposited in the garden. She wasn't just said, hey, go over there, you're gonna find Adam over there. God took her and brought her over to Adam. And we see that as a very special thing. I see the very act that we go through in weddings, where a father brings a bride down the aisle and says, I have treated you. I've cared for you. All your well-being is of great interest to me. But I am now saying to this man, she's under your care now. You're going to provide for her. You're going to care for her. You're going to love her. And I see God taking him to Adam in the same process of this profound love and care where Adam now assumes responsibility. This is one that I am to care for. This is the one that I am to love. One of the things that I think is a travesty when we go through weddings And we characterize that act of a father bringing a bride down the aisle and giving her her hand to a young man to be married. And we put that under the umbrella of authority and submission. That's the way I usually hear it described. A father has authority. The daughter is in submission to him. The father is going to take her down the aisle and he's going to hand her off to another man who is now her authority and she's to submit to him. I don't think that's what's happening here. I think it's about care, it's about love, it's about responsibility. God brought Eve to Adam. Why would he do that? Why would he go with her to Adam and say, this is your wife. I've created her for you and you for her. And it just is a beautiful, beautiful picture of responsibility and care And I struggle with the understanding that authority and submission are part of this picture. I actually believe authority and submission, while being lived out perfectly in the garden because there was this orientation one to another, a profound, free, full, perfect love for each other, a giving of themselves perfectly in the garden towards each other, I think authority and submission are concepts that are necessary in the fall. and shouldn't be overlaid into this picture. But this is a beautiful picture of care and love and nurture. And as God brings this one to Adam, a companion to care for, to love, as the object of his love. Okay, then we see Adam says something very profound. In verse 23, then the man said, this at last is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she has taken out a man. And while it says here that Adam said that, most commentators don't see this as something he said, but a song. We would say that this is the first song in the Bible. And most commentators agree that this was a song. And we have record of it. Now, the question is, why would Adam respond in song? What a strange thing. First of all, he had something to say, right? Which, obviously, he learned his lesson naming the animals. But it wasn't just something, he wasn't just making a comment. It was an emotion. Song comes out of us when we're filled up with something. When we're overflowing with something. When we just burst out in song. And that is what is happening here. That she is part of me. There's this closer bond. The bone of my bone. My very body. We have a companion. This object of my love. Now that would have been delighting to him. That he would have had a companion. That Eve would have been there. But I'm not sure it would have caused him to break into song. From my human experience, And I think what we see more purely perfectly going on here in the garden is Eve was beautiful. I think Eve was beautiful. Maybe the most beautiful creation ever been created. And his response was song. It was an emotional delight. a yielding of just overwhelming expression that she was there in all of her beauty. Perfect inner moral beauty. Perfect outer physical beauty. And this really flows out of our consideration from last week. That God created things beautiful. That he created things pleasing. Now, when we think about human beauty, there's several Hebrew words that are translated into our one English word, beauty. But when we look at what's described in human beauty, we find one Hebrew word and it's used almost exclusively for the beauty of a woman. And I think that's what's going on here, that there was this connection to the beauty of this woman. And it's a connection that men are aware of and understand. I was maybe eight when I was going through the JCPenney's catalog. And I came to the section where they were selling women's bras. And there's something that happened different to me. that I had never experienced before. And that, I think, is what's happening here. That's this human beauty. It's a beautiful thing. It's part of our human existence. It's part of who we are. God created us this way, and it's wonderful and it's beautiful. And I think Adam looked at his wife, realized he had a companion, and broke into song. because of this connection, this overwhelming sense of this relationship. Something he had not experienced until this point. One word. It's often and most often used for a woman's beauty. We cannot shy away from this as a people and just pretend like this doesn't exist. Women were created beautiful. Sarai. Woman. Beautiful in appearance. Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance. Abigail, the woman, was discerning and beautiful. Tamar was a beautiful sister. Esther, beautiful figure and was lovely to look at. Job's daughters, there were no women so beautiful. Song of Songs, I didn't have time to list all the references to a woman's physical beauty in Song of Songs. A couple times they referred to men. Young David, now he was ruddy. and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. Okay, ready? Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. Again, this is the physical appearance. Now we also see some cows referenced in Genesis 41. There came up out of the Nile seven cows attractive and plump. But this is referring to physical beauty. And I think we've lost some of this in our Christian culture. We are so fearful and sin is so powerful and so destructive and so entangling. And we are so drawn into sexual sin that we have kind of just turned from all of this. Physical beauty is recognizable and it's good. Now. It's not to be provocative. But a woman. Is called, I think, And at least it's acceptable to be beautiful. And God created us this way. And we don't need to hover or shy away from it. Or pretend it's not true because I'm afraid of how it's going to impact the people around me. So much of the burden for sexual purity has just been piled on our women. And said it's because of your beauty that all of these men are struggling like this. It's not true. You go to the Middle East where they wear burkas. And you have some of the most sexually perverse cultures known to man. It doesn't stop it. It just doesn't stop it. This is a man's struggle. If I'm struggling with your beauty, it's my struggle. Now, if you're dressed provocatively, that's one thing. Maybe we can have a conversation. And we can help each other out a little bit. But if it's just because you're beautiful, no. That's our responsibility. We cannot burden our women with this. I see so many people come into my office that have grown up in the church and have this distorted view like, I have to cover my beauty, I have to hide my beauty, I have to pretend it doesn't exist, and I can't talk to men, I can't be in their presence because I'm going to make them stumble. I appreciate the heart in that. But it's not their burden to carry. God made them beautiful. He talked about this beauty in the Bible. When the women are described, they're talked about in their beauty. It's okay to express yourself as beautiful. You're free to do that. I believe it's actually encouraged. There's this physical connection that's happening in the garden here. It is a physical connection. Adam is singing. We see parts of this physical connection throughout the Bible. We were just made to delight each other physically. We were. A husband and wife interacting the way a husband and wife have the freedom to interact. They should delight each other. Every culture that I'm aware of, women are doing things to make themselves beautiful. Every culture is different a little bit. I mean, I don't see anybody here making their neck longer, but, praise be to God, but in that culture it's beautiful and women are very interested in being beautiful and attractive in that culture. And it's okay. I don't know, I've struggled all week about There's physical parts of our relationship that I don't think we can just ignore. Husbands are called to rejoice in the wife of their youth. Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight. Be intoxicated always in her. What a beautiful thing. God says, listen, I understand this connection. I understand what it's going to do for you. And I'm saying it's a gift. It's for you to enjoy. Don't shy away from it. Human women are the only mammals on the planet that have permanent breasts. Just an interesting side note. I just don't think it's by accident. I think it's part of our physical relationship, that we delight each other, that when we look at each other in the form of each other, that there is an attraction there. For sure, warning outside of marriage, but in marriage it is such, such a gift. God says, I want you to experience this thing that you cannot comprehend until you experience it. And it's going to draw you together, and it's going to bond you in a way that that nothing else really will. So it's okay for you to be beautiful. Okay, I have to move on. This one flesh union, the last thing, verse 24. Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. This one flesh union, I preached a message on God's order for the family, that a man will leave his father and mother, there will be a separation from orientation, from influence, from care, from his family of origin, and he will bond to a wife, he'll hold fast to his wife, they will build this new relationship. Weaving is a way we could think about that. He's leaving, weaving, their orientation, their influence, their care, their closest neighbor is this one that they're weaving with, and then cleaving. And they shall become one flesh. So closely woven together, that really is referred to as one entity. They, in relationship, in emotion, in care for one another, in knowing one another, they become one entity as they learn to live in that context, giving themselves in that context, receiving in that context, becoming one flesh. All that is male was for her good. All that was female was for his good. And this fitting together is now described as one flesh. Perfect, righteous, whole, free, full love. Oriented to each other. Given with all our intensity. As the sole object of that, as my closest neighbor, this cleaving creates a new entity, now oriented towards one another. And together, a much more beautiful, glorious, powerful, exalted, and a much fuller and richer image of God as they come into this cleaving relationship. It really is a union, a one flesh union. And within that one flesh image bearing entity at the very center of closeness, freedom, fullness, wholeness is this marital union. And for sure, it includes all components of that marital union. But also for sure, it includes our sexual union. This is the part of the marvel of marriage and what God intended the intimate pleasure of a marital union. that this marital union is created by God. It's created for pleasure. God created our bodies in very specific, very unique ways that when we give one another to each other in this intimate, physical, sexual relationship, it is one of the most pleasurable things that humans can experience. and if what we talked about last week about pleasure, the things we taste, the things we see, the things we hear, if that is God's gift to us and He wants us to experience because we know as we experience it, it comes from His hand, it's from His creation, He wants us to experience them and delight in them because He wants to please us, we would include this at the very center of all of that. It is given for our pleasure, this relationship, is given for a husband and wife's pleasure. To enjoy one another in this one flesh union, delighting all of your senses, all that we are encompassed in. The pleasure is wonderful and fully to be enjoyed by both parties in the marriage. Again, our current Christian culture has turned this into a male thing. Well, men just need this experience. That is not true. It's just not true. It's not a man's thing. It's given to both for the enjoyment of both. And it's the thing that breaks the quickest and it's hardest to recover in a marriage because it is such an intimate, such a passionate, you have to have so much vulnerability, so much freedom to express yourself in the context of a marriage in our sexual union. But it is a gift and it is part of this union. And this right here in our churches is where we should talk about it. And how should we introduce our children to it? This way. as a gift, created, given, to enjoy in the context of this beautiful union. So I'm going to begin the conversation. It is the gift of God to be given for mutual enjoyment of a husband and wife to the glory of God. And I know it's been misused. I know it's a hard thing in many marriages. And I'd love to work through that with you. But it was given just as sure as strawberry ice cream that I'd love. This is given to us by a God who wants us to know pleasure and to delight in this union that he's created for us. May we know much about God and His love for us and His countenance for us as we experience these things. And truly, may it lead us to worship. Worship this God in His kindness, giving us these beautiful things. The last part of that verse, and a man and his wife were both naked, were not ashamed. We're going to talk about shame next week. But this is really complete vulnerability. I have never known anything but absolute, pure, full love for you. I have never crossed my mind to think of you in any other way. than a pure, full, perfect love. And I had never received from you anything other than that. Never a judgment. Never a condemnation. Never a side-eye. Nothing from you other than a pure, full love from you. And we could be in each other's presence without shame. Not needing to cover myself. Vulnerable. Exposed because I was in the presence of pure perfect full love and It was my delight to be in your presence And I delighted to be in your presence because that's all I'd ever viewed you as and in that context we have this marital relationship This is what God is redeeming now. I know This is not our human experience in marriage. I It's just not. It's way more complicated than this. It's all broken and it's hard to piece together and we're sinners and we're struggling. But it's important that when we begin to think about marriage, this is the view we have. Like this is what God would like to restore us to by His grace that we'd be more and more like this. We have lost so much because of sin. We should ache for this garden scene and all that we hear there. We should yearn for it. We should be humbled by it. That we've been cast out of the presence of God. That we've become enemies of the God that has given us all of these things. That we are more interested in the creation than the creator. That we become selfish and self-focused. Taking and getting for our own selves and for our own good and for our own glory. Filled with fear and anxiety. harming one another, afflicting one another, suffering. Well, that's not the way this was intended. That's not the way God had created it. Sin has broken it. Adam's sin. Our sin. Imputed to us. It's broken. So thankful that we have a Savior that was willing to come into that brokenness, take all that vileness on Himself, pay the punishment for it so that we could be washed clean, so we could be reconciled to God, so we'd not stand before Him as guilty, defiled sinners, but be cleansed, be united, be reconciled, be brought in as sons and daughters, and now Him piecing us back together. And may He continue to do that work so we actually have more and more like what was going on in the garden, less and less like the the world that we live in. And may we not lose heart as we look at the world and all the brokenness and all the suffering and just throw our hands up and say, this is such a mess. I can't even believe there is a God that's such a mess. But actually, we can say, so thankful there's a God that has an interest and a love in us in the context of this mess. And He has given us His Son to redeem us, to purchase us to Himself, and then piece us back together. May we hunger for being with Him in heaven where this brokenness is put aside and we are finally reunited and can abide with Him. Father, thank You for Your grace to us. Thank You for Your mercy. Lord, as we consider the garden and all the blessings and all that was going on there, may we delight in You. And may we see Your good countenance for us as You have lavished us with your love given us these capacities to know you and then still in the brokenness of it all we are experiencing pleasures and delight and beauty only humans have the capacity to understand knowing that it comes from You. And You want us to know much about Your countenance and love for us through those experiences. May we not shy from them. May we delight in them. And may they cause us to worship You. And we pray in Jesus' name, Amen.