There is a theme that pervades the creation story in the bible. That theme is joy. When God speaks and reveals himself to Job in the book of that name, creation is the event at which the morning stars sang together, and all the angels shouted for joy. God sees all he has made, and it is very good. There is a sense of joy there.

In chapter 2 when God makes man, and then woman to be with him, there is a sense of joy; uninhibited, unashamed joy. And of course there is the seventh day. It is a day not for doing, but for being. It is a day that God blesses and makes special. The seventh day marks the completion of God’s work of creation. For us there is usually a sense of joy with the completion of a task, whether it is cleaning the house or writing a letter. We almost always mark more significant completions with joyful celebrations; for example, the opening of a new building, the launching of a ship, the completion of 50 years of marriage with a golden wedding celebration, or graduation on completing our education.

That idea of celebration has its origins in the idea of the Sabbath. God completed his creation, and he rested, there is time not to have to be doing, there is time just to be. Just as the creator rests, right from the beginning of human history mankind who is made in God’s image can rest too.

In our spoilt world people have often lost that ideal of Sabbath, or rest. In the 21st century for all our advances, for some people there is no rest, life is continual toil and there is no joy. There are instances in the scriptures where the people of God have lost this aspect to their life. The instance that I want to think about this morning is recorded in the book of Exodus. The people experienced slavery in Egypt. In this period of their history there was no Sabbath. The Egyptians deprived them of it; they had to work as slaves and any complaints only led to harsher treatment and demands for higher productivity.

It was at that point in their history that God stepped in to free them from their bondage, and restore them to a healthy pattern of living. God brings the people of Israel out of Egypt, and he makes a covenant with them based on the Ten Commandments. The fourth commandment is ‘Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.’

The Ten Commandments are recorded twice in the Old Testament. They are in Exodus 20 and also in Deuteronomy 5. Some of the commandments are given simply with no explanation because they do not need one; you shall not kill, or steal or commit adultery are straightforward enough.

But with the fourth commandment there are reasons given as to why they needed a Sabbath. In fact there are different reasons given in Exodus and Deuteronomy, and both reasons are valid. The reason in Deuteronomy is that God is restoring what the Egyptians had deprived them of by their oppression, they are free, the have a place in their lives for rest. That rest is for all, masters and servants, even animals are to be given one days rest a week.
The reason given in Exodus for the Sabbath is because in the story of creation, God rested on the seventh day. As God himself rested on the Sabbath, so he gave his people a day of rest.

The Sabbath is also about relationships. Just as we get together with others to joyfully celebrate events and affirm our relationships, so the Sabbath is in part to celebrate and affirm our relationship with God, God blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. There are six days for work, but the Sabbath is special; it’s for rest, it’s for worship and affirming our relationship with God.

The God who is love made us to relate to one another and to himself in love. The Sabbath is part of the rhythm of life that gives a place to this. And people need this aspect to their lives. God doesn’t put the Sabbath upon us as another demand; it is for our benefit. Jesus said that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

You can only really understand the concept of joyful Sabbath in the context of God’s love. Fallen man by nature just loves himself. For him love is just being able to do as he pleases, shifting his affections about to whatever he desires at that moment. Love for God doesn’t come into his thinking at all. But when a person has heard and seen the love of God in Jesus, and responded to that love, by his Holy Spirit God puts something of his divine love into that person. Then the prospect of worship becomes a joyful a reality, just as God created it to be.

In verse 4 of chapter 2 we really begin a separate section of the creation story. Up to this point we already have been given an account of the completed creation, including men and women. But now there comes a section where we look more closely at God’s relationship to the human race. It isn’t always too helpful to look too literally at every detail of the story, for example in chapter 1 God makes the plants on day 4 and creates man on day 6. Here in chapter 2 God creates man before any plant has sprung up.

We don’t really need to worry about little discrepancies like that though. The focus is on the creation of the human race, and Gods plans and intentions for men and women. There is an amazing amount that we learn here.

First of all we are told that when God creates man, he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. God put something of his life into us. He not only made us in his own image, he also breathed his life into us. The origins of the human race are in a loving, generous creator. We see God’s generosity in his provision for man. He provides him with a beautiful garden to live in with fruit trees that bear fruit that is not only beautiful to look at, but good to eat as well.

Then we see that God takes man into the role of partner, he gives him the task of naming the animals and the birds. In that, God was giving man authority over creation. Not just to do, as he liked, but to take care of it. God put Adam into the garden to till it and to keep it. God created the world with mankind’s needs in mind, but he also gives man the responsibility to look after the world.

Thirdly we come to man’s need for love and companionship. God says it’s not good that man should be alone. God is love. God exists in loving relationship as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Man, made in his image, also needs companionship. God in his wisdom creates a companion for him.

God puts the man to sleep, removes a rib from his chest, and from that rib makes a woman. Commenting on the use of Adam’s rib to create eve, Matthew Henry says: ‘Not made out of his head to top him, not out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be loved.’ In chapter 1 God blesses men and women and tells them to be fruitful and multiply, in chapter 2 we learn that man and woman are created for companionship and for joy.

The things that we learn from the creation story are things have continual relevance to us as human beings. Thousands of years later when Jesus was asked about relationships between men and women, and particularly about divorce, he takes people right back to the creation story, reminding people how God created man and woman to relate. “In the beginning God ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’” The passage Jesus quotes is right here in chapter 2 v 24.

God made men and women to relate joyfully, as playmates and companions. In a relationship of love based on Gods own love, a creative, wise, faithful love. Men and women in their love for each other were created to reflect the love of God. Sadly love has been spoilt. People reject the true love that God reveals to us, and believe all sorts of silly notions about love.

Because of human sin and selfishness, men and women often degenerate into treating each other as playthings, instead of playmates. Playthings are something to which no loyalty is owed, they can be discarded when they no longer please or amuse us. But God didn’t intend it to be like that. We are the ones who have spoilt it.

Finally we will think about the two trees that God put in the middle of the garden; they are two very special trees. One is the tree of life. It was a tree from which Adam and Eve were free to eat. It’s a tree that also features in the last book of the bible, a tree whose fruit gives eternal life to those who eat from it. What generous provision God made for them.

And then there was the other tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But in all of creation, there was just one ‘thou shalt not.’ It related to this tree. God told Adam the one thing that he was not to do was to eat the fruit of that tree. What was at stake in this was the question of authority. Of course one of the lessons that the apostle Paul draws from here in Genesis is the authority that a husband has over his wife.

Not a popular subject in our day and age, and I don’t want to go into it this morning, although those who reject the idea of authority also lose the benefit of having another take responsibility on their behalf.

The most important lesson regarding authority from the story of Eden however, is the wisdom of accepting God’s authority. All of us, men and women alike need to acknowledge that there is an authority higher than us. God is the one to whom authority rightly belongs. He is the one to who all of creation belong. He is the one whose authority we should acknowledge, he is the one who is worth of our complete trust.

But that is man’s quandary; he finds it so difficult to bring himself to trust. Because of that he spoilt this beautiful world. Yet in spite of all that has happened there is hope for men and women in our world today, because Jesus has come to give access to that tree of life that Adam and Eve were denied when they sinned. But the old issue is still one of authority. Jesus calls us to make him Lord, to follow him.

As we do that, God’s Holy Spirit breathes new life into us, we know again the joy of fellowship with God.

Amen.

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