I suppose since the beginning, people have been sharing their wisdom about the nature and purpose of marriage. I would like to share with you two or three58.htmlsk for, he's arrived." But if we look closely at the text, we discover that Adam is lacking something. What is it?
B. Adam was alone.
1. For the first time in the creation account, God says that something is "not good" (v. 18).
2. Adam's aloneness was pronounced "not good" by God the Creator. God has made Adam with the need for and capacity for relationship with others.
3. Adam's aloneness is emphasized by the fact that in all of God's creation, there was no suitable helper found for Adam (vv. 19-20).
APP: It is important for us to remember that all of this is occuring before the entrance of sin into human experience. Man's need for relationship is not a result of the fall. It is built into humanity by God's creative design. Man needed relationship with the Lord to be sure. But he also needed relationship with other people.\
ILL: Someone placed an ad in a local paper "I'll listen to you for 30 minutes for $5. The phone rang off the hook.
Albert Einstein once said, "It is strange to be so universally known and yet so personally lonely."
Think about it. What if you climb to the top of the corporate ladder and achieve a position of great authority. Will that bring fulfillment? What if you achieve financial independence and have all the resources you need. Will that make you happy?
Adam had those things and yet God said, it is not good. What we learn from Adam's dilemma is that relationships are important. We are designed to need them. When we focus only on the material aspects of life and ignore the relational, we are neglecting God's design.
TS - So, Adam has a problem. He is alone. In all of creation, he has found no suitable helper. Now what?
Marriage: God's Answer to Man's Aloneness (vv. 18, 21-23).
A. God took the initiative to deal with man's aloneness.
1. Note how often the text tells us that the Lord God is acting on man's behalf (v. 18, 21, 22).
2. Marriage is God's institution. He created it. It is an expression of His love for man who was alone.
B. God created for Adam a suitable helper.
1. Suitable lit. means, "like what is in front of him." It has the idea of correspondence. One who is like him in his humanness and personhood.
2. A helper is one who gives aid and support. The term is sometimes used to describe the Lord as Israel's "Helper." No inferiority is intended by the term.
3. When the two are taken together we see what God wanted for Adam. He was giving him a partner who would be like him, who could relate to him, who could support and help him fulfill God's purpose.
C. God fashions the woman and brings her to Adam.
1. Again we note God's initiative in this. God makes Adam fall asleep. He then takes Adam's rib and fashions the woman from it.
2. We note that God's intention is to make a person who is compatible with Adam, suitable for him.
3. Adam expresses his joy and satisfaction with the woman whom God has made to be his partner. The emphasis is on compatibility and companionship.
APP: Husbands, how many of you look at your wives and have an overwhelming sense of joy and satisfaction that God made her just for you? Now, I bet you had it when you saw her coming down the aisle on the day of your wedding. But do you have it now? Let that sink in for you. God made a partner for you so you wouldn't be alone. She is made for compatibility and companionship. And if you don't have it, it isn't God's fault. Sin has distorted it.
Someone once asked Winston Churchill what he would like to be if he could not be who he was. He smiled and said, "I would like to be my wife's second husband." He cherished his wife. He valued her as his companion and partner in life.
Points to Ponder from this Text
Main idea: The fulfillment of God's purpose for creation required the partnership of the man and the woman.
1. The obvious must be said in our day. God created a man and a woman to be married. There is no idea of same-sex marriages in God's design for creation.
2. Husbands and wives need to learn to value one another. It is God's plan to put them together to fulfill his purpose for our lives. Without each other, we are incomplete.
3. God's design encompasses both our similarities and our differences. We must value them both.
4. In order for this plan to work at maximum level, we must learn to develop the companionship, the partnership that God designed.
As we begin this survey of biblical principles regarding marriage, let's start with a deep appreciation for marriage as God's answer to our aloneness. God truly loves us, so much so, that he answered our aloneness.
