God’s Personal Touch – The Intimacy of Creation in Eden | A Sermon based on Genesis 2

Introduction
Today, we’re continuing our series on the second creation story in Genesis.  Last week, we learned the Bible tells two stories about creation.  Genesis 1 gives us the cosmic view—God’s powerful voice speaking everything into existence.  The second story, found in Genesis 2, focuses on the Garden of Eden and God’s close, personal involvement in creation.  Here, God doesn’t just speak. He gets His hands dirty. He forms humanity from the dust of the ground. He breathes life into Adam’s lungs. He plants a garden and walks with Adam and Eve. This is a God who is not just powerful but personal.

Today, we’re going to explore what this intimacy means for us. We’ll see how God’s personal touch in the creation of Adam and Eve shows us that we are made for close, loving relationships—with Him and with each other.

Genesis 2:4-9, 18-22
⁴ This is the account of the creation of the heavens and the earth.  When the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, ⁵ neither wild plants nor grains were growing on the earth. For the Lord God had not yet sent rain to water the earth, and there were no people to cultivate the soil. ⁶ Instead, springs came up from the ground and watered all the land. ⁷ Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.

⁸ Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man he had made. ⁹ The Lord God made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground—trees that were beautiful and that produced delicious fruit. In the middle of the garden he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

¹⁸ Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.” ¹⁹ So the Lord God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one. ²⁰ He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals. But still there was no helper just right for him.

²¹ So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the Lord God took out one of the man’s ribs and closed up the opening. ²² Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man.

God Forms Adam With His Hands
Let’s start by looking at how God created Adam. Genesis 2:7 says, “Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.”

This image is so powerfully intimate.  In Genesis 1, God simply speaks, and the universe comes into being.  But here, in Genesis 2, we see God forming Adam with His hands, shaping him from the dust like a potter molds clay. This is personal. God didn’t just speak us into existence—He formed us with intention and care.

I want you to think of the Almighty God, with His perfect divine hands squeezing and pinching and shaping a lump of muddy clay, until it forms the perfect shape of a human being.

We are not just one of many things God created. We are crafted by His hands, shaped with purpose. God is deeply invested in who we are. His fingerprints are all over us.  Is oil of His hands has soaked into us.  His DNA is mixed with our own.  And He knows every part of us because He formed us Himself.

This hands-on act of creation shows God’s desire to be close to us. He’s not afraid to get His hands dirty.  He wants to be involved in our messy, muddy lives—shaping us, guiding us, walking with us every step of the way.

God Breathes Life & Spirit Into Adam
Next, after forming Adam, what does God do? He breathes life into him. Genesis 2:7 says, “Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.”

See that, in your mind.  The Divine Creator stooping down over Adam’s lifeless body, breathing His breathe into mankind.  This breath of life is more than just air filling Adam’s lungs. It represents the spirit, the soul, the divine spark that makes us human. God didn’t just give Adam a body—He gave him life, both physically and spiritually.

And this life carries with it a kind of sovereignty.  God wants humanity to love Him.  But love must be freely given.  It cannot be forced.  It cannot be coerced.  Therefore, God gave us free will—the freedom to choose if we will love God.  There is every reason for us to love God, and no reason not to love God.  But the choice is always left up to us.

God filing Adam with His divine breath, is a powerful reminder that we are not just physical beings.  We are made in the image of God, filled with His spirit, and eternity is in our hearts. Our lives are not just about surviving day to day. We are made for something deeper. We are made to connect with God, to experience His presence, His love, His guidance.

When God breathed life into Adam, He was giving humanity the gift of relationship with Him. It wasn’t just about existence—it was about communion with God. We are spiritual beings, designed to live in close relationship with our Creator.

The Garden – A Place of Provision and Relationship
After forming Adam and breathing life into him, God creates a beautiful garden for Adam to live in. Genesis 2:8-9 says, “⁸ Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man he had made. ⁹ The Lord God made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground—trees that were beautiful and that produced delicious fruit. In the middle of the garden he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”

The Garden of Eden wasn’t just a place to live. It was a place where God provided everything Adam needed. There was food, beauty, and peace. Here was work to do, but work wasn’t a burden; it was a joy!  But more importantly, the Garden was a place where Adam could walk with God. The garden represents the ideal relationship between God and humanity and creation—one where God provides for us and we live in His presence as we tend the beautiful Garden.

God wants to provide for us, not just physically but spiritually. He wants us to live in relationship with Him, trusting Him for our needs and walking with Him daily. Eden was more than just a garden—it was a picture of what life with God can look like. It was a place of perfect provision, protection, and presence.  It is a place where we have purpose and know the joy and peace of working out our purpose with the help of God.

The Creation of Eve – Companionship and Community
Finally, God recognizes that Adam needs more than just a beautiful garden. He needs companionship. Genesis 2:18 says, “Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.””

So, God creates Eve, not from the dust like Adam, but from Adam’s rib.  See God in your mind, God laying Adam down into a deep sleep and then reaching tenderly into Adam’s body to remove part of him—a rib.  He shapes that rib into a companion perfectly designed for Adam, to be his equal partner in life for eternity.

The creation of Eve shows that God values human connection. He didn’t just create us to worship Him—He created us to love and care for each other. Relationships are part of God’s design. Whether it’s marriage, friendship, or community, we are meant to live in connection with others.

The Beautiful Vision
As we reflect on the second creation story in Genesis, we see a God who is deeply involved in His creation. He forms us with His hands, breathes life into us, provides for us, and creates us for relationships. This is a God who is not distant but near, not detached but personal.

We need to embrace the intimacy of God’s relationship with us. He knows us, He loves us, and He wants to walk with us daily. It also means we need to value the relationships God has given us—our families, our friends, our communities. Just as God created Eve for Adam, He created us to be in relationship with each other.

Our Brokenness
Yet we also see the great divide between the beautiful vision God gives us in the Garden of Eden and the brokenness we experience in our daily lives
We do not live in harmony with each other.  We sin.  We are selfish.  We betray and are betrayed.  We hurt each other.  There is war.
We do not live in harmony with creation.  Work is a chore.  There is famine. We thirst; We worry and our world sometimes seems out to get us.  (As I right this, thousands are recovering from the effects of Hurricane Helena.)
We do not live in harmony with God.  We are guilty.  We feel ashamed.  Or worse, we don’t care about our disharmony with God.

Jesus came to take us back to Eden.  Romans 6:23 – “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  When we sinned, Jesus came and died for us so that whoever believes in Him and repents of their sin and turns to Him and follows Him will be forgiven and inherit the eternal life.  Jesus came to take us back to the Garden of Eden.

And He came for all of us.  He came for you and He came for me.
It doesn’t matter what you’ve done or how far you’ve strayed, Jesus can bring you back. 
You can come back today.  Jesus says, “Come to me all you who are weary and heaven laden.  I will give you rest.”  Won’t you decide to come back with Him today?

No matter what mess you've made in your life, isn't it comforting to know that God isn't afraid to get down in the dirt and remake you? Just as He formed Adam from the dust, God can reach into your broken, sinful life and restore you. He can reshape you from the ground up if needed, giving you a new heart, a new life, and the promise of an eternity where you'll live forever in the beautiful Garden of Eden once again.  Won’t you turn to Him today and ask for help?

Prayer
Lord, we thank You for Your intimate love and care in creating us. Thank You for breathing life into us and walking with us through life. Help us to deepen our relationship with You and with others, recognizing the beauty of the connections You’ve created for us. When we stray, bring us back.  Forgive us through Jesus grace.  There are some who need to come back today.  Bring us back.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Guest Blog - Lifted Up: Embracing Jesus' Sacrifice for Eternal Life by Noah Hunt

This past Sunday, we were blessed to have guest speaker Noah Hunt deliver a powerful sermon at Pleasant Grove Methodist Church. Noah's message, centered on John 3:14-18, beautifully illustrated the profound connection between Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness and Jesus being lifted on the cross for our salvation. For those who couldn't be with us or who wish to revisit Noah's insightful words, here is a summary of his sermon.

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If you have a Bible with you this morning, or if you'd like to grab a pew Bible in front of you, the verses this morning will come from page 1,513. For those of you who brought a Bible with you, we will be in John chapter 3, reading verses 14 through 18. It is indeed a pleasure to be here with you this morning and to bring a word from the Lord. We'll begin reading at verse 14:

"Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life. For God loved the world in this way: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Anyone who believes in Him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God."

Let us pray.

Our Father in heaven, we are thankful for Your word to us. It is a clear word and a word of truth. You speak to us from the pages of Scripture, the Gospel, the good news. I pray this morning that You would awaken faith, belief, and trust in our hearts, that we might believe upon the name of Jesus Christ. I pray for those this morning who have believed for many years, that You would encourage our hearts, that we might want to follow You to greater depths of faith, and that we might want to act in greater acts of service for Your name's sake. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Amen.

I don't know how many of you own pets out there or how many of you are dog people, but if you've ever had a dog and watched it grow old and gray in the face, seen its joints begin to move slower than they used to, it's sort of a sad picture. You realize the truth of the old adage: it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks. I've had limited time in education—four years—but I can also say it's hard to teach older teachers new lessons. As we grow old, it's harder for us to learn, to become open to things that challenge us, to look at old truths with new sets of eyes.

In today's text, many of you who have studied the Bible for years know this passage comes from a conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a wise teacher of the Bible, an older man with experience. I'm sure he was locked into his best practices and his understanding of how to communicate truth to his people. But here we have Nicodemus, an old Pharisee, coming in the dead of night to sit at the feet of Jesus of Nazareth, the Light of the World, a young Rabbi, a Carpenter's son. Who is He to you today?

Nicodemus, while old, callous, and perhaps jaded, knew there was something in the miracles and message of Jesus that he needed to hear. This morning, I invite you to turn the eyes of your heart upon Jesus and look full in His wonderful face, because the concerns of this world will grow dim in the light of His glory and grace.

Jesus does not condemn Nicodemus. He does not berate him or tell him he should know more by now, though He is a little critical. Jesus begins to build on what Nicodemus already knew. He turns to what Nicodemus knew best—the Old Testament, specifically the book of Numbers, chapter 21. Jesus mentions an example from Moses: "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up."

This might seem confusing at first. You might think of Moses' miracle before Pharaoh where he threw down a stick that became a serpent, but that's not what Jesus was referring to. In Numbers 21, the children of Israel were brought out of Egypt and wandered in the wilderness. They began to grumble and complain against God and Moses. In response, God sent snakes into their camp. As the snakes bit them and they began to die, the people cried out to Moses, confessing their sin and asking for intercession. God instructed Moses to make a bronze serpent and lift it on a pole. Those who looked at the serpent in faith were healed.

This morning, do you need to turn your eyes upon the One who was lifted up on a cross for you, to cover your sin with His blood? Do you need to turn your eyes upon the One who did not stay in the grave but was raised for your justification and freedom from sin?

Jesus was building new faith in the heart of Nicodemus, and He can do the same for you today. You might ask, "Why should I turn my eyes upon Jesus?" I offer you two points from these verses:

1. Jesus is God's greatest gift, given so that believers will live forever.
2. Jesus is God's Son, sent to save believers from condemnation.

This morning, I encourage you to wrestle with the truth of who Jesus is to you. Is He someone you acknowledge in passing, a good teacher, a moral philosopher? Or is He the very Son of God? Jesus is God's final offer, the only offer for eternal life, a life that begins today and continues into eternity. If you believe this gospel, you are living that eternal life now. It's not something to wait for; it starts today.

To appropriate this gift into your life, you must believe—not just intellectually, but to trust, to have faith, to rest yourself in Jesus. This morning, if you want to believe in Jesus Christ, you are trusting in a personal Savior who will carry you from this world into eternity.

Let us pray.

Our Father in heaven, we thank You this morning for Your word to us. Convict us of our sin and show us the condition of our hearts. Help us to believe that Jesus Christ is who He says He is, and that He is Lord. If someone is making a decision of belief today, I pray they would not leave this church without confessing that belief. Go with us this day and help us to seek and save that which was lost. In Jesus' name, amen.

Thank you for joining us for this powerful message. We pray that Noah Hunt's sermon has touched your heart and inspired you to turn your eyes upon Jesus, embracing His gift of eternal life. If you have any questions or need prayer, please reach out to us. God bless you!

Love Your Enemies

Introduction
We are working our way through Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount from Matthew chapters 5-7.  His words have been challenging.  Today, we will find they are even more challenging.  Today, Jesus commands His flowers, “Love your enemies.”

Matthew 5:43-44
⁴³ “You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. ⁴⁴ But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! 

Throughout His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus shows He is the fulfilment of the Law.  In fact, He specifically said in Matthew 5:17, “I did not come to abolish the law…  No, I came to accomplish their purpose.”

The Old Testament Law is quite clear that we are to love our neighbors.  Leviticus 19:18 says, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  But nowhere in the Old Testament does it say to: “Hate your enemy.”  However, the Jews of Jesus day lived under tha hostile occupation of the Roman empire.  They had many enemies and they resented and resisted their Roman oppressors.  Many Jewish leaders therefore misinterpreted the Scriptures to say: “Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.”

It’s human nature to love people who are good to you and hate your enemies, but God’s Holy Law in the Old Testament holds human nature in check.  We find several places where the Old Testament teaches people to do good to their enemies.  Such as 

Exodus 23:4-5 – ⁴ “If you come upon your enemy’s ox or donkey that has strayed away, take it back to its owner. ⁵ If you see that the donkey of someone who hates you has collapsed under its load, do not walk by. Instead, stop and help.

Proverbs 25:21 – If your enemies are hungry, give them food to eat.  If they are thirsty, give them water to drink.

So we see, Jesus upholds the spirit of God’s Law in the Old Testament while challenging the Jewish religious leaders misinterpretation of it.  Notice how the Old Testament teaches to do good to your enemies (and the emphasis is on doing good rather than on a loving feeling).

Matthew 5:44-45
⁴⁴ But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! ⁴⁵ In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. 

It’s troubling to think God gives sunlight and rain to both the evil and the good.  In other words, God gives the same good things to evil people that He gives to good people.  Why, if God were fair, wouldn’t He reserve good things for good people and give wicked people only the evil they deserve?

Perhaps that’s the kind of world you long for—a world where evil people are punished and good people get rewards.  Is that what you want?

I can understand that.  However, the problem is we would all be punished and none of us would get a reward because none of us is good.  We have all acted like enemies of God.  Listen to what Romans 3:10-12 says:  “No one is righteous—not even one.  No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God.  All have turned away; all have become useless.  No one does good, not a single one.”  And Romans 3:23 sums it up: “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.”

What that means is every one of us is evil.  We have all been enemies of God who “actively opposed or were hostile to God.”  Rather than obeying God, we chased our own selfish ambitions.  Rather than surrender to God’s will, we wanted to do things our way. In sinful pride, we boasted “God is on our side.” But in fact, we were trying to use God’s for our own selfish purposes.

If God truly punished His enemies and only gave good to those who deserved it, everyone one of us would be living in Hell and there would be no one left for God to reward—no one except Jesus.

But as it is, God has given “his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.”  I am thankful.  Aren’t you?

Matthew 5:46-47
⁴⁶ If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that?  Even corrupt tax collectors do that much.  ⁴⁷ If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else?  Even pagans do that. 

Jesus calls His disciples to be different than worldly people.  If you only ever love people who love you and are good to you, then you are no better than a worldly pagan.  A pagan—in biblical terms—is a heathen, an ungodly person, anyone who doesn’t worship the one true and living God of the Bible.  If you only love people who love you and are good to you, then you are no different than the ungodly, immoral, corrupt enemies of God all over this world.
Jesus wants us to be different.  Jesus wants us to be like Him.  Jesus wants us to love our enemies.

A·ga·pe
Now, it’s important to clear up what it means to love—according to Jesus.  We often have immature notions about love.  Biblical love is not a warm, fuzzy feeling of affection. Jesus isn’t telling us to find pleasure in our enemies or their bad behavior.  The love Jesus commands us to give is a specific kind of love.  The Greek word Jesus uses is Agape, which is the “sacrificial love of God”.  Agape is not a feeling; it is a verb.  In other words, it’s a love you give.  Agape is to love someone sacrificially, expecting nothing in return.  It's the way God loved us when He sent His one and only Son to die for us on the cross—not because we deserved it, but because God loves us sacrificially.

Agape love is what Jesus did when He allowed His hands and feet to be nailed to the cross, because Jesus knew His death would make our salvation possible.  So, when Jesus says, “Love your enemies…” He isn’t telling us to have warm fuzzy feelings.  Jesus wants His followers to love their enemies sacrificially, expecting nothing in return.

It’s nearly impossible to live like this.  But Jesus is the perfect fulfillment of God’s law.  Jesus loved perfectly.  He even loved His enemies—even when they:
Twisted God’s words for their own evil schemes,
Told lies about Jesus and His Disciples,
When they spat curses at Him and beat Him and mocked Him,
And even when they cruelly drove nails through His hands and feet and displayed Him on a cross to die while all His enemies watched and gloated.

Rather than cursing them or getting revenge, Jesus prayed and said:  “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”  Jesus’ prayer wasn’t just for those standing at the foot of the cross.  He was also praying for you and me. Remember, in one way or another, we have all been enemies of God.  Every time we were dishonest, or were angry, or lusted in our heart, or were unfaithful, or sinned in any way, we were responsible for driving the nails through Jesus’ hands and feet.   It was our sin that put Christ on the cross.

But rather than seeking revenge or punishment, Jesus loved His enemies—us.  He perfectly represented the will of His Father in heaven.  And Jesus challenges us to do the same.

Matthew 5:48
⁴⁸ But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.

We were created in the image of God.  We are to follow in the footsteps of Christ—to represent God, just as Jesus represented Him to us.  Just as Christ loved us, we are to love everyone else—even our enemies.  We are to be perfect, even as our Father in heaven is perfect.

But how can we possibly be perfect?  No one is perfect. That is true.  Humanly speaking, it si impossible, but with God all things are possible.

One of the distinctive teachings of Methodism is the belief in Christian perfection.  John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, taught Christians should strive to be perfect in love.  And Wesley taught that Christians—with the help of the Holy Spirit—can grow, over the course of a lifetime, to become perfect in love.

Methodists believe Christians cannot make the excuse, “Oh, we’re only human.  We’re not perfect.”  It is true, that we will make many mistakes—even after we decide to follow Jesus—because indeed, “We are only human.”  However, there is one way we can be perfect (with the help of God’s Holy Spirit).  The Holy Spirit can help us grow to a place where everything we do is motivated by love.  And so, with God’s help, if we cooperate, we can be perfect in love—even as our Father in heaven is perfect.  But we cannot do this on our own.  We need God’s help.

Conclusion
God will help you if we seek Him with all your heart.  You must first surrender to God through Jesus Christ.  You must recognize you are helpless to save yourself.  Nor can you stop sinning simply by shear willpower.  You need God to save you.  So you must repent and beg God for mercy.  Jesus will save you , but you must trust Jesus to save you.  And you must stop trying to do things your own way and let Jesus be Lord.

Then, you must follow Christ as a Disciple.  Jesus said if anyone wants to be His disciple, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily.  A cross is a symbol of suffering and self-denial.  Furthermore, you must cooperate with the Holy Spirit.  The same Spirit of God who created the universe comes to live inside you when you become a Christian.  That Holy Spirit can enable you to do anything the Spirit wants you to do, but you have to go along with the Spirit and do what He says.  And then, the Holy Spirit of God will enable you to truly love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love your neighbor as yourself.  And the same Spirit will also enable you to love your enemies.