Genesis 2:7
Home Should Be A Good Place
Let’s take a look at several verses in this section.
I. Genesis
A. God created Man.
Gen 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed
into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden
to dress it and to keep it.
1. I see that God created man.
2. Not only did God create Adam; but He charged Adam, even before
there was an Eve, to care for the Garden of Eden.
3. Apparently, Adam was sinless and capable (Adam named all the
animals of the world).
4. However, Man was alone. God deemed that "not to be good."
B. Then God created Woman.
Gen 2:21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept:
and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and
brought her unto the man.
23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall
be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
1. God formed woman from the rib of a man and called the woman man’s
helpmeet.
a. That means there is commonality between the man and woman.
b. That means that, as a rule, a man is not complete without a
woman.
c. That means the woman is man’s compliment.
2. Interestingly, God deemed man incomplete without the woman, but
God no where gives any indication that the woman is incomplete
without the man (at least not at creation).
C. Then God joins these two in what we call marriage.
Ge 2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave
unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
1. So God created marriage
2. This union is to be lifelong.
D. Along with these three, God designed and commanded that the man and
woman reproduce.
Ge 1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply,
and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the
sea, and over the fowl of the air, and
over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
1. So God created children just as much as He created the man, the
woman, and their marriage.
2. It is safe to assume that God intended children to be born as
infants, needing complete care, since that is the way things
work.
3. It is also a good assumption that children are supposed to grow
up, learn from the parents, and eventually become independent.
E. I don’t have Bible verses for all the things that I am supposing, but
I read these verses with you and allowed you to follow my reasoning
because I wanted you to see my logic for the conclusions that I have
drawn.
1. Basically, my conclusion so far is that God made man, woman,
marriage, and procreation so things must work pretty much as God
intended.
2. Are we in agreement so far?
F. Then let’s add another supposition.
1. It is also my belief that God intended the home to be a good
place….
a. a place of love,
b. of kindness,
c. of peace,
d. of encouragement,
e. of cooperation,
f. of laughter,
g. of comradery.
2. Further, I believe God intended the home should be a fortress
against the outside world; a haven of rest for all who abide
within, and place where all are nurtured, children are educated,
and everyone worships God together.
3. I think God intended home to be the kind of place that children
will remember with fondness all the days of their lives.
G. I don’t know if that is what you believe or not, but that is what I
believe.
H. Question-Is you home a good place?
1. Do you want your home to be a good place?
2. Not very many people do.
3. I am not just talking about the lost because not very many
Christian do either.
II. \\#1Sam 2:12-25\\ Notice Eli’s family
A. In case you don’t know, Eli was a judge over Israel and a priest.
B. Notice his sons.
1. \\#1Sam 2:12\\ They were sons of Belial.
a. That means they were both wicked and worthless.
b. I usually interpret the phrase to say sons of the devil.
c. Perhaps we would call them "Jewish trash."
2. \\#1Sam 2:13-16\\ Among other things, they blasphemed the Lord.
a. Being of the tribe of Levi, Eli’s sons were entitled to the
proper portions of animals sacrifices for doing the Lord’s
work.
b. However, they took what they want, when they wanted it.
c. I would suspect they didn’t offer the sacrifices as they were
supposed to.
d. So they disrespected God, God’s commandments, and the work of
God.
e. Not to mention they were thieves and thugs.
3. \\#1Sam 2:22\\ They were some kind of fornicator.
a. Apparently, some women gave themselves to serving the Lord as
a calling.
b. Somehow, either by force or cunning, these boys got into
relationships with them.
C. These are the sons of Eli, the judge over Israel!
1. Didn’t Eli do anything to them?
2. \\#1Sam 23-25\\ We read that Eli gave a gentle rebuke against
them.
3. Not exactly a thunderous correction!
a. In fact, for what these men were doing, this was no correction
at all.
b. As a father and the judge over Israel, Eli must do more than
this!
D. I read this passage to demonstrate what can and does happen in many
Christian homes.
1. Perhaps mom and dad are trying to do right, but their children
often go a different direction.
2. Maybe they don’t go THIS far in the opposite direction, but in
many cases, they don’t serve the Lord wholeheartedly either.
III. What is needed? May I offer some suggestions?
A. If you want your home to be a good place, a divine Christ is needed.
1. Don’t think you know what I am going to say here and tune me out.
a. Yes, you do need Christ in your life for salvation’s sake, but
that is not the point I want to make here.
b. Yes, you do need Christ in your life for wisdom’s sake, but
that is not the point I want to make here.
2. So why do you need Christ in your life for your home?
a. Because Christ is the only One who can make us the kind of
people we need to be to build the kind of home we want to
have.
b. We all know what kind of people we CAN be.
(1) I was at Lowe’s yesterday hunting for a large blue cart
in the parking lot.
(2) From the lumber side of the parking lot, I heard someone
hollering.
(3) I found a cart and walked back to near the front doors,
occasionally hearing the loud voice.
(4) Further beyond my car, I saw an angry dad yelling at a
young girl, may seven or eight years old, whom I suppose
was his daughter.
(5) I don’t know what the situation was but it was obvious
he was angry, and she was getting at least some of his
wrath.
(6) At first, I got a little judgmental; then God reminded me
of times when I had done almost the same thing.
(7) I paused to thank God for the years it has been since I
have done that.
c. Hey, if a temper is not your problem something else is or was.
(1) All of us have a little bit of that "son of Belial" in us.
(2) We can all be selfish, petty, short tempered, harsh, and
on the list goes.
(3) The truth is that we are the biggest problems to our own
homes.
d. You say, "It’s not me. It’s my kids."
(1) Where did you kids learn to act that way?
(2) They are only mirrors and tape recorders.
(3) They are playing back what they learned at home or
from someone nearby.
(4) That goes for Eli’s boys too.
(a) I don’t think they learned that kind of behavior from
Eli, and I doubt they learned it from Mrs. Eli.
(b) But somebody close to that home modeled a wicked
behavior that they learned and perfected.
e. Christ is the only One who can change us.
(1) I stand before you as a witness.
(a) I am not perfect.
(b) But I am a long way from what I once was.
(2) If you want your home to be a good place, put Christ is
definitely needed.
B. If you want your home to be a good place, THE divine purpose is needed.
1. Is Christ all that is needed to make a home a good place?
a. My answer may not sound spiritual, but the answer is NO.
b. Eli had God.
(1) Eli was a godly man who loved the Lord and served him
faithfully.
(2) I cannot speak for Mrs. Eli, but I would imagine that she
was one of Israel’s virtuous women.
(3) So why did Eli’s sons turn out that way?
c. Because more than Christ is needed.
2. There must also be the divine purpose.
a. I do not think Eli had the divine purpose.
(1) I think Eli had a spiritual purpose.
(2) His purpose was to serve God.
(3) That is a good purpose.
(4) But it is not the best purpose.
b. The best purpose, the divine purpose, is to glorify God.
1Co 6:20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and
in your spirit, which are God’s.
(1) Eli did serve God, but Eli did not glory God.
(2) Understand, I am not trying to weigh in as Eli’s judge.
(3) This is what pretty much what God said about Eli.
1Sam 3:11 And the LORD said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, at
which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle.
12 In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken
concerning his house: when I begin, I will also make an end.
13 For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity
which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them
not.
14 And therefore I have sworn unto the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli’s
house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever.
(4) God said He would judge Eli and his whole house for the
the sins of the his sons AND for Eli’s sin of not
restraining them.
(5) Eli continued to serve God, but he put his sons before
the Lord and did not do what was necessary to control
them.
c. Having a spiritual purpose is good.
(1) We should all have many of them.
(2) However, above all else, we must have the divine purpose.
(3) We must glorify God with our life, our actions, and our
home.
3. Not only must we as the parents have the divine purpose, we must
pass it along to our children.
a. I wish that I could tell you an easy way to do that, but I can
not.
b. It is my belief that if both parents have the divine goal, I
mean really want to glorify God and not just serve Him, that
the kids will pick it up too.
c. However, I can not see the hearts of men, women, and children
so I cannot tell for certain if this is true or not.
d. I will tell you this.
(1) If you are a hypocritical parent, pretending to love
Jesus with all of your heart, your children will spot it
and run to the world with open arms.
(2) Even if you are Christian who truly desires to serve God
with your life, changes are that you will see your
children have less spiritual desire than you have.
(3) That is what happened to Eli.
(4) No.
(a) You must truly have the divine purpose.
(b) You must want to glorify God with all your heart.
(c) That is only true hope if you want your home to be a
good place.
C. If you want your home to be a good place, divine guidelines are needed.
1. Personally, I think if you get number two right, you will
eventually get number three right; but it is important enough that
I want to specifically mention it.
a. God has told us how we are SUPPOSED to live.
b. While we don’t stand much of a chance of living that way
without Christ, once He comes in, He can change us.
2. What are some of these guidelines?
a. Love one another.
(1) Selfishness is what drives most people.
(2) Love is the antithesis of selfishness.
(3) As God takes away more of your self and replaces with love
for others, your home will gradually become the good
place you desire it to be.
b. Let every word and action be tempered with kindness.
(1) Kindness is the lubricant that removes the friction from
life.
(2) It is like oil in the engine. When things begin to heat
up, kindness is what cools things back down.
(3) Kindness is using a gentle voice instead of answering with
the tone in which you were spoken to.
(4) Kindness is doing for another even when that other has not
done anything for you.
(5) Kindness is being the first to forgive.
c. Forgive freely.
\\#Mt 10:8\\ Jesus said, "…freely ye have received, freely give."
(1) Of all the things we have abundantly and freely received,
forgiveness tops the list.
(2) Give it to your husband when he does not consider your
feelings.
(3) Give it to your wife when she gets a little too petty.
(4) Give it to your children when they annoy you one too many
times.
(5) Give it because they need it just as badly as you do.
d. Discipline when needed and the way God’s Word teaches.
(1) This was a large part of the problem with Eli’s sons.
(2) Their father, although a godly man, did not put down the
boundaries that all children need and then enforce those
boundaries.
(3) Kids without boundaries become thugs without hope.
Pr 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not
depart from it.
(4) That verse is just as true as John 3:16.
A company in Albuquerque, New Mexico, has started a business called Freedom Rings.
They produce jewelry for the divorced. Founded by jeweler and divorcee Lynn
Peters, the company makes custom jewelry out of wedding rings. Each customer at
Freedom Rings pays a fee, and the ring-smashing ceremony begins—complete with
champagne and music. Just before the smashing the M.C. says, "We will now release
any remaining ties to your past by transforming your ring—which represents the
past—into a token of your new beginning. Now take the hammer (a four pound sledge
hammer is used). Stop for a moment to consider the transformation that is about
to begin your new life. Ready? With this swing let freedom ring!" You could say
that the business has been a "smashing success."
E. Lawson said, "Fifty years ago, parents were apt to leave a lot of children.
Today, children are apt to leave a lot of parents."
Our homes are not good places. This is not what God intended. The question for
you is will you build the kind of home that is a good place. There are many
different voices selling many different formulas; however, what I have given you
this morning will work.
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