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READ: Genesis 1:27-28
CHALLENGE: Live responsibly in God’s blessing
Genesis 1:27-28 – So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
The Bible has a way of spelling out the simple reality of life as it is. On this Father’s Day, let’s go back to the very beginning in Genesis and make some observations about our responsibilities in the world. This is life as it should be for most humans. We get married, have children, stick around to raise those children. That’s life! While some have drifted far from that norm but it deserves a closer look.
- RESPONSIBLE LIVING HAS GOD’S BLESSING
So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them and said
Humanity was deliberately placed in the world by God and that means that life has meaning and purpose. And life is best when we understand how this world works and what God’s most basic marching orders are.
- God Equally Blessed Men and Women
He made men. He made women. He blessed them both. Men and women are different and that’s no accident! We were created to be different. Let’s never try to turn men into women or women into men. Since God’s blessing is on both, a man should not think he is better than a woman, nor visa versa. God made us both for his purposes and he has blessed us both. And since God made us to be different, let’s respect the beauty of each gender.
And blessing refers to God’s endowment of the grace and benevolence and strength that we need to elevate our lives. God’s favor is on us and by extention, our family.
Man was alone originally and God stated that it wasn’t good and it was the only thing that God said wasn’t good in all of creation. Therefore, God came up with a beautiful solution, He made Eve to be a wife for Abraham.
Genesis 2:18 – The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
Guys are great but we’re greater with our gals! And the purpose of our marriage is companionship so take the responsibility of togetherness seriously. That’s a big part of marriage.
- God’s Blessing Resides on Families
What does that blessing look like? They have food for one thing. But food is important in as much as it sustains life! And life is important because that sustains families.
Consider what happens in chapter 4, Adam and Eve have children. You often see genealogy in the Bible and it’s this person had this one had that one and on and on it goes. Each successive hero or villain being born into a family. Starting at Genesis chapter 12, the focus becomes the history of the family of Abraham and Sarah with so much of the story focusing on how she could not conceive a child. And that’s a huge big deal. However, God promised they would have a son and after 25 years of waiting, they have Isaac. Isaac married Rebekah and they had Jacob and Esau. Jacob has twelve sons and by the end of the story the focus is on his favorite son, Joseph, who now rules in Egypt. As you think about it, the majority of Genesis is about a family and their children. The story of our lives cannot be separated apart from our family, can it? Where is the blessing of God? Isn’t it on families? It has to be, right?
When Christ is born, they laid out his genealogy. He didn’t just appear in the world, but rather, Jesus was connected to a family, a mom and a dad, who were connected into a longer family line of moms and dads and grandparents. His first miracle was at a wedding. So, it’s safe to say that God’s blessing has always been upon marriage and family. Men and women coming together and having families is as old as humanity itself. You can’t ignore it. Can’t overstate it. Can’t change it or re-write it. This is life. And God’s blessing is on that!
We aim to support families here at the church as much as we can. We want to be helpful and encouraging, as we are decidedly family friendly, pro marriage, and pro-children!
To this day, there’s something especially special about a family. We go all out for them. We stick together. We love. We feel responsible. We are comfortable. We hang out. Your family connections are like nothing else. It’s my tightest and most inner circle.
My grandson Zeke can sneeze on my head and I don’t freak out. I don’t prefer it but I also don’t throw him off my shoulders because I felt the moist sneeze spray across the top of my head! If it was your kid, I might! Family, that’s different!
What should our priority be then? Your family! You can chase business, money, fame, but is anything as important as your spouse, children, grandchildren, and later great grandchildren? I truly think that we cannot lose sight of the value of the family unit! The devil will try to lure you into thinking other things are more important but they are not. It’s a mirage!
And even the church serves as an extended family and gives people a place to fit in. You might be all alone in the world but you should never be alone in the church! We have each other. And perhaps you can be a father to the fatherless, a mother to the motherless, or parents to the parentless. Be watching out for opportunity to improve the world by your great example.
You’re blessed. To this day, this amazing life has God’s blessing upon it! I want you to live and flourish and know that God is with you.
B. RESPONSIBLE LIVING INCLUDES BUILDING YOUR FAMILY
Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth
Be Fruitful and multiply! Getting married and settling down and helping to populate the world is normal. However, before there were children, God brought Eve to Adam and they became one flesh. Officially married. And they were committed to each other for about 900 plus years! That’s a long time! If they can do that for 900, we can do our 50 years!
Sometimes people don’t like the commitment so they’re not getting married. Or they’ll never get married again because they can’t take being hurt. Marriage, is God’s way because that’s glue for families! So guys, instead of just living together, commit to your gal. You might say, “It’s just a piece of paper” referring to a marriage license! No! Toilet paper is just a piece of paper! A straw wrapper is just a piece of paper! A receipt is just a piece of paper. A marriage – that’s way, way, way more than that. It’s the commitment and promise to stay together.
Isn’t this a part of being a good man in this world? We make that decision to leave mom and dad and cling to our wife and we’re united and loving one another. That’s very important!
What does it mean to be fruitful? Since it’s combined with the word, “increase” you would have to assume, it means to have children. This is a blessing but also a responsibility, a duty if you will. We do this because we want to and we do this because we should. Yet, that idea is being frowned upon in certain circles as we get sold on a better option.
It’s one thing to not have children because you can’t. It’s another to refuse. I don’t know if you realize what you’re passing up if that were your decision. To bring a life into the world. To give someone the same chance you’ve had to see the sun and stars, to experience love, to see the beauty of fall, to eat delicious food, to enjoy music, and to point them to God. What an incredible opportunity this is.
We live in a world where this is not as much the norm as it used to be. I’ve heard this stat several times lately. 50% of females in Western culture have not had a child by 30 years old. Half of that number never will. So, 25% of women will never have a child and 90% of that group will live to regret it. We’re also putting off marriage and having children! What in the world happened? When I was young I said, “I’m going to college and then I’m getting married” and they said, “To who”? I said, “I don’t know – I’m getting married though”. Thinking the other way was not even close to an option.
The population and lack of having children is an issue of concern now. Birth rates in the U.S. have been declining, reaching historic lows in recent years. As of 2024, the fertility rate is approximately 1.62 births per woman, which is below the replacement rate needed to maintain the population.
So why not? I’m sure it’s complicated but perhaps we can go back to the story the Christmas Carol and listen to Scrooge thinking back to why he didn’t marry Bell. He said I had neither the courage nor the optimism. People today have neither the courage nor the optimism. He wanted every duck in a row first. The money. The house. The perfect career. And every detail had to be in order before entering marriage. What’s the likelihood that will happen?
For me, having children was a natural desire. No one had to tell my wife and I this, but I feel that times have changed. We need to hear it. Having a family is a great thing. If I can read the tea leaves and other comments I’ve heard, it’s like people feel that having children is too expensive. And granted, with day care costing more, that can be a thing. There is a prioritization on careers. A concern about the time commitment. And this fear leads to a decision to not have children for this mixture of reasons and others.
And perhaps the worse reason is the resistance of any responsibility. Yes, you have to be responsible to be a parent. How sad!! And that means that you put yourself aside for the betterment of your children! Church ministry kept me super busy and I had to battle not working too much. But I made sure that I was at home certain nights with my children. There were sports and hobbies I did not engage in because I thought it would take me away from my family. I also felt that it was important to have a family hub.
So yes, you put yourself out for your family. And for all you men who go to work and labor, sweat it out, get your hands dirty, put in the time for your family, I appreciate you. I know that’s a huge part of showing love. It has to be one of the most quintessential man things that we do. We provide.
Having a family. Taking care of a family. That has giving great meaning in life. It’s a purpose for living. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
It brought me great joy. It tested my patience to the extreme. But wow – what a life. So I’m encouraging people to have families and to experience life as it’s meant to be lived. To me, being handed the ball and having responsibility has been very rewarding and meaningful.
C. RESPONSIBLE LIVING INCLUDES TAMING YOUR WORLD
Subdue the world. Rule over it! Anyone remember the Tears for Fears song? Everybody wants to rule the world!
Subdue it – what does that mean. Now this word means that we are to bring it under control. And this word assumes that the party being subdued is hostile to the subduer, necessitating some sort of coercion. This means that this world is hostile to us at times.
We are cutting grass and trying to tame our yard and it is fighting back! The only force that actually stops grass growth for a time is winter and freezing temperatures. Weeds are constantly telling us, “I’m back”! Japanese beetles practically defoilaged one of my maple trees one year. There are so many issues in our battle to tame the world. I’m constantly working to bring order! I even just heard about bugs that kill raspberries …. What?!
Let’s take out any notion that says life is supposed to be easy. It’s not. There’s always a battle and you get married and it’s you against the world. “Therefore subdue in Genesis 1:28 implies that creation will not do man’s bidding gladly or easily and that man must now bring creation into submission by man’s strength”.
Now can you imagine that this is the first time you’ve heard of such a thing? How big is the world? What’s out there? What’s the job description? Is it too big for me to do? Perhaps it’s a bit lofty now that we think about it. Is it possible? Should they have ignored it? They do it trusting God to lead them. Do you have to have the answer to every question before you move forward?
Sometimes you don’t know what everything entails or exactly how all of it will work. You have faith in God and trust him for the rest. Jeri and I were expecting our first child when we moved to Ohio. What a time. We didn’t have much. We didn’t make much. We lived in a little parsonage. But you know what we had a lot of? Faith and optimism.
The thought of “how can you afford children” never came to us. How could you afford not to have children?
So here we are subduing the world. Bringing order to the chaos. This is life as parents. Our worlds are constantly going from neat to messy. We bring order to it. As a guy, the projects and things that we do to conquer our worlds. To exercise dominion are very important to us.
I remember my brother asked me about the property when we had just moved. I said there’s barb wire fences all over, the property is a wreck, it’s paradise. And the reason was because I enjoyed working and I had lots to accomplish. There was much to conquer and much order to bring. And you could stand back and observe what you’ve accomplished.
I walk around it all the time and look at the things that we’ve done and I take a great sense of satisfaction in what we’ve accomplished. You need that kind of experience. Things you’ve accomplished at work. We are built for this!
You want to be a man and it’s not going to be about out drinking someone. It’s not going to be about hitting a baseball the farthest. It’s about being a good dad! About taking responsibility and taking care of others! Bring order! I’ve sensed that I’m pleasing God by bringing order to the world around me. It’s an important thing – truly important.
All the projects we’ve had a had in, I take a lot of pride in it. If a man has built a house or building, he will take his family around and point out the work that he’s done. We take pride in accomplishments.
This is what it is to live. It’s to live responsibly. Adam was tasked with taking care of the garden. He didn’t run and hide in a closet because he was afraid of the duty. He just got busy. I’ve started so many things where you just didn’t know where it would go.
Are we responsible? Are we prioritizing family?
Here’s what God wants!
Malachi 2:15 – Has not the one God made you? You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring. So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth.