Incarnation Reveals That We Belong Here :: Genesis 2:7-17

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And YHWH (Our) God formed the man of dust from the earth and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. And YHWH (Our) God planted a Garden in Eden in [the rising sun], and he set there the man whom he had formed. ... And YHWH (Our) God took the man whom he formed, and settled him in the Garden to serve it and to treasure it (vv 7-8a, 15).

[Introduction]

Our Old Testament reading from Genesis 2 provides us with a beautiful image of the sixth day of creation ... you know, the day God formed Man into a flesh and blood living being. Unlike the heavens and the earth, God did not make Man out of nothing. He did not simply speak him into existence like he did with the rest of creation, saying ... let there be light and sky, and sea and land, and fish and birds, and sun and moon and stars ... plants and animals. 

Our God came down and formed Man. He made him incarnate ... in the flesh. 

He intimately ... carefully ... purposefully ... fashioned Man from the dust of the earth, molding, shaping Man into his image. Then he blew the breath of life into the Man’s nostrils. Man became a living being with flesh and blood and soul. He gave Man reason and senses. Then he placed Man in the Paradise of Delight, aka the Garden of Eden, to continue taking care of him, richly and daily providing him with all that he needed to support his body and life. And there ... in the Garden ... the one God planted and pruned ... he gave Man rest. As Isaiah says, What more was there [for God] still to do for [his] vineyard? (Is 5:4)

Everything we could ever want or need was there ... in Paradise. The trees were fruitful. The earth was fruitful. The river was fruitful. It flowed out from Eden irrigating the whole garden, and it became the headwaters of four rivers ... the Pishon, Gihon, Tigris, and Euphrates, whose names mean they burst forth, gushing, rapidly, in fruitfulness. Man would have no need to sweat while bearing fruit in God’s heavenly temple (Gn 3:19).

This beautiful imagery shows God’s personal involvement in creating and caring ... nurturing and nourishing ... Man. The Lord reminds us here that we are not accidents of nature. We are not what evolutionists want you to think. We are fearfully and wonderfully made, created with a sense of awe, set apart. He made us to be incarnate ... literally, in flesh and blood, with a soul. 

1.

At first glance, it may seem that the incarnation of Adam is not such a profound teaching. But today I must remind you that Genesis 2 shows us that the incarnation is critically important for understanding of our relationship, our communion, our fellowship with the Lord God Almighty. The incarnation helps us understand our vocation. And it gives us a picture of the communion of heaven and earth ... of how life is supposed to be. It shows us we belong.

Man was given to treasure this truth. But sadly, the world doesn’t treasure it, even if they like to say they do. The world continues to try to enhance its own image.

First, they reduce Jesus, the New Man, the God-Man, to a mere moral teacher or social reformer. They doubt his incarnation. They doubt his virgin birth. They doubt his resurrection. They doubt the importance of it all. They doubt the doctrine of original sin ... the sin our first earthly father, Adam, cursed us with. They doubt his redemption. They see no need to bring their babies to be baptized and continue teaching them to repent of sin. And these doubts have led to the creation of a profound identity crisis in America today. 

More and more people ... your neighbors, your relatives ... are asking what it means to be human ... what it means to be a man ... what it means to be a woman ... what it means to be a boy or girl ... what it means to be incarnate. ... They are asking what it means to have life ... when it begins ... how it begins ... and why we should protect it at all cost. 

Amazingly, 60 percent of Americans, Christian or not, do not believe in the physical resurrection of the body. They are increasingly casting aside the doctrine of the incarnation. They don’t think we belong.

The root of this problem is Gnosticism, a knowledge heresy that the church tried to squash in the fourth century but couldn’t. Today, Gnosticism affects the modern church by promoting an over-spiritualized faith that separates the physical world from spiritual reality ... you know, body and soul. Instead of valuing creation and redemption and bodily resurrection, modern gnosticism prioritizes emotion over doctrine. Our feelings then become more important than faithful teaching in the midst of the church, and the goal and purpose of this life becomes simply to die so that the disembodied spirit will ascend away from the evil of the material world. 

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we all need to repent of it. 

2.

And thanks be to God, we can because of the incarnation of Christ.

Jesus is Immanuel ... the Incarnate God with us. Through his incarnation God became one of us ... one with us ... one for us. Jesus willingly took human vulnerability, human suffering, and humiliation upon himself in order to redeem the body with his blood. He allowed himself to be tempted and tested in every way that we have ... to suffer and sweat in every way that we have ... so that, unlike the first Adam, he would not fall into sin that destroys body and soul (Hb 4:15) ... fulfilling the Law and the Prophets. 

There is no greater consolation to mankind than knowing this ... that True God became True Man, clothing himself in flesh and blood to bear our sin and to be our savior ... that Jesus washes us, clothes us, and feeds us ... redeems us. ... And that He is now enabling us to draw near to God without fear ... unafraid ... knowing that the Lord of heaven and earth will not judge us but will save us because he bled and died and rose for us. 

Through the incarnation, he says we belong. And we say Hallelujah! He is Risen!

[Catechism]

Please now turn your eyes to page 322 in your Lutheran Service Book and join me in confessing this truth in the second article of the Apostles’ Creed. As the head of the family should teach it in a simple way to his household ... What is the Second Article? ... What does this mean? ...

3.

That Gospel was all made possible on account of the incarnation. And he uses it even now to deliver his grace to you in tangible, physical ways ... through the sacraments, the mysteries of God ... notably Holy Baptism and the Holy Supper ... as means to care for your body and soul. 

In Baptism, Christ cleanses you ... body and soul ... by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present you to himself in splendor (Eph 5:26-27). In the Supper, Christ gives himself ... body and blood ... to you in the sacrament. As Paul frames it ... The cup of blessing we drink is a communion of the blood of Christ. The bread we break is a communion of the body of Christ (1 Cor 10:16). 

These means of grace are a communion with the incarnation. And the benefit of returning to your baptism and eating and drinking the Supper is the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. Therefore, through the incarnation, we return to paradise where we belong.

[Conclusion]

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as you have heard, the incarnation is not an insignificant theological detail. It is the first and last act of divine love. 

Through the incarnation, Jesus communicates to us who God is, and who man is. He uses it to nourish and nurture us, and to declare that you belong here. He has not redeemed us to be something different than what he created us to be. He has restored us for our intended purpose ... true communion with God ... in paradise, where we belong. 

Therefore, let our family begin the day again with grace. We belong here. Let our congregation gather again for service, not just prayers. We belong here. Let our children know that they were made to care for what was planted, to build houses out of love ... and above all ... to walk in the light of his face forever. We belong here. Let us all enjoy his means of grace now and not wait for another life after death. We belong here. 

For he is Immanuel, the God who has come near and dwells among us always ... not as a memory, but as our brother, our neighbor, our savior ... in Jesus’ name.

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