Dignity and Dominion_September 7, 2025 • Matthew Spradlin • Genesis 2-4–17

Welcome to the Valley Baptist Church Sermon Podcast.

We're so glad you're here, and we hope this message inspires you,

builds your faith, and moves you toward a deep relationship with God.

Today, you'll find great insight into the Bible

and learn how you can apply it straight to your life.

So welcome, and enjoy the message.

Well, God keeps calling me to do impossible things,

so I'll depend upon him.

Does God ever do that to you?

You know why God does that within our life?

Because God loves you.

He knows your greatest need is to abide and depend upon him, to walk intimately and faithfully

with God.

And so God often brings situations and things within our life that demand that we depend upon him.

It is his goodness and his grace being demonstrated within our life.

Now, Andrew has an amazing sermon next week on rest, all right, from Genesis chapter 2,

Genesis 2:1–3

verses 1 through 3. But this week, we're going to skip ahead to verse number 4, and we're going to

talk about work, although it may take us just a little while to get there. Now, the Bible is the story of God and mankind.

And Genesis tells us how the story begins.

And the most important parts of the story are that God made you and that God is the

only one who can save you.

God is your creator and God is your creator, and God is your Savior. He is the only one who can pay for sin

and restore us back to the way that he originally made us, to restore us back to his rule and reign

and relationship with him. And so God is the main character of the story of the Bible.

He's the author of the Bible and he is the hero of the Bible.

Did you know that's true also in your life?

That God is the main character of the story of your life.

That God is the author of your life, that God is the author of your life, and if you will let him, God will be

the hero of your life as well. Now, if you're going to understand reality, you have to understand that

God created you. And the most important thing about you is that you were made in the image of God. And that means many things,

but it definitely means two things. First of all, it means that you have value, dignity, and worth

because you bear God's image. You were made to be like God, to know God, and enjoy God. You are made to reflect God

and represent God within and upon the earth. But secondly, to be made in God's image means that you

have been called to have dominion. God created us in his image, and part of that is

he gave us dominion over the earth. And what that means is that you are to use all that God has

given you for his glory and for the benefit and the good of other people. And so part of what it means to be human is to live for God's glory

and to live for others' good. Now Genesis chapter 1 gives us the big picture of creation.

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

But Genesis chapter 2 goes back to day 6 in creation, and it gives us a fuller picture

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

of what God is doing. Now, sometimes you see this in a movie, don't you? There's a great scene

within that movie, but then later in the movie, it goes back, and you're able to see something

that you didn't see before that gives you a new perspective and a deeper

understanding. And that's what God is doing in Genesis chapter 2. Genesis chapter 1 describes

Genesis 2 · chapter mention Genesis 1 · chapter mention

to us the equality of men and women, that God created men and women in his image, that men and women are the same, and that we are equal

and that we are created equally in the image of God. But then in Genesis chapter 2, it describes

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

the differences in how God designed men and women. And so while we are the same, we have equal dignity, value, and worth,

we are designed to be different within how God made us and how we are to live.

Now, we see in the Bible that we are not to run from these differences, but we are to celebrate

these differences. That the difference between men and women is inherent, that

is creational, that it is a part of how God has designed us and we operate best

when we operate within the parameters and the design of how God has made us.

And so let's begin reading in verse number four.

It says,

This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created,

and the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens,

before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown.

For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground.

But a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.

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 being. Now, there's something incredibly special that's going on

here in the creation of man. First, it describes God in a very personal way. In chapter 1,

the word Elohim is used to describe God. That's kind of the general name for God. But you'll notice here it begins to describe God as the

Lord God. That word Lord is a translation of the personal name for God, Yahweh. And so Yahweh,

Elohim, formed and created man. And so God is described as powerful in creation, and he is described as

personal and relational in the creation of man. Secondly, we see in Genesis 1 that God spoke

things into existence. But when he creates man, it says that he formed man. In fact, we're

going to see that a little bit later, and it's repeated for emphasis. It's the word for

handcrafted. It's a picture of a sculptor that is shaping something, and it's giving special

attention to its creation. God gave special attention to the

creation of man. And then it says that he formed him from the dust, but then it says

that he breathed life into man, and man became a living being. It's a picture almost as if God is face to face and he kisses man,

that he breathes spiritual life so that he goes from just being a physical body but now

being a spiritual being. It is a very intimate and very personal picture of God creating man. Do you know that God made us to be both

physical and spiritual beings? It's important that we understand not only that we are physical,

but that we also are spiritual. Now, there's a prevailing worldview called naturalism within the world that teaches

that the material universe is all that there is and all that there ever was. There is no

spiritual component to the universe. There's no spiritual component to man, but that we are simply physical creatures.

Now, naturalism is left with a very implausible belief that unintelligent matter created intelligent beings,

that lifeless matter created life,

that irrational matter created rational beings,

that impersonal matter made personal creatures.

And so the modern man says that man is nothing special, that you and I are simply the product

of the random colliding of atoms, that there is no inherent value to human life, that we're no really more valuable than a rock.

We just happen to be a more complicated and complex configuration of physical matter.

Now, of course, if all we are is physical,

then really free will becomes an illusion. Because all you really are is the inevitable chain of cause and effect of the material universe.

And so you have no spiritual volition to be able to really actually choose anything. It appears that way, perhaps, but you're just a victim of

cause and effect within the physical universe. But what we see within this passage is that

we are physical in that God formed us from the dust, but we also see that we are spiritual in that God breathed life into us.

It explains our volition.

It explains our ability to choose.

And so the Bible says that the living God is the one who created life and created living beings.

That the intelligent God is the one who created intelligent

beings. That the personal God created personal beings. That the rational God created rational

beings in a rational creation. And it explains our self-consciousness. It explains our autonomy. It explains our free will and our rationality.

But look what he says in verse number eight.

It says, the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden. Now, the word Eden means delight. It was a garden of delight. And there he put the man whom he had formed.

And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow

that is pleasant to the sight and good for food.

The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden

and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden,

and from there it parted and became four river heads.

The name of the first was Pishon.

It is the one which skirts the whole land of Hevelah, where there is gold.

And the gold of that land is good.

Bedelium and the onyx stone are there.

The name of the second river is Gihon.

It is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush.

The name of the third river is

Hittikal. It is the one which goes toward the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.

Now, I want you to notice that God puts man in a garden, and he gives man water and food and everything that man needs to flourish

and to thrive. Here's the principle. God has made us both dependent and free creatures.

Now, the Bible teaches that you and I are dependent.

We're dependent on water.

We're dependent on food.

We're dependent on oxygen.

We're dependent on relationships because ultimately we are dependent upon God as our creator.

But the Bible teaches that God is different than us in that God is independent. In fact, this is one

of the ways that God is distinct from everything else in creation. Everything

else is dependent upon God, but God is dependent upon no one and nothing. Every

need that God has is provided within himself. So he has nothing that he needs

outside of himself. And so God did not create us because he needed us. God created us because he

wants us. You know, the only thing better than being needed is being wanted.

God wants you.

He wants a relationship with you.

He wants you to know him and to enjoy him.

Now, as created beings, our identity is to be found in God.

We cannot understand what we are or who we are apart from our Creator.

And while we have many aspects of our identity, none of those aspects are to be understood apart from the One who created us. Now, self-identity apart from the creator is a rejection of our creaturely dependence upon God

and if you and I do not define ourselves by creation then we will become forced to define

ourselves by the current culture and our culture is very confused about identity.

Our culture is confused as to what it means

to be created by God.

We're confused about the differences

between men and women,

what it means to be a man

and what it means to be a woman.

We're confused about marriage.

We're confused about human sexuality.

We're really confused about all of reality and our place and our design within it.

Now, in all of these different aspects, we want to be very kind and compassionate.

There are a lot of people who are confused and they're hurting.

And there's consequences to that confusion.

There's a lot of pain that results from that.

So we want to be very kind and compassionate.

At the same time, we want to be very clear and convictional about what God says.

You see, sin creates confusion between the way God created us and the way that we perceive

ourself. We all struggle with the issue of creating our own self-identity rather than

accepting our God-given identity. But when we accept our God-given identity, that is what brings freedom to our life.

It is then that we begin to truly live out the way that we were designed to live. And whenever

we live contrary to the way we are designed, things start to break down and not work. But as soon as we come into alignment with who God is

and who he made us to be and the way that God designed us, our life begins to make sense

and we begin to live out the purpose that God has for us. Now, I want you to notice that God makes us humble and honorable at the same time.

He makes us from the dust of the ground, which is a very humble position. It's a very lowly

position. But he also makes us from his breath, which is a very honorable position. We are made of the dust of the ground like the animals,

which is very lowly, but we also are made in the image of God, which is very honorable

and dignified. And with this spiritual nature that God has given us, we are given the freedom of choice and we are given moral responsibility. A part of being

made in the image of God is that we have free will and that we have moral responsibility.

Now, the Bible teaches that God created man without sin. When he created us, it says that he said

it is good. In fact, he said it is very good. And so we see that evil does not originate with God.

Evil originates with Satan and later with mankind who joined Satan in rebellion against God.

And so what we're going to see is that man chooses evil. God didn't create evil. It did not

originate with God because evil is not a thing that is created. It is a choice that is made.

It is a choice to choose against the goodness and the will of God.

Now, imagine that you go down to Home Depot and you say, I'd like to have a five-gallon bucket of evil, please,

the clerk may kind of look at you a little funny and not be sure what you're talking about.

Why? Because evil doesn't have an ontological existence. Evil is not a thing. Evil is a choice. And so evil came into the world when we chose to go against God and to

go our own way. Now I want you to notice in verse 9 that the tree of life and the

tree of the knowledge of good and evil are both in the center of the garden. And

temptation within your life will always be at the center of your life.

You will never be able to get away from temptation in this life. And temptation we see here

is just as much an opportunity to do the right thing as it is to do the wrong thing.

Both the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge and good and evil were right next to each other in the midst of the garden. And so when you are tempted to lie, when you are

tempted to be bitter, when you are tempted to steal, when you are tempted to be selfish, you

have just as much of an opportunity to choose the pleasures of obeying God as you do to choose to reject God and to go your own way.

Notice what it says in verse 15.

It says,

Then the Lord God took the man

and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and to keep it.

God made us to work. Now, verse 5 says that there was no man to till the

ground. And so one of the major problems in Genesis chapter 2 is there's so much to do and no man to

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

do it. And so God forms man where there is no man to do the work, and he places him in the garden

to get the job done. Now, there is nothing more dangerous than a lazy and bored man.

You know how much sin results from boredom? I mean, ask the teenagers.

You know, they get bored and bad things start to happen.

And when a man is not productive, when a man does not have purpose outside of himself,

it leads to all kinds of problems within a man's life.

And so notice that before God gives Adam a wife, he gives him a job.

You know, that's a pretty good order. I've got three daughters. I think that's a pretty good

order. Before you get a wife, you get a job. In fact, before he gets a wife, he has to name and

order everything within his life. And once he has a job and once he has named and ordered everything in

his life, then God gives him a wife. Do you know that God made us to work? One of the ways that we

image God is we work in the same way that God works, that we rest in the way that God rested, that we follow his example. And what that means is that

we ought to pray, Lord, help me to do the work you want me to do in the way that you want me to do it.

Help me to do work that will last and that matters, and help me to do it in a way that honors and glorifies you. Now, the primary way that we image God is by loving God

and loving people. In the New Testament, it says we are to love one another as God loves us.

Jesus says we are to love our enemies because our Father in heaven makes it to reign on the just and the unjust.

And so we are to love our enemies because God loved us when we were his enemies.

We are to image God in our love for him and our love for one another.

And our work is the living out of our love for God and our love for people.

We are to work for God's glory and for the good of

others. And when we begin to do that, that gives our work great meaning and purpose. Now, if all I

do is I work for myself, there's not a lot of meaning and purpose in that. It doesn't go very far. But if my work is

motivated by my love for God and my love for others, that gives everything I do, no matter

how menial, great dignity, great meaning, and great purpose within our life. Now, he says he put them in the garden to tend and to keep it. This word tend

has the idea of building, developing, and cultivating. Now, that's kind of innate within us,

isn't it? I mean, we want everything we do to get bigger, better, faster, stronger, more efficient.

Now, that can be distorted, but that's the way God made us.

We want to be growing things.

We want to be developing things.

We want to be cultivating things within our life because that's a part of the purpose

that God has given us within work.

And so here's the principle.

Change happens when we start taking responsibility.

God didn't just give Adam a wonderful place to live.

He gave him a responsibility to grab a hold of.

And God does that within our own life.

He places us where there's a need

and he tells us to get to work.

And so I want to encourage you

to embrace where God has currently put you

within your life.

Did you know that boys complain about where they are

but men cultivate where they are that's the

difference between a boy and a man and so instead of complaining about your

wife cultivate your wife develop and cultivate your relationship with her

instead of complaining about your kids cultivate cultivate your kids. Invest in them, love them, sacrifice for them,

show them what it means to lay down your life for someone else. Instead of complaining about

your job, build it, develop it, cultivate it for the glory of God and the good of those around you.

Instead of complaining about your body or your house, cultivate your body or

your house. God puts us here to grow us and to meet needs. And so it's time to get to work,

to do what God has placed us here to do, to represent and to reflect him in our work.

You are at Valley Baptist Church because there is a need.

We need every one of you.

The mission is greater than any one of us.

It's as great as all of us.

You are in the life group that you are in because there is a

massive need for you to be a part of it, to help it to flourish and to thrive, to make disciples,

to glorify God, and to build other people up within their life. And so we've got to stop saying that this church or this life group exists for me.

That's the way that boys talk.

A man takes responsibility and says, I exist for this family.

I exist for my wife.

I exist for my children.

I exist for my children. I exist for my church. I exist to glorify God and to help other

people. Now, taking responsibility means that we not use piety as an excuse for passivity.

You know, sometimes you might ask a guy, hey, you know, you're going to ask her out?

Well, I'm praying about it.

Well, how long have you been praying?

About five years.

Well, I'm not sure that's still piety.

That kind of sounds more like passivity.

I don't think that's a piety that most women are looking for, you know.

Sometimes you got to do something.

And so we ought to pray about everything, but we also ought to get involved in what God has

given us and called us to do. And so taking responsibility also means that we choose reality over fantasy. Now, passive men choose fantasy over reality.

They, instead of helping people in real life,

they just help people on a video game in a fantasy world.

Passive men, instead of saying, this is my wife,

they fantasize about another woman. Instead of saying, this is my wife, they fantasize about another woman.

Instead of saying, this is my job, they fantasize about someone else's job.

Instead of saying, these are my finances, they fantasize about someone else's finances.

Change happens in a man's life when he accepts his situation and says, let's build. Let's get to

work. Let's start developing and cultivating this relationship. Let's start building and cultivating

this situation for the glory of God and the good of the people around him. And so brothers, let's stop making excuses and start making progress.

Let's stop complaining and let's get to work. Now women, we need your help and we need your

encouragement. First of all, the men in your life need you not to enable them to be passive.

They need you to challenge them to be active. They need you to say, you know,

you're the spiritual leader of this home, and we've got this problem. What are you going to do

about it? How are you going to solve it? How can we work together to get the job done?

And you'll find that when you have high godly expectations,

that is better for your husband or the man within your life

or the boy that you're trying to shape to be a man

than just about anything else.

But if the man or the boy in your life

begins to follow the Lord in some way, cheer him on.

Encourage him because God is at work in his life, and it's really easy to get discouraged.

In a fallen world, work is often not as fruitful as it once was.

It's often not as satisfying, and there's all kinds of obstacles the enemy throws and just the fallen nature of creation.

And so getting to work and taking responsibility is hard,

and we can easily grow discouraged.

And so we need to encourage one another to serve the Lord, to lead, and to live for him. Now look once

again what it says in verse 15. It says, then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden

of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man saying, of every tree of the garden you may freely

eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you

eat of it you shall surely die. Now notice God gave man many yeses and one no. He put him in the

garden and he says, it's time to get to work.

I want you to tend it, and I want you to keep it.

Now, this word keep has the idea of protecting

and guarding what God has given you.

Men, that's our calling.

Men exist to lay down our lives

and to sacrifice for others.

We don't exist to live for ourselves.

We live, we exist to sacrifice for the good of other people and for the glory of God. And men

are called to protect and to guard what God has given us. You see, God put Adam where he wanted him, and then he gave Adam his word.

And that's what God does within our life.

He puts us in a particular place in the spiritual battle of the world,

and then he gives us his word to lead us and guide us to fight the battle that we are to fight, to guard and protect

the people around us, to lay down our life and sacrifice for the spiritual good of others.

Now, we see in this passage that men are called to be the spiritual leaders of their home,

that they are to bear the responsibility for the culture and spiritual leaders of their home, that they are to bear the responsibility

for the culture and the climate of their home. Now, that doesn't mean that everything that

happens in your home is your fault. You know, there are multiple sinners everywhere, right?

Not everything that happens in your home is your fault, but what it does mean is that it's your

responsibility, that no matter what happens, if it's you, then you're to

take responsibility. If it's someone else, then you are to cultivate. You are to love. You are to

sacrifice, and you are to lead. Now, this command is never given again. It's not given to Eve.

This was Adam's responsibility to pass on God's word to his family. And we're going

to see that Adam massively failed in doing this. It is our job to pass on God's word and to lead

our family to know and to follow God's word. You know what that means? That means, men, you need to know your Bible.

How can you lead your family to follow what God says if you don't know what he said?

And so we need to become intimately acquainted with God's word. This is God's blueprint for your life. This is God's blueprint for your marriage. This is God's blueprint for your children.

This is God's blueprint for our church

and for whatever ministry that God has called you to do.

We are to know God's word

and we are to lead in example of following God's word.

And the Bible will tell you how to love and to lead your family,

how to love and to lead others around you. Now, I know what all of us men are thinking,

and that is, well, what if I fail? And the reality is, we know that all of us are going

to fail. You know what the problem with men is? We're sinners. It's the same problem. Often,

I'll tell young couples that are about to get married, I go, you know, the problem with marriage

is it's two sinners getting together, you know, and sin really messes everything up. We're going to see that in chapter 3 of Genesis. And so what happens when we fail? There's a very important

principle in the Bible. When the ideal is lacking, God's grace is abounding.

The Bible says a righteous man falls down, and yet he rises back up. He falls down, and yet he rises

back up. You know, I love David

because the Bible says he was a man after God's own heart. And when you read the story of David,

and you see his adultery, you see his sin, you see him get away from the Lord, you think, well,

how is this man a man after God's own heart? David was great at sinning, but you know what else David was great at? He was great

at repenting. And men, we need to get great at repenting. We need to model repentance to our

family. We need to initiate reconciliation, and we need to encourage the people around us to follow the Lord.

You know, years ago, COVID hit, and I was discouraged.

My wife was discouraged.

My kids were discouraged, and my church was discouraged.

In fact, the whole world seemed to be pretty discouraged, you know?

I don't know if you remember that.

But did that come to Bakersfield too?

I don't know.

It was down south at the time.

But everyone in my life was discouraged. And I was talking to our associate pastor and we were having a conversation about encouragement. And I said, you know, I just don't have the gift of

encouragement. And he looked me square in the eye and he says, how long are you going to use that as an excuse not to grow

in Christ-likeness? I'll try to do different, okay? It was such a bold and needed truth. Guys, we can't do this apart from the Lord. We can't do this without God.

In fact, apart from me, Jesus said you can do nothing. And so what we need to do is we need

to depend upon God. We need to spend time with him and allow his grace to transform our heart and to renew our mind and to give us a right spirit so that we can love and sacrifice for our family.

So that we can lead and love the people that God has placed within our life. At the center of the Garden of Eden

was the tree of life

and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

But there's another tree that's spoken of in the Bible

and it's not in a garden,

it's on a hill called Calvary.

And on that tree that we call the cross,

Jesus laid down his life and sacrificed himself

so that he could undo what happened at the first tree,

so that he could forgive us of sin

and give us a new life

that is filled with his presence,

his power, and his grace.

You see, there is the tree of life

that brings regeneration.

There is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil

which brought condemnation, but there is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which brought condemnation, but

there is the tree of Calvary that has brought redemption.

God took his son and placed him where he was needed, and he gave him the job and the work

of salvation.

And Jesus took responsibility for those things

that were not his responsibility.

He took responsibility for your sin and for my sin,

and he died in our place.

But then the giver and the creator of life

came back to life,

and he offers all who will come to him eternal life.

Jesus did every good work that we fail to do,

and he protects us from sin and from death.

Jesus says, whoever will come to me,

whoever will come to the cross of Jesus

will experience life and not death

forever and ever.

Jesus is our creator

and Jesus is the only one

that is our Savior.

Let's bow together in an attitude of prayer.

And here in a few moments,

as we worship God,

I want to ask you to pray about what God wants you to do today.

I want you to ask God to move in your life and to do things that you can't do on your own,

that you can only do by his strength and his grace.

Here in a few moments, we're going to have counselors here at the front,

and we're going to ask you to come.

And if you've never given your life to Jesus as your Lord and Savior,

we want to invite you to do that today.

He loves you. He created you.

He died for you. He rose for you, and He's coming again.

And all those who trust in Him will experience life forevermore.

I want to invite you to come to Jesus today as your Lord and Savior. will experience life forevermore.

I want to invite you to come to Jesus today as your Lord and Savior.

I want to invite you to be baptized.

If you've already given your life to Christ,

to come and publicly profess

that you believe in Jesus,

that he died for you and rose again,

that you are his disciple, that you belong to him.

You can come forward and say, I want to be baptized.

We can set up a time for you to do that.

Maybe the Lord's leading you to join this church.

Do you be a part of this community

and the mission that God has given us?

It's an amazing opportunity to not only know God, but to serve God.

We want to invite you to come, to believe, to belong, to serve and to sacrifice for our king. To be a part of what God is doing here

and what God is going to do.

Maybe you're here this morning

and the Holy Spirit is moving in your heart.

There's some area of your life

that God wants to be first in,

that God wants to develop and to build and to cultivate

for his glory and the good of other people.

And I invite you this morning to pray,

to come down to these steps and to pray,

whether that be a relationship or it be a situation,

whatever it is,

say, God, help me to be a blessing.

Help me to lay down my life and sacrifice it for you.

Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for this time of worship.

God, you are so good.

And you are so gracious.

Lord, I look at this passage and I realize how far I have fallen from who you created me to be

and who you saved me to be.

God, I pray by your grace

that you would help me to live out the calling

that you've put on my life.

Lord, we need you.

God, there are those here that need salvation.

They need you to save them.

Open their eyes and open their hearts to

your grace and your love this morning. There are some who need to declare their allegiance to you

through baptism publicly, Lord. They've given their life to you, but now they need to go public with that faith.

Give them the strength to step out and to stand up.

God, there are others that need to come and be a part of this church.

Lord, you didn't save us to be alone.

You saved us to be a part of your family.

So, Lord, call those people.

There are many of us, Lord, that just need to seek you,

to rely upon your power and your presence and your grace and your strength, Lord,

to help us to develop and to build and to cultivate the life that you've called us to.

Help us to lay down our lives and to sacrifice for your glory and the good of others.

So, Lord, bless this invitation.

Draw us to yourself.

Help us to know, experience, and see your glory and grace.

In Christ's name we pray, amen. new sermon is released. If you feel the Lord calling you to take the next step in faith through salvation, service, or giving, don't wait. Reach out to us by texting podcast to 88988.

That's podcast to 88988 or connect with us on one of our social media platforms. You can also visit

our website, valleybaptist.org to find even more great resources. No matter where you are in your journey, know that we love you, we're praying for you, and we can't wait to see what God will do in your life.