We are Family - Week 3 - Pastor Kipp Penrod

Thank you for listening to this message from

Lifehouse Church. Thank you for being here. If

you're joining us online this morning, thank

you for being part of worship gathering. And

this morning, I do want to continue on in this

message series about family. Family is incredibly

important, isn't it? It's a mainstay. It is the

foundational institution in our society, and

it is incredibly important. But I want to start

off talking a little bit about something that

James Clear says in his best -selling book, Atomic

Habits. James Clear, he argues the idea that

right systems, structures, and environments are

what create good habits in our life or even great

habits in our life. And that's versus the idea

of a lot of self -will to change a good habit,

right? And he even argues that it is the systems,

the structures, the environments that actually

help us break bad habits. And move into those

good habits. For instance, let me give you a

for instance for what I'm talking about. A lot

of us a lot of times talk about changing our

eating habits. How many of you committed January

1 this year? Yeah, why are you laughing? That's

what I want to know, all right? I am going to

change my eating habits. Statistically, by January

19th, you forgot all about it already, all right?

But, you know, a lot of times when we do that,

we're going to say, I'm going to muster up enough

willpower to do this. I am going to stay away

from the cookie. It is going to happen, right?

It will take place. And that seems to never work.

It's really about changing your environment,

your structure, your system. To keep you away

from the cookie. To eliminate it, right? If you

don't want to eat sweets, how many know you don't

go hang out at Chocolate World? Come on, it's

true. You don't stand there. If you don't want

to eat the cookie, you don't put it in a clear

cookie jar, set it on the countertop, right?

You give it to your spouse, tell them to put

it in the safe and tell them to change the lock.

Combination on the safe, right? Clear strategies.

And this is something actually that neuroscience

has known. and actually the Bible has stated

for thousands of years. And it really is the

systems, it's the structures, it's the environments

that we put ourselves in that begin to lead us

in the right direction. It can lead us to God.

It can bring our families together. And even

in the family, it's God's systems. It's his structures.

It's the environments we put ourselves in for

family that move us closer to God himself, and

it moves us closer to each other. God is the

inventor of family. He is the engineer. He is

the architect. He is the original design, right?

The design for family. And it is the systems

and the structures and really the plans of God

that are within God's word that help us build

family. A family that first glorifies God, because

everything we do should glorify God, and then

a family that is a system of support and help

for one another. So this morning, I'm going to

do something I don't think I've ever done since

I started preaching, and some of you may gasp

at this. I'm going to preach through an entire

chapter of the Bible, all right? You're like,

oh, we're gonna be here till three o 'clock.

I promise you it won't be. All right, so if you

got your Bibles, turn to Genesis chapter two.

Genesis chapter two, it's a short chapter. Thank

the Lord, right? And I'm gonna pray while you're

turning there. Father, I thank you for this day.

God, we thank you for your word. God, we thank

you for Genesis, that first book of the Bible.

God, that is a revelation of all things that

started as we know it. So Lord, I pray that you

would guide us, direct us, help us to pull out,

extrapolate the principles, God, the systems,

the structures that you have there so that our

family, These might be strong. And God might

bring glory to you. And we give you praise and

glory and honor in Jesus' name. And everybody

say it together. Amen. Amen. That was a great

hearty amen. Well, Genesis chapter 1, of course,

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

is creation. And Genesis chapter 1, as you come

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

to the culmination or the end of that chapter,

explains the seven -day creation that God talks

about. And chapter 2 is kind of a recap, a little

bit of that, or in addition to. So that's what

we're going to pick up. And it says this, thus

the heavens and the earth and all the host of

them were finished. God finished his creation.

And on the seventh day, God ended his work in

which he had done. And he had rested on the seventh

day from all his work, which he had done. Then

God blessed the seventh day. He sanctified it

because in it, he rested from all his work, which

God had created and made. This is the history

of the heavens and the earth when they were created.

And in the days that the Lord God made the earth

and the heavens before any plant of the field

was any earth and before the 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.

Now, we could stop here in park and talk a lot

about what they believe some of this meant. It

appears that God had a subtropical environment

set up while creation was taking place and while

he was putting all this together that's around

us. And verse seven says this, and God formed

man from the dust of the ground and he breathed

into his nostrils the breath of life and man

became a living being. The Lord God planted a

garden eastward in Eden, 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 listen,

God creates Adam from the dust of the ground.

He places him in this area that God names Eden,

and he puts him in a garden in this location.

And verse 10 begins to describe a little more

about the garden. We got a little bit on the

front end. I'll give you a little more here in

verse 10. It says, The name of the second river

is Gihon. It is one which goes around the whole

land of Cush. The name of the third river is

Hittikal. It is one which goes toward the east

of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.

And then the Lord God took the man and he put

him in the garden of Eden to tend it and to keep

it. I want you to picture what we just read.

I want you to get in your mind, and you can be

a little creative with this, what this might

have all looked like. God creates the heavens

and the earth, and everything that's included

in that, all the plant life, all the animals,

right, the clouds, everything that's in the heavens

and on the earth. And then God creates man. From

the dust of the ground, God creates Adam, and

he breathes life into him. Now, I know you probably

have the same plaguing question that I do at

this very moment. Did Adam have a belly button?

Come on. I know this has been a deep theological

discussion for a long time. We don't believe

he does, right? Because he was the first. But

some of you can look that up a little later.

But God designs a place for Adam to dwell. He

puts together a garden in this place called Eden.

And the verses describe this. And amongst all

the trees and the fruit and the... Plant life

and the food that he's provided for Adam. He

mentions two trees in particular. One, the tree

of the knowledge of good and evil, right? And

one, the tree of life. Two trees in particular

that God puts in the garden, and we're going

to get to those a little later. And then he talks

about the four rivers. He talks about Pishon,

Gihon, Hittichel, and Euphrates. Two of those

exist today, the Euphrates, and actually the

Hittichel is now called the Tigris River. So

he gives us some information about where the

Garden of Eden might have actually been on the

face of the earth. Many scholars debate this,

but they believe it might've been in an area

of Mesopotamia, which is now modern day Iraq,

or it may have started or sprung from the Armenian

highlands, which is in East Asia, or I'm sorry,

West Asia. So we have an area. God places Adam

in this untainted, right? No sin in the world

yet, in this incredible garden setting and tells

Adam to do one. in these scriptures that we read.

He says, keep it and tend it. He creates this

place of no pain, no sin as of yet, right? He

has all the provision that he needs. There's

no sickness, there's no death. Adam has everything

that he needs to sustain his life and even more.

And then God tells Adam to go to work. He says,

keep it and tend it. This is family. God gives

family the gift of work. Can I get an amen? Right?

Tell somebody, look to somebody right beside

you. Tell them, get to work. Come on, get to

work. Get to work, right? Too many times we look

at work in the home. and out of the home, strictly

from a curse perspective. We look at God's word,

and if you go further in God's word, you'll see

that when sin takes place, that there is curse

that is added into work, and it's a difficulty

that we experience in work. But God gave Adam

this gift of work. And a lot of times we're like,

oh, I gotta go to work, right? I gotta do these

tasks. I've gotta manage this, it's so stressful.

And you're like, I gotta do this because I gotta

get a paycheck, and I gotta get a paycheck. to

sustain life so I can buy food. And it's such

a grind. It's such a ball and chain in my life.

And we need it for important things. How many

of you like to eat food? Yes, right? How many

of you like to live in your house? Enjoy electricity,

right? You have to pay for all these things.

We like all these things. We have to go to work

or we'll die, basically. It's true. We won't

make it. But in the beginning, God made a perfected

environment where Adam had every single thing

that he needed. All the food he was ever going

to eat was already there. He had every provision

that he was ever going to need in his lifetime.

And God tells Adam, get to work. Go to work.

Now, Adam might have been thinking, Lord, you

can hook me up here, right? God could have placed

a beach right in Eden somewhere. He could have

made a beach chair, put Adam on a beach chair.

He could have cracked open a coconut, drank coconut

water out of a bamboo straw, and everything would

have been good. Right? He could have. But God

told him, get to work. Go to work. Ten. Because

God designed us to do something. He designed

us to produce. He's designed us to manage, right?

He's designed us to use our heads and to use

our hands and to use our feet and to use our

backs. And he's designed us to work. He's designed

us to produce, to do things, right? God himself

as creator and manager of all that we see around

us worked. The word of God said he worked six

days and rested the seventh, right? And Genesis

chapter 127 tells us another thing, that we are

made in God's image. And in an image of God,

he created a male and female. He created them.

So we are created in God's image. God works,

and he told Adam, when he got it all done, he

said, Adam, now it's time to go to work. I need

you to attend this. I need you to manage this.

As a matter of fact, in another set of scriptures,

he says you have dominion over all of this. This

is not just a God thing, and this is not just

an Adam thing. This is a family thing. As a family,

we should go to work at something. We should

be engaged in something. If you're unable to

physically work, engage your mind, engage your

brain in something, right? Engage in some kind

of work. Now, I messed this guy's name up, but

I think I'm going to say it right. It's Nick

Vulacek. I should have looked this up ahead of

time for the pronunciation, but I don't know

how many of you have ever seen him. He ministers

all across the world. He has no legs and no arms

at all. He was born without any arms or any legs.

This guy goes all over the world and preaches

the gospel, ministers. How many of you have no

excuse now, right? It's true. We should teach

our children to work. We should teach them. We

should teach them what the reward of work really

is, the satisfaction of work, the gift that comes

along with work. And I'm not talking about child

labor. I'm not talking about putting your kids

in the factory like in third world countries,

right? And go make it, tell them to make a living.

That's not what I'm talking about here, right?

I'm talking about the joy. How many know the

joy of completing a task? Isn't there satisfaction

sometimes when you complete something? The benefit

that comes along with production and management

and creating something or engaging a sense of

accomplishment that comes. You know, there's

this thing involving yourself, helping out in

some kind of way. Sometimes our kids are so disengaged

because we don't engage them in something that's

important and true, right? Something that's going

to be rewarding for them. Put them to work. Some

of you should be going, amen. Hallelujah. Come

on. There's a sense of purpose that goes along

with this. Now, it shouldn't be your identity.

Our identity should be in Jesus Christ. But we

should have a sense of purpose. And part of that

purpose is to go to work. Sometimes people struggle

when they hit retirement because they quit working,

right? They're no longer at their job anymore.

Listen, retirement, it's just moving from one

job to the other. You just get to call the shots

in the second one, all right? You just get to

decide when you're going to work and when you're

not going to work. That's what retirement is.

Work is a God -given gift to the family, and

our family should go to work. Back in 2009, when

we started Lifehouse Church, I did not start

this church. Dixie and I did not start this church.

Our family started this church. We were in a

house. We started in a living room. And my kids

used to think it was so lame. We'd slide the

furniture back and have church, right? But do

you know who our first worship team was made

up of? Dixie was the worship leader. And my children,

they all recruited kids from high school. We

had junior high kids. We had senior high kids.

And they all came to my house because I fed them

pizza. Seriously. And we'd set up instruments,

and there were instruments all over the house,

and they would play. They were incredible. And

they went to work. My children, all three of

them still, are engaged in working here at Lifehouse.

And one of them lives in a different state, and

one lives in a different city. They're engaged,

right? Families go to work. You should work together.

Start them young. Find projects, right? Well,

listen, make memories. I remember working with

my dad. My dad, he's a quiet man. He's not like

me at all. He doesn't talk hardly at all, but

he engages in work. He's a craftsman. I remember

standing with him and working and him showing

me things. I remember being in my grandfather's

wood shop and working, right? Teach your children,

give them the gift of work. Embrace it. Teach

them to embrace it. Colossians 3 .23 says this,

and whatever you do, do it hardly as to the Lord

and not to men, knowing that. From the Lord,

you receive the reward of your inheritance, for

you serve the Lord Jesus Christ. Every time you

go to work at anything, do it with all your might,

because you're doing it for him. He's going to

reward you. Even if your boss overlooks you,

he's going to reward you. It's true, amen? It's

part of God's family system. It's part of his

design. It's part of his structure. I love when

Dixie and I go to work on something. We like

refinishing stuff sometimes, and we get busy

doing that. We enjoy it. right? Embrace the gift

of work. God's got a plan for the family. He's

got a system. He's got a structure, and it involves

work. Genesis 2 .16, we're going to go on a little

further. I'm going to take you a little further

in this journey through Genesis chapter 2. And

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

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. I

told you we're going to get back to this tree,

right? These trees. You shall not eat, for in

the day that you eat it, you shall surely die.

God puts Adam in the garden, tells him to get

to work, all right? Tend it, keep it, gives him

the gift of work. And then he tells him, hey,

by the way, there's a tree I placed in the garden.

And the tree, I named the tree, the tree of the

knowledge of good and evil. And you're not allowed,

I don't want you touching that tree. That's forbidden

fruit, stay away from that tree. Now, believe

it or not, this was a gift to Adam and this was

a gift to his family. And you might think, well,

how's that so? Because this tree is actually

the gift of love for Adam's family. Part of God's

system and structure is love. And love in family,

love in anything, always is accompanied by a

choice. You cannot have love and not have a choice

to love. Love is always accompanied by a choice.

Love is never lived out by demand. You can't

demand love. You can, you can try, but that's

manipulation. You can't have demand in love,

but you can have commands in love. Love is always

accompanied by a choice. And God loves Adam and

is providing for him. He's got food, he's got

safety, he's got shelter. He's got the gift of

work. And now he gives him the gift of love and

he says, Adam, you got a choice in the form of

a tree. And this is what love, this is love.

Adam, you can, and I worked on this rhyme. You

gotta listen to it, okay? It's terrible. Adam,

you can choose to love the forbidden tree or

you can choose to love me. What's it gonna be?

That's as good as it gets with me, all right?

Yeah, thanks. That's all I got in the poetry

area, all right? Adam, you can choose to love

the forbidden tree or you can choose to love

me. What's it going to be? You can engage in

a relationship and have it all, or you can choose

to break that relationship by choosing the tree.

Breaking the command. You can have a command

in a relationship. You can't have a demand. Adam

and Eve will have the opportunity in this garden

to choose. to reciprocate God's love back in

the form of complete obedience to what God said

about one tree. He gave him all the other trees

on the face of the earth, fruit everywhere. He

says, just one tree. Don't touch this one. Don't

leave this one alone. This is the tree of the

knowledge of good and evil. If you love me, you

won't touch this tree. Love always has commands,

but not a demand, right? Love always has commands

in relationship and not a demand in relationship.

I don't demand my wife's love and affection.

That would not go well, all right? I don't tell

her, you will love me. Go ahead and make that

declaration in your house once and get ready

to get slapped, right? Yeah, you don't do that.

But there's a command in our love. right? Well,

when we said, I do, when we got married, here

was the command. You're not going to date other

women. And I told her, you're not going to date

other men, right? That's the command. I expect

that to be kept, right? She expects that to be

kept on my side. And if we break that, how many

of that breaks the relationship? Because it begins

to break that. It's the command, right, of our

relationship. Love always has a choice. Love

has commands and not demands. Love for my spouse

dictates that I follow the commands and my affection

stays fixed on her and her alone. God gave Adam

and Eve the gift of love in the form of a tree.

People ask this question all the time. Why did

God put that forbidden tree in the garden? Why'd

he stick that there? Why'd he put that temptation?

Was that some, you know, sick, twisted, sadistic

thing that God did just so Adam and Eve would

fail? No, God had to do that because God is love.

1 John 4, 7 tells us that, Beloved, let us love

one another, for love is of God, and everyone

who loves is born of God and knows God. He who

does not love does not know God, for God is love.

It doesn't say he just loves. He is love. Come

on, it's true. He loves. There had to be a choice.

Love dictated that there was a choice. Jesus

said in John 14, 15, if you love me, keep my

commandments. Keeping his commandments is the

evidence of the love that you have for him. That's

how Jesus sees it. If your passionate words for

Jesus are not matched up with obedience to his

word and what he says, you're just talking out

loud. You're just talking to yourself, right?

If you have a deep desire to serve and do the

work of God, and it's nothing more than religious

activity if it is not coupled with a deep desire

to follow God's commands, because that's the

commands in this love relationship. God put command

there, a choice, a tree, and it was in the first

family, and it was all about love. Isn't it interesting

that when man did fail, it was Jesus on the tree

who reconciled us back to him, amen? It's true.

Love for God, love for each other. Ephesians

6 .1 says this, children, obey your parents in

the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father

and mother, which is the first command with promise,

that it may be well with you and that may you

live long on the earth. They need to choose.

They need to choose. There's commands in your

family. There should be commands in your family,

right? How many know if you're the husband and

the wife, you are the king? Yeah. Some of you

need to declare that in your home. You're the

king and she's the queen, right? You need to

talk about how things are going to work in your

home and what things look like. Well, God continues

with this provisional plan for Adam and for Eve.

Worship team, if you'd come. That doesn't mean

I'm quitting yet. That just means they're coming.

But it says this in Genesis 2 .18. We're not

to the end yet. We've got 25 verses. And the

Lord God said, it is not good that man should

be alone. Now, God sets out some things, right?

He already puts in place provision. He already

puts down some work. He gives Adam love, understands

what choice is. And then God adds in something

else. And he begins to grow what would be a family.

As God said, it's not good that man should be

alone. I will make him a helper comparable to

him. And out of the ground, the Lord formed every

beast of the field and every bird of the air

and brought them to Adam to see. what he would

call them. He put them to work again. And whatever

Adam called each living creature, that was its

name. So Adam gave names to all the cattle, to

the birds of the air, to every beast of the field.

But for Adam, there was not found a helper comparable

to him. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep

to fall on Adam and he slept and he took one

of his ribs and closed up the flesh in its place.

Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from

man, he made into a woman and he brought her

to the man. Now up to this point, Right? Every

living creature that was on the face of the earth

was made from the dust of the ground, including

Adam. God took some dust, took some mud, put

it together and created these creatures. And

in God's continued engineering genius for the

family, he doesn't do the same for the woman.

For the woman, he puts Adam into a deep sleep.

A divine anesthetic. I don't know what it was

that God put on Adam, but I think one day he

just got really sleepy, right? And while Adam

is asleep, God removes one of his ribs from his

side. And from that rib, the Word of God says

that he makes a helper that is comparable to

Adam. Right? Now, I want you to just imagine

this a little bit. You know, Adam being in the

garden, there's the plants, there's the animals.

He's in charge. God gave him a plan to work,

right? All these things are placed. The tree's

there, the knowledge of good and evil, the tree

of life. He's got this choice. And all of a sudden,

he gets sleepy, right? And he doesn't know why,

but God's just putting him to sleep. And he goes

into this deep sleep, deeper than he's ever been

before, right? And then he begins to groggily

wake up. And all of a sudden he feels his side.

He's like, what's going on, man? My side hurts.

He starts feeling around in his grogginess, and

he's missing a rib. I don't know if he counted

them or not. The Word of God doesn't tell us.

But then he begins to rub his eyes just a little

bit like, man, this is a rough morning, right?

And there she is, Eve, wearing nothing but a

smile. Come on. Adam's like, this is a good day,

right? That's what happened. It's what the word

of God says. And he brings a comparable helper.

And Genesis 2, 23 says, 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 the man. And in God's infinite wisdom and

his design and his system and his structure and

environment that he's creating, he includes provision,

he includes work, he includes the gift, right,

of love and choice. And now he includes a helper,

a comparable helper, an equal to Adam. He takes

her out of his side to be beside him, right?

God knew Adam didn't have all the goods. He knew

Adam didn't have everything he needed to run

and to manage all that was around him. So he

brings this comparable. He knew Eve wouldn't

have enough on her own. He brings them together

to become this man and woman to manage that everything

that God places in front of them. It is God's

system. It is his structure. It is his design

and his word. And I know, listen, I know there

are plenty of people in the world trying to redefine

the family. They're trying to change it up, right?

But this is what the word of God says. This is

biblical. This is scriptural. This is the only

core prescription, right, for family and the

design for family. And it is foundational. And

if you move on to verse 24, you start to see

the depth of this. And 24 says, The creator of

the universe and his core structure of the family.

Bring something that glues all the family together.

And it is unity. It is being in one. This happens

in a marriage relationship. It happens in a family

relationship. The glue, the God glue. Say God

glue. There's such a thing, all right? Not gorilla

glue. God glue. Unity is the God glue of the

family. Unity is the God glue that holds a family

together. And that starts with the husband and

wife and goes right down to the children. And

in the provision and in the work and in the choice

and in the love and all the things that he provides,

he says the two are gonna become one flesh. They're

gonna come in unity with one another. And you

can begin to dive into this in God's word and

you see unity all through God's word. And this

is gonna be the glue that holds the family. And

he goes one verse further, which is the last

one in this chapter. And he gives the depth,

he gives a picture of what this looks like. And

it says this, and they were both naked and the

man and the wife were not ashamed. The unity

of love for God and the unity for love for each

other ran so deep with Adam and Eve pre -sin,

right? That they were naked and ashamed in front

of one another and before God. unashamed nakedness

to their existence and unity with one another

and with God. There was nothing hidden in this

relationship. There was nothing hidden from the

creator. There was no hidden agendas of sin.

There were no evil thoughts of one another. There

were no judgmental glares at one another, right?

There were no sinful thinking or actions to cover

up and no divided affections for something else

or someone else. There was none of that. I have

grandchildren. I have five grandchildren and

several of them are under the age of four. They

will get buck naked and run around the house

like a bunch of banshees, right? Saying anything

and doing anything. They are unashamed, completely

unashamed. They will. And this was Adam and Eve

before the creator. Because one of the first

indicators of sin in someone's life is cover

up. It is. When the glue starts to come apart,

cover up. Sin always brings division, it always

brings disunity, and it always brings cover up.

Cover up of some kind. Shame, guilt, right, hidden

agendas, all of it, you want to cover it up.

Disunity in a relationship. And when Adam and

Eve eventually sin, and they do, they disobey

God, they go eat from the tree that God said

not to eat from, right? They buy into the idea

that the enemy brings, that all the benefits

of the tree are going to bring them is far more

than the creator of the universe is going to

bring them. They engage in this sin. And if you

go into Genesis chapter three, verse eight, it

says this, then they heard the sound of the Lord

God walking in the garden. God used to come down

and walk with Adam and Eve physically every single

day in the garden in the cool of the day. And

Adam and Eve hid themselves from the presence

of the Lord. God among the trees of the garden.

And then Lord God called to Adam and said, where

are you? So he said, now God knew, right? But

he's calling Adam out. So he said, I heard your

voice. This is Adam talking. I heard your voice

in the garden. I was afraid because I was naked

and I hid myself, right? And he said, who told

you that you were naked? Have you eaten from

the tree, which I commanded you, you should not

eat. They hid, they covered up. They started

covering their bodies up. They started covering

up. They hid in the trees. Unity is the glue,

right? Unity. You cannot have division, divided

ideas, divided directions, division of any kind

and commit to unity. They're complete opposites,

right? Die, if you say division or divorce or

any of those words, die means two. It means two

different directions. It is unity. Unity with

God and then one another that begins to be the

glue in your family. I'm going to ask you to

stand. Thank you for tuning in to this message

from Lifehouse Church. We pray that you were

impacted powerfully by this message. If you have

been personally affected by our ministry and

you would like to partner with us as we love

God, love people every day, visit our website

at www .lifehousecog .com.