Were We Created To Be Responsible?

This week, we are beginning the New Year by talking about the subject of responsibility. Yesterday, we talked about the reality that as a culture, we have been steadily moving away from the concept of personal responsibility. As a culture, we are often marked by the desire to live irresponsibly and then allow others to be responsible for our irresponsibility. We asked if we have a moral obligation to be responsible? Or is it o.k. to be irresponsible and allow others, whether it is the government, family, or other individuals to be responsible for our irresponsibility? Are we accountable for the level of our responsibility in life? And who are we to be responsible for and accountable to when it comes to the idea of responsibility?

 Today, I would like for us to answer the question “were we created to be responsible? Were we created to take responsibility for our lives?”  To find the answers to these questions, let’s begin where the Bible begins, which is in the very first letter in the Bible called the book of Genesis. In the very first chapter of the very first letter in our Bibles, we read the account of the creation of humanity, beginning in Genesis 1:26. Let’s look at it together:

“Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”

Here we see the Triune God’s design and desire for the creation of humanity: “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness”. But this morning, what does it mean to be created in the image of God? Does that mean we look like God? What is God talking about here? To be created in the image of God means that every human being bears the thumbprint of God. We were created in God’s relational image.

We were created for relationships. Just as God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit live in relationship with one another, we were created for relationships. We were created for a relationship with God vertically and for relationships with one another horizontally. That is why the most devastating feeling is that of loneliness, because we are living outside of God’s design for our lives.

But not only were we divinely designed for relationships. Here we also see that we were divinely designed to rule over the earth as God’s representative. When God uses the phrase “let them rule” this phrase literally means to have rule or dominion. God created humanity and placed humanity on earth as His representative on earth.

You see, God created humanity to be responsible. We have been divinely designed to live in relationship with God and one another and have been given responsibility over the earth as His representative here on earth. But not only were we created for relationships and responsibility over the earth as His representative. We see as second aspect of God’s Divine design for humanity in Genesis 2:15:

“Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. The LORD God commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die."

When God placed Adam into the Garden of Eden, He did not simply place Adam into the garden to have a vacation. God placed Adam into the Garden of Eden and gave him a job. Adam’s job was to cultivate and keep the garden. To understand what Adam’s job description entailed, we first need to understand what the phrase cultivate and keep means. The word cultivate, in the language that this letter was originally written in, literally means to serve. The word keep here literally means to protect. God gave Adam more than just the possession of the Garden of Eden; God gave Adam the responsibility of protecting the Garden of Eden. 

And it is here that we see that humanity was created with responsibility when it came to work. You see, so often I hear people talk about work as though it is a punishment. So often, work seems to be viewed as a consequence of sin. However, work entered into the world before sin entered into the world. Work is a responsibility that was given to God by man. And work is a responsibility that followers of Jesus will have throughout eternity. As followers of Jesus, the Bible teaches that we will have a job in Heaven. That job will not be impacted by selfishness and sin, so it will be a great job. We have been divinely designed with the responsibility to work.

Then, in Genesis 2:16-17, we see God give Adam one command: "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die."

In other words, Adam has amazing freedom; he can eat from any tree in the garden except for one tree. Adam only has to follow one rule. You see, when people are responsible, you do not need to have a bunch of rules. The reason we have rules is because we need rules in order to attempt to restrict and control irresponsibility. Adam was given amazing freedom because Adam was created to be responsible. We see another aspect of God’s divine design for humanity in the verses that follow:

“Then the LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him." Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him.”

Here we see that God gave Adam the responsibility to name all of the animals. You see, Adam was not some Neanderthal with his knuckles dragging on the ground. The very first human on the planet had the capacity to name all the animals in the Garden of Eden. God did not name all the animals. Instead, Gods gave Adam the freedom and the responsibility to name all the animals. “Adam, what do you want to call that animal? Let’s call that animal an aardvark. Alright, an aardvark it is”.

You see, Adam was creative, because God designed humanity to be creative. And it is here that we see that humanity was created with responsibility and with the capacity to be responsible. However, there seemed to be a problem and that problem was that Adam is without a suitable partner. And as this story continues, we see another aspect of God’s design for humanity:

“So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. The LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. The man 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." For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.”

God responds by revealing His divine design for marriage. Because it is not good for man to be alone a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and they shall become one flesh. In other words God’s divine design for marriage is that a man and woman cut the cord, so to speak, from their parents and join together in a covenant commitment that involves one man and one woman for one lifetime and become one flesh. Now this phrase is not just talking about the physical aspect of sex.

You see, marriage was designed by God to be a relationship that is marked by vulnerability, transparency and intimacy that provides a word picture to the world of the vulnerability, the transparency, and the intimacy that followers of Jesus will experience for all eternity with Him. That is why Adam and Eve were naked and not ashamed. They were not ashamed because they could be totally transparent and vulnerable with one another. They were comfortable in their own skin, so to speak.

And it is here that we see that humanity was created with responsibility with our relationships. God has divinely designed humanity to be responsible. We have been created in the image of God to be responsible beings. We are created to be responsible when it comes to our relationship with God. We were created to be responsible when it comes to work. We were created to be responsible and the capacity to be responsible. And we were created to be responsible in relationships with others.

Now you might be reading this and find that there is a question and objection that has begun to run through your mind. And if we were able to have a conversation, the objection that is running through your mind might sound something like this: “Well, wait a minute Dave. You are saying that the Bible says that I was created to be responsible. But if God created humans to be responsible, then why are there so many irresponsible people around? If God created me to be responsible, then why am I always making New Year’s resolutions that I never keep and don’t really feel that bad about not keeping? Why do I struggle when it comes to being responsible if I was created to be responsible?

If I have just described the questions that are running through your mind, I just want to let you know that those are great questions to be asking.

And Friday, we will see God provide the answer to those questions…