The Manhood Talks | Foundation & IdentitySample

Day 4 | Genesis 2:1-5 | Made to Work

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Welcome back to The Manhood Talks. TeDese Ross with you today. And today we're talking about Work. Work is at the core of every man’s identity. When two grown men meet each other, and one of them says, “What do you do?” My answer is, “not doing something I'm not doing!” But usually that means work, what do you do for a living? It’s part of who we are, how we see ourselves as men. The Bible also mandates that men work and as an auxiliary function of that work, provide for their families.

"But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." (1Timothy 5:8 ESV).

When a man says, “I am … an engineer, artist, pastor, nurse, fireman” — it's part of their identity. I am a teacher. It's what I do and who I am. Not only that — work also occupies a huge portion of our lives — about 90,000 hours for the average male. For some of us a lot more.

Now women also work! And they deserve the same respect and same pay for the same work. Right now though, I’m talking to men.

And something I’ve observed in young men is a frustration with a system that seems to endlessly delay a man’s opportunity to do real, productive work. Now mind you, I’m an educator now, but I spent years as a blue collar worker. Don’t get me wrong — my education benefited me tremendously, so stay in school, or master a specialty or trade. But I have to admit — as an electrician, there was immediate gratification when after wire-up a receptacle, remove the lock-out/tag-out, hit the breaker, grab your amp probe, and measure electricity that was not there before you did your work. It’s not easy to keep plugging away in a system that asks you only to produce an endless supply of papers and worksheets, and rarely connects that with making something or creating something that matters.

What is it within a man that longs to make something — a product, a gadget, a difference? Perhaps it has something to do with that image of God in us? But to find out where work enters the picture, we’re moving on to Genesis 2.

Chapter 2 is a retelling of the creation story, only this time zooming in on just one part: the creation of mankind. Same story, different focus. Let’s start in at verse 7:

"Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being" (Genesis 2:7),

So we start with the first man, Adam. Woman’s not here yet. Adam is made of dirt. So are you, just ask your periodic table — same elements. But although Adam was a phenomenal machine, he was not alive and working until God breathed life into him. Now for those of you who know your Bible, there is something else that God breathed life into — the Scripture: the Word of God. Think about that. We eat food — which is all ultimately made from dirt, because that’s what we’re made of. And we read the Bible — because it too is God’s breath, and that is what makes us alive!

Then in verse 8:

"Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed" (Genesis 2:8).

So Adam is in the garden, with beautiful fruit trees, rivers to water them, everything he needs to survive.

But God intends more than just survival, so he gives to Adam — three important gifts.

Today we’ll cover the first gift. Look at verse 15:

"The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it" (Genesis 2:15)

So the first gift is work. God gave man a job, with purpose and significance, requiring skill and diligence. Notice Adam was to work and take care of the garden — it wasn’t just menial tasks, God trusted him with the whole thing.

Work is truly a gift! Now if you don’t like work, I would encourage you to consider why you don’t like it. If you’re lazy — the Bible calls that sin, and you should deal with God on that one. If it’s the frustration of work you don’t like — or the pointlessness of it — that wasn’t happening here in Genesis 2. For Adam, everything he worked on — worked out. Plant seeds, get fruit. And no weeds.

So why is our work so difficult? We’ll get there in week 2. For now, I want you to consider this gift of work — and the role that it plays in the man that you are.

Also consider that aspect of a man’s character most essential to his work: strength. All through the Bible, when God gives to man a calling — he (tells) him to “be strong.”

But how do you define strength? Is it simply a measurement of muscle or how many men you can defeat? Or is strength also a matter of the mind and the heart. Proverbs 16:32 says this:

“Better to be patient than powerful; better to have self-control than to conquer a city” (Proverbs 16:32 NLT).

For Thought & Discussion:

Question 1: What does work mean to you and to your identity as a man?

Question 2: What do you think God means when he tells you to be strong?

Read Genesis 2:1-15

All verses are quoted from NIV, ESV, NLT