Isolating Yourself from God and Others

2 Questions

Why do we need deeper friendships?

How do we move toward deeper friendships?

• reasons to move toward deeper friendships

1. Theological – God created us in His image as relational beings.

Genesis 1:26

²⁶ Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;

Genesis 1:27

²⁷ God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 

2. Practical – We are miserable when we are alone.

Genesis 2:18

¹⁸ Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” 

Genesis 2:19

¹⁹ 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. 

Genesis 2:20

²⁰ 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. 

Genesis 2:21

²¹ 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. 

Genesis 2:22

²² The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. 

Genesis 2:23

²³ 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.”

Genesis 2:24

²⁴ For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. 

Genesis 2:25

²⁵ And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

Central Truth: God created us for connection.

Application – How do we move toward deeper friendships? 

1. Acknowledge that our fundamental problem is sin and shame.

Genesis 3:7

⁷ Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.

Genesis 3:8

⁸ They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the ^[c]cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 

Genesis 3:9

⁹ Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” 

Genesis 3:10

¹⁰ He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” 

Genesis 3:11

¹¹ And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 

Genesis 3:12

¹² The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.”

Genesis 3:13

¹³ Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

 Orient our lives around a relationship with God and others.