Basic Truths from Genesis: Pets Are Not People

Good morning, if you do have a Bible turn to Genesis 2 and we're going to be reading

Genesis 2 18 through 20 We're continuing our study in Genesis on basic truths

So many of the problems that you see in the world right now and the confusion that you can see that's very obvious and manifest and plain is a result of our rejection of our

Creator and most specifically our rejection of his Pattern for us that's established in the opening chapters of the

Bible So if you do have your Bible turn to Genesis 2 18 through 20 and go ahead and stand for the reading of God's Word today the basic truth that we're going to be addressing today is the truth that animals are not people and We're going to be reading

Genesis 2 18 through 20 and talking through this passage in general Genesis 2 18 then the

Lord God said it is not good that man should be alone I will make a helper fit for him now out of the ground the

Lord had Formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them

And whatever the man called every living creature that was its name The man gave names to all the livestock and all the birds of the heaven and to every beast of the field

But for Adam there was not found a helper Fit for him. This is the word of Lord Let's pray well, we thank you for the truth that you've given us in Your word

Lord. We know that you were there that you have spoken that you've made us and you've not left us in the dark You've given us the scriptures to help us to understand ourself and understand our place in the world and understand our design

We know that we are living in a world that's hostile to that in many ways the church has fallen prey To the deceptions around us

Lord I pray that you soften our hearts today and help us to learn great things from your word Help us to be eager to apply these things to our lives today

Lord knowing that you You desire to conform us to your image and you're you've given us your spirit who will help us

To be made more like you. Thank you for all you do in your system. I pray amen You may be seated

As I said the basic truth that we're going to be talking about today is a truth that I don't know that I've ever really heard a sermon about before so I've never heard a pastor stand up and give really much of an explanation about the relationship between Animals and human beings and I don't intend to say everything the

Bible has to say about this topic in general, but then if you look around the world you see that this is a topic that there is

Great confusion about I mean in many ways It's just utterly strange that we're talking about this in general and you know the title as I said is the animals are not people and it seems like this is such a basic truth

That it should go without saying and all of you. I'm sure are predisposed to be asking yourself at this very moment

Why are we saying this? You know, why are we devoting a whole sermon to this topic and this idea?

and I hope by the end of the message you'll understand why we are doing that and Why it's relevant for our time and why this is an important thing for Christians to get right in order to better Understand the

God who made us and the world that he made a couple years ago,

I Counseled a young girl who was essentially starving herself to death Her parents would she basically was in a home where her dad was out of the picture

She had a single mom as a mother Single mom would abandon her for long periods of time

Defend for herself and her younger brother. She was Senior in high school.

She worked a part -time job and you know this poor girl. She was Working this part -time job spending all of her money trying to feed her cat and her brother

And obviously emaciated in the process She had a certain understanding of the topic of her relationship

Between animals and humans that was very difficult to persuade her Was misguided

You know, I've been to churches where The members would have gender reveals and I know that these gender reveals are getting

You know out of control and carried away But then this particular gender reveal involved dressing up the dog in a shirt that said big sis run it

And so that was their gender reveal I know that that's meant to be somewhat tongue -in -cheek, but this is a very common phenomenon even within the church

Less church, I was at we worked in a university campus and It's difficult to think about a situation where we are counseling young men

Who didn't have therapy animals? That they needed in order to have emotional security and comfort, you know, this is a

Big thing nowadays. I mean it's it's it's Shocking to communicate that but then if you work with young people to any length of time, you'll realize that they're experiencing great

Confusion over the topic of the human beings relationship to animals They're looking to animals to do things for them that they shouldn't be looking to them to do

I wish that this was just like a one -off that I just counseled one young man who had a therapy animal But that really isn't the way it worked.

I counseled many young men who had therapy animals and not even young women You would expect that it would be the young women who would have the therapy animals, but it was the men too.

I counseled one young man who was trying to put himself to college and Struggling to know what to do because he had a $4 ,000 surgery that he had to pay for for His therapy animal and instead of being able to pay his tuition.

He paid the surgery for therapy animal This is obviously this is obviously problem. I mean

I'm coming from Alabama and we're living in a time right now where Furry phenomenon is on the rise

You know I know that you're predisposed to think that that's kind of a straw man that these things are extreme and out there but I live in Alabama and at the university you would have students who would dress up as animals and be put on leashes and Demand that you allow them to identify as animals and walk them around So this is like these are things that are real

And I wish it was just as I said, I wish this was just I wish it was just a problem out there in the world

It was not just a there was not also a problem in the church But there's so many problems related to the church as well

I mean the Pew Research Center has done some studies on this and you know with all statistics. I We may be predisposed to ignore

Statistics and think that people will just make up whatever they want to make up, but these statistics are pretty startling when you think about it so 62 % of Americans own a pet

One -third have more than one I'm not saying that's necessarily shocking.

I'm sure that your eyes can observe that that seems Somewhat normal for us today in this kind of society

I mean, it's definitely not normal in all societies throughout the history of the world this kind of proportion But but what's more shocking than that though?

Is that nearly all so nearly all right listen listen to what I'm saying here nearly all 97 %

Say that their pets are part of their family Nearly all 97 % say that their pets are part of their family.

So if these statistics statistics are even remotely accurate I Would think that I would be talking about some of the some of us here today

That we would also perhaps consider secretly if we were not willing to say it out loud

Pets being part of a family for a baby phenomenon is a real phenomenon as child rates are going down People are looking to their pets to be replacement children for them

If you go online you'll see every Mother's Day a demand that you include in Mother's Day services by Christians a

Recognition of the pet parents in the room too, so they won't feel left out About so 97 % say that their pets are part of their family about half of u .s.

Pet owners just 51 % say their pets are as much a part of their family as a human member, right?

So breaking down by gender that's 57 % of women say that 43 % of men say that so so 97 % say they are part of the family 57 % say they are as much a part of their family as a human being

Unmarried pet owners and those who do not have children younger than 18 at the home are the most likely to consider

Their pets to be as much a part of their family as a human member So you notice that member there was used ironically at the end.

Here's a summary of the situation from the Institute of Family Studies With delayed marriages the share of young people who are married has fallen and they spend less of their 20s and early 30s in Marriage than previous generation did

I think if you have eyes to see you know this is obviously the truth right? Delayed marriages are on the rise

There you have people who spend less of their early 20s and 30s in marriage than previous generations

Meanwhile singles may also see their pets differently than their families do singles often see pets as family members, right?

Well family owners are more likely to see pets as property But while pet parents may rhetorically describe their pets as children

The correspondent decline in both single -person fertility and marriage among young people suggests that pets may be replacing

Two different family members for some owners pets replace kids But for many the companionship provided by a pet replaces spouse spouses

So pets are often described as providing companionship emotional support security a sense of home or rootedness for pet parents

But these aren't traits that describe a child. These are traits that describe a husband or a wife with my generation

He's a millennial postponing the commitment to marriage due to any number of reasons The need for a reliable companion who is committed to stay until death

Do it part may simply be transferred on to pets rather than people in other words

There's probably two separate connections between fertility and pet ownership Rising pet ownership may be replacing single motherhood to some extent

But more prominently young people are pushed by many factors to delay marriage and so to spend more years in singleness without reliable Companionship as a result they often

Invest expensively so in a truly reliable companion now you look at those statistics.

I I think Those are somewhat surprising I mean they're not surprising considering the world that we live in but we should if we have a biblical worldview be somewhat troubled by the

Phenomenons that I'm mentioning we shouldn't just instantaneously Dismiss these problems and treat them as just a matter of good fun, right?

I know that you're probably going to be tempted as we go through the lesson here today to think that I'm being pretty dramatic and That It's not perhaps a significant of a problem as what

I'm saying It is but having worked with young people for a great many years now I can tell you that there's a generation that is coming up that is very different than the previous generations and those differences are very much centered on their understanding of the relationship between human beings and Animals obviously like we are not yet at a point in our society where bestiality is normalized

And I'm I wouldn't be surprised if we get there. I'm making no predictions whatsoever But more fundamental to all that is there's there's a there's a dramatic difference in how we understand the relationship between human beings and animals that that is

Showing up even within Christian circles. It's almost especially within Christian circle circles

We are not immune to these things and it would do well for us today to revisit some basic truths

Which I mean almost every one of you will know these basic truths. I don't I don't imagine them to say anything today

That's going to be remotely shocking to you But there's it's one thing you understand.

It's one thing to be able to as You know reformed Christians answer the questions right on a theology exam

And There's a temptation that you may feel today to say if I can answer these questions right on the theology exam

Then I don't need to hear this. But the problem is that our emotions are obviously are often

Triggered in very different ways than our intellect. And so we need to pay attention to that The these are statistics that affect all of us in some way

None of us none of us, you know have escaped the influence of a secular society that believes

That man is the product of random time and chance and just essentially a naked ape none of us have

Escaped that influence. We're not We have not been spared in many ways

From falling into the same pitfalls as the world does as it relates to this topic

And so what we're going to be talking about today as I said is some basic truths the basic truth

First basic truth is that animals are not people and I'm going to provide a biblical case from this and in some ways it's obviously breathtakingly

Easy case to make okay. So this is what we're talking about is we're not necessarily talking about an intellectual problem in certain ways

There's a obviously easy biblical case to make and we've already talked about it to some extent in our study so far

So the first basic truth we talked about was that God was our Creator second basic truth we talked about was that he made them male and female and Today we're going to be talking about animals are not people so this is a very easy case to make if you have your

Bible Open to Genesis. I'm going to point your mind to some of the passages We've talked about already that established this point so in Genesis 126

God said let us make man in our own image After our own likeness

So notice what we said about man before And was created in the image of God that means he's

God's vice regent on the earth God said let us make man in our own image after our own likeness man was to represent

God in the world That's why his life is sacred. We said remember So whoever spills the blood of man by man shall his blood be spilled let us make man in our own image after our own likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the

Birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth

So he created man in his own image in the image of God. He created him male and female He created them and God blessed them and God said be fruitful multiply fill the earth subdue it

Have dominion over the fish of the sea over the birds of the heaven and over every living thing that moves on the earth

So notice man is created in the image of God Animals are not Animals are not created in the image of God a

Man is a moral being This flows from this concept of the image of God Animals are not animals are man at man is the eternal being meaning that man has a soul that's eternal

Animals are not right. So man has created the image of God animals are not These are obvious things that every

Christian knows you will all answer these questions right on the theology exam. You got it You understand we know man is given dominion over the animals which are obviously not human there are two different types of things contrary to the evolutionary worldview that basically says that We're all part of the same family

This is not just a difference in degree and caught but a difference in kind Obviously man's given dominion over these animals and they're obviously two different types of creation now experts

They obviously did not deny this So Darwin in the descent of man says man in his arrogance

Thinks himself a great work worthy of the interposition of a deity More humble and I believe more truer is to consider him created from animals.

So you're obviously living in a world that Rejects this basic premise We think that man and animal are essentially the same.

We're not some great Special work. We're not the crown of all creation So the world you live in doesn't believe these things and all the errors that I'm talking about are naturally flowing from that premise and in a certain way

Darwin also says in the same book there is no fundamental difference between man and the higher mammals in their mental

Facilities the difference in mind between man and the higher animals great as it is is certainly one of degree and not one of kind Right, so you're living in a world that obviously denies this fundamental point that man is a special creation

Created in the image of God distinct from the animals Thomas Huxley in man's place in nature 1863 says in whatever way we look at the matter it's impossible to avoid the conclusion that man is in substance and Structure one with the

Brutes Peter Singer in this book in animal liberation 1975 says all the arguments to prove man's superiority

Can't shatter this hard fact in suffering the animals are are equal So apparently the fact that animals suffer and humans suffer that means we're all the same.

So therefore there's no difference We're not special. I don't know how that follows, but that's certainly logic that's being presented towards us

So you obviously are living in a world Where Where people don't have the basic understanding of the

Bible anymore So it we used America used to be somewhat of a Christian nation If you talk to a random person on the street

They would know the difference between the the Old Testament in the New Testament even right so you're living in a time right now of a gross biblical

Ignorance where we've rejected this Christian worldview and the worldview of Basically everyone around you is more influenced by evolutionary theory at this point than it is by the

Bible and This is true even in the Bible belt where things are increasingly secular for sure

So I mean considering an evolutionary worldview it all makes sense Think about all the statistics that I explained before I mean in light of an evolutionary worldview.

Yeah, that makes sense, right? Animals part of a family aren't they all one in the same all the product product of matter time and chance

We're all the product of Natural selection, right? And so we're all we're all part of the same family.

Why not treat them as the same family? They deserve the same rights and privileges as us all of that makes sense

But what does Genesis say man's created the image of God animals are not man's given dominion over the animals They're obviously not the same kind of thing

What is this? What does the psalmist say at this point Psalm 8 for what is man that you were mindful of him?

And the son of man that you care for him Yet you've made him a little lower than the heavenly beings you crowned him with glory and honor

You have given him dominion over the works of your hands You have put all things under his feet all sheep and oxen and also the beast of the field the birds of the heaven the fish

Of the sea and whatever passes along the paths of the sea So it's Christians. We obviously believe all these things everyone in the room believes these things.

I'm sure man's created the image of God He is a special unique creation of God. He's been crowned with glory and honor in contra

Contradistinction with the animals we are different types of creations. We should all believe this. Yes, and amen

Third point and I'm not going to give you every biblical argument. There is to establish this point that we already know

I just want to give you a few Animals are food And humans are not right someone said a man

Genesis not and we enjoy that food. Don't we? Know Genesis 9 3 every moving thing that lives shall be food for you as I gave you the green plant

I give you everything Everything So every living thing that moves shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants

I give you everything this communicated to Noah after the flood Obviously, it's morally repugnant it should be morally repugnant to a

Christian to consider the thought of killing another human being because Human beings are created in the image of God they're

God's vice regents on the earth the idea of killing another human being and treating that other human being as food should be

Completely and totally morally repugnant to us But then there's whole classes of animals.

I'm sure where you feel morally repugnant the same kind of moral repugnance if you were thought of killing them and eating them and it's because secretly in your heart you consider them to be

Something different than food, don't you? so What I'm trying to say is

God says in the Genesis 9 3 every moving things that live shall be food for you And as I gave you the green plants,

I gave you everything like you're living in a world that considers it fundamentally immoral to eat animals

Because we consider ourself the same but then Christians we can have the same kind of impulses along those lines where We consider some classes of animals particularly the ones we put in our home to be a little bit more human, right?

Maybe not completely human but a little bit more Human and then we consider it absolutely immoral the thought of using them as a

Extra source of food and if you need it in a pinch and you probably go to jail for doing that, too So I'm not necessarily recommending that I'm just trying to say that we definitely with most animals

Christians We we don't humanize them with some we give ourselves permission to humanize them to much greater extent than others

All right. So first point everyone agrees with yes name in animals are not people We know this you'd answered it right on the test

Get it. I don't know that our emotions always line up with this, but we know Intellectually, it's true.

And we're wondering why I'm belaboring this point so much and I guess there's a reason for it

We'll see later second point animals are not family members, right animals are not family members.

They're not people Therefore they're not family members Now you may be screaming at me like what about non -human family members we'll get to that right

What is the family? What is the family? Now look, you know as much as I know

That there is no universal agreement in the world that you live in today on what a family is anymore.

You know that You know that you are living in a world that is trying to redefine family at almost every single point

You understand that it's like there's a there's an absolute rejection of The concept of family that's that's the world you're living in where the absolute rejection of this concept of family and and I think you think that the

That the only relevant attacks on this are related to those sexual deviants who are trying to push their agenda in on this definition of family

But it's it's a lot broader than that as as can be demonstrated by the nature of the statistics that I provided What is a family?

Good verse to go to there's many verses to go to here. I want to give you one verse to go to here and Think about just one verse, but we could do this at any number of places, but Ephesians 3 14

Says this right Ephesians 3 14 for this reason

I bow my knees before the father From whom every family in the heaven and on earth is named

Okay, so for this reason I bow my knees before the father from whom every family on the earth

Is named now, I'm gonna read this in Greek to you, and I understand it's all

Greek to you But it's all Greek to me too. It's fine. It's all Greek to all of us now so so For this reason right

I'm gonna read in English for a second, so I don't belabor the point I bow my knees before the father that's proston pet

Patera in Greek okay, and then it says echo pasta Patria So let me read that again proston

Patera before the father Echo pasta Petria you have two main words there before the father that's

Patera, right? Proston our echo pasta

Petria Petria is family so Patera Petria Patera Petria What do you notice about that if you know anything about language you notice?

Oh, that's a similar root isn't it Patera Petria, huh? What is a family?

Well notice what Webster says the basic unit of society Traditionally consisting of two parents rearing their children right so you have a arbitrary subjective definition there.

What is this word? Petria mean People linked over a relatively long period of time by the descent to a common progenitor

What does that mean? Do you see how the connection between a father and a family is made explicit in the word itself?

Do you understand what I'm saying so laden within the concept of a family of Petria is the idea of a

Patera a father? biblical notion of family is

People linked over a relatively long period of time by a line of descent to a common progenitor okay, when

I Started out ministry.

I did a funeral and this is a while ago

You know you could see the stirrings of a lot of confusion related to this point for many many years now if you have eyes to see and ears to hear, but I went to the funeral and Man had recently died he had two two young kids who he was survived by And these

I mean these these these children he had they they I'm sure that they were the pride of Him I get they were his pride and joy.

I mean they both were very Successful in the business world and both of them were Obviously like gender confused and and I don't mean that in the formal sense that they identified as members of the opposite gender

But you had a man who was like a young man who was very effeminate who'd pursued his college degree and moved up into his career, and then you had a

The daughter who was very masculine for a girl. She kind of chopped off all of her hair look like a boy

But she had also moved up into her career as a family so you had the mom and you had the children

Coming to the funeral, and I'm there you know to talk to them, and you know both of them brought their dogs

Who were they treated as family members? To this thing so I mean your dad dies you have to bring the family so this is a big family meeting

That's the way they described a big family grieving session together And I'm not if you hear me to be making fun of their grieving then you're

Misunderstanding the point significantly about what's happening The point about what's happening right now is to say that it's a it was a sobering picture

Sobering thought to me to think that that man's legacy was a couple of dogs And as I've you know known this this family that nothing has changed

Over the past years and years and years that man's legacy is a couple of animals you know What's the family

Well we're obviously live in a world that's very confused at this point Bible says is people people people

Linked over a relatively long period of time of descent to a common progenitor common father

What does Jesus say about this you know it like when you talk about the relationship of human beings to animals they're obviously not family members and And and that's not a statement that you make that just again you answer it right on the theology exam you check it off our

Animals family members well technically no, but it's okay to kind of treat them as family members the issue is when when

Christ speaks about animals He says it's fundamentally immoral to mix these categories up fundamentally immoral

Matthew 15 26 In a larger passage. I'm not trying to take I'm not trying to take this passage and divorce it from context and if you're predisposed to be cranky

You're gonna say hey, I'm taking this out of context I know that there's a particular context which this is used in but this is an axiomatic statement

That's used to apply to many different situations this statement is Self -evidently true, that's why

Jesus is bringing it up. He's bringing it up because it's self -evidently true Everyone in the world would agree about the moral principles involved and he's using that to apply to a different situation

But fat Matthew 15 26 Jesus answered it's not right to take the children's bread and to throw it to dogs, right?

What is he saying? He's saying that children deserve a certain standard of care from their father right their progenitor

And it's fundamentally immoral to mix these categories. That's what Jesus is saying

G that Jesus is saying that children are owed certain things by their parents The parents are responsible to provide those things for them

Dogs don't have the same rights and privileges now. I mean the dogs at the time I mean, they weren't the kind of dogs we have today that are nice and wag their tail and all that I mean the dogs that they had their time their day were a little bit more scary than all that I mean you can tame some of them and then they could

Follow you around. I mean the the woman in question Jesus is talking to says yes, but Yes, like it's not right but don't the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the master's table

She's acknowledging the basic point. Yeah children are owed certain Rights and privileges that aren't owed to animals, but don't don't the dogs eat the leftovers and isn't that okay?

And Jesus doesn't refute that idea. It's just to say there's a different standard of care expected for humans that then for Animals and that's the point that we should take away from that.

What are the intentions of the church? of all this well one is it's fundamentally immoral to give animals the same rights and Privileges as a family member.

I know Christian couples who let their dogs share the marriage bed with them at night And I'm not saying anything scandalous by that if that's what you're thinking

I'm just saying that the dogs are Treated as children indulged as children

Because animals are not made for life in the suburbs Christians are spending more and more money Trying to make suburban life comfortable for him if you look up statistics

You'll see that they've been on the rise for quite some time a lot of that is because suburban life is not suited for Animals in the same way that it used to be

I mean every time I call up regions Bank I have a bank account with regions Bank And I don't know if you guys have that here, but I think this is a little located in the south

Yeah, it's in Birmingham, but it's it's It's funny they they have they're trying to get you to take a second mortgage on their home

In order to give your furry friend the backyard that they deserve right and you think about how immoral that actually is

I mean I know it's funny. It's a joke like taking this I mean it should be a joke taking out a second mortgage to give your

Dog a backyard that they deserve, but this is an actual commercial and people are actually doing this you know people are actually doing this

But what does Jesus say it's not right to take the children's bread to throw it to the dogs many of us are taking our children's inheritance and wasting it on animals

Now notice. I didn't say that any money spent on an animal is taking your children's inheritance and throwing it to the to Dogs, but if you are taking a second mortgage

To give your furry friend the backyard they deserve you've lost track of the plot brothers and sisters.

You've lost the plot okay Christians today can grieve the loss of animals with the same intensity if not more

Than they do the loss of their human like their actual family members, right?

These are these are not these are not problems that we are sheltered from We need to rethink our basic premises at this point so point number one animals are not people

Gave you a variety of verses Man's created the image of God Describe that Animals not family members defined what a family member is on the basis of Ephesians 3 14

What else can we say here today? Animals are not companions, okay?

Animals are not companions What is a pet we're talking about pets you should probably define what a pet is at some point.

What is a pet? Merriam -webster says it Merriam -webster says a pet is a domesticated animal kept for pleasure

Rather than utility so you understand like the traditional concept of animals throughout most of human history is that they have some purpose?

They have some value to have some utility if you look up older definitions of the word pet within the the definition itself of a pet there's a notion of approbation essentially like meaning like Like a pet was an animal that was over indulged right so there's some disapproval there like you can imagine like a

Church lady who is shamefully Saying the word like overindulge right like you shouldn't indulge that animal so much.

You know you shouldn't encourage it I mean you can but it within the definition of pet there like you used to be this notion of overindulging right?

Because animals were seen largely for utility so we're basically there's been a dramatic shift in our understanding of Animals that's occurred over time

I'm going to talk about that and talk about the main passage that applies to this in my mind here But so Merriam -webster it this is kind of more of a neutral one

It's a domesticated animal kept for pleasure rather than your utility dictionary calm gives us a horrendous definition.

I find it horrendous I'm scandalized by it. I want to light my beard on fire and run around and Turn over tables or something when

I listen to this one, but dictionary calm says any domesticated or tamed animal that's kept as a companion and Cared for affectionately,

I mean, I'm I'm scandalized and shocked by the companion lane language. I I feel triggered

I feel like I feel like they should have put a trigger warning there for me to help me process what they're about to say but There's been a shift in viewing animals as companions rather than property and that's happened over several centuries

So in the ancient medieval periods in many ancient societies animals were primarily viewed as tools or property for labor food or Religious purposes the laws kind of reflected this animals were often treated as commodities

I mean, there's there's exceptions to that but the exceptions were You know, you have some famous King or something like that who particularly in Egypt who would treat cats with a particularly they revere cats particularly but Overall ancient medieval periods they were primarily viewed as tools property labor used for religious purposely

Purposes in light in the Enlightenment in the 18th and 19th centuries There were significant changes that were brought about on how animals were viewed

Philosophers like Jeremy Bentham began to advocate for animal welfare with the idea that animals could experience pain and suffering

Making them deserving of moral consideration This basically started to challenge the purely utilitarian view of animals as property and Victorian area in the 19th century

Particularly during Victorian era in England animals, especially dogs began to be viewed more commonly as companions the rise of the middle class changing

Urban lifestyles contributed to the shift more more people living in the cities keeping pets for company rather than the labor sentimental attachment to animals began to grow

Queen Victoria herself was a notable animal lover. So The animal welfare movements in late 19th and early 20th centuries animal welfare movements gain momentum promoting the humane

Notice that knows that were humane treatment of animals began to formalize the idea that animals had intrinsic value beyond their economic utility and then you know as you if you just look at You can look up statistics on this you'll realize that those attitudes have remarkably shifted even now

I mean, I think most of us in the room you would say hey Yeah, okay, Tim. Look I get it. They're not they're not humans.

I Get it they're not family members when people say that they're just kind of joking you need to calm down You're taking this way too seriously, you know, whatever else

But then like the idea of a companion I Don't know. I think many of us are predisposed to think of animals as having a kind of companionship a kind of companionship there because we

Obviously like if you name you don't want to name your food, right? Like you don't like if you name your food, then you have trouble eating it but like the issue is to say that I think this idea of companionship is something that we

You may not formally communicate, but your emotions certainly Resonate with and if they don't then

I don't believe you. I think you're trying to pull one over on me What does the Bible say

Genesis 2 18 our passage we talked to today the main passage I want you to think about which is somewhat remarkable as it relates to this topic

You have a whole story in the Bible That is designed to prove the point.

I'm trying to prove right here, right? I didn't make it up. It's right there Genesis 2 18 What does it say?

Then the Lord God says it's not good that man should be alone Notice what it says there.

It's not good that man should be alone. I will make him a helper fit for him So what did

God do? He paraded all the animals He brought before man to see what he would name them right now out of the ground the

Lord God had formed Every beast of the field every bird of the heaven and brought them to man to see what he would call them and whatever

The man called every living creature. That was his name now notice the order of creation God Made animals first man was created as the crown of God's creation

Animals already existed man at this point man is alone right like man is created.

There's no woman on the scene God looks at man. He says what he says it's not good for man to be alone

What just happened there? Did you did you catch it man is alone and all these animals exist you understand?

But man is alone man is considered alone because he is the only human of his kind Okay, so God can sit like God does not consider man the

Animal to be an appropriate companion for man man is still viewed by God as being alone

Despite the fact that all these example animals exist all of them are brought to Adam to see what he would name them

The point is he's naming them exercising dominion over him But what happens the man gives name to all the livestock and to the birds of the heaven to every beast of the field but for Adam There was not found a helper fit for him

This isn't just a story that is designed to prove that man has dominion over animals and got

Adam is Exercising authority over them. It's not just a story designed to show you that bestiality is wrong

Although it does that because animals there was no helper fit for Adam found among them animals This is a story to say that man is designed for companionship

Isn't it? It's not good for him to be alone if you look at What happens?

When people pursue being alone, you'll realize the truth of what we're saying a man who isolates himself seeks his own

Desires you're living in a world that is increasingly Unpersonal There are not natural forms of community in this world

Right a lot of the community that community is now virtual community. So We're redefining the term community to be

Happening somewhere in cyberspace or something like that. So our like our there's not natural meeting points within our society

We're not naturally very hospitable to people anymore When we went to go visit people yesterday

There were very very few people who were excited to see us knocking on their doors and trying to talk to him about a church

And the good news, so you're not living in a world in a time that naturally Knows what to do with community and yet we have a deep need for Community community we have a deep need for companionship and we don't know how to fill it, right?

so you think about marriage rates our Our Age of first -time marriages, they're higher and higher and higher

Birth rates are plummeting, right? We're not even replacing our population really at this point

We're right there where we're in we're in significant danger as it relates to that kind of thing

So the issue is where people got there's a statement here. What's what's happening? It's not good for man to be alone man's not made as an isolated solitary human being.

He's not an island He's not just made to be by himself with his thoughts, right? Pursuing his entertainment and everything else.

He's created for a purpose and that purpose is in part going to be fulfilled through community and He needs the companionship of other human beings.

And so what does God do? He makes woman Who is the A's air connecto the helper suitable for him?

So a's air means helper connecto means that which is opposite that which corresponds man is alone, even though the animals exist

He's by himself. He's isolated. He needs community. He needs companionship. God makes a woman for him for that, right?

so What does this all mean? Well, we obviously live in a world that's increasingly disconnected family structures have been eroded community has become

Virtue virtual but people have a deep -seated need for companionship. They Intuitively know it's not good for them to be alone

Even your most self -centered extrovert who wants to spend all day long Playing video games are introvert who wants to spend all day long playing video games at the end of it

All feels empty and knows that he's created for something a little bit more than all that We have a generation of young people who've isolated themselves seeking their own desire, haven't we what do we tell them that?

That the goal of their life is to pursue self -fulfillment in that They're them and their quest to pursue self -fulfillment means

Like they're isolating themself more and more and more. They're seeking their own desire more and more

We we we praise people almost who have social anxiety disorder and have no expectations that they're going to be successful They move out of their shell or have any responsibility to meet other people.

We give them wide berth You have a generation of young people who have isolated themself. They don't have a sense of urgency for marriage and family

They're off seeking their own desire. They're off seeking self -fulfillment, but they know intuitively inescapably

They're made for community. And so what do they do? They turn to animals

To find it. That's what the statistics show if you don't believe those statistics I know all I know how to tell you is

I've been in counseling situation after counseling situation after counseling situation with young people who are looking me in the face and saying hey

I'm having trouble finding a spouse. I'm just going to go get a dog and that's exactly the wrong move

Okay. Now if you hear me to be saying it's wrong to have a pet. I haven't said that I didn't say that any point

You're hearing things. I didn't say okay Like don't accuse me of saying things. I didn't say I didn't say that I didn't say it's wrong to get a pet.

I think it's wrong to view a pet as a companion I think it's wrong to try to get like get from an animal what you should be getting from God or other people

That's absolutely wrong The Bible says my people have committed two evils. They've forsaken me the fount of living waters.

They've hewed for themselves broken cisterns that can never satisfy if you're looking to an animal to provide you safety and comfort and Community and companionship if you're looking to an animal to fix your psychological problems

If they're your therapy animal if you can't handle life in the world Without having your puppy close to you or your therapeutic peacock like the issue is you have you have turned that animal into an idol and God is a jealous

God and he hates idols. That's the point As I said,

I mean, I wish that they were I wish that these were just problems on the outside because then you could just Call people to faith and repentance and Jesus and then everything presumably over time gradually would turn out, right?

But I mean these are These are Christians. I'm counseling you understand these these are

Christian young people. I'm counseling. There is these statistics. They they are real Like I mean,

I don't know the exact numbers Only God knows the exact numbers but by on by the virtue of my experience

I see that we have a huge problem as it relates to this and we need to wake up.

We need to wake up Or we're going to end up like that man whose legacy is a couple of dogs.

That's what we're gonna do What do we do with this? one

Don't harden your heart towards these truths. I Know that we all know this.

I know that There's a temptation to view all this is Maybe slightly dramatic

Don't harden your heart, you know if the shoe fits wear it You should look at your life and say hey to what extent am

I really? looking to animals to be replacement human beings

Like that's the question you should ask to what extent am I leaning on these animals for emotional comfort safety

Security right to what extent do I I need them to be okay To what extent are they helpful to me in my life, right?

Are they helpful? Are they a hindrance in my life? So don't harden your heart if I've stepped on your toes today, then

Response is the same thing to everything that God says repent and believe the good news God's a good God sent

Jesus Christ to die for us on the cross so that we can receive complete and total forgiveness For all of our sins past present and future

We should always we should always think about well, what is God's design for the world? What does he called us to do?

What does he call us to be and when we mix certain things up? We repent knowing that God is a good

God. He will cast our sins into the depths of the sea and remember them no more

Order your life in such a way that reflects God's priorities for you in the old view of animals

They were meant to help you accomplish God's purposes. Okay Not take you away from them or distract you from them

Order your life in such a way that reflects God's priorities for you. I mean I've I've Been in counseling situation after counseling situation after counseling situations where you have individuals who have these sick codependent relationships with their animals

Who literally like the girl I'm talking about is starving yourself to death trying to care for an animal

This is the major plot of Movies and TV shows where human beings are laying down their lives heroically for their animals.

It's man of steel This is us. This is a thing, you know, like this this is what you're being taught to do

Here order your life in such a way that reflects God's priority I know people who have these sick twisted relationships with animals where all their emotions are tied up in a beast of the field in a beast of the field and If you encourage them to get rid of the thing

To cast that idol down They look at you as if you're crazy Because what they hear you to be saying is that you should get rid of one of their children and they may not

Communicate they may know that they can't communicate to you that to you and you take it seriously But that's where their heart is and that's where their affection is order your life in such a way that reflects

God's priorities for for you Don't let animals take you away from the mission

Don't let them Let animals be a means that you use to squander your children's inheritance

Waste all your money trying to take care of For and we'll end on this remember

Christ who took on human flesh and dwelt among us You know that God if you're a

Christian here today God loved you and he sent his son to die for you Isn't that amazing? He didn't die for animals

He didn't send his son to die and provide forgiveness for animals Certainly God has a care for animals.

You understand Certainly has a care for animals But I don't think we think very well about the nature of that care

You know, you know that God I don't know if you thought about this before God doesn't just love the herbivores like the nice animals

Like he loves the carnivores, too You know that God feeds the birds of the air with the dead bodies of other animals you understand

So God's care for that God created bears That eat animals he created lions that eat other animals

So he cares for them all but he doesn't care for them like human beings you understand He's not caring for them like human beings

If you think that God cares for them like human beings then They that care doesn't feel like real care does it like in the same way so God creates predators

He feeds the lions of the field and the bears of the forest right like eat that God God cares for animals care for them is different.

He didn't send his son to die for them You know what at the end of time all creation is groaning. It's been subject to futility when human beings are redeemed

Like in the last analysis It will correspond to the natural world so when

Christ returns everything's going to be made right Natural order is going to be restored But you know what like all your pets are not going to be resurrected from the dead and given new glorified pet bodies or something

Like that they're not eternal beings God has a different care for you than he does for animals He is a different kind of care.

Okay. That's the point Remember Jesus Jesus did not take on animal flesh and Dwell among us he took on human flesh and dwelt among us and when we mix these categories what we're doing is we're fundamentally distorting the gospel message

We're distorting the nature of the love of Christ for the love of God for us Which is demonstrated most specifically in the person and the work of Christ What do we do with this you think we should thank the

Lord if you're a Christian here today? You should thank the Lord that he loved you and he took on flesh and dwelt among you you are his image bearer he sent

Jesus to die for you because he He loved you. That's what we should do

Let's pray The Lord we thank you for the scriptures you have given us today which are life to us

Thank you for sending us Jesus as a Redeemer To forgive us our sins we know that if you would count iniquities none of us could stand

To send your son to die for us today. We should be thankful for that If there's anyone here today who doesn't know you pray that they would come to know you it would come to Be included in your elect

By trusting in you Asking you to forgive them their sins.