Be With Me: 7 Minutes of Biblical Wonder
Be With Me is a daily 7 minute chronological walk through the New Testament hosted by Michael Smith. It is for everyone who is curious about what Jesus actually said and did in the gospels. Most episodes will leave you with at least one good thought to chew on for the rest of the day. We start with the Bible and hopefully end with Awe. We are walking through the chronological events of Jesus' life and then thoughtfully considering them. It is meant to spur the devotional life of the Christian and the not-yet-Christian. We occasionally venture into the Old Testament when it helps our understanding of the New Testament events. Everybody has 7 minutes. Everybody needs to wonder. Be With Me is hosted by Michael Smith who has absolutely no special qualifications to do a podcast. He is not a pastor. He has not been to seminary. He does not lead a mega-church. He is not a professional and he has no more credentials than you do. He does, however, follow a great God with an observant eye and a curious heart. Each day, he starts with a study bible and aims for astonishment. ‘be with him’ for 7 minutes as he sets out daily to discover the God who invites us to ‘Be With Me.’
Be With Me: 7 Minutes of Biblical Wonder
Does God care what I wear? S29e52 Dt22:5
Does God care about what I wear? How about cross-dressing in either apparel or behavior? Of note, our image bearing of God Himself is reflected even in our clothing.
God loves maleness. God loves femaleness.
Your maleness or your femaleness are inseperable to your image bearing. To confuse this is to disorder that which was originally designed to be ordered. So, carry your maleness or your femaleness proudly and clearly, for by doing so you reverentially carry the very image of God.
https://youtu.be/rUWf4u_l8z4
Does God care what I wear? S29e52 Dt22:5
We are in a section called “various laws”—that is various parts of our earthly lives that God highlights: NEWSFLASH as “not just earthly”
Yesterday it was about a lost OX, and specifically what to do about it
The first was to not IGNORE is, even though you will be tempted to
“I don’t see that random OX in my driveway”
Tempted because caring for an ox is a major imposition
You and I both know that an OX is an inconvenient bedfellow
Theyre Big,(ton)thirsty, hungry, smelly, poopy, dangerous
Love, doing the right thing, maintaining a brotherhood is
INCONVENIENT and INTRUSIVE
Love is inconvenient, Love is intrusive. You will be tempted to ignore it
This “various law”, wasn’t really about an ox. It was about LOVE
What is love like? It will probably involve an OX.—run to the OX
Similarly: we will find an intrusive command of God about a CLOAK
Similarly, it is about MORE THAN A CLOAK. It is about bearing the image
This command, It tells you to do something and to not do something
Like the ox, one might be tempted to ignore it and consider it of little consequence
Dt. 22: 5 “A woman shall not wear a man’s garment, nor shall a man put on a woman’s cloak, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God.
Where does this come from?
This is God speaking. He is the author and creator
He cares about this topic, as it is His design
And yes, the world is a fallen place. Fallen since the garden.
Gender identity certainly, like all other areas of life, can be tainted by the effects of the fall.
One might even be surprised if it wasn’t affected by the fall
God has a created order
Our job then is not to ask God to “move to our fallen position” but toAsk God to helpus to “move away from our fallen position” lets do that now:
Fortunately, He does not equivocate here or else where in the OT or new about His feelings about the genders He has made:
He loves maleness. He loves femaleness.
Both in a specific way, reflect His character as a creator
I think He’d desire for you to thrive in your maleness or
Thrive in your femaleness
I think He’d grieve in any brokenness there might be in the desire for anything about gender that doesn’t match His desire
To find those desires, we can look to His thoughts as accurately recorded here and His design . WHAT ARE THE God’s DESIREs for gender?
His desires are best displayed by His created design Gen 1:27 27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
He tells us here in Dt that blurring these lines of distinction,
Lines that are integral to His design
are an offense against Him, He terms it an abomination
He doesn’t like it. Doesn’t like it a lot. Detestible, offensive and even idolatrous: putting something ahead of God in priority
This isn’t mild, like it is just unfortunate, but it is strongly felt, even felt the most strongly WHY the detestability ? Why is it SOOOO detestible?
BECAUSE it usurps a fundamental charge to image bearing
and, this muddling, this confusing the display of His image-bearing
He finds particularly offensive to the highest degree.
Our job again, is not to sit here and say to God: hey tone it down a bit will you? But, it is our job to seek to understand the privilege we have as image bearers in our malenessor femaleness.
Our charge to image bear issues from His command to our hearts to our minds outward towards our clothing and our cloak
I think a good place to end up is reverence. Particularly in view of our image bearing.
Yes, I know that can be fallen. But I also know that fallen things can be redeemed.
I’d desire that you thrive in your image bearing.
Your maleness or your femaleness are inseperable to your image bearing
Your maleness or your femaleness, as far as we know, continue into eternity
To confuse it with clothing or behavior, disorders that which is to be ordere
So, carry your maleness or your femaleness proudly and clearly, for by doing so you reverentially are carrying the very image of God. Wow.