WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:01.439 Genesis chapter 1. 00:00:03.279 --> 00:00:05.599 We're just into this series. 00:00:06.160 --> 00:00:11.359 On the image of God, Pastor Doug preached the opening sermon. 00:00:12.320 --> 00:00:13.439 Genesis chapter 1. 00:00:13.519 --> 00:00:15.759 I want to start by reading two verses for us. 00:00:18.960 --> 00:00:21.600 Genesis 1, verses 26 and 27. 00:00:25.120 --> 00:00:32.479 Then God said, Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. 00:00:32.880 --> 00:00:39.359 They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth. 00:00:40.320 --> 00:00:45.039 So God created man in his own image. 00:00:45.359 --> 00:00:47.600 He created him in the image of God. 00:00:51.759 --> 00:00:53.039 Seek the Lord's help. 00:00:53.679 --> 00:01:01.920 Lord, thank you that all of your creative work was good and very good because you're a good God. 00:01:02.079 --> 00:01:11.519 So help us to see your goodness, your authority, your beauty, and loving design for us tonight. 00:01:11.680 --> 00:01:13.599 In Jesus' name, amen. 00:01:15.599 --> 00:01:18.640 We're going to have 15 messages on the image of God. 00:01:18.799 --> 00:01:29.519 And I think if you look down through the series of topics, at least for some people, tonight's title might grab them more than any other title in the whole series. 00:01:29.760 --> 00:01:38.319 The title for tonight is Male and Female Intentional Design for Gender and Relationship. 00:01:40.159 --> 00:01:46.239 Why would male and female make you move a little more to the edge of your seat? 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:53.760 Well, there's probably a lot of factors, but one reason is because it's a bit controversial in our world. 00:01:55.040 --> 00:01:59.920 You can ask a public official what's a man or a woman, and they don't want to answer. 00:02:01.280 --> 00:02:06.480 You could ask a four-year-old in preschool who are all the boys and girls in your class, they could point them right out. 00:02:06.640 --> 00:02:10.479 But public officials don't want to talk about it. 00:02:11.759 --> 00:02:25.199 We're not going to talk tonight about the different cultural factors that have kind of led to where we are in our current culture, but we do want to look at the Bible's foundations for gender and what God Himself says. 00:02:25.520 --> 00:02:37.360 So three headings for us tonight as we think about this intentional design of male and female, the importance of gender, the beauty of gender, and the implications of gender. 00:02:38.080 --> 00:02:40.159 And we'll consider these again from scripture. 00:02:40.319 --> 00:02:42.719 So first is the importance of gender. 00:02:42.879 --> 00:02:47.120 Right here in Genesis 1.27, God created man in his own image. 00:02:47.360 --> 00:02:49.120 He created him in the image of God. 00:02:49.360 --> 00:02:52.960 And what's the first thing after it says he created them in the image of God? 00:02:53.199 --> 00:02:56.319 He created them male and female. 00:02:57.520 --> 00:03:08.479 So God takes a week to create the world, and on day six, he slows down to create humans and he determines I'm going to have males and females. 00:03:09.680 --> 00:03:12.000 Let's just pause right there for a moment. 00:03:12.639 --> 00:03:14.080 That is significant. 00:03:14.400 --> 00:03:25.039 If God has said, I'm going to design the whole human race to have male and female, who are we to say, I've got some better ideas than God? 00:03:25.599 --> 00:03:28.800 I've got a lot of other pronouns that would work better than God's ideas. 00:03:29.039 --> 00:03:30.319 This is God's plan. 00:03:30.400 --> 00:03:31.199 It's important. 00:03:31.919 --> 00:03:38.319 And not only did he design us male and female, he designed us again this way in his image. 00:03:39.439 --> 00:03:45.199 So this evening series is not a series about men and women, it's a series about the image of God. 00:03:46.159 --> 00:03:54.960 But all that we do to reflect God's image, in one sense, we do as males or as females. 00:03:55.120 --> 00:03:56.319 That's very important. 00:03:56.479 --> 00:04:02.400 It's an awe-inspiring responsibility and privilege to be made in the image of God. 00:04:03.439 --> 00:04:08.400 And some of the things we do require both males and females. 00:04:09.439 --> 00:04:13.199 Don't worry, I'm not going to give any elaborate biology lessons tonight. 00:04:14.159 --> 00:04:19.199 But this command to be fruitful and multiply, more people made in the image of God. 00:04:19.839 --> 00:04:22.000 That takes male and female. 00:04:22.399 --> 00:04:23.040 That's important. 00:04:24.959 --> 00:04:36.000 So we really can't say, well, the image of God has great dignity and value, and we should highly elevate the image of God and all those who bear the image of God. 00:04:36.079 --> 00:04:37.040 Yes, well and good. 00:04:37.199 --> 00:04:38.639 But you can't say that. 00:04:39.439 --> 00:04:47.040 And then on the other side say, you know, this concept of male and female, it's really more of a burden, and we can kind of do with it what we please. 00:04:47.839 --> 00:04:49.600 No, those things go together. 00:04:50.240 --> 00:04:53.519 So gender is very important in God's design. 00:04:55.120 --> 00:04:55.759 Second. 00:04:56.399 --> 00:05:00.560 And we're going to take the most time on the last one, but second, the beauty of gender. 00:05:01.040 --> 00:05:03.839 It's not only important, it's a beautiful thing. 00:05:05.040 --> 00:05:07.519 Proverbs 30, verses 18 and 19. 00:05:07.759 --> 00:05:12.319 Three things are too wondrous for me, four I can't understand. 00:05:12.879 --> 00:05:25.759 The way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a snake on a rock, the way of a ship at sea, and the way of a man with a young woman. 00:05:26.720 --> 00:05:31.360 You ever ponder the amazing wonder of God's creation? 00:05:32.560 --> 00:05:34.000 A bird in the sky? 00:05:34.160 --> 00:05:35.519 How does that work? 00:05:37.920 --> 00:05:44.399 Ships that humans design that they can actually float on water, that's amazing. 00:05:44.879 --> 00:05:51.680 And yet even more amazing, a man and a woman coming together. 00:05:51.839 --> 00:05:52.800 It's remarkable. 00:05:55.040 --> 00:05:58.319 Let me just defend romantic comedies for one minute. 00:06:00.399 --> 00:06:05.839 No, they don't do a great job of sh telling us about suffering in the world. 00:06:06.079 --> 00:06:11.920 No, they don't usually do a great job of telling us about um persevering through difficult times. 00:06:12.240 --> 00:06:24.879 But they they show us something about how can two totally different people in some ways magically connect and find themselves together. 00:06:25.199 --> 00:06:26.959 Well, that's God's plan. 00:06:27.920 --> 00:06:32.000 Adam understood the beauty of gender very shortly after creation. 00:06:32.240 --> 00:06:33.839 Turn over to Genesis chapter 2. 00:06:33.920 --> 00:06:34.639 You can just look at this. 00:06:34.720 --> 00:06:37.040 It should be the next page over if you're not already there. 00:06:37.199 --> 00:06:39.439 Genesis 2, starting at verse 19. 00:06:41.519 --> 00:06:49.839 The Lord God formed out of the ground every wild animal, every bird of the sky, and brought each to the man to see what he would call it. 00:06:50.079 --> 00:06:53.439 And whenever a man, the man called living creature, that was its name. 00:06:53.600 --> 00:06:57.680 The man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds of the sky, to every wild animal. 00:06:58.240 --> 00:07:03.519 But for the man, no helper was found corresponding to him. 00:07:04.160 --> 00:07:08.319 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to come over the man and he slept. 00:07:09.120 --> 00:07:14.079 God took one of his ribs and closed the flesh at that place. 00:07:14.800 --> 00:07:20.879 Then the Lord God made the rib he had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to the man. 00:07:21.279 --> 00:07:28.160 And the man said, This one at last is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. 00:07:29.120 --> 00:07:33.519 This one will be called woman, for she was taken from man. 00:07:36.240 --> 00:07:40.720 The complementarity of male and female. 00:07:41.680 --> 00:07:43.920 I know that's a that's a silver dollar word. 00:07:44.800 --> 00:07:48.800 I just mean by that males and females complement each other. 00:07:48.959 --> 00:07:53.519 They fit together like a left-footed shoe and a right-footed shoe. 00:07:54.079 --> 00:08:04.240 Okay, that complementarity that God has designed of male and female, it matches the complementarity of God's created universe. 00:08:05.040 --> 00:08:09.680 Did you notice ever how many pairs there are in the Genesis creation account? 00:08:10.319 --> 00:08:12.160 It's not just man and woman. 00:08:13.199 --> 00:08:26.319 There's evening and morning, there's day and night, there's sun and moon, there's sky and there's all of these pairs all throughout God's creation account. 00:08:27.360 --> 00:08:34.080 People have sometimes associated men with land and women with water. 00:08:35.840 --> 00:08:36.480 Land. 00:08:38.159 --> 00:08:38.799 Water. 00:08:40.799 --> 00:08:41.440 Land. 00:08:43.759 --> 00:08:44.399 Water. 00:08:45.600 --> 00:08:48.799 So you're looking at me and it's like, come on, Mike, we need some exegesis here. 00:08:48.879 --> 00:08:50.000 We're not looking for poetry. 00:08:50.320 --> 00:08:55.919 Well, the Bible does give us both of those things in his created world and in scripture. 00:08:56.240 --> 00:08:59.360 Women are associated with wells in the Bible. 00:08:59.600 --> 00:09:02.559 Water that comes up and gives life. 00:09:02.879 --> 00:09:05.759 Eve is called the mother of all the living. 00:09:06.399 --> 00:09:11.360 The Bible tells us Adam was formed from the dust of the ground. 00:09:11.759 --> 00:09:16.639 It tells us Cain, their firstborn son, worked the ground. 00:09:20.720 --> 00:09:30.559 This this kind of puzzle piece fittedness of male and female corresponds to land and water and all these other beautiful things in God's created world. 00:09:31.919 --> 00:09:36.879 Something else that's beautiful about gender is that gender is enduring. 00:09:38.320 --> 00:09:39.679 This is what one writer says. 00:09:39.840 --> 00:09:40.559 She's not a Christian. 00:09:41.279 --> 00:09:56.879 She says the startling similarity of gender roles in societies separated by vast distances of time and space does suggest that there's something fundamentally constant in gender that is grounded in concrete facts. 00:09:58.879 --> 00:10:04.159 It's not a startling similarity if we believe that God has designed creation this way. 00:10:04.720 --> 00:10:16.080 If God's designed that, then it would be natural if you go to different cultures, different civilizations, and they have very similar basic ideas about what's a man, what's a woman, how how do they function in society. 00:10:17.360 --> 00:10:21.519 You can suppress God's design, but it keeps coming back. 00:10:21.600 --> 00:10:22.480 It's enduring. 00:10:23.919 --> 00:10:25.519 And that's a beautiful thing. 00:10:26.080 --> 00:10:30.480 The beauty of male and female extends beyond marriage. 00:10:30.720 --> 00:10:33.840 You can see it very acutely within marriage, yes. 00:10:34.480 --> 00:10:42.320 But from the moment of conception, long before you're ever married, you are male or you're female. 00:10:44.399 --> 00:10:50.399 For most all of you here, either you or your spouse is gonna die. 00:10:51.200 --> 00:10:54.240 And you won't be married any longer. 00:10:54.879 --> 00:10:58.480 You will still be male or female. 00:10:59.600 --> 00:11:04.399 As wonderful as marriage is, Jesus says in the resurrection, they're not given in marriage. 00:11:04.559 --> 00:11:09.679 Jesus never says we'll cease to be male and female even in the new creation. 00:11:11.600 --> 00:11:12.639 Gender is enduring. 00:11:15.200 --> 00:11:18.240 And it's beautiful the way that they work together. 00:11:18.960 --> 00:11:24.639 When you think about male and female, Doug likes, Pastor Doug likes to use the illustration of dancing partners. 00:11:24.960 --> 00:11:27.440 A give and a take is a beautiful thing. 00:11:28.320 --> 00:11:36.159 Or you could think of music and singing, a melody and a harmony is a beautiful thing when it fits together. 00:11:38.559 --> 00:11:41.600 Importance of gender, beauty of gender. 00:11:42.080 --> 00:11:44.000 Let's get into some implications of gender. 00:11:44.159 --> 00:11:45.440 I've already touched on some. 00:11:45.679 --> 00:11:47.039 You could come up with probably more. 00:11:47.120 --> 00:11:49.039 I'm going to give you five for tonight. 00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:51.039 Here's the first one. 00:11:52.159 --> 00:12:01.039 Since men and women are both in the image of God, we should respect each other rather than revile each other. 00:12:02.399 --> 00:12:06.080 I know that's kind of like a will duh, Micah, kind of obviously. 00:12:06.639 --> 00:12:09.039 That hasn't always been thought or practiced well. 00:12:09.440 --> 00:12:19.279 Even in Christian history, you've got some heavy-hitting theologians, I'll name two, Augustine and Aquinas, who taught that women don't have as much of the image of God as men do. 00:12:20.320 --> 00:12:24.320 Now, I I don't think anyone today that I know of would say that. 00:12:25.279 --> 00:12:32.960 But if we're not careful, men and women can speak of each other in demeaning ways rather than honoring ways. 00:12:36.159 --> 00:12:37.200 You know how men are. 00:12:38.799 --> 00:12:43.360 Now, there's a way to say that where you're just playfully acknowledging our differences. 00:12:43.840 --> 00:12:49.759 But there is a way to say that where you're flying right in the face of James chapter 3, verse 9. 00:12:50.320 --> 00:12:57.039 With the tongue, we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in God's likeness. 00:12:59.679 --> 00:13:02.000 Second implication of gender. 00:13:02.720 --> 00:13:09.360 Men and women should celebrate both their similarities and their differences. 00:13:10.720 --> 00:13:14.480 There's more sameness than difference when it comes to men and women. 00:13:14.799 --> 00:13:19.039 I mean, that's true of our bodies in comparison to a bird or a fish. 00:13:20.080 --> 00:13:22.159 We're both made in the image of God. 00:13:22.879 --> 00:13:27.120 We can both relate to God and to each other in ways that the animals can't. 00:13:27.360 --> 00:13:30.480 We're both sinners, we can both be fully redeemed by Christ. 00:13:30.639 --> 00:13:32.399 There's a lot of similarities there. 00:13:33.440 --> 00:13:44.159 Sometimes Christians can kind of react against the culture in a kind of pendulum swing where we just only ever want to talk about the differences because the culture wants to flatten all those differences. 00:13:44.399 --> 00:13:46.639 We don't need to swing all the way to that side. 00:13:47.440 --> 00:13:49.840 Men are from Mars, women are from Venus. 00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:51.519 No, they're both from planet Earth. 00:13:51.840 --> 00:13:52.879 God made them both. 00:13:53.360 --> 00:13:56.480 One wasn't evolving from apes, one was evolving from chimps. 00:13:56.639 --> 00:13:59.600 We both together share this glorious common humanity. 00:14:05.200 --> 00:14:10.559 They're different, and we shouldn't apologize that they're different or try to force them to be different. 00:14:12.480 --> 00:14:17.600 Why did men are from Mars and women are from Venus sell so many copies? 00:14:18.480 --> 00:14:19.840 Because there's something to that. 00:14:20.320 --> 00:14:21.200 There's something to it. 00:14:23.600 --> 00:14:25.919 Women, you have God's permission to be women. 00:14:30.320 --> 00:14:33.120 Does someone else want to get up and that's fine? 00:14:36.399 --> 00:14:42.159 Sometimes I just feel like I'd rather talk to another woman about a certain problem than my husband. 00:14:42.320 --> 00:14:43.519 You don't have to apologize. 00:14:44.080 --> 00:14:46.000 It's good to develop relationships with other women. 00:14:46.639 --> 00:14:48.879 Maybe you've been watching too many romantic comedies. 00:14:48.960 --> 00:14:52.879 There's not just going to be one person that magically fits all of your needs. 00:14:53.039 --> 00:14:55.519 So female friendships are a wonderful thing. 00:14:55.679 --> 00:14:56.480 Cultivate those. 00:14:57.279 --> 00:14:59.519 Men, you have God's permission to be men. 00:15:00.480 --> 00:15:04.159 Not to be uncaring or harsh, but it's okay to be a man. 00:15:05.360 --> 00:15:09.519 I had a teacher once, you have to understand it's a very kind man. 00:15:10.399 --> 00:15:16.799 One of his jokes was sometimes my wife will say, Listen, I'm a woman. 00:15:16.960 --> 00:15:18.879 You have to see things from my perspective. 00:15:20.240 --> 00:15:25.840 And I'll tell her, well, I'm sorry, but I can't because God made me to be a man. 00:15:28.080 --> 00:15:30.639 Dwell in an understanding way with your wives, right? 00:15:30.799 --> 00:15:34.720 It's not an excuse to be harsher on caring, but there's something different about men and women. 00:15:35.519 --> 00:15:43.600 Now I haven't talked a lot about what that complementarity looks like, but let's think again about creation. 00:15:44.480 --> 00:15:48.320 So there's a lot of similarity, but there's some differences there. 00:15:48.879 --> 00:15:50.000 And it's a beautiful thing. 00:15:52.480 --> 00:16:00.879 In the creation pattern, God forms a realm, and then he fills that realm. 00:16:02.399 --> 00:16:09.120 So day one is light and dark, he forms it and divides it. 00:16:09.279 --> 00:16:13.679 Then day four fills it with sun and moon and stars. 00:16:15.519 --> 00:16:28.559 Day two, sea and sky formed, and then day five, he fills sea and sky with fish and with birds. 00:16:29.120 --> 00:16:36.080 Day three, he makes the land, and then day six, the land is filled with animals and human beings. 00:16:36.320 --> 00:16:38.559 That's the Genesis 1 creation story. 00:16:39.440 --> 00:16:47.519 Now, Genesis 2 double clicks on the creation of male and female and expands and explains that more. 00:16:48.639 --> 00:16:54.399 And when he makes men and women, what does Adam first do? 00:16:55.360 --> 00:16:57.919 He's first called to name the animals. 00:16:58.159 --> 00:17:02.240 He has to separate them into groups and form them into those groups. 00:17:02.480 --> 00:17:06.240 And then Eve is the mother of all the living. 00:17:06.400 --> 00:17:12.480 She comes and fills the garden with life, forming and filling. 00:17:14.400 --> 00:17:20.880 Men tend to identify, to explore, to subdue. 00:17:21.279 --> 00:17:28.480 Women tend to nest, to nurture, to adorn, to beautify. 00:17:29.839 --> 00:17:31.759 Adam and Eve have different origins. 00:17:32.720 --> 00:17:34.559 Adam's from the ground. 00:17:35.279 --> 00:17:36.799 Eve is from a rib. 00:17:38.240 --> 00:17:40.720 They have different curses. 00:17:41.519 --> 00:17:44.400 Why does God tell Adam the ground is cursed? 00:17:44.799 --> 00:17:46.559 Eve wasn't allowed to pick up a shovel? 00:17:47.039 --> 00:17:47.359 No. 00:17:48.559 --> 00:17:52.720 Why does God tell Eve your relationship with your husband is going to be hard? 00:17:53.599 --> 00:17:56.000 Adam didn't have to care about his relationship with his wife? 00:17:56.960 --> 00:17:57.279 No. 00:17:58.319 --> 00:18:02.319 But men tend to be oriented toward the work of the world. 00:18:02.799 --> 00:18:03.920 Land forming. 00:18:04.079 --> 00:18:07.759 Women tend to be oriented toward the work of relationships. 00:18:08.160 --> 00:18:09.039 And that's a good thing. 00:18:17.599 --> 00:18:19.119 You see it everywhere in the world. 00:18:19.839 --> 00:18:24.079 Every Sunday morning, we have a confession of sin that is for both men and women. 00:18:25.440 --> 00:18:31.119 But men and women can sometimes have different special arenas of temptation. 00:18:32.640 --> 00:18:33.680 Let me give you an example. 00:18:33.839 --> 00:18:36.079 2 Timothy 2 verse 8. 00:18:36.319 --> 00:18:38.400 And feel free to write these down if you want to, or you can listen. 00:18:39.359 --> 00:18:40.480 This is what Paul says. 00:18:40.640 --> 00:18:50.319 Therefore, I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or argument. 00:18:52.079 --> 00:19:02.799 Also, the women are to dress themselves in modest clothing with decency and good sense, not with elaborate hairstyles, gold, pearls, or expensive apparel. 00:19:04.640 --> 00:19:12.240 When's the last time you heard two men get in an argument and it culminated with, well, I've got a better head of hair than you do. 00:19:30.640 --> 00:19:32.559 Hands are for strength. 00:19:33.119 --> 00:19:34.319 Hair is for beauty. 00:19:35.359 --> 00:19:46.960 Men tend to be tempted to use the strength that God has given them rather than to lead in worship and protection and care to dominate other people. 00:19:48.319 --> 00:19:55.759 And God has given women this beauty to reflect his own radiant glory, to bring harmony to the world around them. 00:19:56.000 --> 00:20:04.160 And women can be tempted instead of using their beauty to point to God's glory, to say, everyone, take a look right here. 00:20:23.599 --> 00:20:36.400 Then later on in the same passage, he says, For you know how, like a father with his children, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God. 00:20:38.720 --> 00:20:41.119 Paul's comparing himself to a nursing mother. 00:20:44.160 --> 00:20:46.799 He's not saying women can't exhort. 00:20:47.759 --> 00:20:53.839 But when he thinks of cherishing and nurturing, his mind naturally goes to mothers. 00:20:54.160 --> 00:20:59.920 And when he thinks of exhorting, charging, his mind just naturally goes to fathers. 00:21:00.799 --> 00:21:06.880 There's one pastor in Kentucky, Sam Amadi, he says, men and women have different superpowers. 00:21:09.279 --> 00:21:10.000 It's a great thing. 00:21:10.160 --> 00:21:11.599 It's a good thing that we have men and women. 00:21:13.359 --> 00:21:15.519 Third implication of gender. 00:21:16.799 --> 00:21:21.359 Gender roles in the home and in the church are not arbitrary. 00:21:22.799 --> 00:21:24.720 I'm making a little bit of an assumption here. 00:21:24.799 --> 00:21:41.039 I know with this particular audience, I couldn't do this in a lot of places, but I'm making an assumption that most all of you know the Bible repeatedly says that husbands are the head of the wives and wives are called to submit, that in the church, men are called to be leaders, teachers. 00:21:41.119 --> 00:21:43.599 Uh wives and women are called to support. 00:21:44.000 --> 00:21:48.960 That's in our statement of faith for all of our members to affirm, but more importantly, it's in Scripture itself. 00:21:49.680 --> 00:21:56.400 The point I'm making here is it's not just an arbitrary test of obedience. 00:21:56.720 --> 00:21:59.759 It's part of the makeup of the design of God's world. 00:22:00.880 --> 00:22:03.680 God didn't decide I want to have humans. 00:22:04.400 --> 00:22:08.400 I'm going to give them different bodies and then let's just give them different roles and see what happens. 00:22:09.599 --> 00:22:16.799 It's not as though after the fall, God said, Boy, we gotta punish them. 00:22:16.960 --> 00:22:21.119 All right, any meeny miny mo, one gender has to be under the other one's toe. 00:22:22.240 --> 00:22:24.400 That's not what's happening here. 00:22:25.599 --> 00:22:35.599 Our roles in the home, in the church reflect something of God's beautiful plan that corresponds to our bodies, our makeup, so many things in life. 00:22:36.480 --> 00:22:37.440 It's not arbitrary. 00:22:40.559 --> 00:22:44.559 There's something else even more significant about that plan of God. 00:22:45.440 --> 00:22:55.119 It's not just that it tends to work better in those spheres when people lean into those roles as men and women. 00:22:55.759 --> 00:23:00.079 It's pointing us to a picture of Christ in the church. 00:23:01.039 --> 00:23:05.119 There's gospel image implications of male and female. 00:23:05.920 --> 00:23:07.759 Listen to Ephesians 5. 00:23:08.400 --> 00:23:13.119 The husband is head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church. 00:23:13.440 --> 00:23:14.960 He's the savior of the body. 00:23:16.240 --> 00:23:21.519 Now, unfortunately, we don't, as men, model Christ as we should. 00:23:22.160 --> 00:23:25.039 But the opportunity and responsibility is there. 00:23:25.359 --> 00:23:37.119 Verse 25 goes on to say, husbands love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her to make her holy, cleansing her with the washing of water by the word. 00:23:39.920 --> 00:23:42.720 This is the result of a master architect. 00:23:43.839 --> 00:23:52.160 Brides are showing something to all of us about our own eschatological destiny. 00:23:52.640 --> 00:23:53.920 I know that was a mouthful. 00:23:54.000 --> 00:23:55.839 I said it on purpose to make you think. 00:23:56.559 --> 00:24:01.680 We all are called to be the bride of Christ, and that's where we're going. 00:24:04.160 --> 00:24:07.440 Number four, fourth of five implications. 00:24:09.039 --> 00:24:14.720 Transgenderism distorts God's permanent creation pattern. 00:24:16.000 --> 00:24:22.400 Transgenderism distorts God's permanent creation pattern. 00:24:24.880 --> 00:24:26.880 Doesn't art vandalism bother you? 00:24:27.599 --> 00:24:32.240 You know, art thieves, that should bother you too, but at least they recognize the value of the piece of art. 00:24:32.319 --> 00:24:34.559 They're trying to make money off of it by stealing it. 00:24:35.279 --> 00:24:45.519 When someone just dumps a bucket of paint on a Rembrandt, they are defacing something that has been cherished and loved as beautiful for generations. 00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:47.920 And that should bother us. 00:24:49.119 --> 00:24:55.200 When somebody takes a razor blade to gender, they're defacing God's artwork. 00:24:57.759 --> 00:25:04.160 They wouldn't, I know, all explicitly intend to do that, but that is what's taking place. 00:25:04.319 --> 00:25:07.119 It's a serious thing and it should trouble us. 00:25:09.839 --> 00:25:12.079 It's not to say we shouldn't have compassion. 00:25:12.400 --> 00:25:14.480 All humans are made in the image of God. 00:25:14.640 --> 00:25:18.720 No matter what you do, you can't make yourself unhuman. 00:25:19.200 --> 00:25:21.279 Humans remain in the image of God. 00:25:22.240 --> 00:25:28.480 People can be suffering from all kinds of confused and conflicted thoughts and feelings. 00:25:28.640 --> 00:25:30.960 So absolutely we should have compassion. 00:25:32.079 --> 00:25:52.799 But if if compassion is the only note that we ever strike, and if compassion leads to affirmation, we're running the terrible risk of telling someone your own feelings or decisions are more important than what God actually says in his word and about his design. 00:25:53.119 --> 00:25:54.079 We don't want to do that. 00:26:04.960 --> 00:26:12.000 People today will sometimes try to entirely distinguish sex and gender. 00:26:13.440 --> 00:26:24.240 They will say the the body parts you have, the chromosome structure you have, okay, that's one thing that's entirely disconnected from what it means to be male or female. 00:26:24.559 --> 00:26:30.319 That concept of male or female is just completely culturally imposed. 00:26:30.720 --> 00:26:40.160 And we we acknowledge there are some features of what is sometimes presumed to be male or female that is culturally imposed, that does go beyond scripture. 00:26:42.559 --> 00:26:48.559 But but that that claim, well, it's a it's a pretty fantastic and new claim in world history, I'll say that. 00:26:48.880 --> 00:26:56.559 But more importantly, it goes against the opening pages of Genesis where God formed man from the dust of the ground, male and female. 00:27:01.359 --> 00:27:03.440 That's his design from the very beginning. 00:27:05.200 --> 00:27:10.799 Somebody might say, well, okay, but what about people with other body problems? 00:27:10.880 --> 00:27:11.920 Don't we try to help them? 00:27:12.079 --> 00:27:15.039 If someone's deaf, we give them cochlear implants. 00:27:15.200 --> 00:27:18.480 If someone loses a leg, we give them a prosthetic leg. 00:27:18.640 --> 00:27:22.079 If someone is born in the wrong body, shouldn't we try to help them? 00:27:23.440 --> 00:27:26.079 Those are very different categories. 00:27:27.599 --> 00:27:33.200 Deafness, blindness, those are things that came as a result of the fall. 00:27:34.160 --> 00:27:36.319 Jesus heals blind people. 00:27:39.039 --> 00:27:43.200 Jesus never tries to change someone's gender. 00:27:43.279 --> 00:27:49.279 Instead, he actually says God, he affirms that God created them male and female from the very beginning. 00:27:49.440 --> 00:27:52.480 So those are totally different categories there. 00:27:54.240 --> 00:27:59.200 Yes, there are some people that are born with some measure of body ambiguity. 00:28:00.480 --> 00:28:07.680 Unusual chromosome structure, certain parts that are normally male or female could be absent in people or combined in people. 00:28:07.920 --> 00:28:12.319 That's sometimes grouped under the general label of intersex. 00:28:12.880 --> 00:28:19.519 And we have to acknowledge that yes, in a fallen world there are all kinds of challenges and difficulties. 00:28:19.920 --> 00:28:24.960 And there's good news for those who are redeemed in Christ, we're all getting new bodies anyway. 00:28:25.839 --> 00:28:27.359 They'll all be perfectly restored. 00:28:27.519 --> 00:28:34.799 Whatever was was we were born with or done to us, or it's renewed and it will be renewed in Jesus Christ. 00:28:35.279 --> 00:28:39.920 So, yes, we want to have a special compassion for that group of people. 00:28:40.079 --> 00:28:47.119 It's a very small group of people, but I think we also all know that's not what transgenderism as a movement is about. 00:28:47.279 --> 00:28:53.279 They're not trying to primarily show compassion to this category of intersex people. 00:28:53.519 --> 00:29:02.240 They're wanting to assert human autonomy over everything, including their own bodies, including God Himself. 00:29:04.960 --> 00:29:07.279 Fifth, last implication of gender. 00:29:08.079 --> 00:29:11.039 Men and women need one another. 00:29:12.319 --> 00:29:16.799 So I said the first implication was that men and women are made in God's image, they shouldn't revile each other. 00:29:17.599 --> 00:29:20.160 The Bible takes us a lot more beyond that. 00:29:20.799 --> 00:29:23.359 You know, it's not just like from a distance we tolerate each other. 00:29:23.599 --> 00:29:29.519 No, the Bible's design is that men and women should partner together in all kinds of wonderful ways. 00:29:29.839 --> 00:29:35.200 1 Corinthians 11, Paul's does write about some differences with men and women, but he says this at one point. 00:29:35.599 --> 00:29:40.559 In the Lord, a woman is not independent of man, and man is not independent of woman. 00:29:41.119 --> 00:29:47.039 For just as woman came from man, so man comes through woman, and all things come from God. 00:29:48.000 --> 00:29:55.599 God in his wisdom created males and females, and he designed them to be together. 00:29:57.119 --> 00:30:04.880 One writer says, it is always in relation to their opposite that man and woman are what they are in themselves. 00:30:05.920 --> 00:30:07.359 Chew on that a little bit. 00:30:07.599 --> 00:30:09.839 Or this is what Alistair Roberts says. 00:30:11.039 --> 00:30:17.279 It's not about difference from each other, but difference for each other. 00:30:18.960 --> 00:30:21.519 And I'm using the plural here intentionally. 00:30:22.319 --> 00:30:31.440 Again, you see it very acutely within a marriage, but God has designed for there to be whole societies of men and women. 00:30:33.359 --> 00:30:40.559 Sometimes in science fiction books or a movie, there'll be like this undiscovered tribe of people that's only one gender. 00:30:40.799 --> 00:30:41.359 You know what I mean? 00:30:42.480 --> 00:30:44.000 It's always women for some reason, though. 00:30:44.160 --> 00:30:45.039 I don't know why that is. 00:30:45.200 --> 00:30:50.400 If you have the the Amazon or the distant space, it's always a tribe of women for some reason. 00:30:50.559 --> 00:30:59.039 But if there was, if there was a tribe ever of only men or women, obviously they wouldn't last very long. 00:31:00.480 --> 00:31:02.000 But it wouldn't be very good. 00:31:02.720 --> 00:31:04.960 You might think it'd be no, it wouldn't be great. 00:31:05.519 --> 00:31:08.640 It wouldn't be very good the way that God designed things. 00:31:11.279 --> 00:31:14.079 The vision of male and female, it begins in the home. 00:31:15.119 --> 00:31:23.119 When children are born, ideally, they are socialized to love and respect and honor a father and a mother. 00:31:23.680 --> 00:31:27.279 Unfortunately, it doesn't always work out that way, but that's the ideal. 00:31:28.400 --> 00:31:35.119 And then as they grow up, they're introduced to a whole society of men and women. 00:31:35.279 --> 00:31:45.359 So again, this swells even beyond the wonderful incubator of a home out into the world, this glory of men and women and their independence. 00:31:45.599 --> 00:31:48.400 Think about our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:31:49.599 --> 00:31:53.119 His closest companions were the twelve disciples, were twelve men. 00:31:53.839 --> 00:31:55.359 But read to the gospels. 00:31:55.599 --> 00:31:59.839 He had all kinds of wonderful, affectionate friendships with women. 00:32:00.720 --> 00:32:04.319 Some of those women were the ones that were able to announce the resurrection. 00:32:04.720 --> 00:32:05.440 What a privilege. 00:32:06.640 --> 00:32:08.960 Or consider the Apostle Paul. 00:32:09.440 --> 00:32:12.319 It seems like he traveled mostly with men. 00:32:12.480 --> 00:32:13.279 That's what we read about. 00:32:13.839 --> 00:32:16.160 Barnabas, Luke, Mark. 00:32:16.880 --> 00:32:25.359 But then you read Romans 16, you think, wow, Paul had wonderful relationships with godly women, and he honored them in so many ways. 00:32:25.519 --> 00:32:28.720 So he didn't just write woman's not independent of man or man. 00:32:29.119 --> 00:32:29.920 He lived that out. 00:32:31.279 --> 00:32:46.240 And we as a church, churches of the Lord Jesus Christ, have an opportunity to showcase the splendor of a family of God, of brothers and sisters living and partnering together in harmony and joy. 00:32:47.200 --> 00:32:52.079 That can be an incredible testimony to a world that's confused. 00:32:52.880 --> 00:33:00.400 We're not in our church trying like a corporation to be like this androgynous bunch of robots. 00:33:00.640 --> 00:33:04.960 No, it's healthy masculinity, healthy femininity is a good thing in a church. 00:33:06.319 --> 00:33:09.359 And the world can look at that and say, that's so beautiful. 00:33:09.440 --> 00:33:15.200 I I I need to understand why that is and what brings them together and how they relate to one another so well. 00:33:16.880 --> 00:33:21.200 I was talking to a friend of mine once who was a fellow member of a church with me. 00:33:22.079 --> 00:33:27.200 And he said, Yeah, when I come on Sunday, I don't really talk to the any women. 00:33:27.839 --> 00:33:28.640 And I said, why not? 00:33:29.279 --> 00:33:31.119 He said, Well, I don't really have anything in common with them. 00:33:33.119 --> 00:33:34.799 And I said, What about Jesus? 00:33:35.119 --> 00:33:37.359 I mean, that that is why we're gathering here, right? 00:33:37.440 --> 00:33:41.920 We're not gathering primarily for hunting hobbies or you know, whatever else it might be. 00:33:42.160 --> 00:33:44.720 We're gathering because we have the same Savior. 00:33:45.599 --> 00:33:54.960 And we have a partnership and role to play together using our corresponding gifts, talents, abilities to glorify our Savior's name. 00:33:56.799 --> 00:33:57.920 Gender is important. 00:33:58.480 --> 00:34:06.160 God sets it out from the earliest pages of Scripture as one of the first indicators for how we reflect his image well in the world. 00:34:06.880 --> 00:34:08.000 It's a beautiful thing. 00:34:08.639 --> 00:34:16.239 And as we ponder it and ponder it and ponder it, I think we can see more and more and more of the profound beauty of it. 00:34:18.159 --> 00:34:24.159 Pastor Doug has a nice refrain for male and female, so I'll close with his refrain here. 00:34:24.320 --> 00:34:25.679 This is his summary refrain. 00:34:27.440 --> 00:34:36.400 Distinct by design by equal in dignity, united for God's glory. 00:34:37.199 --> 00:34:38.400 Let's pray. 00:34:39.920 --> 00:34:44.800 Lord, we confess there are many mysterious things in the world. 00:34:45.519 --> 00:34:49.119 And we don't ever we don't understand everything about men and women. 00:34:49.440 --> 00:34:53.360 But we are grateful that you've made us to be male and female. 00:34:53.599 --> 00:34:56.400 We're grateful that we can serve one another in love. 00:34:56.800 --> 00:35:11.840 We pray, Lord, for all the relationships in this church, especially the marriages, but even beyond the marriages, how we can love each other as brothers and sisters, that those within our body would be compelled first by your word. 00:35:12.559 --> 00:35:17.599 We don't let the world set our agenda for what's important or what's not important. 00:35:17.760 --> 00:35:18.719 Your word does that. 00:35:19.760 --> 00:35:26.639 And yet we want to showcase to the world a world full of confusion, uncertainty, fear. 00:35:27.039 --> 00:35:31.280 We want to showcase to them something glorious and splendid. 00:35:31.840 --> 00:35:33.519 From the beginning, very good. 00:35:34.239 --> 00:35:51.360 We want to showcase even a redeemed humanity where we lay down our weapons, we don't clamor for power or snipe at one another, but the body builds itself up in love because Christ the head is making us his glorious bride. 00:35:51.599 --> 00:35:53.599 Thank you for your work, O Lord, in us. 00:35:53.840 --> 00:36:02.960 And even as we sing, may the beauty of our blended and different voices remind us of your wonderful, masterful architectural design. 00:36:03.199 --> 00:36:04.880 In Jesus' name, amen.