WEBVTT 00:00:18.640 --> 00:00:20.239 Good morning, everyone. 00:00:21.120 --> 00:00:22.000 My name is Mark. 00:00:22.079 --> 00:00:24.719 I'm one of the leaders here at City Church. 00:00:24.800 --> 00:00:25.440 Welcome to you. 00:00:25.519 --> 00:00:32.640 If you are new or visiting, we are in the second week of our series in the book of Genesis. 00:00:32.719 --> 00:00:37.359 This is where we're going to be up until the start of Advent. 00:00:37.439 --> 00:00:41.280 We'll cover the first uh 12 chapters or or so. 00:00:43.679 --> 00:00:46.880 This week forms a little couplet. 00:00:46.960 --> 00:00:50.399 We're going to be looking at Genesis 2 actually over the next two weeks. 00:00:50.560 --> 00:00:57.439 It'll be the same passage for the next two weeks, but uh through two slightly different lenses, as it were. 00:00:57.840 --> 00:01:16.400 This week we're going to be looking at uh what God says uh around the issue of gender and the interactions between uh the genders, and then next week we'll be looking at uh a biblical view of work, uh both from Genesis 2. 00:01:16.560 --> 00:01:20.319 So that's where we're going to be uh going over the next little while. 00:01:20.480 --> 00:01:28.879 And the reason why we we normally have three songs and we cut a song is because we're talking about gender, uh, we'll hopefully get a Q ⁇ A in. 00:01:29.040 --> 00:01:31.200 Okay, so that's just a a heads up. 00:01:31.280 --> 00:01:41.200 And I'm going to I'm gonna I'm gonna motor uh as quickly as I can, and then uh if you have questions, you can ask them uh after the sermon before we take the Lord's Supper together. 00:01:41.280 --> 00:01:44.480 Let's pray uh as we as we look at God's word. 00:01:44.799 --> 00:01:51.680 Uh Father, we do pray that you would give us uh soft and attentive hearts, open ears to receive your word. 00:01:51.840 --> 00:01:57.840 Uh would you uh both encourage and challenge us uh where that is necessary? 00:01:58.159 --> 00:02:08.240 And may we see the beauty of your creation and the beauty of the Lord Jesus uh to whom all of this points we ask it in his name. 00:02:08.560 --> 00:02:09.199 Amen. 00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:12.080 Sam Smith recently uh came out. 00:02:12.240 --> 00:02:24.400 Sam Smith the the uh musician uh recently requested that uh journalists and people who refer to him no longer referred to him as uh as he uh but as they. 00:02:25.840 --> 00:02:36.719 Sam Smith said that he doesn't anymore identify simply as male or female, uh, but that he he flows in between uh the two genders. 00:02:38.159 --> 00:02:45.759 This for us raises questions, uh raises questions like is gender something that you can flow between? 00:02:46.400 --> 00:02:48.800 Is it a matter of perception? 00:02:50.400 --> 00:02:57.039 Is it a matter of how, more precisely, how individuals perceive themselves to be? 00:02:58.960 --> 00:03:06.240 Does it matter how others or society or God perceive them? 00:03:07.360 --> 00:03:13.360 Many in our world, and I'm sure Sam Smith as well, would say no, it doesn't. 00:03:13.840 --> 00:03:23.360 And yet society still plays a huge role in determining what sort of identity uh it finds valuable, doesn't it? 00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:38.639 What's more, if Sam Smith wants to claim that he is uh a woman from time to time in our post-truth world, he is certainly free to do so. 00:03:40.960 --> 00:03:46.879 But doesn't it strike you as slightly misogynistic? 00:03:47.680 --> 00:03:49.840 Fewer women here this morning. 00:03:50.639 --> 00:04:00.719 Isn't he kind of saying that femininity is little more than a mood to be adopted and then discarded? 00:04:01.039 --> 00:04:05.919 Doesn't that actually demean what it means to be a woman? 00:04:06.159 --> 00:04:08.560 Again, Sam Smith is personal, I don't know him. 00:04:08.639 --> 00:04:13.759 He's perfectly entitled to do that, but aren't we entitled to ask those sorts of questions? 00:04:14.960 --> 00:04:20.399 Gender, of course, is a hugely provocative topic for the reasons that I've just outlined. 00:04:20.480 --> 00:04:22.879 And no wonder, I mean it's complicated, right? 00:04:23.120 --> 00:04:25.279 Uh and it's universal. 00:04:25.600 --> 00:04:29.759 One of the reasons why it's difficult to navigate is because everyone has one. 00:04:30.560 --> 00:04:32.319 You carry it with you. 00:04:34.480 --> 00:04:55.199 I think part of the reason why we find it difficult to navigate is that we no longer have a framework for understanding uh what maleness is and what femeneness is, and so masculinity and femininity become a matter of personal taste, a matter of self-determination. 00:04:56.240 --> 00:04:58.319 And the church has been poor. 00:04:59.360 --> 00:05:10.079 The church has been poor at articulating a vision for what it means to be gendered creatures, to be male and female. 00:05:11.040 --> 00:05:23.279 We have lobbed verses at people like some sort of uh moral spiritual grenades, but we haven't woven together a better narrative of human flourishing. 00:05:28.800 --> 00:05:36.319 The reality is that there are very few, if any, of us in this room this morning that feel totally comfortable in their own skin. 00:05:39.199 --> 00:05:46.720 I'm sure every one of us gets out of the shower on a morning, and there are things that we don't like about ourselves. 00:05:49.120 --> 00:06:01.759 What's more, all of us know the tensions that are that exist and are fueled by our world between the sexes, between males and females. 00:06:05.279 --> 00:06:27.439 But the story of gender in the Bible is a story of flourishing, it's a story that has mutual self-giving as its goal, that seeks to cultivate harmony, a harmony that images God to the world. 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:45.439 Now, this this sermon is going to cover a lot, but it cannot possibly cover all that the Bible is going to say about sex and gender, and so but what we must say must be the truth, but it must also be the truth in love. 00:06:46.639 --> 00:07:06.560 Every one of us here, every Christian in this room is a priest sent to minister to a hurting world, and so while we speak the truth, we speak the truth in love, we comfort people with the gospel. 00:07:09.279 --> 00:07:11.279 Gender is an issue for each one of us. 00:07:11.439 --> 00:07:11.680 Why? 00:07:11.839 --> 00:07:14.879 Because we carry it with us everywhere we go. 00:07:15.680 --> 00:07:24.399 But for some of us, it is such an issue that it defines every thought, every relationship, every feeling. 00:07:25.920 --> 00:07:33.920 It is my contention this morning that Genesis 1 and 2 offer us insight into what it means to be made in the image of God as gendered beings. 00:07:36.160 --> 00:07:37.439 So let us begin. 00:07:39.279 --> 00:07:40.079 Point one. 00:07:41.279 --> 00:07:46.160 There's gonna be some stuff here, by the way, just that some of you just aren't gonna like to hear. 00:07:47.279 --> 00:07:50.800 Uh I'm gonna be as loving and as compassionate as I can possibly muster. 00:07:50.959 --> 00:07:58.560 Can I uh come along with me, hear the whole argument, and then push back in the QA or privately? 00:07:58.720 --> 00:08:00.079 Okay, point one. 00:08:01.279 --> 00:08:05.680 God created two sexes. 00:08:06.240 --> 00:08:08.959 God created two sexes. 00:08:09.279 --> 00:08:11.360 Genesis one, we looked at it last week. 00:08:11.519 --> 00:08:16.240 Genesis one twenty seven, and God made man in his own image. 00:08:16.399 --> 00:08:21.360 In the image of God, he created him, male and female, he created them. 00:08:22.720 --> 00:08:27.839 Genesis 1, 27 shows us the basic binary nature of human sex. 00:08:28.959 --> 00:08:31.120 Male and female. 00:08:31.519 --> 00:08:37.759 This is affirmed throughout the Bible and is affirmed by Jesus in Matthew 19 when he talks on the issue of divorce. 00:08:38.639 --> 00:08:46.879 He affirms the binary nature of the sexes there when he quotes Genesis 2 that a man should leave his father and mother and be united to his wife. 00:08:48.559 --> 00:09:01.840 Of course, in our world that is broken and tainted by sin as a consequence of the fall, which we'll get to in two weeks' time, there are people who experience certain sex development disorders. 00:09:03.519 --> 00:09:11.759 These conditions are rare and do not denote the existence of a third sex. 00:09:13.360 --> 00:09:26.879 Nor do they point to the to the idea that human sex is on a continuum where the extremes on one end are male and the extremes on one end are female, and there's a lot of blurriness in between. 00:09:32.960 --> 00:09:36.480 So, what then is the relationship between sex and gender? 00:09:38.639 --> 00:09:50.000 People increasingly believe that uh biological sex and gender vary independently from one another. 00:09:51.200 --> 00:10:08.320 That you can be one biological sex in terms of your physiology, but a different gender in terms of your psychology, how you feel, how you perceive yourself to be in the world. 00:10:11.120 --> 00:10:18.159 In Genesis 1, 27, we are told that human beings are made male and female. 00:10:18.559 --> 00:10:23.039 That's sex, male and female. 00:10:23.840 --> 00:10:46.399 Genesis 2, the passage that Duncan just read, Genesis 2 focuses us in on the creation of human beings, and here the male is determined to be a man, and the female is called and determined to be a woman. 00:10:47.200 --> 00:11:03.279 What I am saying here is that between these two chapters in the Bible's mind, there is a corollary, a link to, or a link between both biological sex and gender. 00:11:04.480 --> 00:11:15.519 Their sex communicates something about their physical attributes, but it also points to and corresponds with their gender. 00:11:16.799 --> 00:11:25.519 And it is their gender as male and female that in Genesis 2 helps us understand their purpose in creation, which we'll get to in a few minutes. 00:11:26.879 --> 00:11:33.440 And so in the Christian worldview, sex and gender do not vary independently of one another. 00:11:33.679 --> 00:11:36.559 God creates a man who is a male. 00:11:37.120 --> 00:11:43.759 Sorry, God creates a male who is a man and a female who is a woman. 00:11:44.000 --> 00:12:01.519 Otherwise, if that's if that's not true, once we get to Genesis chapter 2, can you see that you're like, well, when Genesis 2 says uh male, is it referring to the uh to the creature that was born anatomically male or the one that was born anatomically female? 00:12:01.759 --> 00:12:04.879 And so you're not really sure which one it corresponds to at all. 00:12:07.120 --> 00:12:10.399 Rob Smith is an ethicist in Australia. 00:12:10.480 --> 00:12:15.120 That's somebody who deals with and teaches uh in ethics, and he says this. 00:12:15.200 --> 00:12:25.440 He says that a person's biological sex reveals and determines both their objective gender and certain key gender roles. 00:12:25.759 --> 00:12:32.240 That is, human males grow into men, brackets, and potentially husbands and fathers. 00:12:32.720 --> 00:12:38.559 Human females grow into women, and brackets, and potentially wives and mothers. 00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:51.440 So rather than presenting a picture where sex and gender vary independently, the Bible presents us with a picture where human beings are integrated at the level of both biology and psychology. 00:12:51.519 --> 00:12:59.679 And this would make sense of the uh of Genesis 1, of the God who makes, because one of the things that God does is he makes an orderly creation. 00:13:04.240 --> 00:13:16.720 It is not the case that human beings are uh body suits in which a soul is placed. 00:13:18.000 --> 00:13:24.879 And sometimes the soul gets mixed up and put into the wrong body suit. 00:13:27.279 --> 00:13:32.240 That to say nothing else is simply not an idea that the Bible would have. 00:13:32.399 --> 00:13:38.559 That's not the Bible's idea of human beings, that's a Greek idea. 00:13:38.799 --> 00:13:51.120 We're taking ideas from Greek philosophy, that dualism between body and soul, and projecting it onto the Bible's mind. 00:13:52.240 --> 00:14:12.320 No, rather, the Hebrew idea, the biblical idea is not that we have a soul, but that we are a soul, that we're integrated at every part of us, in the same way that God is, in whose image we bear. 00:14:13.200 --> 00:14:16.639 In the same way that his creation is orderly. 00:14:20.080 --> 00:14:20.879 Point two. 00:14:23.440 --> 00:14:24.960 Completely non-controversial so far. 00:14:25.039 --> 00:14:25.840 Yeah, okay, good. 00:14:27.759 --> 00:14:29.759 More caffeine required. 00:14:30.320 --> 00:14:31.200 Point two. 00:14:32.399 --> 00:14:36.960 Both sexes are made in the image of God. 00:14:38.080 --> 00:14:41.759 Both sexes are made in the image of God. 00:14:42.480 --> 00:14:43.759 This can't be stated enough. 00:14:43.840 --> 00:14:48.080 That was the whole point of the sermon last week, but it can't be stated enough. 00:14:48.159 --> 00:14:53.360 The image of God exists in both males and females. 00:14:54.720 --> 00:15:00.320 It exists in every creature, every human creature, rather, I should say. 00:15:03.200 --> 00:15:09.120 The image of God means unchanging, unwavering value. 00:15:10.159 --> 00:15:24.399 Every human being, male, female, intersex, is made in the image of God with dignity, value, and worth. 00:15:24.639 --> 00:15:32.720 And this is so important, it's so necessary for us all. 00:15:33.600 --> 00:15:39.120 Because in our world, people derive their value from things that can change. 00:15:40.159 --> 00:15:43.440 People derive their value from their success. 00:15:45.840 --> 00:15:47.360 And what if it fades? 00:15:48.720 --> 00:15:52.480 Some people derive their value from a relationship that they're in. 00:15:52.720 --> 00:15:54.080 I'm a spouse. 00:15:54.799 --> 00:15:58.799 Or I'm a mother, and I'm defined by that. 00:15:59.039 --> 00:16:02.080 My children are what give me value. 00:16:04.240 --> 00:16:07.360 But relationships change and evolve and end. 00:16:10.159 --> 00:16:21.120 A career that can be lost, beauty that will fade, intelligence that can be surpassed. 00:16:21.440 --> 00:16:26.799 Our world derives its value from shifting stands. 00:16:27.919 --> 00:16:36.559 Whereas God comes and the Bible speaks to people and says that they have an inherent value. 00:16:37.519 --> 00:16:45.039 It speaks to people who have no idea what their purpose is, and it speaks hope to them. 00:16:45.200 --> 00:16:50.960 It speaks hope to people who have failed or who have been surpassed by someone else. 00:16:51.120 --> 00:17:10.640 It speaks hope to a person who is crippled by anxiety because they think that others are more beautiful, more successful, more intelligent than them, and says that they are valuable, that everyone in this room is crowned with dignity. 00:17:13.920 --> 00:17:31.200 It says that you are an image-bearer of the living God, crowned with a glory that can never be taken away, no matter the change in circumstance. 00:17:33.279 --> 00:17:40.559 Let us look briefly at both of those sexes. 00:17:41.519 --> 00:17:45.759 In turn, let's think about the men. 00:17:56.160 --> 00:18:01.519 In part that's due to the absence of fathers as role models. 00:18:03.039 --> 00:18:10.160 There are two hundred thousand single mother families in Ireland today. 00:18:13.200 --> 00:18:15.200 And they do a fantastic job. 00:18:16.480 --> 00:18:17.519 Many of them. 00:18:19.039 --> 00:18:20.720 My mum was a single mum. 00:18:23.039 --> 00:18:30.400 But many young men grew up not having those positive male role models. 00:18:33.759 --> 00:18:38.079 Moreover, our world is valuing men less and less, I think. 00:18:40.559 --> 00:18:44.480 In return, young men extend their childhood long into their twenties. 00:18:46.400 --> 00:18:50.240 Becoming like Peter Pan refusing to grow up. 00:18:52.880 --> 00:18:58.559 There are men in their twenties who continue to be infantilized by sisters and mothers. 00:19:00.480 --> 00:19:02.000 And this has one of two effects. 00:19:02.160 --> 00:19:05.119 It either makes men very passive and very quiet. 00:19:06.640 --> 00:19:10.000 Or it can make them very angry and resentful. 00:19:12.880 --> 00:19:18.400 Some men, many men, think that their dignity lies in their independence. 00:19:20.480 --> 00:19:22.240 I need to pick myself up. 00:19:22.480 --> 00:19:23.759 I need to do this for myself. 00:19:23.920 --> 00:19:26.640 I need to forge my own path. 00:19:27.279 --> 00:19:32.000 Constantly having Franks and actress my way playing in the back of their heads. 00:19:33.839 --> 00:19:36.400 But this is not what we see in Genesis 2. 00:19:36.480 --> 00:19:38.880 This is not God's vision for masculinity. 00:19:39.680 --> 00:19:52.960 The dignity of the man here in Genesis 2 is found not in his independence, but in his relationships, in his dependence, in his interdependence. 00:19:55.599 --> 00:19:58.240 There are three relationships outlined here. 00:19:58.400 --> 00:20:00.720 First is his relationship with God. 00:20:00.880 --> 00:20:04.319 What do we see about his relationship with God? 00:20:05.519 --> 00:20:06.640 Verse 7. 00:20:06.960 --> 00:20:16.319 Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. 00:20:16.880 --> 00:20:23.119 The Lord God planted a garden in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 00:20:25.279 --> 00:20:35.759 In Genesis 1, God has been speaking the world into existence, or singing the world into existence, as the ancients believed. 00:20:36.079 --> 00:20:40.640 He's been speaking, and photons have burst into being. 00:20:42.720 --> 00:20:50.319 Here, when he comes to form the first man, he gets down into the dust of the earth. 00:20:50.640 --> 00:20:54.799 He gets his hands dirty for the first time. 00:20:55.839 --> 00:20:58.240 And he crafts a man. 00:20:59.359 --> 00:21:08.960 And he places him in the garden with the purpose to tend it and to work it. 00:21:10.319 --> 00:21:19.119 Then what he does in verse 16 and 17, the Lord God commanded the man, saying, You may surely eat of every tree that it is in the garden. 00:21:19.839 --> 00:21:23.200 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat. 00:21:23.839 --> 00:21:26.559 From the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. 00:21:28.000 --> 00:21:33.440 He speaks to the man, he gives him a command. 00:21:34.640 --> 00:21:41.279 In doing so, what God is doing is he establishes a relationship with the man. 00:21:43.200 --> 00:21:48.480 Every human being in this room is in a relationship with God. 00:21:53.440 --> 00:21:55.519 It just might be a very bad one. 00:21:57.119 --> 00:21:57.839 Do you know? 00:21:58.079 --> 00:21:59.519 You think, well, I don't believe in God. 00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:02.799 That just means that your relationship's not on a good footing. 00:22:04.319 --> 00:22:10.240 God relates to his creation, he relates to the man, he speaks to him, he establishes a relationship with him. 00:22:14.400 --> 00:22:26.079 Men young men, you have dignity because you were formed by God, given a purpose. 00:22:28.799 --> 00:22:34.400 A relationship has been established with him, whether you recognize it or not. 00:22:34.799 --> 00:22:36.480 The man relates to God. 00:22:36.720 --> 00:22:39.119 The man also relates to creation. 00:22:43.440 --> 00:22:44.960 Look down at verse 9. 00:22:45.200 --> 00:22:54.880 Now the Lord, no, sorry, now out of the ground, the Lord God 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. 00:22:55.279 --> 00:23:00.559 Whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 00:23:00.799 --> 00:23:06.960 The man gave names to all the livestock and the birds of the heavens and every beast of the field. 00:23:09.759 --> 00:23:12.720 God brings all of the animals to Adam. 00:23:13.440 --> 00:23:24.880 And Adam gets to name them Ardvark, Cat, Saber-toothed Tiger, Dung Beetle. 00:23:26.400 --> 00:23:27.839 Why is that important? 00:23:29.599 --> 00:23:36.160 Well, because in Genesis 1, one of the things that you see God doing is naming things. 00:23:37.519 --> 00:23:44.799 God called the light day, and the darkness he called night. 00:23:46.240 --> 00:23:48.480 He called the ground that appeared land. 00:23:49.279 --> 00:23:52.480 He called the waters that had been gathered together seas. 00:23:53.119 --> 00:24:03.119 God names things as an expression of his dominion over his world as an expression of his rule. 00:24:03.279 --> 00:24:09.440 And now his image-bearer is naming things with great freedom. 00:24:09.759 --> 00:24:13.039 God wasn't coming whispering in his ear, going, Don't call it an art mark. 00:24:13.119 --> 00:24:13.839 That's a silly name. 00:24:14.720 --> 00:24:16.160 That was its name. 00:24:25.519 --> 00:24:28.240 Adam relates to the creation. 00:24:30.079 --> 00:24:35.839 Men, young men, there is dignity in all your work. 00:24:36.559 --> 00:24:41.039 Whatever your work is, there is dignity in it. 00:24:41.519 --> 00:24:44.240 There is dignity in your creativity. 00:24:44.880 --> 00:24:48.880 There is dignity in your stewardship of creation. 00:24:49.519 --> 00:24:52.000 Lots more on work next week. 00:24:53.920 --> 00:24:58.960 Third, he relates to the woman. 00:24:59.440 --> 00:25:01.279 He relates to Eve. 00:25:01.680 --> 00:25:06.319 Eve is made from Adam. 00:25:07.279 --> 00:25:11.599 In a sense, she derives her humanity from him. 00:25:11.920 --> 00:25:13.839 It's not a controversial thing to say. 00:25:14.160 --> 00:25:16.720 What I mean by that, so keep listening. 00:25:18.880 --> 00:25:34.720 This is, of course, is not to depersonalize her because who is presented to Adam is a fully formed, beautiful, whole person with her own heart and her own will and her own dignity. 00:25:36.640 --> 00:25:39.359 And she is brought to the man. 00:25:41.599 --> 00:25:43.839 And he sings over her. 00:25:44.319 --> 00:25:50.880 But what I want you to see is that there is a there's a dance here that goes on between the genders. 00:25:52.000 --> 00:25:57.039 The woman comes from the man, right? 00:25:58.079 --> 00:26:06.319 But keep reading, but the man comes back to the woman in marriage. 00:26:06.720 --> 00:26:07.920 Verse 24. 00:26:20.240 --> 00:26:22.000 And so do you see the dance? 00:26:22.720 --> 00:26:26.079 The woman comes from and the man comes to her. 00:26:26.240 --> 00:26:30.559 It's not that the woman is doing all in subjugation. 00:26:30.720 --> 00:26:32.480 That's not the Bible's view. 00:26:32.640 --> 00:26:37.200 It's that there is a movement, a glorious dance between the two. 00:26:37.359 --> 00:26:45.519 It is a lie that there is a tug of war that exists between the sexes that is a result of the fall. 00:26:45.839 --> 00:26:51.599 It is not God's vision for how men and women should relate. 00:26:51.839 --> 00:26:57.839 The relationship between the genders is not a tug of war, it is a dance. 00:27:00.400 --> 00:27:03.119 Men, young men. 00:27:04.799 --> 00:27:12.240 There is dignity in your joyous love and respect for women. 00:27:16.559 --> 00:27:28.000 Taken together, all three of these things, the man relates to God, he relates to creation, he relates to women, particularly to his spouse. 00:27:29.119 --> 00:27:41.920 Taken all together, what we see is that one of the divine characteristics of what it means to be a man in the Bible's view, this is not exhaustive, but one of the things that it means is that men are encouraged to take responsibility. 00:27:43.279 --> 00:27:46.720 Adam is given a task, working and tending the garden. 00:27:46.880 --> 00:27:49.920 He is given a place to be in Eden. 00:27:50.079 --> 00:27:52.240 He is given leadership. 00:27:52.559 --> 00:28:10.400 He is given the command of God before Eve exists to infer that he should be the one to lovingly lead his wife and say, you know, before you arrived, and I'm very glad that you did, but before you arrived, one of the things that God said is that we're not supposed to eat the tree that's in the midst of God. 00:28:10.559 --> 00:28:13.440 He was supposed to be a loving leader. 00:28:14.640 --> 00:28:19.279 He's given responsibility over the world. 00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:25.519 He's given the responsibility of obedience and fealty to God and to his word. 00:28:26.000 --> 00:28:33.039 He is given responsibility to leave his father and mother and to create a new family. 00:28:33.599 --> 00:28:39.759 Men, young men, you are made for responsibility. 00:28:40.079 --> 00:28:41.440 So ticket. 00:28:43.759 --> 00:28:46.799 Young men are like flatbed trucks. 00:28:46.960 --> 00:28:50.319 They drive straighter with a load on them. 00:28:54.000 --> 00:28:56.720 Take responsibility for yourself. 00:28:56.960 --> 00:29:02.240 Take responsibility for your hygiene if you have not already done so. 00:29:03.039 --> 00:29:07.599 Take responsibility for your spiritual health. 00:29:08.799 --> 00:29:11.519 Get up and read your Bible. 00:29:11.839 --> 00:29:14.720 Pray to God as an act of dependence on Him. 00:29:14.880 --> 00:29:15.839 Take responsibility. 00:29:15.920 --> 00:29:19.839 Don't think that you know when I get married, this will all be fine. 00:29:20.640 --> 00:29:24.799 Take responsibility for your sexual purity. 00:29:25.759 --> 00:29:29.279 Another thing, people think, well, when I get married, that'll be fine. 00:29:29.359 --> 00:29:33.119 No, if you're addicted to porn now, you'll be addicted to porn in your marriage. 00:29:33.359 --> 00:29:34.880 Great metric to think through. 00:29:34.960 --> 00:29:42.559 As now, so then you're not a fundamentally different person than walk up and out of the walk down it. 00:29:43.359 --> 00:29:45.200 Take responsibility now. 00:29:45.759 --> 00:29:50.559 Take responsibility for your finances, for your work, for your budget. 00:29:50.720 --> 00:29:53.920 Stop living like Peter Pan, refusing to grow up. 00:29:54.160 --> 00:29:56.559 Stop playing with relationships. 00:29:56.799 --> 00:29:59.599 Stop playing with women's hearts. 00:29:59.839 --> 00:30:02.480 Stop playing with yourself. 00:30:04.880 --> 00:30:08.319 You can and should do this. 00:30:10.480 --> 00:30:17.519 It does not help that our society tells men that they are either toxic or unnecessary or inept. 00:30:19.119 --> 00:30:20.960 Every man in a cartoon. 00:30:21.039 --> 00:30:22.160 Homer Simpson's an idiot. 00:30:22.240 --> 00:30:23.920 Peter Griffin is an idiot. 00:30:27.039 --> 00:30:27.680 And do you know what? 00:30:27.839 --> 00:30:29.359 Do you know what the really tragic thing is? 00:30:31.599 --> 00:30:33.920 Men need so little encouragement. 00:30:37.839 --> 00:30:42.000 Young men need so little encouragement in order to thrive. 00:30:43.440 --> 00:30:53.279 If you're a sister here, one of the things that you can do to help the men take responsibility is to encourage them. 00:30:54.720 --> 00:30:58.880 To see that little spark of responsibility taken and commend them for it. 00:31:00.880 --> 00:31:05.200 Young men spend a lot of their life told being told that they are unnecessary. 00:31:07.039 --> 00:31:14.000 They take n it takes so little encouragement for them to step up and to thrive. 00:31:18.000 --> 00:31:20.640 Men, you are an image bearer of God. 00:31:22.799 --> 00:31:25.839 Express that dignity by taking responsibility. 00:31:30.240 --> 00:31:40.559 Women one in nine women in our world are forced into marriage. 00:31:41.039 --> 00:31:48.960 And by women I mean girls who should be playing with easy big ovens or hopscotch. 00:31:52.160 --> 00:31:58.400 Four out of five people who are trafficked are girls. 00:32:01.279 --> 00:32:12.000 One in five women in Ireland have experienced violence at the hand of a current or former partner. 00:32:14.240 --> 00:32:15.119 One in five. 00:32:29.839 --> 00:32:37.119 That is not the Bible's view or vision for female flourishing. 00:32:39.519 --> 00:32:43.039 Eve is created by God. 00:32:45.200 --> 00:32:48.640 She bears the same image. 00:32:49.519 --> 00:32:53.680 She is crowned with the same dignity. 00:32:54.640 --> 00:32:58.799 She has the same value. 00:33:00.319 --> 00:33:07.920 There is no denigration of women in the Bible's mind. 00:33:12.400 --> 00:33:17.920 When she is brought to the man, he rejoices over her. 00:33:19.039 --> 00:33:25.119 He sings with delight at who she is. 00:33:27.680 --> 00:33:36.000 Now there's a word that might have tripped some people up in the reading. 00:33:37.440 --> 00:33:43.519 Eve is described as a helper. 00:33:46.160 --> 00:33:52.240 Verse 18, then the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone. 00:33:53.279 --> 00:33:58.640 I will make a helper fit for him. 00:34:00.799 --> 00:34:05.680 We instinctively think that helper means that she is inferior. 00:34:06.319 --> 00:34:10.159 Let me give you four reasons why this is not the case. 00:34:10.800 --> 00:34:20.559 Number one, women are a helper because men need help. 00:34:24.719 --> 00:34:30.719 The snickers that were around the room were from the married men because they understand just how true this is. 00:34:33.920 --> 00:34:38.719 Any married man who didn't realize this before he got married knows it now. 00:34:39.280 --> 00:34:41.840 And I mean this point quite seriously. 00:34:42.320 --> 00:34:47.280 Women have different traits, they have different characteristics, and they are a complement. 00:34:47.599 --> 00:34:57.760 This is what it means for her to be a helper fit, a helper that completes, a helper that is in correspondence and complement to. 00:34:59.280 --> 00:35:03.119 She is the perfect helper for him. 00:35:03.599 --> 00:35:06.639 And we see that born out in our psychology. 00:35:06.719 --> 00:35:08.559 Let me give you one example. 00:35:09.280 --> 00:35:21.519 Women tend to be, not our not, this isn't exclusively true, but it's true kind of 80% of the time, women tend to be more agreeable than men. 00:35:21.599 --> 00:35:24.159 That's part of the big five character traits. 00:35:24.320 --> 00:35:28.639 Women tend to be more agreeable than men, more conciliatory. 00:35:30.239 --> 00:35:33.360 That is not a weakness. 00:35:34.400 --> 00:35:36.480 That is a strength. 00:35:37.199 --> 00:35:43.920 Agreeable people form trust bonds more quickly than disagreeable people. 00:35:44.719 --> 00:35:48.800 It's part of where the nurturing instinct comes from. 00:35:49.119 --> 00:36:00.880 Agreeable people tend to be more generous and more self-giving than disagreeable people, what men tend to be by and large, though not exclusively. 00:36:01.039 --> 00:36:02.239 But do you see? 00:36:02.880 --> 00:36:08.639 The genders, when they come together, are a perfect complement for one another. 00:36:08.880 --> 00:36:09.679 Point two. 00:36:11.039 --> 00:36:16.239 The same word helper etzer, is ir. 00:36:18.320 --> 00:36:27.280 The same word used to describe women as a helper is used to describe God as a helper. 00:36:27.679 --> 00:36:29.440 Psalm 54, verse 4. 00:36:29.679 --> 00:36:32.079 God is my helper. 00:36:32.639 --> 00:36:36.480 The Lord is the upholder of my life. 00:36:37.440 --> 00:36:45.280 Surely we can see that there is no denigration or lessening of value of God when God calls himself a helper. 00:36:46.960 --> 00:36:52.800 And so there is no denigration, there is no lessening of value of women here. 00:36:53.360 --> 00:36:58.880 It is part of what it means for them to bear God's image. 00:37:00.400 --> 00:37:01.039 Three. 00:37:13.039 --> 00:37:15.199 One who comes alongside. 00:37:19.840 --> 00:37:22.559 We are allies in the world. 00:37:23.679 --> 00:37:26.000 We shouldn't fight one another. 00:37:26.239 --> 00:37:28.639 Rather, we fight side by side. 00:37:31.679 --> 00:37:40.559 The worst times in marriage are the times when you do not feel like you are allies. 00:37:42.320 --> 00:37:44.960 When you don't feel like you're on the same side. 00:37:46.079 --> 00:37:46.719 Why? 00:37:48.159 --> 00:37:51.280 Because that's the kind of dynamic we were made for. 00:37:55.760 --> 00:38:01.199 Do not buy the narrative that men are fundamentally opposed to women. 00:38:01.840 --> 00:38:06.719 That all of history is an oppressive patriarchy. 00:38:07.840 --> 00:38:15.679 Men and women have fought hard alongside one another against the suffering of this world for thousands of years. 00:38:16.559 --> 00:38:19.519 Life in a fallen world is hard. 00:38:19.920 --> 00:38:22.000 We are to be allies. 00:38:22.320 --> 00:38:25.440 We fight alongside one another. 00:38:25.760 --> 00:38:34.800 For centuries, men and women have taken up arms and helped one another to survive as well as to thrive. 00:38:36.239 --> 00:38:40.960 Women, you are our best allies. 00:38:43.519 --> 00:38:47.840 And fourth and finally, just to say that you don't need to be married to express this. 00:38:49.280 --> 00:38:58.159 There is something particular about the married dynamic, but men and women work alongside one another in society all the time. 00:38:59.119 --> 00:39:07.360 There are women in this church who are our allies. 00:39:08.239 --> 00:39:10.400 They lead teams. 00:39:11.599 --> 00:39:20.719 They lead teams with diligence and excellence, far surpassing any man's ability. 00:39:22.320 --> 00:39:28.239 They are our allies in the cause of the gospel here at City. 00:39:29.119 --> 00:39:31.119 They are not incidental. 00:39:31.440 --> 00:39:34.880 They do not add a little feminine finesse. 00:39:36.800 --> 00:39:41.519 We simply could not operate without them. 00:39:42.159 --> 00:39:44.480 They are essential. 00:39:46.079 --> 00:39:48.960 And we thank God for them. 00:39:52.559 --> 00:39:56.000 The Bible is full of strong women. 00:39:56.719 --> 00:39:58.239 Women like Ruth. 00:39:59.199 --> 00:40:00.719 Women like Esther. 00:40:02.800 --> 00:40:06.880 Esther who used her, used her agreeableness. 00:40:07.440 --> 00:40:24.400 Esther who used her agreeableness to sway the heart of the king, to persuade him not to massacre the Jews, who went with the heart and courage of a lion, who turned to her uncle Mordecai and said, I am going to speak to the king, and if I die, I die. 00:40:27.519 --> 00:40:29.039 Great courage. 00:40:30.559 --> 00:40:32.800 We care for women here. 00:40:34.000 --> 00:40:37.840 We are jealous for their safety. 00:40:38.320 --> 00:40:43.039 We are zealous for their purity as our sisters. 00:40:44.000 --> 00:40:51.920 And where that is in jeopardy here, we must know. 00:40:54.239 --> 00:40:57.760 We simply must know. 00:41:01.360 --> 00:41:05.920 Women, you are crowned with dignity and with strength. 00:41:06.960 --> 00:41:16.960 And while there is a particular dance that is done in marriage, single women do not derive their dignity or their purpose from any man but Jesus. 00:41:19.760 --> 00:41:20.880 Pursue him. 00:41:23.119 --> 00:41:26.000 May he be the object of your affections. 00:41:26.639 --> 00:41:28.639 Pursue his cause. 00:41:28.960 --> 00:41:36.079 Join him as he seeks to bring creation back into order through the word of the gospel. 00:41:36.639 --> 00:41:42.320 You do this, and you have given yourself to a valuable and eternal end. 00:41:46.400 --> 00:41:57.920 Let us for these final minutes think particularly about a difficult issue. 00:41:58.880 --> 00:42:02.480 Let us think about the issue of gender dysphoria. 00:42:04.559 --> 00:42:08.239 Gender dysphoria, I'm going to read it, I'm going to read a definition now. 00:42:09.039 --> 00:42:12.400 Gender dysphoria, this is the third and final point. 00:42:14.079 --> 00:42:34.159 Gender dysphoria is the experience of distress associated with the incongruence, that is, not matched upness, the incongruence wherein one's psychological and emotional gender identity does not match one's biological sex. 00:42:36.320 --> 00:42:42.400 So that feeling of integration is simply not there. 00:42:45.679 --> 00:42:50.960 The world is no longer like the world of Genesis 2. 00:42:51.280 --> 00:42:53.679 It doesn't work the way it should. 00:42:55.199 --> 00:42:58.400 We don't feel rightly about ourselves. 00:42:58.559 --> 00:43:03.360 Very few of us, in fact, feel completely comfortable in our own skin, as I have said. 00:43:03.599 --> 00:43:06.960 But for some, the pain and difficulty is more pronounced. 00:43:08.639 --> 00:43:15.039 The sex that they were born into doesn't feel like it matches the gender that they perceive themselves to be. 00:43:17.119 --> 00:43:27.440 The mismatch causes a great deal of anxiety, pain, doubt, and confusion that I can barely understand. 00:43:29.599 --> 00:43:33.840 What can be said? 00:43:34.320 --> 00:43:43.840 How should Christians respond to our friends, our brothers, our sisters who feel like this? 00:43:46.320 --> 00:43:46.800 One. 00:43:48.400 --> 00:43:50.079 We are told to love our neighbor. 00:43:53.760 --> 00:43:59.599 That includes our transgender as well as our gay bisexual. 00:44:00.480 --> 00:44:02.559 Lesbian neighbors. 00:44:05.679 --> 00:44:09.199 Transgenderism is having a moment in our culture now. 00:44:09.599 --> 00:44:13.679 And at an abstract level, we can discuss it and debate it. 00:44:13.760 --> 00:44:19.119 We can discuss and debate the psychological and philosophical underpinnings of it all. 00:44:19.440 --> 00:44:29.679 But we as a church, as a family, as a body of believers, must also recognize and remember that it's not abstract for some people. 00:44:33.199 --> 00:44:40.079 We must remember that people with gender dysphoria sit in the pews behind you. 00:44:42.239 --> 00:44:54.320 They are real people who need our love, our compassion, our understanding, our generosity, and our grace. 00:44:56.000 --> 00:44:59.920 We are to love our neighbor too. 00:45:02.480 --> 00:45:10.239 We must, as Christians, acknowledge the reality of that person's experience. 00:45:12.559 --> 00:45:17.840 Romans 8 reminds us that creation groans. 00:45:18.559 --> 00:45:26.400 Creation feels this disintegration and it longs for transformation. 00:45:27.039 --> 00:45:29.840 It longs for renewal. 00:45:32.159 --> 00:45:46.960 Friends, our brothers and sisters, our sons and our daughters with gender dysphoria are a living embodiment of that longing. 00:45:49.679 --> 00:45:57.519 Each one of them as an image-bearer of God created with dignity and eternal worth. 00:45:57.840 --> 00:46:08.559 They feel in their flesh what exists in the world as a result of the fall, and what's the hope? 00:46:08.880 --> 00:46:13.039 The hope is for renewal through the gospel. 00:46:17.440 --> 00:46:25.360