WEBVTT 00:00:00.479 --> 00:00:01.679 Good morning, church. 00:00:02.640 --> 00:00:08.320 Today, James will be preaching from the book of Genesis, chapter 2, verses 18 through 25. 00:00:09.039 --> 00:00:13.599 Then the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone. 00:00:13.759 --> 00:00:16.719 I will make a make him a helper fit for him. 00:00:16.960 --> 00:00:25.839 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. 00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:30.480 And whatever the man called every living creature, that was his name. 00:00:30.800 --> 00:00:37.119 The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. 00:00:37.280 --> 00:00:41.200 But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. 00:00:41.520 --> 00:00:44.479 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man. 00:00:44.640 --> 00:00:49.679 And while he slept, he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 00:00:49.840 --> 00:00:57.280 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man, he made into a woman, and brought her to the and brought her to the man. 00:00:57.520 --> 00:01:04.799 Then the man said, This is at last, this at last is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. 00:01:05.040 --> 00:01:09.040 She shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man. 00:01:09.439 --> 00:01:16.400 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 00:01:16.560 --> 00:01:20.319 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. 00:01:20.560 --> 00:01:21.840 This is the word of the Lord. 00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:23.280 Please be seated. 00:01:27.040 --> 00:01:28.319 Would you pray with me again? 00:01:28.560 --> 00:01:37.599 Holy Father, as we move through your word today, as we continue moving through your word, I pray that you would give us soft hearts that are able to receive it. 00:01:37.840 --> 00:01:46.640 Lord, that you would uh uh you would let us know that this is coming from a God who loves us and provides for us so deeply. 00:01:46.719 --> 00:01:52.719 And we know that because you gave your son for us, that we might uh live eternally with you. 00:01:53.280 --> 00:02:03.519 Lord, I pray that we would see who you are and your character shine through in your word this morning, and that we would trust who you've revealed yourself to be. 00:02:04.879 --> 00:02:06.959 Lord, I lift this up in Jesus' name. 00:02:07.120 --> 00:02:07.760 Amen. 00:02:09.280 --> 00:02:21.599 So we are uh moving through Genesis, and uh uh part of uh the way that we move through text here typically at Redemption Church is we we pick a book of the Bible and then we move through that book. 00:02:21.840 --> 00:02:27.680 Now, the structure of what we're doing through Genesis, Genesis is very long, it's like 50 chapters. 00:02:27.840 --> 00:02:32.800 Um so uh so that we aren't in Genesis for like four years straight. 00:02:32.960 --> 00:02:38.560 Um not that there would be anything wrong with that, um, but we're not going to do that. 00:02:38.719 --> 00:02:55.680 Uh we're going to be moving through Genesis, the first 10 chapters uh for this kind of winter spring semester, and then in the summer, we're going to preach through the book of James, and then in the fall, we're going to start in through the first four chapters of Mark. 00:02:55.840 --> 00:03:10.879 And then in 2021, we're going to, in the first part of the year, move through the next 10 chapters of Genesis, and then pick something for the summer, and then so on through the next four chapters of Mark, and so on and so on, until we move through these books. 00:03:11.120 --> 00:03:18.240 So the purpose of that is when you're attending our church over a long period of time, you're just going to be fed the word. 00:03:18.800 --> 00:03:22.400 You're going to be fed these big chunks of scripture. 00:03:22.639 --> 00:03:25.360 You know, we believe that the Bible is the word of God. 00:03:25.520 --> 00:03:26.960 This is his word to us. 00:03:27.039 --> 00:03:29.840 And so, what do we want our church to be based on? 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:32.080 It's just, it's what God says. 00:03:32.240 --> 00:03:34.560 That's ultimately what we want this to say. 00:03:34.719 --> 00:03:45.759 Um, and so sometimes we'll have clever series where I come up with something clever like, I don't know, how to how to have a your best life now, something like that. 00:03:46.400 --> 00:03:51.840 And the uh uh and then you know, we'll preach a topical series here or there. 00:03:51.919 --> 00:04:02.800 Um, but typically the main diet of our church is going to be moving through texts of scripture so that when you're here, you're discipled by the word. 00:04:03.039 --> 00:04:05.680 That that's what we're grounded on as a body together. 00:04:05.919 --> 00:04:14.960 So as we're moving through the book of Genesis, what we're seeing is this foundational story that we find ourselves a part of. 00:04:15.520 --> 00:04:19.360 Foundational story of the world and of creation that we are caught up in. 00:04:19.439 --> 00:04:21.680 It's a story that's still happening. 00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:31.040 And when we move through books of the Bible like this, that another benefit is that means that we're going to come upon texts that I don't get to dodge. 00:04:31.439 --> 00:04:34.000 Instead, I have to go through them. 00:04:34.240 --> 00:04:38.000 Can't go around it, can't go under it, have to go through it. 00:04:38.160 --> 00:04:39.920 We're going on a bear hunt. 00:04:41.519 --> 00:04:45.680 So uh I can just the laughs told me how old your kids are. 00:04:47.120 --> 00:05:01.600 Um so uh the uh uh so when we move through this passage, we're coming we're we're coming up to see this beautiful image of the creation of Eve and the first marriage in Scripture. 00:05:02.079 --> 00:05:09.120 Now that means we're going to hit on topics in our culture that are uh very very challenging. 00:05:09.199 --> 00:05:13.439 Uh we're going to hit on topics of gender, and we're going to hit on the topic of marriage. 00:05:13.600 --> 00:05:29.120 And so we're going to see how this passage sets this framework for those two uh institutions that uh uh uh then it is interpreted throughout the rest of scripture. 00:05:29.360 --> 00:05:42.319 And so this becomes the seeds of this kind of developed picture of what does manhood mean, what does womanhood mean, and what does marriage mean, and how does that apply to the church and then to the gospel? 00:05:43.040 --> 00:05:47.680 So uh in order to move through this, we gotta put some mental furniture in place. 00:05:47.920 --> 00:05:59.040 So we're going to start with um a philosopher from the 18th century, uh, that's the 1700s, who uh lived in Britain and his name was David Hume. 00:05:59.199 --> 00:06:06.800 Now, David Hume is an atheist philosopher um and uh argued kind of against a pure rationalism. 00:06:06.959 --> 00:06:13.199 Um so now that I'm talking with three of you, let's uh keep going. 00:06:13.439 --> 00:06:24.079 So uh he has this really famous paragraph where he argues that there you can't have an ought from an is. 00:06:24.639 --> 00:06:36.399 I've said this a couple times before here, but what that means is that you can't argue that just because this is the way things are, that means this is the way things should be. 00:06:36.959 --> 00:06:41.920 He says that a lot of times people make this mistake when they're defending a certain ethic. 00:06:42.079 --> 00:06:47.759 They're saying, look, this is the way things are, therefore, that's the way things should be. 00:06:48.560 --> 00:06:51.680 He says that doesn't actually follow from each other. 00:06:51.839 --> 00:06:54.319 And I think that's a really intuitive claim. 00:06:54.560 --> 00:07:00.079 Because when we look at the world, it's like, look, it's true that the strong can eat the weak. 00:07:00.480 --> 00:07:05.360 But we wouldn't say, therefore, it should be that way. 00:07:05.920 --> 00:07:16.240 Therefore, if you're in a position of power in a relationship, then you should, because you can, or because people do, just take advantage of the relationship in that way. 00:07:16.800 --> 00:07:24.240 So, in order for us to have this, I think we have this intuition of that there's no ought from the way things are. 00:07:24.399 --> 00:07:31.199 Just because we look and see the things are a certain way, that doesn't mean we're saying things should be a certain way. 00:07:31.439 --> 00:07:35.680 I think that's an intuition most of us share, probably haven't named before. 00:07:35.839 --> 00:07:39.680 Uh, but it's helpful to know where an intuition like that comes from for us. 00:07:39.839 --> 00:07:46.160 And for many of us as Western people, it comes from Western people in our past, like David Hume. 00:07:47.439 --> 00:08:02.959 Now, when we're interpreting Genesis in the beginning, in this creation narrative, we're moving to this unique place in world history in which sin had not entered the world yet. 00:08:03.439 --> 00:08:07.759 And we're looking at a place that has been completely uncorrupted. 00:08:07.920 --> 00:08:20.319 God's creation is not just a world that happened to end up a certain way, but it's a world that's made particularly by a designer with real intentions. 00:08:20.639 --> 00:08:32.000 And so that means when we're looking at the garden in creation, we're seeing the world not just as it happens to be, but we're seeing the world as it ought to be. 00:08:33.039 --> 00:08:42.000 There was a time in history where the way things were and the way things should be perfectly overlapped with each other. 00:08:42.639 --> 00:08:52.080 And so that's why when we are interpreting these first chapters in scripture, that's the understanding that we're coming to. 00:08:52.240 --> 00:09:03.440 That is, we're not just seeing the way things were, we're being shown the pattern, the intended pattern of creation, which is the way things should be. 00:09:05.200 --> 00:09:12.960 So part of this story is uh, or the story that we're looking at today that fits into that category is the creation of Eve. 00:09:13.120 --> 00:09:14.720 Last week we saw the creation of Adam. 00:09:14.879 --> 00:09:24.080 This week we see the creation of Eve, and Adam and Eve brought together in marriage, and we're gonna see the implications of uh their marriage for us today. 00:09:24.399 --> 00:09:29.360 So I've got two uh categories for my sermon today, two big header points. 00:09:29.519 --> 00:09:34.879 The first one is not good, because things start off not good, and the second one is good. 00:09:35.679 --> 00:09:40.399 So if you missed the first part, remember not good leading to good. 00:09:42.080 --> 00:09:42.799 Let's begin. 00:09:42.879 --> 00:09:45.360 This is Genesis 2, verse 18. 00:09:45.519 --> 00:09:50.960 It says, Then the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone. 00:09:51.200 --> 00:09:54.559 I will make him a helper fit for him. 00:09:55.279 --> 00:09:58.480 It's where the story of the creation of Eve begins. 00:09:58.799 --> 00:10:01.679 It is not good that man should be alone. 00:10:01.840 --> 00:10:08.399 You know, as we've been moving through Genesis 1 and 2, I think this verse is the most shocking. 00:10:08.639 --> 00:10:13.440 In all of Genesis 1 and 2, I think this is this is the most shocking verse. 00:10:13.759 --> 00:10:17.759 Uh everything else fits together pretty neatly. 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:31.360 And then all of a sudden, to before sin has entered the world, for God to step back from his good creation and say, this part, this feature of it that exists in it right now is not good, strange. 00:10:32.080 --> 00:10:33.840 It's an incredible claim. 00:10:33.919 --> 00:10:43.679 And we know that it's supposed to be and even feel viscerally shocking to the reader when you go through because it's an intentional interruption of a pattern. 00:10:44.480 --> 00:10:51.039 After the end of each day, except for the seventh, we see, and it was good, and it was good, and it was good. 00:10:51.200 --> 00:10:56.320 And then on the sixth day, God steps back from all of creation and says, it's very good. 00:10:56.799 --> 00:11:09.440 And then all of a sudden, when we're zoomed into that sixth day, which is what Genesis 2 is, God looks at Adam and says, It's not good that Adam would be alone. 00:11:10.639 --> 00:11:12.960 I think there's some implications of this. 00:11:13.519 --> 00:11:20.559 First, it means that in these, all of these I'm nervous to say, but I think that they're really there. 00:11:21.279 --> 00:11:34.000 The first one is that uh even in creation, in God's creative process, he is willing to pass through not good on his way to good. 00:11:35.279 --> 00:11:43.279 Even before the fall, the way that God creates is he will pass through not good on his way to good. 00:11:43.440 --> 00:11:48.720 And I think that we see this pattern just kind of normally in our experience of creating anything. 00:11:48.960 --> 00:11:58.639 I mean, if you're if you're creating like uh, if you're like a graphic designer or something, how many iterations of a project do you go through in order to wind up at something that's good? 00:11:58.879 --> 00:12:01.679 We see this pattern built into creation in normal ways. 00:12:01.840 --> 00:12:16.159 Like if you were to consider, if you were to look at uh uh you know two trees, and one of them is a growing, thriving, flourishing tree, and another one is a tree that was just cut down and lying on the ground, you'd look at both trees and you'd say, growing, thriving, flourishing tree, good. 00:12:16.399 --> 00:12:19.279 Tree that's just been cut down, lying on the ground, not good. 00:12:19.519 --> 00:12:26.080 But that tree that's been cut down, lying on the ground, is on its way to becoming a table or a chair. 00:12:26.320 --> 00:12:29.759 You'd look at a table or a chair and be like, oh, good, that's good. 00:12:30.159 --> 00:12:37.519 So that pattern of creation that God is willing to pass through a not good in order to get to a good seems built in from the beginning. 00:12:37.840 --> 00:12:43.840 Next, we see, and this is another one that's kind of strange to see. 00:12:44.080 --> 00:12:47.120 Consider Adam's situation in the garden. 00:12:47.759 --> 00:12:50.480 There's no sin in the world. 00:12:51.919 --> 00:12:57.200 He is in perfect immediate fellowship with God. 00:12:58.080 --> 00:13:00.399 Perfect communion with God. 00:13:01.679 --> 00:13:05.840 And there's a sense in which it's not enough. 00:13:07.039 --> 00:13:09.039 Doesn't that make you feel weird to say? 00:13:09.840 --> 00:13:10.799 We're all good Christians. 00:13:10.879 --> 00:13:14.240 We know the answer is always like, look, that's the answer. 00:13:14.480 --> 00:13:16.879 The answer is just it's just you and God. 00:13:17.120 --> 00:13:19.840 Go into a closet with just you and God, and then you're set. 00:13:20.159 --> 00:13:21.759 And that's not the design. 00:13:22.480 --> 00:13:38.080 We see clearly here that there is something about humanity where we aren't reducible, our essence is not reducible to just who you are as an individual. 00:13:39.200 --> 00:13:43.919 You must be expressed in terms of community. 00:13:44.720 --> 00:13:53.759 And for you to relate to God in a real way means relating to Him in terms of community. 00:13:54.399 --> 00:14:04.960 There are parts of ourselves that lie dormant, that in a sense are uncreated without the exposure to community. 00:14:05.360 --> 00:14:10.159 And so this shocking verse, look, I wouldn't say it if God didn't say it in here. 00:14:11.039 --> 00:14:16.480 This shocking verse where God says it's not good for Adam to be alone. 00:14:16.720 --> 00:14:22.720 And the last thing that we see is that God moves in to fix this situation immediately. 00:14:22.960 --> 00:14:28.720 God is identifying areas in his creation that he can bring into the fullness of their flourishing. 00:14:28.879 --> 00:14:30.799 And so that's what he does with Adam. 00:14:31.120 --> 00:14:33.039 He's saying it's not good that he's alone. 00:14:33.279 --> 00:14:37.840 So he says, I will make a helper fit for him. 00:14:38.960 --> 00:14:52.000 Now, this word helper, which will come to identify Eve and in even femininity, is a word that's described that's used to describe Eve, and it's also a word that's used to describe God. 00:14:52.639 --> 00:15:03.519 So in a Psalm 50, excuse me, Psalm 54, 4, uh, God is described as my helper, who comes to us as an ever-present help in trouble. 00:15:03.679 --> 00:15:11.039 God is the uh God is used, this very word is used to identify God as well as Eve. 00:15:11.919 --> 00:15:18.639 And so we see this uh God moves in to fix this problem by the creation of a helper who's fit for Adam. 00:15:18.799 --> 00:15:25.759 Now, the fitness of Eve to Adam is something that's really driven home in the text. 00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:35.840 It's as though God needs to sort of prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that there isn't something in creation that truly complements Adam yet. 00:15:36.159 --> 00:15:40.879 And so this is what the text says in Genesis 2, 19 through 20. 00:15:40.960 --> 00:15:50.960 It says, 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. 00:15:51.279 --> 00:15:56.720 And whatever the man called, every living creature, that was its name. 00:15:57.039 --> 00:16:07.759 The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field, but for Adam, there was not found a helper fit for him. 00:16:08.320 --> 00:16:11.519 All the animals are shown to Adam, and he names them. 00:16:11.679 --> 00:16:15.519 And so this is an exercise of Adam's dominion. 00:16:15.759 --> 00:16:27.279 Remember, Adam was told that he would uh uh that he would take dominion of the world, and a way that he takes dominion is by naming them. 00:16:27.519 --> 00:16:32.799 I like these cowboy novels by this guy named Cormac McCarthy, and he writes this one in the villain. 00:16:32.960 --> 00:16:34.639 This is a weird example. 00:16:35.360 --> 00:16:37.679 It's occurring to me as you all look at me. 00:16:37.919 --> 00:16:49.679 Is in the villain in one of his stories, um uh the thing that he does is he like goes around and he he takes animals and he names them. 00:16:49.840 --> 00:16:52.639 And he says, when I name something, then it's mine. 00:16:52.879 --> 00:16:55.919 And what that author's doing is just grabbing this biblical principle. 00:16:56.000 --> 00:16:58.559 Is this a way of Adam demonstrating his dominion? 00:16:58.639 --> 00:17:02.559 It's uh it's scientific, it's categorization, it's getting to know the world. 00:17:02.879 --> 00:17:05.920 And that's what uh Adam does here. 00:17:06.319 --> 00:17:13.200 And what he's able to see through that process that God takes him through is that there's nothing in the world that's fit for him. 00:17:13.440 --> 00:17:16.559 This loneliness was not satisfied. 00:17:16.960 --> 00:17:19.359 So, what's Adam doing when he's naming things? 00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:25.119 He's doing the task, the in obedience that God has called him to. 00:17:25.519 --> 00:17:27.839 And yet there's still something missing. 00:17:28.559 --> 00:17:36.079 Which means that there aren't surrogates in creation for relationships. 00:17:37.119 --> 00:17:50.160 There's nothing you can really use, even when it is obedience to the very things that God is calling you to do, that is not a surrogate for real human relationships. 00:17:51.119 --> 00:17:57.440 Like everybody has to bash on social media, which is why I tried to give Facebook a nod earlier. 00:17:58.720 --> 00:18:06.559 Uh, but it it's like a perfect surrogate for relationships, and there just isn't one. 00:18:07.279 --> 00:18:07.599 Okay. 00:18:09.119 --> 00:18:12.319 So God commits to build a helper fit for him. 00:18:12.720 --> 00:18:19.920 Uh fit for him, uh, when it's translated just word for word literally, it says as opposite him. 00:18:22.000 --> 00:18:28.000 Eve is is as Adam and opposite to Adam. 00:18:28.400 --> 00:18:36.559 He needs a correlative, he he needs he needs a complement, uh, a a different piece of the puzzle. 00:18:36.720 --> 00:18:40.960 And that's what God sets out to create for Adam. 00:18:41.839 --> 00:18:45.680 So now we move to this condition of not good into good. 00:18:46.319 --> 00:18:57.839 Genesis 2, 21 through 22, it says, So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept, took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 00:18:58.079 --> 00:19:04.799 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man, he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 00:19:06.079 --> 00:19:08.079 So the the story that you've heard is true. 00:19:08.400 --> 00:19:16.960 The Adam is put to sleep by God, and then God removes one of Adam's ribs, and then forms from that rib who the person who is Eve. 00:19:17.200 --> 00:19:24.640 And the that means that in the way that they are created is from the very same material. 00:19:24.880 --> 00:19:27.519 It's from the very same flesh. 00:19:27.759 --> 00:19:34.960 And so what's pictured here is that in their creation, they are one flesh. 00:19:35.440 --> 00:19:52.240 And then as the marriage is described between them, this uh relationship of one fleshness is uh re-demonstrated in the covenant that they will enter into, where in marriage they become one flesh again. 00:19:52.559 --> 00:19:54.799 See the meaning that's built into this. 00:19:55.039 --> 00:20:06.960 Uh, this great theologian from uh named Matthew Henry, who wrote this outrageous commentary on the whole Bible, um uh he says this of Eve being taken from Adam's rib. 00:20:07.200 --> 00:20:28.480 He says, not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved. 00:20:29.440 --> 00:20:31.039 Isn't that wonderful? 00:20:32.799 --> 00:20:43.839 So God creates this woman, Eve, from this position of protection and comfort and equality of dignity with Adam. 00:20:45.279 --> 00:20:55.359 And then like a like a like a father walks a daughter down the aisle to give away in marriage. 00:20:55.920 --> 00:21:00.400 It says, and and God brought her to the man. 00:21:00.960 --> 00:21:07.680 God the father brings Eve, his daughter, to the man to present her to him. 00:21:07.920 --> 00:21:12.240 And in the process, God creates poetry. 00:21:12.559 --> 00:21:13.920 I mean that literally. 00:21:14.079 --> 00:21:18.640 This is the first example of a poetic couplet in Scripture. 00:21:18.880 --> 00:21:20.319 Genesis 2, 23. 00:21:20.480 --> 00:21:33.680 Then the man, when he sees Eve for the first time, when he sees his bride coming down the aisle for the first time, he says, This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. 00:21:34.160 --> 00:21:39.519 She shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man. 00:21:40.880 --> 00:21:45.440 So Adam bursts into this poetic structure of language. 00:21:45.680 --> 00:21:51.680 And just like he did with the other creatures, he names Eve, but it's a different type of naming. 00:21:51.839 --> 00:21:54.240 The other creatures they just get names, disparate names. 00:21:54.400 --> 00:21:59.599 But Eve's name is a very shadow, an echo of his own name. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:05.920 In Hebrew, it actually translates really well in English, you know, woman and man, because it's just kind of a two-letter thing. 00:22:06.160 --> 00:22:20.880 And in Hebrew, I'm bad at saying Hebrew, because it's well, and he it's Ish, I-S-H to anglicize it, and woman is Isha, I-S-H-A-H. 00:22:21.599 --> 00:22:28.000 See, it's just this echo of the same name, this complementary piece. 00:22:29.119 --> 00:22:43.839 And so what we see is this pattern built into creation of their marriage, that the husband and the wife are joined together, that one man and one woman are joined together in marriage. 00:22:43.920 --> 00:22:47.839 And that is the pattern of marriage in the garden. 00:22:48.079 --> 00:22:57.119 And because it's in the garden, that means we're looking at a pattern of not just the way marriage happened to be, but of the way marriage ought to be. 00:22:57.519 --> 00:23:02.880 When we consider creation, it's easy for us to think of it in terms of material realities. 00:23:03.279 --> 00:23:10.640 But God is the creator of both the visible and the invisible, and that means he makes mountains and he creates relationships. 00:23:10.880 --> 00:23:16.000 And so marriage is a real part of creation. 00:23:16.559 --> 00:23:18.400 It's like gravity. 00:23:18.880 --> 00:23:28.240 And so when we bring our lives in tune with that real part of creation and the ordered way that it was demonstrated to us, that's where we discover our flourishing. 00:23:28.400 --> 00:23:30.319 It's within those limits. 00:23:32.160 --> 00:23:32.480 Okay. 00:23:33.279 --> 00:23:42.319 Now we know that that this sort of marriage ceremony that we just saw Adam and Eve go through is not just the story of one happy couple. 00:23:42.559 --> 00:23:47.839 You know, this is this is not just the story of uh to all the boys I've loved before, P.S. 00:23:48.079 --> 00:23:49.119 I still love you. 00:23:54.000 --> 00:23:59.359 This is uh this is a story that has implications for all of us. 00:24:00.079 --> 00:24:05.119 So uh we know this because the next verse moves to a therefore. 00:24:05.440 --> 00:24:10.559 The next verse draws a conclusion from their story for the rest of humanity. 00:24:10.640 --> 00:24:21.599 And it says, Genesis 24 and 25, therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 00:24:21.759 --> 00:24:26.480 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. 00:24:27.200 --> 00:24:28.960 Okay, so we see this, therefore. 00:24:29.119 --> 00:24:32.000 See the see the pattern of an the interpretive pattern? 00:24:32.240 --> 00:24:34.000 Here's what happened in the garden. 00:24:34.160 --> 00:24:39.440 And then the text says, therefore, this is the way things ought to be in creation. 00:24:39.599 --> 00:24:41.759 And it describes marriage to us. 00:24:41.839 --> 00:24:48.480 It says, because of this marriage, because of the way God ordered this relationship, therefore, uh marriage should be exclusive. 00:24:48.720 --> 00:24:51.279 A man shall leave his father and his mother. 00:24:51.599 --> 00:25:00.640 That means there's a there's a new type of relationship that your your previous closest relationship, your parents, are not a part of. 00:25:01.279 --> 00:25:05.759 Uh some of you are you know thinking of in-laws and like, can I get an amen? 00:25:07.599 --> 00:25:09.599 Uh they're not a part of it. 00:25:09.920 --> 00:25:11.359 So they can just butt out. 00:25:12.000 --> 00:25:14.000 We'll do Christmas where we want. 00:25:17.519 --> 00:25:20.720 So it's exclusive and it's and it's primary. 00:25:21.039 --> 00:25:22.400 It's primary. 00:25:22.799 --> 00:25:25.599 Uh next we see that it's permanent. 00:25:25.759 --> 00:25:33.200 They will uh uh they will excuse me, leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife. 00:25:33.519 --> 00:25:40.079 Hold fast is the same language, that it's the same word that's used to describe God's covenant faithfulness. 00:25:40.960 --> 00:25:43.200 Hold fast to his wife. 00:25:43.440 --> 00:25:46.240 So there's a permanence to this relationship. 00:25:46.400 --> 00:25:51.039 It's it's uh personal and it's permanent. 00:25:51.599 --> 00:25:58.079 And uh next we see that this relationship is one that God joins together. 00:25:58.319 --> 00:26:06.480 When I do marriage ceremonies, one of the hardest things to get across is that something is really happening up here. 00:26:07.359 --> 00:26:15.680 You know, when we when we're standing up here and we say these words to each other, God is really attending this. 00:26:16.960 --> 00:26:22.559 And he's making you this new thing, this one flesh thing. 00:26:22.720 --> 00:26:24.319 It's really happening. 00:26:24.640 --> 00:26:28.240 We know that from the pattern of marriage as it's described here. 00:26:28.720 --> 00:26:32.640 It's exclusive, permanent, and God joined together. 00:26:32.880 --> 00:26:41.599 Now, this pattern of creation that we see in Adam and Eve is then shown right in the immediate text. 00:26:41.759 --> 00:26:44.799 Therefore, these are the implications for marriage. 00:26:45.200 --> 00:26:52.480 And this is continued on as the New Testament interprets these very same texts. 00:26:52.720 --> 00:26:57.279 So, what we've read today is quoted throughout the New Testament. 00:26:57.519 --> 00:27:05.519 And so, one of one of the best ways to understand what is going on with the Old Testament, which is a question you'll frequently ask if you're reading it. 00:27:05.759 --> 00:27:12.000 And one of the best ways to know as a Christian is how does the New Testament interpret this passage? 00:27:12.319 --> 00:27:24.480 New Testament, if you're anything like me, is a bit easier to grasp, not always, but uh uh the New Testament shows us the lens through which we can interpret the Old Testament. 00:27:24.640 --> 00:27:30.400 So when we see how this is quoted, is what I'm getting at, we'll be able to gain a fuller picture of what's happening in creation. 00:27:31.519 --> 00:27:38.400 Jesus will quote this with regard to marriage in Matthew 19, and it's also recorded in Mark 10. 00:27:38.559 --> 00:27:49.680 So when he's questioned about divorce, he will quote this very passage and he'll say, Mark 10, verse 8 through 9, and the two shall become one flesh, so they are no longer two, but one flesh. 00:27:49.920 --> 00:27:54.559 What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate. 00:27:55.119 --> 00:28:02.240 And so we see that Christ himself, with this very same language, affirms this pattern of marriage. 00:28:02.559 --> 00:28:05.920 He references the two that become one flesh. 00:28:06.079 --> 00:28:09.680 And we see this very pattern affirmed with the very same language. 00:28:10.720 --> 00:28:25.200 So to make it explicit, and so you understand the project that I'm trying to do here, I'm trying to present a positive picture of what the Bible is describing as we move through these words. 00:28:25.599 --> 00:28:34.400 And so to make it explicit, Jesus himself affirms this pattern of heterosexual monogamous marriage. 00:28:34.720 --> 00:28:37.599 That's the biblical picture of marriage. 00:28:37.920 --> 00:28:47.759 And those ingredients are necessary in order for the term marriage to maintain its meaning throughout scripture. 00:28:50.240 --> 00:29:15.680 Likewise, the ordering of the creation of man and woman is used throughout scripture to describe the particular roles that are given to men and women in creation, their roles within this marriage relationship and within the other institution that God particularly ordained and established, which is the church. 00:29:15.920 --> 00:29:28.720 And so in 1 Corinthians 11, we'll see that Paul will argue that because Adam was created first, Adam is therefore the head of the relationship. 00:29:28.960 --> 00:29:36.640 And because Eve is created second and out of Adam, she is to take the role of glorious submission. 00:29:37.680 --> 00:29:44.319 Now I'm back down to when I quoted the philosopher, in terms of people that are still listening to me. 00:29:46.079 --> 00:29:59.599 So we see this picture that there, though New Testament writers are reasoning from the order of creation into these roles for men and women in marriage and in the church. 00:29:59.839 --> 00:30:06.160 And so what we see is woman is presented as the glory of man. 00:30:06.319 --> 00:30:13.680 And so one of the commentators that I read said that if Adam is the head, then Eve is the crown. 00:30:14.240 --> 00:30:15.920 She is the glory. 00:30:16.319 --> 00:30:25.119 And Adam is the one who is called to be the leader in the relationship who lays himself down for the glory of Eve. 00:30:26.880 --> 00:30:44.720 Now, this also, this same pattern that we see demonstrated in marriage of male headship and male leadership and female submissiveness is also reflected in this the other institution that God particularly ordained, which is the church. 00:30:44.960 --> 00:30:55.039 So in 1 Timothy 2, 12 through 13, Paul says, I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man. 00:30:55.680 --> 00:30:57.920 Rather, she is to remain quiet. 00:30:58.160 --> 00:31:01.200 For Adam was formed first, then Eve. 00:31:01.440 --> 00:31:04.160 So how many of you have a coffee mug with that on it? 00:31:04.799 --> 00:31:10.799 The this is what we're doing in all when we're canvassing the neighborhood for flyers, we're using this verse. 00:31:13.680 --> 00:31:21.519 The uh so you I want you to understand, like why am I just cherry-picking these apparently sexist verses? 00:31:21.759 --> 00:31:22.079 No. 00:31:22.480 --> 00:31:31.839 You see, he's reasoning, the New Testament is reasoning from the creative norm that we see established in the garden. 00:31:32.079 --> 00:31:33.680 And so Paul is reasoning from there. 00:31:33.839 --> 00:31:37.920 He says, for Adam was formed first, then Eve. 00:31:38.400 --> 00:31:52.880 So why is the pattern in the church a pattern of male leadership, which is uh particularly to the office of elders, which the biblical model for church is that elders lead the church. 00:31:53.920 --> 00:32:01.039 Why is that constrained to men and not open to women? 00:32:01.519 --> 00:32:13.519 And Paul is saying, because I'm reasoning from this creative norm, which is that when we're restoring things to this particular order, then there it's a gendered order. 00:32:13.920 --> 00:32:20.240 Now, this is not a subversion of uh of an equality of value. 00:32:20.640 --> 00:32:22.480 That's not what's being discussed here. 00:32:22.559 --> 00:32:26.000 This is not a subversion of an equality of dignity. 00:32:26.880 --> 00:32:31.839 They were created in the image and likeness of God, male and female. 00:32:32.079 --> 00:32:33.119 He created them. 00:32:33.359 --> 00:32:38.000 In Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek, Scythian nor slave, male or female. 00:32:38.240 --> 00:32:41.839 You know, these equality of value, this is absolutely true. 00:32:42.160 --> 00:32:49.440 What's difficult for our culture is to be able to make a distinction between an equality of value and a difference of role. 00:32:49.680 --> 00:32:55.519 We struggle with bringing unity and with holding unity and diversity together. 00:32:55.680 --> 00:33:01.359 We struggle with uh not describing equality as sameness. 00:33:01.920 --> 00:33:06.960 The Bible describes equality as being a different thing from sameness. 00:33:08.640 --> 00:33:13.599 Okay, so this pattern is reason through for church structure as well. 00:33:13.839 --> 00:33:28.559 Now, it might be tempting for us to think, okay, so that was the creational pattern, and that's the foundation, is where we've been, where we've come from as a people. 00:33:28.880 --> 00:33:35.519 But we see in all sorts of ways, humanity is called to transcend what happened in the garden. 00:33:35.759 --> 00:33:38.559 We're called towards a further development. 00:33:38.799 --> 00:33:49.440 We're called towards a uh to not just be disparate peoples, but to form civilizations and nations and to form culture and to develop and create all these things. 00:33:49.599 --> 00:33:53.200 We know we're called to develop beyond the garden. 00:33:53.759 --> 00:34:04.160 So wouldn't it be possible then that we might uh be transcending these roles, these constraints that are described in the garden? 00:34:05.599 --> 00:34:08.719 Now I I understand that line of reasoning. 00:34:08.960 --> 00:34:24.079 The issue is that that's not the the garden, the creational norm of Adam and Eve is not the most foundational component of these roles for men and women in marriage in the church. 00:34:24.559 --> 00:34:38.719 The most foundational component is the gospel itself, something that is still coming into fruition, something with the fruits of which are reserved for the future at Christ's return. 00:34:38.960 --> 00:34:45.920 Now we see this in Paul's description of marriage in Ephesians chapter five. 00:34:46.000 --> 00:34:58.079 So in Ephesians 5, 24 through 25, Paul says, Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. 00:34:58.320 --> 00:35:04.079 Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. 00:35:05.280 --> 00:35:13.360 So wives are to submit to their husbands in this pattern of the way that the church submits to Jesus. 00:35:13.840 --> 00:35:22.239 And then husbands are called to lead their wives in the pattern of the way that Christ led the church. 00:35:22.400 --> 00:35:24.480 Now, how did Christ lead the church? 00:35:24.719 --> 00:35:30.880 It's in the text, it's the very next verse, lest we get any crazy ideas as men. 00:35:31.039 --> 00:35:36.320 It says, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. 00:35:38.239 --> 00:35:51.519 A lot of times we have this desire to throw away this pattern of male headship because we think that the issue is in a wrongly ordered thing. 00:35:52.000 --> 00:35:56.880 The issue that we see is in a wrongly executed thing. 00:35:57.280 --> 00:36:00.880 What does male leadership look like in Scripture? 00:36:01.039 --> 00:36:03.199 What is the pattern for male headship? 00:36:03.599 --> 00:36:07.199 Is it a domineering you get in line, you submit? 00:36:07.360 --> 00:36:08.159 Is that the picture? 00:36:08.239 --> 00:36:10.880 Is that the way that Christ leads the church? 00:36:11.119 --> 00:36:12.880 No, yes, thank you. 00:36:14.639 --> 00:36:16.559 No, that's not the picture. 00:36:16.800 --> 00:36:34.800 So it's easy for us to slip in our minds into these two poles of a cultural stereotype, one of which is a purely hierarchical view of a complementarian view of marriage, that of male headship and female submissiveness. 00:36:35.039 --> 00:36:49.440 One is to slip into a total egalitarian view of male headship and female submissiveness, which is that, which reduces men and women beneath equality and down to sameness. 00:36:50.239 --> 00:36:58.239 But what we see in scripture is this precise picture of what we are bringing ourselves in line to. 00:39:52.079 --> 00:40:00.000 When we look at the world, we there's often this distinction drawn between the way Christians look at the world and the way a secular person looks at the world. 00:40:00.480 --> 00:40:08.960 The way a Christian looks at the world is through a lens of faith, which means that there are all sorts of gaps that we're able to just kind of fill in. 00:40:09.599 --> 00:40:20.000 And the secular person looks at the world from a lens of empiricism, the facts and the data, and we'll deduce reality from those facts and data. 00:40:20.960 --> 00:40:28.000 And we often think that's the difference in the way that Christians and secular people look at the world. 00:40:29.039 --> 00:40:32.079 But I think that's not the difference. 00:40:33.119 --> 00:40:41.199 Abraham Kuyper is a theologian in the last uh uh bit of the 19th century. 00:40:41.519 --> 00:40:46.159 Uh, if you take it, everybody started laughing at that, and I'm not sure why. 00:40:46.320 --> 00:40:47.920 You as uncomfortable as me. 00:40:50.320 --> 00:41:02.159 In the uh he says that the true antithesis between Christians and secular people is that a secular person looks at the world and assumes that the world as it is is normal. 00:41:03.440 --> 00:41:05.840 This is just the way things are. 00:41:06.800 --> 00:41:23.840 And so if this is just the way things are, if this is just the way the patterns are playing out, if if we've seen the way male headship works, and we've seen this, you know, uh millennia-long experiment of male headship, and it seems now that it's just not working, then it's just not working. 00:41:24.000 --> 00:41:26.000 And so we'll try and flip it. 00:41:26.239 --> 00:41:36.000 We'll try and flip the script, and we'll get rid of that, and we'll say we misinterpreted, and we'll move towards an interpretation that's counter to the one I've shown to you today. 00:41:38.400 --> 00:41:40.400 Because the world is normal. 00:41:41.679 --> 00:41:47.599 When Christians look at the world as it is now, we think it's abnormal. 00:41:48.639 --> 00:41:50.559 We think it's corrupted. 00:41:51.119 --> 00:41:56.559 We think that things have gone wrong and that they need to be set right again. 00:41:57.440 --> 00:41:58.639 Kuiper says this. 00:41:58.880 --> 00:42:07.199 If it is normal, then it moves by means of an eternal evolution from its potencies to its ideal. 00:42:08.880 --> 00:42:17.599 But if the cosmos in its present condition is abnormal, then a disturbance has taken place in the past. 00:42:18.800 --> 00:42:26.159 And only a regenerating power can warrant it the final attainment of its goal. 00:42:28.480 --> 00:42:38.639 When we look at the world now and we assess the way it's working now, we know that it is out of order. 00:42:39.840 --> 00:42:48.480 So many people, so many women have been hurt by the verses that I've read today. 00:42:49.360 --> 00:42:53.599 They've been used to manipulate and hold down and render voiceless. 00:42:55.280 --> 00:42:56.719 So many women. 00:43:02.960 --> 00:43:07.039 One is to say, well, that's just the normal outflowing of these teachings. 00:43:08.480 --> 00:43:11.840 The other is to say, the world is disordered. 00:43:13.039 --> 00:43:15.519 How is that order restored? 00:43:16.639 --> 00:43:19.280 Here's the picture we receive in scripture. 00:43:19.840 --> 00:43:34.079 Jesus comes to restore this order, to take the brokenness, the abnormality of creation, which leads to death and pain, and he takes that death and pain on himself on the cross. 00:43:34.320 --> 00:43:37.840 And then he gives his church his spirit. 00:43:38.239 --> 00:43:45.519 And by his spirit, we ourselves become reordered into our creational intent. 00:43:45.920 --> 00:43:54.719 And that reordering takes place in ourselves and in our relationships, and then our hope is that it takes place in our cultures and in the cities that we become a part of. 00:43:55.280 --> 00:43:58.159 And so Jesus is the one that brings this reordering. 00:43:58.400 --> 00:43:59.679 But here's what we need to remember. 00:44:01.519 --> 00:44:10.239 You don't fix a broken bone by breaking it back again in the other direction. 00:44:11.599 --> 00:44:17.679 You fix a broken bone by restoring it to its proper position of function. 00:44:18.800 --> 00:44:24.960 And when it's restored to its proper position of function, then the healing is able to take place. 00:44:27.360 --> 00:44:41.280 So counterintuitively, as Christians, we have to be people that are willing to be looked at as foolish from both ends of the spectrum. 00:44:43.039 --> 00:44:48.480 Because one end will say, look, you're like, why all this laying down your life stuff? 00:44:48.719 --> 00:44:52.559 You're not going to be able to establish true leadership in the home. 00:44:53.519 --> 00:44:58.639 And the other side will say, Wow, you guys are backwards and bigots and sexists. 00:45:00.480 --> 00:45:03.360 How could you possibly be teaching something like this? 00:45:03.760 --> 00:45:16.239 And then we're going to need to hold and say, look, these pictures, this picture and this relationship of male headship, I do not think you mean, I do not think that word means what you think it means. 00:45:19.760 --> 00:45:32.320 The male headship that we're talking about, our picture of it is that that man laid down his life for his bride. 00:45:33.280 --> 00:45:36.960 He gave himself up for her flourishing. 00:45:38.000 --> 00:45:40.239 We're talking about a different image. 00:45:40.639 --> 00:45:42.559 Although our words might overlap. 00:45:43.840 --> 00:45:45.519 No questions today. 00:45:46.960 --> 00:45:49.039 All right, let's take a question. 00:45:50.639 --> 00:45:57.679 If God is good all the time, all the time he is good, like the song, uh, what is happening when the shoulds and the yachts break down? 00:45:57.840 --> 00:45:59.360 Is this not from God? 00:46:00.079 --> 00:46:03.039 All right, so we've got two levels that we need to think of this at. 00:46:03.280 --> 00:46:11.440 One is that God and his in his absolute sovereignty, uh, there's nothing in all of creation that is able to thwart him. 00:46:12.000 --> 00:46:18.639 So that even when things are going wrong, they are still working according to his good purposes. 00:46:18.880 --> 00:46:24.880 Like when we're like we're reading in our, if you're in our Bible reading plan, you're moving through the story of Joseph. 00:46:25.039 --> 00:46:35.760 At the end of the story, Joseph's brothers come to him and uh they say, please don't kill us, please don't kill us for you know selling you into slavery. 00:46:36.559 --> 00:46:38.239 Um don't do that. 00:46:39.440 --> 00:46:47.360 And uh Joseph says, look, what you intended for evil, God intended for good. 00:46:48.639 --> 00:46:51.199 They're the same action. 00:46:52.400 --> 00:47:01.679 The selling into slavery is from God's perspective, good, a move towards his goodness. 00:47:02.639 --> 00:47:12.239 And it was the very same evil intent, truly wrong, truly evil intent of Joseph's brothers to destroy him. 00:47:14.239 --> 00:47:16.079 So we have two things that are true. 00:47:16.400 --> 00:47:23.920 God is in control of all things, and we are actually responsible for the wrong that we do in the world. 00:47:25.199 --> 00:47:33.119 Uh the ability to hold those things together, I think, is is a matter of continual submission to a God who is just not like us. 00:47:33.920 --> 00:47:39.039 It's a very different type of thing than we are, us finite creatures from the dirt. 00:47:40.800 --> 00:47:46.719 Um so uh so the answer is yes, it is. 00:47:47.119 --> 00:47:48.400 It is from God. 00:47:48.880 --> 00:48:11.519 Um and we learn to trust his intentions toward us because we saw that he is not a God who left himself removed from the evil of the world, but one who, because of his great love towards us towards us, took it upon himself that the world might not spiral off into evil, but that it might be set right again towards the flourishing that he intended for it. 00:48:15.360 --> 00:48:19.280 My email is James at redemptiondenver.com. 00:48:22.400 --> 00:48:24.480 I'm sure you have questions. 00:48:25.599 --> 00:48:37.280