Male and Female Pt. 2

1:15I am a fuddy daddy who prefers cleanliness to happiness and sanity. So I could not endure a situation where puzzles sat out in the living room until Jesus returned. Hence the puzzle table. Now, Kendra will tell you that I am virtually no help at all in actually putting together a puzzle, but I think I do understand the general concept. The pieces are designed to fit together in a certain way. So if you force two pieces together that are not meant to fit together, or if you force two pieces together that are meant to fit together in the wrong way, then the image will be lost and the pieces themselves may be damaged.

2:04Last week we dove into God's Word and we sought to answer two specific questions. First, what does it mean to be created in the image and likeness of God? And then second, why did God create us male and female? If you missed that sermon, I'd encourage you to go back and listen to it because that sermon serves as the foundation for what we're going to talk about today with respect to our relationships and how those things work out in everyday life. So this morning, we're going to dive back into God's Word to understand how we are to live as male and female.

2:37You see, very much like those puzzle pieces, men and women were designed by God to fit together in a certain way. And when we do, it creates a beautiful image. But if we try to force two pieces together that don't fit, or if we try to force two pieces together that do fit in the wrong way, Then we're going to lose that image, and we're going to do damage to ourselves and to each other. So, from Scripture, we're going to see three things. We're going to see that God created gender distinctions.

3:15We're going to see that sin distorted gender distinctions. And we're going to see that Christ redeems gender distinctions. Now, before we jump into Genesis chapter 2, I want to point out that the Bible has 1,189 chapters. Only the first two and the last two chapters are before and after sin and the curse. This is very important because many professing Christians believe that gender distinctions are a result of the fall, that they were a result of the fall rather than a part of God's original design for man and woman. So, let's remember that what we're reading here in Genesis 2 occurs prior to the fall and occurs prior to the curse that God placed on us and his world.

4:05So, if you look here at Genesis 2:15, it begins, The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden to work it and keep it. And the first thing that I want you to see and remember here in this section is that God created Adam first. God created him and placed him in the garden to work it and keep it. And here we see the earliest indications of the roles that Adam is going to play in his home and call to. Fulfill later, all men are called to fulfill these roles, and that is leader, provider, and protector. Leader, provider, and protector.

4:41Now, at this point, only Adam is living off of the produce in the garden. But very soon, God is going to create animals, and then Eve is going to be created as well. And by working and keeping the garden, what he is called to do is to ensure that the animals and then later his family are provided for and protected. Adam is created first, and he's placed in the garden to work it and keep it. And God commands him not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Eve, his female counterpart, remember, has not yet been created.

5:15And friends, we don't see that two-stage creation with the animals. All of the animals are created at the same time, male animals and female animals, in Genesis 1 and 2. But that's not what we see with the creation of humans. Adam is created first, and then later on, Eve is created. Take a look at what Wayne Greedem says about this. He says, the creation of Adam is consistent with the Old Testament pattern of primogeniture. The idea that the firstborn in any generation in a human family has a leadership in the family for that generation.

5:53So that's my first observation: that God created Adam first. Second, is That God gives Adam instructions he does not seem to repeat to Eve. Verse 16. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. These instructions aren't recorded again after Eve is created. So it's possible that God repeated them, but Scripture doesn't say that.

6:32And I think, in context with everything else that we're reading in Genesis 1, what you're starting to see is that Adam is being called to lead his family by teaching them what God commands, taking a leadership role by instructing his wife, by instructing his family, this is what God has commanded us to do, and this is what obedience looks like. So that's the second observation. The third is that Eve is created as a helper for Adam.

6:59Take a look at verse 18. Then the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make a helper fit for him. Now, if you look down at verse 20, the end of it, after God creates all the animals, the author notes, but for Adam, there was not found a helper fit for him. So God puts Adam to sleep, and then he creates Eve from his rib. Now, this Hebrew word, It's translated helper is etzer. It means just that, someone who helps.

7:35And David Atkinson points out that a helper provides support for what is lacking in the one that is being helped. That same word is used several times in the Old Testament to describe the help that comes from God. The phrase helper fit for him means helper corresponding to him, or more literally in the Hebrew, opposite like him. Opposite like him. So the helper that God was making for Adam is similar, his equal, but is created with a distinct role, similar and yet different. Eve is created to help Adam in his God-given task of working and keeping the garden. And what you notice here and everywhere else in Scripture is that Adam is never referred to as Eve's helper.

8:29Eve is called his helper. And in fact, in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verses 8 and 9, this is how Paul bases his argument for how men and women are to conduct themselves in corporate worship. Take a look at what he says. For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. And now my final observation from this passage. Is that Adam names Eve? God gave Adam authority to name all of the animals, and once Adam wakes up from his divine anesthesia, he also names his wife. Take a look at verse 23.

9:17Then the man said, This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. Later on, at the end of chapter 3, Adam gives her a specific name, Eve, which means to be alive, because she became the mother of all living. So the right to name someone implies an authority over them. And you see that all throughout Scripture when God renames both Abraham and Sarah, when Jesus renames Peter, and then his parents have the authority to give names to their children.

9:57So from Genesis 2, if we put all of this together, what's the picture that's emerging here of these roles that God is giving to male and female? Well, we've seen that Adam is created first, and that God gives him instructions that don't seem to be repeated to Eve. Eve is created to be a helper fit for Adam, and Adam then names Eve. And again, friends, all of these things occur prior to the fall and the curse that God places on the world. So that leaves. us to conclude that Adam and Eve were designed by God with intentionality, that God had in mind specific ways that men and women would relate to each other in relationship.

10:42Everything in this passage seems to suggest that God intended Adam to lead, to provide, to protect, and that Eve was designed to help Adam. You don't foresee Eve saying in this passage, you know, honey, I just think that maybe God gave me better leadership gifts. And so I think this would work out better if you just helped me instead. So if that's okay with you, I'll let God know about the new arrangement and I'll be in charge.

11:14You don't get that sense from this chapter. And I think the absurdity of that proposition gets brought out in Genesis chapter 3, where we see how sin and the curse distort these gender distinctions. And so let's move on in the text to Genesis chapter 3 and pick up in verse 1. Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, Did God actually say, You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?

11:48First thing I want you to observe is that Satan deals with Eve rather than Adam. What do we know about Satan? Jesus tells us that he is the father of lies, that he only comes to steal and kill and destroy, that he opposes God at every turn. So it shouldn't surprise us then that he deals with Eve rather than Adam. In fact, I believe that he goes to Eve precisely because he knows that she's not in charge, that she has not been called to lead, that she's not the one responsible for knowing and then making sure the family obeys God's commands.

12:34Look again at what Wayne Grudem has to say. It is likely that Satan, in approaching Eve first, was attempting to institute a role reversal by tempting Eve to take the leadership in disobeying God. This at least suggests that Satan was trying to undermine the pattern of male leadership that God had established in the marriage by going first to the woman. And we learn in verse 6, if you look there, it notes that Adam is with her.

13:10And that phrase with her doesn't mean kind of like in the same vicinity. It means next to her. He's standing right there next to her when all of this goes down. And based on what we know from Genesis 2, that Adam was created first and given God's commands, that Eve was created to be his helper, what should have happened here? Well, when Satan walked up to Eve, remember, he's still got legs at this point, it's kind of a walking noodle or something, and he starts questioning God's commands. Adam should have stepped in. That's his cue right there. When he started saying, Did God really say? And then later on, when he contradicts God and says, You won't die if you disobey God's commands. No, instead, you'll become like God. That's his cue to step in and lead. That's his cue to step up and protect. He should have stepped in and said, Yes, God commanded me not to eat from the tree, and that if I did, I would die. Eve knows this because it was my responsibility to tell her that. And it's my responsibility to ensure that we obey God. So, if you're going to question God's commands and his motives, we don't do that in this garden.

14:29But he doesn't do that, does he? He just stands there with her and does absolutely nothing. He doesn't step in and correct Eve when she misstates God's command. Remember, what she says is that God said, You can't eat it and you can't touch it, or you'll die. She actually adds to what God said. He doesn't confront Satan when he implies that God is nervous, that the people that he created out of dust and a micarib are going to take his. Place, he doesn't do any of that. He just stands there and does absolutely nothing. So Eve gets dealt with by Satan and not Adam.

15:13Second observation is that after Adam and Eve sin, God calls Adam to account. Not Eve, and not both of them. He calls Adam to account. Take a look at verse 9, chapter 3. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, Where are you? And he said, I heard the sound of you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself. He said, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?

15:48Now, this is very telling because after they sin, God does not call out to them and say, Where are y'all? No, verse 9 tells us that he calls out to the man and says to him, Where are you? And this is very important. In verse 9 and verse 11, every time you see the word you, that pronoun is masculine singular. Other languages are so much more helpful than English and understanding who the reference are. Every instance of you in verse 9 and 11 is masculine singular. He's talking to Adam, not to Eve and not to them. So Adam, who talked about them? Told you that you were naked. Adam, have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?

16:39So, although Eve was deceived and sinned first, God called Adam to account. He holds him primarily responsible for this whole debacle. And this is seen in the New Testament and passages that talk about original sin and the guilt that's passed down to all of us. Take a look at Romans 5. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. Now listen to this. For as by the one man's disobedience, Adam's disobedience, the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience, Jesus' obedience, the many will be made righteous.

17:23Original sin is passed down through Adam. He is the federal head, the representative of the human race. Take a look at 1 Corinthians 15, 22. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. Not so as in Eve all die, or as in Adam and Eve all die, but as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. See, friends, leadership sounds appealing until you realize that the leader is responsible for his own failures, as well as the failures. Of all of those under his leadership. It all comes back to the leader.

18:06The leader is held responsible. So Satan deals with Eve rather than Adam, but God deals with Adam rather than Eve. Satan tries to reverse their roles, but God calls Adam to account. The last thing I want you to see in Genesis chapter 3 is that sin does not create gender distinctions. Instead, it distorts them. Again, many professing Christians seem to think that gender distinctions came into being as a result of the fall, that there were no gender distinctions prior to the fall, and therefore that there should be no gender distinctions among believers in the home or the church or anywhere else.

18:52But as we've seen, God created male and female with distinct roles, roles that were still in place when Adam and Eve sinned, as well as afterward. So I want you to look at the curse that God places on Eve in Genesis 3:16. Take a look at that verse. To the woman, he said, I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing. In pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.

19:26So it's not like before the fall, Adam was going to have the children. Children, or they would farkle for it or something. Eve was always going to have the children. The difference is that now, because of their sin, that calling to motherhood is going to be painful. At the fall, their roles weren't reversed or completely changed. It's just now, after their sin, their roles would be much more difficult to fulfill. And you see that in how man and woman are going to relate to each other after the fall, after the curse is placed on them. Now, remember, Adam was created to lead, provide, and protect. Eve was created to help. But Satan flipped those roles around, and now in the curse, what does God say? He says that the woman's desire would be contrary to her husband. Another way of saying that is that the woman would desire to conquer her husband, that she would desire to rebel against and usurp his authority in the marriage relationship.

20:31And according to verse 16, what is the man going to do? He shall rule over you. And the word that's translated rule over implies a harsh dictatorship, a domineering kind of rule and authority. So, church, God doesn't create gender distinctions in the curse. He doesn't introduce new roles or functions within the relationship. No, he introduces. Pain and frustration into the roles that he previously assigned. So instead of leading and providing and protecting, working to serve the one who is bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh, what is the man going to do? He's going to be tempted to rule over Eve in a harsh manner, serving himself rather than her.

21:24And instead of helping, working to assist and encourage the one from whom and for whom she was created, Eve is now going to be tempted to try to conquer Adam, to usurp his authority, because she now has desires that go against his. Now, if you come to the scripture and your expectation is that there were no gender distinctions before the fall, then what are you going to expect to see after Christ comes to make all things new?

22:00You're going to expect that he's going to reset everything the way it was supposed to be, right? And that in the new covenant, there will be no gender distinctions between men and women. But as we've seen, God created male and female with distinct roles prior to the fall. The curse just introduced pain and frustration into those roles. So, knowing that, what we would expect to find in the New Testament based on Genesis 1 through 3, we don't expect Jesus to obliterate. Gender distinctions. No, we expect him to redeem them. And that's exactly what we find.

22:39I want you to look on the screen at Ephesians 5. This is the beginning of the passage that we considered last week. Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. Now, this is very interesting to find here because Paul is a new covenant apostle. He doesn't teach that now there are no gender distinctions after Christ's death and resurrection. Gender distinctions haven't been removed. They've been redeemed. What happened at the fall? Eve led herself and her husband into sin. God said that one part of the curse would be that she would keep doing that, that she would desire to conquer her husband and usurp his authority. And Paul teaches that Christ has redeemed the role of the wife, that his grace is going to enable her to fulfill the role that she was created to fulfill. Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord.

23:42And in the same way, if we look at Ephesians 5:25, we find that Christ has redeemed the role of the husband as well. Look what he says. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. So, again, what happened? At the fall, God told Eve that although she would try to usurp her husband's authority, that he would rule over her in a domineering, harsh, and authoritative way. But Paul teaches that Christ has redeemed the husband's role. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church. Love your wives in the deepest way imaginable. Sacrifice for her good. Put her first so that she can flourish in every way.

24:34Paul doesn't say that men are no longer the leaders, doesn't say that they're no longer held responsible for their families. He says that instead of ruling over them in a harsh and domineering way, they are to love them just like Jesus loved the church and gave himself up for her. So, friends, a Christian home should bear no resemblance at all to anything that you've seen in a sitcom, where you have a passive, lazy husband who abdicates responsibility to his overbearing wife, who only inserts his authority if he wants something to serve himself.

25:14No, men, our role is to take responsibility for the well-being of our families. That means we work hard to lead, provide, and protect. The most important leadership that we offer in our homes is spiritual. leadership. And so men, whether you're married or you hope to be married one day, understand it is not your wife's job to initiate prayer and Bible reading. It is not your wife's job to ensure that your family is at worship every Sunday. It's not your wife's job to ensure that spiritual things are being provided and prioritized in the home. It's not your wife's job to have to come to you and say, honey, I really think that some of the things that we're prioritizing are pulling us away from things like family worship and meaningful involvement in our church. And I think we should really reconsider how we're dealing with dance and sports and gymnastics and band and school and everything else. She shouldn't have to come to you and say that. You should say, honey, I think the way we need to structure our family is so that those things get the first fruits, the best, the priority. And we will figure out how to fit the other stuff in around that. That's your job.

26:35A wise, loving, godly husband knows his wife's strengths and gifts and empowers her to use them in the home and in the church and in the community. A wise, loving, godly husband listens to her input and defers to her when she has more knowledge, more experience, more talent, more gifts. But men, understand that if those decisions that you delegate to her, if they don't go well, you can't be like Adam and say, the woman that you gave to me, she decided this. You have to step up and understand that God will hold you accountable. You are the leader. You are responsible for the direction of your home. You cannot and should not be making every decision in your home, but make no mistake, you are responsible for what happens and for what doesn't happen in your home.

27:35And, friends, because the church is a spiritual family, it shouldn't surprise us at all that men are also called to lead, provide, and protect in the context of the church. So, I want to look at one more passage this morning with you, and that's 1 Timothy 2:12 through 14. Talking about order in the church, Paul says, I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man. Rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve, and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.

28:14Now, you may recall that when Paul is talking about the qualifications for elders in 1 Timothy 3, one of the qualifications for serving as an elder is that he has to manage his household well. And Paul says, because if he doesn't know how to manage his own family, How is he going to be able to manage God's family, the church? So, Paul is making this connection here. Do you see his logic? If men are supposed to be the leaders of their families, which is what we clearly see in Genesis 1 through 3 and Ephesians 5 and elsewhere, then it absolutely follows that men are also to be the leaders in God's family, the church.

28:57Men are called to lead in the church. That is, to exercise authority in the church as elders and deacons because God has designed us to lead, provide, and protect, to take responsibility for those under our care. That's why, in that passage of 1 Timothy 2, he doesn't say, I don't permit a woman to teach or exercise authority over man because they're not as educated or they're not as smart or they're not as capable. He never makes any such argument. Jesus and Paul and many others in the new covenant flipped the ancient world upside down by giving women places of honor, by including them in the ministry in valuable positions. No, he doesn't say anything like that. He connects it back to creation and God's original design.

29:48For Adam was formed first and then Eve. That's all the explanation that's given. Why are men to lead in the home and the church? Because Adam was formed first and then Eve. Who are we? Need to ask God, why did you create us this way? He created us this way to promote human flourishing so that all of us would be able to enjoy the abundant life that Jesus said that he came to give to us. So men are called to provide and protect. And so, of course, in the church, we are to provide the spiritual food for the church by preaching and teaching God's word. We're to protect the church from false doctrine and from the vulnerabilities that many of us have because of a lack of income or because a husband left or because we're dealing with illness or any number of setbacks. Elders and deacons are appointed in the church to lead, provide, and protect so that the whole spiritual family flourishes and is cared for. That's God's design and vision. That's all Paul is saying here. He's not saying the women can't serve in valuable roles in the church. He's not saying that they can't teach at all anywhere. He's not saying that they have nothing to offer. He's simply saying that in the spiritual family, just like in the nuclear family, men are to be leaders, providers, and protectors, and to do that as well in the church. And women are to help with that work.

31:21See, church, I think the reason that so many Bible-believing Christians start squirming when they come across these verses in the New Testament. Is that you miss the forest for the trees? And if you approach the Bible thinking that there's only like a verse or two here and there that mention the roles of men and women, then you're going to feel like, I don't really know what to do with this. This just feels outdated and arbitrary. And in 21st-century America, where gender distinctions are blurred and are being sought to just be eradicated entirely, it's going to make it even harder. And so, a lot of Christians who intend to believe the Bible and practice what it says and commands, we come across these verses here and there, these trees, if you will, and we're kind of like, well, I guess if the Bible says that wives should submit to husbands and the men should lead in the church, I guess that's the way it is. I don't like it, but I accept it. I don't want you to be in that miserable place.

32:36I want you to see the forest that from creation, God has designed male and female with particular roles because he designed his world to function in a certain way to promote flourishing for everyone, not just some people. Men, I don't want you to be embarrassed or ashamed. That God has called you to lead, provide, and protect in the home and in the church. Your leadership, though, has to be redeemed by the grace of Christ so that it is marked by love and sacrificial service.

33:17It must be done for the benefit of others, not for our own benefit. Ladies, I don't want you to be embarrassed or ashamed that God has called you to help in the home and in the church. Your help is necessary because we cannot do it without you. That's the whole point. Your spiritual gifts, your talents, your experience, your knowledge, all of that, it's necessary for us because we don't have what it takes on our own. I want you to remember that Jesus Himself submits to His Heavenly Father, and the Holy Spirit submits to both the Son and the Father.

33:59Do not believe the satanic lie that a difference in role means that there is also a difference in worth and value and dignity. That is not true. It will not surprise you that we have a book for you today. This book is called How Can Women Thrive in the Local Church? I think it's a great read. Ladies, you can pick them up in the lobby, kind of over by where I'm standing. But if you or someone you know is struggling with this issue, You, how can I thrive in the local church as a woman? Then I hope this resource will help you.

34:38Friends, we're living in a society that has blurred and sought to eradicate the distinctions between men and women. And many Christians have adopted the world's view of gender roles either consciously or subconsciously. My hope for you is that you would allow the Word of God to shape your thinking and your desires and your behavior with respect to gender. That God has created all people, men and women, with equal worth and dignity. That God designed us in a particular way as male and female, and that our gender distinctions are intended to tell us something about the mystery of the Trinity and the mystery of the gospel itself.

35:24That sin has distorted our gender distinct, but that Christ came to redeem those gender distinctions, and that we are called to live them out in the home, in the church, and in society at large so that all people can flourish. Some of us need to consider whether our thinking is shaped more by the Word of God or more by the world and its value system. All of us have to understand that sin has distorted the image of God in us and it's made it difficult for us to live out the things that God commands us to do as men and women.

36:01But friends, Jesus came and spoke words of life to broken men and women. Men and women who made a mess of their singleness, a mess of their marriages, because of their own sin. He gave his life to every one of us for all of our failures, including the ways that we have failed to be the men and women, the boys and girls that God has called us to be. He rose from the grave for our justification so that through faith in him we could be forgiven and reconciled to God and each other, and so that our marriages and our families and the church would be ordered in such a way that it would be a powerful and compelling witness to the lost that Jesus is alive and that Jesus makes a difference.

36:50This world is broken. And we see that so clearly in how it's broken our relationships. But Jesus told us to take heart because he has overcome the world. Thanks be to God. Let's pray. Father, as we prayed last week, we recognize our need for your help, that we simply cannot live in the way that you have intended us to live, apart from your grace, apart from the empowering work of the Holy Spirit. So we ask you to help us by transforming our minds, by reforming our hearts and what we desire, so that we could live in a way that shows an accurate picture of the Trinity, your one God who has expressed himself in three distinct persons, and so that we could be an accurate picture of the gospel.

38:31As husbands love their wives as Christ loved the church, and that as wives submit to their husbands just as the church submits to Christ. God, we want to be a powerful testimony to the watching world, but all of us need your help. Singles need your help to embrace who they are and who they've been called to be in you. And married couples need your help to embrace who they are. They are and who they've been called to be in you. And so we ask you this morning, God, to do that. To help us live in a manner that is worthy of the gospel in all of our relationships.

39:14In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to the sermon audio from New Life Baptist Church in College Station, Texas. For more information or to support our ministry, visit us online at newlifecs.net.