Genesis • God's Design for Gender and Marriage

We're beginning our study now through the majority of Genesis and we're going to go person by person and design by design. And our subject for this week is Adam and Eve, God's design for gender and for marriage. And what we want to do is we want to connect with the actual history of the creation of the first man and the first women, and then we want to connect with the narrative that God has revealed about his design for both gender and for marriage in general. So what I want to do is I want to read Genesis chapter 1 verses 1 and 2, and then I'm going to skip all the way down to verse 26 and 27, 28, and then I'm going to pray, okay? So you'll know why I'm jumping around. We start with Genesis chapter 1.

verse 26.

So Lord, we bow our hearts before you this morning, and we ask that you would do the work by your Holy Spirit to open up our minds, open up the eyes of our spirit, Lord. Help us to see what you've revealed to us. Help us to find something new in these chapters, something that helps us to stand in awe of you and helps us to recognize how you have and are reaching out to us, Lord. So be with us in Jesus' name, amen. Well, we're not going to spend very much time in chapter one. You knew in the study guide that wasn't the point. But I just want to say, as you studied, you saw in creation, days one, two, and three, that God was about the business of creating environments, creating homes, creating habitats. And on days four, five, and six, he filled what he had created. He created the heavens, and he filled it with sun, moon, and stars. And he created the skies and the waters. He filled it with those creatures to inhabit that. And by day six, he was creating the land animals and, of course, finally, man. So we noticed the pattern to God's activities during the creation week was to form and then to fill. And that was the pattern that we saw. And you probably noticed a consistent rhythm as you read. The rhythm is, and God said, thus and such. And God saw that it was good, over and over. I don't know if you paid attention, but you read that in verses three, six, nine, 11, 14, 16, 20, 24, and 25. It's quite a rhythm. It kept happening over and over again. But did you notice the time signature change, the rhythm change in verse 26? It's different. Then God said, let us make man in our image, in our likeness, very different. It's a definite change of rhythm. And for the first time in scripture, we're brought into that sacred chamber of thought where the Godhead is vocalizing their intention for the next part of creation. And we're brought in to listen to what that was like. So the next part of creation was creating man in the image of God. Let us create him in our image. The Latin has it, imago dei. And this is where we as Christians, we gain our understanding that man has an elevated worth over the rest of creation. We are the only part of God's creation actually fashioned in his image. So chapter one told us that the purpose given to man, it says, let him have dominion over the earth, fish, birds, livestock, every creeping thing. And also gave us some details, male and female. We learn in verse 28 that God blessed them, and we learn the charge called to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it. And you probably also noticed that other little interesting part in verse 29 and 30, that yes, Adam and Eve were vegetarians. Every plant was given to them to eat along with everyone on the earth. But this is going to change in a few chapters. So if you're a rancher, if you raise chickens or goats, it's okay. You're not outside of God's good graces. So don't squirm. But a perfect summary for chapter one we find at the end, and God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. So in chapter two now, where we're heading, and by the way, just so you know, that wasn't an in-depth study of chapter one. If you are interested in an in-depth study, if this has piqued your curiosity, I would suggest to you go to our church website, and there is an in-depth study of Genesis chapter one. You can also check out the Truth Project that we did just this last summer, which has some really great information on that. You can go to Blue Letter Bible. Also, Amber put some great apologetics books in our bookstore for this season that Women of the Word are going over Genesis for all ages. There's children and adult books, and it's on a special case there. So if you have reading time, just grab an extra book as a companion to this study, and I think you'll find it worthwhile. But this week is entitled God's Design for Gender and Marriage, and that's going to be our outline for chapter two, Gender First and then Marriage. I find it completely fascinating, here we are, February 3rd, 2017, that God has brought this subject right into our laps. And last month's edition, January 2017 edition of National Geographic, the title is Gender Revolution. And of course, many of us grew up with that long bookshelf of yellow-spined magazines, right? Every classroom, most homes, that sort of thing. And their topic in January is called Gender Revolution, and Katie Couric has a TV documentary that will air Monday on that. I also find it fascinating that God prompted us to have this section at the end of each week's study called Cultural Confusion, so that we are able to face and challenge the fine-sounding arguments that come from our culture. Because if we follow the culture, confusion will result. But Paul told the Corinthians that God is not a God of confusion, but of peace. And so we want to settle ourselves into the word of God and have this rich resource of nutrition of truth coming at us, which is what we find in the word of God, so that we can combat the confusion. Our culture is trying to erase the differences between male and female, so that we might think that men and women are basically the same or interchangeable, and that people experience maybe a variation of male or femaleness that goes along a spectrum. But this is not supported by biology, or by the Bible, or really by science. It's the things that we find that are clear from what we've studied in Genesis chapter 1 and 2 with regard to gender, is that God made them male and female. It's clear that they were made uniquely and differently from each other to be complementary. That both are created in the image of God, but they reflect the image of God differently. You reflect the image of God differently than the men in your life. And I hope we'll get to that. And both are created with equal value and rights, but distinct and complementary in their purpose and in their design. So let's dive in. The first section is going to be God's design for man. And I just kind of, I guess I feel like I owe you a warning, that I feel like I want to, I don't want us to rush to application in this. You can discuss the application yourself, but if we rush to application, sometimes we miss the awe and the wonder at looking at the design. And like we said last week, being able to stand and say, oh, that makes so much sense. Later, I can talk about how I'm supposed to be a good wife, later. But today, I really want to stand in awe and wonder about God's design. So we're in Genesis chapter 2, verse 7 is what I want to look at and really unpack that verse that says,

So let's take that apart phrase by phrase. The first thing that we notice is the word Lord God, and this is new, and this marks a significant difference between chapter 1 and chapter 2, because chapter 1 was sort of a flyover of all. of creation and it said 32 times you read and God said or you read the word God which is the word Elohim that name for God which describes his majesty and his greatness but now in this chapter nine times it's going to be Lord God and the word Lord here is his covenant name Jehovah a covenant is something that isn't a person's identity it is something between people it describes relationship it describes communion between two people and so now as we get the details in chapter two of the formation the creation of man and woman there's a different name he says now this covenant God did this and such okay so we have Jehovah Elohim and the implication is obvious that God created us with the intention of a covenant relationship between himself and us built on the foundation of communion the next word we see in that verse is the word formed the Lord God formed and that's also different than so many times in the first chapter and God said let there be formed is personal it is active and it generates a picture in our mind maybe of God even bending down into the dust he formed it's definitely not a passive thing and I think it's put plainly into scripture for us to see and marvel at the personal aspect the personal how God was involved in that way that so we learned that Adam was formed from the dust of the ground Adam was formed from Adama and we are as human as mankind we are formed from and tethered to the earth that God created for us the intention was to be that we would have dominion and rule and reign over this earth but you know that will change in the next chapter and so now the implications of us being tethered to this earth are we die and we go back to it our bodies die and we go back to the dust from which we came we go back to the ground from which we came now Jesus is the one who came though and took on the same body and when he died his body did not go back to the dust his physical body went to heaven he's the only one he conquered death he broke that and so his physical body went to heaven our bodies will return to the dust but God has made provision for us to get a new body which is awesome so and finally we learn that Jehovah Elohim breathed into his nostrils the breath of life no other creation received God's breath of life only man God formed him and then he imparted something of himself into him the breath of life I love the songs we sing it's your breath in my lungs so we pour out our praise we owe God praise because it's his breath in our lungs we owe him that how sad it is to use the breath that we have to curse God to demand our rights or to promote liberty to others from God's commands now if you followed in the study guide to the end under our section of the unfolding story of Jesus we went to John 20 and saw the connection when Jesus imparted his breath to the disciples I'll read it for you it's John 20 verse 19 it says the first day of the week which was the day that Jesus was resurrected Jesus came and he stood among his disciples and he said to them peace be with you and he showed them his body his hands and his side and he breathed on them and said receive the Holy Spirit how lovely is it for us when we study God's Word and we see that God that Jesus breathed out the Holy Spirit to them that we go back to the beginning and we see when God formed man he breathed into him the breath of life it's one of those opportunities for us to go that makes so much sense I love this God had a plan and it ties together and it's beautiful so the next set of verses in verses 8 to 17 we have the details of the specific home or habitat that God created for Adam which is the Garden of Eden and you studied through that and it says in verse 15 that Jehovah Elohim took the man and he put him in the garden to work it and to keep it so one interesting point here is that work is not a result of sin we might think it is but no look that was God's intention for man was to work the garden and to keep it it was a good thing work is a good thing for how we are designed and man was given great liberty in the garden with one limitation of liberty and that was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil but we have to set that on the shelf for next week let's talk about God's design for woman now beginning in verse 18 God had God saw that this solitary characteristic of man is not what he had intended for his creation it was not a mistake but it was not yet good and creation wasn't completed because God intended a greater depth of dimension for his people to reflect his image so verse 18 says then excuse me the Lord God said it is not good that the man should be alone I will make him a helper fit for him other translations might say a companion suitable but it was a being equal to him yet complimentary to him and this describes for us the purpose of a woman in general and that is we are specifically designed to complement to complete to fill in what is lacking okay it also illuminates man's luck there is is that okay for me to say do I have to take that out but you know you don't need someone to fill in the gaps if you had it all so he doesn't have it all so the word in here that's translated helper is the Hebrew word a sir and this is really interesting for us to be able to find out well describe more what are you talking about well a sir is someone who helps compliments completes to bring to the human experience what is lacking there's a striking similarity in this word to the Holy Spirit because first of all it's the same word that God uses to describe his help of Israel him coming to help Israel but also Jesus in John called the Holy Spirit the helper multiple times John was the one of the disciples that picked up on it and was listening when Jesus was saying that he records it multiple times for us the one I want to read to is John 1426 these are Jesus's words but the helper the Holy Spirit whom God will send in my name he will teach you all things and he'll bring to my to your remembrance what I have said and so we look is it not fair for us to say that Adam seems in that to reflect the image of God he seems a little bit like Jesus Christ and woman seems to reflect the image of God a little bit like the Holy Spirit even to the point of the word that is used to describe her formation so when I told you earlier we reflect God's image differently that is what I meant also woman was not formed from the dust of the ground like Adam was God did not bend down and reach down to the dust again and say I'm going to form a woman to give to you know what he did do he put Adam to sleep and he took from him he took something out of him and from that he formed his companion he formed the woman and so she is formed from Adam himself and the Holy Spirit also is sent to dwell in God's children the bride of Christ from Christ himself John 1526 says but when the helper comes whom I will send to you from the father so I went to bed the other night thinking about this just kind of thinking about what trouble God went to like you know we'll just go ahead and take this literally that God put Adam to sleep somehow he took a bone out he fashioned woman this is how it went that's a lot of trouble don't you think what why why the trouble but you know what there's a lot of trouble for Jesus to come and have his perfect body, invaded, so that he might receive a bride. There's great similarities there. So I just want to touch on, one, what does this mean to me question. So here's the question. Does this mean that women only have value if they are married? Well, thank you for answering. Good job. And my answer would be, absolutely not. That would be like saying a Christian only has value in saving the lost if they're a professional evangelist, OK? An evangelist is someone with a specific purpose, but all Christians should be reaching out to do that work, to save the lost. And the parade of history has given us all kinds of examples of women who show us that. Amy Carmichael, Corrie Tenboom, Fannie Crosby, Nancy Leigh DeMoss, until just a year or two ago, and then she got married in her mid-50s. But here, I feel like the satisfying distinction for a woman who is neither a wife nor a mother would be for her to serve God's kingdom in the same general, rather than specific, capacity of bringing life, speaking life, helping, nurturing, complementing. And we should applaud that in our Christian communities. We will, most of us, a majority of us, will go through our lives having periods of time when we do not have the specific task of being a wife or the specific task of being a mother. What do we do outside of those periods of time? We take on those general characteristics, and we serve with how God has fashioned us God's kingdom. And I know I watch a lot of you do that really, really well. And I think it's beautiful for us to be able to celebrate God's design, God's intention. Obviously, if you are married today, there's an intention for you to help and complete that one particular specific man that you are united with. But there's a much bigger application in terms of serving the kingdom of God. So let's move to our final topic, which is God's design for marriage. I'm gonna start reading in verse 23.

Malachi 2.15 gives us a little insight that I wanna read to you.

Now, procreation in marriage isn't everything, but it's a lot because God loves people and God loves life. He is our relational God. And Adam was given a charge, and we'll read in a few weeks, Noah, to be fruitful, to multiply and fill the earth. But I want to add also that we New Testament Christians have been given a specific charge to make disciples, to go out into all the earth and to make disciples. And so I think that there are two thoughts there that we have to keep in mind and hold in tension so that we don't get too far off on either one. But marriage is a big deal in the Bible. Marriage is a big deal in the Bible. And I think it's why the enemy hates marriage so much and tries to confuse us, that it's something different than what it is. But I want you to think about this for just a minute. This is one of those big picture things. First two chapters of Genesis. We have the creation narrative in Genesis to reveal God's relational character that is expressed by the union, the marriage of this one man and one woman that he created. You know next week it's all going to fall apart, man is going to rebel, and now we're going to be in a different place. So now the Bible has 1,185 chapters of God's unfolding plan to redeem man from the rebellion that occurs in the next chapter. And then we get to the end and we have the last two chapters of the Bible which express to us God's relational character in the recreation with a marriage of the lamb and his bride. Jesus Christ and his bride. Our entire Bible is sandwiched between two marriages. And God, I think, has given us to this, has given us this for us to understand his character, the relational aspect. If all we had was Genesis one and we say Elohim did this, Elohim did this, Elohim did this, we'd go, ah, does he know I'm here? Like, you know, it's not relational. But God went to great lengths to say, no, no, no, no, no, I'm relational. I want a union with you. I want to be connected to you. I want you to reach out to me. I've chosen you. I want you to choose me back. And that's what marriage, we've said it many times in our studies, marriage, you can probably repeat it with me even, marriage is a symbol of the union of the church and Christ. It has endured for all of these centuries as a symbol. And so we need to hold that tight in our hearts and in our minds and realize that God gave it to us for that purpose. So, back to gender for just a moment. I'm just gonna ask a few, I'm gonna present a few questions here that are more, what does it mean to me? Here's a question. Is it possible that some people, even Christians, have a real struggle with sexuality and gender the way it is described in God's word, the way it has been revealed as his design? Is that possible? Absolutely. Sin has corrupted everything. Of course it's possible to have thoughts, desires, this and that, that are outside of God's plan for design. Here's what the Apostle Paul said to Romans in chapter seven. He goes, I do not understand my own actions, for I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. He says, for I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law, waging war against the law of my mind, and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. So, the struggle is real. The struggle exists. And, but here's the thing we have to remember. Our thoughts, our feelings, our emotions do not redefine truth. That's so silly. If we take that and place it on another aspect that's against God's character, like anger. Maybe many of you in this room know that feeling personally, like you're quick to anger, you have a quick temper, or you have had over the course of your life, or you've lived with someone, and completely outside of God's design for, you know, relationships, right? But just because someone has those inclinations, those thoughts, or whatever, you don't redefine and say, so, anger's a good thing. No, no, no, no, no. You have to stay on true north, and say, I have to war. I have to war against what my mind, what my body, what these thoughts that are there, through the power of the Holy Spirit. And that is the Christian life. To allow the Holy Spirit to come in and invade us, and have victory over areas that the members of our body, like Paul calls them, wage war against God's design, and God's plan. How about this one? Is a Christian woman confined, should a Christian woman confine herself to the traditional roles of femininity? Well, I would say, yes and no. Depends on what your traditional roles of femininity are, and if they are biblical roles of femininity. There's nothing more virtuous about a woman baking bread than a woman programming an iPhone app, okay? And so, we need to put on that thinking that we need to use the gifts, the capacity, the natural and spiritual gifts that God has given us to serve him, to serve his kingdom, to the extent that they line up with what has been revealed in scripture. See, those are our boundaries. Nothing about being a computer programmer or baking bread in the word, you know? We line up to the extent of our revelation in scripture. Last thing, I started by mentioning that National Geographic article, Gender Revolution. And I just wanna read you one quote for that, not to cast it, well, it is what it is. Okay. Just for us to understand. This is what it says. This is a summary. Once we recognize that gender identity and expression exist along a spectrum. Why should we cling to the rigid characterization of men and women? The ultimate goal, surely, is to let all people define themselves as human beings, to break out of the assigned categories and challenge received wisdom. I thought it was fascinating that they used the word to break out, and Paul mentioned this to us in the staff meeting, to break out of assigned categories. I want you to hear what David said when he wrote Psalm, what we call Psalm chapter 2. He says, why do the nations rage and the people's plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against God and against his anointed one. Here's what they say, let us break their chains. Let us throw off their fetters. See David understood this centuries ago, that this is the heart of man. This is the rebellion to break out against what God has designed, and it's never changed. It's just part of sin. And so, I guess in summary, I would want to exhort us and encourage us that the people in our lives that have been led astray by our culture, to understand they need the gospel of grace and forgiveness. This is the answer, the sound doctrine. They need the gospel of grace and forgiveness. The people who are purposefully and rebelliously and actively breaking out from God's design and encouraging other people to do the same thing, need the gospel of grace and forgiveness. And we are bearers of that gospel. We know the gospel. We know God's design. We understand rebellion. How many have been a rebellious woman? We understand. There's nothing new. We know that God has rescued us and redeemed us, and that there is a creator God who is relational and wants to reach out and to draw us in to be his own. So I'm going to let you do all the other discussion. Father God, we thank you for your revelation. Lord, I just want to praise you this morning that you give us such richness in your word to really show us those things that we can say, that makes so much sense. I get it now. Lord, thank you for that. And Lord, I pray that you'd help each one of us to just take these things and first of all, enjoy the sweetness of knowing our personal creator God and seeing how you bend down and reach down to us to connect. And then Lord, I pray that you would help us to apply, to apply to our life and the things that are going on in our lives and the circles of influence that we have, Lord God. Pray all these things in Jesus' name, amen.