1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,560 Hi, this is Dave Olson. I'm the senior leader of 2 00:00:02,560 --> 00:00:04,600 Heartland Church located in Ankeny, IA. 3 00:00:04,600 --> 00:00:08,039 I hope the following message challenges, encourages, and 4 00:00:08,039 --> 00:00:11,120 ultimately changes you. Thanks for joining us. 5 00:00:11,600 --> 00:00:15,600 In light of Mother's Day, I was, I was well, this, I wasn't 6 00:00:15,600 --> 00:00:17,480 listening to it because of Mother's Day, but I stumbled 7 00:00:17,480 --> 00:00:23,880 across a podcast with some conservative scholars discussing 8 00:00:24,640 --> 00:00:27,560 some passages in scripture that really intrigued me. 9 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:31,240 They were talking about Exodus one through 4 and they were 10 00:00:31,240 --> 00:00:35,480 talking about women that in that passage and it just really 11 00:00:35,480 --> 00:00:37,320 intrigued me. I thought, I'm going to take an 12 00:00:37,320 --> 00:00:41,320 opportunity to meditate on that. And they preach on that on 13 00:00:41,320 --> 00:00:44,360 Mother's Day. And then I've also been doing 14 00:00:44,360 --> 00:00:48,240 some more, more pre marriage counseling than normal. 15 00:00:48,560 --> 00:00:50,880 I just did a wedding yesterday out in the open air. 16 00:00:50,880 --> 00:00:54,600 It was a beautiful wedding. And so in marriage counselling, 17 00:00:54,600 --> 00:00:59,880 I'm always, I'm always pulled into talking about how God made 18 00:00:59,880 --> 00:01:03,040 men and women differently. You know, the shocking thing is 19 00:01:03,040 --> 00:01:08,240 that is shocking to some people that that is, that is news to 20 00:01:08,240 --> 00:01:11,000 some people. I remember years ago, I matter 21 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:13,600 of fact, I kept it. I have a Time magazine that said 22 00:01:13,800 --> 00:01:16,640 the cover story was men and women are different. 23 00:01:17,360 --> 00:01:19,200 And I'm thinking, I'm trusting you for the news. 24 00:01:19,600 --> 00:01:21,520 You know, this, this, these people, that was a big deal to 25 00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:23,120 them. But they were talking about, you 26 00:01:23,120 --> 00:01:25,320 know, studies that have have borne that out. 27 00:01:25,320 --> 00:01:28,880 And of course, we know that. But here, here's the thing. 28 00:01:29,480 --> 00:01:34,200 So yesterday, during the I was marrying this couple and we were 29 00:01:34,200 --> 00:01:39,720 talking about how in creation God created man and woman. 30 00:01:39,720 --> 00:01:45,120 It says God says let us create man in our own image, in the 31 00:01:45,120 --> 00:01:48,400 image of God. He created him, male and female. 32 00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:52,480 He created them. So God created this being in his 33 00:01:52,480 --> 00:01:56,240 image and then took something out of him and presented it back 34 00:01:56,240 --> 00:02:01,440 to him to for him to become one with this being that he created. 35 00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:05,560 And so both male and female are created in God's image. 36 00:02:05,800 --> 00:02:09,080 God took the female out of man and presented it back to him. 37 00:02:09,360 --> 00:02:12,160 Which is it? It's a that's a fascinating 38 00:02:12,160 --> 00:02:17,160 study in and of itself. So what I'm saying is this God 39 00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:22,600 wanted a representative on earth and so he created this being in 40 00:02:22,600 --> 00:02:25,640 his image. Then he took the feminine 41 00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:30,800 portion out of man and presented it back to him and said become 42 00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:33,400 one with it. But together they are the image 43 00:02:33,400 --> 00:02:35,880 of God. It's very important we 44 00:02:35,880 --> 00:02:39,120 understand that because we can tend to think, Oh yeah, men are 45 00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:42,880 made in God's image, in women. You know, God's a man. 46 00:02:43,200 --> 00:02:44,920 And God is neither male nor female. 47 00:02:44,920 --> 00:02:52,600 Now he is masculine in his, his, his function, his initiation. 48 00:02:52,600 --> 00:02:56,240 CS Lewis, I love CS Lewis. He had this statement in one of 49 00:02:56,240 --> 00:02:59,640 his books. He said God is so masculine that 50 00:02:59,640 --> 00:03:02,480 all of creation is feminine in response to him. 51 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:06,440 What he was talking about is that he, he was trying to get to 52 00:03:06,440 --> 00:03:10,320 the essence of masculinity. Masculinity is initiation, 53 00:03:10,480 --> 00:03:14,360 Femininity is response. And all we can do is respond to 54 00:03:14,360 --> 00:03:18,720 his initiation. But male and female are both 55 00:03:18,720 --> 00:03:23,240 expressions of his nature. And so we need to understand 56 00:03:23,240 --> 00:03:25,880 this because this, this is a very important thing. 57 00:03:25,880 --> 00:03:28,520 So what we're going to do is we're going to look at, we're 58 00:03:29,400 --> 00:03:31,520 going to, we're going to get into some stuff this morning. 59 00:03:31,520 --> 00:03:35,160 Let's pray, Father, Father, we ask that you would grace us, 60 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:39,600 Lord, to learn this morning. Father, help me to articulate 61 00:03:39,760 --> 00:03:41,600 what you've placed upon my heart. 62 00:03:41,960 --> 00:03:46,560 And Lord, I ask that you would speak to us and that you would 63 00:03:46,560 --> 00:03:50,960 stir our hearts, Lord, that we would fully embrace what you 64 00:03:50,960 --> 00:03:53,280 made us to be in Jesus name. Amen. 65 00:03:54,040 --> 00:03:56,120 All right, I've got a little bit of something going on with my 66 00:03:56,120 --> 00:03:59,600 mic guys. OK, let's go to go to, let's go 67 00:03:59,600 --> 00:04:05,360 to Exodus chapter one through 4. Exodus chapter one through 4. 68 00:04:05,360 --> 00:04:07,400 It's, it's fascinating. So I want to kind of use this as 69 00:04:07,400 --> 00:04:09,880 a springboard. Like I said, I, I, I came across 70 00:04:09,880 --> 00:04:14,640 this podcast, There were three conservative biblical scholars 71 00:04:14,640 --> 00:04:18,160 discussing this passage and they began to talk about the 72 00:04:18,160 --> 00:04:21,720 prominent role that women play in this passage, which was 73 00:04:21,720 --> 00:04:23,280 fascinating to me. I never saw it. 74 00:04:23,440 --> 00:04:26,200 There were three Hebrew scholars and they were, they were even 75 00:04:26,200 --> 00:04:28,320 saying the words correctly. I know they're pronouncing the 76 00:04:28,320 --> 00:04:31,120 Hebrew words and, and now they were talking about this, but 77 00:04:31,120 --> 00:04:34,440 they were talking about how in the Hebrew text, it's very clear 78 00:04:34,560 --> 00:04:38,280 the role that women played in this scenario. 79 00:04:38,600 --> 00:04:43,040 And so if you you know anything about Exodus, Exodus is the 80 00:04:43,040 --> 00:04:49,200 story of the children of Israel exiting slavery out of Egypt. 81 00:04:49,480 --> 00:04:53,040 And so the beginning of the book kind of sets up what happened, 82 00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:56,800 how they ended up in slavery. And then God raises up a 83 00:04:56,840 --> 00:05:00,840 deliverer in the form of Moses and how all that plays out, the 84 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:04,280 miraculous, you know, circumstances and so forth. 85 00:05:04,640 --> 00:05:08,320 But what we often overlook is the key role that women played 86 00:05:08,360 --> 00:05:11,200 early on in this scenario. And they pointed out that there 87 00:05:11,200 --> 00:05:15,960 were seven key women in this passage, which is very 88 00:05:15,960 --> 00:05:17,920 interesting to me. So let's look at verse 8. 89 00:05:18,120 --> 00:05:20,280 And there arose a new king in Egypt. 90 00:05:20,280 --> 00:05:23,880 So where we're left off in the book of Genesis is that Joseph, 91 00:05:25,280 --> 00:05:30,560 he is sold into slavery, goes from the prison to the palace, 92 00:05:30,560 --> 00:05:33,600 rises in prominence. God's hand is upon him. 93 00:05:33,600 --> 00:05:37,640 He's a prophetic voice to the most powerful man in the world 94 00:05:37,640 --> 00:05:39,880 at that time, the Pharaoh of Egypt. 95 00:05:40,200 --> 00:05:43,000 And he finds great favor. And So what happens is his 96 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:46,880 entire family is saved and they come and they settle into this, 97 00:05:47,080 --> 00:05:50,400 this fertile ground of Egypt. And they and that's where it 98 00:05:50,400 --> 00:05:51,880 ends up. It's a beautiful story. 99 00:05:52,080 --> 00:05:55,400 Now we enter into Exodus and it's not so beautiful anymore 100 00:05:55,400 --> 00:05:58,520 because it says now there are. There was a new king over Egypt 101 00:05:58,520 --> 00:06:02,840 who did not know Joseph, and he said to his people, behold, the 102 00:06:02,840 --> 00:06:06,080 people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. 103 00:06:06,480 --> 00:06:09,600 Now that alone in and of itself is very interesting because the 104 00:06:09,600 --> 00:06:13,640 children of Israel already did not view himself that themselves 105 00:06:13,640 --> 00:06:16,560 that way, or they would have never tolerated what's coming 106 00:06:16,560 --> 00:06:20,480 next. The enemy knew something about 107 00:06:20,480 --> 00:06:24,640 them they didn't know about themselves, and that's not an 108 00:06:24,640 --> 00:06:28,960 isolated situation. That is often the case in 109 00:06:28,960 --> 00:06:33,120 believers lives that the enemy knows your identity better than 110 00:06:33,120 --> 00:06:35,840 you do. And if that's the case, if you 111 00:06:35,840 --> 00:06:40,440 allow that to continue, he can enslave you and and keep you 112 00:06:40,440 --> 00:06:43,000 down and keep you from what God has for you. 113 00:06:43,360 --> 00:06:46,280 And so he says, come, let us deal shrewdly with them. 114 00:06:46,520 --> 00:06:50,320 So what the enemy always does is he will he, he understands who 115 00:06:50,320 --> 00:06:54,000 you are often more than you do in the beginning, and he'll deal 116 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:57,280 shrewdly with you to keep you under his thumb. 117 00:06:57,640 --> 00:07:01,960 And so he says, lest, and this is what he's trying to keep from 118 00:07:01,960 --> 00:07:06,280 happening, lest they multiply. And if war breaks out, they join 119 00:07:06,280 --> 00:07:09,920 our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land. 120 00:07:11,040 --> 00:07:15,520 And so he is afraid of war on the horizon against the 121 00:07:15,520 --> 00:07:18,240 Israelites, that the Israelites will turn on him. 122 00:07:18,440 --> 00:07:20,800 And so he says, let us deal shrewdly. 123 00:07:20,800 --> 00:07:22,360 And how does that play out? Verse 11. 124 00:07:22,560 --> 00:07:27,440 Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with 125 00:07:27,440 --> 00:07:31,400 heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh store 126 00:07:31,400 --> 00:07:34,360 cities, Pitham and Ramses. But the more they were 127 00:07:34,360 --> 00:07:37,960 oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they 128 00:07:37,960 --> 00:07:41,360 spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread 129 00:07:41,360 --> 00:07:43,480 of the people of Israel. It's fascinating. 130 00:07:43,880 --> 00:07:48,120 So as they the more they were oppressed, the more they grew. 131 00:07:48,360 --> 00:07:51,920 And there was this dread in the hearts of the Egyptians towards 132 00:07:51,920 --> 00:07:54,560 the Israelites, but the Israelites did not perceive it. 133 00:07:55,120 --> 00:07:56,760 And so they put up with this bondage. 134 00:07:56,760 --> 00:07:59,800 And even although they were more, and they were more mighty, 135 00:07:59,960 --> 00:08:03,840 they put up with this slavery. And again, all you know, all 136 00:08:03,840 --> 00:08:07,800 down through history the Church has used this, and rightly so, 137 00:08:08,120 --> 00:08:11,800 as a foreshadowing or as a symbolic picture and 138 00:08:11,800 --> 00:08:18,360 illustration of Rams or a Pharaoh being Satan, a picture 139 00:08:18,360 --> 00:08:22,360 of Satan or a symbol of Satan. Israel being a symbol of the 140 00:08:22,360 --> 00:08:29,240 church, Moses as the deliverer. All this symbolic imagery in the 141 00:08:29,240 --> 00:08:33,159 Old Testament that gives us a picture of what we go through as 142 00:08:33,159 --> 00:08:35,440 believers. So much so that Paul picks up on 143 00:08:35,440 --> 00:08:37,919 this and it is book to the Corinthians, his first book. 144 00:08:37,919 --> 00:08:41,960 He says all these things happen to them as an example for us so 145 00:08:41,960 --> 00:08:47,160 that we can learn from it. And the first take away is that 146 00:08:47,520 --> 00:08:52,320 in general that the Jewish people did not realize who they 147 00:08:52,320 --> 00:08:58,800 really were, and Pharaoh the enemy did. 148 00:08:58,920 --> 00:09:04,960 But here's the catch there was he, he, he understood the danger 149 00:09:05,280 --> 00:09:10,000 of the people of God, but he really only attributed that to 1 150 00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:13,080 group of the children of God. And we're going to see that 151 00:09:13,080 --> 00:09:14,280 here. So let's read on. 152 00:09:14,280 --> 00:09:16,520 He says verse 12. But the more they were 153 00:09:16,520 --> 00:09:18,360 oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they 154 00:09:18,360 --> 00:09:20,480 spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread 155 00:09:20,480 --> 00:09:22,440 of the people. So they ruthlessly made the 156 00:09:22,440 --> 00:09:26,120 people of Israel work as slaves and made them their lives bitter 157 00:09:26,120 --> 00:09:29,720 with hard service in mortar and brick and all kinds of work in 158 00:09:29,720 --> 00:09:33,360 the field and all their work. They ruthlessly made them work 159 00:09:33,360 --> 00:09:36,080 as slaves. Then the king of Egypt said the 160 00:09:36,080 --> 00:09:39,320 Hebrew, the Hebrew midwives. So here we have introduced these 161 00:09:39,320 --> 00:09:43,120 two first ladies that were part of God's great plan, his 162 00:09:43,120 --> 00:09:45,960 deliverance. These two Hebrew midwives, one 163 00:09:45,960 --> 00:09:49,120 of them was named Cifra and the other was Puah. 164 00:09:49,560 --> 00:09:53,120 And when they served as a midwife to the Hebrew women and 165 00:09:53,120 --> 00:09:56,120 see them give, this is what Pharaoh says to them. 166 00:09:56,240 --> 00:09:59,520 When you serve as a midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on 167 00:09:59,520 --> 00:10:03,960 the birth stool, if it is a son, you shall kill him. 168 00:10:04,640 --> 00:10:07,760 But if it is a daughter, she shall live. 169 00:10:10,120 --> 00:10:14,360 And so even though we know that the Egyptian people and Pharaoh 170 00:10:14,360 --> 00:10:19,800 himself feared the the Jews, really their fear was only of 171 00:10:19,800 --> 00:10:25,320 the men. And So what Pharaoh did is 172 00:10:25,320 --> 00:10:28,280 Pharaoh said, if it's going to be a boy, you're going to take 173 00:10:28,280 --> 00:10:31,280 them out. If it's a girl, you shall let 174 00:10:31,280 --> 00:10:34,200 her live. So what we understand is that 175 00:10:34,200 --> 00:10:39,680 the enemy himself underestimated the potential of these ladies. 176 00:10:41,680 --> 00:10:44,960 He thought, if I just kill the boys, we're going to we're going 177 00:10:44,960 --> 00:10:47,120 to solve this thing. And here's the irony of this 178 00:10:47,120 --> 00:10:51,160 whole thing is that it was the women who set up the deliverer, 179 00:10:52,800 --> 00:10:56,080 these two gals, these two midwives, they refuse to do it 180 00:10:56,080 --> 00:10:59,280 because it says the very next verse, they feared the Lord more 181 00:10:59,280 --> 00:11:02,000 than they feared Pharaoh. So here we have some heroic 182 00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:04,640 women behind the scenes. And they would not kill these 183 00:11:04,680 --> 00:11:07,040 male children. And so Pharaoh calls them back 184 00:11:07,040 --> 00:11:08,160 in and said, hey, what's the deal? 185 00:11:08,160 --> 00:11:09,680 I told you what you're supposed to do. 186 00:11:09,880 --> 00:11:12,280 And they said, well, these these Hebrew women, they're very 187 00:11:12,280 --> 00:11:14,160 vigorous. They just, they give birth 188 00:11:14,160 --> 00:11:17,200 before we can even get there. And Pharaoh's kind of puzzled. 189 00:11:17,200 --> 00:11:20,200 And he said, OK, then what we're going to do after they're born, 190 00:11:20,200 --> 00:11:23,000 you're to throw them in the river and the river Nile. 191 00:11:23,000 --> 00:11:24,840 You're supposed to kill the male children. 192 00:11:26,600 --> 00:11:29,200 And again, we have a couple of women show up. 193 00:11:29,480 --> 00:11:34,600 First of all, we have Moses's mother who fears the Lord, and 194 00:11:34,600 --> 00:11:36,640 she sees the destiny in her child. 195 00:11:36,840 --> 00:11:39,400 It says that she saw he was a beautiful child. 196 00:11:39,680 --> 00:11:42,520 The Hebrew really means it was a child of great destiny, of great 197 00:11:42,520 --> 00:11:44,480 value. She recognized that. 198 00:11:44,640 --> 00:11:47,160 So she threw them in the river after three months, but she did 199 00:11:47,160 --> 00:11:49,760 it in an ark a little, a little really. 200 00:11:49,760 --> 00:11:53,040 It's it's the word is an arc, but it's a little bassinet kind 201 00:11:53,040 --> 00:11:55,880 of covered thing, you know. So he's floating and his sister 202 00:11:55,880 --> 00:11:57,920 follows. And here's the really amazing 203 00:11:57,920 --> 00:12:03,480 thing is that Pharaoh's own daughter sees him along with her 204 00:12:03,480 --> 00:12:08,040 servants and, and spots it opens up the lid of this thing and 205 00:12:08,040 --> 00:12:10,560 there's a baby crying and her heart is stirred. 206 00:12:10,880 --> 00:12:13,920 So here's the catch. And, and according to these 207 00:12:13,920 --> 00:12:16,240 Hebrew scholars, I don't, I'm not a Hebrew scholar. 208 00:12:16,960 --> 00:12:19,760 I don't, I don't speak Hebrew. I know a little Hebrew. 209 00:12:19,760 --> 00:12:21,800 He runs a sandwich shop. No, I'm just kidding. 210 00:12:22,640 --> 00:12:28,880 So this, you know, this, these Hebrews I know that was bad in 211 00:12:28,880 --> 00:12:31,360 the Hebrew. It's very prominent, the way 212 00:12:31,360 --> 00:12:35,440 this is thrust to the forefront, this repetition of these ladies. 213 00:12:38,760 --> 00:12:45,040 And Pharaoh underestimated the potential, the power and the 214 00:12:45,040 --> 00:12:52,840 danger of these Hebrew women and even underestimated the women in 215 00:12:52,840 --> 00:12:56,280 his own family. And so when he said, we're going 216 00:12:56,280 --> 00:13:03,400 to kill the sons, it was a woman within his own family that 217 00:13:03,400 --> 00:13:06,480 preserved the one son that would matter most. 218 00:13:07,360 --> 00:13:09,800 Isn't that amazing? It's a great story. 219 00:13:12,160 --> 00:13:16,840 And so within his own household, this woman arises and and puts 220 00:13:16,840 --> 00:13:19,560 her covering over him and says, we're going to preserve, we're 221 00:13:19,560 --> 00:13:21,480 going to preserve this life. And he ends. 222 00:13:21,480 --> 00:13:25,560 She ends up paying the mother to nurse her own son. 223 00:13:25,760 --> 00:13:29,480 It's an amazing story. And then Moses is raised in the 224 00:13:29,480 --> 00:13:31,520 House of Pharaoh, becomes the deliverer. 225 00:13:31,800 --> 00:13:36,520 And there's these these women that are very significant in the 226 00:13:36,520 --> 00:13:39,280 life of Moses. Another one was his sister. 227 00:13:39,400 --> 00:13:42,080 And she inserts herself. And some scholars believe that 228 00:13:42,240 --> 00:13:45,520 Miriam, his sister, was as young as 6-7 years old. 229 00:13:45,800 --> 00:13:48,560 So for her to kind of insert herself in this conversation, 230 00:13:48,720 --> 00:13:51,640 we're not sure how old she was, but she wasn't that much older 231 00:13:51,640 --> 00:13:54,080 than Moses. And she walks up and says, hey, 232 00:13:55,080 --> 00:13:56,400 I know a woman who will nurse it. 233 00:13:56,400 --> 00:13:58,320 Of course, it's her mother, and that's her brother. 234 00:13:58,600 --> 00:14:00,600 And Farrell's wife said that's a great idea. 235 00:14:00,800 --> 00:14:05,760 And in fact, though we are exacting servitude out of the 236 00:14:05,760 --> 00:14:08,840 rest of the Israelites and refusing to pay them, I'm going 237 00:14:08,840 --> 00:14:13,160 to now use some of Egypt's money to pay this woman to nurse her 238 00:14:13,160 --> 00:14:15,520 own son and to preserve this life. 239 00:14:15,520 --> 00:14:18,400 It's amazing story. And so his life is preserved and 240 00:14:18,400 --> 00:14:20,520 that's the way of God. But here's the thing we need to 241 00:14:20,520 --> 00:14:24,600 catch this morning is the key role that women played in this 242 00:14:24,600 --> 00:14:27,400 story. And that is not an insignificant 243 00:14:27,400 --> 00:14:31,840 thing because all down through history, women's role has been 244 00:14:31,840 --> 00:14:35,160 diminished. And contrary to what you'll be 245 00:14:35,160 --> 00:14:39,440 told from some sectors of society, that Christianity is 246 00:14:39,440 --> 00:14:42,920 the oppressor of women. In fact, Christianity is the 247 00:14:42,920 --> 00:14:45,680 Liberator of women. And everywhere that Christianity 248 00:14:45,680 --> 00:14:50,160 is gone, women have taken an elevated role in their culture 249 00:14:52,160 --> 00:14:55,360 because Christianity is the true Liberator of women. 250 00:14:55,800 --> 00:14:59,600 And so when Paul writes things about women and submission to 251 00:14:59,600 --> 00:15:03,880 husbands and all of that, you've got to understand that there is 252 00:15:04,040 --> 00:15:06,760 a divine order. But there's also a cultural 253 00:15:06,760 --> 00:15:08,840 perspective that Paul is living within. 254 00:15:09,080 --> 00:15:11,720 Same as you know, there's criticism of there. 255 00:15:11,760 --> 00:15:15,080 Some people will say, well, the Bible endorses slavery. 256 00:15:15,080 --> 00:15:18,400 No, it does not. What Paul did, when Paul, Paul 257 00:15:18,400 --> 00:15:23,200 didn't try to overthrow the system within Rome, what he did 258 00:15:23,200 --> 00:15:27,040 is he made it irrelevant. And the way he did that is when 259 00:15:27,040 --> 00:15:30,080 he'd speak to slaves, he'd say, make sure that you serve your 260 00:15:30,080 --> 00:15:31,880 master well. And then he said to the masters, 261 00:15:32,600 --> 00:15:34,520 he's talking to the believers within the church. 262 00:15:34,520 --> 00:15:38,560 He said masters and remember, you both serve the same master. 263 00:15:39,800 --> 00:15:43,160 So you're going to give an answer to both of your master on 264 00:15:43,160 --> 00:15:47,040 how you treated your fellow man. And so literally what Paul did 265 00:15:47,040 --> 00:15:53,360 is Paul reduced or, or shifted slavery into employment and he 266 00:15:53,360 --> 00:15:58,280 began to liberate people by forcing this Christian ethic on 267 00:15:58,280 --> 00:16:00,520 the Christians. And he did the same with 268 00:16:00,520 --> 00:16:03,480 marriage. Because in that culture and some 269 00:16:03,480 --> 00:16:06,560 of the cultures that Paul was moving through, some women had 270 00:16:06,560 --> 00:16:09,240 more respect and honor than others. 271 00:16:09,240 --> 00:16:13,880 But Paul was elevating women and men back to equality. 272 00:16:13,880 --> 00:16:15,760 So here's here's the big question. 273 00:16:15,760 --> 00:16:17,520 I had someone come and see me the other day. 274 00:16:17,520 --> 00:16:19,080 They're they're fairly new in the church. 275 00:16:19,080 --> 00:16:21,200 And they were saying, Pastor, I have a question for you. 276 00:16:21,400 --> 00:16:24,680 Are you egalitarian or complimentarian? 277 00:16:25,080 --> 00:16:26,200 Anybody know what we're talking about? 278 00:16:26,200 --> 00:16:27,680 Anybody ever heard that, that debate? 279 00:16:27,680 --> 00:16:29,000 Raise your hand if you know that debate. 280 00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:34,360 OK, I, I want to take a poll of those who are listening. 281 00:16:34,360 --> 00:16:38,040 You know, which one are you? So here, here's the here's the 282 00:16:38,040 --> 00:16:42,080 big debate. There's egalitarianism says that 283 00:16:42,080 --> 00:16:45,880 men and women are equal. There is there is neither male 284 00:16:45,880 --> 00:16:47,840 nor female in Christ. That's Scripture. 285 00:16:48,080 --> 00:16:52,280 And so there is no distinction between the gender roles that we 286 00:16:52,280 --> 00:16:56,360 are equal and leadership and all of that is open to both. 287 00:16:56,360 --> 00:16:59,120 And we need to, you know, and all this, all the other 288 00:16:59,120 --> 00:17:04,040 trappings of trying to assign roles is cultural constructs and 289 00:17:04,040 --> 00:17:05,920 it's even even within the church. 290 00:17:06,920 --> 00:17:12,760 The other view, complementarianism says that men 291 00:17:12,760 --> 00:17:17,000 and women are different but complementary and that there are 292 00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:20,319 distinct roles. And when you get into, because 293 00:17:20,319 --> 00:17:23,119 there's extremes of both of these, this you get over to the 294 00:17:23,119 --> 00:17:26,079 far side and this becomes Christian feminism. 295 00:17:26,079 --> 00:17:31,320 And even that you got to define your terms because in one sense, 296 00:17:31,400 --> 00:17:34,280 I'm a feminist. I believe that women need to be 297 00:17:34,720 --> 00:17:39,680 brought to a place of honor and in the role that God gave to 298 00:17:39,680 --> 00:17:41,800 them. OK, but then there's some 299 00:17:41,800 --> 00:17:43,680 trappings of feminism. Some of you are looking at me 300 00:17:43,680 --> 00:17:45,160 like, Pastor, you really going to go there? 301 00:17:45,160 --> 00:17:49,600 Yes, I am the the there. There's a form of feminism that 302 00:17:49,640 --> 00:17:54,920 actually agrees with the accuser, the serpent, with 303 00:17:54,920 --> 00:17:58,880 Pharaoh himself that actually says the male child shall die. 304 00:18:01,880 --> 00:18:06,000 And the, and this, this radical feminism, this that goes way 305 00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:08,040 over to the side. And it's, there's a reason I'm 306 00:18:08,040 --> 00:18:13,760 on the left side right now of the platform, my left the so 307 00:18:13,760 --> 00:18:19,160 there is an expression of this that literally there's, it's 308 00:18:19,280 --> 00:18:21,640 there's a hatred towards masculinity. 309 00:18:22,800 --> 00:18:27,600 And so we have as the people of God, we can't be those who 310 00:18:27,600 --> 00:18:32,720 oppress women nor agree with the hatred of man. 311 00:18:34,240 --> 00:18:41,760 And so we need to guard the, the value of both and the liberty of 312 00:18:41,760 --> 00:18:45,240 both and in the encouragement of both to become all that God 313 00:18:45,240 --> 00:18:50,120 created you to be. We need women to be all that God 314 00:18:50,120 --> 00:18:54,400 has called them to be and men to be called or to be all that God 315 00:18:54,400 --> 00:18:57,600 has called them to be. And so I'm going to just clarify 316 00:18:57,600 --> 00:19:00,320 my position this morning because someone, someone asked me and I 317 00:19:00,320 --> 00:19:01,720 just like, hey, this it's Mother's Day. 318 00:19:01,720 --> 00:19:04,560 I'll just clarify my position. Here's the deal. 319 00:19:05,200 --> 00:19:08,840 I am, I, I, of course, I think I'm in the middle. 320 00:19:08,880 --> 00:19:11,240 I'm, I'm balanced and everyone else is extreme. 321 00:19:11,560 --> 00:19:16,600 No, I believe that there is, there is truth to both of these 322 00:19:16,600 --> 00:19:19,960 perspectives, but I think largely it's, it's arguing 323 00:19:19,960 --> 00:19:23,400 apples and oranges because you're dealing with different 324 00:19:23,400 --> 00:19:28,640 arenas and different contexts. So in order to kind of go back 325 00:19:28,640 --> 00:19:33,040 and look at it from a biblical perspective, some of you have 326 00:19:33,040 --> 00:19:38,640 heard me talk about this before, but it's it's a helpful lens 327 00:19:38,640 --> 00:19:42,680 through which we study any subject and that is the three 328 00:19:42,680 --> 00:19:47,320 lenses of redemptive history. Now, the reason I call them 329 00:19:47,320 --> 00:19:51,440 lenses is because lenses are something you look through. 330 00:19:51,720 --> 00:19:56,600 Lenses are meant to grant clarity, give you greater 331 00:19:56,600 --> 00:20:00,040 clarity as opposed to blurring lines. 332 00:20:00,040 --> 00:20:03,160 OK. And so, but you've got there are 333 00:20:03,160 --> 00:20:07,640 three lenses which through which we have to study any subject and 334 00:20:07,640 --> 00:20:10,520 if you. Pick up the wrong lens and look 335 00:20:10,520 --> 00:20:12,760 through that, that the wrong lens. 336 00:20:12,760 --> 00:20:15,920 You will end up blurring the subject rather than gaining 337 00:20:15,920 --> 00:20:17,280 clarity. What am I talking about? 338 00:20:17,480 --> 00:20:19,440 So let me give you the three lenses real quick. 339 00:20:19,640 --> 00:20:22,280 Number one, what was God's original intention? 340 00:20:22,320 --> 00:20:25,080 We just talked about it when God made men and women. 341 00:20:25,080 --> 00:20:27,600 We're going to we're going to dig down a little deeper there. 342 00:20:27,800 --> 00:20:31,200 So God had original intention in creation. 343 00:20:31,520 --> 00:20:35,960 God created man and woman, male and female. 344 00:20:36,120 --> 00:20:41,120 That was not the result of the fall, that was before the fall. 345 00:20:41,320 --> 00:20:45,920 This was part of God's divine intention, His great idea. 346 00:20:45,920 --> 00:20:50,120 It's beautiful, it's good. Matter of fact, the first time 347 00:20:50,120 --> 00:20:53,400 you hear God say something was not good when he looked at man 348 00:20:54,040 --> 00:20:56,800 after he created a dude, he looked and he said, that ain't 349 00:20:56,800 --> 00:21:00,240 good, he said. And then he defined why? 350 00:21:00,360 --> 00:21:02,240 Because it ain't good for man to be alone. 351 00:21:02,400 --> 00:21:05,640 And So what did he do? He took something out of man, 352 00:21:05,880 --> 00:21:09,400 formed it into something he'd be attracted to and presented it 353 00:21:09,400 --> 00:21:11,760 back to man. And then he said, become one 354 00:21:11,760 --> 00:21:15,920 with this thing. And Adam, that dude was all 355 00:21:15,920 --> 00:21:18,880 excited. This is awesome until he had his 356 00:21:18,880 --> 00:21:21,520 first argument. And then he's thinking, whoa, 357 00:21:21,520 --> 00:21:24,760 wait a minute. God, I, I, I, I have to think 358 00:21:24,760 --> 00:21:27,800 that Adam was wondering, Lord, what were you thinking? 359 00:21:28,800 --> 00:21:32,320 I was already one with my rib. You took it out of me. 360 00:21:32,320 --> 00:21:35,920 You, you made it beautiful. You, you, you kind of cornered 361 00:21:35,920 --> 00:21:39,520 me into being attracted to this creation. 362 00:21:40,560 --> 00:21:43,840 But you gave her her own will, her own desires, her own dreams, 363 00:21:43,840 --> 00:21:48,520 her own aspirations, her own argument, mentiveness. 364 00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:53,040 You know, Adam got along with his rib until she became a 365 00:21:53,040 --> 00:21:58,640 separate entity and all of a sudden God's saying become one 366 00:21:58,640 --> 00:22:00,000 with this. And Adam's got to be thinking, 367 00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:04,080 Lord, I already was. Now you gave me a problem. 368 00:22:06,600 --> 00:22:09,680 And the only conclusion I can come to in looking at that 369 00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:13,440 scenario is that God was after something deeper than mere 370 00:22:13,440 --> 00:22:15,560 oneness because Adam was already one with it. 371 00:22:15,800 --> 00:22:22,440 God said, I want oneness through mutual sacrifice now in order to 372 00:22:22,440 --> 00:22:25,160 be 1. Now, you know, you ever heard 373 00:22:25,160 --> 00:22:29,640 someone say every man's looking for his rib and every woman's 374 00:22:29,640 --> 00:22:33,240 looking for a rib cage? Not, not, not every man and 375 00:22:33,240 --> 00:22:35,440 woman. Because there is the gift of 376 00:22:35,440 --> 00:22:37,560 celibacy. There's a, there is a gift of 377 00:22:37,560 --> 00:22:41,080 grace to live the single life. It's one of those not a lot of 378 00:22:41,080 --> 00:22:43,040 people pray for. You know, it's like the gift of 379 00:22:43,040 --> 00:22:44,440 martyrdom. People aren't praying. 380 00:22:44,440 --> 00:22:45,720 God give me the gift of martyrdom. 381 00:22:47,840 --> 00:22:51,720 But there is a grace. But most people were made for 382 00:22:52,080 --> 00:22:57,120 human relationship in that way. And so God is saying, I want you 383 00:22:57,120 --> 00:23:00,640 to become one and it's going to take mutual sacrifice. 384 00:23:00,640 --> 00:23:06,240 You're going to have to deny yourself to find what you need 385 00:23:06,240 --> 00:23:09,520 in a relationship. God took something out of Adam 386 00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:13,960 that made that was part of him and then made it into a separate 387 00:23:13,960 --> 00:23:17,080 entity and said, now if you're going to find what you need 388 00:23:17,080 --> 00:23:20,000 because it's not good what you got going here, buddy, it's not 389 00:23:20,000 --> 00:23:22,880 good. So if you want something good, 390 00:23:23,240 --> 00:23:25,920 then you've got to find those relationship. 391 00:23:25,920 --> 00:23:28,480 And this is true of all relationships, but it's 392 00:23:28,480 --> 00:23:33,680 especially true of marriage, male and female relationship. 393 00:23:34,880 --> 00:23:37,360 And then, you know, we're on Mother's Day, so let's go there. 394 00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:43,280 That oneness will literally produce another oneness. 395 00:23:44,600 --> 00:23:48,080 And I still, I freak out when I look at my kids and they'll do 396 00:23:48,080 --> 00:23:49,400 things. I'll think, oh man, that's my 397 00:23:49,400 --> 00:23:51,720 wife. That is so much their mother. 398 00:23:53,040 --> 00:23:55,200 And then they'll do things that oh, oh, that's me. 399 00:23:56,000 --> 00:23:59,560 And it's just so crazy that there's this humanoid walking 400 00:23:59,560 --> 00:24:01,440 around that's the product of both of us. 401 00:24:01,600 --> 00:24:04,280 We literally became one. And they're a separate entity 402 00:24:04,280 --> 00:24:08,400 doing life. It's amazing, but it's because 403 00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:11,280 we became one. We learned to make that thing 404 00:24:11,280 --> 00:24:15,400 work. And so that was God's original 405 00:24:15,400 --> 00:24:17,280 intention. This was before the fall. 406 00:24:17,440 --> 00:24:21,680 This is the system God set up. So we need to understand that 407 00:24:21,680 --> 00:24:26,320 God, God created something good. He had this intention, He 408 00:24:26,320 --> 00:24:29,280 designed it. And so that's the first lens, 409 00:24:29,280 --> 00:24:32,880 and we'll come back to that, the second lenses. 410 00:24:33,040 --> 00:24:34,920 How did the fall affect this thing? 411 00:24:35,960 --> 00:24:39,280 And this male and female relationship really was affected 412 00:24:39,280 --> 00:24:45,160 by the fall. It made it really, really 413 00:24:45,160 --> 00:24:51,120 complicated. God made man and woman they were 414 00:24:51,400 --> 00:24:55,640 it says I will I will make a I will find a helper suitable for 415 00:24:55,640 --> 00:24:57,520 him. And just just as a side note, if 416 00:24:57,520 --> 00:25:00,560 you ever read that in that context, it says God says it's 417 00:25:00,560 --> 00:25:02,560 not good that man be alone the very next thing. 418 00:25:02,560 --> 00:25:05,440 So God had all the animal Kingdom walk before him and see 419 00:25:05,560 --> 00:25:08,200 so Adam could name it. You think like, what is this 420 00:25:08,640 --> 00:25:10,760 squirrel? You know, where, where, where 421 00:25:10,760 --> 00:25:12,880 did that come from? What does this have to do? 422 00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:15,800 It has everything to do because what was happening is God was 423 00:25:16,120 --> 00:25:18,840 awakening within Adam and awareness said, hey, I'm alone. 424 00:25:18,840 --> 00:25:22,080 Everybody else has a spouse. Everybody else is a counterpart. 425 00:25:22,080 --> 00:25:24,840 Everybody else has someone to hang out with and do life with 426 00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:27,720 and I'm alone. And so this is a, it's really a 427 00:25:27,720 --> 00:25:31,200 picture right at the beginning of creation on how God works. 428 00:25:31,600 --> 00:25:33,520 You have a need you're not even aware of. 429 00:25:33,680 --> 00:25:37,080 So God will work circumstances to make you aware of that need. 430 00:25:37,280 --> 00:25:40,160 And then you'll look and you'll look and it says no helper 431 00:25:40,320 --> 00:25:44,480 suitable for him was found. It's like Adam's looking and 432 00:25:44,480 --> 00:25:47,400 he's realizing, well, there's Mr. and Missus Gorilla, Mr. and 433 00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:50,720 Missus Zebra, There's Mr. and Missus and there's no one for 434 00:25:50,720 --> 00:25:55,000 me. And so then it says, and he was, 435 00:25:55,080 --> 00:25:58,240 he went into a deep sleep. The Hebrew is a languid 436 00:25:58,240 --> 00:26:01,320 passivity. It's almost the idea that there 437 00:26:01,320 --> 00:26:03,920 was this need awakened to its enemy, looked and looked and 438 00:26:03,920 --> 00:26:05,440 looked, couldn't find his own need. 439 00:26:05,440 --> 00:26:09,240 And out of his rest God brought the need forth. 440 00:26:09,240 --> 00:26:13,080 And it's a picture of salvation, that God's going to bring that 441 00:26:13,080 --> 00:26:15,200 thing that we need out of our rest. 442 00:26:15,680 --> 00:26:17,320 And so he presents the woman to him. 443 00:26:17,600 --> 00:26:20,000 So that's creation. It is good. 444 00:26:20,240 --> 00:26:24,360 And he made man and woman to fit together perfectly, body, soul 445 00:26:24,520 --> 00:26:26,800 and spirit. It's a beautiful, beautiful 446 00:26:26,800 --> 00:26:29,520 thing. Because women have things that 447 00:26:29,520 --> 00:26:33,880 men don't and vice versa. And that is not merely physical. 448 00:26:34,480 --> 00:26:38,520 There is, I'm telling you it is psychological and I'm telling 449 00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:42,200 you it is spiritual. There are, there is a 450 00:26:42,200 --> 00:26:46,640 perspective that both bring to the table that we do not have 451 00:26:46,640 --> 00:26:49,040 the fullness of God without both showing up. 452 00:26:49,840 --> 00:26:53,800 We really don't. And we're at, we're at great 453 00:26:53,800 --> 00:26:55,960 disadvantage if we believe we are. 454 00:26:56,880 --> 00:26:59,920 And the, the, the, the movements within the streams of 455 00:26:59,920 --> 00:27:04,880 Christianity that have a tendency to minimize the 456 00:27:04,880 --> 00:27:09,720 feminine, it is not a coincidence that they are also 457 00:27:09,720 --> 00:27:12,960 the ones that divorce themselves from spiritual gifts. 458 00:27:15,160 --> 00:27:22,600 There is a intellectual or a logical consistency to those two 459 00:27:22,600 --> 00:27:26,960 things because there's there's this intuitive thing about women 460 00:27:28,240 --> 00:27:32,680 and spiritual gifts are largely intuitive and men tend to be 461 00:27:32,680 --> 00:27:34,520 more cerebral. And I know I'm painting with a 462 00:27:34,520 --> 00:27:38,200 wide brush and you know, there's there are we as men, we need to 463 00:27:38,200 --> 00:27:41,200 learn to be intuitive and women need. 464 00:27:41,800 --> 00:27:44,680 Well, I'm not going there. This is Mother's Day. 465 00:27:44,680 --> 00:27:45,640 We'll leave that for another day. 466 00:27:45,640 --> 00:27:50,280 Whoo man, how about stepped in that OK, so you know what you 467 00:27:50,280 --> 00:27:54,400 know what I'm saying OK. And so the movements that I was 468 00:27:54,400 --> 00:28:00,120 talking to a gal one time and I made an observation that this 469 00:28:00,120 --> 00:28:04,520 particular movement, I had been around quite, quite a lot. 470 00:28:05,120 --> 00:28:09,840 I said it was we got in this conversation. 471 00:28:09,840 --> 00:28:10,880 I don't even know how we got there. 472 00:28:10,880 --> 00:28:12,480 I can't believe I said this to her, but I did. 473 00:28:12,960 --> 00:28:14,280 And now I'm going to say it publicly. 474 00:28:14,560 --> 00:28:17,520 I was talking about how I noticed that the women within 475 00:28:17,520 --> 00:28:20,760 that denomination aren't very feminine. 476 00:28:22,320 --> 00:28:25,560 They just don't they don't dress real feminine. 477 00:28:25,560 --> 00:28:28,200 They, they don't carry themselves. 478 00:28:28,280 --> 00:28:30,640 They were very sweet ladies, godly women. 479 00:28:30,640 --> 00:28:32,720 I, I really enjoyed being around them. 480 00:28:32,720 --> 00:28:36,000 But it was just an observation. And her jaw dropped. 481 00:28:36,920 --> 00:28:41,640 And what I didn't know is that as a little girl, her father was 482 00:28:41,840 --> 00:28:45,000 a elder in that particular denomination. 483 00:28:45,800 --> 00:28:49,080 And the reason she was so surprised is because she said, 484 00:28:49,080 --> 00:28:53,000 when I was a young teenage girl, I went off to camp for the whole 485 00:28:53,000 --> 00:28:55,720 summer. And I came home and the elders 486 00:28:55,720 --> 00:28:58,280 pulled my dad aside and said, yours, your daughter needs to 487 00:28:58,280 --> 00:29:00,520 cut her hair. It's getting too long. 488 00:29:01,800 --> 00:29:04,640 And it's like, how do you justify that biblically? 489 00:29:04,960 --> 00:29:08,720 But there was something within their theology that was 490 00:29:08,720 --> 00:29:11,040 uncomfortable with a feminine perspective. 491 00:29:11,440 --> 00:29:13,760 They did not believe in the gifts of the Spirit. 492 00:29:13,760 --> 00:29:20,600 It was a very, very intellectual branch of Christianity that was 493 00:29:20,600 --> 00:29:24,240 cerebral and not a movement of the heart. 494 00:29:24,640 --> 00:29:27,000 And I would, I would argue we need both. 495 00:29:28,080 --> 00:29:30,160 We need the male and the female. We need both perspectives. 496 00:29:30,160 --> 00:29:31,800 So anyway, I hope I'm making sense. 497 00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:35,640 So we have this creation that was God's great idea. 498 00:29:35,720 --> 00:29:39,440 But then the fall really did create a mix up in man's makeup 499 00:29:39,920 --> 00:29:43,240 and in the relationship. And in a very real sense, there 500 00:29:43,240 --> 00:29:48,920 has been a swapping of the gender roles that sin manifests 501 00:29:48,920 --> 00:29:52,600 itself different within the masculine soul than it does in 502 00:29:52,600 --> 00:29:56,440 the feminine soul and it sabotages us at the root. 503 00:29:56,640 --> 00:30:01,560 And I would propose to you that the reason that God gives 504 00:30:01,560 --> 00:30:05,440 different marching orders to the men, married men in the New 505 00:30:05,440 --> 00:30:08,640 Testament, he, he says things to husbands, he doesn't say to 506 00:30:08,640 --> 00:30:11,520 wives and he says things to wives that he doesn't say to the 507 00:30:11,520 --> 00:30:14,000 husband. And I would propose the reason 508 00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:18,200 for that is that each of these, what the marching orders to a 509 00:30:18,200 --> 00:30:22,320 man are striking at the root of the fall within the masculine 510 00:30:22,320 --> 00:30:25,360 soul. And that is, husbands, love your 511 00:30:25,360 --> 00:30:27,280 wives and lay your life down for her. 512 00:30:28,920 --> 00:30:31,280 The New Testament never tells a wife to love her husband. 513 00:30:32,120 --> 00:30:33,560 I know bums you out, doesn't it guys? 514 00:30:33,840 --> 00:30:35,720 Never tells your wife to love you. 515 00:30:36,080 --> 00:30:39,880 What it does is it tells her to honor you and to submit to your 516 00:30:39,880 --> 00:30:42,560 leadership. But to the man it says to lay 517 00:30:42,560 --> 00:30:45,920 your life down for her, love her as Christ loved the church. 518 00:30:45,920 --> 00:30:47,400 And remember he went to the cross. 519 00:30:47,680 --> 00:30:51,640 And you have no right to tell your wife to pick up her cross 520 00:30:51,640 --> 00:30:56,920 until you first gone there. So we're to lay our life down 521 00:30:56,920 --> 00:31:01,160 for our wives and I, I would propose to you the reason is 522 00:31:01,160 --> 00:31:05,600 because there is an innate selfishness in the the male soul 523 00:31:05,720 --> 00:31:08,680 when we get into sin that it becomes all about us. 524 00:31:09,040 --> 00:31:12,160 And the what God is doing is he's using this beautiful 525 00:31:12,160 --> 00:31:16,600 relationship of marriage to disciple us and call us out of 526 00:31:16,600 --> 00:31:21,000 ourselves. He's calling us out of orbit 527 00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:27,760 around our own desires and calling us to begin to invest 528 00:31:27,760 --> 00:31:31,320 ourself and other people. And that's why as I, I remember 529 00:31:31,320 --> 00:31:33,320 my my little brother Christopher, my bald headed 530 00:31:33,320 --> 00:31:37,440 brother, He, he wasn't bald headed at the time, but he was 531 00:31:37,440 --> 00:31:38,840 working for me at Teen Challenge. 532 00:31:38,840 --> 00:31:41,640 And I said, listen, you need to resign and you need to go get 533 00:31:41,640 --> 00:31:44,640 married because you are as far in life as you're going to go 534 00:31:44,640 --> 00:31:50,400 without a wife. So we did and he found Beth and 535 00:31:50,400 --> 00:31:54,840 she is perfect for him. She is custom made for my 536 00:31:54,840 --> 00:31:56,520 brother. I mean it, it's amazing. 537 00:31:57,640 --> 00:32:01,440 And my brother began to grow in ways he would have never grown 538 00:32:01,440 --> 00:32:05,960 without his wife. Because men need the imposition 539 00:32:06,280 --> 00:32:11,800 of a wife and children upon them to harness their potential. 540 00:32:12,600 --> 00:32:15,960 I need to be needed. Not in this Oh, I need me. 541 00:32:16,160 --> 00:32:19,000 I'm not talking. I mean, I need, I need someone 542 00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:21,680 to be counting on me to get me up and keep me going. 543 00:32:21,680 --> 00:32:24,640 I need that. That disciplines me and causes 544 00:32:24,640 --> 00:32:27,000 me to be a better man than I would have been before. 545 00:32:27,680 --> 00:32:31,760 It's a very rare man that can become all that he's called to 546 00:32:31,760 --> 00:32:36,040 be without a wife and children, without somebody counting on 547 00:32:36,040 --> 00:32:39,240 him. And This is why married men tend 548 00:32:39,240 --> 00:32:42,920 to make more money, tend to be promoted with it vocationally 549 00:32:42,920 --> 00:32:45,920 and so forth. It's not some conspiracy, you 550 00:32:45,920 --> 00:32:49,000 know, out there. It's the fact that men that have 551 00:32:49,000 --> 00:32:53,240 a wife and children counting on them tend to become more mature 552 00:32:53,240 --> 00:32:58,360 and more dependable. So men are called you lay your 553 00:32:58,360 --> 00:33:02,200 life down what women are. It says honor your husband and 554 00:33:02,200 --> 00:33:04,240 submit to his leadership. And I would propose to you 555 00:33:04,240 --> 00:33:07,400 ladies, the reason that the New Testament says that to women 556 00:33:07,400 --> 00:33:11,120 'cause it's striking at the root of that feminine fear that Pop 557 00:33:11,120 --> 00:33:15,680 Peter's talking about when he says of that Sarah called 558 00:33:15,680 --> 00:33:21,480 Abraham her Master. Try that one gentleman anyway, 559 00:33:21,480 --> 00:33:24,840 but that's another day. Don't try it on Mother's Day, he 560 00:33:24,840 --> 00:33:28,800 says Abraham call Sarah called her Master, and he says you are 561 00:33:28,800 --> 00:33:32,360 her daughters if you do what is right and you do not give way to 562 00:33:32,360 --> 00:33:33,760 fear. I used to wonder what in the 563 00:33:33,760 --> 00:33:37,720 world is that about? But it's that feminine fear 564 00:33:37,720 --> 00:33:42,920 that's rooted in the fall that is afraid to trust a fallen man 565 00:33:42,920 --> 00:33:45,880 to lead the home. And So what a lot of ladies do 566 00:33:45,880 --> 00:33:50,560 is they pick up the slack and they move into the role that God 567 00:33:51,160 --> 00:33:55,200 called the man to occupy and it rescues him from becoming what 568 00:33:55,200 --> 00:33:58,240 he was called to be. And let me just meddle a little 569 00:33:58,240 --> 00:34:01,800 bit more here. What happens is, is that that 570 00:34:01,800 --> 00:34:04,480 the patterns for that is is established in the pre marriage 571 00:34:04,480 --> 00:34:09,000 relationship. And so there is this leadership 572 00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:12,760 thing that God has called men to not because man is better, but 573 00:34:12,760 --> 00:34:18,719 because man needs that and God is growing up and for a lady, if 574 00:34:18,719 --> 00:34:21,320 you will respect. Here's the beautiful thing. 575 00:34:21,320 --> 00:34:25,239 Let's put it this way. You as a husbands and wives can 576 00:34:25,239 --> 00:34:30,760 be the greatest blessing and be a catalyst to push one another 577 00:34:30,760 --> 00:34:34,320 into all gods called you to be or you can be the greatest 578 00:34:34,320 --> 00:34:36,280 tenders. You can be the the bungee cord 579 00:34:36,280 --> 00:34:38,800 on each other's belt loop. You try to become all that and 580 00:34:38,800 --> 00:34:42,880 we get pulled back. Because if I love my wife, it 581 00:34:42,880 --> 00:34:46,880 makes it easy for her to follow. It makes it easy for her to 582 00:34:46,880 --> 00:34:50,480 honor me. And if my wife honors me, I want 583 00:34:50,480 --> 00:34:52,000 it. I'll walk through walls for that 584 00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:55,800 woman because the one who knows me best, if she's going to honor 585 00:34:55,800 --> 00:34:58,320 me, then man, I'll do anything I can. 586 00:34:59,160 --> 00:35:02,120 Now I need to do that anyway. It just makes it easier. 587 00:35:02,960 --> 00:35:05,280 And wives need to do that. And here's the thing, there's 588 00:35:05,280 --> 00:35:07,920 there's, we don't have time to get into it this morning, but 589 00:35:07,920 --> 00:35:12,880 there are tracks in the New Testament that show that if the 590 00:35:12,880 --> 00:35:15,400 man will do that, it will make it will. 591 00:35:15,680 --> 00:35:18,760 It'll pave the way for the woman to become all that she used to 592 00:35:18,760 --> 00:35:23,280 be in marriage and vice versa. It says of women that you will 593 00:35:23,280 --> 00:35:26,600 convert him without words. It's an amazing thing. 594 00:35:26,880 --> 00:35:30,400 And so we can, as we become all that we're called to be, we pave 595 00:35:30,400 --> 00:35:34,720 the way. And so we have this original 596 00:35:34,720 --> 00:35:37,040 intention. God created man and woman. 597 00:35:37,240 --> 00:35:42,120 He pulled something out of Adam that Adam no longer had outside 598 00:35:42,120 --> 00:35:45,800 of a relationship with her. He pulled the feminine out. 599 00:35:45,800 --> 00:35:48,120 It was already in there. It was the masculine, the 600 00:35:48,120 --> 00:35:49,160 feminine. He pulled it out. 601 00:35:49,400 --> 00:35:54,360 He made him in his image. He created him male and female 602 00:35:54,360 --> 00:35:56,440 created them. So he divided it and he took the 603 00:35:56,440 --> 00:35:59,640 her out of the hymn and then he put them together and then they 604 00:35:59,920 --> 00:36:02,760 are expression of God's character. 605 00:36:03,040 --> 00:36:07,360 But sin frustrated that so much so that the curse of the fall 606 00:36:07,360 --> 00:36:11,800 says to the woman your your desire will be for him, but he 607 00:36:11,800 --> 00:36:18,000 shall rule over you. So all of a sudden this mandate 608 00:36:18,000 --> 00:36:21,920 that was given in the garden to the man and the woman be 609 00:36:21,920 --> 00:36:26,040 fruitful, multiply and exercise dominion over the earth 610 00:36:26,040 --> 00:36:29,560 governing the earth. It was given to them as a 611 00:36:29,560 --> 00:36:33,680 couple. Now in the fall, the husband 612 00:36:33,680 --> 00:36:36,440 rules over the woman and her desire is for him. 613 00:36:38,120 --> 00:36:40,600 And there's reason to believe that that word desire for him 614 00:36:40,600 --> 00:36:42,880 means that desire for that position. 615 00:36:42,880 --> 00:36:46,120 There's this struggle within. It's not, oh, I really desire 616 00:36:46,120 --> 00:36:47,320 you because all of us got to be. Oh, yeah. 617 00:36:48,040 --> 00:36:50,800 No, it's, it's there's a struggle with it, that 618 00:36:50,800 --> 00:36:53,640 leadership in the home. And a lot of it is rooted in the 619 00:36:53,640 --> 00:36:57,160 fear of Adam. This the echoes of Eden within 620 00:36:57,320 --> 00:37:01,320 the female psyche that Adam didn't cover her way back at the 621 00:37:01,320 --> 00:37:04,960 garden. He was there because she turned 622 00:37:04,960 --> 00:37:06,360 to him and said, hey, you want some? 623 00:37:06,520 --> 00:37:08,760 And he should have inserted himself and said, no, we ain't 624 00:37:08,760 --> 00:37:11,960 doing this, baby. God already told us. 625 00:37:15,840 --> 00:37:21,240 But she she decided and Adam remained silent. 626 00:37:21,240 --> 00:37:24,320 And the New Testament is clear that although Eve was deceived, 627 00:37:24,440 --> 00:37:27,440 Adam, there's reason to believe he knew exactly what he was 628 00:37:27,440 --> 00:37:30,560 doing, but his desire for his wife took precedence over his 629 00:37:30,560 --> 00:37:33,840 desire for the Lord. And that's why through the sin 630 00:37:33,840 --> 00:37:37,560 of one man or the disobedience of one man, sin came into the 631 00:37:37,560 --> 00:37:41,880 world. What should have happened is 632 00:37:41,880 --> 00:37:47,200 Adam should have went and said, Lord, I got to take, you know, 633 00:37:47,200 --> 00:37:48,680 when he heard God coming through. 634 00:37:49,360 --> 00:37:52,640 Remember, it says they heard the Lord coming at the cool of the 635 00:37:52,640 --> 00:37:54,160 day and they used to walk with the Lord. 636 00:37:54,160 --> 00:37:57,360 I don't know what that looked like, but is that amazing or 637 00:37:57,360 --> 00:38:01,560 what can you? Oh, the Lord's coming and every 638 00:38:01,560 --> 00:38:06,520 day that the creator's coming. Let's go, Lord, you wouldn't 639 00:38:06,520 --> 00:38:08,360 believe what we oh, I guess you would believe. 640 00:38:08,520 --> 00:38:11,280 But wow, we discovered today it was amazing, Lord. 641 00:38:11,680 --> 00:38:13,120 And now they would, they would hang out. 642 00:38:13,280 --> 00:38:17,520 But this day they hear I'm coming and they hide and they're 643 00:38:17,520 --> 00:38:20,960 ashamed and they've, they've covered themselves with fig 644 00:38:20,960 --> 00:38:22,480 leaves and the Lord says, where are you? 645 00:38:22,480 --> 00:38:24,880 Where are you? And they come out and they said 646 00:38:24,880 --> 00:38:26,960 we were hiding because we were naked. 647 00:38:27,840 --> 00:38:30,120 Which is weird because they weren't, because they'd already 648 00:38:30,120 --> 00:38:33,720 covered themselves. So what's going on? 649 00:38:34,320 --> 00:38:38,400 There was something laid bare in the human psyche that couldn't 650 00:38:38,400 --> 00:38:40,880 be remedied by mere leaves and clothing. 651 00:38:41,440 --> 00:38:43,600 There was something that happened within them. 652 00:38:43,600 --> 00:38:45,480 They were ashamed of who they were. 653 00:38:46,680 --> 00:38:49,120 Wasn't just guilt. Guilt is feeling bad about what 654 00:38:49,120 --> 00:38:51,400 you've done. They felt bad about who they 655 00:38:51,400 --> 00:38:53,000 were. There was this shame. 656 00:38:55,800 --> 00:38:58,200 And so they said, God, we, we, we did it. 657 00:38:58,200 --> 00:39:00,200 We ate of the fruit. And they started the blame game. 658 00:39:02,480 --> 00:39:06,680 Remember years ago hearing Jack Hayford speak on this and, and 659 00:39:06,680 --> 00:39:13,000 he said, oh, that Adam would have said, Lord, God, I've been 660 00:39:13,000 --> 00:39:18,720 waiting for you, my bride. Eve ate the fruit. 661 00:39:20,400 --> 00:39:21,840 Lord, is there anything we could do? 662 00:39:21,840 --> 00:39:25,680 And the Lord would say, Adam, you know, the day that you eat 663 00:39:25,680 --> 00:39:29,200 of it, you shall surely die. But Lord, she's my bride. 664 00:39:30,200 --> 00:39:34,120 And the Lord would have said, but there's another way, a life 665 00:39:34,120 --> 00:39:38,040 for a life. And Adam offered his life on 666 00:39:38,040 --> 00:39:41,640 behalf of his bride. And Jack Hayford said, of 667 00:39:41,640 --> 00:39:43,240 course, that's not what happened. 668 00:39:44,280 --> 00:39:48,360 And then he said, or is it? Because that is exactly what 669 00:39:48,360 --> 00:39:52,760 happened. Jesus as the bridegroom, the 670 00:39:52,760 --> 00:39:59,120 second or the last, Adam stepped forward and he said, Father, my 671 00:39:59,120 --> 00:40:04,600 bride, she ate of the fruit. Lord, is there anything else we 672 00:40:04,600 --> 00:40:07,360 can do? And he gave his life for. 673 00:40:07,960 --> 00:40:11,200 And that was the remedy to all of sin. 674 00:40:11,640 --> 00:40:15,280 And it continues to be the remedy in marriage, where we 675 00:40:15,280 --> 00:40:18,920 take responsibility for the failures of each other and lift 676 00:40:18,960 --> 00:40:23,120 and serve. And it's this beautiful picture 677 00:40:23,120 --> 00:40:27,960 of redemption. And so now in the cross, the 678 00:40:27,960 --> 00:40:32,840 curse has been lifted. And so here's the question. 679 00:40:33,560 --> 00:40:38,960 Do we view women through the 3rd lens of redemption? 680 00:40:40,160 --> 00:40:47,920 Do we view women through the 1st lens of original intention or do 681 00:40:47,920 --> 00:40:52,000 we simply view women through the 2nd lens of sin? 682 00:40:53,760 --> 00:40:56,800 And I would propose to you that there are a lot of people, their 683 00:40:56,800 --> 00:41:01,680 view of women biblically is solely through the lens of the 684 00:41:01,680 --> 00:41:05,640 fall. And that is the reason that 685 00:41:05,640 --> 00:41:11,720 there's a whole lot of just pushing women down in the body 686 00:41:11,720 --> 00:41:16,120 of Christ and that you sit and listen and you just, you're, 687 00:41:16,120 --> 00:41:18,800 you're a recipient and you just, you know it. 688 00:41:19,040 --> 00:41:21,880 This thing of male leadership and female submission. 689 00:41:22,160 --> 00:41:25,480 The fact is, a woman is to submit to her husband, yes, but 690 00:41:25,480 --> 00:41:29,120 not to every man in the room. Where, where do we get that? 691 00:41:30,400 --> 00:41:34,680 And so this thing of the woman is redeemed. 692 00:41:34,720 --> 00:41:38,080 And So what do we really believe happened at the cross? 693 00:41:38,720 --> 00:41:45,720 Did the cross solve the problem, lift the curse to get us back to 694 00:41:45,720 --> 00:41:48,400 and even beyond original intention? 695 00:41:49,360 --> 00:41:52,240 And I would propose that is the case. 696 00:41:53,760 --> 00:41:58,960 That's why even in the Old Testament, Joel said upon my 697 00:41:58,960 --> 00:42:04,080 servants and my handmaidens, I will pour out of my spirit your 698 00:42:04,080 --> 00:42:07,040 sons and your daughters shall prophecy. 699 00:42:07,760 --> 00:42:12,840 And in the New Testament we see women, we see female apostles. 700 00:42:12,840 --> 00:42:16,400 Junior was a female apostle. It's very clear in the Greek let 701 00:42:16,400 --> 00:42:18,440 you know some translation. Try to say, well, it could you 702 00:42:18,440 --> 00:42:20,120 know, maybe there's a misspelling or there was, you 703 00:42:20,120 --> 00:42:23,440 know, this it was a guy that had a girl's name and no, it was a 704 00:42:23,440 --> 00:42:27,800 woman. Priscilla and Aquila the Greek. 705 00:42:28,360 --> 00:42:31,600 It's it's very specific that she's mentioned first. 706 00:42:31,760 --> 00:42:36,200 There were an Apostolic teaching team and there are some problem 707 00:42:36,200 --> 00:42:39,880 passages where you know what about the woman being silent in 708 00:42:39,880 --> 00:42:43,480 the church and we don't have time to get into it. 709 00:42:43,480 --> 00:42:47,640 But I would say that there are there are contextual that that's 710 00:42:47,640 --> 00:42:54,520 a contextually specific situation and Paul was all for 711 00:42:54,520 --> 00:42:57,440 women being used of God in any way. 712 00:42:59,200 --> 00:43:04,920 And so the cross remedies this thing and the Pentecostal 713 00:43:05,200 --> 00:43:09,960 charismatic and holiness movements have always been 714 00:43:09,960 --> 00:43:16,040 champions of women in ministry. Why is it because they don't 715 00:43:16,040 --> 00:43:17,880 value the word? They're just all about feelings. 716 00:43:17,880 --> 00:43:21,680 Like some would say no speak precisely because they do value 717 00:43:21,680 --> 00:43:26,040 the word, but they don't use this lens of the fall. 718 00:43:26,280 --> 00:43:28,440 They don't say I'm going to view everything through the fall. 719 00:43:28,640 --> 00:43:34,560 And if your, your perspective on anything, and especially your 720 00:43:34,560 --> 00:43:38,800 wife, your mother, the sisters in the room is and even you 721 00:43:38,800 --> 00:43:42,360 ladies, if you view yourself through the lens of the fall, 722 00:43:42,720 --> 00:43:45,320 you are forfeiting all that God has for you. 723 00:43:45,600 --> 00:43:48,760 And men, we can't afford to do that because there is a 724 00:43:48,760 --> 00:43:52,320 perspective and a facet of the nature of God that resides 725 00:43:52,320 --> 00:43:56,400 within them when they speak and when they minister that we we 726 00:43:56,400 --> 00:43:58,880 need. It's vital for the the church. 727 00:43:59,280 --> 00:44:01,280 Amen. So let's stand. 728 00:44:02,320 --> 00:44:04,040 Thanks for listening to our podcast. 729 00:44:04,040 --> 00:44:06,560 If you'd like to help more people hear this message, you 730 00:44:06,560 --> 00:44:09,160 can get the word out by subscribing and sharing it on 731 00:44:09,160 --> 00:44:11,480 social media. If you'd like to support the 732 00:44:11,480 --> 00:44:14,320 ministries of Heartland Church, you can do so at Heartland 733 00:44:14,320 --> 00:44:16,560 Church online.com/give.