Who Cares If You're a Boy or a Girl?

Issues about gender, can boys become girls, can girls become boys, do we have to call them what they ask? These are issues no one is really talking about right? No! It’s hard to turn on the TV or get on social media and not see something about these issues, at least on my feed.

PRAY

God, in his perfect plan, created men and women different but equal, and He creates individuals male or female.

He made them…

Genesis 1:27 ESV

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

They are both made in the image of God, different but neither more important than the other.

Genesis 2:18 ESV

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”

That word translated “helper” there is also used to talk about God in the Psalms.

Sin brought disruption into the relationship between men and women.

Genesis 3:16 ESV

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.”

What does it mean to be a man? Jesus was the perfect man…

He is kind and humble.

He is gentle when He needed to be and strong when He needed to be.

He weeps and hurts with his friends.

He gets angry when there was something worth being angry about.

He was not a player, didn’t even ever have a girlfriend as far as we know.

He is generous.

He didn’t try to gain power over others or use people to his own advantage.

He is loving.

What does Scripture tell us about women? Women are massively important in God’s story…

Jesus was born to a woman.

Christianity was counter-culturally supportive of women.

The first people to see the risen Jesus were women.

Women had important roles in the growth of the early church.

There are more women in Christianity than men!

God made men and women both in his image, but different, with different roles. But different does not mean not equal.

Galatians 3:28 ESV

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

One of the differences between men and women is that in creation God gave men a role of spiritual leadership through service and sacrifice in the family and the church. Again, this does not make men better or more important, we just have different roles.

1 Timothy 2:12–13 ESV

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;

So God made us male and female. Different but equal. It was intentional, not accidental. He doesn’t make mistakes. But there are some people who feel that He might.

What about people who feel different than they were made?

God made no mistakes with any of you. He made you who He wanted you to be.

Psalm 139:13 ESV

For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.

Have you ever watched someone knit?

But some people separate gender, saying it’s what you identify as, and sex, what you physically are. They want to listen more to their feelings than to what God has made them to be. Here’s what the Bible tells us about following our feelings:

Jeremiah 17:9 ESV

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

We have to trust God more than we trust ourselves. Rebecca McLaughlin says it like this:

We find our true selves not by following our feelings, but by following Jesus, so when our desires don’t line up with following Jesus, we need to trust him… being a Christian means learning to trust Jesus more than my feelings…

Christians are called to deny ourselves and follow Jesus. But his promise is that we find our lives in Him!

Christians have to be who God called us to be.

We love them. Just like we talked about last week.

We think and reason well as we consider this and other things. All thing! We think biblically and logically.

What does it mean to be a man or woman? If God doesn’t tell us and it’s not about our physical bodies, then what is it? How do these claims hold up?

What do we do if someone wants to be called by a different name or pronoun?

We find our identities in who God says we are and what Jesus has done for us. That begins with acknowledging our need of a relationship with him and placing our faith in Him…

We’ve talked about people feeling like their outsides don’t match their insides tonight and last week we talked about same sex attractions. I just want to let you know that if these are things that you experience God loves you. We love you here at this church. In that love I want to tell you that God’s Word says not to pursue or act on those feelings. Also in that love I want to tell you that if you need someone to talk with about those feelings I am here for that.