Embracing our Identity
I Believe: Finding My Purpose in Life • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 1:02:35
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Everyone knows INTUITIVELY that there is a God! That is Theism
20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
As Religious people, we CONCEPTUALLY develop that INTUITIVE knowledge of God.
Monotheism.
We learn that God is a single God that is infinite and personal.
Be we don’t want to stop at being religious and recognizing a single God.
It is our responsibility and my responsibility as your pastor to lead you to a DEMONSTRATIVE knowledge of this Single God.
This is what Paul was referring to in verse 20 of Romans 1, when he uses the word Godhead.
Triune Monotheism - 3 in 1 Single God.
This Belief understands that there is One God but 3 persons existing of
The Father.
The Son.
The Holy Spirit.
This is exactly what our ABA doctrinal statement number 3 states,
We believe in the personal triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, equal in divine perfection.
They are Co-equal - Not any one person is more important than another. It takes all three to bring us into a relationship with the One God.
They are Co-eternal - All three existed before the foundation of the Universe, All three still exist in the present day, and All three will be present in eternity.
Lastly, they are Co-essential - It takes all three to allow us to have a relationship with the One God.
The Father represents the Mind of God.
The Son represents the Body of God.
5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
This is doctrinal statement #7
We believe in the deity of Jesus Christ.
John 10:30; John 1:1, 14; 2 Corinthians 5:19
30 I and my Father are one.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
The Holy Spirit represents the Spirit of God.
This is our doctrinal statement #8
We believe the Holy Spirit is the divine Administrator for Jesus Christ in His churches.
Luke 24:49; John 14:16-17; Acts 1:4-5, 8; Acts 2:1-4
16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Last week, we covered the first part of doctrinal statement number 10
MAN
We believe that Man was created in the image of God and lived in innocency until he fell by voluntary transgression from his sinless state, the result being that all mankind are sinners.
Genesis 1:26; Genesis 3:6-24; Romans 5:12,19
26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
The Creation of Man was the Crowning Achievement of a Personal and Infinite God.
God created Man and Woman equally in His image.
God created Man and Woman to Equally Rule Over God’s Creation.
Lastly, God Equally Blessed Man and Woman.
I hope you notice the emphasis on EQUAL.
After this creation, God finally says
31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
God then rested on the 7th day.
As we come to the beginning of chapter 2, we find
4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens,
Generation =
1. Heb. tôleḏôṯ. A word occurring ten times in Genesis (2:4; 5:1; 6:9; 10:1; 11:10, 27; 25:12, 19; 36:1; 37:2) in such a way as to divide it into eleven sections, each being styled ‘the generations of …’ basically meaning the historical genealogy of family given by an eye witness to that event.
As you know, Moses was the author of Genesis, but he wasn’t born until the book of Exodus, therefore were did he get his information to be able to write the book of Genesis. From God and from the information passed down from one generation to the next generation and so forth.
Skip over to Genesis 5:1
Gen 5:1-3
1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;
2 Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.
3 And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:
likeness and image does not refer to physical similarity, but rather nature and character of man.
We do not look like God, for God is a Spirit.
Man was created in the image, God’s nature and character.
9 These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.
1 Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood.
and so forth to make 11 divisions of history as told by the eye witness of that generation.
so, back to chapter 2
4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens,
Chapter 2 gives a more detailed description of the creation of man and woman and the Institute of Marriage from God.
Our Pledge:
Our Pledge:
7 And the Lord God formed man (Body) of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (Spirit); and man became a living soul (Mind and Heart).
This is the first time man has a definite article, and with the definite article we are not referring to a generic man but a particular man and as we read from here on out, the definite article is there and as we continue to read you can take that name man and translate it now Adam, a particular man, different from woman but equal with woman.
Verse 8 begins to show this definite article.
8 And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
with the term “the man” we will find out to be Adam.
verse 8-14 describes a special garden that God placed man into with a command.
15 And the Lord God (Jesus) took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
Dress it - Serve and work.
Keep it - Guard and protect.
16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
That lines up with Genesis 1:29
29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
The command was given to the man and the man alone.
18 And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
God looks at this man who is to serve, rule, guard, and protect this earth and says it is not good.
Everything before this point has been good. Now it is not good.
Why? is it now not good. “the man should be alone”
God did not make us into a generic human that is to be later differentiated; rather from the start we are male or female.
Every cell in our body is stamped as XX or XY.
The problem we have today is humanity has rejected God and therefore, they have rejected the differences that God has created us to be.
Notice, after the determination that it is not good for man to alone, the very next verse shows that now “the man” is translated Adam. Up until this point we have the equality seen in man and woman. However up until this point we have seen the responsibility and commands given to a particular man, Adam.
The Man’s Responsibility is to Lead.
The Man’s Responsibility is to Lead.
19 And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.
That’s why God held Adam responsible for the sin of eating the fruit in the next chapter.
9 And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
We don’t have time this morning, but read Romans 5:12-21 this week. This describes the leadership of Adam and the Responsibility of Sin because he didn’t exercise that leadership.
This is also the reason for
3 But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.
The head of Christ is God, dealing with the Godhead that we are now demonstrating.
How do we demonstrate this headship in the Godhead?
Remember, as a Triune Monotheism, we have God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Co equal, Co eternal, and Co existent.
When it come to man and woman were equally created, equally blessed, and given equal dominion over the earth?
However, the answer to headship is found in the word help meet.
God Himself declared it is not good for man to be alone.
Men and women together, in full participation, must carry out God’s mandate to build families to build civilization and culture.
When God sees Adam alone, a male without a female, God says it is “not good.”
This is the first thing in the universe that God finds imperfect.
Adam is the physical source of Eve, and he is given the responsibility of naming her. Both of these elements in the narrative lay the basis for later New Testament statements about a husband’s “headship.” and the woman's “submission”.
However, despite giving authority to the man, the woman is not described in the expected way—as an inferior. She is called “a helper suitable for him”
Now, we talked a little bit last week about translations and how language has changed over the course of 400 years.
The Woman’s Responsibility is to Submit.
The Woman’s Responsibility is to Submit.
The English word “help-meet” or “helper” in some translations is not the best translation for the Hebrew word ’ezer because of the change of meaning and understanding from the 1600’s when this word was translated into English.
“Help-meet or Helper” connotes the idea today as merely assisting someone who could do the task almost as well without help.
I can get the job done, but it is faster and more enjoyable when I have a helper. AMEN!
But ’ezer is almost always used in the Bible to describe God himself. Other times it is used to describe military help, such as reinforcements, without which a battle would be lost.
To understand the word “help” as understood when first translated, then, is to make up what is lacking in him with your strength.
Woman was made to be a “strong helper.”
Some translations and translators have tried to us the word “suitable” which is just as unhelpful. This translates a compound phrase that is literally “like opposite him.”
The entire narrative of Genesis 2, in which a piece of the man is removed to create the woman, strongly implies that each is incomplete without the other.
“It is not good for man to be alone.”
Male and female are “like opposite” to one another. They are like two pieces of a puzzle that fit together because they are not exactly alike nor randomly different, but they are differentiated such that together they can create a complete whole.
Each sex is gifted for different steps in the same Ruling and Blessings of Building Families, Communities, and Cultures.
The woman’s responsibility is Submission.
18 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord.
I like the illustration of a car battery.
In order for a car battery to ignite the gas and start the car, the battery must have 2 cables attached in order to work.
There must be a positive cable usually red, and a negative cable usually black.
Which is most important? neither, because if they both are not connected power cannot happen.
Are they randomly different? no, they are both cables
Are they differentiated? yes, one is red and one is black.
Therefore,
Headship and Submission are not coerced from each other as DUTY, but rather is A GIFT that you offer that individual of the opposite sex.
Now, when Adam sees this woman that God created, notice his reaction.
21 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
22 And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
Notice, God brought Eve to Adam. God presented this gift to Adam because He didn’t want Adam to be Alone.
Then notice Genesis 2:23 Adam receives God’s Gift.
23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
Notice first, Adam’s leadership and dominion over earth. Adam named the Woman.
Notice now His Response: “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.”
At first Adam was alone, which is not good.
But now, God made him a woman. In other words the opposite of lonely is a friend. Adam now sees someone different then him that he can interact with, side by side, in ruling this world receiving the blessings of God.
She will be his partner. She is not a threat due to her equality, nor a menace due to her differentness. Rather, he thrilled to give her name because of her capacity to fill his longing for companionship, communion, and completion.
There is so much more I could say about this, but we will get there eventually. The new pastor is realizing slow and steady with small feedings is a better way for proper digestion to take place.
Now notice Genesis 2:24-25
24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
One flesh is not just body and physical. Remember, man is a three part being, Body, Spirit, and Soul.
One flesh is referring that they become One person;
One body, physically, One Spirit with God, and One Soul, Mind and heart” with each other.
They saw all three, recognized all three and were not ashamed. That is the ultimate commitment of friendship and it has nothing to do with being sexual. It has to do with commitment as we will discover later.
We struggle with understanding gender equality within gender roles, that is why I have been very deliberate on how I have brought you to this point this morning.
We have messed up society through culture to design and define what gender roles look like. However, God does not give any differences. He just said they are the same but opposite in order to bring together to complete the whole and find the necessary power to perform the purpose of our life.
Next week, I hope to show you how headship and submission work from a biblical standpoint by looking more into the Triune Monotheism that we will for now on refer to as the Biblical term of the Godhead.
20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
but before I break this down, I want us to understand the Biblical differences that God assigned to man and woman.
Understand, with each of these differences there is a huge genetic difference that is exhibited in both sexes.
Let’s notice first the Physical Difference.
Women are physically created to be the one to bear and nurture children. God designed them with different physical qualities to be able to birth that child. Along with the physical design for child birth comes the mental and emotional ability to handle this task. However, this is on a spectrum from little to much of this ability.
Generally, when we see the man compared to a woman we see:
Men and women are not interchangeable, but they have different strengths that result in men and women solving problems, building consensus, and performing leadership functions in a distinct way. These strengths and weaknesses that support our physical differences are on the spectrum because of our society, culture, and family to which influences our mind.
However, when looking across the whole and entire spectrum,
Man (Doer) Woman (Be-er)
Achiever Completer
Men tend to be independent, a “sending” gift. Men look outward. Men initiate.
Work Oriented Home Oriented
Interdependent More Dependent (needs frequent reassurance)
Provides for children Produces children
More Rational More Emotional
Now, understand, under sin, these traits can become either an alpha male individualism, if this capacity is turned into an idol, or dependence, is the hyper-masculinity,
If the calling of headship or leadership is utterly rejected and the opposite embraced in rebellion. This sin is a rejection of masculinity.
On the flip side, Women tend to be interdependent, a “receiving” gift. Woman are inwardly perceptive.
Woman nurture.
Again, under sin, these traits can become either a clinging dependence, if attachment is turned into an idol, or individualism, which is the sin of hyperfemininity.
Or if the calling is utterly rejected and the opposite embraced in rebellion. is the sin of rejection of femininity.
So, denial or over acceptance is not good in either situation. So how should we biblically embrace the difference between man and woman.
I Believe in the Design of Man to Lead and Woman to Submit.
Our Privilege:
Our Privilege:
I believe, we need to EMBRACE the Other Sex.
Accept the differences of the woman understanding that without women, men are incomplete.
Women Accept that you are different from men, embrace that difference and realize you are incomplete with man.
It takes us both. We are a gift from God to each other.
This goes back to the battery illustration which is fundamental to the creation of this world all the way down to the atomic level of our makeup.
All the universe is held together by the attraction of positive and negative forces. Embracing the other therefore, is really what makes the world work.
Embracing each other is what the Bible teaches.
God’s plan and design is for man and women to embrace the otherness in order to make us unified.
This is what we typically see happen in life. Opposites tend to attract. A tall guy marries a short girl. An intelligent girl will marry a not-so-intellengent guy. A quiet person marries and out going person.
So, a good wife will fill in your weak spots, will strengthen your areas of need.
A good husband will not be too proud to refuse to let her.
How does the wife help complete the man?
1) By being SPIRITUAL (I Pet. 3:1-7) You will not be right with him until right with God
2) By being DEPENDABLE and TRUSTWORTHY("the heart of her husband doth safely trust in her" - Prov. 31:11)
3) By being a HOMEMAKER (making your house a home - Prov. 31)
4) By being part of the TEAM(work, plan, etc. together)
5) By being INTERESTED in his life (if he can't share his problems with you, who can he share with?)
6) By being OPEN (discuss feelings, problems)
7) By showing CONFIDENCE in him (admire him; "reverence" him - Eph. 5:33)
8) By being GRATEFUL for him (don't wait until after he is dead!)
NOTE: Your husband will never deserve all of the above. But you don't deserve to be saved either!
You must obey Christ and be a helpmeet for CHRIST'S sake.
If the wife doesn’t complete the husband, he will live and die without becoming all that God had intended him to be.
Our Problem:
Our Problem:
The problem with sin, is we have defined and assigned and categorized differences into categories.
Men see women’s need for “interdependence” as sheer dependence, and women see men’s need for independence as pure ego.
This defining and assigning and categorizing these differences allow one another in society and marriage to grow distant from one another because we are engaged in a constant, daily, thought pattern of inner disdain for the gendered differences of the opposite sex.
Where in the Bible does it say that men are supposed to be represented by blue and girls pink?
Where in the Bible does it say that women inside only and men are outside only?
I know men that like to cook and I know women that like to mow grass.
All these are personality ideas not biblical directives.
The Bible doesn’t list certain roles for men and other roles for women.
The Bible states that man or woman be their-self is not good. It takes both to fulfill our purpose.
The curse of sin is what causes the problem.
16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
What did God mean with “thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
It has nothing to do with cooking and cleaning and such.
The answer is again found in the Bible right after Cain killed his brother Abel.
6 And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.
Sin is the desire of Cain. Sin is controlling Cain.
16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
What this means is that the “desire” the “sin” is for the woman to control the man. However, the other part of that is the husband will try to dominate the wife.
In the words of Paul Harvey, Now you know the rest of the story.
The battle of the sexes is one of the results of the Fall.
Men have become apathetic, spiritually lazy, and sometimes even absent, forcing the wife to lead the home.
In other homes, the man tries to dominate by force with the woman having few rights but to obey.
In society, we have seen the domination of man attacked by women’s rights throughout history.
Many societies abuse women and treat them like a piece of property.
This was not God’s Design.
This is not God’s Design.
And this will never be God’s Design.
This ideology is Satan and is Sin.
God created us Equal for the purpose of ruling together as complimentary friends first.
The Man is to Lead through Love
The Woman is Submit through Love
as WE, together, side by side, Serve God and each other Ruling over His great Creation.
This is what is exhibited in the Triune Monotheism or what we now understand as Godhead.
1 If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,
2 Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
14 Do all things without murmurings and disputings:
15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;
16 Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.
You have a purpose. No matter male or female. We are equal and play an equal role in shining as lights in a crooked and perverse nation because not what man has devised or categorized, but rather, because we can trust the Word of God to give us life because we believe that God is and that God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
