Gender Reveal

Intro

I’m pastor Keenan, next gen pastor here at first

Pray

1. God’s original plan for man was for work

Explain

Let’s hone in on verses

Genesis 2:5–15 CSB

5 no shrub of the field had yet grown on the land, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not made it rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground. 6 But mist would come up from the earth and water all the ground. 7 Then the Lord God formed the man out of the dust from the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being. 8 The Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he placed the man he had formed. 9 The Lord God caused to grow out of the ground every tree pleasing in appearance and good for food, including the tree of life in the middle of the garden, as well as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 10 A river went out from Eden to water the garden. From there it divided and became the source of four rivers. 11 The name of the first is Pishon, which flows through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 Gold from that land is pure; bdellium and onyx are also there. 13 The name of the second river is Gihon, which flows through the entire land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is Tigris, which runs east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. 15 The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it.

At this point God had just finished making all of creation

He has made humans in His image and decided that they would be male and female

God makes the decree and here in Genesis 2 we see God form man

After he makes them he gives Adam a job

He’s supposed to work the land that God gave him in the Garden of Eden.

God’s original plan for man was for work

Illustrate

What is your ideal life?

When we think of living the good life we think about the influencers who just make tik toks and get to do nothing all day

Or the person who has rich parents and gets to do whatever they want and never has to work and gets to play video games all day

That was me when I was between high school and my second time in college

living in the basement playing games all day

super depressed

Apply

For a lot of us here we think of how the Garden of Eden was perfect and God gave adam everything that he would have needed to live

and God did set Adam up well but he also tasked him to work in the garden and take care of the animals and plants etc.

We think that in perfection that we would never work

But God’s original plan even before sin was for us to work

Especially today guys have a hard time doing hard things and working

We are so wrapped up in our video games and our friends or phones that we have no desire to work

Tonight if you are someone who is lazy and doesn’t work and you don’t think you should.

Know that God’s original plan for us was to work

For the men specifically God had the men work before women even were in the picture

So men you have a task to be the one that you are making sure that you are following His call and working

Even though you’re in middle school or high school doesn’t mean that you can just ignore it like I did

Now is the perfect time for you men to practice working so that you can provide for a family one day and your future wife will appreciate you more for it.

Women who know the Bible and know God’s original won’t like when you aren’t living up to those original plans

2. God’s Original Plan for Man was Submission to Him

Explain

Genesis 2:16–17 CSB

16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree of the garden, 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.”

After God had created adam and gave him a job to do he then gives him some more instruction

he tells Adam that all the different fruit and food that is there Adam is cool to eat it

But that there is one rule

That he cannot eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil because if he does he is going to die

If Adam was free to do whatever he wanted to then he wouldn’t be under God.

But when God sets up a job and consequences for Adam then he becomes his boss

He set’s up how humans despite us being made in His image relate to him.

God’s Original Plan for Man was Submission to Him

Illustrate

Apply

Today we don’t want to be in told what to do.

And it’s not just an us thing

It’s been a problem as long as we’ve existed

Adam the first human even though we just read that God had told him to not eat from the tree he did anyway

we aren’t much different than Adam

We want to bypass the order that God created

That God is above us and we are supposed to listen to Him.

God has given us free will to do what we want if we say that we are going to follow him above everyone we need to live that out

For the guys in the room

Who was told about the tree and given orders from God?

Was it Adam or Eve?

That means that us as men have a responsibility to put ourselves under submission to God

And then lead by example in that

When Adam and Eve sinned and ate the fruit what happened?

Adam had quit being under submission to God and ended up being under submission to Eve who was under submission to the Serpent

The fall started when the first man despite knowing the order of things allowed it to be flipped.

So guys even though you’re in high school and middle school and don’t have wives I hope

you can still trust in God’s original plan for us as men

That before anyone we are supposed to be in submission to Him and even though the culture today says that a woman can lead a family or be the head over a man that is not what God had designed and we saw how that worked out for Adam and Eve

Girls when that day comes, don’t settle for a man who doesn’t show you that he is submitted to God first.

Not his friends, not you, not his parents, but God first because he’ll be able to lead you toward God

So ladies let’s finally get to you guys.

3. God gives man and woman different roles but the same value

Explain

Genesis 2:18–23 CSB

18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper corresponding to him.” 19 The Lord God formed out of the ground every wild animal and every bird of the sky, and brought each to the man to see what he would call it. And whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds of the sky, and to every wild animal; but for the man no helper was found corresponding to him. 21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to come over the man, and he slept. God took one of his ribs and closed the flesh at that place. 22 Then the Lord God made the rib he had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 And the man said: This one, at last, is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh; this one will be called “woman,” for she was taken from man.

After God had given Adam his work to do and the rules he said that it’s not good for him to be alone and that He would make a helper that corresponds to Adam

This means that there’s something missing in this picture that God has made.

Everything up to this point has been good but now God says that Adam not having a partner is not good

The fact that God uses correspond means that the woman is someone who will help adam fulfill what God has set up to do

Which tells more about the value that God has given the woman

Helper used here is Ezer

Ezer is not just a regular helper but its definition is - a person who contributes to the fulfillment of a need or furtherenace of an effort or purpose

Most of the uses of helper are actually in reference to God coming to help People like moses, joshua, and david

So we have this sense of who this helper is

That in this sense literally someone sent/made from God who is helping fulfill the purposes that God has set out

So this helper that is Eve is someone who is not just like a pack mule or that Adam just commands around but she is someone who is supposed to walk alongside the man and help him follow in God’s submission and plans.

She picks up where he might not be able to do everything on his own

In these verses we see how God goes through each animal and Adam named each one.

Despite all of the animals that Adam named, he didn’t find any of them that met his needs as a helper.

God knew this and made the woman from Adam’s rib

God didn’t take his ear symbolizing she would be ahead of him

or his feet meaning that he was over her

but his side that they would work together as two people who are different and have different roles but are alongside each other in the value God has given them

To further emphasize the value that God has placed on women looking back to the planning out of men and women being made God declares that both of them are made in His image

Not just man or not just woman

but both

This shows, and is your third point.

God gives man and women different roles but the same value

Illustrate

I used to struggle with the idea of a woman being just the helper and in submission to her husband like the Bible says

I was influenced by what the world’s saying today about what a woman is

But as I started to read my Bible more and see what God was saying about the order He created things I started to trust His plan more

When I got married I saw God’s plan for man and woman on display and it fully made sense

Even though we don’t have kids I was able to see that there were things that as a man I had to be in submission to God in

Some of those things are to be exposing my wife to the Bible, loving my wife sacrificially, working, being gentle with her and valuing her like an expensive piece of pottery

At the beginning of our marriage I was working full time as a warehouse manager, in school full time, and apart of two different ministry leadership teams and taught in both of them.

I was getting ready and preparing to go into ministry and follow God’s calling on my life

I also was working on my character, and making sure that I was in a place in my sanctification and walk with Jesus that I was qualified to be a pastor

Skylar came alongside me and where I was missing things, where I needed help when my days were really rough at the warehouse, when I was exhausted from working and school and ministry and things were a mess at home, she would help out at home.

If I was having a rough day at work and needed a pick me up she would bring me food at work

She would be praying for me constantly

Areas that I was struggling with to live up to the calling of a pastor she would help me stay accountable and be patient and pointing out areas in my life that were causing me to struggle until i could go where God was calling me.

Apply

This might be the hardest thing for both us as Christians and the rest of the world to agree on

I’m sure that we’ve all seen on tiktok and on social media and even at school people fight over and debate on what the role of a woman and a role of a man is.

Maybe you’ve had some team mates or class mates who think that the woman should lead the household

Or that it’s okay for a mother to be a single mother and that she doesn’t need no man

and that she can get her bag

Sometimes this sounds even good to us as Christians

And we can be influenced by the culture and the people around us

Maybe we have been told that there are more than two genders

If that were the case then why didn’t God list them all out and say all of their roles?

Guys, tonight I want you to think about your role as a man and what God has called you to do.

On top of that I want you to think about how you can be respecting your moms, sisters, girlfriends, and friends that are girls that you have a hard time respecting because of the ways that you think of women

girls, tonight if you struggle with the thought of being the helper and what God has designed for you be real tonight and talk about why you struggle with it and how we can trust God’s plan for men and women.

4. God’s Design for Marriage is between Man and Woman

Explain

Genesis 2:24–25 CSB

24 This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh. 25 Both the man and his wife were naked, yet felt no shame.

God set up marriage in the second chapter of the Bible.

God had planned out for there to be women and men

How they were going to work alongside each other and compliment each others strength and weaknesses

And because of this partnership and God’s intentional design he sets up marriage.

They’re one flesh because Eve was taken from Adam

And when they are together they are complete.

Not two people who don’t need each other

But two incomplete people that when they come together in marriage are now completing what God had set up.

Then even though they didn’t have any clothes on they didn’t feel any shame because they were married. They weren’t worried about getting in trouble because they weren’t married.

God’s Design for Marriage is between Man and Woman

Illustrate

Apply

We are in a place and time where the idea of marriage is under attack.

Just like how we think that a girl should run a family or run a family by herself, we think that men and women can marry the same gender

We are in a time where for what I’m saying right now I will be yelled at and told that I’m hateful

This isn’t hateful to say what God designed.

Yes it’s going to get in the way of what people want and they may get upset

But as Christians we have to stand up for what God’s original plan is

There’s a reason he’s set it up that way and whether someone wants it or not, if we say that we follow Jesus we need to trust Him who everything was made through Him