Sermon Tone Analysis

Why Should We Care About Biblical Gender Roles?

We’ve been going through a few different series so far.

First we went through a few weeks on the importance of the bible.

Now we’re going through a series on the church.

This week we are going to take a little break since Richard is away and instead we will address something that is under attack in our culture.

That is the importance of understanding biblical gender roles.

I’ve titled my sermon “Why should we care about biblical gender roles?” because that really is the question.

Why should we care?

There are two major views regarding biblical gender roles and both believe that man and women were made with equal value and worth in the image of God.

The difference is regarding the role that each has to play.

The first view is called egalitarian.

The egalitarian view believes that it doesn’t matter whether you’re a man or a woman, our roles are interchangeable in the home and in the church.

There are different views within egalitarians.

Some believe that roles are interchangeable in the home but not the church, some believe that woman can be elders but not pastors, and so on.

You might wonder how they theologically justify this.

Egalitarians believe that culture shapes how we interpret and apply scripture.

The problem with this is that it gives the authority to the culture instead of God’s word.

The other view is called complementarian.

The difference with this view is that complementarians believe that God designed men and woman for different roles in the church and in the home.

These different roles when working together compliment each other.

That’s where the name complementarian comes from.

So where is the theological basis for this one?

Complimentarian’s, like many egalitarians see the clear teaching in scripture regarding gender roles however here the authority is given to scripture which means that culture is designed to follow God’s original design.

Unfortunately many churches and most Bible colleges are egalitarian.

This is due to the cultural influence on the western church.

Western culture strives for equality.

People are all the same.

Nobody can tell you what you can and can’t do because we are all equal.

If a man wants to be a women that’s totally fine because in today’s culture all people are the same.

Anyone who thinks otherwise is labelled an insensitive hater.

The number of churches that hold to a complementarian view are few.

I tried to find a statistic on this however it’s tough, because of the third category that churches hold to.

This third category is no view at all!

Many churches today won’t take a stance on gender roles either way because it is too controversial or they don’t think it matters.

Let me tell you that everything taught in scripture matters and over this sermon we are going to talk about why!

So why do we care?

Should we care?

Why should we all prioritize learning about this topic?

The counsel of biblical manhood and womanhood (which is a great website on this topic I’d recommend) gives 6 reasons why it is essential that we have a firm understanding of this topic.

I am going to address the first three.

1.

The authority of scripture is at stake.

We live in a culture that is moving further and further away from biblical truth.

Richard’s recent facebook post gave an excellent illustration of this.

I encourage you all to log on to facebook and give it a read.

You will see on there the influence that culture has on most modern christians.

God’s word has taken a back seat to make way for the sensitivity of others.

Although sensitivity is important it can never come at the compromise of biblical truth.

Richard’s post was a silly satire illustration of how it is absolutely ridiculous for a man to claim he is a woman and participate in woman's sports.

This can not come from a complementarian view because we are distinct, different, not interchangeable..

When men and women are the same in all things then why can’t a man participate in woman’s sports?

They are stronger?

That is a gender stereotype.

How dare you be so insensitive.

Woman are strong too!

Ultimately where we find our truth dictates what we believe and what we stand on.

It is about a heart level belief.

If we dig deep down to the core of what we believe do we see God’s word as the ultimate truth and authority in our lives?

If not then we have another God.

Exodus 20:3 “you shall have no other God’s but me”.

That God may be your own opinion, it might be the general consensus of culture, it could be whatever causes the least amount of tension amongst others.

Everybody has a God and for most it’s culture.

Flip to 2 John 1:9 “Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.”.

What is this passage saying?

If we are not submitting to God’s word and the teachings of Jesus Christ then that person does not have God at all. 2 Timothy 2:16-17 says “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”

When we compromise on one area of scripture then we will compromise on others.

Christians don’t compromise.

Matthew 10:28 “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.

Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

Compromising God’s word is a mark that you fear man more than you fear God.

So what do we do?

Put your faith in God’s word.

Fear God and submit to His truth as the authority above all things.

Be in His word daily.

Learn as much as you can about God’s word and when you cross a clear teaching in scripture such as in Genesis 2 when God makes man and gives him direction then says “It is not good for man to be alone, I will make for Him a suitable helper fit for Him”.

Then you continue to read and see that it was woman that was tempted and gave in first to the serpent.

It was the woman who then encouraged the man to eat the fruit.

Then it was the man that was held responsible because he was the leader.

God didn’t even give Eve the instruction for how they were to care and subdue the world because He gave the instruction to the leader and expected him to deliver the message and lead.

When you run in to a controversial passage like this what do you do?

You believe it, study it, and stand by it!

If you run in to a confusing teaching that seems to contradict with a clear teaching don’t throw out the clear teaching!

Consider the passage that is tough to interpret in light of the rest of the Bible!

Standing on God’s word will not come without a cost.

Friends and family will struggle with this.

It could cost you relationships.

Facebook might yell at you.

Would you rather stand with the world and be rejected by God or stand with God and be rejected by the world?

(God’s not dead 2)

The cost of standing on God’s word is tough for most people.

Here is my story from this past week: I engaged in the little facebook war that pastor Richard unintentionally started.

It was really tough but I seen two truths that I needed to defend.

The first truth was regarding the character of Richard.

People were attacking him and as a brother in Christ I needed to step in and defend his honest character.

The second truth I needed to defend was the gospel.

The gospel was under attack with claims that by itself it is not enough.

We need to get clever if we want to bring people to Christ.

First we need to establish a relationship with people, then we need to love them.

If we breathe the word “hell” too early then we will push them away from Christ and it will be all over.

This means that culture has a higher authority than scripture, just like the egalitarian view, and as a Christian I couldn’t stand by and let people attack God’s word.

The people on the other side of this conversation were both friends and family.