Why God Created Woman

Why God Created Woman

It’s Valentine’s Day – I looked back through my notes of 7 years of preaching and realized that (best I could tell) I’ve never preached what I called a Valentines sermon. I’m not really certain that this is one.

Have you ever noticed the all the attention seems (for the most part) to be on the women? It’s like it’s the one day of the year to remind men to romance their wives. To tell them you love them and to attempt to be romantic for them.

But is that why God created the woman, to be wined, dined, and seduced? And are men only expected to pour out their love and affection 1 day a year?

The Bible says, “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church…” Ephesians 5:25. Imagine if the only day Christ loved the church was the day He died for her, what a mess we would be in.

So, that’s my question or topic for this morning, - why did God create woman?

· It was not so that man could go, “whoa man, she’s hot!” (though I am guilty of having said that.)

· It was not so man would have a lover.

· It was not so man would have an outlet for all his lust and fleshly desires.

The Bible doesn’t say that Adam was lonely. Nor was he in a constate state of arousal.

Adam was not walking around in the Garden in a state of arousal, looking for some means of satisfying his flesh! He was with GOD. He would have been totally satisfied and content in all things.

It was GOD that acknowledged that man needed a helper, a companion, a means of procreating; someone to have an intimate relationship with. In fact, God had to first show Adam that something was missing in His life. That’s why HE had him name all the animals, to see that there was none like him.

It could be said that God created the woman so man would have the means of expressing love. Ephesians 5:25 “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;”

Still, God never intended for the woman to be an object of lust. In fact, at the time of her creation, man did not know lust. Lust came after the fall!

Lust became a sin with the giving of the Law (Romans 7:7) though it was already written on the hearts of man, for not all received the Law, but most understood the downside of lusting.

So why did God create Woman?

Genesis 2:18-25

So, God created the woman to help the man, or to be a “help meet” (v.18) to the man. Sure, we could do a word study to really flesh that out, but I just doubt that we need to do that. However, I would like to draw your attention to a couple of verses before we move on.

Genesis 2:4-5 (for the ground, no man). “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, 5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.”

Genesis 2:18 (for the man, no woman) “And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. 20 … but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.”

Do you see it?

· There was no one to nurture and to care for all that God had created so, HE created man.

· There was no one to nurture and to care for the man so, God created the woman.

(There’s room for a lot of jokes here but I’m not normally one who jokes through sermons so, we’ll just move on.)

Women are special!

God created the woman in a special way for she was to be special – special to God and to the man! Remember, it is the woman that brings forth life, that bore the life of Christ, and that first saw the empty tomb and the resurrected Christ.

Genesis 2:7,9, & 19 compared to 2:22.

So why did God create Woman?

The first reason the woman was created to be a help to the man. To be there to nurture and care for the man. Her focus should not be on his work but rather on him, to strengthen him, to build him up and not to tear him down. (There is the attitude of the woman after the fall to rule over the man).

Even as it says in V.24 “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” The woman was created to be joined, in spirit, by way of the flesh, to the man, to become one with the man. One flesh! Even as we are to be one with Christ.

When God said, “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.” Ephesians 5:22, I believe this means, submit yourselves to your husband’s love.

As for his authority, You will never submit yourselves unto your husband unless you first know that he loves you. AND, you will never submit to God unless you first understand that HE loves you. AND, you will never know what love is, that you might give it or receive it, until you know and receive the love of God.

The authority part will fall into place even as it does in our relationship Christ. If we don’t receive HIS love, we will never submit to HIS authority. It’s the same in the husband wife relationship.

The Bible says, “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” 1 John 4:10.

Continuing on.

“And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it:” Genesis 1:28.

The command was to be fruitful and multiply. In order to do that man would need a woman.

The second reason God created the woman was so that the two (not one) could be fruitful and multiply.

God is a spirit. God gave man a spirit and He gave the woman a spirit. The two were to become one flesh, one spirit, being fruitful and multiplying.

What sort of fruit were they to bear? The fruit we are to bear is LOVE. God is love and we are intended to be imagers of God – LOVE! We are to be love, lovers, loveable, and loving. Imagers of God!

The very image of God is one of Love. We were and are to reproduce the Love of God. When the man and the woman come together as one flesh, we refer to them as what? As making LOVE! SO, in multiplying (having babies) we are to produce or reproduce LOVE.

Our offspring were to be imagers of God and of His love.

The whole Bible is about the Love of God, from Genesis to Revelation.

“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8.

“And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it:” Genesis 1:28.

Together, they were to replenish the earth, and subdue it.

Replenish means:

· To fill; to stock with numbers or abundance. The magazines [storage] are replenished with corn. The springs are replenished with water.

· To finish; to complete.

Today, in filling, we are attempting to get back to a point of being filled with the Spirit of God, getting back into relationship with Him – Thus we strive to work our way into His grace. Attempting to become complete, forgetting that we are complete only in Christ.

What was it that they were to replenish the earth with? Well, I assure you it was not with a bunch of sinful little mini me’s!

We/they were to replenish the earth with imagers of GOD. (Sadly, after the fall, all we produce is sinful images of ourselves – though in the Christian home we strive to grow them into imagers of God).

Subdue means – (in the Bible), to conquer and control an environment. Man was intended to have dominion over all that God had created; to subdue the earth.

Today, in subduing, we are attempting to overcome the effects of sin; to subdue our sin nature – forgetting that we cannot do it by our own strength but only through Christ shall we overcome.

Now the command came before the fall and since then things have been a bit of a struggle as love has been turned into lust and we tend to create in our own sinful image rather than in the image of God.

Getting back to women being the object of LUST:

Lust means:

· Longing desire; eagerness to possess or enjoy; as the lust of gain.

· Concupiscence; carnal appetite; unlawful desire of carnal pleasure. Romans 1:27. 2 Peter 2:10.

· Evil propensity; depraved affections and desires. James 1:14. Psalms 81:12.

Lust in the Bible: (Rarely, if ever, used is a good context)

First mention in the Old Testament, Exodus 15:9 The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them. One of the problems with lust is that it is never satisfied.

Here are a few other examples of Lust used in the Bible.

Numbers 11:4 And the mixt multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?

Numbers 11:34 And he called the name of that place Kibrothhattaavah: because there they buried the people that lusted.

Psalms 81:12 So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust: and they walked in their own counsels.

Clearly, lust is not used in a flattering fashion.

First mention in the New Testament – “But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” Matthew 5:28.

The world had already moved into our present state [one of constant lust] by the time Jesus came along.

Jesus did not qualify this statement by say if a married man… OR if you look upon a woman that is not your wife. He said, whosoever… Simply put, we are not supposed to lust over women.

What is the object of your affection?

Should the object to of my affection be for lust?

We are the object of God’s affection! How is it that you want God to see and feel about you, with lust of with love; As something to crave and possess for a season OR someone to love for all of eternity?

Paul’s prayer was “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.” Ephesians 3:17-19.

That’s what we are missing – an understanding of God’s love. We are missing the Power to understand it. [Borrowed from chapter 11 of Classic Christianity, by Bob George.].

We are a people too focused on Lust rather than on Love.

The trap of the enemy was always to make it all about you. What you want, What you need, What you can get, What you can do, when it was always supposed to be about God and His glory.

We sing about what it’s all about, - but we live from another place. (Mohler, 31:30)

We have been lied to by the Devil; we’ve been deceived.

We have been convinced that women are to be objects of lust.

Women have been convinced that they are to be objects of lust. They strive to attract men. Often telling themselves what? I’m not pretty enough! What’s pretty got to do with Love?

The Bible says, “…Christ died for the ungodly.” Romans 5:6. Does that sound like Christ was dying for those that were pretty to look upon? Never mind that HE Himself was not attractive! “he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.” Isaiah 53:2b.

As men, we devalue that which GOD has highly valued when we reduce women to an object of lust; eye candy, something to be used and discarded.

Women were not created to be exploited by men and yet that is exactly what men have done with them. Sadly, it’s what we teach our boys to do as well.

To restore the value of women we need to view them in a biblical way as instructed by God’s word.

READ – Song of Solomon 4:1-8a.

Wow, is the Bible promoting lust? God forbid. It is however promoting a natural beauty to be seen in the woman, and in how Christ sees the Church, “thou are all fair, my love”.

Listen to how Spurgeon put it:

“Thou art all fair, my love.” —Song of Solomon 4:7 (Dec 2, Morning, Spurgeon)

The Lord’s admiration of his Church is very wonderful, and his description of her beauty is very glowing. She is not merely fair, but “all fair.” He views her in himself, washed in his sin-atoning blood and clothed in his meritorious righteousness, and he considers her to be full of comeliness and beauty. No wonder that such is the case, since it is but his own perfect excellency that he admires; for the holiness, glory, and perfection of his Church are his own glorious garments on the back of his own well-beloved spouse. She is not simply pure, or well-proportioned; she is positively lovely and fair! She has actual merit! Her deformities of sin are removed; but more, she has through her Lord obtained a meritorious righteousness by which an actual beauty is conferred upon her. Believers have a positive righteousness given to them when they become “accepted in the beloved” (Eph. 1:6). Nor is the Church barely lovely, she is superlatively so. Her Lord styles her “Thou fairest among women.” She has a real worth and excellence which cannot be rivalled by all the nobility and royalty of the world. If Jesus could exchange his elect bride for all the queens and empresses of earth, or even for the angels in heaven, he would not, for he puts her first and foremost—“fairest among women.” Like the moon she far outshines the stars. Nor is this an opinion which he is ashamed of, for he invites all men to hear it. He sets a “behold” before it, a special note of exclamation, inviting and arresting attention. “Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair” (Song of Sol. 4:1). His opinion he publishes abroad even now, and one day from the throne of his glory he will avow the truth of it before the assembled universe. “Come, ye blessed of my Father” (Matt. 25:34), will be his solemn affirmation of the loveliness of his elect.

While it may be about being enamored [in love], it is not about lust.

The Bible says,

“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” Ephesians 5:25-27.

You want your wife to be beautify, you want her to be a trophy wife – fulfill your role as a godly husband and you will have such a wife. It may not be a physical beauty, that fades but, you will love what God gives you in her and through her.

You want to romance your wife this Valentine’s Day, wash her in the word of God.

Now, not to get started on another sermon but, in order for the man to fulfill his role the woman must fulfill hers.

Ladies, God did not create you to be an object of lust, therefore stop presenting yourself as one. God created you to be a helper, a caregiver, and a nurturer to your husband. Give him that for Valentines Days!

God create the man and the woman to be one-flesh, go and be to your spouse all that God has called you to be and all that you would have them to be to you.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 “Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. 10 For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.”

And such is the reason God created the woman. Ultimately the role of the woman is to help the man fulfill his role in being an imager of God and to replenish the earth in like manner.

Even as man was given the strength and wisdom to till the earth and to nurture it, the woman was given all the attributes she would need to nurture and help the man. That’s why we are so different – we have different roles.

We, the church, are to be the bride of Christ. Romans 7:4 “Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.”

We are to be One Spirit with HIM. We are to submit to his authority, and we are to assist Him in fulfilling His role – a role that glorifies God.

CLOSING:

Lastly, God created the woman to be loved by the man and to love the man. As imagers of GOD, they/we were to love even as GOD loves. That’s what Paul’s talking about in Ephesians. However, the world has so distorted love, turning it, at best, into lust that we no longer understand what love is.

Love is what GOD did AND CONTINUES TO DO for you and for me.

Therefore NEVER, NEVER make the mistake of measuring GOD’s love for you in terms of your love for someone. Your love might fade or even die altogether – but not the love of GOD. Our love is dependent on our being loved in return. Not so for the love of God.

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:35-39.

Perhaps you are here this morning and have recognized that you need to do business with the Lord on this or some other mater – the altar is open.

c

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

How Do I Love Thee?

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight

For the ends of being and ideal grace.

I love thee to the level of every day’s

Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.

I love thee freely, as men strive for right.

I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.

I love thee with the passion put to use

In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose

With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,

Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,

I shall but love thee better after death.