Gender Complementarity

Grace Fellowship Church

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This sermon is from Grace Fellowship Church in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. To access other sermons or to learn more about us, please visit our website at graceedmonton .ca.

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All right, well, good evening, everybody. In the midst of all the...

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You know it's going to be a good opportunity to meet together when the day has gone the way it has with... I almost had an escalation at work and printer problems, like you guys might see on your handouts.

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But anyways, this is all to say this is... I've been looking forward to looking at this topic and speaking on the issue of complementarianism.

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It's actually, like, it's a doctrine that's very near to my heart. And not because I don't have a heart for controversy, because I do, because this is one that generates opinions, polarizing opinions on either side of the aisle.

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Whether you would hold to the issue of complementarianism, which we'll get into, or you hold to more liberal views of gender and sexuality, like you might see in the world.

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Either way, there's hard opinions to be had on both sides. Especially in the last couple of years.

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It wasn't even ten years ago that I was in my university studies at the U of A, and I was reading works by feminists like Judith Butler and different other ones that I thought this was a conversation for intellectuals in, you know, the halls of academia.

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But actually, you know, not even ten years removed from that, this is now on the front of every major publishing article or company in the last 100 years.

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You know, you name it. There's an issue about gender, and the world has a lot to say about it, but we need to be, as Christians, we need to understand that the

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Bible has spoken on this in abundance. But before we even get to that, I want to kind of highlight maybe how important it is that we have an understanding about what is happening in the world and how that relates to the

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Bible. So I don't know if you guys keep up with news, but this is a conversation that has been thrust in kind of the arena of local discussion.

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You know, the topic of gender is one that we are having at our tables, it seems almost daily, because of issues that are happening in the world, or things that are coming up in different parts of the world that are now local, because of the internet and everything that exists, to make this well known to us.

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These are big headlines, so I don't know if you guys are familiar with this, but do you guys remember what happened in 2018 with Amazon?

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Are you guys familiar with that at all? Okay, well, that's actually a pretty fascinating story. I remember actually having looked at this quite deeply back then, and I can't remember the actual outcome, but anyway, so here's the situation.

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Back in 2018, I think Amazon was the largest company in the world. I think it is today, but regardless, it is one of the top three companies in the world with billions of dollars in equity and share and market value.

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One of their proposals in 2018 was that one of the things they were doing was that they were going to build

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HQ2, their second headquarters. I don't know if you guys remember that, if that ever... It was a big story at the time, because what had happened was,

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Amazon was shopping for the bells and whistles. Tax breaks, they were looking for location, they were looking for airline routes, you name it, they were looking for that.

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Any kind of business advantage that they could gain, they were looking to get that in their new headquarters. Rightfully so, they're a business and they're not allowed to make money.

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But what was interesting is what they put forward at the table when they were negotiating for a location. So part of that was something very interesting, and I'm going to have to read it here.

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It says, they were looking for something called compatible culture and community environment. And that was kind of an odd thing to propose at the time, especially considering you're looking at a business, you know, with tax breaks and all this other stuff.

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They were looking for, again, compatible culture and community environment. So does anyone have an idea what that might be?

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I'm thinking of progressive culture. Yeah, you wouldn't be wrong. They didn't want anywhere too conservative, maybe?

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Pardon? They didn't want any place too conservative? Well, that was part of it. Yeah, well, it's exactly that, right?

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Something progressive, something that would shed away old preconceptions of gender, essentially.

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So in other words, you have a company in Amazon that is waging billions of dollars, millions of dollars in wages.

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You're looking at construction, the price of construction, the earnings from construction, the livelihood, the jobs that would come from it, the commerce, sales figures, all these things that a state and city are all looking at.

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And hanging by a thread of all these things was the issue of gender. Because they had said that they wanted a city and a state that was in line with their views of inclusivity and sexuality.

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So in other words, billions of dollars were hanging on these things, all on the issue of their view of homosexuality and inclusivity.

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Which is pretty fascinating, because this was actually the first time that this has ever happened in North America.

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I mean, this has happened since then. But this made headlines back then, because this was viewed as a very progressive move, and as one that was ushering human rights to the forefront.

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And it was on the cusp of every single, like I said, every single publication, pretty much under the sun, had an opinion to say most in line with what

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Amazon was saying. So again, we have to keep in mind that these aren't just things that happened in academia 10 years ago while I was in studies.

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But these are conversations that are taking place even as of 2018. So what I want to engender is that these things have value, and they have consequences.

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So we need to look at this issue. We need to understand. That being just one example, again, we sit here in 2021, which doesn't seem like that long ago, three years ago at this point with that story.

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But see how far we've come from just that, where that was the first, I guess, pivotal milestone in this progressive movement of companies, that now has essentially set the benchmark for what companies are to do in terms of how to comport and how to run their business.

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It's a moral change that we as Christians, we could not be ignorant of. We can't be ignorant of. It's something we have to be really aware of, that it cannot be something that we just pass along, that we bat an eye to, and that's it.

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We need to understand that the Lord has spoken on this, that the Lord has spoken very clearly on the topic of gender.

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And actually, as a result, you see the unintended consequences and confusion that comes from this kind of worldview.

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A worldview that moves so quickly that if you stop to not pay attention to what is happening and you detract from what is written in the word of God, you are likely to miss it, and you will.

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This is, like I said, that was only three years ago. So, like I said, I have a heart for this topic, and I really enjoy the issue of complementariness, and it's close to my heart.

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And it is one that, while I love good doctrine, my hope, and it's my prayer, that it's not just the doctrine that I preach, but it's more important that it's

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Christ that is preached through this doctrine, because it is a doctrine of love. It is one that is authored in love, and it's one that, again, being very near and dear in my heart, having an understanding of what the word says, it is one of love.

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It is one that speaks to the human condition and the boundaries that exist for our good and His glory. Okay, so, everyone should have, or at least you should.

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I printed out a bunch. You can feel free to share if you'd like. Again, like I said, there's technical issues, so you're going to have to excuse some of the blue on some of these things.

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But anyways, so because of our smaller numbers today, I kind of want to make this a little bit kind of more, like I said, interactive.

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I want questions to be asked if you have them. I want to leave... There's nuance in this topic, no doubt, but I want to explore a lot of what the

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Bible says concerning this topic, and I want it to be, like I said, if there's questions, I want to be able to go through those if possible, if time permits.

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Okay, so looking at our study guide tonight, you're going to see that it's actually split up into three different sections, actually based on our statement of faith.

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There's a lot of overlap amongst them, so you don't have to feel like they are all exclusive, but if you wanted to split it up, essentially there's three sections that we're going to, three points that we're going to look at tonight in regards to our statement of faith, but more specifically what the

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Word says about gender roles and the complementary nature of gender. So just to get our minds going,

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I guess the first question is, does anyone venture to guess where the first mention of gender is in the

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Bible? Do you know where, specifically? Genesis?

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Oh, you're close. Chapter and verse. Chapter and verse? In the beginning.

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In the beginning. Close, you're close.

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We did look at this at one point, so. I know we did in the Cortez household. But that's okay, but you're right, you're all kind of hitting around the same point.

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So it is in the beginning. It's not right at the beginning, verse one, but it's actually in verse, chapter one, verse 26 and 27.

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So if you guys have your Bibles open there, we'll be jumping around quite a bit, so I apologize if I go too quickly, like I said, let me know and I can slow down.

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But Genesis chapter one, verse 26, is the first incident of gendered language in the

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Bible. So let us read. Verse 26 starts like this. Then 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 birds of the heaven and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

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So God created man in his image, his own image. In the image of God, he created them. Male and female, he created them.

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So right off the outset, it's no accident that the first time we hear of gendered language is the introduction of anthropomorphy or man, you know, the study of anthropology, the study of man.

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It's no accident that in verse 26, the introduction of man, as God has created Adam, we have the first incident of gendered language.

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Again, just looking at the passage, you see that it's riddled all over the place. So God created man in his own image, in God's image, in his image.

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In the image of God, he created them. Male and female, he created them. You see this again.

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The gendered language enters right at the beginning. So you have a precedent set of male and female right off the outset, right?

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First chapter of the Bible, the beginning of man and woman, and there is a precedent set for male and female.

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There's no in -betweens, there is no distinction between them, there is male and female. And that is where the

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Lord leaves it. Looking back at our second question on our guide, just again, just to get our heads going, we have in our

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Statement of Faith, the first line we're looking at is actually just the first sentence.

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I'll read that, and then maybe I'll ask the question. So our Statement of Faith says this. Men and women are together created in the divine image and are therefore equal before God as persons, possessing the same moral dignity and value, and have equal access to God through faith in Christ.

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So thinking about maybe that last line, does anyone have any idea what it means to have equal access to God in Christ?

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Yeah, no preference? Sorry, say that again, no?

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Sorry, I can't understand. You said that we're all able to pray to God. Yes, we are.

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Yes, we are, through Christ, especially. Yes. Pardon?

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We're all judged equally? Yes, thank you. Yeah, we're all judged equally. We all fall short of the glory of God.

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Yes, so actually, exactly that. So to have equal access to God, we have to look at, again, keeping our fingers in Genesis, let's look at Genesis chapter 2.

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Sorry, just trying to find my place here. Chapter 2, verse 18 to 22.

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We have equal access to our God. Again, going on with the creation story in chapter 2, we see that God has created

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Adam, and he says to him in verse 18, he says, Then the Lord said, It is not good that man should be alone. I will make a helper fit for him.

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Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them.

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Whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field.

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But for Adam there was not a helper fit for him. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept, took one of his ribs and closed up its flesh in its place.

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And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. So again,

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I want to think about this almost positionally, almost visually. If you think about the order of creation, you think about in the beginning.

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In the beginning there was only what? You have this one? Yes, in the beginning it was

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God. So in the beginning, God. God stands top sovereign. He is at the top of all creation.

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He stands outside of time. He has always existed. So he stands at the top. If you're looking at this, again, positionally, you have the order of creation.

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You have what comes next in terms of stewardship. Image bearers. We looked at the verse in chapter 1, verse 26 and 27.

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We are his people. We are his image bearers. So what comes after that?

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So again, if you're keeping track almost like a pyramid, you see God at the top. And beneath that, you see his image bearers.

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You see man. Man and woman. You see Adam and Eve. And beneath that, you see all else that isn't an image bearer.

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You see all the creation. You see everything that the Lord gave dominion to Adam and Eve, to Stuart. All the birds of the heavens, the fish of the sea, the creatures on the earth.

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All of those things fall under the dominion of man. So looking closely, when we say we have equal access to God through Christ, we are looking at the, positionally, there was no helper fit for Adam in the creation that lay before him.

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And they couldn't because they're not image bearers. So you're thinking about all the creatures on earth and you're thinking about all the beautiful animals that our

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God had created. Of all those creatures that were named and brought before him, none were fit for Adam, like it says in verse 18.

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I'm sorry, like it says in verse 20. Because positionally, they are not image bearers.

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So looking at the verse and the text specifically, it needed to be someone who was an image bearer.

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So it has to be equal right alongside Adam. So man and woman are equal, part and part with one another.

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There is no partiality in terms of one gender is chosen over the other. They are equal, part and part.

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Is everyone following me so far? Okay. Looking at 2

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Peter, real quick, 2 Peter 2, verse 9.

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I'm sorry, 1

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Peter, I should say. 1 Peter 2, verse 9 and 10. Just to draw on a

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New Testament, a verse that ends any distinction between women and men in terms of their equal access to God.

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Peter says this in chapter 2, verse 9. He says, But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, holy nation, a people for his own possession that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

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Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

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We are a chosen race. We are a holy people. Peter does not make the distinction here. He doesn't delineate between the genders.

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He doesn't delineate at all. He says, We are a royal people. We are a nation of priests. And that means a lot, and that should have a lot of weight with us.

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In other words, it should be abundantly clear that we as God's people, there is no distinction between man and woman, that we are all

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God's people in terms of our inherent value, our innate value before God. I want to put that issue to rest before I go any step further.

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So that's essentially, if I'm going to be honest, I'm going to try to breeze past the first and second points because I really want to get to the bread and the meat of the third point.

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But before I do that, I don't want to go too fast. Does anyone have questions about our first point that we discussed?

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Okay. Well, then maybe I'll ask you guys then. So looking at our statement of faith again, our second point that I'm going to talk about is our second phraser.

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So reading it from our statement of faith, it says, Men and women are together the recipients of spiritual gifts designed to equip and empower for ministry in the local church and beyond.

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So again, just looking at, just questions to get us thinking. In what ways can you guys think right off the top?

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Are men and women made for God's glory? Or maybe to phrase it a little bit, what giftings would make it possible for women and men to serve

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God? Does anyone have any thoughts? I think at a basic level, just by the very nature, image bearers of God, we are both male and female.

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We exist so much as we fulfill the very purpose for which

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God has made us to glorify him. So when we use our minds and when we demonstrate kindness and we show compassion, even in our marriage relationships, just by our mere existence, we demonstrate the glory of God.

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Yeah. So in other words, it should be a natural outpouring.

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By Holy Spirit guidance and empowering, we're able to do all things to glorify

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God and to make it our ministry to proclaim his name in our actions, not just in what we say, but how we live our lives.

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And men and women are both granted equal measure of that ministry in different ways, albeit.

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Like I said, I don't want to— and this has been a topic a little bit that, like I said, if I can refer you back to,

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I guess, our earlier teachings on the Church, you'll find that there's a lot to be said about this, especially on teachings of the

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Church. So if you have any issues— or not issues, but if you have any— one more reference period.

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Like I said, for you guys there, I would suggest you guys would look there because this is a topic that we've talked a little bit about.

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So I don't want to— again, I don't want to preach someone else's sermon in one sense, but I do want to add a little bit to the discussion here.

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I just want to go to Ephesians 1 real quick. You guys don't have to turn there. But as Shane had said earlier, by being in Christ, we are empowered with the

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Holy Spirit to live a life of ministry. Our life is a calling, is a divine calling, and it is one that empowers us to live as ministers, as evangelists, as ministers to a fallen world.

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Ephesians 1, verse 11 says, In Him, so in Christ, we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of His glory.

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In Him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised

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Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of His glory.

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Being in Christ means that we are sealed with the Holy Spirit, and this allows us to be used as ministers.

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It allows us to minister the word and proclaim the gospel in a way that we cannot as dead men.

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Like it says in Ephesians chapter 2, you were dead in your trespasses and sins. Dead men cannot proclaim the gospel.

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However, in Christ, we have Holy Spirit power to proclaim the gospel and proclaim the excellencies of the one who sends us.

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So, like I said in 1 Peter, so I just want to make it really clear that it's not, that we are not to look at this lightly, that, you know, as men and women, we are both called to the life of ministry, and we are, both genders are empowered through the

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Holy Spirit, and I want to just maybe look at one place where, like I said, adds to this discussion just a little bit.

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If you could turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 12. So starting in verse 12,

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I'm just going probably just to read to the end of this because, again, it pertains so closely to our discussion.

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So in verse 12 it says, For just as the body is one and has many members, all the members of the body, though many, are one body.

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So it is with Christ. For in one Spirit, again the Holy Spirit, we were all baptized into one body,

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Jews or Greeks or slaves or free, and all were made to drink of one Spirit. Again, no distinction there.

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No distinction between race, role in society, slave nor free.

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Again, all drink of the same Holy Spirit. No distinction. For the body does not consist, again in 14, does not consist of any one member but of many.

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If one foot should say, because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less part of the body.

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And if the ear should say, because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less part of the body.

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If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?

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But as it is, God arranged the members of the body, each one of them as He chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be?

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As it is, there are many parts yet one body. So again, just a pause there for just a second. I want us to really get a sense of gravity of how much

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Paul is pushing for unity here. Paul makes it really clear that these gifts, that being part of the body and your very unique gifting to the body, to the local believer, local body of the church, are for unity.

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There's no distinction between man and woman, between Greek, Jew, slave or free.

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We are all to be of one body, of one mind. Although there are many parts of it, Paul makes the point that it is for unity and not for disunity.

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So again, just keep a running count of how Paul continues to lay this down. Yeah, please.

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In the same spirit, there are varieties of service, but the same

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Lord is in the Lord Jesus Christ, and there are a variety of activities, but it's the same God who empowers them all.

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So it's interesting to see a diversity and a unity, even in the wording that he uses. Yeah, how's that for diversity, eh?

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But yes, exactly that. In verses 12, sorry, in verses 4 -7, you do see that.

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You see, sorry, 4 -6, you see all of one spirit. You see the

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Trinity, the triune God makes himself known here in the very giftings that we are to honor him and bless him with our giftings.

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So, continuing on in verse 21, just going from the text, it says,

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The eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you, nor, again, to the head, to the feet,

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I have no need of you. On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable, we bestow greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our presentable parts do not require.

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But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.

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If one member suffers, all suffer together. If one member is honored, all rejoice together. And he ends his argument by saying this.

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Now, you, you are the body of Christ, and individually members of it. You are all members of the body of Christ, and individually members of it.

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Think about that. And in verse 28, he continues and says, God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.

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Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing?

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Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? Those are all rhetorical questions, but he says, but earnestly desire the higher gifts, and I will show you still a more excellent way.

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So, in just looking at this in terms of our, our mission statement, or our, sorry, statement of faith, we have to understand that it's not just that a rightful understanding of the scriptures rightfully understands that men and women emboldened, empowered with the

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Holy Spirit to do ministry in the life of this, in this world. We are called as, evangelized as exiles to do so.

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There's no, there's no room for slothfulness. We're not, and we'll get to that in just a minute, but everyone is empowered, men and women, and that should give us great hope and joy that God would use every single one of our individual talents.

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I want us to think, for example, just, you know, in practicality of the local church, like Paul would say, you know, are all apostles, are all prophets, are all teachers.

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The church would look very deficient if all were teachers. If everybody was a teacher, it would look, it would be very weak.

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Imagine, he makes the analogy about the human body. If everything was an eye, where would, where would you get the sense of smell?

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Where would we operate if we were lacking, if I said to the kids, you, you don't need your feet today.

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How would you get around? Great, granted, that might be kind of a weird analogy because there's many ways people get around without feet, but the idea remains the same, that if you remove one part out of nowhere for the sake of removing it and saying,

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I don't need this appendage, I don't need this eye, I don't need this ear, all things serve a purpose in the body.

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And that is why Paul uses that analogy. It's not that any one part is greater than the other.

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We all, it all works in tandem. And that, in that way, we need to have the rightful understanding as believers that all of us have a right, have a role to play.

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The Lord has called us for a life of ministry. And maybe I'll end with a little bit of a warning, actually, about that.

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And for that, I'm gonna have to get you guys to turn to Matthew 25, the parable of the talents.

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I think most of us are familiar with this one, but I think there's a lot of knowledge to be gleaned from, from this parable. I enjoy it quite a bit, but I think that, again, it's one that should be a sobering reminder as followers of Christ.

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So let's, so let's pick it up from chapter 25, verse 14 of the book of Matthew. Jesus Christ says this,

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For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another he gave two, and to another one, each according to his ability.

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Then he went away. Again, just to stop there for just a second, different abilities are endowed with different blessings.

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Again, we're not to look upon other people's blessings and covet those. We're all allotted our own individual blessings, our own talents, as it were.

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Going, reading onwards, it says in verse 16, He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more.

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So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug into the ground and hid his master's money.

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Now, after a long time, the master of the servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received five talents came forward bringing five talents more, saying,

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Master, you delivered me five talents here. I have made five talents more. His master said to him,

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Well done, good and faithful servant. You have done, you have been faithful over a little. I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.

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Think about that, into the joy of your master. And he also, he also, he who had two talents came forward saying,

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Master, you delivered to me two talents here. I have made two talents more. His master said to him,

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Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little. I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.

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So just pausing there for just a second, I want us to examine the character of the two first servants. These are, these are servants that it says at once they left to make use of their tools and the giftings that had been imparted upon them.

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A talent, just for reference, is a year's wage, right? When the scripture says five talents were given, that's essentially, no, it's a lifetime,

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I believe. Lifetime wages, correct? It's a lot, it's a lot of money.

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It's a lot. Yes, it's a lot of money. I might have, no, no, no, this is, so when, when he gives five talents, it's a lot of money.

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So again, I think it's a year or lifetime wage. Either way, it's a lot of money. You wouldn't, 20 years.

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So 20 years wages, if you can imagine what we make in, you know, you know, what we make in two weeks is a lot, right?

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You know, we need, we need money to sustain ourselves here in this world, but imagine that the master comes and gives you, you know, the first guy, he gets 100 years worth of wages and says to do something with us, to make it a blessing into the community and to be a blessing onto others.

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It is, he's been bestowed upon it. So just imagine for just a second the, just the, again, the heart and the zeal of the two first servants at once, they went and took these talents and they did, they did great things.

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The one who received five received five more and the one who received two received two more. They both doubled the talents in eager anticipation of their

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Lord returning. Again, just the study of their character in so little reveals that these are people who are zealous for the kingdom of God.

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They're zealous. So again, so again, the word of warning comes next. Now let's look at the character of the one who hid his master's money.

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Picking up in verse 24, he said, he also had received the one talent and came forward saying, Master, I knew you to be a hard man reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed.

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So I was afraid and I went and hid your talent into the ground. Here, have what is yours. But the master answered him, you wicked and slothful servant, you knew that I, that you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed, that you ought to have invested my money with the bankers at my coming.

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I should have received what was mine with my own interest. So take my talents from him and give it to the one who has ten talents for to everyone who has more or who has will more be given and he will have an abundance.

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But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away and cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness and that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

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Initially, when I looked upon very early on as a new believer, I looked upon this

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I said that's wicked and slothful servant I didn't fully understand what the the implications of being called wicked and slothful but this servant completely misrepresents our

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Lord. He completely mischaracterizes him as greedy. Therefore, he is a wicked servant because he has mischaracterized the very character of our

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God. In giving him the one talent so that it could be used for God's glory he mischaracterizes him completely and also and the second thing wicked and slothful being that he did nothing with it.

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Out of fear, out of out of general apathy this man does nothing. This servant does nothing and as his reward he is thrown out from the kingdom and as it says he's thrown into the darkness and that place will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

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Again, so if we're going to be studying this in terms of application I think we need to look at the attitudes and the zeal and the love that the first two servants exhibit and we need to apply that and be fearful that we don't don't become slothful ourselves.

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That we don't view that we don't mischaracterize what has been given to us and we act in fear or slothfulness or apathy but we are like more like the first two servants and not like the last.

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Okay, so that essentially does wrap up my second point. For those who have been paying attention with our teachings and our statement of faith you will know that we would hold to the doctrine of complementarianism so to let the cat out of the bag.

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If I were to leave today with just having said what I said you would leave with a very skewed view of what the

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Bible says about gender. Up until this point there would be large amounts of agreement with many people and many people would be pretty happy.

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But to do that would be to would be to not speak on what the

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Bible has said about gender roles specifically because there is we would hold that while men and women are equal 100 % equal they are different and their use in ministry is different and to not speak on that would be to deny the scriptures their worth but to also lead you guys astray so we're not going to do that.

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We're going to go right into the I guess the controversy we're going to wade right there together about what the scripture says about gender roles especially when it comes to teaching and leading and we are going to look again we're going to mine the scriptures for what they're worth and we're going to go again just to where the

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Bible says. But before we do that does anyone have questions on point 2? I would say that in Christ so the

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Christian people in the church there are no more genders so there were gender roles at the time of creation that God himself reveals himself as an he but then they would say in verse 28 and maybe in verse 27 so Galatians 3 .27

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as many of you as were baptized into Christ and put on Christ you were there is neither

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Jew nor Greek there is neither slave nor free there is no male or female for you are all one in Christ what would you say to that person that says you're right we're all equal and there aren't even genders anymore because in Christ I would say that that is a scripture taken out of context and I would point to scripture for example in chapter 4

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John chapter 4 verse yeah chapter 4 verse 24 it says God is spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth while it's true that God does not hold gender like we would that we don't hold that he's not bound to the same anatomy that man is bound to the father has revealed himself as father which is a gendered role which is a male male headship as the father

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Jesus Christ came as a man and he appointed twelve apostles who were all male all these things are circumstantial evidence

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I would say but to look at verse 24 of chapter 4 of John it says we must worship in spirit and truth all these things must be analyzed in context and also weighed against their own context in Galatians for example

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I would look at that one without having looked at that one prior to this I would say no it's fine it's picked out of context because you can't just pick one verse out of context when the

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Bible has been authoritative in stating that gender is important gender is vitally important and we need to conform to the rules that the

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Lord and the precepts that the Lord has laid before us but it's not but ultimately you're right that God is spirit but he needs to be worshipped in truth and in spirit amen yeah yeah and actually that's what we're going to get into a little bit because that's that would what this this goes in the face of all of that okay so does anyone so no questions okay so we're going to move on we have one here oh do you okay well we'll have questions that's not a question that's a statement okay okay so we're going to look at our third point and again we're going to this isn't this will not be exhaustive teaching as all things there is much more that the

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Bible can say and to be mined especially pertaining to this topic I love this topic and I would be here all night if you'd let me but I'm going to hit on some of the most prevalent points of scripture that again

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I'm praying leave no distinction that everyone who would leave here would leave would leave certain that the

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Lord has spoken clearly on this and that this doctrine is a doctrine of love again it is the Lord has spoken very clearly on this topic and I think that it's not something that we can just look at it lightly but we need to look at it honestly like it says in John 4 24 we need to look at it in spirit and truth so looking at our statement of faith real quick it says this and this is what we would hold to we believe that God has created men and women to fulfill different and complementary roles in the life of the local church and the home

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God has ordained the principle of male headship in both the home and the local church that certain governing

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Freudian slip and teaching roles are reserved for men but we would hold to that we would hold that the Bible has been very clear on this topic that there is no distinction and to look at it otherwise would be to go in the face of scripture and to impose our own views on gender ok so we're going to start with prescriptive versus descriptive

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I don't know if you guys are familiar with that but we're going to start with I would not say weak evidence but I'm going to say circumstantial so we're going to start with evidence that we are going to draw inferences on from what the word is described we'll go back to Genesis for that but the reason for that is there's pragmatic reasons for that because like anyone who follows legal proceedings or court cases you don't start swinging with your best punches first we're going to make the case that the

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Bible from the beginning to the end has spoken very clearly on this and we can draw from scripture even in the description of God's word of instances that God has made it very clear about this it's like a hockey player who doesn't burn out on his first shift

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I don't know I know you play hockey but it's like any athlete that goes in you don't burn your gas tank in the first 5 minutes and then have the next 25 minutes gassed and ready to take a pummeling any sports analogy you can fill in the blank but you're often left with circumstances where the team was most composed and has a sense usually veterans will leave with victory based on their consistency so I want to do that I want to look at what the bible says concerning this from the beginning so if you guys have your finger in Genesis chapters 1 2 and 3

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I'll get you to flip back to that so for this we're going to look at the order of creation we kind of looked at it initially in our first point but I want to highlight different aspects of what we were looking at starting in chapter 2 verse 15

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I want us to be cognizant of what's happening here so in verse 15 it says the lord god took the man and put him in the garden of eden to work and keep it and the lord god commanded the man saying you may surely eat of every tree of the garden but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat of it for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die so just as a point of like a point of questioning who is god speaking to here yeah half of that is right is e present in this part no no she's not that's right took the man yeah no no please if you have a question well actually that's that's where we're going because looking at the scriptures verse 15 to 17 the command that that the lord gives man is to man alone there's just there's a sequencing that happens here there and this is not by accident again we can't we can't look at this and say well this is just circumstantial you know this this is you're just drawing an inference the lord does not make a mistake with his word so we have to take that we have to take this seriously and i'll build upon this very very notion in a bit because it says actually as you ask the question well doesn't doesn't god instruct adam and eve afterwards after eve's creation well let's look at this let's look at the scriptures it says in verse 21 it says so the lord god caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh and the rib that the lord god had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man so again eve is coming to the picture into existence but reading onwards it doesn't say that the lord instructed them both actually you're left without instruction and actually you see you see the fall of the circumstance or of the you see when sin enters the world the the male headship as it's there's problems with it adam faltered so to answer your question no that god or god does not speak to adam and eve at the same time he speaks to adam and instructs adam to lay that down to eve in in as part of his male headship as his role as a spiritual headship in the family does that make sense we'll get to that right now in chapter three in kind of a roundabout way but like i said it's very fascinating how how we come out come about here so in verse so again i just want us like i want us to picture what's happening here starting in chapter three it says now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the lord god had made again there's no there's no information about satan or the enemy but this is all we have he enters into the picture here and he says to the woman in verse two or sorry continuing in verse one did god actually say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden and the woman said to the serpent we may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden but god said you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden neither shall you touch it lest you die pausing there for a second did god say that you can't touch the fruit no god did not say that that's right because the day that you eat of it you shall but of the tree of the knowledge of the good and evil you shall not eat of it for in the day that you eat you shall surely die right so he did not say that you could not touch it but this is again this is part of the enemies attack plan

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I want us to imagine for a second just to pause here maybe use an analogy John Piper uses analogy that I heard and I thought it was quite fitting so imagine for just a second what is happening here anyone familiar with war and the proceedings of war especially in the days before tanks and modern warfare as it were what would happen is that sometimes you would have generals and commanding officers ride out into the middle of the battlefield

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I don't know if you guys have ever seen that a lot in movies and stuff but it's almost like this heroic scene where you would see the commanders riding forth you know the generals of both armies would ride forth into the middle of the battlefield sometimes this was done for different reasons sometimes they were it was to broker peace they would say oh okay well you know they would try to broker peace amongst one another right or they would try to they've assembled but you know they're trying to brokering you know a solution that results in no bloodshed other times it was the mental warfare had already started they ride out to the middle to intimidate one another and then they proceed to the other sides and begin the conflict so imagine that very same scenario right here that Adam with his high ranking officer and Eve they ride out to the middle of the battlefield standing opposed to him is

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Satan the general of the opposing army and reading on let's imagine let's imagine what is happening here picking up in verse 4 it says but the serpent said to the woman you will not surely die for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be open and you will be like God knowing good and evil so when the woman saw the tree was good for food and it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise she took of its fruit and ate and she also gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate so again going back to our analogy for just a second imagine what is happening here that you have commanding officers going to the middle of the battlefield to meet with one another and you have the commander of this officer or this army

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Adam and alongside on his right is Eve and stands opposed to him is

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Satan and what does Satan do does he does Satan speak to Adam no no he doesn't he supersedes him he by and by extension he supersedes

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God's authoritative order he undermines God's order in this and that he does not speak to Adam because conventionally you would speak to war from one from one commanding officer to another but what's happening here is that the enemy completely undermines

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God's authority and goes to Eve and speaks to her and addresses her all while Adam watches because as we see in verse 6 was verse 6 she took of its fruit and ate and she also gave some to her husband who was where who's there with her and they both ate you're looking at an instance where the enemy is superseding

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God's or undermining as it were God's authority undermines

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Adam and by extension undermines God's order by speaking to Eve first and through Eve deceiving

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Adam so again thinking about this in terms of military that would be a catastrophic failure of leadership to have your as a king to send your commanding officer forward and to have the report back that you were that your commanding officer was misled because he failed to stand up for his position especially one as the

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Lord had been very clear on especially in Genesis chapter chapter 2 verse 15 16 17 the

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Lord was made very clear here but Adam again failing to live up to his role of male headship the enemy exploits that and you see sin enter the world as a result hopefully everybody understands that a little bit hopefully everyone can understand the gravity of what the enemy has done there so in theory like yeah please sorry no go ahead yeah did he know that he could

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I'm sorry so say that one more time so you're supposed to go into Adam who has been instructed directly from God well the

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Lord foreknew right the Lord foreknew the fall of man right he foreknew the circumstances of what was to take place right this this does illustrate though that that Adam in his in his stewardship in his biblical leadership of of his marriage to to Eve he failed and that's something that is laid out for us to understand and to learn from that his male headship is a heavy challenge to aspire to that we need that it's male headship there's a reason that the

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Lord designed things in such a way that men would be able and willing to defend we'll get we'll get to that in just a minute in terms of what the scriptures say but but the

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Lord made male headship to be the one of leadership and protection and Adam fails in that right and as a result sin inches the world because he stands idle by when having received full full instruction from the

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Lord he neglects the very duty that the Lord put for him does that make sense that answer your question were you going to talk about God calling

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Adam to account for that or yeah a little bit but please if you have something to add I'd love to hear it the only thing

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I would it's a joke but in reality

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I mean it was a dereliction of Adam's duty that he was there like it actually says in the text right who was with her so he was there and in many respects kind of like you know it's like a chaperone of a group this has limits so please understand

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I don't want this to be demeaning towards Eve or her daughters but it's like a chaperone of a group that they are charged with right and you know

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I think what Steve in the classroom said right and the principal comes in and the kids are hanging off the chandeliers and who's the principal going to go to this you know the child's dying and the kids are just going to look at Steve who's on his phone you know at his desk right and so when

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God comes into the garden he doesn't say Eve where are you he actually says that the

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Lord God called to the man and said to him where are you and I think in terms of male headship that these men were responsible for our household right

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I don't want to get ahead of that no that's fine no no no that's fine but Adam was with Eve when this happened right yeah he stood alongside her he was there throughout the entire conversation oh really yeah because I remember when

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I was a kid we were talking about that he wasn't around and then he came out he was deceived at some point no he's standing right there yeah he stands idly by like he doesn't say anything and you can see how with the gravity of what's taking place with God's order that should be a big deal to us that should stand as a big no no for everyone that he would not adhere to the rule of God that he's in one sense being defiant not fulfilling his role oh that's a good question maybe we'll talk about that one after though because that's probably good for another topic that's okay you have to leave you have to leave looking at I want us to look at 1st

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Timothy for a little moment here because Paul breaks this down to Timothy in the

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New Testament and he writes this to him in 1st Timothy chapter 2 pertaining to this issue in Genesis chapter 2 verse 11 it says let women learn quietly with all submissiveness

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I do not permit a woman to teach or preach and Adam was not deceived but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor so Paul is making is writing concerning the events in Genesis that it was

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Eve who was deceived granted as we spoke about earlier

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Adam has a large part to play in that because he failed to steward her as the Lord had laid out and done so inappropriately but we need to start getting into the issue of where leadership comes from and who's to teach and who's to exhort so before we do that any questions concerning Genesis?

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I don't want to say dominion but we're not in charge over Eve we have spiritual leadership both equal but different yeah so both are equal before the eyes of God having the same innate value as image bearers but man has spiritual leadership especially in relation to marriage we'll get to that in Ephesians and we'll get to that a little bit later but yes man has spiritual leadership that's not to say that man is domineering yeah there's a temptation to take that there's a temptation to take that farther than what the text says because the text doesn't allow for that but again looking at this issue as a doctrine of love we need to understand this correctly that male headship is part of God's good order it's part of his divination okay just before ending our time in Genesis I just want to maybe

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I just want to answer maybe someone who my innate say is

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God's good order of male headship of stewardship and of leadership and he goes above that and undermines it he has in essence proved it because he's the father of lies all he does in his book of tricks is deceit so in one sense he does affirm the doctrine through Genesis but again in one sense that's the extent of my circumstantial evidence or descriptive versus prescriptive because now we're going to get into what the text says in black and white if I can get you guys to turn to 1st chapter 3 we're going to round out this point with a couple of other spots so starting in 1st

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Timothy chapter 3 this is Paul writing to Timothy about how to set the local church in order and we're talking about church structure we've talked about this before but again just to reiterate this is the church order this is for our good and this is the bride of Christ that he is instructing

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Timothy to put in order so we need to look at this with the gravity and the severity that Paul writes to Timothy so looking at 1st

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Timothy chapter 3 verse 1 it says the saying is trustworthy if anyone aspires to the office of overseer he desires a noble task therefore an overseer must be above reproach the husband of one wife just to stop there

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I don't know how a woman can become the husband of one wife I haven't heard a good answer for that sober -minded self -controlled respectable hospitable able to teach not a drunkard not violent but gentle not quarrelsome not a lover of money he must manage his own household well with all dignity keeping his children submissive for someone does not know how to manage his own household how will he care for God's church he must not be a recent convert or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil moreover he must be well thought of by outsiders so that he may not fall into disgrace into a snare of the devil so just again using just our intuition and just our faculties look at the text on its own this is a text that is riddled with male pronouns if we're just going to look at the language we're just going to look at the grammar he and his appears roughly around 11 times this is just looking at the grammar alone he must be he desires a noble task therefore an overseer must be above reproach the husband of one wife if we're looking at the content of the verse the husband of one wife again

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I don't know how a woman would become the husband of one wife I don't understand that sober -minded self -controlled respectable able to teach

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I'm not a drunkard not violent but gentle and not quarrelsome not a lover of money he must manage his own household well with dignity and keeping his children submissive actually on this in verse 5

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Paul is relaying again common knowledge to Timothy about spiritual male headship he's building on that foundation that is

01:00:34

God's church is the bride of Christ and he's setting an order that these offices be instantiated in a way that honors

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God and glorifies him he draws back on the similarities of marriage he puts very clearly he must manage his own household well with all dignity keeping his children submissive for someone does not know how to manage his own household how will he care for God's church so Paul immediately draws back to the to the doctrine of marriage and a biblical male headship so there's there's shared knowledge here this isn't this is an assumption that Paul is making of Timothy that Timothy knows this and knows as well so again we have to look at the text and what it says and and it leaves no room for female teachers it does not it does not allow for that and the text if you were to squeeze it for all it's worth you would not find an iota that builds an argument that women teachers are to exist in the role of elder in the office yeah in the office of elder into the general assembly that as in the general assembly it is it is men who teach and it is men who exert in the exert leadership turning over just a couple books over and again just just because I want

01:01:54

I want to be very clear here that that the Lord has spoken on this with clarity I want us to go to Titus chapter 1 again

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Paul says something very similar to Titus another one of his disciples there's some extra added there's some different elements that Paul inserts in this letter but the bulk of the letter remains the same again going to Titus chapter 1 verse 5 it says this this is why

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I left you in Crete so you might put what remained into order and appoint elders in every town as I directed you if anyone is above reproach the husband of one wife again we see that from first Timothy in here and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery he must not be arrogant or quick tempered or drunkard or violent or greedy or greedy for gain but hospitable lover of good self -controlled upright holy and disciplined he must hold firm to the trustworthy word is taught so that he may be able to give instruction and sound doctrine and also rebuke those who contradict it and in this

01:03:16

Paul says more context to this again drawing back on the headship of male on the male headship about protecting he must be able to give sound instruction and sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it if a man is to enter the biblical office of elder which is a high office one worthy of a double honor as it says in the scriptures we need to have a rightful understanding that there is defense to be made as an under shepherd for the

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Lord is not the flock of man it is it is Christ flock therefore it is a high office that needs to be respected and followed to the letter of the law to undermine it and to go against what the scriptures have said in terms of its limitations on who can teach and who can't teach would be to damage the flock would be to damage to look down upon or to undermine the the flock that the

01:04:14

Lord has put before the shepherds again it is not is not we are under shepherds the true shepherd is in heaven he's in he's

01:04:22

Christ Christ stands above all and seated on his throne and for a short time we act as under shepherds but we are not to look upon his flock with anything less than the same amount of love and respect that the

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Lord puts upon them so does anyone have any questions on the third point there's

01:04:44

I understand that's a lot there's a lot to be said about that but I'm just would you say to someone who would make the argument that this is a cultural phenomenon and not a first off I'd look at I mean general just general application you need to look at of what the word says and how to interpret it

01:05:22

I think if we esteem rightly the word of God the word of God is the scriptures that are revealed to us it is inerrant

01:05:29

God is inerrant and he's put our these scriptures before us for our study and for our edification for His glory and kingdom.

01:05:35

So what that means is to look upon it any other way, to undervalue, to assume that the

01:05:42

Lord has put just cultural significance on the Bible, is to look at the Scriptures and to say, well, this applies to them, not me.

01:05:49

This might be for a different time, but not me. And I would question the integrity of someone who would read the

01:05:57

Bible in this way and how they value the Scriptures and how high they see God's ordination of the

01:06:02

Bible that sits before them. Does that answer your question? Yeah. So in other words, the

01:06:09

Scriptures are to be interpreted for our use. Romans 8 .28 says, for those who love

01:06:16

God know that all things work together for our good, for those who are called according to His purpose. We need to know that these

01:06:21

Scriptures are written for our good. These things are given to us that we may live in these boundaries for our freedom.

01:06:28

There's freedom in these boundaries and we need to understand that rightly. To say otherwise, such as say, you know, this is only cultural or cultural context or historical context, would be to look down upon the word that God has preserved so beautifully and to make light of what

01:06:44

God has said. And if you're willing to do that with this doctrine, which is why I would hold to this doctrine, I love this doctrine so much, but if you're willing to look upon this doctrine and insert, you know, eisegit, as it were, or to add my own sinful, manly perception to it,

01:06:59

I dare not look upon what someone does with the rest of Scripture. That's right.

01:07:26

Yeah. Yeah. That's right.

01:07:33

Yeah. Hopefully that answers your question. Yes. If we weren't to sin.

01:07:59

That's a good question, but we'll talk about that one after, but I like that question, but that's probably a different topic, but we'll get to that one after, okay?

01:08:12

Okay, so again, we'll kind of round out this topic a little bit here, very quickly, like I said.

01:08:20

I appreciate you guys have listened so well. There's a lot, and like I said, this is exhaustive, or not exhaustive, as it were. My prayer is that this has only whet your appetite for more, more study in this topic, because there's a lot more that could be said.

01:08:32

But just to answer one question here, because I think that someone might come away with, well then, who are women to teach?

01:08:39

Women have no purpose in ministry. In our second point, we've seen that that's not the case, that the

01:08:47

Lord has made no provision for women to be just idle standard buyers. So in other words, we need women in ministry, but one question is, well, who can they teach?

01:08:56

If they can teach, who can they teach? Looking further into Timothy, we need to look at chapter two, because it's not enough for, like I said,

01:09:13

I don't want you to take my word for it, I want you to study for what the word says. Women are valued, and we need women in ministry, we need women who are able to teach, and women are a valuable teacher to one another.

01:09:26

Because to say otherwise, to say that women can't teach, to look upon women and say, well, they can't learn from men alone, would be to undervalue, again, what the

01:09:35

Lord has put in women to teach one another. Looking at Titus chapter two, again, just to go to the words of Scripture, chapter two verse three, older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanders or slaves to much wine.

01:09:48

They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self -controlled, pure, working at home, kind and submissive to their own husbands.

01:09:57

That the word of God may not be reviled, and again, in application, again, for those of us who are part of a local church and understand just the significance of this text, we understand the value, in application to see an older sister teaching sisters in Christ, that's one value.

01:10:19

And to not value just the love that, although we have the

01:10:25

Scriptures and we have to study them for our own edification, and to not have the experience and love that the

01:10:31

Lord has used in the lives of these older sisters and the love that they bring in terms of their teaching to women and to the younger generation, that would be to completely undermine women's role as well.

01:10:45

Also, I want to make the point really clear that women are valued in ministry, and we need women in ministry, not just in teaching but in evangelism, missionary work, and so on.

01:10:54

But, anyways, without labouring that point, I want to end, again, this is all well and good,

01:11:02

I love sound doctrine, sound doctrine is important. We need to understand doctrine and we need to esteem sound doctrine rightly.

01:11:10

But we can't be like the church in Revelation, Revelation chapter 2, the church in Ephesus, that esteemed doctrine so well, they would defeat wrongful teaching, and they were so proficient at it, based on maybe their history, the lineage that had remained there, but Jesus says of this, of them in Revelation, that they lost their first love.

01:11:34

We can't be that church. We can't be a church that esteems doctrine in spite of God's, of Christ's love.

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We cannot forget our true love, our first love. So again, my hope is that as we've gone today, that you would leave convinced, one, that the

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Lord has spoken really clearly on complementarianism, on gender roles, granted it's not an exhaustive study, but hopefully it whets your appetite for more, but more importantly too, that this is a doctrine of love.

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This is a doctrine, this is a doctrine that, that shoots forth from Christ.

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This is a doctrine that is, that its author, its very author is love. I have, I've been, anyone who knows me in the last couple weeks knows that I've been raving over a biography by, of Robert Murray McShane, written by Andrew Bernard, but he says this of McShane, and he makes this point in the biography.

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He says, there's, there's a wide difference between preaching doctrine and preaching Christ. Mr. McShane preached all the doctrines of scripture as understood by our confession of faith, dwelling upon the ruin by the fall and recovery by the mediator.

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The things of the human heart and the things of the divine mind were in substance his constant theme. So, McShane's.

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From personal experience of deep temptation, he could lay open the secrets of the heart so that he once said he supposed the reason why some of the worst sinners in Dundee had come, had come to hear him was because his heart exhibited so much likeness to theirs.

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Still, it was not doctrine alone that he preached. It was Christ from whom all doctrine shoots forth as rays from a center.

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It is Christ that we aim to proclaim. It's not just sound doctrine, like a solid statement of faith.

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It is Christ, the author of all doctrine, of all scripture, which we aim to proclaim. So I'll just end quickly in Ephesians, Ephesians five,

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I wish I could give this text more time or more, more time to its due, but given what, what time we have remaining,

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I'm going to kind of speed through this just a little bit, just turn there. So this is in Ephesians chapter five, verse 22, again, the quintessential topic of love and marriage of which the church and gender roles are based off of, again, the author of love.

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So verse 22 says, wives submit to your own husbands as to the Lord, for the husband is the wife or is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, his body and is himself its savior.

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Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of the water with the word.

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So he might present the church to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing that she might be holy and without blemish.

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In the same way, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it just as Christ does the church because we are members of his body.

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Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is profound and I say this, that it refers to Christ and the church, however, let each one of you love his wife as himself and let the wife see that she respects her husband."

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Again, look, drawing on the analogy of the church and the bridegroom,

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Christ in this very passage, the bridegroom is coming for his bride, the church, his beloved who will be with him in splendor and we need to look at this doctrine and say this is a doctrine of love.

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For those of us in Christ, we look at this and we marvel and we sing with joy at the prospect of being one member in his body, in his beloved church,

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Christ having loved her so much that he went to the cross and died for his beloved church.

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Hebrews 12, 2 says, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

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Again the author of love itself authored this doctrine, again in a mere image of the love that he has for his beloved, the church.

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So we are to esteem it with the right view. But for those of us who are in Christ, we see this as something, as a call for joy, as a call for praise because we know that one day the

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Lord will be back and he will come to ransom his, he will come to take his wife and she will be in glory and splendor and they will both be glorious and beautiful.

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But for those who are not in Christ, we should look upon this at the moment and say, and ask yourself the question, am

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I part of the church that he will take home with him? Am I part of his bride that he loves his beloved so dearly that he would die for her?

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Or am I part of the unbelievers, am I one who is sentenced to wrath, standing in diametric opposition to our

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Lord? So I want to leave you guys with this. I want to say that this is a doctrine of love and I, as much as I love this doctrine,

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I love Christ more and I want nothing else than my prayer to be that the love of Christ would be proclaimed above all else and that this is, again, this is like a ray of light that shoots forth from the center of Christ's heart.

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So let's pray. Father, we pray humbly, Lord, that you were glorified this day,

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Lord, that, Father, we love this doctrine. Lord, it is one we would hold to. Lord, the scriptures have spoken so clearly,

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Father, on this topic that, Father, we dare not dismiss it, we dare not look upon it another way, Father, or inject our own human fallacy within it.

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But Father, it is my prayer, my foremost prayer, Lord, that people hearing this, Lord, if there be objections,

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Lord, would look upon the face of Christ and look upon the author of love itself and look to him and look to him and fall in repentance,

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Father, for this doctrine, Lord, exists for our good and for your glory, Lord, that we would operate in freedom in this doctrine.

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And it would be nothing, Lord, if we did not have the love of Christ in us. And Father, I pray that anyone who would hear this, Lord, that,

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Father, if they are not in Christ, Lord, that they would repent and they would seek him, Father, for, Father, at the foot of the cross lies all things, and Father, I ask that you would save them,

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Lord, that you would save unbelievers, Father, as you saved me, Lord, as this was instrumental in my life,

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Lord, when you opened my eyes, Father, let that be the case for many others, Lord. And I pray this, Lord, I pray that you would open their eyes,

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Father, with such a loving doctrine. So I ask that you bless those who are hearing this and those in attendance,