Gender Complementarity

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. All right, well, good evening, everybody.

Why Complementarianism Matters in a Changing Culture

In the midst of all the... 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.

But anyways, I've been looking forward to looking at this topic and speaking on the issue of complementarianism. It's actually a doctrine that's very near to my heart. 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. 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.

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

But actually, 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. 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 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 Bible.

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

These are big headlines. I don't know if you guys are familiar with this. Do you guys remember what happened in 2018 with Amazon? 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 anyways, here's the situation. 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. One of their proposals in 2018 was that, one of the things they were doing was that they were going to build 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, 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.

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 allowed to make money. What was interesting is what they put forward at the table when they were negotiating for a location.

Part of that was something very interesting, and I'm going to have to read it here. It says, they were looking for something called compatible culture and community environment. That was kind of an odd thing to propose at the time, especially considering you're looking at a business, with tax breaks and all this other stuff.

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

I'm thinking of progressive culture.

Yeah, you wouldn't be wrong.

They didn't want anyone to work in a conservative community?

Pardon?

They didn't want any place too conservative?

Well, that was part of it. Yeah, well, it's exactly that, right? Something progressive, something that would shed away old preconceptions of gender, essentially. In other words, you have a company in Amazon that is waging billions of dollars, billions of dollars in wages.

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.

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. So in other words, billions of dollars were hanging on these things, all on the issue of their view of homosexuality and inclusivity, which is pretty fascinating, because this was actually the first time that this has ever happened in North America.

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. And it was on the cusp of every single, like I said, every single publication.

Pretty much none of the sign had an opinion to say most in line with what 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.

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. 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. 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.

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.

We need to understand that the Lord has spoken on this. That the Lord has spoken very clearly on the topic of gender. And actually, as a result, you see the unintended consequences and confusion that comes from this kind of worldview.

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. 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. It's close to my heart. 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 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. 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. I printed out a bunch. 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.

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

Male and Female as Equal Image Bearers

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. There's a lot of overlap amongst them, so you don't have to feel like they're 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 word says about gender roles and the complementary nature of gender.

So before, so just to get our minds going, I guess the first question is, does anyone venture to guess where the first mention of gender is in the Bible? Do you know where, specifically?

Genesis?

Oh, you're close.

Chapter and verse.

Chapter and verse?

In the beginning.

In the beginning. 1, 2, 3, 4. Close, you're close. 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.

So it is in the beginning. It's not right at the beginning, verse 1, but it's actually in verse, chapter 1, verse 26 and 27. 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. But Genesis chapter 1, verse 26, is the first incident of gendered language in the 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.

So God created man in his image, his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them. 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, right? The study of man. 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. Again, just looking at the passage, you see that it's a riddle all over the place.

So God created man in his own image, in God's image, in his image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them. You see this again. The gendered language enters right at the beginning.

So you have a precedent set of male and female right off the outset, right? First chapter of the Bible, the beginning of man and woman, and there is a precedent set for male and female. There's no in-betweens, there is no distinction between them, there is male and female.

And that is where the Lord leaves it. Looking back at our second question on our guide, just again, just to get our heads going, we have in our statement of faith, the first line we're looking at is actually just the first sentence.

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.

So thinking about maybe that last line, does anyone have any idea what it means to have equal access to God in Christ? Yeah, no preference? Sorry, say that again, no? I can't understand.

You said that we're all able to pray to God.

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

Yes.

Pardon?

We're all judged equally.

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

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. Sorry, just trying to find my place here. Chapter 2, verse 18 to 22. We have equal access to our God.

Again, going on with the creation story in chapter 2, we see that God has created 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.

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. 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. 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.

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

In the beginning, there was only what? You have this one. Yes, in the beginning, it was God. So in the beginning, God. God stands top sovereign. He is at the top of all creation. 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. You have what comes next in terms of stewardship. Image bearers. We looked at the verse in chapter 1, verse 26 and 27.

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

You see men. Men and women. You see Adam and Eve. And beneath that, you see all else that isn't an image bearer. 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. 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.

And it 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 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.

I'm sorry, like it says in verse 20. Because positionally, they are not image bearers. So looking at the verse and the text specifically, it needed to be someone who was an image bearer. So it has to be equal right alongside Adam.

So man and woman are equal, part and part with one another. There is no partiality in terms of one gender is chosen over the other. They are equal part and part. Is everyone following me so far?

Okay.

Looking at 2 Peter, real quick. 2 Peter 2, verse 9. Oh, sorry, 1 Peter, I should say. 1 Peter 2, verse 9 and 10. Just to draw on a New Testament verse that ends any distinction between women and men in terms of their equal access to God.

Peter says this in chapter 2, verse 9. He says, but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a 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.

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. We are a chosen race. We are a holy people. Peter does not make the distinction here.

He doesn't delineate between the genders. 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. 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 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. 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.

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

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. So again, just looking at questions to get us thinking.

In what ways, can you guys think right off the top, 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 God? Does anyone have any thoughts?

I think it is when we show compassion, even in marriage relationships. Just by our mere existence, we demonstrate the glory of God.

So in other words, it should be a natural outpouring. I mean, we have the Holy Spirit guidance and empowering. We're able to do all things to glorify 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.

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

So if you have any issues... Not issues, but if you have any... One more reference period. 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.

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. 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 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.

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.

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

Being in Christ means that we are sealed with the Holy Spirit, and this allows us to be used as ministers. It allows us to minister the word and proclaim the gospel in a way that we cannot as dead men.

Like it says in Ephesians chapter 2, you were dead in your trespasses and sins. Dead men cannot proclaim the gospel. However, in Christ, we have Holy Spirit power to proclaim the gospel and proclaim the excellencies of the one who sends us.

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

If you could turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 12. So, starting in verse 12. I'm just going to probably just to read to the end of this because, again, it pertains so closely to our discussion. 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.

So it is with Christ. For in one spirit, again, the Holy Spirit, we were all baptized into one body, Jews or Greeks or slaves or free, and all were made to drink of one spirit. Again, no distinction there.

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

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. 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.

If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 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? 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 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, the local body of the Church, are for unity. There's no distinction between man and woman, between Greek, Jew, slave or free.

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

Yeah, please.

In spirit, there are varieties of service, but the same Lord is in the Lord Jesus Christ. And there are a variety of activities, but it's the same God who empowers them all. So it's interesting to see a diversity in unity,.

Even in reporting this unity. Yeah, how's that for diversity, eh? But yes, exactly that. In verses 12, sorry, in verses 4 to 7, you do see that, right? You see, sorry, 4 to 6, you see all of one spirit, you see the Trinity, the Triune.

God makes Himself known here, in the very giftings that we are to honour Him and bless Him with our giftings. So, continuing on in verse 21, just going from the text,.

It says,.

The eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you, nor again, the head to the feet, I have no need of you. On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weak are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honourable, we bestow greater honour, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our presentable parts do not require.

But God has so composed the body, giving greater honour 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. If one member suffers, all suffer together.

If one member is honoured, all rejoice together. And he ends his argument by saying this, Now, 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.

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.

Are all apostles? Are all prophets?

Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? 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.

So, in just looking at this in terms of our mission statement, or, 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 Holy Spirit to do ministry in the life of this world.

We are called as evangelists as exiles to do so. There's no room for slothfulness. 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.

I want us to think, for example, just in practicality of the local church. Like Paul would say,.

Are all apostles? Are all prophets?

Are all teachers? The church would look very deficient if all were teachers. If everybody was a teacher, it would look, it would be very weak. Imagine, he makes the analogy about the human body. If everything was an eye, where would you get the sense of smell?

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

How would you get around?

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, 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. And that is why Paul uses that analogy. It's not that any one part is greater than the other. It all works in tandem.

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

And for that, I'm going to have to get you guys to turn to Matthew 25, the parable of the talents. I think most of us are familiar with this one, but I think there's a lot of knowledge to be gleaned 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. So let's pick it up from chapter 25, verse 14 of the book of Matthew. Jesus Christ says this,.

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.

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

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. 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.

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, Master, you delivered me five talents here.

I have made five talents more. His master said to him, 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. Think about that.

Into the joy of your master. And he also, he who had two talents, came forward saying, Master, you delivered to me two talents. Here I have made two talents more. His master said to him, 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. So just pausing there for just a second, I want us to examine the character of the two first servants.

These are servants that it says at once they left to make use of their tools and the giftings that they had been imparted upon. A talent, just for reference, is a year's wage. When the scripture says five talents were given, that's essentially, no, it's a lifetime, I believe.

Lifetime wages, correct?

It's a lot, it's a lot of money.

It's a lot.

Yes, it's a lot of money. No, no, no. So when he gives five talents, it's a lot of money. So again, I think it's a year or a lifetime wage. Either way, it's a lot of money. 20 years. So 20 years wages, if you can imagine what we make in two weeks is a lot, right?

We need money to sustain ourselves here in this world. But imagine that the master comes and gives you, 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 unto others.

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

They're zealous. So again, the word of warning comes next. Now let's look at the character of the one who hid his master's money. Picking up in verse 24, he said, he also who had received the one talent 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.

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 reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed?

Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers at my coming. 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 10 talents.

For to everyone who has more or who has will more be given and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worth of servant into the outer darkness.

In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Initially, when I looked upon, very early on as a new believer, I looked upon this, I said, that's wicked and slothful servant. I didn't fully understand what the implications of being called wicked and slothful.

But this servant completely misrepresents our Lord. He completely mischaracterizes him.

As greedy.

Therefore, he is a wicked servant because he has mischaracterized the very character of our 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. Out of fear, 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. 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 become slothful ourselves. 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 more like the first two servants and not like the last. 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.

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

But to do that would be to not speak on what the 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. 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 Bible says. But before we do that, does anyone have questions on point two?