Tuesday’s Truth
Truth. What is truth. How do we know truth? Where do we find truth? If you have stumbled on this blog, you need to understand at the beginning that this is a church blog. I am a pastor. I am writing primarily for those the Lord has blessed me to pastor. We affirm that God’s Word, the Bible, is the ultimate source of truth, and therefore our ultimate standard by which we judge everything else.
In John 17;17, during Jesus’ high priestly prayer, he prays, “Sanctify them by your truth, your word is truth.” Psalm 119:160 says, “The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous ordinances is everlasting.”
Where then do we find God’s Word? Does he speak to us in a loud booming voice? Does God speak to us like one of those angels on our shoulder you see on tv? No. God speaks to us through the Scriptures. His Word is the Bible. 2 Timothy 3":16-17 says this:
All Scripture is inspired by God and profitbable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
It is through the pages of Scripture that we find truth. So what truth will we explore today. I want to briefly explore the simple truth that God designed gender. We won’t explore everything the Bible says about manhood and womanhood. We will have time to do that.
While our culture may be confused about gender, God is not confused. His word is abundantly clear. In Genes 1, God formed the earth, the oceans, and the skies, and then filled them with beasts, and birds, and fish. He of course filled his creation with mosquitoes, and spiders, sharks, and rattlesnakes, which I’m still scratching my head to why he made those, but that’s not the point. At the end of those days, on the 6th day it says as recorded in Genesis 1:26-27:
The God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. God created man in His Own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
While we do not learn everything about God and man in these verses, we learn some very important truths to which we must anchor to.
God is our creator. God created fish, birds, and cows, and he created man. By virtue of being our creator, he has authority over us. He could have created us with 3 noses and 7 arms, and 1 eyeball. But he didn’t. He created us as he desired to. He created each one with intricate design. By being one of God’s designs you as an individual, whoever you are, have intrinsic value. Psalm 139: 14 says, “I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” God did not just throw you together last minute to meet some creation quote he imposed on himself. Every detail from the number of hairs on your head, to the number of freckles you have is made by God’s intricate design. You are valuable to him, and that ought to lead us to thank him and praise him.
Man is created in God’s Image. This is stated over and over again. This sets us apart from the rest of creation. As men and women, we are designed to be a reflection of God in the world. We are to image God. His faithfulness, holiness, love, compassion, all should permeate through the lives of those bearing his image. Of course that image is severely broken because of the fall, because sin entered the world, but even so, every human being is an image bearer of God still, and deserving of honor, dignity, and respect.
Man is created to rule. We are created to have authority over creation. This makes the story of the fall more striking, that Adam and Eve listened to the voice of the snake. They yielded their God given authority over to the serpent in Genesis 3.
Man is created male and female. I understand we live in a gender confused and gender crazed society. But gender, being male and female is an aspect of God’s created design. In our fallen world, these lines have been blurred. There are some men who feel like they are women, and some women who feel like they are men. It is easy for us to complain about things, but these men and women need to be encouraged not to be who they “feel” but to be who God made them to be. Our fulfillment comes not when we rebel against God’s design and how he made us, but when we embrace who God created us to be as male or female, because we were “fearfully and wonderfully made.” God did not make a mistake. God’s created order, creating us male and female in his image has significant implications for how the institutions of family and church are ordered. We will dive into these more.
But I would encourage you, if you are wrestling with gender. Please seek out a faithful pastor who can counsel you and pray for you. God’s Word is truth, not your feelings, and not the culture. You may be confused, by God isn’t. Seek out a faithful pastor who can help you live as God designed you to live.
Ultimately, very shortly after God created everything, the first humans created male and female in his image to rule over the every creeping thing, ended up listening to a creeping thing, got their gender roles mixed up, and distorted the image they were meant to reflect. Ever since that moment, things have gone array.
There is Hope
But even in that horrible passage of Genesis 3 that describes what Adam and Even did to bring sin into the human race, we get a glimmer of hope.
And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.
Genesis 3:15 is the very first reference to what we call the gospel. This is a reference to Jesus, who would come from the seed of the woman, from the line of Adam and Eve, who one day would crush the head of the serpent through his sacrificial death and victorious resurrection.
If you are uncertain what it means to be made in God’s image, or what it means to embrace your gender as God created and designed, I’d love to help. You can reach me at jhitchcock@fsbcw.com. We can’t fix this on our own. After Adam and Even messed things up for us, our only hope is in the one who would come from the woman who would ultimately crush the serpent, Jesus Christ. You don’t have to be confused about who you are, and who God made you to be. You can find hope today.