TWO GUIDING QUESTIONS DURING THIS SERMON SERIES
Are you growing in the knowledge of God?
Are you growing in loving God and loving people?
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SERMON TEXT
“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 heavens 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 own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”” (Genesis 1:26–28, ESV)
BIG IDEA
Since God created us in his image, we must reflect his image in a manner that is consistent with who he has created us to be – either male or female.
MAIN POINTS
God's Design for Gender
1. God Created all things (Gen 1:27)
2. God Created Humanity in His Image. (Gen 1:26)
3. God created humanity male and female. (Gen 1:27)
What do we mean by gender? Gender is a fixed reality that is rooted in the biological differences between male and female bodies and reflected in our cultural expressions.
Why did God create humanity male and female? Gender reveals the glory of God. First, it shows God’s creativity in the similar and distinct ways in which he creates and wires men and women. It shows his glory in the unique way that a man reflects the image of God and the unique way that a woman reflects the image of God. The second way that gender reveals the glory of God is by pointing to God’s redemptive purposes in Christ. We will talk more about this next week but the union of a man and woman in marriage, which assumes a sexual difference between men and woman, is not simply a means to be fruitful and multiply– but rather is a shadow of the ultimate reality of Christ and the church.
Similarities between Men and Women
1. Both men and women are created in the image of God (Gen 1:27)
2. Both men and women were given joint rule over creation (Gen 1:28)
Differences between Men and Women
1. Man was created first from the dust of the ground and the Woman was created from Man. (Gen 2:15,20)
2. Men and women were created in different realms and given different tasks (Gen 2:15)
3. Man was given a priest-like task to maintain God’s commands (Gen 2:16-17)
4. The woman was given as a helper for man (Gen 2:18,22)
5. The curse affected the men and women in different ways. (Gen 3)
Men and women are both made in the image of God and are equal before him in dignity and worth. Gender, designated by God through our biological sex, is therefore neither incidental to our identity nor fluid in its definition, but is essential to our identity as male and female. Men and women reflect and represent God in distinct and complementary ways, and these differences are to be honored and celebrated in all dimensions of life. To deny or seek to remove these differences is to distort a fundamental way in which we glorify God as male and female. - SGC Statement of Faith
Sin’s Distortion of Gender
While fallen humanity retains the image of God, our minds, our bodies, our will, our affections all experience the effects of the fall.
1. We have disordered Bodies
2. We have disordered Minds
3. We have disordered Hearts
Although the fall distorts and damages God’s design for gender and its expression, these remain part of the beauty of God’s created order…To deny or seek to remove these differences is to distort a fundamental way in which we glorify God as male and female. - SGC Statement of Faith
Christ’s Redemption
Just as sin and death came into the world through one man, it is through one man that God reverses the curse. The first man, Adam, failed to represent God rightly by disobeying his commands. But the second Adam was not like the first, Jesus represented God rightly by perfectly obeying God even to the point of his death on the cross. On that cross, this man, who was also fully God, faced the penalty for our willful disobedience to God’s commands and God’s design. And then, on the third day, he rose again bodily from the dead, letting us know that our bodies matter, and everything that plagues our bodies our minds and our hearts will be completely restored and renewed.
Redemption in Christ progressively restores fallen men and women to their true humanity as they are conformed to the image of Christ. - SGC Statement of Faith
RECOMMENDED RESOURCES
Gender: A Conversation Guide for Parents and Pastors
SONGS TO ENCOURAGE