Well on Sunday evenings we're back in the Book of Origins, the Book of Genesis, if you remember a long time ago we started a series and then Covid came and so we took a detour but this time we got back to the Book of Origins, the Book of Genesis and maybe tonight's reading should come with a warning in today's climate if you want to make a politician feel uncomfortable ask him this question what is a woman? on the Andrew Marr show Ed Davey leader of the Lib Dems was asked what's wrong with this phrase woman adult human female and he didn't answer the question why was he asked well a former Lib Dem activist got into hot water for wearing a t-shirt which simply said woman adult human female and Keir Starmer leader of the Labour Party said it was wrong to say that only women have a cervix he then went on to say that he thought that James Bond next time ought to be a woman so it's a little bit confusing isn't it? so who or what is a woman? Genesis chapter 2 please come with me I'll take you to reading verses 18 to 25 awkward reading maybe controversial should we even go here well we're listening to the wisdom of our maker aren't we the God who made us so what we're going to do is look at these verses Genesis chapter 2 verses 18 to 25 just go through it see what it says trying to get under the surface of the language and then we'll draw two lessons so Genesis chapter 2 verses 18 to 25 now when you read Genesis 1 you hear a sevenfold ringing bell and God saw that it was good and after six days of extraordinary creativity God saw that it was very good a sevenfold ringing bell but the next time we encounter that word excuse me I'm not choking over the question who is a woman the next time we come across the the word good the context is very different isn't it because here we're told things are not good if you look at verse 18 then the Lord God said it is not good that man should be alone I will make him a helper fit for him it's not good that man should be alone why? well let's fill in some of the background What was Adam's calling? This is really by way of a reminder of what we said earlier in the series. Well, chapter 1, verse 26, we read this. Let us, this is God speaking, the triune God, let us, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, make man in our image after our likeness. 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 so humankind is created in God's image and humankind is created in two halves there's male and female so very obviously men and women are equals and each made in God's image each are to be finite reflections of the infinite God neither is superior to the other but they are different different biologies different callings different roles and the man is made first chapter 2 in verse 7 the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the man became a living creature. It's very wonderful, isn't it? It's almost poetic. Adam is awakened with a kiss and when he awakes and opens his eyes, he's face to face with his maker. And the creation itself, that is also made in two halves. That's why chapter 1 verse 1 says, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. There's the heavens, that's God's dimension of the creation and there's the earth which is our dimension of the creation and here's now a creature that's unique in God's creation because Adam is made of the earth but he's filled with the breath of heaven he is therefore uniquely both earthly and heavenly and here's the bridge between these two halves of the creation he's made in God's image he's heavenly but he's made to rule over the works of God's hands he's earthly as we saw last time he's placed in this garden paradise the garden of Eden chapter 2 verse 15 this is all by way of backfill and putting things into context the law of God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it because as we said the garden of Eden is not like the rest of the creation It's something which is tended and cultivated. Its wildness has been tamed and indeed beautified. It's a garden, but a garden under man's control. And it's here in the garden, chapter 3, that God walks with Adam. So it's here in the garden that heaven and earth meet. it's like a door between the two halves of the creation a door between the heavens and the earth they meet in the Garden of Eden so Adam's calling is to extend this garden paradise across the whole earth and to populate it with more and more image bearers of God that's why it says God bless them and God said to them be fruitful and multiply fill the earth and subdue it have dominion over the fish of the sea and so on and so on and so on he said extend the garden paradise populate it with more image bearers until everywhere is like the garden of Eden so that everywhere heaven and earth are joined so that everywhere God and man dwell together. That's the plan. A man uniquely can do it because he's both heavenly and earthly. He's the bridge between the two dimensions. So he's God's chosen king and the creation is his kingdom. And that's brought out in verses 19 and 20. To show his authority over his kingdom, to show that he's been made to rule, he names the animals. He's classifying them. so chapter 2 verse 19 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 and whatever the man called every living creature that was his 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 found a helper fit for him when Adam surveys his kingdom it's brought home to him that he's alone there's no one like Adam but for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him no one like Adam so what is he to do because we have a problem don't we if he's to extend this garden paradise how can he do it if he is alone if he is to populate the earth with more image bearers of God how is he to do it if he is alone he can't fulfill his calling and it's not just that is it he may be a human being but in his solitude his humanness is being denied his solitary condition is not good that's the point that's why it says then the Lord God said it is not good that man should be alone if he's alone he can't fulfill his calling to extend the garden paradise and to populate it with more image bearers and if he's alone there's something in his humanity which is being denied it's not good I will make him a helper fit for him God's gonna make him a helper now elsewhere in the Bible we read that God is the helper of his people so when we read that God is going to make him a helper it doesn't mean that the one that God is going to make for him is going to play second fiddle you know he's the lead part whoever's made for him is just kind of sort of along there to help it's not what it means she won't be a lesser person on the contrary without her the human race will never ever be able to fulfill its potential and its calling and it's a helper that is in the English translation here fit for him what does that mean? Well the word actually means corresponding to him so this helper will be his equal his fellow and the sense is it will be this one will be his mirror image she'll be the same and yet she'll be different shall be like and also unlike. So what happens? Verse 21, the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man and while he slept he took one of his ribs and closed up his place with flesh and the rib the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. The animals are made from the ground but the woman is made from the man here is a fellow living being a fellow human being and because she's made from him what it's stressing is their unity their equality and their interdependence and their complementarity they are two halves which together make a whole so the woman is not made independently of the man she's taken out of the man why? because she's his helper she's not setting up a rival world she's not setting up a rival kingdom she's coming into the man's world so that he and she together can fulfill his calling so together they can fulfill the calling of humankind which verse 28 chapter 1 means being fruitful, multiplying, filling the earth, subduing it, having dominion and that's why she's taken from from Adam's side you probably know the lovely words of Matthew Henry Eve was made from the side of Adam not made from his head to rule over him not made from his feet to be trampled upon by him but out of his side to be equal with him under his arm to be protected and near his heart to be loved look at verse 23 we'll take it from verse 22 and the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought it to the man then the man said this at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh she shall be called woman because she was taken out of man interesting isn't it? here are man's first recorded words and he speaks when he sees a woman and it's not just words is it? it's poetry Adam's heart is singing now the language of verse 22 is architectural the river the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman literally God built into a woman God built a woman there's a beauty a symmetry a form an impact in the form of a woman when Adam looks at Eve he sees one who is architecturally perfect and is not lost for words this at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh she shall be called woman because she was taken out of the man he's saying at last someone like me someone who is the same and yet different and there's a sense too here that for the very first time as it were he's looking at himself outside himself bone of his bone flesh of his flesh looking at himself outside of himself my companion my twin my lover with whom he is to share his life so as Adam looks at Eve he sees himself external to himself she's taken out of him so whenever he looks at her he knows that she has come from his own body so therefore he must cherish her as his own body she's to be loved and revered and protected and whenever Eve looks at Adam she knows that he gave his body for her and so she's to trust him and respect him and if you go to Ephesians 5 that is expanded where it talks about a husband and wife it's saying that the way that they've been created is not incidental it's not a nice story, a bit of poetry it's saying these are the fundamental things of what it means to be a man and a woman so they're the same and yet they're different different biologies, different callings, different roles. But this differentness doesn't push them apart. On the contrary, together they express fully what it is to be human. The man who is no longer alone is the very first marriage and God is the father of the bride. The Lord brings Eve to Adam father the bride bringing her to Adam and they're joined together in marriage verse 24 therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and they should become one flesh so again this is the book of origins isn't it talking now about what marriage is so marriage is not defined by the state marriage is not defined by the church it's defined by the Word of God here it is, it's an exclusive lifelong union between one man and one woman given by God supremely for companionship and it's consummated, consummated through sexual intercourse. Now in the second half of the 17th century in the United Kingdom non-conformist Christians, i.e. those who weren't Anglicans, part of the Church of England they couldn't be married in the eyes of the state unless they were married in an Anglican church and for many non-conformists with the history of persecution that was a step too far so they were never married in the eyes of the state so were they just living together? did it mean their children were illegitimate? no because verse 24, therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and they should become one flesh though had been a leaving and a cleaving it was public it had been agreed by the families it was by mutual consent and the union had been consummated therefore even though these non-conformists were not married in the eyes of the state the eyes of their families and the eyes of their churches they were married there was a true marriage because it was according to the Word of God it was in the sight of God now it's not to say the state doesn't have a place in marriage it does have a valid place it's there to uphold marriages therefore it's also there to protect the vulnerable in marriage but here verse 24 is a verse that's repeated by Jesus himself it's a verse that's repeated by the Apostle Paul here we have a true definition of what marriage is again this is the book of origins God clears the table and says this is what it's really about this is what it is to be human now verse 24 what does one flesh mean? therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife and they shall become one flesh through sexual relations the man and the woman become one flesh so this relationship they have is more than friendship it's more than companionship it's more than a partnership it's actually more than the joining of two bodies their sexual union creates a new entity a new human being two living souls become one in a relationship of ever deepening love and trust and intimacy the two become one now back in the 25th of November 2018 we'll be going through 2 Peter I preached a message on why did God make us sexual beings and we go into these things in much more details if you want to check that out it's on our website, it's on Sermon Audio as well, 25th of November 2018 the two become one so here is God, He's the great matchmaker He brings Adam and Eve together to fill each other's lives, to enlarge each other's lives to complete one another, they're two halves but when they come together there's a completion no longer two but one so they can fulfill their calling as human beings to extend the garden paradise to populate it with more human beings more image bearers of God and in so doing bring glory to God So what do you make of verse 25? And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. Naked and not ashamed. Nakedness. It's rather personal, isn't it? Exactly. Our perception of who we are is bound up by the parts that we hide our sexual anatomy because those parts somehow express who we are so if I said cover yourself up I wouldn't mean go and put a hat on would I? I'd be saying much more than that I mean I'd be saying you'll be showing you're showing something that you shouldn't be showing something intimate and even the words I use, cover yourself it's more than just covering a part of your body it's covering yourself because the yourself that needs to be covered somehow expresses who you are in a way that other parts don't so nakedness is personal it is therefore in that sense the disclosing of who I am so when a husband and wife enjoy sexual intimacy they're disclosing themselves to each other in the way they do to nobody else in the language of chapter 4 verse 1 they know one another there's a sense in which they possess one another think of it like this Adam's side was taken out of him to become Eve to become his other self but through sexual union his other self becomes part of him again and he becomes part of her and the two become one a new human being okay the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed he said nakedness is personal nakedness is revealing but they're revealing themselves to each other without without feeling any shame at all because they have nothing to hide there are no secrets only love and their nakedness presents no threat to them so Adam is not going to abuse his wife or worse and Eve is not going to use her sexuality to manipulate and control Adam in their nakedness there's no power play they're without sin and therefore they're without shame they have nothing to hide because there is nothing to hide well we close with two lessons lesson number one okay I hope you've been following this all the way through what is it then to be human Do you know what it is to be human? You're a human being, I'm a human being. What are we? What are we supposed to do? Now, I'm adding to what we said earlier in the series. We said a lot about what it is to be made in the image of God. To be made in the image of God is to be a living, breathing, moving statue of God. To be a finite image of the infinite God. So how do these verses add to our understanding? We'll look again. verse 18, then the Lord God said it is not good that man should be alone I will make a helper fit for him not good that man should be alone why? well we've gone into that but there's more going on here not good that man should be alone because God is never alone God is one God but there are three who are called God there are three persons in the Godhead Father, Son and Holy Spirit so God is never alone He is three persons and there's a great statement in the New Testament in 1 John which says God is love it's a Trinitarian statement God the Father loves God the Son and God the Holy Spirit God the Son loves God the Father and God the Holy Spirit God the Holy Spirit loves God the Son and God the Father they together occupy this universe of inexhaustible overflowing infinite eternal love God is never alone and so his image bearer must never be alone he too must live in a world of relationships he too must live in a world of love God creates the human race in two distinct unalterable parts male and female so that together they reflect the shared life of the father and the son through the Holy Spirit Adam and Eve are created with the capacity to love, to relate, to belong just as the three persons of the Godhead love, relate, belong Adam and Eve are created with the capacity for two to become one, one flesh because again they're reflecting the three who are one even the way Eve is made sheds light on the fact that we're made in God's image now God the Father and God the Son are equally God they're made of the same substance, if we can put it like that but they relate to each other in a fixed and unchanging way they relate to each other in a particular way if you go to the New Testament, particularly if you look in John's Gospel you find that the Son derives who He is from the Father the Son is the mirror of the Father He is God's own second self. In the Son, the Father looks at himself outside himself. So Adam and Eve, equally human, made of the same substance, but they relate to each other in a particular way. Eve derives who she is from Adam. She is the mirror of Adam, his own second self. and so in Eve Adam looks at himself outside himself that's why he says this at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh she should be called woman because she was taken out of me taken out of man you see it's all reflecting the image of God because the son is taken out of the father because they're uncreated they're God the son is taken out of the father and is the revealer of the father as Eve is taken out of Adam and as Adam looks at her it reveals himself and again there are more lots of there are other places you can look the son we read is in the side of the father or some older translations he's in the bosom of the father and Eve is created out of what? out of the side of Adam you see, it's all Trinitarian, it's all revealing who God is so to be human is to be made in the image of God the details here, it's not a nice bit of poetry or isn't that grand and a bit of fancy it's saying far, far, far deeper more fundamental things as to who we are these aren't incidental details they're telling us who God is and they're therefore telling us who we are and they're telling us what it means to be human what it means to be a man, what it means to be a woman how we relate to each other, what marriage is, what one fleshness is all these issues which swirl around to which people have no answers here we have the clear teaching of God's wonderful word and these verses spell out other aspects of our humanity How many sexes are there? Just two. Male and female. And they're different and yet they're complementary. So chapter 2 verse 7, Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the man became a living being. So Adam is not a person living inside male cladding. Cladding he can take off and change. his biological sex his maleness is his identity chapter 2 verse 22 and the rib the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man so again Eve is not a person in female cladding cladding that she can take off or change God has designed and built her to be a woman and her sex, her femaleness is her identity so what is it to be human? It's not just to be a spirit, a person as it were inside a biological machine and I might be in the wrong biological machine with body and soul my maleness, my femaleness is fundamental to what I am it is my identity it's hardwired it can't be rewritten what did Jesus say? have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female that's all there is male and female men don't have a feminine side because God has created them male body and soul women don't have a masculine side because God has created them female, body and soul and deep down we know that, don't we? It's hardwired in. So there's a new baby, a newborn, what's the first question we ask? Is it a boy or is it a girl? That's what we ask, isn't it? Someone comes towards you even when they're a distance away, what's the instinctive thing? What are you looking at? you're looking to see whether if the person coming towards me is a man or a woman I can't stop myself it's hardwired in it's what it is to be human there's maleness and femaleness I didn't have a birth parent I had a mom and how I miss her we don't have birth parent day do we? we have mother's day verse thirty one of chapter one God saw that everything he had made and behold it was very good maleness is very good femaleness is very good both are bearers of the divine image and to deny that and to play with that and to try and undo that is to deconstruct my humanity equally men and women, sorry men and women are equals both bearers of the divine image and that's why of course it means we're much more than just our sexual orientation how do people define themselves we should define ourselves by being bearers of the image of God created to reflect who God is finite reflections of the infinite God we're made to glorify Him and to enjoy Him forever so we close our second lesson so what's gone wrong? because men and women aren't safe with each other are they? and people say you know you can't live with them and you can't live without them something has gone wrong and male sexuality is so often a threat as tragically we've been hearing in more recent days and marriages fall apart and all this stuff about the two become one flesh but of course people become one flesh with more than one person they become flesh with this, one flesh with this person and this person and this person and this person which means of course when you move from one person to one person to one person that one flesh just keeps getting torn, torn, torn it's like tearing out of Adam's rib without an anesthetic and our relationships are a car crash so often they're places of pain and shame and regret and we're not even sure are we in our society what is a man? what is a woman? what is it to be male? what is it to be female? we don't know who we are and if we think we do know who we are well what is it to be a man what is it to be a woman and don't bring God into it and politicians can't even say what a woman is isn't that extraordinary can't say what a woman is so what's gone wrong we have we've gone wrong chapter 3 will come on to tell us that we walked out on God we spurned his love we fractured the relationship with our maker we cut ourselves off from the very source of our life we cut ourselves off from the very purpose of our existence which of course is why we don't know who we are or what we are or what we're supposed to be doing and since God made this world and God made the human race God is committed to clearing up the mess which means He's committed to holding us to account which is bad news because before God I am naked and before God I am ashamed we all know that don't we? guilt waiting for God to find me out I have a conscience a conscious always makes me think someone has seen me well someone has seen me God has seen me I've wronged him and I've wronged those who are made in his image my fellow human beings so wonder is all a mess like all wrongdoing there's always a price to pay we pay it now in the deconstruction of our humanity but there's an ultimate payment the bible says the wages of sin is death eternal punishment in that other place but if we've walked out on God God hasn't walked out on us he's the great lover he's not walked out on us and his first thought is not to condemn his first thought is to come to our rescue to put things back together again the most famous verse in the bible for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life it's like onto our bitter broken sinful, messed up, disconnected, shameful world, perishing world, a world of wrecked humanity and wrecked relationships is though God opens a window a window from heaven and flooding through that window is the warmth and light of his love and he says come back to me let's begin again Seek me know me love me. I sent my son into this world. He became Flesh of your flesh bone of your bone. He became a human being I Did it to rescue to save to put things back together again to make you whole So you don't perish in hell ultimately But rather you might enjoy the very life of God, the very life of the age to come. Life that's so full, so real, so satisfying, so overflowing, the very life of God that is called eternal life. Life that's to be enjoyed now when I come back to God through Jesus Christ. Adam, to give life the one he loves he gives his rib but Jesus gives himself Adam was given an anesthetic but Jesus suffered as no one has ever suffered God closed up Adam's flesh but Jesus was torn he was nailed to a cross His side was thrust through with a spear. His body was broken. His blood was shed. He died the punishing death for sin that we deserve to die. So that all who believe in Him, all who trust in Him, all who come to Him, including you, should not perish, but have, know, enjoy eternal life. what's gone wrong we've gone wrong we're wrecked we're guilty we're ashamed we're naked before God we're all waiting to be found out but the good news the wonderful news is that God hasn't walked away he gave his son and Jesus by that death upon the cross and by rising from the dead he's done everything that we cannot do to bring us back to God to mend what was broken to put things right to restore in us God's image to restore that broken fractured relationship with God ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven so when you come back it's a message of the gospel saying come back it's a Bible word for it, it says repent stop going your own way turn around come back to God will you come back will you pray Lord I've I've messed up but I understand that on that cross Jesus died for wrecked humanity he died for messed up sinners well I'm a messed up sinner so please forgive me save me change me a messed up human being and make me what I am supposed to be can you pray that can you come back to God through Jesus Christ he invites you tonight and no obstacles no barriers don't have to do anything you can pray to him now in the quietness of your own heart So Lord, I'm coming back. I'm coming to you through Jesus Christ. I don't want to perish. I want life. I want you. And He will welcome you, even this night. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we've gone and sought to dig down Lord into these words and as it were pull water from the well someplace you've had to lower the bucket deep and pull out the water but we thank you that there's such wisdom in your word such clarity such insight such understanding we pray that you'd help us to understand who we are why you have made us but Lord even more than that we thank you that there is one who became bone of our bones flesh of our flesh who gave himself whose side was pierced that we might have life oh we pray come and meet with us this night meet with us at open arms and welcome us in jesus christ into your embrace because we ask it in jesus name amen