Welcome to our second lesson on biblical womanhood. I'd like to just take a few moments to review what we looked at in lesson number one. We saw, as we went back to the very beginning of Genesis, that God created a man and created a woman, both in his own image and his likeness. And while he spoke everything into existence, Before the creation of the man and the woman, once he created them, it was different. He created man from the dust of the ground, and he took one of the man's ribs and created the woman. And while all three members of the Godhead were involved in the creation of that world, they were especially concerned with the creation of the man and the woman, indicating the honor and the dignity that was given to them as the crown of God's creation. After the Lord created Adam and Eve, He gave them dominion over all the earth, and so the man and the woman were created equal in value, but they were also created different. God created the man, designed the man and the female with different biologies, different psychologies, and different makeups. We discovered that it is important to take note that God created the man before the woman, indicating that he was to be the primary leader He was the central character as God spoke to him and instructed him. Another important consideration that we looked at is that even though Eve sinned first, Adam was held into account for his sin before his wife was. This was to demonstrate that Adam, as the leader of the family, was the one who was primarily accountable for his wife and his family. After pronouncing everything that he created good, God created man, and for the first time he said, it is not good. It wasn't that he was displeased with the man he had made, but he tells, Genesis 2.18 tells us that he said, it is not good that man should be alone. And so today we want to consider the creation of the woman. As we've said, The woman was created similar. She was similar to the man, but she was different. And they were created with complementary differences in order to fulfill their distinct roles. Now, the woman was created to complement the man. The Lord, in His wisdom and His kindness, did not just tell Adam, well, it's not good for you to be by yourself, so sorry about that, and leave him on his own. No, our kind father always provides for our needs. And if you look at the rest of verse 18, Genesis 2, 18, he says, it is not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper comparable to him. And here we see the loving creator's fatherly care for the man. The Lord saw that it wasn't good for Adam to be by himself, and so he made a helper for him. He'd already created all the animals. They were beautiful and they were unique, but they were not just what Adam needed. He could have made another man for Adam to talk with and philosophize with, but that's not what he needed. In the midst of plenty and beauty all around him, he still had need. And God knew what this man that he had created needed. And so, He needed someone to exchange thoughts with, to converse with, to show affection. He was created as a social being, and he was in need of someone to love and to receive love from. Now, the Lord had already given Adam the privilege and the responsibility of naming the animals, which was a sign of his authority and power, but what is power without love? So God made a counterpart for Adam. a woman, or literally in the Hebrew, a she-man. She was different from the man in sex, but not in nature. She was neither inferior nor superior to him. They were equal in everything. She had equal faculties, rights, and value. God made a woman suitable for Adam to complete him, to complement him, not to compete with him. Albert Barnes said He had met with His superior in His Creator, His inferior in the animals, and now He was to meet His equal in the woman. The woman was made for the man. And it's important for us to recognize that. First Corinthians 11.8.9 tells us, for man is not from woman, but woman for man. Nor was man created for the woman, but woman for the man." Now some people think that that's a degrading thing to say that a woman was created for the man, but there's nothing demeaning about that. If you are a married woman, your husband needs you, and that means that you're valuable to him. You are necessary. Adam was the last of the creatures to be created as the most magnificent of God's creation. The well-known English devotional commentator Matthew Henry wrote, Eve's being made out of Adam and after him puts an honor upon that sex as the glory of the man. If the man is the head, she is the crown, a crown to her husband, the crown of the visible creation. Eve was given to Adam to crown his happiness and to help him in all the affairs of life. Most all of us have heard the saying that marriages are made in heaven. Well, we all know that some are and some are not. But this one definitely was because it was all God's work. He made the man, He made the woman, and then He made them one. It was the only marriage that was ever made in perfect innocency. But not only was the woman made, for the man, but she was made from the man. If you have your Bible, please turn with me to Genesis chapter 2. Genesis chapter 2, beginning in verse 21. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept. And he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man he made into a woman, and he brought her to the man. And Adam said, this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. The man was her source of origin. And again, we see in the New Testament that this is significant. In 1 Corinthians 11, we're also told that the woman is the glory of the man. Now, what does that mean, that the woman is man's glory? It means that she is the honor or the ornament of the man. She was made from his body, bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. Matthew Henry wrote, many of us have heard this at weddings and other ceremonies, the woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam, not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of 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 beloved. The woman was created to be the man's helper. Now we're not only told why the woman was created, to complement the man as his counterpart and his equal, but we're also told how she was created, from the bone and flesh of the man. Thirdly, we're told that she was specifically created to be his helper. She was especially designed for that role. So God made a woman fit for the man to compliment him and to be his helpmate. The feminist movement would tell us that that is demeaning, that it's demeaning to be called a helper, but that isn't true at all. In Psalm 54-4, David wrote, Behold, God is my helper. Hebrews 13-6 tells us that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper. God is often called our helper in Scripture. God put Adam in the Garden of Eden and instructed him to tend it and to keep it. And in this way, he would provide sustenance for his wife. Then he was given the privilege as their superior to name all the animals. And he became aware of the power that he had to protect her. He was to be the provider, the protector, and the leader of the woman. And she was created to be his companion and his helper. She would serve in a role of lesser authority, but in no way inferior to the man. So how can we fill this role as helper in the place where God has us? Well, I'd like to begin by speaking to the married women. If you are married, you can be a good helper by joyfully submitting to your husband and showing him honor and respect. Ephesians 5, 22 through 24 tells us, wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as also Christ is the head of the church, and he is the savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. We'll be studying biblical submission in more depth when we get to the New Testament, but I just want to say here that the wife is to willingly and joyfully submit to the leadership of her husband. Ultimately, she is to lovingly obey her husband as an act of obedience to God. That's a call of God for every Christian wife, regardless of your husband's education, his intelligence, his worthiness, or his spiritual maturity. Remember, it doesn't mean that you have a lesser role. It just means that you have a different role to fill. Every institution needs a head. Without a head, there will be chaos. My husband and I were in a church in Florida on one occasion he was preaching and we walked into the lobby of a restaurant where we would meet a group for a meal and my daughters were with us and my daughters and I walked over to this large terrarium to look at the animals in it and as we were looking in we observed a most unusual creature. There was a turtle with two heads And it was really sad to watch that little creature, because one head would pull one way, and the other head would pull another way. And that's the way it is in a home. If you have two heads, there's constant conflict, constant chaos. There has to be a head, a leader, for there to be peace and harmony. The final authority must rest with someone, and in the plan of God, that is the husband. In order to be a good helper, we must not only submit to our husbands, but we need to show them honor and respect. The end of verse 33 in Ephesians chapter 5 says, that she respects the husband. Now many of you I'm sure have seen the Christian film Fireproof, and if you remember in that movie the main character Caleb Holt says something over and over and over again. Many times throughout the movie he says, you never show me any respect. And while most of our husbands wouldn't come out and say that, Often they feel that because God has put into the heart of every man the desire to be respected. Your husband will never really believe that you love him if you don't show him honor. Men can put up with a lot in the workplace, in different struggles and difficulties that they go through, as long as they know that their wife is behind them, that she has their back, and she is going to respect them. Again, this doesn't mean that you're to only show respect if your husband earns it or you think he deserves it. We're to show respect because of the position of authority he holds. Many years ago, my daughters and I were going to a ladies conference here in the state of Virginia, but we were traveling from Georgia where we lived at the time. And as we drove into the small town where my mom lives, we came off of the interstate and I didn't see that the speed limit drastically dropped. So I looked in my rearview mirror and I saw this flashing blue light. I pulled over, a young police officer walked up to my window and my first thought was, he looks like a kid. He looks like the age of my boys, but of course I didn't say that. I showed him the utmost respect. Now, I didn't know a thing about that young man. I didn't know if he was a good husband or a good father or a good son. I didn't know if he was a good citizen. I knew nothing about him, but I showed him the utmost respect because of the uniform he had on and the badge he had on his shirt. And ladies, we are to submit to our husbands and show them respect because of the position of authority that they hold. The husband and the wife have two different roles in the home, one of headship and the other of submission. Both are essential by God's design so that Christian marriage will display something of Christ's sacrificial love for his bride and her lavish admiration for and obedience to Christ. Now what about the single women? I've met unmarried girls who really don't like to sit under teaching on the role of women in marriage because that's not where they are. So how do the single women fit into the plan of God as godly, good helpers? Well, 1 Corinthians 7 gives us some insight into that. 1 Corinthians 7, beginning in verse 32, he who is unmarried cares for the things of the Lord how he may please the Lord. But he who is married cares about the things of the world, how he may please his wife." There is a difference between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman cares about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy in body and in spirit. But she who is married cares about the things of the world, how she may please her husband. And this I say for your own profit, not that I may put a leash on you, but for what is proper, and that you may serve the Lord without distraction." Christian marriage is to display the glory of Christ and His bride, and that is beautiful. There are some truths about Christ's kingdom that shine more brightly, though, through singleness. If you never marry, but you choose to receive a life of singleness and childlessness as a gift from God, you will have more time and energy to devote directly to the advancement of his kingdom. If you'll give of your time, your energy, and your resources to help others, the lonely, the needy, the poor, orphans, elderly, Christ will be magnified in your life as you are fulfilling your purpose as a nurturer and a helper. A single life that exalts Christ is spent ministering to others while in submission to the proper spiritual authorities. Marriage can be beautiful, but it's not the main thing. A single woman, content to walk with Christ and serve those around her, is a witness that Christ is better than any man. And one day, he will be the only husband in the universe. You can be a lovely picture of true womanhood, whether married or single, by serving, nurturing, and helping right where God has you. God doesn't give us easy assignments. It's not easy for Christian husbands to sacrificially lay down their lives and love their wives. It's challenging for a Christian wife to submit to and honor the headship of her husband. And it's not easy to be single and serve Christ alone. But the Lord desires that we carry out our duties in such a way that communicates to the world that our hope, our peace, and our joy are not in any of those things. The role of helper is a beautiful role, and we must learn to delight in our feminine design. God, in His wisdom, designed men and women to carry out different responsibilities. My husband is a traveling preacher. We have been in itinerant ministry for almost the entire 45 years of our married life, and so as our children were growing up, we traveled in a motor home or a travel trailer to places all over the United States where he would preach and we had six people living in that small space so there was no way I could carry everything that I would have at home. I had to learn to improvise and so I have been known to use a knife as a pencil sharpener and a shoe as a hammer and you know I found that you can use a shoe to drive nails Although it won't work as well as a hammer will, it can get the job done. But you know, if you drive enough nails with a good shoe, you will damage that shoe because it wasn't designed to drive nails. And we, as women, can attempt to lead the home, to be the leader, to do all the things that God calls men to do. But eventually, if you take on that role, you'll find yourself tired, discouraged, and burned out. because that's not the role that you were created to fill. The feminine agenda is attempting to rob us of our distinctiveness, but as Christian women, we don't want to abolish those gender distinctives because we know that God created them for a beautiful and a glorious purpose, and that purpose is to be a picture of the gospel of the Lord Jesus. There could be no greater honor. We honor our Creator by showcasing or putting on display the beauty of His design. As Christian women, our practice in every area of our lives should be determined and directed by the Scriptures. Because we profess to know God, our lives must conform to the Scripture, not to the culture around us. It's imperative that we stop listening to the voices of the world that say equality means sameness, We must not diminish the loveliness of our design by believing that we have to do the same things that men do in order to have value. Before the fall into sin, Adam was happy and fulfilled in his role as leader, provider, and protector of his family. Eve was perfectly content in her position as his helper as she joyfully submitted to his leadership. It was like a fairy tale. Everything was perfect. They were in absolute harmony. But then something tragic happened. Sin entered the story, and when it did, everything changed. And next time, we'll look at the fall and the consequences of the fall, and then God's provision because of it. Thank you for joining me, and may God bless you.