WEBVTT

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 Genesis, the first three chapters are so packed with insight and foundational for how we live as a Christian

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 that I was initially going to cover Genesis 2 and 3 together as a unit,

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 and then it turned out that that was going to be impossible unless we meet here for four hours.

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 So we're going to cover just chapter 2, and I normally have an introduction for my sermons,

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 but I don't today because it's so interesting that we don't need one.

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 I'm going to be talking about work and how God calls us to our work as worship,

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 and I'm going to talk about relationships, talk about marriage and singleness, talk about sex.

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 These are all very interesting topics, so I don't think there needs to be an introduction.

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 So here, let's begin in verse 4.

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 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created,

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 in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.

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 So this opening clause, this formula is a refrain that recurs throughout the book of Genesis to introduce a new section.

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 So it says these are the generations of Noah or Isaac or Jacob, as you'll see throughout.

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 And so here it's talking about the heavens and the earth.

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 So this is the beginning history, really proto-history, if you might call it, the first history of the human race.

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 Verse 5 says,

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 Now, I told you that I'm going to be talking about work and relationship,

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 and this passage tells us that humanity was created for worship and relationship

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 that represents and resembles the triune God.

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 Now, if that's the case, why is the narrator going into this description about the field and plants?

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 And that will become clear in a second,

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 because it's the bush of the field is a reference to just wild shrubbery

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 that grows when the spring rains come in the ancient Near East.

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 So it's the bushes that spring up by themselves without human work.

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 And then the second part, the small plant of the field, is a reference to cultivated grain,

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 so grains that only grow when people work on it, when they farm the land, right?

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 And so these two parts, they constitute a problem.

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 There's no bush of the field and no small plant of the field.

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 And because of that, God gives a two-part solution that's for the Lord God had not,

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 and the reason for this is that the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land.

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 That's the reason why there's no bush of the field, the wild shrubbery.

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 And there's also no man to work the ground.

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 So that's the reason why there's no cultivated grain, no small plants.

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 And so this sets you up to expect a two-part solution to this two-part problem.

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 So verses 6 to 7,

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 And the mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground.

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 Now, the sentence break is in an odd place in the English Standard Version.

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 There's a sentence break in the original Hebrew at the end of verse 5.

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 And I think that's the correct way to read it.

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 And if you read it that way, it fits the structure that we've been working with.

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 So there was no rain.

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 So there was no plants in the bush of the field.

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 So God gives rain.

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 That's what he does.

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 He sends a mist is coming up from the ground.

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 And that's a reference to clouds.

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 Job 36, 27 makes that clear where it says,

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 God draws up the drops of water.

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 They distill his mist in rain.

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 It's the same word, right?

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 So God sends the cloud to bring rain to the earth so that the bush of the field might grow.

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 And people in the ancient Near East, I mean, they don't understand evaporation, condensation yet, right?

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 So they thought of clouds as rising from the ground.

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 And that's what it looks like.

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 If you look on the horizon and clouds come approach, it looks like it's rising from the ground.

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 And then secondly, God creates man, right?

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 But why is this part about rain important?

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 You have to remember that Moses, who's writing this, is riding with the Israelites in the wilderness in mind, right?

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 That's his primary audience.

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 And if you know of the ancient religions in the ancient Near East, especially in the land of Canaan,

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 they worship the god named Baal.

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 And they live in it.

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 It's a land where there's no irrigation.

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 There's no rivers like Egypt or Nile.

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 You, through irrigation, water the ground.

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 Canaan is a land that's watered by rains.

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 And because of that, rain was an extremely important part of life.

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 If there's no rain, there's no life.

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 If there's no rain for that season, you die.

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 I mean, because there's no food.

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 And so they were very desperately in need of rain.

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 And because of that, the temptation to idolatry, to worship the god of rain, Baal,

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 was extremely appealing for the Israelites as they entered the land of Canaan.

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 So Moses includes this here to indicate that, no, Baal did not give rain.

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 He's not the rider on the clouds, as they called it.

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 It's the Lord God who gives rain.

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 And that was the case from the very beginning.

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 And so the rain brings forth wild vegetation in the field,

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 but there's still no cultivated grain, so God forms man.

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 Verse 7,

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 Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostril the breath of life,

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 and the man became a living creature.

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 He forms man intimately, personally, directly.

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 The language is reminiscent of a potter shaping his work.

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 And he breathes the breath of life into him to make him a living creature.

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 And this is a living creature.

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 He's not setting man apart from the rest of the animals,

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 because the animals are also described as living creatures in Chapter 1.

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 It's rather referring to, it's separating conscious beings, conscious animals from animals that are not,

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 I mean the plants and other aspects of creation that do not breathe.

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 But what distinguishes man from animals is not the fact that he has a birth of life,

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 but the fact that he's created in the image of God, right?

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 And we saw that in Chapter 1.

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 So God sends the mist and then forms the man,

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 and by doing so he brings about this garden.

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 Verses 8 to 9.

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 The Lord God had planted a garden in the east,

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 and there he put the man whom he had formed.

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 And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up

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 every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food.

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 The tree of life was in the midst of the garden,

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 and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

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 Now, so this sets up the rest of the narrative, so it's important.

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 And the garden is basically paradise.

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 The word Eden means pleasure and delight.

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 And it's impossible for us to locate it precisely where it was,

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 even though many people have tried,

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 because that's not really the point of the narrative.

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 So Moses, when he writes Genesis 15, 18 of God's promise,

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 of the promised land to Abraham, he says,

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 to your offspring I give this land from the river of Egypt

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 to the great river, the river Euphrates, right?

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 That's mentioned in the description about the Garden of Eden.

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 And so the Garden of Eden is basically a type.

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 It's a picture of God's promised land.

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 And so when Israelites, as they're approaching Canaan,

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 the land of Canaan that God promised them,

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 Moses paints this picture of Eden and says,

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 see, what you lost in Eden, that's what you're returning to

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 as you obey God and follow him and pursue him.

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 That's why the Garden of Eden is described here in this way.

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 And it's supposed to remind people of the land that's ahead of them,

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 the land of Canaan.

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 And of course, for us, we recognize that the promised land

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 is itself a type of heaven, right?

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 It points to our ultimate dwelling with God.

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 And so in Hebrews 11.8, he writes that Abraham was looking forward

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 to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God, right?

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 And so that's why Eden is described as in the east,

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 because east represents the presence of God.

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 It's where the sun rises, right?

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 And so here, Eden is a picture of paradise,

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 what it looks like, what it's like to be in the presence of God.

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 So it's no wonder then that later,

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 when Israelites build a tabernacle for God's dwelling

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 or the temple for God's dwelling,

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 that they build it as a replica of the Garden of Eden.

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 So they reference the descriptions here in Genesis 1.

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 So the precious stones set to abound in Eden,

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 like gold or onyx are all used copiously

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 in the construction of the tabernacle and temple.

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 The temple, like the Garden of Eden,

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 is set to have its entrance in the east, right?

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 And the temple, like the Garden of Eden also,

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 is set to be as God is seen traversing in it,

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 and you see God walking in it in the Garden of Eden as well.

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 And in the temple, in the description of Ezekiel,

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 in the eschatological temple, the temple of the end times,

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 he says there's a river flowing through it,

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 like the Garden of Eden.

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 And so Eden then is a picture of the presence of God.

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 So now continuing the description of Eden in verses 15 to 17

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 confirmed this connection between the temple,

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 the presence of God, and the Garden of Eden.

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 So Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden

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 to work it and keep it.

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 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying,

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 You may surely eat of every tree of the garden,

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 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat.

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 For in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die.

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 God commands Adam to work and to keep the garden.

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 That's why the whole description of the plants coming up was important,

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 because this is part of God's commission to Adam.

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 And now this pair of words,

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 to work and to keep it,

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 only occur again in the rest of the Bible

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 in the context of work in the temple.

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 Again, so it's used to describe the duties of the Levites,

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 to work and keep the temple grounds.

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 So then Eden is a big, basically a paradise,

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 and it's a picture of the presence of God.

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 It's the temple.

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 And Adam and Eve are created as his representatives,

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 as his images in the temple.

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 And so that's what's going on.

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 And that shows us that we were created for worship.

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 That's one of the main reasons for which we were created.

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 We were created for worship,

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 and we were created for relationship.

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 And because we were created for that way,

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 without worship,

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 there's always a nighed sense of an emptiness within.

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 An acclaimed American novelist,

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 David Foster Wallace,

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 spoke of this in his commencement address in Kenyon College.

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 He says,

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 Here's something else that's weird but true.

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 In the day-to-day trenches of adult life,

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 there is actually no such thing as atheism.

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 There is no such thing as not worshiping.

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 Everybody worships.

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 The only choice we get is what to worship.

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 And the compelling reason for maybe choosing some sort of God

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 or a spiritual type thing to worship,

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 be it Jesus Christ or Allah,

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 be it Yahweh or the wicked mother goddess

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 or the four noble truths

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 or some inviolable set of ethical principles,

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 is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive.

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 If you worship money and things,

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 if they are where you tap real meaning in life,

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 then you will never have enough,

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 never feel you have enough.

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 It's the truth.

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 Worship your body and beauty and sexual allure,

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 and you will always feel ugly.

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 And when time and age start showing,

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 you will die a million deaths before they finally grieve you.

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 On one level, we all know this stuff already.

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 It's been codified as myths,

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 proverbs,

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 cliches,

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 epigrams,

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 parables,

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 the skeleton of every great story.

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 The whole trick is keeping the truth up front in daily consciousness.

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 Worship power.

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 You will end up feeling weak and afraid,

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 and you will need ever more power over others to numb you to your own fear.

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 Worship your intellect.

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 Being seen as smart,

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 you will end up feeling stupid,

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 a fraud,

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 always on the verge of being found out.

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 But the insidious thing about these forms of worship is they're unconscious.

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 They are default settings.

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 We all worship.

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 And until we are in proper relationship with God,

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 until we are worshiping God as our creator,

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 we will never be able to fill that void in our hearts.

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 Then how then are we to worship God?

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 There is, of course,

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 the temple worship of Christians gathering together corporately and worshiping God.

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 That's an important part of worship.

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 That's what we do as the gathered church.

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 But there's also worship as the scattered church,

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 when we are not together.

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 And that's what Moses here talks about in Genesis 2.

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 We might call that garden worship.

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 Romans 12.1,

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 Paul says,

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 To present your bodies as a living sacrifice,

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 holy and acceptable to God,

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 which is your spiritual worship.

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 So then our entire life is supposed to be one uninterrupted spiritual worship to God.

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 And this makes sense, doesn't it?

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 I mean,

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 if we think of worship only as what we do when we're gathered together on a Sunday morning,

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 then you're worshiping God maybe 3,000 to 4,000 hours in your lifetime.

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 But compare that to the fact that the same person probably works 60,000 to 80,000 hours at work.

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 If you're only worshiping God when you're gathered as a church corporately,

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 then you are giving God a meager and inadequate portion of your life

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 because he deserves your all.

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 Your whole life is supposed to be a life of worship.

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 And that's where this is striking,

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 this striking and life-altering insight comes in in Genesis 1 to 2.

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 God puts Adam in the Garden of Eden to work and keep it.

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 And that's an act of worship to God.

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 And this work that he does is described in amazing terms

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 because it says in Genesis 2.2,

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 God finished his work that he had done, right?

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 So the cosmic work of creating the entire universe

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 is described in exactly the same terms as Adam working and keeping the garden.

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 Same word, work.

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 There's cosmic significance in the work that we do every day.

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 We can't create like God does.

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 We talked about that, right?

00:14:46.320 --> 00:14:49.519
 The word create in the Bible is only used in reference to God.

00:14:49.840 --> 00:14:51.800
 But we are sub-creators, right?

00:14:52.000 --> 00:14:54.000
 And J.R.R. Tolkien, I think, coined that term.

00:14:54.000 --> 00:14:58.799
 We create, we can't create out of nothing, but we reorder things.

00:14:59.159 --> 00:15:00.360
 We reorganize things.

00:15:00.480 --> 00:15:01.539
 We make things react.

00:15:01.779 --> 00:15:02.720
 We put things together.

00:15:03.240 --> 00:15:06.720
 And we are sub-creators, secondary, derivative kind of creation.

00:15:07.620 --> 00:15:11.639
 And that's what's implicit in God's blessing and charge in Genesis 1.28.

00:15:12.100 --> 00:15:15.360
 Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it

00:15:15.360 --> 00:15:17.399
 and have dominion over the fish of the sea

00:15:17.399 --> 00:15:18.519
 and over the birds of the heavens

00:15:18.519 --> 00:15:21.539
 and over every living thing that moves on the earth.

00:15:21.539 --> 00:15:25.120
 So the dominion that we exercise over all of creation

00:15:25.120 --> 00:15:29.120
 is what we do as God's representative rulers in the world.

00:15:29.439 --> 00:15:32.120
 And that's at the heart of the Bible's definition of work,

00:15:32.219 --> 00:15:34.039
 what we do when we work.

00:15:35.059 --> 00:15:38.639
 And in his classic book, Christ and Culture,

00:15:38.719 --> 00:15:39.919
 you've probably heard of it, right?

00:15:40.819 --> 00:15:44.500
 H. Richard Niebuhr defines culture as the artificial,

00:15:45.139 --> 00:15:49.599
 secondary environment which man superimposes on the natural, right?

00:15:49.600 --> 00:15:53.240
 And that's a great definition of work as well, work and culture.

00:15:53.580 --> 00:15:55.100
 It's incredibly simple but helpful.

00:15:55.240 --> 00:15:58.460
 So if you think about it, then rocks are nature, right?

00:15:58.759 --> 00:16:00.300
 Walls, however, are culture.

00:16:00.860 --> 00:16:01.659
 You can see the difference.

00:16:03.000 --> 00:16:03.980
 River is nature.

00:16:04.340 --> 00:16:05.980
 A canal is culture.

00:16:06.600 --> 00:16:07.720
 Noise is nature.

00:16:07.879 --> 00:16:10.220
 Music is culture, right?

00:16:10.680 --> 00:16:11.720
 Forest is nature.

00:16:11.860 --> 00:16:13.120
 Agriculture is culture.

00:16:14.019 --> 00:16:18.200
 People are nature, but politics is culture, right?

00:16:18.200 --> 00:16:20.780
 Colors, patterns, and shapes are nature.

00:16:21.520 --> 00:16:23.900
 Art is culture, right?

00:16:24.320 --> 00:16:25.700
 Sight is nature.

00:16:26.640 --> 00:16:29.320
 But insight, idea, that's nature.

00:16:29.640 --> 00:16:30.180
 I mean culture.

00:16:30.720 --> 00:16:32.960
 In all our work, then everything that we do,

00:16:33.080 --> 00:16:36.140
 then we are sub-creators working with what God created

00:16:36.140 --> 00:16:39.020
 and imitating what he did in his act of creation.

00:16:39.019 --> 00:16:46.299
 So then when you as an administrator organize desks and email clutters

00:16:46.299 --> 00:16:49.559
 and facilitate effective communication in your workplace,

00:16:49.740 --> 00:16:53.759
 you are imposing order on creation and working as God did.

00:16:53.840 --> 00:16:56.500
 You're imaging him and you're glorifying him as you do that.

00:16:57.460 --> 00:17:01.879
 When you create a business and take disparate parts and processes

00:17:01.879 --> 00:17:04.379
 to make a better product available to people,

00:17:04.460 --> 00:17:07.859
 then you are imposing order on creation and working as God did.

00:17:07.859 --> 00:17:14.740
 When you as a teacher impose discipline and diligence on the students

00:17:14.740 --> 00:17:19.119
 and prepare them also to be sub-creators,

00:17:19.179 --> 00:17:23.079
 you are imposing order on creation, imitating God as you do that.

00:17:24.079 --> 00:17:25.979
 Students are doing the same thing, right?

00:17:27.219 --> 00:17:32.559
 When you as a medical professional take a disordered or dismembered body

00:17:32.559 --> 00:17:36.759
 and put it back together, make it orderly again, make it whole again,

00:17:36.759 --> 00:17:38.500
 and you are imaging God again.

00:17:38.619 --> 00:17:40.480
 You are imposing order on creation.

00:17:41.720 --> 00:17:43.980
 When you write codes to govern a machine

00:17:43.980 --> 00:17:48.779
 and you discover a new way to make things work through engineering,

00:17:49.480 --> 00:17:53.940
 you are imposing order on creation and working as God did.

00:17:53.940 --> 00:17:56.140
 When you make phone calls for sales,

00:17:56.140 --> 00:18:04.820
 so that you can sell and distribute something that's going to help people in their work and life,

00:18:05.280 --> 00:18:08.259
 you are imposing order on creation.

00:18:11.880 --> 00:18:16.780
 When you pick up garbage in the streets or dig ditches for sewers,

00:18:17.740 --> 00:18:22.320
 you are imposing order on creation and working as God himself did.

00:18:22.319 --> 00:18:24.460
 And if that's what work is,

00:18:24.700 --> 00:18:30.159
 then there's something profoundly God-like and dignifying about all forms of work

00:18:30.159 --> 00:18:37.819
 when we do them with the right mindset of representing and resembling God in his work.

00:18:37.819 --> 00:18:42.579
 So if you are tempted to look down on yourself for the work that you do,

00:18:42.740 --> 00:18:44.839
 because you do a work that society no longer values,

00:18:44.919 --> 00:18:46.799
 then I want you to think about your work in this way.

00:18:48.700 --> 00:18:53.220
 I saw a funny General Electric commercial sometime last year.

00:18:53.319 --> 00:18:53.819
 It was called,

00:18:54.259 --> 00:18:55.599
 What's the Matter with Owen?

00:18:55.679 --> 00:18:56.099
 The Hammer.

00:18:56.240 --> 00:18:56.879
 You guys have seen that?

00:18:57.939 --> 00:18:59.220
 Basically, in the opening scene,

00:18:59.299 --> 00:19:00.700
 there's a burly, bearded father.

00:19:00.839 --> 00:19:02.879
 He's kind of a big, muscular guy.

00:19:02.880 --> 00:19:05.700
 And he's wearing rugged blue jeans and a country plaid shirt.

00:19:05.820 --> 00:19:08.140
 And he's holding this huge sledgehammer.

00:19:09.420 --> 00:19:13.220
 And next to him is his wife sitting next to him,

00:19:13.500 --> 00:19:15.080
 very gracious and kind-looking.

00:19:15.280 --> 00:19:17.740
 And then his son is sitting on the other side on the chair.

00:19:18.560 --> 00:19:19.760
 And then the dialogue starts.

00:19:19.920 --> 00:19:20.140
 He says,

00:19:20.720 --> 00:19:25.300
 The son is in this geeky pair of black glasses and slacks.

00:19:25.400 --> 00:19:26.780
 And he looks very nerdy.

00:19:27.360 --> 00:19:29.040
 And now the father speaks to him,

00:19:29.100 --> 00:19:30.000
 I'm proud of you, son.

00:19:30.220 --> 00:19:31.880
 General Electric, manufacturing.

00:19:32.880 --> 00:19:35.360
 Well, that's why I dug this out for you.

00:19:35.960 --> 00:19:37.340
 It's your grandpappy's hammer,

00:19:37.440 --> 00:19:38.720
 and he would have wanted you to have it.

00:19:39.800 --> 00:19:42.440
 And then he slams it down on the table in front of his son.

00:19:42.820 --> 00:19:45.100
 And his mother then looks at him with loving concern and says,

00:19:45.280 --> 00:19:46.600
 It's meant a lot to him.

00:19:47.040 --> 00:19:47.120
 Right.

00:19:47.640 --> 00:19:50.600
 And the son flinches defensively and then replies,

00:19:50.720 --> 00:19:53.200
 Yes, GE makes powerful machines,

00:19:53.320 --> 00:19:54.900
 but I'll be writing the code

00:19:54.900 --> 00:19:58.260
 that will allow those machines to share information with each other.

00:19:59.040 --> 00:20:00.180
 I'll be changing the world.

00:20:00.180 --> 00:20:03.200
 And at which point the father interrupts and asks

00:20:03.200 --> 00:20:04.920
 while shaking his head in disappointment,

00:20:05.299 --> 00:20:06.880
 You can't pick it up, can you?

00:20:07.900 --> 00:20:08.480
 Go ahead.

00:20:08.600 --> 00:20:09.720
 You can't lift the sledgehammer.

00:20:10.720 --> 00:20:13.420
 And the mother says with a condescending motherly concern,

00:20:13.740 --> 00:20:14.440
 It's okay, though.

00:20:14.480 --> 00:20:15.500
 You'll be changing the world.

00:20:16.500 --> 00:20:16.640
 Right?

00:20:16.640 --> 00:20:21.600
 I mean, this is a funny commercial that illustrates how our world is changing.

00:20:21.820 --> 00:20:21.920
 Right?

00:20:21.960 --> 00:20:25.940
 How different societies and cultures value different skill sets.

00:20:26.200 --> 00:20:26.320
 Right?

00:20:27.380 --> 00:20:31.340
 The son may be a gifted coder, which is highly valued skill today,

00:20:31.600 --> 00:20:33.380
 but a generation or two ago,

00:20:33.440 --> 00:20:35.700
 he would have been pretty useless in a manufacturing job.

00:20:36.580 --> 00:20:36.759
 Right?

00:20:36.759 --> 00:20:43.839
 So if you have a job that compensates you extremely generously,

00:20:44.259 --> 00:20:47.440
 and if you have a job that's very valued in our society today,

00:20:47.660 --> 00:20:50.940
 it's because you happen to be born in this particular time and space

00:20:50.940 --> 00:20:52.279
 where that skill is valued.

00:20:52.720 --> 00:20:53.920
 It's not all about you.

00:20:53.980 --> 00:20:55.960
 It's not because you're better than everybody else.

00:20:55.960 --> 00:20:59.680
 So that's the reason to be grateful to God,

00:20:59.740 --> 00:21:02.100
 and the reason to be generous with the gifts that God's given you,

00:21:02.180 --> 00:21:03.460
 to be stewards of what He's given you.

00:21:04.140 --> 00:21:05.500
 The fact that you have a higher earning

00:21:05.500 --> 00:21:08.400
 and that you occupy a higher echelon of the society just because of that

00:21:08.400 --> 00:21:10.200
 doesn't mean you can look down on other people.

00:21:12.539 --> 00:21:15.180
 Likewise, if you think that your work is menial,

00:21:16.940 --> 00:21:19.600
 recognize that your work is valued.

00:21:19.720 --> 00:21:20.640
 It's dignifying.

00:21:20.880 --> 00:21:22.620
 You're imitating God as you do it.

00:21:22.819 --> 00:21:24.299
 There's no such thing as menial labor.

00:21:24.299 --> 00:21:26.279
 Manual labor is not menial labor.

00:21:30.159 --> 00:21:33.279
 That's why if there ever comes a time when we no longer work

00:21:33.279 --> 00:21:35.399
 because all the robots do the job,

00:21:35.519 --> 00:21:39.619
 then that will be a terribly disorienting and dehumanizing experience

00:21:39.619 --> 00:21:41.399
 because we're created for work.

00:21:41.599 --> 00:21:43.940
 We're supposed to worship God as we work.

00:21:46.379 --> 00:21:49.099
 That's why you have things like affluenza, right?

00:21:49.740 --> 00:21:53.180
 Kids grow up with entitlement and wealth and don't have to work.

00:21:53.180 --> 00:21:54.740
 They don't know how to function in society.

00:21:57.120 --> 00:22:02.460
 There's still one other crucial part that we were created for.

00:22:02.660 --> 00:22:05.400
 The first part was worship, which entails our work.

00:22:05.860 --> 00:22:07.080
 The second part is relationship.

00:22:08.360 --> 00:22:09.200
 Verse 18,

00:22:09.539 --> 00:22:12.000
 It is not good that the man should be alone.

00:22:12.320 --> 00:22:14.279
 I will make him a helper fit for him.

00:22:14.279 --> 00:22:20.480
 Now, that's a mind-boggling statement if you recognize it in the context of Genesis 1

00:22:20.480 --> 00:22:24.960
 because all throughout Genesis 1, after each successive stage of his creation,

00:22:25.399 --> 00:22:25.960
 God said,

00:22:26.799 --> 00:22:27.539
 It is good.

00:22:28.319 --> 00:22:29.839
 God saw that it was good.

00:22:30.160 --> 00:22:33.180
 God saw that it was very good at the end of it all.

00:22:33.579 --> 00:22:36.440
 And so after that sevenfold refrain of it was good,

00:22:36.559 --> 00:22:39.660
 as God looks at Adam, the pinnacle of his creation,

00:22:39.660 --> 00:22:43.360
 the man that has the breath of life, the man created in the image of God,

00:22:43.460 --> 00:22:43.960
 God says,

00:22:44.600 --> 00:22:47.800
 It is not good that the man should be alone.

00:22:49.000 --> 00:22:53.660
 That's the first thing and the only thing in this dialogue that God says is not good.

00:22:54.720 --> 00:22:58.100
 Relationship is so fundamental to the man's constitution

00:22:58.100 --> 00:23:02.120
 that the man not having a companion, God says, is not good.

00:23:02.119 --> 00:23:07.259
 And so just as he gave the rain and formed the man earlier to account for the barrenness of the earth,

00:23:07.599 --> 00:23:08.159
 God now says,

00:23:08.279 --> 00:23:13.259
 I will make him a helper fit for him to account for the aloneness of man.

00:23:14.059 --> 00:23:16.859
 And this person that God creates will be man's helper.

00:23:17.979 --> 00:23:18.719
 She's described.

00:23:19.119 --> 00:23:22.319
 The word conveys an assisting, promoting role.

00:23:22.699 --> 00:23:25.399
 So it might initially sound demeaning to us.

00:23:26.639 --> 00:23:28.239
 A helper, I mean, you think,

00:23:28.459 --> 00:23:29.339
 I don't want to be a helper.

00:23:29.479 --> 00:23:30.779
 I want to be the main show, right?

00:23:30.779 --> 00:23:32.639
 And that's what we're all trained to think.

00:23:34.279 --> 00:23:37.740
 But to be a helper is not a demeaning role at all, right?

00:23:37.779 --> 00:23:42.579
 In fact, it conveys a differentiation of roles, but not intrinsic value.

00:23:42.779 --> 00:23:47.379
 The word is used, in fact, most frequently in the Bible to refer to God

00:23:47.379 --> 00:23:50.839
 and his role as a helper of his people.

00:23:51.299 --> 00:23:53.019
 It's not a demeaning role.

00:23:53.399 --> 00:23:55.279
 It's not a role that's inferior.

00:23:55.279 --> 00:24:03.660
 The word says nothing about whether the person helping is weaker or stronger than the person that's being helped.

00:24:03.859 --> 00:24:08.139
 The word simply conveys the fact that the person that's being helped is incomplete.

00:24:08.559 --> 00:24:09.420
 He's inadequate.

00:24:09.660 --> 00:24:11.759
 He needs something else.

00:24:12.019 --> 00:24:12.759
 He needs a helper.

00:24:12.759 --> 00:24:16.440
 This is confirmed in the following description.

00:24:16.539 --> 00:24:18.599
 A helper fit for him.

00:24:19.019 --> 00:24:23.519
 The phrase fit for him can be literally translated as like opposite him.

00:24:24.440 --> 00:24:27.339
 It expresses the notion of complementarity.

00:24:27.599 --> 00:24:29.319
 Complement with an E, not an I.

00:24:29.940 --> 00:24:31.140
 Complementary rather than identity.

00:24:31.259 --> 00:24:35.379
 The wife is created as a helper fit for her husband, here Adam and Eve.

00:24:35.380 --> 00:24:42.480
 The man cannot fulfill, then, God's mandate to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it apart from the woman.

00:24:43.680 --> 00:24:51.340
 And there's probably a strong reference to procreation here because the word helper sounds very similar to the word seed,

00:24:51.500 --> 00:24:53.620
 which is used in the context of Genesis 3.

00:24:54.040 --> 00:24:54.960
 So that's in view.

00:24:55.060 --> 00:24:57.920
 But that's not the only thing that's in view, multiplying and being fruitful.

00:24:58.340 --> 00:25:01.620
 But also God's call to work and keep the garden to Adam.

00:25:01.700 --> 00:25:04.140
 He can't do that apart from the woman.

00:25:04.140 --> 00:25:08.800
 And this male and female complementarity runs through the entire created order.

00:25:09.300 --> 00:25:10.400
 We saw that in Genesis 1.

00:25:10.720 --> 00:25:19.300
 Heaven and earth, light and darkness, sky and sea, dry land and water, birds and fish, and then male and female.

00:25:20.340 --> 00:25:26.900
 There's a certain fitness and order to all of creation, and creation of man likewise is the same.

00:25:27.060 --> 00:25:28.940
 It's meant created to complement each other.

00:25:28.940 --> 00:25:36.460
 And that's why it's unfortunate that the laudable efforts by feminists to secure gender equality and inclusion

00:25:36.460 --> 00:25:40.900
 have come with the collateral damage of minimizing gender distinction.

00:25:42.100 --> 00:25:44.320
 This wasn't always what feminism was like.

00:25:44.900 --> 00:25:52.580
 In her opinion piece in the New York Times, Dartmouth philosophy professor Amy Allen writes that within the second wave feminism,

00:25:52.579 --> 00:25:58.359
 which was from 1960s to 1980s, there were two conflicting camps within feminism itself.

00:25:59.359 --> 00:26:03.599
 Both camps had the same diagnosis of the same problem.

00:26:04.139 --> 00:26:13.639
 They both observed that there was a series of conceptual dichotomies, so reason versus emotion, culture versus nature, mind versus body, and public versus private.

00:26:13.640 --> 00:26:18.960
 And they correctly noted that there were value attachments to these differences.

00:26:19.700 --> 00:26:23.780
 And all the things that society valued more highly were associated with masculinity.

00:26:24.240 --> 00:26:27.880
 And all the things that society valued less were associated with femininity.

00:26:29.460 --> 00:26:33.680
 And so they had the same diagnosis, but they had two entirely different prescriptions.

00:26:34.420 --> 00:26:42.680
 The first camp said that the best solution for women was for them to claim the values traditionally associated with masculinity for themselves.

00:26:42.680 --> 00:26:50.299
 They needed to become more like men by becoming more educated, more active in public life, and less active in the private life of the family.

00:26:50.740 --> 00:26:54.259
 And by becoming more career focused, the women could overcome their disadvantages.

00:26:55.740 --> 00:27:04.019
 The second camp argued that the first camp failed to challenge the deeply problematic value structure that underlay the discrimination.

00:27:04.640 --> 00:27:11.600
 So they sought instead to bring society to revalue those qualities and activities that have traditionally been associated with women,

00:27:11.599 --> 00:27:14.899
 such as childbearing, mothering, and homemaking.

00:27:16.039 --> 00:27:19.419
 And you can guess from around you, looking around you, the first camp won out.

00:27:19.980 --> 00:27:24.619
 And the third wave feminism seeks strenuously to minimize all gender distinction.

00:27:25.939 --> 00:27:33.259
 But according to Genesis 1-2, according to this creation, there are undeniable differences between man and woman.

00:27:33.259 --> 00:27:36.480
 It's rooted in our biology right from conception.

00:27:37.879 --> 00:27:42.259
 We know pre-born male babies, their brains have a testosterone bath.

00:27:42.819 --> 00:27:46.000
 Their brains are shaped differently from female babies.

00:27:47.539 --> 00:27:52.539
 The girl's corpus callosum, which is the connection between the right and the left hemisphere,

00:27:52.640 --> 00:27:56.220
 is so much bigger and stronger than their male baby counterparts

00:27:56.220 --> 00:28:02.200
 that she has so much better facility early on with defining words and judging rhymes.

00:28:05.779 --> 00:28:10.160
 Psychology professors Janet Hyde and Nita McKinley of University of Wisconsin-Madison

00:28:10.160 --> 00:28:12.019
 and University of Washington, respectively,

00:28:12.460 --> 00:28:15.700
 they do meta-research on all the researches on sex differences.

00:28:16.000 --> 00:28:17.360
 So they research the research.

00:28:18.160 --> 00:28:23.380
 So they aggregate all the researches, account for bias, sample size, and changing social attitudes.

00:28:23.380 --> 00:28:28.100
 And even after their careful research, of all the research and aggregating it,

00:28:28.320 --> 00:28:31.460
 they find that women still tend to have better verbal fluency,

00:28:31.820 --> 00:28:35.060
 and men are better at rotating a three-dimensional object in their heads.

00:28:39.720 --> 00:28:42.260
 Dr. Richard Lipa of UCAL writes in his article,

00:28:42.380 --> 00:28:44.100
 Gender, Nature, and Nurture,

00:28:44.300 --> 00:28:46.640
 men have a more independent view of themselves.

00:28:46.780 --> 00:28:49.560
 They view themselves more in terms of their individual achievements,

00:28:49.940 --> 00:28:51.500
 traits, values, and abilities,

00:28:51.500 --> 00:28:54.599
 the ways in which they are unique and separate from other people.

00:28:55.180 --> 00:28:59.019
 In contrast, women have a more interdependent and connected sense of self.

00:28:59.440 --> 00:29:02.400
 They view themselves more in terms of their relationship with others

00:29:02.400 --> 00:29:05.319
 and in terms of social roles and obligations.

00:29:06.519 --> 00:29:08.599
 So for this reason, and you guys know this,

00:29:08.640 --> 00:29:10.819
 if you have a relationship with other men and women in your life,

00:29:11.339 --> 00:29:14.460
 that women tend to see communication as a way to connect

00:29:14.460 --> 00:29:16.140
 and enhance the sense of closeness,

00:29:16.500 --> 00:29:19.900
 while men see communication more as a way to accomplish objectives.

00:29:19.900 --> 00:29:20.700
 Right?

00:29:21.100 --> 00:29:23.820
 So the humorous effect of this is that

00:29:23.820 --> 00:29:27.259
 men feel that there's no need to talk about a relationship that is going well.

00:29:28.600 --> 00:29:31.460
 And women feel that relationship is going well

00:29:31.460 --> 00:29:32.900
 as long as they're talking about it.

00:29:33.400 --> 00:29:33.500
 Right?

00:29:36.000 --> 00:29:38.800
 I mean, it's true for me and my relationship with him.

00:29:38.799 --> 00:29:42.399
 So women also score higher on self-report scales of empathy.

00:29:43.259 --> 00:29:46.180
 And this was news to me, but Hannah has known this all along.

00:29:46.279 --> 00:29:49.079
 And research also shows that women are better at recognizing sadness

00:29:49.079 --> 00:29:50.740
 or happiness in a person's face.

00:29:52.119 --> 00:29:52.639
 Right?

00:29:54.879 --> 00:29:57.500
 Now, these are all generalizations, right,

00:29:57.839 --> 00:30:00.299
 to demonstrate the differences between male and female.

00:30:00.819 --> 00:30:04.599
 The different genders do have areas of specialized strengths.

00:30:04.599 --> 00:30:06.299
 But, of course, it's a spectrum.

00:30:06.839 --> 00:30:06.939
 Right?

00:30:07.500 --> 00:30:09.659
 And in the spectrum, within the spectrum,

00:30:09.819 --> 00:30:11.559
 even if there are general differences,

00:30:11.819 --> 00:30:13.019
 there are areas that overlap.

00:30:14.559 --> 00:30:16.679
 And you may be one of those couples

00:30:16.679 --> 00:30:18.179
 or you may be one of those men or women

00:30:18.179 --> 00:30:20.139
 where you're in that area of overlap

00:30:20.139 --> 00:30:24.039
 so that maybe you're a female math professor.

00:30:24.539 --> 00:30:25.659
 Maybe you're a male poet.

00:30:26.259 --> 00:30:28.980
 Maybe you're a very sensitive and empathetic man

00:30:28.980 --> 00:30:31.359
 or a woman that is not so.

00:30:31.699 --> 00:30:31.799
 Right?

00:30:31.799 --> 00:30:33.000
 I mean, that could happen.

00:30:33.680 --> 00:30:36.019
 But that's why it's important that we recognize

00:30:36.019 --> 00:30:38.180
 that gender and sex is not the same thing.

00:30:39.139 --> 00:30:40.859
 A gender is a biological reality.

00:30:41.240 --> 00:30:43.879
 That's the platform upon which this distinction

00:30:43.879 --> 00:30:45.819
 and these roles are based.

00:30:46.299 --> 00:30:48.839
 But the sex does not exhaust gender.

00:30:48.980 --> 00:30:50.980
 Gender is a theological reality.

00:30:51.559 --> 00:30:53.240
 And that's why even if you as a,

00:30:53.299 --> 00:30:54.379
 if the couples in here,

00:30:54.460 --> 00:30:55.919
 you have overlapping areas of specialization

00:30:55.919 --> 00:30:57.220
 and maybe in that relationship,

00:30:57.319 --> 00:30:58.819
 the woman's more like the man typically

00:30:58.819 --> 00:31:00.200
 and man's more like the woman,

00:31:00.200 --> 00:31:02.559
 you're still called to accept

00:31:02.559 --> 00:31:04.980
 and live in light of God's call for you

00:31:04.980 --> 00:31:06.019
 as male and female,

00:31:06.140 --> 00:31:07.059
 as husband and wife.

00:31:08.380 --> 00:31:10.180
 The gifting doesn't change that.

00:31:11.660 --> 00:31:12.900
 In the same way,

00:31:13.039 --> 00:31:14.880
 some of us are more timid

00:31:14.880 --> 00:31:16.620
 and conflict-averse by nature.

00:31:17.360 --> 00:31:18.880
 But the biblical command

00:31:18.880 --> 00:31:20.620
 to speak the truth in love,

00:31:20.700 --> 00:31:21.900
 to admonish one another,

00:31:22.220 --> 00:31:23.400
 to evangelize,

00:31:23.779 --> 00:31:25.400
 they all apply to all of us,

00:31:25.460 --> 00:31:27.720
 whether you are naturally gifted in that or not.

00:31:27.720 --> 00:31:33.299
 That's why Genesis 1.27 tells us,

00:31:33.360 --> 00:31:35.400
 so God created man in his own image.

00:31:35.700 --> 00:31:36.860
 In the image of God,

00:31:36.940 --> 00:31:37.819
 he created him.

00:31:38.279 --> 00:31:40.019
 Male and female,

00:31:40.180 --> 00:31:41.720
 he created them.

00:31:42.279 --> 00:31:44.519
 Animals also have biological sexes,

00:31:44.579 --> 00:31:46.000
 but they were not created

00:31:46.000 --> 00:31:47.420
 in the image of God

00:31:47.420 --> 00:31:48.579
 as male and female.

00:31:50.480 --> 00:31:51.920
 Only humans are created

00:31:51.920 --> 00:31:53.640
 in God's image as male and female.

00:31:53.759 --> 00:31:55.140
 So then we didn't create gender.

00:31:55.259 --> 00:31:56.839
 Gender is not a social construct.

00:31:56.839 --> 00:31:58.240
 And both genders,

00:31:58.419 --> 00:31:59.459
 in a complementary way,

00:31:59.519 --> 00:32:01.839
 reflect the image of God.

00:32:02.259 --> 00:32:02.939
 And as such,

00:32:02.980 --> 00:32:04.059
 it should be celebrated,

00:32:04.439 --> 00:32:05.500
 not covered up.

00:32:07.619 --> 00:32:09.099
 That's why Eve is described

00:32:09.099 --> 00:32:11.319
 as a helper fit for Adam.

00:32:12.299 --> 00:32:14.359
 Men and women complement each other.

00:32:15.759 --> 00:32:18.059
 And the plurality of male and female

00:32:18.059 --> 00:32:19.879
 in humanity reveals the plurality

00:32:19.879 --> 00:32:20.980
 within the Godhead,

00:32:21.259 --> 00:32:22.199
 within God of himself.

00:32:22.579 --> 00:32:23.699
 Because remember from last week,

00:32:23.799 --> 00:32:25.019
 it says Genesis 1.25,

00:32:25.019 --> 00:32:29.200
 let us make man in our image

00:32:29.200 --> 00:32:30.920
 after our likeness.

00:32:31.039 --> 00:32:31.480
 Let us,

00:32:31.619 --> 00:32:33.079
 because God the Father

00:32:33.079 --> 00:32:34.160
 and God the Son,

00:32:34.240 --> 00:32:35.200
 who is the Word of God,

00:32:35.359 --> 00:32:36.379
 and God the Spirit,

00:32:36.519 --> 00:32:37.799
 who is the breath of God,

00:32:38.039 --> 00:32:39.619
 three persons of one God

00:32:39.619 --> 00:32:40.960
 who are working together

00:32:40.960 --> 00:32:42.000
 in creation.

00:32:42.539 --> 00:32:43.180
 And so likewise,

00:32:43.299 --> 00:32:45.000
 because we're created in that image

00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:46.000
 of the triune God,

00:32:46.259 --> 00:32:48.139
 humanity is supposed to reflect

00:32:48.139 --> 00:32:48.839
 that community

00:32:48.839 --> 00:32:50.559
 and diversity and unity

00:32:50.559 --> 00:32:53.119
 in being male and female.

00:32:54.980 --> 00:32:59.559
 But Genesis is a masterful narrative

00:32:59.559 --> 00:33:01.659
 and the helper doesn't come immediately.

00:33:02.740 --> 00:33:03.740
 There's a suspense

00:33:03.740 --> 00:33:06.279
 that builds through verses 19 to 20.

00:33:06.659 --> 00:33:07.859
 Now out of the ground,

00:33:07.960 --> 00:33:09.119
 the Lord God had formed

00:33:09.119 --> 00:33:10.619
 every beast of the field

00:33:10.619 --> 00:33:12.139
 and every bird of the heavens

00:33:12.139 --> 00:33:13.339
 and brought them to the man

00:33:13.339 --> 00:33:14.799
 to see what he would call them.

00:33:14.799 --> 00:33:16.680
 And whatever the man called

00:33:16.680 --> 00:33:18.139
 every living creature,

00:33:18.319 --> 00:33:19.099
 that was its name.

00:33:19.940 --> 00:33:21.180
 The man gave names

00:33:21.180 --> 00:33:21.839
 to all livestock

00:33:21.839 --> 00:33:23.079
 and to the birds of the heavens

00:33:23.079 --> 00:33:24.720
 and to every beast of the field,

00:33:25.240 --> 00:33:27.099
 but for Adam,

00:33:27.480 --> 00:33:28.960
 there was not found

00:33:28.960 --> 00:33:30.259
 a helper fit for him.

00:33:31.399 --> 00:33:32.819
 All the living creatures

00:33:32.819 --> 00:33:35.019
 pass before Adam

00:33:35.019 --> 00:33:36.759
 and Adam names them one by one.

00:33:36.940 --> 00:33:38.159
 Naming throughout Scripture

00:33:38.159 --> 00:33:39.379
 is a ruling function.

00:33:39.980 --> 00:33:41.559
 And so in naming them,

00:33:41.680 --> 00:33:42.180
 the animals,

00:33:42.319 --> 00:33:43.019
 Adam is acknowledging

00:33:43.019 --> 00:33:43.619
 his responsibility

00:33:43.619 --> 00:33:44.619
 over the living creatures

00:33:44.619 --> 00:33:46.419
 as God names his creation

00:33:46.419 --> 00:33:47.039
 in Genesis 1.

00:33:47.839 --> 00:33:48.799
 But for Adam,

00:33:48.879 --> 00:33:50.099
 there was not found

00:33:50.099 --> 00:33:51.779
 a helper fit for him.

00:33:51.839 --> 00:33:53.059
 It's as if all the other

00:33:53.059 --> 00:33:54.419
 living creatures go by him,

00:33:54.500 --> 00:33:55.459
 but he sees all of them

00:33:55.459 --> 00:33:55.659
 and says,

00:33:55.759 --> 00:33:57.399
 well, everyone has a helper

00:33:57.399 --> 00:33:59.039
 except for me.

00:33:59.359 --> 00:33:59.459
 Right?

00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:00.899
 So there's a suspense

00:34:00.899 --> 00:34:01.659
 that builds.

00:34:02.439 --> 00:34:03.119
 And then so,

00:34:04.139 --> 00:34:06.239
 and there's a wonderful wordplay

00:34:06.239 --> 00:34:07.419
 because the living creature,

00:34:08.339 --> 00:34:09.400
 haya in Hebrew,

00:34:09.839 --> 00:34:10.599
 is very similar

00:34:10.599 --> 00:34:11.519
 to the name of Eve,

00:34:11.619 --> 00:34:12.239
 which is hawa.

00:34:12.599 --> 00:34:12.759
 Right?

00:34:12.760 --> 00:34:13.320
 So there's a,

00:34:13.560 --> 00:34:14.500
 all these living creatures

00:34:14.500 --> 00:34:14.820
 are going,

00:34:14.920 --> 00:34:16.020
 but there's no hawa,

00:34:16.100 --> 00:34:16.840
 there's no Eve.

00:34:17.540 --> 00:34:18.440
 And so that longing,

00:34:18.620 --> 00:34:20.500
 God answers in verses 21 to 22.

00:34:20.780 --> 00:34:22.500
 The Lord God caused a deep sleep

00:34:22.500 --> 00:34:23.600
 to fall upon the man,

00:34:23.780 --> 00:34:24.680
 and while he slept,

00:34:24.800 --> 00:34:25.700
 took one of his ribs

00:34:25.700 --> 00:34:26.880
 and closed up its place

00:34:26.880 --> 00:34:27.500
 with flesh.

00:34:27.840 --> 00:34:29.120
 And the rib that the Lord God

00:34:29.120 --> 00:34:30.200
 had taken from the man,

00:34:30.400 --> 00:34:31.680
 he made into a woman

00:34:31.680 --> 00:34:33.340
 and brought her to the man.

00:34:34.160 --> 00:34:35.660
 It's a beautiful picture

00:34:35.660 --> 00:34:36.820
 of creation,

00:34:37.320 --> 00:34:38.780
 of complimentary helpmate.

00:34:39.360 --> 00:34:39.440
 Right?

00:34:39.860 --> 00:34:41.480
 She's taken from the man's rib,

00:34:41.480 --> 00:34:42.639
 and like a rib,

00:34:42.820 --> 00:34:44.519
 will always be by his side,

00:34:45.159 --> 00:34:46.260
 standing by him

00:34:46.260 --> 00:34:47.500
 and helping him,

00:34:47.820 --> 00:34:49.360
 bound up with him,

00:34:49.440 --> 00:34:50.000
 body and soul.

00:34:50.079 --> 00:34:51.820
 That's what that represents,

00:34:52.039 --> 00:34:52.820
 taken from the rib.

00:34:53.179 --> 00:34:54.639
 Bible commentator Matthew Henry

00:34:54.639 --> 00:34:56.039
 puts it in a really eloquent way.

00:34:56.159 --> 00:34:56.320
 He says,

00:34:56.320 --> 00:34:58.240
 not made out of his head

00:34:58.240 --> 00:34:59.720
 to stop him,

00:35:00.019 --> 00:35:01.260
 not out of his feet

00:35:01.260 --> 00:35:02.660
 to be trampled upon by him,

00:35:02.880 --> 00:35:03.900
 but out of his side

00:35:03.900 --> 00:35:05.600
 to be equal with him,

00:35:05.860 --> 00:35:06.760
 under his arm

00:35:06.760 --> 00:35:07.700
 to be protected,

00:35:08.039 --> 00:35:09.120
 and near his heart

00:35:09.120 --> 00:35:09.940
 to be beloved.

00:35:12.120 --> 00:35:13.660
 And when God brings

00:35:13.660 --> 00:35:14.600
 the woman to the man,

00:35:14.680 --> 00:35:15.580
 the man's response

00:35:15.580 --> 00:35:16.420
 is classic.

00:35:17.460 --> 00:35:18.600
 Ordinary prose

00:35:18.600 --> 00:35:20.660
 can't convey his ecstasy

00:35:20.660 --> 00:35:22.200
 when he sees the woman.

00:35:22.700 --> 00:35:24.280
 So he bursts out in poetry.

00:35:24.760 --> 00:35:25.420
 Verse 23,

00:35:25.420 --> 00:35:27.039
 This at last

00:35:27.039 --> 00:35:28.480
 is bone of my bones

00:35:28.480 --> 00:35:30.619
 and flesh of my flesh.

00:35:30.820 --> 00:35:32.420
 She shall be called woman

00:35:32.420 --> 00:35:33.579
 because she was taken

00:35:33.579 --> 00:35:34.639
 out of man.

00:35:36.180 --> 00:35:37.019
 That formula,

00:35:37.180 --> 00:35:37.860
 bone of my bones

00:35:37.860 --> 00:35:38.860
 and flesh of my flesh,

00:35:39.019 --> 00:35:39.720
 is a traditional

00:35:39.720 --> 00:35:40.700
 kinship formula.

00:35:40.800 --> 00:35:42.539
 It's the family language.

00:35:43.039 --> 00:35:43.539
 In English,

00:35:43.639 --> 00:35:45.000
 we speak of blood relations,

00:35:45.139 --> 00:35:45.280
 right?

00:35:45.340 --> 00:35:45.880
 But in Hebrew,

00:35:45.980 --> 00:35:47.139
 they speak of flesh

00:35:47.139 --> 00:35:47.960
 and bone relations.

00:35:48.559 --> 00:35:49.460
 So here he's saying

00:35:49.460 --> 00:35:51.159
 that she's his kin.

00:35:52.480 --> 00:35:53.420
 Eve is part of,

00:35:53.420 --> 00:35:55.380
 when they're part of his family,

00:35:55.880 --> 00:35:56.860
 his intimate relation.

00:35:57.400 --> 00:35:58.059
 And so this shows

00:35:58.059 --> 00:35:58.900
 that it's not just talking

00:35:58.900 --> 00:35:59.880
 about a random relationship

00:35:59.880 --> 00:36:00.920
 between a man and a woman,

00:36:01.039 --> 00:36:01.680
 but a relationship

00:36:01.680 --> 00:36:03.240
 between a husband and wife.

00:36:03.880 --> 00:36:03.980
 Right?

00:36:04.860 --> 00:36:06.180
 So God's giving Eve

00:36:06.180 --> 00:36:07.260
 to Adam to be his wife.

00:36:08.480 --> 00:36:09.659
 So if the wife's

00:36:09.659 --> 00:36:10.320
 distinctive role

00:36:10.320 --> 00:36:11.260
 can be summarized

00:36:11.260 --> 00:36:12.280
 by the word helper,

00:36:12.860 --> 00:36:14.340
 the man's distinctive role

00:36:14.340 --> 00:36:15.159
 can be summarized

00:36:15.159 --> 00:36:16.139
 by the word head.

00:36:16.500 --> 00:36:17.320
 Head helper.

00:36:17.320 --> 00:36:20.160
 We see this in several ways

00:36:20.160 --> 00:36:20.660
 in this passage.

00:36:20.840 --> 00:36:21.820
 First, Adam is created

00:36:21.820 --> 00:36:22.760
 before Eve,

00:36:23.380 --> 00:36:24.600
 and Eve is created

00:36:24.600 --> 00:36:25.460
 out of Adam.

00:36:25.660 --> 00:36:26.800
 In ancient Near Eastern culture,

00:36:26.880 --> 00:36:27.880
 the firstborn of the family

00:36:27.880 --> 00:36:28.720
 was supposed to function

00:36:28.720 --> 00:36:29.420
 as its head.

00:36:30.500 --> 00:36:31.420
 This is the logic

00:36:31.420 --> 00:36:32.180
 that Paul uses

00:36:32.180 --> 00:36:33.360
 in 1 Timothy 2,

00:36:33.460 --> 00:36:34.240
 12 to 13,

00:36:34.240 --> 00:36:34.880
 where he says,

00:36:35.220 --> 00:36:35.680
 in the context

00:36:35.680 --> 00:36:36.640
 of the church family,

00:36:37.039 --> 00:36:37.920
 I do not permit a woman

00:36:37.920 --> 00:36:39.240
 to teach or to exercise

00:36:39.240 --> 00:36:40.400
 authority over a man,

00:36:40.580 --> 00:36:41.860
 for Adam was formed

00:36:41.860 --> 00:36:42.500
 first,

00:36:42.660 --> 00:36:43.620
 then Eve.

00:36:43.840 --> 00:36:43.940
 Right?

00:36:44.760 --> 00:36:46.080
 So the man's priority

00:36:46.079 --> 00:36:47.279
 in God's creative work

00:36:47.279 --> 00:36:48.579
 entails his headship

00:36:48.579 --> 00:36:50.480
 and the woman's helpership.

00:36:51.039 --> 00:36:52.360
 I made that word up.

00:36:52.819 --> 00:36:53.639
 Now, that's why

00:36:53.639 --> 00:36:55.159
 Paul says in another place,

00:36:55.599 --> 00:36:56.699
 1 Corinthians 11,

00:36:56.860 --> 00:36:57.559
 7 to 8,

00:36:57.940 --> 00:36:59.920
 woman is the glory of man,

00:37:00.559 --> 00:37:01.699
 for man was not made

00:37:01.699 --> 00:37:02.179
 from woman,

00:37:02.219 --> 00:37:03.460
 but woman from man.

00:37:03.679 --> 00:37:04.279
 That's the reason

00:37:04.279 --> 00:37:05.380
 why the word Adam,

00:37:05.679 --> 00:37:07.099
 which is the same word

00:37:07.099 --> 00:37:09.059
 that's used to describe

00:37:09.059 --> 00:37:10.099
 the entire humankind,

00:37:10.519 --> 00:37:10.759
 mankind.

00:37:11.579 --> 00:37:12.579
 That's why Adam

00:37:12.579 --> 00:37:13.840
 is seen as the representative

00:37:13.840 --> 00:37:14.880
 head of the entire

00:37:14.880 --> 00:37:15.460
 human race

00:37:15.460 --> 00:37:16.579
 in Romans 5,

00:37:16.659 --> 00:37:17.400
 12 to 21,

00:37:17.679 --> 00:37:18.440
 when he says that

00:37:18.440 --> 00:37:19.059
 through Adam,

00:37:19.199 --> 00:37:20.760
 sin came to all of humanity

00:37:20.760 --> 00:37:22.059
 and through Jesus,

00:37:22.260 --> 00:37:23.539
 who is the second Adam,

00:37:23.780 --> 00:37:25.019
 the new representative head,

00:37:25.460 --> 00:37:26.539
 righteousness and justification

00:37:26.539 --> 00:37:27.840
 comes to all creation,

00:37:27.960 --> 00:37:29.159
 all of humanity.

00:37:30.900 --> 00:37:32.599
 So if that shows

00:37:32.599 --> 00:37:33.340
 what a man is supposed,

00:37:33.880 --> 00:37:34.820
 if this shows

00:37:34.820 --> 00:37:35.340
 that man is supposed

00:37:35.340 --> 00:37:36.079
 to be the head of the wife,

00:37:36.340 --> 00:37:37.280
 what does that look like?

00:37:37.320 --> 00:37:37.840
 What does that mean?

00:37:38.380 --> 00:37:38.500
 Right?

00:37:39.280 --> 00:37:40.500
 We see what it means

00:37:40.500 --> 00:37:42.099
 in Ephesians 5, 28,

00:37:42.240 --> 00:37:43.860
 where Paul commands husbands,

00:37:43.860 --> 00:37:45.720
 husbands should love

00:37:45.720 --> 00:37:46.539
 their wives

00:37:46.539 --> 00:37:48.440
 as their own bodies.

00:37:49.260 --> 00:37:50.620
 He who loves his wife

00:37:50.620 --> 00:37:51.559
 loves himself.

00:37:52.780 --> 00:37:54.760
 This is such a beautiful picture

00:37:54.760 --> 00:37:55.780
 of the husband's call

00:37:55.780 --> 00:37:57.280
 to love and lead his wife

00:37:57.280 --> 00:37:58.340
 in a sacrificial way.

00:37:59.140 --> 00:38:00.200
 You are not head

00:38:00.200 --> 00:38:01.760
 to lord it over her,

00:38:02.700 --> 00:38:04.280
 but to take responsibility

00:38:04.280 --> 00:38:05.680
 for her

00:38:05.680 --> 00:38:07.120
 and to represent her.

00:38:07.119 --> 00:38:09.859
 So much so that

00:38:09.859 --> 00:38:11.099
 by loving your wife,

00:38:11.199 --> 00:38:12.599
 you're loving your own body.

00:38:13.859 --> 00:38:15.199
 Isn't this an ingenious way

00:38:15.199 --> 00:38:18.000
 to turn man's natural selfishness

00:38:18.000 --> 00:38:18.759
 on its own head?

00:38:19.299 --> 00:38:19.480
 Like,

00:38:20.079 --> 00:38:21.039
 if you don't love your wife,

00:38:21.099 --> 00:38:22.159
 you hate yourself, man.

00:38:23.619 --> 00:38:24.699
 Love your wife.

00:38:25.480 --> 00:38:26.920
 Cherish and nourish your wife.

00:38:27.319 --> 00:38:28.639
 Take responsibility for her

00:38:28.639 --> 00:38:30.440
 and represent her.

00:38:30.440 --> 00:38:34.139
 But just as the wife's identity

00:38:34.139 --> 00:38:34.760
 as the helper

00:38:34.760 --> 00:38:35.940
 does not suggest

00:38:35.940 --> 00:38:37.579
 intrinsic inferiority,

00:38:37.840 --> 00:38:38.820
 the husband's identity

00:38:38.820 --> 00:38:39.360
 as the head

00:38:39.360 --> 00:38:40.400
 does not suggest

00:38:40.400 --> 00:38:41.720
 intrinsic superiority

00:38:41.720 --> 00:38:44.099
 because the relational pattern

00:38:44.099 --> 00:38:44.440
 in marriage

00:38:44.440 --> 00:38:45.500
 reflects the plurality

00:38:45.500 --> 00:38:46.179
 within the Trinity

00:38:46.179 --> 00:38:46.960
 as we talked about.

00:38:47.420 --> 00:38:48.159
 That's why it says

00:38:48.159 --> 00:38:49.639
 in 1 Corinthians 11, 3,

00:38:49.980 --> 00:38:51.280
 but I want you to understand

00:38:51.280 --> 00:38:51.960
 that the head

00:38:51.960 --> 00:38:52.880
 of every man

00:38:52.880 --> 00:38:53.659
 is Christ,

00:38:53.860 --> 00:38:55.179
 the head of a wife

00:38:55.179 --> 00:38:55.900
 is her husband,

00:38:56.119 --> 00:38:57.260
 and the head of Christ

00:38:57.260 --> 00:38:58.240
 is God.

00:38:58.239 --> 00:39:01.479
 Our relationship

00:39:01.479 --> 00:39:02.059
 in marriage

00:39:02.059 --> 00:39:03.239
 of the male and female diversity

00:39:03.239 --> 00:39:04.839
 reflects the triune God.

00:39:05.579 --> 00:39:06.419
 So even though

00:39:06.419 --> 00:39:07.000
 Jesus,

00:39:07.339 --> 00:39:08.059
 as the Son of God,

00:39:08.099 --> 00:39:09.119
 is equal in deity

00:39:09.119 --> 00:39:10.259
 and power to the Father,

00:39:10.719 --> 00:39:11.779
 He submits Himself

00:39:11.779 --> 00:39:12.599
 to the Father

00:39:12.599 --> 00:39:14.199
 by virtue of His relationship

00:39:14.199 --> 00:39:14.679
 with Him.

00:39:15.179 --> 00:39:16.579
 And it's in that pattern

00:39:16.579 --> 00:39:17.419
 that we are called

00:39:17.419 --> 00:39:18.779
 to have the relationship

00:39:18.779 --> 00:39:19.679
 of male and female,

00:39:19.779 --> 00:39:20.679
 of husband and wife,

00:39:21.500 --> 00:39:22.799
 with the man as the head

00:39:22.799 --> 00:39:24.919
 who leads

00:39:24.919 --> 00:39:25.679
 and takes responsibility

00:39:25.679 --> 00:39:26.379
 for his wife,

00:39:26.599 --> 00:39:27.699
 and with the woman

00:39:27.699 --> 00:39:28.980
 as the helper

00:39:28.980 --> 00:39:30.319
 who comes alongside Him

00:39:30.319 --> 00:39:31.159
 to support Him.

00:39:32.139 --> 00:39:33.219
 The narrator adds

00:39:33.219 --> 00:39:34.619
 in verses 24 to 25,

00:39:35.139 --> 00:39:35.779
 Therefore a man

00:39:35.779 --> 00:39:36.859
 shall leave his father

00:39:36.859 --> 00:39:37.419
 and his mother

00:39:37.419 --> 00:39:38.379
 and hold fast

00:39:38.379 --> 00:39:39.000
 to his wife,

00:39:39.119 --> 00:39:40.199
 and they shall become

00:39:40.199 --> 00:39:41.199
 one flesh.

00:39:41.579 --> 00:39:42.859
 And the man and his wife

00:39:42.859 --> 00:39:43.599
 were both naked

00:39:43.599 --> 00:39:44.859
 and were not ashamed.

00:39:45.699 --> 00:39:47.239
 These two verses,

00:39:48.000 --> 00:39:49.439
 really even just one,

00:39:49.539 --> 00:39:50.299
 the verse 24,

00:39:50.619 --> 00:39:52.579
 is so incredibly insightful

00:39:52.579 --> 00:39:53.779
 for understanding

00:39:53.779 --> 00:39:55.099
 God's ideal for marriage.

00:39:55.099 --> 00:39:55.759
 So first,

00:39:56.139 --> 00:39:56.420
 it says,

00:39:56.420 --> 00:39:58.139
 a man shall leave

00:39:58.139 --> 00:39:59.420
 his father and his mother

00:39:59.420 --> 00:40:00.059
 and hold fast

00:40:00.059 --> 00:40:00.960
 to his wife.

00:40:01.380 --> 00:40:02.739
 They're both singular,

00:40:03.559 --> 00:40:05.380
 one man and one wife.

00:40:05.860 --> 00:40:07.440
 God intended marriage relationship

00:40:07.440 --> 00:40:08.480
 to be monogamous,

00:40:08.659 --> 00:40:09.579
 not polygamous.

00:40:10.759 --> 00:40:12.599
 There's a sacred exclusivity

00:40:12.599 --> 00:40:13.219
 to marriage

00:40:13.219 --> 00:40:14.440
 that you're not supposed

00:40:14.440 --> 00:40:15.719
 to share with anyone else.

00:40:15.799 --> 00:40:17.440
 But if we look at Israel's history

00:40:17.440 --> 00:40:18.420
 and our history,

00:40:18.599 --> 00:40:19.539
 we see that this gets

00:40:19.539 --> 00:40:20.599
 violated repeatedly.

00:40:21.339 --> 00:40:22.299
 And Genesis talks about it.

00:40:22.300 --> 00:40:23.960
 The lame man took two wives,

00:40:24.039 --> 00:40:25.260
 Genesis 4.19 says.

00:40:25.860 --> 00:40:27.180
 Solomon had many wives

00:40:27.180 --> 00:40:28.140
 who turned his heart

00:40:28.140 --> 00:40:28.980
 away from the Lord.

00:40:31.120 --> 00:40:31.920
 Second, it says,

00:40:32.039 --> 00:40:33.120
 a man shall leave

00:40:33.120 --> 00:40:33.980
 his father and his mother

00:40:33.980 --> 00:40:34.740
 and hold fast

00:40:34.740 --> 00:40:35.760
 to his wife.

00:40:36.600 --> 00:40:37.200
 It doesn't say

00:40:37.200 --> 00:40:38.200
 that a man shall hold

00:40:38.200 --> 00:40:39.120
 on to his husband

00:40:39.120 --> 00:40:40.600
 or a woman shall hold

00:40:40.600 --> 00:40:41.440
 on to her wife.

00:40:42.940 --> 00:40:44.200
 God created marriage

00:40:44.200 --> 00:40:45.600
 to be intergendered,

00:40:45.660 --> 00:40:47.039
 not monogendered,

00:40:47.039 --> 00:40:49.820
 to reflect the diversity

00:40:49.820 --> 00:40:50.340
 and unity

00:40:50.340 --> 00:40:51.539
 of the triune God himself.

00:40:51.539 --> 00:40:53.239
 So that both genders

00:40:53.239 --> 00:40:54.139
 reflect the wonderful

00:40:54.139 --> 00:40:54.900
 image of God.

00:40:56.159 --> 00:40:57.619
 And despite God's intention

00:40:57.619 --> 00:40:59.119
 for heterosexuality here,

00:40:59.179 --> 00:40:59.980
 and we find throughout

00:40:59.980 --> 00:41:00.759
 Israel's history

00:41:00.759 --> 00:41:01.400
 and ours,

00:41:01.699 --> 00:41:03.000
 we find homosexuality.

00:41:03.960 --> 00:41:04.500
 The inhabitants

00:41:04.500 --> 00:41:05.539
 of Sodom and Gomorrah

00:41:05.539 --> 00:41:07.079
 condemned Genesis 19

00:41:07.079 --> 00:41:08.000
 for that practice

00:41:08.000 --> 00:41:08.699
 from which we get

00:41:08.699 --> 00:41:09.619
 the word sodomy.

00:41:11.699 --> 00:41:12.840
 Perhaps you've struggled

00:41:12.840 --> 00:41:13.400
 in your life

00:41:13.400 --> 00:41:14.840
 with homosexual orientation

00:41:14.840 --> 00:41:16.980
 or if you haven't,

00:41:16.980 --> 00:41:17.779
 you probably know

00:41:17.779 --> 00:41:18.460
 someone who do.

00:41:18.460 --> 00:41:22.500
 I also have some dear friends

00:41:22.500 --> 00:41:23.280
 who have a homosexual

00:41:23.280 --> 00:41:23.860
 orientation,

00:41:24.059 --> 00:41:24.720
 but if that's you,

00:41:24.800 --> 00:41:25.720
 I plead with you

00:41:25.720 --> 00:41:27.820
 to resist the urge

00:41:27.820 --> 00:41:29.320
 to justify a lifestyle

00:41:29.320 --> 00:41:31.059
 based on that orientation,

00:41:31.220 --> 00:41:31.780
 arguing that you were

00:41:31.780 --> 00:41:32.360
 born that way.

00:41:34.760 --> 00:41:35.760
 Because first of all,

00:41:35.840 --> 00:41:36.559
 your assessment

00:41:36.559 --> 00:41:37.860
 of that reality

00:41:37.860 --> 00:41:38.780
 might be incorrect.

00:41:40.380 --> 00:41:41.179
 There are now

00:41:41.179 --> 00:41:42.599
 over a half dozen studies

00:41:42.599 --> 00:41:43.840
 that have looked

00:41:43.840 --> 00:41:44.960
 at sexual orientation

00:41:44.960 --> 00:41:46.760
 in identical twins,

00:41:46.880 --> 00:41:47.820
 monozygotic twins.

00:41:48.920 --> 00:41:49.599
 And they found

00:41:49.599 --> 00:41:50.519
 that in these

00:41:50.519 --> 00:41:51.500
 population registries,

00:41:52.079 --> 00:41:53.099
 in fact,

00:41:53.179 --> 00:41:53.740
 these researchers

00:41:53.740 --> 00:41:54.840
 have pretty conclusively

00:41:54.840 --> 00:41:55.340
 demonstrated

00:41:55.340 --> 00:41:56.199
 that genetics plays

00:41:56.199 --> 00:41:57.139
 little, if any,

00:41:57.220 --> 00:41:59.340
 role in same-sex orientation.

00:42:00.179 --> 00:42:00.659
 These are all

00:42:00.659 --> 00:42:01.420
 recent studies.

00:42:02.820 --> 00:42:03.440
 If it's really

00:42:03.440 --> 00:42:04.420
 predominantly nature

00:42:04.420 --> 00:42:05.199
 and not nurture

00:42:05.199 --> 00:42:05.840
 that affects

00:42:05.840 --> 00:42:06.639
 same-sex orientation,

00:42:07.139 --> 00:42:07.880
 then one of the

00:42:07.880 --> 00:42:08.519
 identical twins

00:42:08.519 --> 00:42:09.679
 identifying as homosexual

00:42:09.679 --> 00:42:10.599
 should be a very,

00:42:10.760 --> 00:42:12.119
 very reliable predictor

00:42:12.119 --> 00:42:12.960
 of the other twin

00:42:12.960 --> 00:42:13.679
 becoming,

00:42:13.840 --> 00:42:15.480
 identifying as gay

00:42:15.480 --> 00:42:15.960
 or lesbian.

00:42:16.420 --> 00:42:17.199
 But the research

00:42:17.199 --> 00:42:17.740
 has shown that

00:42:17.740 --> 00:42:19.300
 it's not a reliable predictor.

00:42:23.039 --> 00:42:24.019
 I have a whole list

00:42:24.019 --> 00:42:24.699
 of them if you

00:42:24.699 --> 00:42:25.800
 really want the citations.

00:42:27.119 --> 00:42:27.699
 And secondly,

00:42:27.820 --> 00:42:28.579
 and more importantly,

00:42:29.099 --> 00:42:30.380
 your desire for something

00:42:30.380 --> 00:42:31.199
 doesn't prove

00:42:31.199 --> 00:42:31.740
 that you should

00:42:31.740 --> 00:42:32.760
 indulge that desire.

00:42:34.400 --> 00:42:35.519
 The fact that a man

00:42:35.519 --> 00:42:36.679
 or woman has a desire

00:42:36.679 --> 00:42:38.159
 to have multiple spouses

00:42:38.159 --> 00:42:39.500
 does not prove

00:42:39.500 --> 00:42:40.059
 that polygamy

00:42:40.059 --> 00:42:40.860
 or polyandry

00:42:40.860 --> 00:42:41.460
 is okay.

00:42:41.460 --> 00:42:44.519
 God's ideal

00:42:44.519 --> 00:42:45.019
 for monogamy

00:42:45.019 --> 00:42:45.579
 remains.

00:42:46.220 --> 00:42:46.740
 The fact that

00:42:46.740 --> 00:42:47.519
 a husband or wife

00:42:47.519 --> 00:42:48.159
 has a desire

00:42:48.159 --> 00:42:48.920
 to have sexual

00:42:48.920 --> 00:42:49.460
 relationships

00:42:49.460 --> 00:42:50.420
 with other men

00:42:50.420 --> 00:42:51.260
 and other women

00:42:51.260 --> 00:42:52.800
 does not prove

00:42:52.800 --> 00:42:54.519
 that adultery

00:42:54.519 --> 00:42:54.920
 is okay.

00:42:56.300 --> 00:42:57.119
 God's desire

00:42:57.119 --> 00:42:58.300
 for marital fidelity

00:42:58.300 --> 00:42:59.460
 still remains.

00:43:01.119 --> 00:43:02.220
 Mortifying desire,

00:43:02.340 --> 00:43:02.800
 the desires

00:43:02.800 --> 00:43:03.559
 of our hearts

00:43:03.559 --> 00:43:04.940
 that are contrary

00:43:04.940 --> 00:43:05.619
 to God's will

00:43:05.619 --> 00:43:06.280
 for us

00:43:06.280 --> 00:43:07.579
 is how every

00:43:07.579 --> 00:43:08.400
 Christian is called

00:43:08.400 --> 00:43:09.659
 to live every day.

00:43:09.659 --> 00:43:13.719
 and it is possible

00:43:13.719 --> 00:43:14.539
 even for those

00:43:14.539 --> 00:43:15.000
 who struggle

00:43:15.000 --> 00:43:16.019
 with same-sex attraction

00:43:16.019 --> 00:43:16.899
 to have fulfilling

00:43:16.899 --> 00:43:18.000
 intergender marriages.

00:43:19.500 --> 00:43:20.460
 Sam Andreatis

00:43:20.460 --> 00:43:21.819
 did his whole dissertation

00:43:21.819 --> 00:43:23.319
 on interviewing

00:43:23.319 --> 00:43:24.219
 and doing research

00:43:24.219 --> 00:43:25.159
 among couples,

00:43:25.519 --> 00:43:26.099
 one of them

00:43:26.099 --> 00:43:27.399
 who identifies

00:43:27.399 --> 00:43:28.659
 with same-sex attraction

00:43:28.659 --> 00:43:29.940
 but in intergender

00:43:29.940 --> 00:43:30.579
 relationships.

00:43:30.819 --> 00:43:31.319
 And he writes

00:43:31.319 --> 00:43:31.960
 about his findings

00:43:31.960 --> 00:43:32.460
 in a book

00:43:32.460 --> 00:43:33.679
 entitled Engendered.

00:43:33.940 --> 00:43:34.559
 I actually ordered

00:43:34.559 --> 00:43:35.379
 some copies of it

00:43:35.379 --> 00:43:36.179
 so you guys can have

00:43:36.179 --> 00:43:37.259
 it available to you

00:43:37.259 --> 00:43:37.739
 next week

00:43:37.739 --> 00:43:38.459
 if you're interested

00:43:38.459 --> 00:43:38.839
 in that.

00:43:40.339 --> 00:43:41.159
 And so the first,

00:43:41.279 --> 00:43:41.639
 monogamy.

00:43:41.819 --> 00:43:42.119
 Second,

00:43:42.579 --> 00:43:43.319
 intergenderness.

00:43:43.500 --> 00:43:43.879
 And third,

00:43:44.019 --> 00:43:44.539
 durability.

00:43:44.799 --> 00:43:44.979
 It says,

00:43:45.239 --> 00:43:46.139
 a man shall hold

00:43:46.139 --> 00:43:47.179
 fast to his wife.

00:43:47.559 --> 00:43:48.599
 The word to hold fast

00:43:48.599 --> 00:43:49.179
 is a language

00:43:49.179 --> 00:43:49.819
 of covenant.

00:43:50.599 --> 00:43:51.419
 Marriage is a covenant

00:43:51.419 --> 00:43:52.179
 between a man

00:43:52.179 --> 00:43:52.579
 and a woman

00:43:52.579 --> 00:43:53.259
 and it constitutes

00:43:53.259 --> 00:43:53.799
 the beginning

00:43:53.799 --> 00:43:54.839
 of a new family.

00:43:56.000 --> 00:43:56.579
 That's why it says

00:43:56.579 --> 00:43:57.559
 the man must leave

00:43:57.559 --> 00:43:58.619
 his father and his mother

00:43:58.619 --> 00:44:00.079
 and cling to his wife,

00:44:00.199 --> 00:44:00.879
 cleave to his wife,

00:44:00.959 --> 00:44:02.059
 hold fast to his wife.

00:44:02.519 --> 00:44:03.199
 This doesn't mean

00:44:03.199 --> 00:44:04.079
 you can't have your parents

00:44:04.079 --> 00:44:04.979
 live with you.

00:44:04.980 --> 00:44:05.800
 I mean,

00:44:05.920 --> 00:44:06.599
 a lot of Jews

00:44:06.599 --> 00:44:07.559
 did have their parents

00:44:07.559 --> 00:44:08.280
 live with them.

00:44:08.880 --> 00:44:10.019
 But it does mean

00:44:10.019 --> 00:44:11.179
 that your priority

00:44:11.179 --> 00:44:12.480
 needs to shift.

00:44:13.240 --> 00:44:14.380
 Your priority focus

00:44:14.380 --> 00:44:14.900
 is no longer

00:44:14.900 --> 00:44:15.820
 pleasing your parents

00:44:15.820 --> 00:44:16.539
 but it's in pleasing

00:44:16.539 --> 00:44:17.240
 your spouse.

00:44:18.340 --> 00:44:19.599
 And if you don't get that,

00:44:19.659 --> 00:44:20.860
 it leaves a lot of strain.

00:44:20.940 --> 00:44:21.780
 If the man does not

00:44:21.780 --> 00:44:22.360
 leave his father

00:44:22.360 --> 00:44:23.039
 and mother's household

00:44:23.039 --> 00:44:24.179
 and does not change

00:44:24.179 --> 00:44:24.699
 his priority

00:44:24.699 --> 00:44:25.559
 to primary care

00:44:25.559 --> 00:44:26.119
 for his spouse,

00:44:26.320 --> 00:44:27.559
 it isolates the wife

00:44:27.559 --> 00:44:29.300
 and leads to great stress

00:44:29.300 --> 00:44:29.820
 and strain

00:44:29.820 --> 00:44:30.519
 in the relationship.

00:44:31.039 --> 00:44:31.940
 And this is a radical

00:44:31.940 --> 00:44:32.639
 thing to command

00:44:32.639 --> 00:44:33.400
 in this culture

00:44:33.400 --> 00:44:33.920
 in particular.

00:44:33.920 --> 00:44:34.200
 I mean,

00:44:34.240 --> 00:44:35.300
 for us it's not hard

00:44:35.300 --> 00:44:36.500
 because in Western culture

00:44:36.500 --> 00:44:37.280
 we don't really take care

00:44:37.280 --> 00:44:38.139
 of our parents anyway.

00:44:38.740 --> 00:44:39.619
 But this is ancient

00:44:39.619 --> 00:44:40.460
 Near Eastern culture

00:44:40.460 --> 00:44:41.460
 where taking care

00:44:41.460 --> 00:44:42.059
 of your parents

00:44:42.059 --> 00:44:43.539
 is seen as second

00:44:43.539 --> 00:44:44.519
 only to being loyal

00:44:44.519 --> 00:44:45.240
 to God himself.

00:44:45.559 --> 00:44:46.780
 It's one of the highest duties,

00:44:46.960 --> 00:44:48.139
 filial duty to your parents.

00:44:48.700 --> 00:44:49.260
 But he says,

00:44:49.720 --> 00:44:50.220
 leave your father

00:44:50.220 --> 00:44:50.639
 and your mother

00:44:50.639 --> 00:44:52.240
 and hold fast to his wife.

00:44:52.460 --> 00:44:53.340
 That's how intimate

00:44:53.340 --> 00:44:53.960
 and powerful

00:44:53.960 --> 00:44:54.539
 that union

00:44:54.539 --> 00:44:55.980
 is intended to be.

00:44:57.059 --> 00:44:57.780
 And so if marriage

00:44:57.780 --> 00:44:58.340
 is a covenant

00:44:58.340 --> 00:44:59.119
 then it's intended

00:44:59.119 --> 00:45:00.139
 to be lifelong.

00:45:00.880 --> 00:45:02.280
 It's supposed to be durable

00:45:02.280 --> 00:45:03.559
 not temple.

00:45:04.920 --> 00:45:06.619
 So 1 Corinthians 7, 39

00:45:06.619 --> 00:45:06.820
 says,

00:45:06.900 --> 00:45:07.659
 a wife is bound

00:45:07.659 --> 00:45:08.139
 to her husband

00:45:08.139 --> 00:45:09.200
 as long as he lives

00:45:09.200 --> 00:45:10.480
 but if her husband dies

00:45:10.480 --> 00:45:11.700
 she is free to be married

00:45:11.700 --> 00:45:12.619
 to whom she wishes

00:45:12.619 --> 00:45:13.659
 only in the Lord.

00:45:14.639 --> 00:45:15.720
 Romans 7, 2-3

00:45:15.720 --> 00:45:15.900
 says,

00:45:15.980 --> 00:45:16.659
 for a married woman

00:45:16.659 --> 00:45:17.619
 is bound by law

00:45:17.619 --> 00:45:18.180
 to her husband

00:45:18.180 --> 00:45:18.980
 while he lives

00:45:18.980 --> 00:45:20.320
 but if her husband dies

00:45:20.320 --> 00:45:21.000
 she is released

00:45:21.000 --> 00:45:22.099
 from the law of marriage.

00:45:22.599 --> 00:45:23.039
 Accordingly,

00:45:23.059 --> 00:45:23.539
 she will be called

00:45:23.539 --> 00:45:24.260
 an adulteress

00:45:24.260 --> 00:45:24.900
 if she lives

00:45:24.900 --> 00:45:25.639
 with another man

00:45:25.639 --> 00:45:26.280
 while her husband

00:45:26.280 --> 00:45:26.900
 is alive.

00:45:29.820 --> 00:45:30.820
 Lifelong durability.

00:45:30.820 --> 00:45:31.500
 Marriage really

00:45:31.500 --> 00:45:32.800
 is supposed to be

00:45:32.800 --> 00:45:33.840
 until death

00:45:33.840 --> 00:45:34.640
 do us a part.

00:45:36.280 --> 00:45:37.420
 But we find again

00:45:37.420 --> 00:45:38.360
 in the history of Israel

00:45:38.360 --> 00:45:39.160
 in our history

00:45:39.160 --> 00:45:40.360
 instead of durability

00:45:40.360 --> 00:45:41.420
 temporality

00:45:41.420 --> 00:45:43.320
 rampant divorce.

00:45:47.820 --> 00:45:48.420
 Fourth,

00:45:48.539 --> 00:45:48.860
 it says

00:45:48.860 --> 00:45:49.980
 and they shall become

00:45:49.980 --> 00:45:50.940
 one flesh.

00:45:51.720 --> 00:45:52.320
 This implies

00:45:52.320 --> 00:45:53.220
 sexual union

00:45:53.220 --> 00:45:54.480
 but beyond that

00:45:54.480 --> 00:45:55.559
 a profound intimacy

00:45:55.559 --> 00:45:56.860
 and fidelity

00:45:56.860 --> 00:45:57.740
 faithfulness.

00:45:57.739 --> 00:45:59.000
 marriage is supposed

00:45:59.000 --> 00:45:59.500
 to be characterized

00:45:59.500 --> 00:46:00.459
 by fidelity

00:46:00.459 --> 00:46:01.539
 and the husband

00:46:01.539 --> 00:46:01.879
 and wife

00:46:01.879 --> 00:46:02.319
 are supposed

00:46:02.319 --> 00:46:02.879
 to guard

00:46:02.879 --> 00:46:03.799
 their marriage bed

00:46:03.799 --> 00:46:04.639
 and protect

00:46:04.639 --> 00:46:05.579
 their one flesh

00:46:05.579 --> 00:46:06.039
 union

00:46:06.039 --> 00:46:07.079
 but instead

00:46:07.079 --> 00:46:08.059
 in Israel's history

00:46:08.059 --> 00:46:08.359
 and ours

00:46:08.359 --> 00:46:09.579
 we find infidelity

00:46:09.579 --> 00:46:10.679
 pornography

00:46:10.679 --> 00:46:11.979
 and adultery.

00:46:15.179 --> 00:46:16.639
 The best known

00:46:16.639 --> 00:46:17.239
 incident of course

00:46:17.239 --> 00:46:18.159
 is David's adultery

00:46:18.159 --> 00:46:18.799
 with Bathsheba.

00:46:19.959 --> 00:46:20.619
 So then to summarize

00:46:20.619 --> 00:46:21.379
 God's intention

00:46:21.379 --> 00:46:21.919
 for marriage

00:46:21.919 --> 00:46:23.239
 is first monogamy

00:46:23.239 --> 00:46:24.619
 second intergenderness

00:46:24.619 --> 00:46:25.539
 three durability

00:46:25.539 --> 00:46:27.299
 and fourth fidelity

00:46:27.300 --> 00:46:28.460
 and the first husband

00:46:28.460 --> 00:46:28.900
 and wife

00:46:28.900 --> 00:46:29.680
 were blissfully

00:46:29.680 --> 00:46:30.500
 together in all

00:46:30.500 --> 00:46:31.120
 of these ways

00:46:31.120 --> 00:46:32.400
 in perfect harmony.

00:46:32.900 --> 00:46:33.900
 That's why verse 25

00:46:33.900 --> 00:46:34.680
 says and the man

00:46:34.680 --> 00:46:35.280
 and his wife

00:46:35.280 --> 00:46:36.200
 were both naked

00:46:36.200 --> 00:46:37.980
 and were not ashamed.

00:46:38.660 --> 00:46:39.560
 That's a picture

00:46:39.560 --> 00:46:40.940
 of complete trust

00:46:40.940 --> 00:46:41.920
 and intimacy.

00:46:42.580 --> 00:46:43.220
 They have nothing

00:46:43.220 --> 00:46:44.380
 to hide from each other.

00:46:44.940 --> 00:46:45.519
 They have nothing

00:46:45.519 --> 00:46:47.200
 to fear in each other

00:46:47.200 --> 00:46:48.260
 and they are

00:46:48.260 --> 00:46:49.340
 unreservedly

00:46:49.340 --> 00:46:50.340
 for each other.

00:46:50.440 --> 00:46:51.320
 That's the picture

00:46:51.320 --> 00:46:51.980
 of marriage

00:46:51.980 --> 00:46:52.920
 that we see here

00:46:52.920 --> 00:46:53.460
 in Genesis.

00:46:55.000 --> 00:46:55.720
 Adam's heart

00:46:55.720 --> 00:46:56.640
 left for joy

00:46:56.639 --> 00:46:57.819
 to see Eve

00:46:57.819 --> 00:46:58.839
 give herself

00:46:58.839 --> 00:46:59.739
 to be his unique

00:46:59.739 --> 00:47:02.339
 and irreplaceable helper.

00:47:02.739 --> 00:47:03.259
 No one else

00:47:03.259 --> 00:47:03.879
 in all of creation

00:47:03.879 --> 00:47:04.559
 could be his helper.

00:47:05.699 --> 00:47:06.219
 And likewise

00:47:06.219 --> 00:47:07.699
 Eve's heart

00:47:07.699 --> 00:47:08.400
 left with joy

00:47:08.400 --> 00:47:09.219
 to see Adam

00:47:09.219 --> 00:47:10.639
 be his head

00:47:10.639 --> 00:47:11.519
 to take responsibility

00:47:11.519 --> 00:47:12.179
 for her.

00:47:13.819 --> 00:47:14.559
 There really is

00:47:14.559 --> 00:47:15.359
 nothing more beautiful

00:47:15.359 --> 00:47:15.859
 than this

00:47:15.859 --> 00:47:16.339
 if you guys

00:47:16.339 --> 00:47:16.940
 think about it.

00:47:17.920 --> 00:47:18.719
 I can't begin

00:47:18.719 --> 00:47:19.519
 to speak of

00:47:19.519 --> 00:47:20.139
 what it does

00:47:20.139 --> 00:47:20.799
 to my soul

00:47:20.799 --> 00:47:21.519
 as a man

00:47:21.519 --> 00:47:22.639
 to know that

00:47:22.639 --> 00:47:23.279
 Hannah is

00:47:23.279 --> 00:47:24.000
 my wife

00:47:24.000 --> 00:47:24.619
 and my wife

00:47:24.619 --> 00:47:24.940
 is unreservedly

00:47:24.940 --> 00:47:25.480
 for me.

00:47:28.460 --> 00:47:29.380
 I can't do

00:47:29.380 --> 00:47:29.820
 what I do

00:47:29.820 --> 00:47:30.340
 as a pastor

00:47:30.340 --> 00:47:30.840
 without her.

00:47:33.039 --> 00:47:33.900
 She's not even here.

00:47:33.980 --> 00:47:34.539
 She's downstairs

00:47:34.539 --> 00:47:34.960
 serving

00:47:34.960 --> 00:47:35.760
 the children's ministry.

00:47:39.019 --> 00:47:40.079
 It motivates me

00:47:40.079 --> 00:47:40.619
 and it gives me

00:47:40.619 --> 00:47:41.059
 courage

00:47:41.059 --> 00:47:41.659
 to think that

00:47:41.659 --> 00:47:42.199
 Hannah's always

00:47:42.199 --> 00:47:42.860
 in my corner

00:47:42.860 --> 00:47:43.639
 rooting for me,

00:47:44.239 --> 00:47:45.380
 sticking with me

00:47:45.380 --> 00:47:46.380
 and holding fast

00:47:46.380 --> 00:47:47.320
 with me in love.

00:47:48.019 --> 00:47:48.420
 And some of you

00:47:48.420 --> 00:47:49.440
 might not even know this

00:47:49.440 --> 00:47:50.019
 but Hannah

00:47:50.019 --> 00:47:50.519
 has a rare

00:47:50.519 --> 00:47:51.300
 chronic disease

00:47:51.300 --> 00:47:52.480
 called Takayasu's

00:47:52.480 --> 00:47:53.039
 Arteritis

00:47:53.039 --> 00:47:54.119
 which causes

00:47:54.119 --> 00:47:54.740
 inflammation

00:47:54.740 --> 00:47:56.300
 in your arteries

00:47:56.300 --> 00:47:57.639
 and occludes

00:47:57.639 --> 00:47:58.179
 your arteries

00:47:58.179 --> 00:47:58.980
 so she doesn't

00:47:58.980 --> 00:47:59.860
 have blood flow.

00:48:00.219 --> 00:48:00.599
 She has very

00:48:00.599 --> 00:48:01.619
 restricted blood flow

00:48:01.619 --> 00:48:02.400
 all throughout her body

00:48:02.400 --> 00:48:03.380
 which means

00:48:03.380 --> 00:48:03.980
 she can't lift

00:48:03.980 --> 00:48:04.599
 her arms up

00:48:04.599 --> 00:48:05.179
 for a while.

00:48:05.699 --> 00:48:06.400
 She can't walk

00:48:06.400 --> 00:48:07.460
 upstairs very well

00:48:07.460 --> 00:48:09.400
 and it also means

00:48:09.400 --> 00:48:10.079
 that almost

00:48:10.079 --> 00:48:11.039
 at any given

00:48:11.039 --> 00:48:11.699
 moment of the day

00:48:11.699 --> 00:48:12.740
 she's really tired,

00:48:12.820 --> 00:48:13.240
 more tired

00:48:13.240 --> 00:48:13.719
 than I'll ever

00:48:13.719 --> 00:48:14.400
 know how to be.

00:48:16.400 --> 00:48:17.320
 Yet these past

00:48:17.320 --> 00:48:17.719
 two weeks

00:48:17.719 --> 00:48:18.159
 when I've been

00:48:18.159 --> 00:48:18.940
 unusually busy

00:48:18.940 --> 00:48:19.699
 due to travels

00:48:19.699 --> 00:48:20.400
 and weddings

00:48:20.400 --> 00:48:21.579
 and such,

00:48:21.579 --> 00:48:22.219
 she has been

00:48:22.219 --> 00:48:23.319
 my tireless helper

00:48:23.319 --> 00:48:24.840
 and when I'm

00:48:24.840 --> 00:48:26.000
 having to address

00:48:26.000 --> 00:48:26.920
 difficult situations

00:48:26.920 --> 00:48:27.719
 or relationships

00:48:27.719 --> 00:48:28.460
 in church

00:48:28.460 --> 00:48:29.219
 or in meetups

00:48:29.219 --> 00:48:30.179
 she's thinking

00:48:30.179 --> 00:48:30.819
 about me,

00:48:31.799 --> 00:48:32.579
 praying for me

00:48:32.579 --> 00:48:33.500
 and comforting me

00:48:33.500 --> 00:48:34.819
 and caring for my soul.

00:48:35.980 --> 00:48:37.500
 That's the beautiful

00:48:37.500 --> 00:48:39.400
 picture of marriage.

00:48:39.519 --> 00:48:39.980
 Hannah is,

00:48:40.219 --> 00:48:41.739
 I'm incomplete,

00:48:41.940 --> 00:48:42.559
 inadequate,

00:48:43.259 --> 00:48:43.840
 incapable

00:48:43.840 --> 00:48:45.019
 of fulfilling

00:48:45.019 --> 00:48:45.759
 my call

00:48:45.759 --> 00:48:46.579
 from God

00:48:46.579 --> 00:48:47.139
 without her.

00:48:47.420 --> 00:48:47.920
 That's why

00:48:47.920 --> 00:48:48.579
 she's the helper

00:48:48.579 --> 00:48:49.340
 fit for me.

00:48:49.340 --> 00:48:50.960
 Marriage is a

00:48:50.960 --> 00:48:51.880
 beautiful reality

00:48:51.880 --> 00:48:54.059
 and you know

00:48:54.059 --> 00:48:55.079
 why marriage

00:48:55.079 --> 00:48:56.000
 is so beautiful?

00:48:56.079 --> 00:48:56.860
 The ultimate reason

00:48:56.860 --> 00:48:57.360
 it's because

00:48:57.360 --> 00:48:58.180
 it points to

00:48:58.180 --> 00:48:58.680
 an ultimate

00:48:58.680 --> 00:48:59.400
 even more

00:48:59.400 --> 00:49:00.320
 beautiful reality.

00:49:01.320 --> 00:49:02.220
 It's a picture

00:49:02.220 --> 00:49:02.780
 of something.

00:49:02.960 --> 00:49:03.400
 Paul quotes

00:49:03.400 --> 00:49:03.880
 this verse

00:49:03.880 --> 00:49:04.360
 from Genesis

00:49:04.360 --> 00:49:05.360
 in Ephesians 5

00:49:05.360 --> 00:49:06.480
 31-32.

00:49:07.480 --> 00:49:08.260
 Therefore a man

00:49:08.260 --> 00:49:08.800
 shall leave

00:49:08.800 --> 00:49:09.700
 his father and mother

00:49:09.700 --> 00:49:10.539
 and hold fast

00:49:10.539 --> 00:49:11.120
 to his wife

00:49:11.120 --> 00:49:11.880
 and the two

00:49:11.880 --> 00:49:12.539
 shall become

00:49:12.539 --> 00:49:13.240
 one flesh.

00:49:13.539 --> 00:49:14.340
 This mystery

00:49:14.340 --> 00:49:15.059
 is profound

00:49:15.059 --> 00:49:16.120
 and I am saying

00:49:16.120 --> 00:49:16.740
 that it refers

00:49:16.740 --> 00:49:17.460
 to Christ

00:49:17.460 --> 00:49:18.659
 and the church.

00:49:20.019 --> 00:49:21.139
 The self-giving

00:49:21.139 --> 00:49:22.380
 love of marital

00:49:22.380 --> 00:49:22.900
 union

00:49:22.900 --> 00:49:24.179
 points to

00:49:24.179 --> 00:49:24.940
 the eternal

00:49:24.940 --> 00:49:25.639
 relationship

00:49:25.639 --> 00:49:26.900
 of self-giving

00:49:26.900 --> 00:49:27.460
 love between

00:49:27.460 --> 00:49:28.579
 Christ and the church.

00:49:30.280 --> 00:49:31.260
 As the book

00:49:31.260 --> 00:49:32.039
 of Hosea reveals

00:49:32.039 --> 00:49:32.699
 it has been

00:49:32.699 --> 00:49:33.340
 God's intention

00:49:33.340 --> 00:49:34.019
 all along

00:49:34.019 --> 00:49:34.500
 since the beginning

00:49:34.500 --> 00:49:35.039
 of creation

00:49:35.039 --> 00:49:36.320
 to marry us,

00:49:36.740 --> 00:49:37.820
 to marry his people,

00:49:37.940 --> 00:49:38.420
 the church,

00:49:38.860 --> 00:49:40.980
 to live an eternal

00:49:40.980 --> 00:49:42.000
 union of life

00:49:42.000 --> 00:49:42.880
 and love with us,

00:49:42.920 --> 00:49:43.840
 to envelop us

00:49:43.840 --> 00:49:44.740
 in the very

00:49:44.740 --> 00:49:46.199
 eternal triune love.

00:49:46.199 --> 00:49:47.299
 That's been his

00:49:47.299 --> 00:49:48.419
 intention all along

00:49:48.419 --> 00:49:49.559
 to marry us.

00:49:49.939 --> 00:49:50.679
 Trinitarian love,

00:49:50.779 --> 00:49:51.039
 harmony,

00:49:51.179 --> 00:49:51.679
 and unity.

00:49:52.859 --> 00:49:53.699
 And God wanted

00:49:53.699 --> 00:49:54.559
 that intention,

00:49:54.719 --> 00:49:55.359
 that design

00:49:55.359 --> 00:49:56.919
 to be so plain

00:49:56.919 --> 00:49:58.859
 and unmistakable

00:49:58.859 --> 00:49:59.859
 in all of creation

00:49:59.859 --> 00:50:00.859
 that he created

00:50:00.859 --> 00:50:01.919
 male and female.

00:50:02.419 --> 00:50:03.460
 He created marriage

00:50:03.460 --> 00:50:04.719
 to be a walking

00:50:04.719 --> 00:50:06.000
 picture of that

00:50:06.000 --> 00:50:06.699
 union that God

00:50:06.699 --> 00:50:07.500
 created us for.

00:50:11.419 --> 00:50:12.759
 That's why humanity

00:50:12.759 --> 00:50:13.500
 is so obsessed

00:50:13.500 --> 00:50:14.059
 with sex.

00:50:14.059 --> 00:50:16.840
 sex is a physical

00:50:16.840 --> 00:50:17.639
 reality that is

00:50:17.639 --> 00:50:18.940
 inextricably tied

00:50:18.940 --> 00:50:20.079
 to that eternal

00:50:20.079 --> 00:50:21.199
 spiritual reality

00:50:21.199 --> 00:50:22.059
 of union with God.

00:50:23.440 --> 00:50:24.480
 That's why G.K.

00:50:24.599 --> 00:50:25.299
 Chesterton says,

00:50:25.460 --> 00:50:26.139
 every man who

00:50:26.139 --> 00:50:26.980
 knocks on the door

00:50:26.980 --> 00:50:27.739
 of a brothel

00:50:27.739 --> 00:50:29.119
 is looking for God.

00:50:33.460 --> 00:50:34.619
 And because marriage

00:50:34.619 --> 00:50:35.400
 is a picture

00:50:35.400 --> 00:50:36.519
 of foreshadowing

00:50:36.519 --> 00:50:37.619
 of the greater

00:50:37.619 --> 00:50:38.519
 ultimate reality,

00:50:38.920 --> 00:50:39.779
 there's a remarkable

00:50:39.779 --> 00:50:40.840
 call here for singles

00:50:40.840 --> 00:50:41.320
 as well.

00:50:41.320 --> 00:50:43.280
 for those of you

00:50:43.280 --> 00:50:44.059
 who are not married.

00:50:45.940 --> 00:50:46.680
 Jesus teaches

00:50:46.680 --> 00:50:47.840
 in Matthew 22, 30,

00:50:47.940 --> 00:50:48.660
 that in the resurrection

00:50:48.660 --> 00:50:49.700
 they neither marry

00:50:49.700 --> 00:50:50.640
 nor are given in marriage

00:50:50.640 --> 00:50:51.559
 but are like angels

00:50:51.559 --> 00:50:51.980
 in heaven.

00:50:52.059 --> 00:50:52.740
 There's no marriage

00:50:52.740 --> 00:50:53.140
 in heaven

00:50:53.140 --> 00:50:55.559
 because the reality,

00:50:55.660 --> 00:50:56.440
 the ultimate reality

00:50:56.440 --> 00:50:57.120
 of union with God

00:50:57.120 --> 00:50:58.019
 that marriage points to

00:50:58.019 --> 00:50:58.780
 is consummated.

00:50:58.940 --> 00:50:59.519
 There's no need

00:50:59.519 --> 00:51:00.200
 for marriage there.

00:51:01.480 --> 00:51:02.420
 So then if you are

00:51:02.420 --> 00:51:03.320
 single currently

00:51:03.320 --> 00:51:04.180
 and you are called

00:51:04.180 --> 00:51:05.039
 to celibacy,

00:51:05.460 --> 00:51:05.980
 chastity,

00:51:06.200 --> 00:51:07.160
 in your singleness

00:51:07.160 --> 00:51:07.980
 for the sake

00:51:07.980 --> 00:51:08.580
 of the kingdom of God,

00:51:08.620 --> 00:51:09.220
 then you are being

00:51:09.220 --> 00:51:10.380
 called to skip,

00:51:10.380 --> 00:51:11.019
 so to speak,

00:51:11.079 --> 00:51:11.700
 the analogy,

00:51:12.059 --> 00:51:13.320
 to skip the picture

00:51:13.320 --> 00:51:14.500
 and to point

00:51:14.500 --> 00:51:15.720
 to that ultimate reality

00:51:15.720 --> 00:51:16.519
 here and now.

00:51:18.480 --> 00:51:19.860
 You devote yourself,

00:51:19.960 --> 00:51:20.320
 your life,

00:51:20.420 --> 00:51:21.720
 entirely to being

00:51:21.720 --> 00:51:22.140
 a picture

00:51:22.140 --> 00:51:23.280
 of the marriage

00:51:23.280 --> 00:51:24.180
 of the lamb

00:51:24.180 --> 00:51:26.220
 described in Revelation 19.

00:51:27.680 --> 00:51:28.160
 So then,

00:51:28.500 --> 00:51:29.200
 every time

00:51:29.200 --> 00:51:30.380
 you make a decision

00:51:30.380 --> 00:51:33.119
 to make a sacrifice

00:51:33.119 --> 00:51:34.260
 not to date

00:51:34.260 --> 00:51:34.900
 a non-Christian

00:51:34.900 --> 00:51:35.860
 because you know

00:51:35.860 --> 00:51:36.780
 that in that relationship

00:51:36.780 --> 00:51:37.840
 you can't fulfill

00:51:37.840 --> 00:51:38.920
 this image of God,

00:51:39.740 --> 00:51:40.940
 of that relationship

00:51:40.940 --> 00:51:41.700
 of reflecting

00:51:41.700 --> 00:51:42.740
 God's love for us,

00:51:43.240 --> 00:51:45.100
 you are taking a stand

00:51:45.100 --> 00:51:46.100
 and representing

00:51:46.100 --> 00:51:47.000
 that eternal reality

00:51:47.000 --> 00:51:47.800
 of communion with God.

00:51:47.940 --> 00:51:49.600
 Every time you refuse

00:51:49.600 --> 00:51:50.680
 to give in

00:51:50.680 --> 00:51:51.760
 to licentiousness,

00:51:52.019 --> 00:51:53.140
 to sexual immorality,

00:51:53.900 --> 00:51:57.340
 to having serial relationships,

00:51:57.460 --> 00:51:58.220
 you are standing

00:51:58.220 --> 00:51:59.940
 up for that ultimate reality

00:51:59.940 --> 00:52:01.260
 of being a picture

00:52:01.260 --> 00:52:02.420
 to all those around you

00:52:02.420 --> 00:52:02.660
 saying,

00:52:02.920 --> 00:52:03.320
 you know what,

00:52:03.360 --> 00:52:04.340
 you think that's precious,

00:52:04.680 --> 00:52:05.760
 you think that's pleasurable,

00:52:05.760 --> 00:52:07.120
 you think that's great,

00:52:07.320 --> 00:52:08.340
 but what I have,

00:52:08.420 --> 00:52:09.580
 my relationship with God

00:52:09.580 --> 00:52:10.760
 and eternal union

00:52:10.760 --> 00:52:11.400
 and communion with Him

00:52:11.400 --> 00:52:12.040
 that it points to

00:52:12.040 --> 00:52:13.280
 is far better.

00:52:13.560 --> 00:52:14.380
 That's what you're doing

00:52:14.380 --> 00:52:15.740
 every time you make a stance

00:52:15.740 --> 00:52:16.740
 for your chastity

00:52:16.740 --> 00:52:17.360
 and your singleness.

00:52:24.300 --> 00:52:25.420
 And if you are not

00:52:25.420 --> 00:52:26.060
 yet a believer

00:52:26.060 --> 00:52:26.540
 and you're here

00:52:26.540 --> 00:52:27.160
 with us today,

00:52:27.860 --> 00:52:29.900
 you've seen

00:52:29.900 --> 00:52:31.020
 this picture everywhere.

00:52:31.700 --> 00:52:31.940
 Yeah,

00:52:32.020 --> 00:52:33.040
 the pictures are marred

00:52:33.040 --> 00:52:34.060
 in a lot of ways.

00:52:34.059 --> 00:52:35.299
 Maybe you haven't had

00:52:35.299 --> 00:52:36.539
 good examples in your life,

00:52:36.679 --> 00:52:38.639
 but Christ's love

00:52:38.639 --> 00:52:40.159
 for you is perfect.

00:52:40.960 --> 00:52:42.360
 He is the perfect groom.

00:52:43.860 --> 00:52:45.779
 He lived the perfect life

00:52:45.779 --> 00:52:47.039
 and He died.

00:52:47.500 --> 00:52:48.719
 He gave His own life

00:52:48.719 --> 00:52:51.000
 to redeem you

00:52:51.000 --> 00:52:52.340
 as His bride.

00:52:52.559 --> 00:52:53.219
 And He works

00:52:53.219 --> 00:52:54.299
 even to this day

00:52:54.299 --> 00:52:55.279
 to sanctify us,

00:52:55.360 --> 00:52:56.039
 make us fit.

00:52:57.779 --> 00:52:58.860
 Give your life

00:52:58.860 --> 00:52:59.460
 to Him today.

00:53:01.279 --> 00:53:02.940
 That's the most beautiful thing.

00:53:02.940 --> 00:53:04.420
 that's the best thing

00:53:04.420 --> 00:53:05.240
 you could ever have

00:53:05.240 --> 00:53:05.720
 in this life.

00:53:06.240 --> 00:53:06.980
 So let's pray together.

00:53:12.840 --> 00:53:14.039
 God, help us.

00:53:16.039 --> 00:53:17.079
 Meet with us.

00:53:18.340 --> 00:53:19.220
 Lead us.

00:53:20.960 --> 00:53:21.579
 Strengthen us

00:53:21.579 --> 00:53:22.159
 by Your Spirit

00:53:22.159 --> 00:53:23.539
 so that we may all be

00:53:23.539 --> 00:53:24.559
 as singles

00:53:24.559 --> 00:53:25.679
 and married couples

00:53:25.679 --> 00:53:27.079
 wonderful pictures

00:53:27.079 --> 00:53:32.400
 of Your great initiative

00:53:32.400 --> 00:53:34.000
 to bring us in

00:53:34.000 --> 00:53:34.599
 to eternal

00:53:34.599 --> 00:53:36.500
 union and communion

00:53:36.500 --> 00:53:36.960
 with You.

00:53:38.119 --> 00:53:39.279
 In Jesus' name we pray.

00:53:39.880 --> 00:53:40.139
 Amen.