Battle Of The Sexes Part 2

Bruce Chant

generation-j - Pulse

5/12/2003

PART 2: WOMEN

Genesis 1:27
²⁷ So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

Tonight some of what I will say will be controversial but it will be biblical. It won’t be what you’ll hear in the world and much of it will confront what you’ve been taught. But I’d ask you to hear what is being said and apply your understanding to it.

Distinctives in Women.

Genesis is the book of beginnings and like the man last week we can see some of the distinctives about women come out in the first few chapters.

Different yet equal

God created men and women equal but different. Not good and bad, but different.

Help-mate

The first biblical definition for a woman in the case of Eve was as a “helper” to Adam.

To a lot of women this is insulting as they see the term “helper” as meaning second-rate, inadequate and a rudimentary place in life. But this is not true. The term of “helper” is also applied to the Holy Spirit who is never considered to be the “inactive, inadequate, unfulfilled, weak” member of the trinity.

Also, where did the woman come from? The side of the Man. The woman is designed to live alongside the man – not behind in complete oppression, or in front of him is domination – but alongside as a compliment to one another.

The defining term of helper is very true. What sorts of careers do women generally incline themselves to – jobs where they can be helpful. That is how women best contribute – in a helpful way.

The roles of men and women are well understood when looking at the relationship of Christ and the Church.

Ephesians 5:22-25

²²Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. ²³For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. ²⁴Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. ²⁵Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her

Men are the heads of the marriage as Christ is the head of the church. Because of this men have a responsibility (as we saw last week) to love and cherish their wives – NO MATTER WHAT. In kind, women like the church are to submit to their husbands regardless of whether they think they are right or not. This works well when the Husband loves and the woman is loved, the wife submitted to the man’s leading and the man feels respected and in control.

Female Terms

Women are primarily defined in the bible within the following terms: Mother, wife, daughter, lover (not in any order). There are many references to women in the bible but these are the ones that are overwhelmingly used: Eg

• Wife – Eve, bridal imagery;
• Mother – Mary;
• Daughter – Ruth, Pharaoh’s daughter and Moses;
• Lover – Song of Solomon.

Within all of those terms we see that they all relate to men. Why is this? The reason is that women and men are created to live together and compliment one another – primarily in marriage and as a family unit.

The family and the household are the realms that women dominate and excel in. For the men we see their curse is in the marketplace. For women it is the home.

This again is offensive to some women as they swallow the lie that the marketplace is more important than the home. Not true. In the bible what is more important? The home.

Both men and women fulfil their roles for the benefit of the family – the man in the marketplace to finance it, the women in the home to nurture, build and organise it. Both are hard as they are cursed – but these areas are where we can best contribute to the building of godly, God glorifying families.

Weaknesses in Women

Women are prone to deception

Genesis 3:1-6

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"…”

Women like men are not created to be completely independent. We compliment each other. Our world has told us it is good and necessary for women to be independent and look after themselves.

This is popular in pop culture where R&B gals sing about “I earn my own money, drive my own car, bought my own bling-bling and can I get any respect?”

But in actuality that “independence” of men is not helpful to men or themselves. Women who live independent of men are prone to abuse, fraud, deception of all kinds – the pattern of this is seen in Genesis.

The serpent approached the woman. She wanted to be helpful and the serpent took this and exploited it to deceive her into sin (Adam didn’t help by neglected his role). It is a classic example of turning a strength into a weakness for the purpose of attack.

Because of this women need to be aware that the serpent will continue to try and dupe you into deception about what will fulfil you, what will glorify God, what will help your husband / family. Ignoring this just confirms this weakness.

Women desire to rule over the men

Genesis 3:16
¹⁶ To the woman he said, "I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you."

Feminism is a philosophy that is opposed to the biblical views of women and their distinct characteristics as revealed in the bible. It has been greatly taught and accepted in the last century and has resulted in many lies (see above: deception) about women and men being ingrained into our thoughts.

The root of this is found in Genesis 3:16 – women desire to be what men are. The role and responsibilities of the man are seen as desirable by the woman. Just as the church / humanity seeks to go it’s own way through sin (rebelling against Christ) so too the woman seeks to be her own head in response to the man.

In today’s world this is called equality. In biblical terms it is called coveting. But we now have laws, movements, govt funding, philosophies, education about how to “reverse” this discrimination of man’s oppression of women. Mostly (sadly) this is accepted as true and is believed even in the Christian world.

Problems with Feminism:

· Equal vs the Same:
Feminists believe we’re all the same (no gender distinctives) we’re just culturally conditioned. But where did the culture come from? Humans.

· Feministic Women are liberated.
Woman don’t need men and will be fulfilled with out them. What just like Ally McBeal or Sex in the City? No way.
Earn your own way, make your own career etc – but women miss the love an attention that men give them to blossom because they are “competing” not “complimenting”.

· Sexual Equality.
Liberated woman don’t need to rely on men to provide now. Divorce laws were loosened and women are now free. Really?
Fifty years ago Playboy magazine came out. On the cover was Marilyn Monroe nude. She was presented as everything to desire in a woman: for the feminist she was empowered to control her own life and get her money, to men she was a naked woman you didn’t need to marry to see nude.
There is nothing noble about being as sinful and abased as men.

· Women are an oppressed minority?
There are more women than men. Women live longer than men. Women have greater political power. So how are women a minority? More likely due to inherent differences they are less able to compete in the marketplace that they covet.

· Political Sense of Feminism
The more women desert the home and enter the workplace the better the news for the government (politically). Why? More people working = more taxes AND more money for people to spend. If people have more money = more jobs to supply them with stuff to buy (plus childcare etc). But the secret cost is the social problems we see now much more than ever before – obesity, mental illness, crime, divorce, depression, suicide. Why? The breakdown of the family.

Proverbs 31

Proverbs 31:10-31 details for us the strengths and characteristics of a noble and godly woman. Woman should aspire to be like her, men should aspire to marrying one with the same characteristics (or potential at least).

^{10 [1]} A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.

Context is a wife. In this relationship to a man – the woman can flourish in love.

To a man and the family, there is NOTHING more valuable than a noble wife – she is invaluable to him and can’t be replaced such is her meaning to him. How romantic?!

¹¹ Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value.

Proverbs talks about two sorts of women – crowns and cancers. A noble wife is a crown and the husband knows.
He has no doubt she will do well for him and the family and doesn’t worry.

¹² She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life.

A godly woman who is loved and feels secure about herself will ADD to the life of her husband and family. Conversely many woman choke, restrict and control their husbands – effectively crushing them through the deception of the serpent. There is nothing more tragic because a controlled, crushed man will never be able to give a woman the love she needs to flourish (outside the grace of God). The noble woman adds, adds, adds.

¹³ She selects wool and flax
and works with eager hands.
¹⁴ She is like the merchant ships,
bringing her food from afar.

Woman love to shop but a noble woman shops wisely. She gets quality. She gets bargains so the family are well looked after with clothes and food. That way they don’t look like their wardrobe is the Good Sammy’s bin and they don’t constantly eat out of flat cardboard boxes and brown paper bags served by a kid in a uniform. Again the family is blessed.

¹⁵ She gets up while it is still dark;
she provides food for her family
and portions for her servant girls.

She works for the benefit of who? Her family.

She has servants but we have cars, fridges, supermarkets, phones, electrical applicances, ovens etc.

¹⁶ She considers a field and buys it;
out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.
¹⁸ She sees that her trading is profitable,
and her lamp does not go out at night.

²⁴ She makes linen garments and sells them,
and supplies the merchants with sashes.

What segment of the population is mostly likely to be in debt? Young women.

What segment of the population is mostly likely to be financially illiterate? Young women. Most young women are clueless about investment, interest rates, assets / liabilities. But not this one.

Whilst she is homeward oriented – she is economically wise and contributes to the family finances. Her business sense and enterprise is used to do what? Build her home. This is very different to a strict “career minded” woman who seeks to be the same as a man to the detriment of the home.

¹⁷ She sets about her work vigorously;
her arms are strong for her tasks.

She is active and in shape; good health.
She works vigorously. Why? She is motivated by a sense of calling. She sees the eternal value in all she does to shape a God glorifying family and home.

¹⁹ In her hand she holds the distaff
and grasps the spindle with her fingers.

Physically she is dextorous and refine. Character-wise she is refined as well.

Proverbs 11:22 “Like a gold ring in a pig's snout is a beautiful woman who shows no discretion”.
Proverbs 9:13 “The woman Folly is loud; she is undisciplined and without knowledge.” She is not a loud obnoxious embarrassment.

Proverbs 21:9 “Better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife”.
Proverbs 21:19 “Better to live in a desert than with a quarrelsome and ill-tempered wife.” She is not quarrelsome and moody – better to live in a desert.

She is discrete and refined in all her ways and blesses her husband.

²⁰ She opens her arms to the poor
and extends her hands to the needy.

She has a heart to serve – she is hospitable

She has a heart for the lost – she is an evangelist

²¹ When it snows, she has no fear for her household;
for all of them are clothed in scarlet.

Proverbs 14:1 “The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.”

A noble woman is prepared, organised and manages her household well. Because of this she is not worried. Eg packing to go away – did you remember? Did you get?

²² She makes coverings for her bed;
she is clothed in fine linen and purple.

She is classy and discrete and dresses beautifully to match her character not like she is living at a nightclub.

²³ Her husband is respected at the city gate,
where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.

A noble wife uplifts her husband like the church exists to uplift Christ.

Godly women bring honour to their husbands, their families and ultimately themselves when they act lovingly, respectfully and selflessly towards her husband.
Men love respect – she seeks this for him in all she says and does. He is happy and so is she.

²⁵ She is clothed with strength and dignity;
she can laugh at the days to come.

Her character is truly noble. She is strong and dignified and she has hope for the future.

²⁶ She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.

She is wise and is able to teach well. Who does she teach? Her kids, other kids, her family and friends. Who teaches her? Her husband and the Holy Spirit.

²⁷ She watches over the affairs of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.

Her orientation is homeward and this is where she excels and is fulfilled.

She is not lazy and sitting around watching Springer and reading who magazine all day. She is active in managing, building and organising her home for God’s glory.

²⁸ Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:

She raises her kids to bless her. Her husband as well.

²⁹ "Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all."

Her godly wisdom and nobility is unparalleled in the world

³⁰ Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

Physical beauty and charm never last, they are temporal. A noble woman has something else that makes her truly beautiful and that is a fear of God; the beginning of wisdom.

³¹ Give her the reward she has earned,
and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

The fruit of her labour – her family bring her praise and fame through the great things they do to bring God glory. She is blessed and she is incredible!!

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