Woman's Purpose & Struggles

This morning we're talking about women's purpose and struggles.

Last week we talked about man's purpose and struggles and what it distinctly means to be a man.

And this morning we're going to look at what distinctly it means to be a woman.

We talked about how when God made them male and female, he made them in their sexual binary of male and female, but then he also helped them understand their unique and distinct gender expression as men and as women.

And so here's the thing that I want to kind of set the scene with this morning is that the work of new creation is restorative in its very nature in essence.

So what do I mean by that?

If we look at the creation of all things, we see that God steps away from this culminating work of creation and says that all of it was very good.

And then sin came into the world and marred that very good thing of God.

Then we see the struggle of sin throughout redemptive history.

And Jesus comes to make all things new.

But he doesn't do it in a redefining work, he does it in a restorative work, getting back to the things that God called very good.

Sometimes we get this kind of messed up.

We can do this even with God's commands for his people.

We think that freedom and new life in Jesus means the abolishing of God's laws and commands, but it doesn't.

Jesus didn't come to abolish those things, Jesus came to fulfill those things.

And now we get to live in joyful obedience to God's law because it means flourishing for us as his image bearers.

And so Jesus' new work of new creation is not to redefine creation, but to restore creation to its very good decreed purpose.

You see, the very good design and purpose of creation is fulfilled in Jesus, not abolished.

The temptation, though, and propensity of modern society is to work to redefine what is good, but they do it as a response to fallen creation.

Modern social thought is broken primarily because it works from brokenness.

It starts as a response from our fallen state rather than looking to restore what God had decreed as very good in creation itself.

If we define ourselves out of a reaction to our fallen state, we will be forever translating our own pain in the past into new pain for ourselves and others in the present.

For example, modern social thought sometimes views childbearing itself as some form of punishment and works to eliminate the high calling through either indefinitely choosing to never have children, through the prioritization of personal ambitions over the sacred task, or in its most extreme form, deciding to terminate the life of unwanted children.

God's purposes for womanhood are not broken.

But like men, women are broken, and the evidences are everywhere.

Modern thought is starting from a place of brokenness in response to the pain of childbirth given to women through Eve's disobedience.

Childbearing itself was not Eve's punishment for disobedience.

It was that her childbearing would be frustrated.

You see, the design and purpose for Eve to multiply the very image of God through childbearing was given to her before her disobedience, and God had decreed that purpose, that distinct strength in woman, to be very good.

You see, the beauty, the strength, the glory of women must be discovered in her creation purpose rather than in a marred response to her fallen state.

In God's creation purpose, women hold an indispensable and distinct strength that complements rather than competes for man's distinct roles and responsibilities.

Together they work to express the glory of the whole rather than to strive to express the glory of the self.

It is in their codependent working for the glory of the whole that mankind rightly expresses the glory of God their Maker.

You see, while the Bible communicates the distinction of the two sexes and their gender expression, we cannot, we must not overlook or dismiss how the Bible communicates their equalities.

You see, it's actually from, as a starting point, their biblical equalities, that we're able to most clearly see their distinctions.

The distinct beauty of the two sexes, though, is unseen and lost altogether in the contending four unbiblical equalities.

So we're going to try to understand how are we, as male and female, equal?

And we see this in the creation narrative.

In Genesis chapter 1, verse 26 through 28, it reads this way Then God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness, and let them, plural, have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

Genesis 1:26–28

So God created man, singular, mankind, in his own image, and the image of God he created him, male and female, he created them.

And God blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.

So the first place that man and woman have equality is in their personhood.

What I mean by that is that we equally share the image and likeness of God our Maker.

And in being made in his image, we relate to God as Father, both male and female, being children of our God.

And so our personhood communicates worth because we are made equally in the image of God, our Maker.

But we aren't just equal in our personhood, we're also equal in our purpose.

Both male and female were called by God to fill and to subdue for the glory of God.

Both working to fulfill the creation mandate through being vice regents.

We talked about this word vice regent and what it means for us as his people.

Vice Regency describes mankind's relation to creation as they act as representatives of the sovereign God.

We were to act as these representatives of our Maker to fulfill the creation mandate of filling and subduing by multiplying the image of God throughout creation and bringing creation under dominion so that it might bear fruit.

This, in the personhood and purpose of the two sexes, is the only place they find their equality.

This is the equality of the two sexes, and their equality does not extend beyond here.

Eve was Adam's equal in the only sense in which equality is significant for personal worth.

There is no other area of existence that invests worth to an individual.

Let me kind of bring this forward.

I think God is much more interested in our inequalities with one another than in our equalities with one another.

Let me say it this way.

Some of us are gifted at certain things.

Some of us have the ability to do certain things.

Some of us have the mental capacity to think certain ways, or our creativity is over here, where this person's industriousness is over here.

There is a room full of people right now that is a wide array and diversity of inequalities.

And what does the scriptures actually speak to that?

Well, when we look at what it means to be in the body of Christ, should the ear say to the foot, should the mouth say to the hand?

God is glorified in the coming together, in the unity of our inequalities rather than the sameness of our equalities.

Because together in our distinctions and differences, we actually work to fulfill a greater good for his glory.

And so in God's sovereignty, in God's infinite wisdom, he has ordained more inequalities in his image bearers than he has equalities.

But where there is equality is the only place that communicates worth.

And that should be freeing for us.

Because if worth comes from something other than your personhood and purpose, man, that's devastating.

Because what are you always going to do?

You're always going to try and reach and grasp for something that's not yours to try and instill worth in you.

And that's a life of misery.

That's a life of misery.

We have equality in the only place that communicates worth to our personhood.

From these equalities of person and purpose, we'll be able to actually see and value each sex's distinctions or inequalities as they complement one another to a greater end than the glorification of the self.

You see, the way that God designed you and created you was not for the glorification of yourself, but for the glorification of him.

And we're frustrated in our experience and our existence when we grasp for things that we think will glorify ourselves, and we become frustrated in that.

Well, they have this gift, they have that ability, they're this way, designed or purposed, or whatever it is.

And I'm not.

What are we really saying?

I believe if I had that thing, I'd be able to glorify myself better.

Rather than resting in the infinite wisdom and purpose of God to say He uniquely made me this way that I might glorify Him most, in the complement of one another.

So, in that foundation, let's dive into the indispensable glory of the distinction found in being a woman.

If we're looking at Genesis chapter 2, verses 18 through 25, we see this woman is a priestly helper for man.

Genesis 2:18–25

Woman is a priestly helper for man.

Genesis 2.18 says this.

So woman was created for man.

Paul reiterates this in the New Testament.

That it was woman who was created for man to be a helper.

But we're going to see the distinct role, strength, and power that they have in that task.

You see, this is the only passage with inside the entire creation account that God actually says, not good.

As he created throughout the six days of creation, he would start saying things, he would end each day with a good statement.

He saw all that he was made and it was good.

He saw that he made and it was good, right?

We see this throughout.

And then when he sees the fullness of creation, he steps back and says, This is very good.

And we talked about how Genesis 1 was kind of a 40,000-foot view of the creation account.

Genesis 2 and 3 is helping us get intimately near so that we can see it in a more granular level.

And so in this moment, when there's just the Adam, where there is no helper or compliment to him, God says that this is not good.

All other aspects of creation were declared good, and the fullness of creation, after God had made mankind male and female, he would decree as very good.

We can infer from this that woman was the absent peace culminating to God's very good creation.

Well, what was not good?

For man to be alone was not good.

Now, in many senses, man was not alone.

Man shared his existence and experience with other living creatures.

In certain ways, he was not alone, and that living creatures that God had made accompanied man's existence.

And so we have to understand that the aloneness of man was not determined by the absence of another living creature, but by the absence of another to accomplish the mission of God.

You see, men, something we have to wrestle with is that a man without mission needs no helper.

And so Adam wasn't just looking for company, he was looking for a co-laborer to accomplish what God had called him to do.

And he says that he needs a helper fit.

I want to break down these two words.

In the Hebrew helper, Ezer is the word.

We kind of can understand this word Ebenezer.

Have you guys, if you sang a hymn, it has it in there?

Come thou fount.

Here I raise my Ebenezer.

That's a rock of help.

Ezer, the root, the the the tail end of that word, right, is helper, aid.

One that brings provision, support, and assistance.

In the Old Testament, the word Ezer is actually used to emphasize God's intervention and deliverance in times of trouble.

God is called helper.

He is called Easer.

It functions in the understanding that mankind is actually in need of God's help and that God is able to provide it.

Psalm 3320 says this our soul waits for the Lord.

He is our help and our shield.

He is our easer and our shield.

Psalm 121.2.

My Easer, my help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.

You see, to be a helper communicates the investment of distinct strength because it requires something to be a helper.

I think it requires these two things.

To be a helper requires for an individual to have what is lacking in the other.

And it also demands a strength or an ableness to be exerted in the presence of weakness or unableness.

And so helper is a very powerful word.

It means that you have what is needed and that you're able to exercise and exert that resource for the betterment and good of the other person.

That's why God is a helper to us.

And God is saying that that's a distinct quality and aspect of womanhood.

He doesn't just say a helper, he says a helper fit.

Or some translations will use the word suitable.

This is the word neged.

Neged means corresponding to man.

It's actually his complement counterpart.

But as we look throughout the rest of the Old Testament at this word neged, most of the time it translates into a way of facing toward another.

So then we look at the rest of the scriptures when God's face was set toward his people.

What did that mean?

That meant the fullness of his blessing, the fullness of his power, his resources, his strength, his care, his provision was for his people.

There's one primary time where we see at the apex of redemptive history God's face turn away.

And where do we see it?

It's at the cross.

God's face turned away from his son.

My God, my God, why have you turned your face from me?

And that was in the fullness of God's wrath and cursing and destruction being poured out on his son.

And so this helper fit is one who is able, but it's also one whose face is toward the other, that the fullness of their ability and resources and blessing and provision and care is for the other.

You see, Eve's role as a helper, Neged, accentuates her purpose to provide companionship, aid, assistance to Adam in a way that is aligned with his needs, completing and complementing him in their shared existence.

You see, God confessed a not good aspect of his glorious creation.

That man was absent of another who would co-labor with him to fulfill the creation mandate to fill and subdue.

This co-labor would need to bear the strength, the resources, and the ability that was absent in man.

This co-labor would need to be a helper fit.

And so God does what?

First thing he does is in verses 19 through 20, we see that he calls the creatures before Adam.

So it says, Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens.

And what did he do?

He brought them to the man to see what he would call them.

What we see here is that God bringing creation before the man in an effort or an exercise to discover a helper fit.

And God calls Adam to actually express dominion for the first time in his life.

And so what does he do that through?

He does it through naming the creatures that God brings before him.

Now, we can't think of a lens of species.

Adam wasn't like defining the species of these creatures.

In a more intimate way, God was naming, or Adam was naming them in relationship.

And so he was trying to discover a helper that would be fit for him in accomplishing the mission that God had called him to.

And so in this intimate action, Adam expressed his dominion by actually giving the animals these relational names.

But it says, verse 20, the man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens, to every beast.

But for Adam there was not found a helper fit, an easer neged for him.

There was no complement among what had already been created to assist Adam in fulfilling the creation mandate to fill and to subdue.

We'll read through this together.

So the Lord God caused the deep sleep to fall upon the man.

And while he slept, he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.

And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man, he made into a woman and brought her to the man.

Then the man said, This at last is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.

She shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man.

Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

Here's a couple things that I want us to look at.

The word for rib here in this passage is the Hebrew word Selah.

Not like the Psalm Sela, S E L A H, but in this case it's T-S-E-L-A, Sela.

This is the only place in the Old Testament that's actually interpreted as rib.

Every other place, in majority inside the Old Testament, this word is translated as side.

Now you might think, oh, what's the what?

That's profound, right?

Here's the thing, though.

That side is connected to sacred architecture.

So when God was helping Israel understand the purpose of the Ark of the Covenant, he used the word Selah to communicate the side of the Ark of the Covenant of which His presence would dwell.

When he was telling them the instructions on how to form and fabricate the tabernacle of which he would dwell among his people, he used the word Selah to communicate the side of this sacred tent.

And when he was instructing them on how to build his dwelling place in Jerusalem among the temple, he used the word Selah to communicate side of this sacred architecture.

It's no wonder why the New Testament communicates us as what?

Living temples.

We are living stones that are being constructed into what?

A temple for the presence and dwelling place of God Himself.

It's much more than just a rib being popped out.

God is trying to communicate something to us that mankind is, in its essence, sacred architecture.

And woman is the corresponding piece of this sacredness of mankind.

This is also the first place in all of the scriptures that we have gender positive language.

Up until this point, it was just the Adam.

It was just this gender-neutral term, whether he said man, mankind, or Adam, however it's pronounced, the Hebrew word was always Adam.

It wasn't until the side piece of this sacred architecture was brought forth from man, do we actually get the words Eshe for man and Esha for woman?

And so we have male and female being communicated for the first time in the Old Testament.

And what do we see in this creation account?

We see that God had taken from the side of Adam and made woman, and he kind of puts her over here, and he goes to mend Adam and piece him back together, and he stands him up, and we get this beautiful portrait and image of a wedding ceremony.

God, the father, grabs his daughter Eve and brings her to the man and presents her to him.

This is where we get our modern.

If you have been married or you've been in a wedding ceremony with more traditional modern, right?

This is where we get the practice of a father of the daughter walking her down the aisle and handing her over to another man.

God was transferring his headship of his daughter Eve over to Adam so that he might have responsibility for her now, that he might care for her, that he might lay his life down for her flourishing.

This was what was happening, the symbolic beauty of a wedding ceremony.

God the Father transferring headship over to Adam, the husband of the woman.

And what does Adam do?

He just sings a love song, right?

This is the first recorded song of all of history: a love song of a groom for his bride.

This at last is bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh.

She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man.

The creation of woman from man's side actually leaves man diminished.

She was taken out from him.

A part of him was missing.

But Adam goes on.

Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother, hold fast to his wife, and they shall be what?

Called one flesh.

And so it's actually in the sexual union of the male and female that restores the part of man that was taken.

This is what Paul talks about as the mystery of marriage.

Don't you understand that sex is greater than some type of biological, pleasurable friction between two human beings?

But it's the very mystery of the gospel that the two shall become one flesh united again, that in the Adam they might reflect the very glory and nature of God to the world around them.

This is the mystery.

That the sexual halves become a sexual whole.

And this is the sacred architecture.

Human sexuality and their maleness and femaleness and their coming together is sacred architecture.

And what does sacred mean?

It means that it's dedicated and set apart for the service and worship of God.

But what have we done?

We've perverted it and twisted it and marred it so that it worships and serves us.

And we have defiled sacred architecture in our own personhood.

Church, if man was to bear the primary responsibility to be a priest judge, as we talked about last week, in the temple garden of God, then woman was to co-labor with him as a priestly helper for the fulfillment of the creation mandate.

Now we're going to jump down to chapter 3, verses 1 through 16, and we see this total rebellion to a single restriction.

Total rebellion to a single restriction.

Here we see that Adam was called to be the head of Eve.

And together they were to co-labor to fulfill the creation mandate, to fill and to subdue.

Eve finds herself now next to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the tree of which God had told Adam before he made Eve.

He said these words You shall eat freely of any tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you do, you shall surely die.

And Eve is there.

And we find out Adam is with her.

But the serpent comes in to deceive Eve at the foot of this tree.

And there's something that I want us to look at.

We have God's command and what he told Adam.

We have the serpent's regurgitation of that command in this twisted, deceitful sense.

And then we have Eve's response to that command, but it's changed as well.

And there's three unique things to discover in this.

So let's look at God's first speaking of this command.

In Genesis 2, 16 through 17, it says, You may surely, the NASB uh translates this freely.

So God says, You may surely or freely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.

So what does God's command start with?

God's command starts with radical abundance.

You may freely eat of any tree of the garden.

God's command starts with radical abundance, and then he brings in a single restriction.

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

The serpent comes into the garden and he regurgitates in a deceitful way God's command.

It's treacherous.

He says in Genesis 3:1, You did God say, You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?

Genesis 3:1

What does the serpent do?

The serpent enlarges God's restriction to encapsulate everything.

Did God say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden?

Here's what I think the devil has done since the beginning of creation.

I think the devil has worked tirelessly to make God's restrictions for his image bearers appear to be the absence of all that is good and pleasurable.

That's how we view God's commands, right?

If we're honest with ourselves.

We view God's commands as the restriction and the removal of all that is good and pleasurable.

And we rail against him because of it.

God didn't start with the restriction, God started with the radical abundance.

And then what does Eve do in her recapitulation?

She says this.

She reduces it to mere meager permission.

We may eat.

But then she doesn't leave it there.

She enlarges God's restrictions.

She says, Neither shall you touch it.

God never said that.

God never said that.

But she enlarged the restriction.

Because here's what happened: her perception of reality had been twisted.

You see, the lavish abundance of the garden and the beauty of the tree of life were no longer the central focus of the woman.

Now, in her own perception of reality, it was the forbidden tree.

God's only and single restriction at the dead center of her view.

Man, that's a dangerous place to be.

I guess God's image bears, he calls us into such radical abundance to live a life and life abundantly, to live eternally with him in the fullness of blessing and joy.

But what do we do?

We focus on the restrictions of God rather than on the abundance of God.

And it gets us into dangerous places.

Verses 6 through 13, we see them eating the fruit.

We see Eve taking the fruit and eating.

Adam, who is with her, she turns to him, he takes and eats also.

Their eyes are open, they experience and understand their nakedness.

They sow these fig leaves together in their own vain efforts to try and cover themselves, and they hide behind these trees.

God comes walking through the garden in the cool of the day and he calls for Adam.

Where are you?

You see, what we see in this is that in a rebellious act, Eve would bite into her only restriction rather than feast upon the lavish abundance of the garden.

Did you catch that?

She's going to bite into her only restriction rather than feast upon the lavish abundance of the garden.

And being deceived by the serpent and taking the fruit, Eve usurped Adam's headship.

You see, it was Adam who was called to lead, and Eve was called to receive his leading.

But Eve puts herself as the one who's to primarily bear the responsibility of mankind in her interaction with the serpent.

Serpent says, Hey, Eve, I'm going to invite you into something.

Why don't you make the decision?

Why don't you take the lead on this?

Why don't you determine the destiny of mankind?

I think this is why the serpent approached Eve in the garden first.

The enemy knew the exposed heel of mankind would be discovered in the role reversal of male and female.

And since Adam failed to strike the head of the serpent, the serpent would strike at the headship of Adam.

And the serpent invited Eve to bear that responsibility of mankind.

But being the weaker vessel, as the scriptures communicate to us, we discover that it was too great a responsibility for her to bear.

Though Eve tried to reach for Adam's headship, we have to be honest and understand that it was also Adam who tossed it aside altogether.

And God calls Adam to pick up what he had laid aside.

God calls for the man in verse 9.

But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, Where are you?

It's important for us to understand.

God did not call out, Eve, where are you?

God did not call out in sameness.

Adam and Eve, where are you?

God called out to the man, Where are you?

He was calling him to give an account.

He was calling him to bear the responsibility that he had abdicated.

As the serpent deceptively called Eve to grab for the headship of Adam, the Lord calls Adam to pick up the headship he abdicated.

Give an account, man.

Where are you?

And then in verses 14 and 15, we see God lay out cursing for the serpent.

And in this, in verse 15 particularly, we see what is called the proto-evangelium, meaning the first gospel.

The first time that the gospel was ever proclaimed was by God Himself.

He told the serpent, I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring.

He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel.

Something that we need to understand in this is the purpose of the womb.

Again, we talked about what God had decreed very good.

He would use that distinct strength in that human instrument of the womb of a woman to bring forth the redemption of all mankind.

And he said that he would come and do what the first Adam failed to do.

Mankind's hope comes through the promise of a head crusher.

But he would not leave unscathed, for certainly the serpent would bruise the heel of the one who was to come.

But in verse 16, we see the cursing of woman.

To the woman he said, I will surely multiply your pain and childbearing.

In pain you shall bring forth children.

Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.

And so what we see in verse 16 is that God's curse upon woman is twofold.

It's twofold.

The first one is that woman would suffer in relationship to her children.

God would frustrate a distinct strength, a crucial complement of Eve's to the fulfillment of the creation mandate.

She would still bear children, but she would now experience pain in it.

You see, the filling of the earth with the image of God was to come through the primary glory of the womb.

Notice God's first promises redemption through that very womb before he ever curses it.

Because it's through the womb that the new creation mandate would come.

But then, secondly, not only would woman's relationship with her children suffer, but woman would suffer in relationship to her husband.

God said this your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.

Here's what God would do God would perpetuate the reaching of Eve for the headship of her husband, but God would frustrate it.

You see, God said, Your desire shall be contrary to your husband.

Instead of the woman working to complement her husband, she would compete with him.

There's only one other time in the rest of the scriptures that we see here an almost line-for-line usage of the term, your desire shall be contrary.

We see it in the story of Cain and Abel.

If you're not familiar with that story, there's two brothers who come from Adam and Eve.

And Cain kills Abel because Cain's offering of worship to God was unaccepted, but Abel's was.

God calls, just like he called Adam to account and responsibility, God calls Cain to account and responsibility.

Cain says, Am I my brother's keeper?

God says, Yeah, actually, you kind of are.

You murdered him.

And here's what he says: he gives Cain this kind of divine choice.

You can do what's right and be restored in relationship with me, or you can give in to your sin.

And here's what he tells Cain: Sin is crouching at the door, its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.

So when the scripture, when God's curse is saying to the woman that your desire shall be contrary to, he's speaking to the woman's effort to tear down and destroy what is man's, to grasp for and reach out to take hold of what is not hers.

Instead of the woman working to compliment her husband, she would work to compete with him.

Just as sin's desire is to have its way with Cain, God gives the woman up to a desire to have her way with her husband.

Because she usurped husband's headship through the serpent's deception.

Now God hands her over to the misery of competing for instead of complementing with her rightful head.

God hands her over to the misery of her grasping for what her heart desires.

You know, it's said that the most damning thing God could ever do to us is give us over to what we truly want.

To give us over to the misery of reaching out for things that are not ours, that we might obtain them.

God's blessing is that we don't get what we want.

That he exercises discipline as a heavenly father in a loving way toward his children.

But here in the creation account, we see the curse of God in handing over Eve to her misery, that she would perpetuate competing for instead of complementing with her rightful head.

But the beauty of God and the goodness of God is that he doesn't leave woman in hopeless despair.

He promised her that through her womb would be the very instrument of redemption.

And he also promises her that one day she would rest under the headship of a perfect man.

So our main idea this morning is this God designed woman to be a complimentary helper for the flourishing of creation.

God designed woman to be a complimentary helper for the flourishing of creation.

Woman is unique in all creation.

As she was formed and shaped to be the only helper fit, suitable for man.

You see, there was a divine purpose given to the image bearers of the divine that would not have been possible if the sexual binary of male and female would have been created and expressed in total sameness.

Women were invested with a distinct strength to aid man in the fulfillment of the creation mandate.

We saw that part of that creation mandate was to fill the earth, be fruitful and multiply, that the image of God would be reproduced, procreated throughout creation.

Only women was able to do that, was to be the helper fit, praise God, to be able to actually fulfill the creation.

Mandate.

And sometimes we view these distinctions, we view these differences and these inequalities as purposed actually to ultimately glorify man, right?

When we look at the way that we see how there might be restrictions placed upon femaleness, or we might see inequalities expressed in femeneness, we think we have this propensity that those exist to glorify man.

But this is a lie.

And it's a lie that we embrace when we're more discipled by culture than we are the Word of God.

You see, we actually see the value, the beauty, the strength in women, in her creation purpose as a priestly helper.

The title of helper has been viewed as some type of lower class citizenship by our culture.

But the scriptures don't see it that way.

The scriptures actually use it as a title to crown women with honor, to speak to the power of God, to come alongside his people, to have where they lack, to express strength where they are weak, to come to their aid when they are unable to help themselves.

You see, the woman helps the man still and subdue by exercising dominion over creation and bringing it into fruit bearing.

They are co-laborers striving together for a glory greater than the glory of self.

When women compete instead of complement, when they usurp instead of submit, they bring reproach to the very image of God that they bear.

You see, when women express submission, she honors God because she honors the specific task of helper for which God made her.

Praise God that the Lord is not too proud or arrogant to be our helper.

That in the very act of helping his image bears, God becomes subordinate in nature to help us.

That's power, that's strength.

And praise God, Christ is not unwilling to submit himself to servanthood that his people might experience his redemption.

Christ did not come to be served, but to serve, and he submitted himself to that end.

Women, you display a glory and a power distinct from man that shows the strength and might of the God we serve.

Elizabeth Elliot was a missionary to the Akka people of Eastern Ecuador.

She's probably a little bit more known by the death of her husband, Jim Elliott, who was killed in 1956 while he attempted to make contact with these people.

Most people don't know about Elizabeth is that she actually went back to serve the people who murdered her husband for two years.

And she saw the very essence of femininity expressed through submission and surrender.

And she points to the uniqueness of Mary.

When we think about Christ's coming and being born through the Virgin, what we fail to see is the submissiveness.

We fail to see the receiving nature of Mary, of the role and responsibility that God gave to her distinctly.

Luke 138 shows this to us.

It says, And Mary said, Behold, I am the servant of the Lord.

Let it be to me according to your word.

Mary wanted to glorify God.

She wanted to be obedient to his word.

And she was willing to submit herself and receive his will and purpose for her life.

Here's what Elizabeth Elliott in an essay written, The Essence of Femininity, says about this statement.

I think it's powerful.

In other words, it is for us women to receive the given as Mary did, not to insist on the not given as Eve did.

Read that again.

In other words, it is for us women to receive the given as Mary did, not to insist on the not given as Eve did.

But in this day, for us now, our hope is not in our femininity.

Our hope is not in how amazing or flawless or perfect we reflect womanhood.

And our despair is not in the ways that we have been convinced that we don't.

But the fullness of redemption is in Christ.

And Jesus redeems womanhood by dying for his bride, the church.

Jesus redeems womanhood by dying for his bride, the church.

You see, Jesus the Messiah would come through the womb of a woman.

He would submit himself to the will of the Father, no matter what it cost.

He came to serve and was a servant to others instead of seeking to serve himself.

He bore the responsibility that Adam forsook.

He crushed the head of the serpent to guard his bride from defilement.

He laid his life down for her to present her holy and without spot or blemish.

He unites her to himself in unbreakable covenant.

He rules over her in perfect headship.

And he calls her to labor and mission for the fulfillment of new creation.

Jesus is the last Adam that any woman will ever need because he fully restores and brings glory back to womanhood.

It doesn't matter in this room if you're married or if you're single, if you're a woman who has born children, or you're a woman who cannot bear children.

It doesn't matter if you'll express femininity through adoption and fostering, or if you'll see it in the reproduction of spiritual children by the preaching of the gospel.

What does Christ do?

He picks up what Adam tossed aside and he says, I will lay my life down for her.

And in his death, bearing resurrection, he rises to glorious life and he unites you.

He unites you to himself as one flesh.

We are what?

The body of Christ.

And being united to Christ, you bring into the one flesh reality of who he is.

And not only does he unite you to himself, but he exercises perfect headship over you, that you can rest as a woman underneath his care and provision and bearing responsibility for you.

And then he calls you as a co-laborer into the mission of the new creation mandate, that every woman inside of this room, no matter what you're facing in this life, no matter what comparisonism you struggle with, no matter what inequality you try to highlight and make the center focus of your life, he calls you to co-labor with him, that you can fulfill the new creation mandate in distinct, powerful, and glorifying ways so that womanhood is restored under him rather than in the striving and clawing of our own works.

Christ is our only hope.

Is that good news?

I hope so.

I think I pulled a rib.

And that one.

Here's what I hope, church.

My hope for us is that women would cherish the crown of honor that they wear.

Here's what I think happens.

We have disdain for this.

What fosters in our heart too often is a disdain for the unique crown of honor that God has placed upon you.

And my heart breaks for that.

Men do this too.

But I see it just tear down women over and over again.

And it's going to start with something.

It's going to start with just a ridiculously magnified, bigger picture of Jesus and a smaller, smaller picture of yourself.

Look, the most freeing thing I can probably tell you this morning is that every effort to glorify yourself will frustrate you and bring misery into your life.

But when we rest and we work for the glory of Him, fulfillment and joy and peace flood our souls.

You and I are most unhappy because you and I strive relentlessly to glorify ourselves.

That's the fundamental truth.

If we get a bigger, more beautiful picture of Jesus in the way that you women reflect his glory, man, life is going to be great.

You'll find so much more fulfillment and wholeness.

I want to leave us with one last quote from the strong and mighty Elizabeth Elliot.

She says, This.

Their power did not lie in being equal with men, but in being women.

Women, your power will never come in your striving to be the same as men.

And no matter what culture says, men will never be able to be and replace the power and strength of women.

Our power is not in sameness.

Our power is in our distinctives that complement one another to glorify our Maker.

Let's pray.