Distinctive Sexual Identity, Part 2

The point: Don't let anyone throw a curve at you in this area and say, well, if you say that by divine design men are to lead in the marriage relationship and women are to submit, that is demeaning of the woman who says, the fact t…

Martin uses the example of Adam and Eve needing to move a large boulder in the garden to illustrate how their physiological differences would naturally lead to a diversity of function and role in their stewardship, even without explicit instruction.

The mandate to procreate, to subjugate the earth was given to the man and to the woman. Now in the outworking of that responsibility, that stewardship, obviously, there would not be identity of role and function for only the woman was made with a womb to carry and to give birth to the child. Only the male was made with the capacity to impregnate the woman. And in the subjugation of the world, we use the illustration that if there were in the task of dressing the garden and keeping it a large boulder, it's obvious that Adam was not going to ask Eve

11:02 - 11:46 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin quickly reviews the distinctive aspects of male identity and function from Genesis 2, including man's creation for his task, naming the creatures and Eve, being the sole…

Martin notes, tongue-in-cheek, that he has never read feminist literature complaining that Adam gets the 'bum-rap' for being the federal head responsible for the Fall, highlighting the selective nature of objections to male headship.

And as I indicated tongue-in-cheek, I've never read any feminist literature which says it's a horrible, terrible, ungodly, male-dominant theology that assigns to Adam that role we women would like it assigned to us. It's very, very interesting. In all the objections I have read from so-called evangelical and Christian feminists about the Bible's doctrine of male dominance, I've yet to read a one that complains that Adam's gets the bum-rap when it comes to being the primary instrument of responsibility with regard to the fall of man. And then we also saw finally that man was made incomplete wit...

16:25 - 17:10 Read in full sermon

The point: We can find our God given roles embrace them from the heart and seek to manifest right down to our physical appearance that we gladly embrace our God assigned roles.

Martin uses the image of a man 'strutting like a peacock' to represent male pride or abuse of authority, reminding men that they would not exist without a woman's womb, thus balancing the creation order with mutual dependence.

less men then see get cocky neither is the woman without the man nor the man without the woman in the Lord for as the woman is of the man so also is the man by the woman you see no man can go around and abuse this if he stops to think wait a minute I wouldn't be around here to strut like a peacock unless I was first of all in a woman's womb 15 20 30 40 60 years ago so by a beautiful stroke of just the basic facts of life he says alright in the original creation yes the man was not made for the woman nor was the man made out of the woman

26:25 - 27:10 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin reads an extended quotation from Elizabeth Elliot's 'The Mark of a Man,' where she uses the analogy of a 'local vertical' for orientation and then recounts the 'ancient…

Martin quotes Elizabeth Elliot's analogy of astronauts in space losing their 'local vertical' and becoming disoriented, applying it to the need for a fixed reference point in male and female relationships to avoid confusion and disorientation.

but permanence he shall cleave to his wife a commitment that in principle is a commitment even unto death Betty Elliot's Mark of a Man because after I had prepared these materials I first came across this book very brief chapters one of them that refers to the Genesis 2 account and the other terminology and I want to explain the terminology otherwise you won't understand this brief chapter that I want to read a couple of paragraphs out of it's called The Local Vertical

34:30 - 35:15 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin reads an extended quotation from Elizabeth Elliot's 'The Mark of a Man,' where she uses the analogy of a 'local vertical' for orientation and then recounts the 'ancient…

Martin quotes Elizabeth Elliot's anecdote about a class of children with learning disabilities describing God's creation of man ('He blowed some sense into him'), which she uses to transition into the deeper mystery of sexuality in Genesis 2.

and it was total confusion so she's saying we need to have a local vertical in male and female relationships unless we're going to be totally confused and disoriented alright then she goes to the ancient story as she calls it regarding creation I visited a class in Texas of what are called exceptional children which in this case meant with learning disabilities the teacher had warned me that they were usually very shy when strangers were present but she promised to do her best to get them to talk to me she knew I'd love that tell the lady she said to the class what God made the first man out o...

36:00 - 36:43 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin reads an extended quotation from Elizabeth Elliot's 'The Mark of a Man,' where she uses the analogy of a 'local vertical' for orientation and then recounts the 'ancient…

Martin quotes Elizabeth Elliot's vivid imagery of God presenting animals to Adam 'one by one eagerly waiting while Adam thought up a name,' illustrating God's interactive relationship with Adam and the significance of naming.

noticed if we may use the word one thing that was not good he needed a helper designed to fit and please Pete not a help mate that's a corruption of two perfectly good old words help and meet which means suited or especially appropriate to then out of the ground Pete is her name so she's writing a letter to the Lord formed all the animals and birds the chronology of this chapter is slightly different from the first but there are various scholarly explanations of this which you can look up if you want to and then brought them to the man to see what he would call them I love picturing God presen...

38:12 - 38:56 Read in full sermon