This week, we wrapped up the
series, “He Said, She Said.” Pastor Tammy and I taught together about the
design and purpose of woman. It is very important to understand that all of the
things we talked about are not designed to be stereotypes that you are supposed
to line up with. Each of us is “fearfully and wonderfully made.” The things we
are discussing relate to the nature of man and woman. But a lifetime of
“nurturing” will cause that nature to manifest differently in each of us. No
one is saying there is anything wrong with you if you don’t seem to fit these
molds. In reality, you might fit them, but you simply might express that nature
in a different way than others. In your
heart, you come from the blueprint God made (which may not fit into worldly
stereotypes), but you might show it in different ways. Tammy and I do not fit many of the
stereotypes, but we still fill certain God-given roles for man and woman in our
own ways. If Satan, however does turn
things around and pervert (turn around backwards and undo purpose) and put you
into the opposite sex’s role, we need to see that and turn it back the right
direction.
In I john 4:12 we get one
explanation for why it is “not good for man to be alone.” We find that it is impossible
to know and love God until we can love someone else. To be an imitator of Him,
who pours His love out on us, we must have someone to pour our love into.
1 Peter 3:7 is the passage that
commands men to honor women (some translations say “dwell with understanding” and
to treat them as a weaker partner (or vessel) so that nothing will hinder our
prayers. This is not saying women ARE weaker. We, as men, complete a picture
when we love, honor and cherish women. Jesus, our groom, loves His bride so
much that he laid down His life for her. When we do things to honor and love
women, we complete the picture. It is also important to look at the word
“vessel.” In Greek, the word was skeuos and related to the physical body.
Generally speaking, men have bigger and stronger bodies than women. But that is
where the strength difference ends. Genesis 1:26-27 shows us that God made BOTH
man and woman in His image and blessed THEM. In spirit, we are identical!
We talked about some of the key
contrasts in how a woman operates versus a man. Men bond through activity (sports)
and experiences together and tend to discuss facts. Women bond through
conversation and discussing feeling and emotion. Women value relationships and
use both sides of her brain at the same time.
When women talk they are actually working through the problem themselves
as they talk. Remember that we said last week that it is incorrect to say that
women are emotional (as opposed to men being logical). In reality, women are
relational. They equally operate in both the right and left hemispheres of the
brain, while men are generally left-brain dominant. Sometimes men don’t step into the role of
priest in their home because they are afraid to compete against the flowery
prayer of a woman, but there is power in men’s spiritual leadership over the
house and them taking authority over things.
Men are programmed to be
providers and women helpers. Man providing does not mean that women aren’t
allowed to produce toward provision. It simply means that it is the
responsibility of the man to make sure all needs are provided for. Mom may
write out the bills – but it is not supposed to be her responsibility to make
sure there is enough provision there to pay them. She is not designed for that
task. She needs to bring that concern to her husband and let him decide how to
deal with that. If you are a single
woman, rely on Jesus to be the provider and remember you have church family to
help!
The helper role can be perverted
in two ways. One way is to take on the
worries and responsibility that should be the man’s as a way to help. For instance, Tammy for a while took on the
burden of making ends meet as part of paying the bills and it was not until I
took that burden (not the bill-paying but the decisions if there are issues)
that we started to see breakthroughs in our finances. The other way to pervert it is to treat your
husband like a little kid. He needs to
be treated as a man and the head of the house.
Men think about one thing at a
time and women think about many things at once.
Men major on majors and women major on everything. Women get value by what they accomplish and do
and women more by who they are.
Men are seed planters, but women
are incubators. Women are designed to receive seed, nurture the seed until full
potential, birth it, and nurture it until mature. This is not simply a physical illustration.
Men can sow words as seed in women. You can plant good words (even if she is
not a words person in terms of love languages—read Gary Chapman’s book if you
have not), thoughts, dreams and visions and she will help you birth them. But
when you plant bad seed, you get bad harvest. I would discourage men from
venting about how horrible their jobs are. You may just be venting and then
move on, but she incubates that seed and will produce a hatred for your job,
your provision. This can cause many problems.
Genesis 2:7 accounts for the
creation of man’s physical body. When it says God formed man, the word “formed”
is a Hebrew word, yetsar. It describes a potter forming something from clay. In
ancient Hebrew the letters paint a picture of man’s purpose – to work, to chase
and hunt and to be the head of the household (yud—looks like an arm and represents
doing work, tsade—looks like a map or pack and represents journey or chase, and
resh—represents first man and household).
Then in verse 22, when God made
woman, the action verb is a different Hebrew word, banah. This word is related
to a master builder fashioning a house – a dream house. The ancient Hebrew
paints a picture of woman’s purpose as well (the three letters represent a
house with one entrance or tent, heir or seed, and grace). Part of man’s purpose is to protect woman
from any attack from the enemy. Women
are designed to be the house where the seed is sown to produce an heir to bring
grace and redemption. Is that not what woman (Mary) did? It is a picture fulfilled
every time a woman produces a child.
Part of man’s purpose is to protect woman from any attack from the
enemy.
