Sunday Sermons
Help Meet
Help Meet
“It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him”
(Genesis 2:18)
It may sound simplistic to ask the question, “Why did God place woman in our midst?” Yet I believe that the question deserves to be explored. Some might quickly answer, “For the purpose of procreation of course!” Yes, that’s true (Genesis 1:28), but it is not the sole reason. Added to this, many women still want the answer to the question, “What does it mean to be a woman?” Women have been told they “can be anything”, but this isn’t very helpful, for it is too vast and directionless. To be told “you can do anything a man can do” doesn’t help either, for I am convinced that most women do not want to be a man.
Genesis 2:18 “Helper suitable for him”
“So the woman is presented wholly as his partner and counterpart; nothing is yet said of her as childbearer. She is valued for herself alone” (Genesis, Kidner p. 65). This phrase can also be translated, “A helper corresponding to him” or “sustainer beside him”. The word “helper” is not a demeaning term (i.e. Hamburger Helper); rather the same Hebrew word is often used of God in the Old Testament where He is described as our “help” (Deuteronomy 33:26,29; Psalm 121:1-2; 33:20; 115:9-11). “You see, the life God calls us to is not a safe life. Ask Joseph, Abraham, Moses—any of the friends of God from the Old Testament. Ask Mary and Lazarus; ask Peter, James, and John; ask Priscilla and Acquila—any of the friends of God in the New Testament. God calls us to a life involving frequent risks and many dangers. What else would we need Him to be our help? You don’t need a lifesaver if your mission is to be a couch potato. He does not want to be an option in our lives. He does not want to be an appendage, a tagalong. Neither does any woman. God is essential. He wants us to need Him. Eve is essential. She has an irreplaceable role to play. And so you’ll see that women are endowed with fierce devotion, an ability to suffer great hardships, a vision to make the world a better place” (Captivating. Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman’s Soul, John and Stasi Eldredge pp. 32,33).
Genesis 2:18 “Alone”
Even though the entire universe is finished with all the accessories, there is something missing when a universe does not contain woman. In a sense, Eve is the finishing touch, God’s piece de resistance. “She fills a place in the world nothing and no one else can fill” (p. 25). Genesis 1:28 “God blessed them; and God said to them. ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it’”. “Eve is standing right there when God gives the world over to us. She has a vital role to play; she is a partner in this great adventure. All that human beings we intended to do here on earth—all the creativity and exploration, all the battle and rescue and nurture—we were intended to do together. In fact, not only is Eve needed, but she is desperately needed” (p. 31). And we already knew this. The woman described in Proverbs 31 is desperately needed, by her husband, children and the community. Men and women need to be reminded, that woman is not the focus or end of an adventure, that is, she is not the adventure, rather woman is only happy when she is sharing with her man in a great adventure that is bigger than both of them.
“Suitable”
“Now—can you see how the desires of a man’s heart and the desires of a woman’s heart were at least meant to fit beautifully together? A woman in the presence of a good man, a real man, loves being a woman. His strength allows her feminine heart to flourish. His pursuit draws out her beauty. And a man in the presence of a real woman loves being a man. Her beauty arouses him to play the man; it draws out his strength. She inspires him to be a hero. Would that we all were so fortunate” (p. 18).
What can be learned about God
From the fact that God created woman, we can infer the following about the nature of God:
· God is a romantic:
“Life changes dramatically when romance comes into our lives. Christianity changes dramatically when we discover that it, too, is a great romance (the church is the bride of Christ, 2 Corinthians 11:2; and we are to love God with all our heart, Matthew 22:37). That God yearns to share a life of beauty, intimacy, and adventure with us. This whole world was made for romance—the rivers and the glens, the meadows and beaches. Flowers, music, a kiss. But we have a way of forgetting all that, losing ourselves in work and worry (Matthew 6:24ff)” (pp. 29-30). Listen to the language of Scripture, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25); “Having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better” (Philippians 1:23); “Who loved me and gave Himself up for me” (Galatians 2:20). It is the language of a sacred romance. The existence of woman reminds us that our relationship with her and our relationship with God needs to be a love affair. In the Old Testament, God said of His people, “I have loved you with an everlasting love” (Jeremiah 31:3). God desires our love and He desires that we would choose Him (1 Timothy 2:4). No wonder that unfaithfulness on our part is termed “having left our first love” (Revelation 2:4); or adultery (James 4:4).
· God is beautiful:
Only a God who is beautiful and who loves beauty could have created the feminine form. William Blake said that a woman’s body is “too much of eternity for the eye of man”, God has a beauty far beyond what we behold in this life, “One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord” (Psalm 27:4). At times some Christians are apprehensive about passing from this life, in fact, they might even be a little fearful of the unexpected nature of eternal life. We ask, “Well, what will heaven be like?” From the fact that the God who designed heaven is the same God who designed your bride—we should all be eager to go!
· Women were designed to be captivating:
As God designed woman He knew that one of the deepest needs of this new creation would be the need to fell wanted and desired. Thus He commands men to make their wives feel desired (Deuteronomy 24:5; Ecclesiastes 9:9; Proverbs 5:18 “Rejoice in the wife of your youth”).
Why beauty matters
· It reminds us of the eternal. “Think of what it’s like to behold a gorgeous sunset, or the ocean at dawn. Remember the ending of a great story. We yearn to linger, to experience it all our days. Beauty reminds us of an Eden we have never known, but somehow know our hearts were created for. Beauty speaks of heaven to come; it haunts us with eternity. Beauty says, there is a glory calling you” (p. 40).
· In the presence of beauty one relaxes knowing all is well.
· Beauty invites. “We describe a great book as ‘captivating’. It draws you in, holds your attention. You can’t wait to get back to it, spend time with it” (p. 38).
· Beauty inspires. “You make me want to be a better man”.
Eve---What Happened?
“Eve was given to the world as---a life-offering, life-saving lover, a relational specialist, full of tender mercy and hope. Yes, she brought strength to the world, but not a striving, sharp-edged strength. She was inviting, alluring, captivating. Is that how you experience the women you know? Is that how people experience you?” (p. 44).
When men and women go bad
“When a man goes bad, as every man has in some way gone bad, what is most deeply marred is his strength. He either becomes a passive, weak man—strength surrendered---or a violent, driven man—strength unglued. When a woman falls from grace, what is most deeply marred is her tender vulnerability, beauty that invites to life. She becomes a dominating, controlling woman—or a desolate, needy, mousy woman. Or some odd combination of both” (p. 50).
· The controlling woman:
She is the woman who knows how to get what she wants (some of us might even admire that). “But consider this—there is nothing merciful about her, nothing tender, and certainly nothing vulnerable. She has forsaken essential aspect of her femininity. If she cannot secure her relationships, then she kills her heart’s longing for intimacy so that she will be safe and in control. She becomes a woman ‘who doesn’t need anyone—especially a man’. But beneath it all, behind it all, is a simple truth: women dominate and control because they fear their vulnerability. Far from God and far from Eden, it seems a perfectly reasonable way to live” (p. 52). Sadly, such women are often very well rewarded in our fallen world, yet their strength feels more masculine than feminine, and there is nothing inviting or alluring, nothing tender or merciful about them” (p. 52).
· The Needy woman:
The on the opposite side of the scale, these are women that give themselves over to untrustworthy men and are consumed by the hunger for relationships.
Understanding the Curse (Genesis 3:16-19)
“Man is cursed with futility and failure. Life is going to be hard for a man now in the place he will feel it most. Failure is a man’s worst fear. In just the same way, the curse for Eve and all her daughters cannot be limited only to babies and marriage, for it that were true then every single woman without children gets to escape the curse. The meaning is deeper and the implications are for every daughter of Eve. Woman is cursed with loneliness (relationship heartache), with the urge to control” (p. 50). Yet in Christ, Christian couples can help each other. Women can support their men and be there when they fail, and men need to understand how important it is for their woman to be desired, loved, and cherished. The devil is trying to separate and isolate the partners in every marriage. Thus when men retreat into silence and when women retreat into a crammed routine, the world may consider this a successful relationship, but the devil is the only winner.
Mark Dunagan/Beaverton Church of Christ/503-644-9017
www.beavertonchurchofchrist.net/mdunagan@easystreet.com
