A Subtext in the Story | Sunday, February 23, 2025

If you would take out your Bibles, and if you don't have a Bible, you can raise your hand, and an usher will bring you one. Open them to the Gospel of Luke. Turn to about the middle of your Bible and start turning to the right. You'll find the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, and Luke. We are going to begin reading this morning in a passage that, quite frankly, feels like a December passage, not a February passage. You'll see what I mean in a moment.

Luke 1:26 says, "Now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth." Sound familiar? "To a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, 'Rejoice, highly favored one! The Lord is with you; blessed are you among women.' But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, 'Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son, and shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord will give him the throne of his father David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.'"

Father, we thank You for Your Word. Thank You for that promise right there: of Your kingdom, there will be no end. This was obviously predicted by Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 9. You, Lord, have a kingdom that is enduring. You are seated upon a throne, as we are told in the Scriptures, there in heaven today, which is such a good encouragement for me and hopefully for my brothers and sisters standing here this morning. There are a lot of things in our lives around us—locally, nationally, or throughout the world—that can trouble us. Yet, Lord, You are still on the throne.

So, Lord, I pray that You'd help us to have that right mindset today with all the things that might trouble us. Teach us from Your Word. Help us to understand what it is You want to speak to us today. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

You can be seated. As I said, this is a moderately familiar passage of Scripture. It ranks up near the top with things like Psalm 23, 1 Corinthians chapter 13 (the love chapter), and John 3:16. Those are very familiar passages of Scripture, or at least they are to many.

Were a generation or two ago, today it is increasingly unlikely that you'll find a lot of people who, if you were to quote something from what we just read in Luke chapter 1, would recognize it. This passage is referred to as the Annunciation. If you were to quote something from the Annunciation, there are more than a few people who may not know where it comes from. Names like Gabriel and Mary, Galilee and Nazareth, are familiar in some respects in our culture, but many people don't really know this text.

The phrase "blessed are you among women" is something that, if you grew up in church, you might remember hearing in December as we approach Christmas. If you watched "Charlie Brown Christmas," which was on TV every single year for 56 years until about 10 or 12 years ago, you might even recall this text from Luke's Gospel. However, it is increasingly the case that there are more and more people who are less familiar with the Scriptures in our culture.

I think that is unfortunate, especially since I am a Bible guy. I believe it is not a good thing, but it also highlights something fascinating. The story we have been considering over the last few weeks in the Gospel of Luke, as well as what we find in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and John, begins in relative obscurity. As I mentioned last week, it starts with unknown people in backwater towns.

I think this is one of the miracles of Christianity, which helps authenticate its truth. The question is asked: how do we know that the story of the Gospel, the foundation of Christianity, is true? There are many different ways that philosophical theologians or apologists would answer that question. At least one of the ways we answer it is through the miraculous rise of Christianity. These events started in relative obscurity, as I said, in backwater towns with people who would have been completely unknown had it not been for the work and plan of God. They would have lived and died, and a generation later, no one would have known their names.

Names are significant, and yet we know their names. In fact, some of the names in this text—Gabriel, Elizabeth, Mary—are among the most commonly used names in Western culture for the last several hundred years. Why is that? Well, again, I think it points to something miraculous in the rise of Christianity. It started with a group of nobodies in obscure places.

We were introduced last week to Zacharias and his wife, Elizabeth, an old couple with a barren woman and a miracle that God performed. We are told in the text that they come from the Hill Country of Judah. We are not even given the name of the town, just the Hill Country of Judah. It's like saying, "out in East San Diego County in a place called Jamul." I know it's Hamul, but no one would know. What is this place, the Hill Country of Judah? This obscure couple would have lived and died in obscurity had it not been for the work that God does. Yet, He chooses, by His providence and His working, to inspire Luke to record this event as he does, beginning with them.

God chooses to start the story with Zach and his wife, Beth—that's what I'll call them. He begins with an old couple who are barren and childless. Then the passage shifts, and we read that the same angelic messenger who brought the message to Zacharias while he was serving in the temple, as we considered together last week in Luke's Gospel, is now dispatched to Galilee, to Nazareth.

Nazareth is such a well-known place that, before the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—it is never mentioned in the Old Testament. It is important to us today. You can travel to the city of Nazareth; I've been there a number of times. You can go to the Church of the Annunciation, the place where it is traditionally held that these events actually took place. We don't know for sure if it took place there, but you can visit if you'd like.

We know of Nazareth today, and there are many places named Nazareth around the world. However, at that time, it was relatively unknown. When it starts to be mentioned, one of the early followers of Jesus hears the name Nazareth and asks, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" I feel the same way about Escondido. Can anything good come out of Escondido? Listen, I was born and raised here, so I'm not picking on it; this is my hometown. But it's not like, "Wow, that's the place that's the epicenter of all great things." If you and I had been on the Heavenly Planning Commission...

Planning how this whole story should be scripted, we would not have chosen Mary and Elizabeth in the Hill Country of Judah or in Nazareth of Galilee. Yet, God chooses to use these places. I kind of wonder, because it's sometimes the way I think about the Bible. Can you imagine the heavenly scene with Gabriel? A messenger comes to him and says, "Listen, I have a message that God wants you to deliver. You're His heavenly messenger." That's what angel means—messenger. You're the heavenly messenger, and God wants you to go to the Hill Country of Judah and talk with Zacharias.

"Zach? Who? Really? That's what He wants me to do? Next mission: He wants you to go to Nazareth."

"Where is that again? Who's she?"

"Mary."

This reminds me of a favorite passage of mine in Isaiah's book, Isaiah 55, where God reminds us that His ways are above our ways and His thoughts are above our thoughts. Frequently, we find that God works in a way that would not be the way I would probably plan it, script it, or write it out.

But think about it for a moment. If the story of the Gospel is true—and of course, I'm a Christian pastor, so I believe that the story of the Gospel is true—the God who created all things, the God who presides over creation at this very moment, begins with two women: an old barren woman and an unmarried minor.

Now, that may not seem strange to us sitting here in 2025, but we have to read it through the cultural context and the historical context of where this was written and when this was written—in the first-century Middle Eastern world, just before the first century. It was written in what we refer to as the ancient Near East. If you go today to the Middle East, to many of the countries there, they don't even value the testimony of a woman. This was certainly the case 2,000 years ago in the area of Israel and Judea.

Yet, God chooses, in His providence, to begin the story with two women and the miraculous conception and the miraculous birth of two very important individuals. Now, pause there for a moment, because I think there is something here worth considering—something that our culture has lost, which I think needs...

To be reconsidered or resurrected, it’s a subtext that I want to think about in the text of this story today. It takes a little bit to think about and to focus on, but I think it’s really important. I’ll put it first like this: I believe, point number one, if you’re taking notes, the Bible highly values what is most valuable. That’s a statement that, if you’re a Christian today, you probably will not disagree with. You’ll agree that the Bible highly values what is most valuable. If you’re not a Christian, I would ask you to just go with me for a minute and pretend that you accept this.

In saying this, that the Bible highly values what is most valuable, I think we should acknowledge that the value system of our culture here in America in 2025 is distinctly different from the biblical value system. That was not always the case. If you back up a generation, two, or three ago, that was certainly not the case. But if you look at it today, in 2025, American culture and biblical Christianity have markedly different value systems. How many of you would say, "Yes, I see that as the case"? Okay, many of you do.

We have different value systems, and this is important because it has been observed for a very long time, going all the way back to the great Greek philosophers in Greece 2,500 years ago—names like Aristotle, Plato, and Socrates. If you go back to early philosophers and continue on through philosophy for a long time, you discover that they were saying for quite a while that what you, individually, or your culture or society values, what it determines as being important or valuable, orients towards what is valuable. It dictates priorities. It dictates how you, as an individual and as a culture, ultimately behave and what becomes your path of life.

The value system of the Bible and the value system of our culture promote a certain behavior; they direct us in a certain way. It would be said that values are the basis for ethics. Ethics is what you ought to do, how you ought to behave, and you determine how you ought to behave by what you think is important—what you value. Let me give you...

A very simple illustration of this can be seen today among many people in Western culture, especially in the United States. Younger individuals, say 20 or younger, tend to value celebrity, particularly a certain kind of celebrity that is primarily brought to us through social media. This social media celebrity is often represented by influencers. Currently, the most highly recognized among these individuals is a man named Jimmy Donaldson, known as Mr. Beast.

For many of you, Mr. Beast may not be familiar, but he has nearly a billion followers online. When he promotes his content, it is seen by as many as one-eighth of the population in our world. Due to the value system that prioritizes celebrity and social media, the number one professional ambition of young people since 2019 has been to become a YouTuber. You might wonder what on Earth that means, as it wasn't a thing 15 years ago. Now, it has become the primary ambition of young people, shaping their priorities and behaviors. This phenomenon illustrates how a value system dictates behavior, and behavior, in turn, is influenced by values.

I believe that the Bible highly values what is most important and most valuable. Point number two is that the Bible also calls us to reassess and reorder our values and priorities. If you are a Christian today and have been for any length of time, you likely know this experientially, even if you have never articulated it in this way. When you became a Christian, especially if it was as an adult, say after 18 years old, you transitioned from a value system inherited from your family, culture, and upbringing to one that is informed by your faith.

This change in value system inevitably altered your behavior. Some of you may not like to reflect on your behavior before becoming a Christian, and that is understandable. However, the Bible calls us to reassess and reorder our values and priorities. If you can see a distinct difference in your life since becoming a Christian, it serves as proof of this truth. Your values, priorities, and ultimately your behavior have changed because the Bible prompted you to reassess and reorder your value system.

This is kind of incremental nudges. On day one, it doesn't come to you and say, "I want your life to be fundamentally different in 48 hours." It doesn't do that. However, if you look at your life after you've been a Christian for, say, five or 25 years, your life is fundamentally different than it was when you became a Christian. Can anybody say, "Yeah, that's descriptive of me"? This morning, a number of you, many of you, can relate to that. Why? Because the Bible calls you to reassess and reorder your values, priorities, and ultimately your behavior. It changes you.

As another example of this, let me put it to you like this: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights. Among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. You all hold that to be self-evident, right? Do you realize that it wasn't self-evident for most of human history? It's still not self-evident for a very large segment of people around the world.

How did it become enshrined and encoded in our national documents and in the ethos of who we are as Americans? I can say those words, and you can instantly respond to them and react to them. How many of you believe those words to be true? How many of you believe, as the 13th Amendment of the United States Constitution says, that slavery is wrong? Do you realize that throughout most of human history, slavery was not considered wrong? It's still not viewed as wrong in a lot of places.

How did that happen? I suggest to you that it happened incrementally over centuries through the influence of Scripture. The incremental nudges of the Bible have shaped our understanding. At this point, I'd forgive you if you're wondering what this has to do at all with Luke, Mary, and Elizabeth. More than you might think, I'm going to try and show you.

As is often the case, I have a different way of thinking about the Bible, and my methodology is sometimes challenging. I'm asking you to think about what's below the text. The basic story of Luke chapter 1 is very simple, and for a long time in our culture, it was... well, the basic story is what?

Last week, an angel came and spoke to a priest named Zacharias. He told him that he and his barren wife, even though they were old, were going to have a child. They were to name him John, and he would prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah, the person that all of Israel had been looking for for centuries.

Then, the same angel, as we just saw, talked to a young girl who was not married. He said to her, "You are going to be pregnant. God, by His Holy Spirit, is going to cause you to conceive a child, and you will bring forth a child who is the one that you have all been seeking for. His name will be great." In the Gospel of Matthew, we are told that He will save His people from their sins and reign over a throne and a kingdom forever and ever.

Here’s the dilemma: she was a young girl in almost first-century Palestine, in Judea, and she was betrothed to a man named Joseph. She was about to get married when they found out she was pregnant. This would be bad in 2025, but it was really bad in 4 BC to 1 AD, around the time these events were taking place. Despite all the issues, Mary was going to miraculously give birth to a son who would be God incarnate, the Messiah who would establish and rule over the kingdom of God forever.

This is a phenomenal story, almost impossible, it would seem. In fact, the text even speaks to that. The angel says, "With God, nothing will be impossible." Mary's conception was quite scandalous. Her family sent her away, the young unmarried pregnant girl who was betrothed to Joseph. Praise the Lord, he had a divinely inspired dream where God said, "Don't worry, that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. You should take her to be your wife."

Her family sent her away to the Hill Country of Judah, to stay with a relative named Elizabeth. When she arrived at the home of Elizabeth and Zacharias, Elizabeth had been pregnant for six months. The scripture says that when Mary entered, the baby in Elizabeth's womb leaped. Now, I’m a guy, so I don’t know what that’s like, but some of the ladies here might say, "Yeah, I remember what that’s kind of like." Elizabeth then makes a great pronouncement over what is being conceived in Mary's womb, and Mary responds in this way.

As the magnificent Luke 1:46 states, "And Mary said, 'My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior; for He has regarded the lowliest of His maidservant. For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed; for He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name. And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty. He has helped His servant Israel in remembrance of His mercy, as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever.'"

The basic story is pretty familiar if you've been around the church as I have for a long time. It's easy to just read through it quickly. Luke chapter 1 is a very long chapter, and it could be easy to go through it really fast in one week and just say, "Ah, you remember the story." However, there is something here—a subtext underneath the text—that I think might be really important.

As I said, the Bible highly values what is most valuable and calls us to reassess and reorder our values and priorities. This gospel is called "The Greatest Story Ever Told." There was a movie decades ago with the same title. The story begins with two women: an old barren woman and a young unmarried maiden, and they are rejoicing together in their miraculous conception.

Point number three: the subtext of Luke 1 places a high value on women, conception, childbearing, and motherhood. Now let me ask you a question: in 2025, in the United States of America, are these things highly valued? I hear you—no, they’re not. Is that a problem? I think it is. The subtext of Luke 1 places a high value on women, conception, and childbearing.

Motherhood is a significant theme in the opening chapter of Luke, which focuses on two joyfully pregnant women. This emphasis is astounding for the time and place in which it was written; it is truly phenomenal. I don't think this is an accident; I believe it is intentional for many reasons. God inspired the Gospel writer Luke to record it in this way. At the very least, it is worth acknowledging that the Bible highly values something that ought to be esteemed highly by people.

Unfortunately, our culture has been moving away from these values for a very long time. A rightly ordered value system produces a rightly ordered individual and culture, while the inverse is also true: a disordered value system will produce a disordered culture. The amazing thing is that even people who are not churchgoers, Christians, or Bible believers—those who may not even necessarily hold conservative values—often acknowledge that our culture feels disordered. Something seems amiss and out of place.

For many individuals and cultures, functioning best in a morally ethical and virtuous manner is contingent upon having a rightly ordered value system. I cannot express how important I think this is for two reasons: one is a larger cultural issue, and the other is a very local concern.

Nationally, the importance of this issue is underscored by the fact that the story of Scripture, particularly in the Gospel of Luke and other places, is increasingly unfamiliar. More and more people know less and less about the Bible and its value system. This lack of familiarity means we no longer recognize as valuable what the Bible highly values, and therefore, we no longer prioritize or pursue those things that align with it.

The value system of the Bible is often overlooked in favor of a personalized and subjective value system. What is astounding to me is that in the 1850s, a philosopher named Friedrich Nietzsche wrote the story of the madman, in which he famously stated, "God is dead, and we have killed Him." One of Nietzsche's key insights was that when God is removed from a culture, it leads to a situation where everyone must dictate their own value system and come up with their own values.

Since the 1850s, we have been engaged in an experiment in Western culture, trying to determine what our values are. We still see the residual effects of the Christian value system, but postmodern philosophers have been telling us that we can no longer trust the overarching story of the Bible. They argue that we need to discard that meta-narrative and create our own value systems.

So, I ask you, how is that working? At this moment, we are increasingly living in a culture that is emotionally, spiritually, mentally, and physically unwell. Everyone sees it. The "Make America Healthy Again" movement is a reflection of this reality. We are spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and physically unwell.

Is it possible that these health issues are the expected outcomes of what we value, prioritize, and pursue? Let me put it this way: disordered values influence misplaced priorities, resulting in displaced cultures. I don't know anyone who does not think we are living in a displaced culture, regardless of whether they attend church or not. In fact, I talk with people who, politically and ideologically, do not think like I do, and they acknowledge that something is wrong.

The temptation when something is wrong is to try to fix it or replace it. This is dangerous because it can lead to a mindset of deconstructing and tearing down everything, with the hope of starting from scratch.

Rebuild and just tear it all down. This is a real concern, whether a person wears a red tie or a blue tie, whether they are on the right side or the left side, whether they are in the United States, the UK, or Germany. These are big issues because, on both sides, there is a "tear it all down" mindset. We should be really concerned because there is nobody saying, "Rebuild it with what?" What is the value system? We have no agreed-upon value system, and these things weigh heavily upon me.

A better approach than just tearing it all down and trying to replace it might be a re-evaluation of our value system and priorities. Why is the Bible so important for individuals and culture? The obvious answer to that question is that we are all dead because of sin and heading towards judgment. The Bible reveals God and His plan of redemption to rescue us from sin and death. That is exceedingly important; that is the gospel.

However, there are some other added issues here. The subtext underneath the big text, the narrative underneath the meta-narrative, is that aside from the fact that the Bible reveals God and His remedy for the issues of sin and death, it helps us to reassess and reorder our values and priorities. This leads to better human flourishing.

Look at Western culture. I will argue with anybody who wants to tell me that Western culture has not led to better outcomes for human flourishing: less poverty, more prosperity, more freedom for minorities, and liberty to the captives. All of these things are good for human flourishing. Can I get an amen? Show me a culture that has done that besides American culture. Where did that come from? It didn't come out of nowhere; it came out of incremental nudges over centuries from the value system that God has given to us in the Scriptures.

It aligns with what the Scriptures say: all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and it is profitable for doctrine, establishing what is right and true; for reproof, exposing our places where we are out of alignment; for correction, bringing us back into alignment so that we can walk in righteousness.

Righteousness equips us for every good work, as stated in 2 Timothy 3:16-17. God gave us His Word; you could almost look at it as the owner's manual for the original equipment that He manufactured. He made you and me with a designed and intentional purpose, and He outlines many of those things in the pages of Scripture. This is the larger reason why understanding the Bible is important.

Now, I want to bring it down to a local issue. I didn't tell my staff I was going to talk about this, and it’s a little touchy—if the things I have said so far aren't already a bit sensitive. The subtext speaks to a local issue; it's kind of an elephant in the room for the moment here in Escano, of all places, in 2025. However, it is only recently a local issue. It has been a topic of discussion for many people within the church for a decade and a half or more.

For about the last five years, it has been a conversation point every single year at the Southern Baptist Convention's national annual gathering. It has also been a topic among Calvary Chapel churches for a very long time. In fact, it has been the number one question asked on the website gotquestions.org, which is a great resource—like an encyclopedia of the top questions that people ask Christians. The number one question for 15 years on their website has been this: What does the Bible say about women pastors?

Oh, shots fired! I didn’t tell my staff I was going to talk about this, but it’s a question that our staff has been receiving quite a bit lately. It’s a question that has sparked controversy recently at a large local church. They are just the most recent and most local church trying to address some of these issues and questions, and they have changed their position as a church on this matter.

At the outset, I must say that the lead pastor of that church and many of their pastors are friends of mine. I respect them. That means I can have friends with whom I don’t entirely agree, and so should you. I don’t agree with some things I said ten years ago, so if you think in...

Publicly, I do have some thoughts that I've considered for a long time, and I've changed my opinion on various matters. However, I don't have a video on YouTube where I explicitly stated those opinions. I have about 700 of those videos. If you found something in one of them and said, "I don't agree with this," I would probably respond, "I don't agree with that either." I can't believe I said that! I often find myself reassessing my value system when I come to the Scriptures, asking, "Am I right in this? What do the Scriptures say?"

All that to say, I have nothing negative to say about my friends over at this church. In fact, two nights ago, I texted the lead pastor and asked if we could use their sanctuary for a memorial service for Lla, since we can't fit everyone here. He responded, "Absolutely, I would be honored." That's what friends do.

Now, without going into depth on the systematic theology of the answer to this question—because I have a friend named Mike Winger, who is an evangelist, an apologist, and a Calvary Chapel pastor with over 500,000 subscribers on YouTube. He spent the entire last year answering this question on his channel, and his last video was 11 hours long. If you think I can wrap all that up in 2 minutes and 36 seconds, forget about it! However, I do agree with his position, which is a traditional complementarian view. I'm not going to delve into that today, but if you're interested, you can listen to his content on YouTube.

The major challenge I see in this discussion is that I think there is a more important question to consider. When you ask whether the Bible provides a justification for women occupying the role of pastor, I believe there is a better question to ask. I'm not saying that's a bad question; it's one that people should wrestle with in light of the Scriptures. I have a theological position on that which differs from others in our community.

A better question is this: Does the Bible place the office of a pastor as a high value for women? The clear answer to that question is no; it has a different value system for women.

Women promote a different view and disordered values that have influenced misplaced priorities, resulting in a displaced culture and church. I think that modern-day theologians in the Western context, here in seminary in the United States of America and in churches, are influenced by a wrongly ordered value system and priority of the culture. They are trying to find biblical justifications for things that are not biblically justified, and, ultimately, are not the most valuable or helpful to people or culture.

What do I mean? Our culture and theologians in our culture are trying to look for biblical justifications for things like same-sex marriage. They are trying to find biblical justifications for when life begins and when it is okay to abort it. They are also seeking biblical justifications for the role of women in society, family, and the church, as well as for issues related to sex and gender. Additionally, they are exploring whether it is acceptable for Christians to partake of marijuana or hallucinogens. All these things are being put forward, inspired by a certain value system.

The Bible calls us to reassess and reorder our values and priorities. When you look at the subtext of Scripture, you find that from page one, the Bible promotes a different value system. Let me give you an example: Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the Earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the Earth." So God created man in His own image; in the image of God, He created him. Male and female, He created them.

God created man and woman distinctly different, and then God blessed them, man and woman. God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply." They cannot do that by themselves, although our culture is trying. "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the Earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and over every living thing that creeps upon the Earth." From the beginning, God created man and woman distinctly different, with complementarian positions and roles to help one another in God's work. Together, they occupy important and different complementary roles. Men have work to do, which is largely in the field, and women have a distinct and distinguished call from God that involves miraculous conception and birth.

Miraculous! The Bible highly values it. We see this in Luke chapter 1. Now, please don't misunderstand. Although I know some of you are fashioning your email in your mind already, I am not saying that women cannot or ought not do anything other than have children. I'm not saying that. What I am saying is that having children is valuable and important.

I just want to highlight that my wife would be uncomfortable if she were here. She has had four kids with me, and I was happy to be next to her. I did not want to be in the position of delivering the babies, but she carried, had, and raised four children. While doing this, she received her LVN, then went on to get her RN, and later earned her BSN. She has taken a long path to achieve her Bachelor's in Nursing. After that, she became a licensed family nurse practitioner, and now she has a career that makes a lot more money than I do. I think she is an incredibly good example of a godly woman.

So, I am not saying that women should only occupy the home and have children. That is not my point. However, I think it needs to be recognized that the Bible does not value the pastorate for women. I believe there are theological reasons for that, but I am not going to get into those today because I have already gone over time, and we are supposed to partake of communion in a moment.

The Bible highly values man and woman as distinct individuals joined together as one to fulfill God's mandate in the world: be fruitful and multiply, fill the Earth, and have dominion over it. Jesus reiterates this when he says in Matthew's Gospel, chapter 19, "Have you not read?" And here's the problem: we haven't. "Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning made them male and female and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'?" So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no man separate. Women occupy a divinely ordered role.

The role that men cannot, will not, and mostly don't want to ever occupy is disordered when a man desires to take on that role. I'll say it like this: this came to me the other day, and it is controversial. It is a Frankensteinian endeavor to add the pastorate to femininity, just as it is to add childbearing to masculinity. It is not as God intended. For some reason, we have valued this pastorate role as very important, but I am just a guy who teaches the Bible and leads others in the Scriptures. There is a far greater role for a mom to take care of children.

Let me say something else controversial: if you exalt career to the exclusion of a divine call, it is unlikely that you will be satisfied with the outcome. Let me say it again. If you think I'm wrong, come talk to me. If you exalt career to the exclusion of a divine call, it is unlikely that you will be satisfied with the outcome. I don't think young girls have been told that for several generations in our culture. They have been told that if they get a degree and a career, that will make them most satisfied. You know what happens? By about 36, they are unmarried, have no children, and are depressed. They don't know what to do. Look around and tell me I'm wrong. It might be disordered.

Let me try to close, and then I'm going to pivot awkwardly. Point number five: the text and subtext of Scripture require that I reevaluate my worldview. It requires that I humbly say my culture and my worldview might be wrong. But who gets to be the authority? As a Christian, I am saying that somebody else is the authority. Who is it? Not me. God is the authority. Where people have followed Jesus as Lord, it has led to the best in human flourishing.

As I said, we're going to pivot awkwardly. I invite Anthony and the worship team to come up. If you have not already received the elements for communion, our ushers will come by and distribute them. As we prepare to partake of communion, I want to say that what we are about to do...

In partaking of the bread and the cup of communion, I understand that there will be some people who will challenge me on the theology of this. However, I believe it has a lot to do with the fact that Mary said yes, and we are thankful that she did. Christ came into the world through her for a purpose: so that you and I might be saved from our sins. There is a world that desperately needs to hear that right outside these doors.

Let me say this really quickly: our church, along with a number of other churches, has recently grown at the expense of another church in our area over a doctrinal issue. I will say there are very few good reasons to leave a church; one is a doctrinal issue. However, I will also say that in this example of what has been happening in the Western church for the last fifty years, pretty much all church growth has been transfer growth from some other church. What that means is we are not reaching people, and that weighs on me so much because there are a lot of people who need to hear about the body and blood of our Savior, Jesus.

On the night that He was betrayed, He took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying, "Take, eat; this is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me." Let's partake together. In the same manner, after they had eaten, He took the cup and said, "This is the New Covenant in my blood. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me." Let's partake together.

Lord Jesus, thank You for coming and demonstrating Your love for us, and that while we were still sinners, You died for us. Thank You for opening the way to salvation and forgiveness. Thank You, Lord, for saving and making us whole. I pray that You would continue to transform us by the renewing of our minds and help us to be lights to a culture that is in such desperate darkness and need. God, do a work, we pray. We praise You and thank You in Jesus' name.