So Galatians chapter 3 this morning. So we're been going through discussion, studying, talking about deconstructionism. We've been talking about the deconstruction project and three accusations. We did a couple of studies obviously on Sunday morning in the worship service and now we're in the second of three parts here in Sunday school to just talk about The three accusations that have been leveled against white evangelicalism in America, which the first one we talked about last week had to do with racism, an accusation that American evangelicalism has fostered racism. So we talked about the subject of racism. We talked about the American history of that a little bit and didn't get through everything last week. But I think we got through the main deals. Today we're going to talk about the second accusation, which is that the white evangelical church, specifically white evangelical men, has fostered a spirit of oppression of women. And it's all under this kind of title that's kind of the catch word now. You know, you get all these little words that are just like cool in the culture of toxic masculinity. So we're going to talk about what is toxic masculinity. And we'll talk about that a little bit today. And then next week, we'll talk about the last of these three accusations, which has to do with sexual identity and gender issues. and how that's invaded not only the culture, but also their accusations against the church. So last week, we talked about racism. In that part of the study, we talked mainly about colored people and slavery. But of course, there are other issues that have, you know, dogged America, let's be real, in American history, you know, the relationship with Native American Indians, the Chinese migrants who would come, other people groups that, you know, we talked about the sin of partiality last week and wanted to understand some of that. So we're not going to go any further in that today because of time. But if you want to read sometime a really good explanation of some of the history in American relationships between Native American peoples and white immigrants, Marlene, who is a tribal member of the Navajo tribe, gave me a book to read about two years ago called The Empire of the Summer Moon. It's a phenomenal read. It's about the Comanche Empire, which was primarily in the southwest of the United States, and its interaction with Texans as Texans are coming, and Oklahoma, and the conflict there. The historian that wrote this book not only develops a tremendous story, he does so in a very fair way. And so he brings out not only the blights of American immigrants, but he brings out a lot of the blights of Native American peoples. And it's a tremendous read. So it's called The Empire of the Summer Moon. I'll just tell you, it's not a fun read. And there are parts of it that you're like, you know, if you're like squeamish about stuff, there's parts that you don't want to read before you go to bed at night, because it will give you nightmares. And you read about some of the things that went on. on both sides of that equation that fueled and drove some of those tensions and some of the animosities. So, there again, it's a very complex issue to think through. We do so kind of as armchair historians today. We talk about the trail of tears and other things. And yet, if you are so far removed from the events, it's very difficult to replicate and duplicate exactly what was happening and what those people were facing and how they were trying to deal with issues in a way that they really didn't know how to deal with the issue. And so it's really important to think deeply on these kinds of subjects and not just take the cultural quick diatribe that makes America inherently evil and racist. And so today let's talk about toxic masculinity. Let's start in Galatians chapter three as a jumping off point. And then I'll try to explain this term a little bit and develop some things on it. There again, as we discussed this this morning, if there's something that you want to add to the conversation, or a question you have, something I just went over way too fast and you missed it, please flag me down, okay? We wanna be as interactive in here as we can, although I know I'm gonna kinda hog most of the time. Galatians chapter three, look in verse 27. Let's start in verse 26. For in Christ Jesus, You are all sons of God through faith. This is the main message of the book of Galatians. Salvation is by grace through faith. Knowing that a man is not justified, Paul says in chapter 2, by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we may be justified by faith in Christ, not by the works of the law. For by the works of the law, no flesh can be justified, declared not guilty. So he says here, for in Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. And in Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek, There is neither slave nor free. There is neither male and female. For you are all one in Christ. You will notice in that verse, he talks about race. There is neither what? Jew or Greek. He talks about economic status. There is neither slave nor free. Then there's also what? Neither male nor female. What does that mean? Do you check your gender at the door when you join the church? What does it mean? There is neither Jew, or there is neither Jew nor Greek. There's neither slave nor free. there's neither male nor female. Well, obviously, if you were a slave, and you lived in the Roman world, just because you became a Christian, didn't mean that you were no longer regarded as a slave in the culture, in your status. But in Christ, in the church, we don't regard superficial distinctions. We are one. We are equal. Has nothing to do with how much money you make, what language you speak, what gender you are. Now, of course, what we're looking at is this accusation that is being really propagated in our culture to undermine the church, where it is asserted the church is irrevocably sexist because it has repressed women. Is that a historical reality? Is it even true? And what would that even mean? So let's think about it. So what is toxic masculinity? When you think about toxic masculinity, what is this whole thing? Some of this phrase, this catchphrase, really came to prominence in the national conversation through the Me Too movement. kind of really hit the news again this week when CNN blew it, right? Didn't quite fit the narrative. We're talking about narratives, right? They didn't quite fit the narrative on this one. So the Me Too movement, the Gillette commercial. Did any of you see the Gillette commercial? I'd never seen the Gillette commercial because I don't watch TV, but a bunch of articles I was reading on this subject referenced this commercial that was done by Gillette razors in 2019. And it's really not an advertisement to sell razors. It's just a diatribe against toxic masculinity. Have you seen it? I actually was going to put it on here and I decided it's a waste of five minutes because it's like a five minute commercial and it's just like slamming men. And but it really kind of propelled this I guess it didn't in my world because I don't not only do I not I definitely won't buy Gillette razors anymore, but you know, it just didn't hit it for me. But this one really hit it. The American Psychological Association came out with this statement after research. This is their conclusion. The main thrust of the subsequent research is that traditional masculinity marked by stoicism, competitiveness, dominance, and aggression is on the whole harmful. And so then in the American Psychological Association, what do you call that thing? Eknot extract, whatever they use to do their diagnostic tool, their big desk manual, Now we have reference to toxic masculinity and what it means and how we as men are irretrievably trained in our culture to be toxically male. If you think about this, it is mind-boggling what the American Psychological Association did here. Not only have they said that American understanding of maleness is a dysphoria. Dysphoria is like mental illness type stuff, something wrong in your head, technical term. So masculinity, the way we have traditionally understood it is a dysphoria. At the same time, they're turning around and they're saying over here, something is no longer a dysphoria. Do you want to know what that one was? Being trans. So in their desk manual that psychologists are referencing when they are doing diagnostic analyses, In America, you as a man go and you talk because you're struggling in some relationships, you have a dysphoria, you have something wrong with you, it's toxic. And they're gonna try to help solve it because there's something wrong with who you are as a man. But at the same time, somebody comes to them, a young person who is confused about their gender, and we'll go into this next week. They're confused and they're struggling. That same entity is going to counsel that person, there's nothing wrong with you. What's wrong with that? I mean, think about the absurdity of what the American Psychological Association is standing for. And think carefully about that the next time you think about sending somebody to see somebody who is a secular American psychologist. Think carefully about that. They are not doing diagnostic work from a biblical worldview, not remotely. So think carefully. Now, what's my next slide? There's two polar opposites. Here again, we developed this a little bit last week when we talked about racism. We talked about biblical Christianity and its understanding of race. One man, one woman, all people. From one blood, God made all men. What did Darwin teach? Man arose in various places at various times by mere luck and chance. And in some places, it was better than in others. And so it automatically led to eugenics. Naturalistic Darwinianism naturally led to eugenics. Big distinction. Darwinian naturalism does not see the genders as designed and created. It sees it as what? Blind chance. Dumb luck. There's nothing inherently good or designed. in being either male or female. It's just dumb luck. Darwinian naturalism at its core stands opposed to biblical Christianity in every way and on every level. What does biblical Christianity teach about the genders? Talk to me, what does it teach? There's two, that's, yeah. Not only the Bible teaches it, so too does the barnyard, right? What else, what does the Bible teach about male and female? Okay, so there's a created order. We see that in the story. So there's created order. So biblical Christianity teaches complete equality of the genders. The Imago Dei. Man kind is created in the image of God and he created mankind male and what? Female. Not Y or all the other absurdities that are out there. He created mankind male and female, completely equal, but there is a created order that we will discuss. This is clear in the Bible. Now, so there's two polar opposites that are out there that serve the basic worldview of people as they are interacting on this subject. Most people in our culture have been thoroughly trained as what? Not biblically thinking Christians, they've been trained to think as what? Naturalistic Darwinians. Most people in our country have been trained to think as naturalistic Darwinians. Just by virtue of what? The culture and the educational system and every other thing in their life. So they think along these lines. It's important we note that. So biblical Christianity really stands in direct, even though it's everything that you know, and it's just the way you were raised, it's the way you think. Most people out there on the planet don't think this way. It is important we understand that. Okay, what is toxic masculinity? Now, I think that there would be a better term that we could use and that we should use. When we think about some of the things that men have been guilty of, and men have been guilty, right? Men have been guilty. We're not gonna say, you know, I'm not gonna stand here in front of you and say that the allegations against men of being toxically male are completely unfounded in world history. But it's not toxic masculinity, it's what? Corrupted masculinity. That's what it is. It's corrupted masculinity. What we mean by that is this. God made man a certain way. God made women a certain way. And when we live within his design, we find blessing and we fulfill his purpose. But our depravity perverts it. And it corrupts it. And there's no doubt that men have expressed a depraved, corrupted masculinity. You know what else? Women haven't been perfect either. Okay. Sorry, gals. There's a corrupted femininity out there. Why? Romans 3.23. Just the men have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God? No. Who has sinned? All. So let's just face the facts. There is corrupted masculinity, but there's also corrupted femininity. And so I think the better way that we think about this, because we got to own this, when discussions come up, don't ever try to dodge it and say, well, that's not true. That's never happened in the history of the church. Who are we to assert that? Stupid. Why is it stupid? Because we're sinners. David was a man after God's own heart. And what did he do? He killed a man and he took a woman. And the word took is a very forceful word. It implies zero consent on her part. He took Bathsheba. and he's a man after God's own heart. What is that? Corrupted masculinity. He used his power to get his way, and it was sin, and it was wrong. We need to call it what it was, okay? So, you know, when we interreact or we react or interreact, whatever the word is, with people who level these kind of accusations, We need to own the reality that yes, we are all sinners. That's the message of the Bible. There is a corrupted masculinity out there. There is a corrupted femininity. It's what it is. That is the real deal as the Bible expresses it. And it conforms with reality as we know it. The big question then would be, has the church promoted the oppression of women by distorting the message of the Bible in such a way to build power structures that protect male privilege? Because this is kind of the core of the accusation that we're trying to face. Has the church promoted the oppression of women by distorting the message of the Bible in such a way to build power structures. We're talking about power structures because we're talking about cultural Marxism. We're not going to go back and lay all that foundation again. We're talking about cultural Marxism and to build power structures that protect male privilege. Is that what it's all about? Men want to be pastors and elders in the church just because they don't want women to get their way and to get in control because if we let those women get on the board, we're in trouble. And so there's some scheme out there to distort the Bible to keep women out of power in the church and in the home. You know, we just got to keep women under our knuckles. Is that what's going on here? That's the big question. So, individual experience. Let's go back. We talked about lived experience a few weeks ago and everybody has their own lived experience and we kind of filter the world through our lived experience. We also talked about the fact that instead of doing that what we need to do, is filter our lived experience through the Bible and build our lives on the Bible and not our lived experience because our lived experience is always what? Distorted. It's always corrupted because we're sinners and everybody around us is sinner. So We're gonna have problems in our lived experience. And so don't build your view of reality based on what you have experienced. Build your view of reality based on the truth. The truth will set you free on God's word. So, individual experience. This is the argument so many times. I'm a woman in the church and I've been oppressed and victimized by men in the church. That was the lived experience. Can we refute that? Well, not all the time, because sometimes that's happened. It's not important we try to refute that. The question is, has those lived experiences, are they the direct result? of this distortion of biblical truth that then causes men to act in a toxic or corrupted way and thus to oppress women. Is that what's going on? So that's kind of the question where we're going. Now, there's no doubt that corrupted masculinity has taken the message of scripture and distorted it to suit personal ambition. In the history of the church, you can find many occasions when that has happened. Why? because we always want to justify ourself and because we are sinners. So it's happened. Let's just own that. The church has not been perfect. We're not having to argue that it is. However, having said that, here's the point. The consistent, I want you to notice consistent, the consistent creedal confession of not just American Christianity since 1776. The consistent creedal confession of what? The universal church through history has looked at the scripture and interpreted it, interpreted it as being what we are going to call complementarian. It is not until the Feministic Movement kind of prevailed in the larger culture that all of a sudden there's an accusation that you guys are all distorting the scripture. The American Feministic Movement has a major problem. That is, the universal, consistent interpretation of Scripture for 2,000 years has been unabashedly complementarian. You cannot get around that. It's not just white American evangelicals who have stood on this belief. It's historical. Very important we note that when we think about this debate. So what is complementarity? Okay, let's just go on. There are two main views. One is called egalitarianism. One is called complementarianism. What is egalitarianism? It's nothing to do with an omelet. What's egalitarianism? Anybody know? Ever heard the word? Okay, egalitarianism basically is a belief and the word is bigger than what we're gonna apply to the gender. It's also used in Marxism to apply to other things with equality and no distinctions. Interchangeableness, let's use that word, interchangeableness. An egalitarian is forced to say, as men and women, you have different plumbing and that's all you have. Otherwise you are completely interchangeable. So an egalitarian is looking at the genders as being functionally equivalent in every way interchangeably. Does that make sense? Am I explaining that so you understand what I mean by that? Complementarianism would say this, men and women are created by God as equal partners with distinct roles and responsibilities. So complementarians are going to say, Men and women are, number one, equal, but we're not interchangeable. God made Herb a man. And as a man, he has certain roles and responsibilities. And God made Loretta a woman. And as a woman, she has certain roles and responsibilities. And you can't just trade them out. And you can't just gloss them over. They are part of the created order. That's what complementarianism asserts the Bible teaches. So, now last week, I put up a couple statements from the social justice paper that was done by a bunch of guys at the behest of men like John MacArthur and Brody Bauckham. and a very good statement on social justice issues. Let me put up their statement on complementarianism. It's pretty succinct, but we'll go through it real quickly. We affirm that God created mankind both male and female with inherent biologic, that's the plumbing and all those parts that go along with that, all the hormone things, and yada, yada, yada, with inherent biological and personal distinctions between them. These created differences are good, proper, and beautiful. Though there is no difference between men and women before God's law, or as recipients of His saving grace, we affirm that God has designed men and women with distinct traits and to fulfill distinct roles. These differences are most clearly defined in marriage and the church, but they are not irrelevant in other spheres of life. Probably can't as closely define them in the culture, but they're not irrelevant. They are important. In marriage, the husband is to lead, he is to love, he is to safeguard his wife. Does he always get that right? No. We're sinners. So there's corrupt masculinity. The wife is to respect and be submissive to her husband in all things lawful. Does she always get that right? No. Why? Because there's corrupted femininity in the church. Qualified men alone are to lead as pastors, elders, bishops, to preach to and teach the entire congregation. We further affirm that the image of God is expressed most fully and beautifully in human society when men and women walk in obedience to their God-ordained roles and serve according to their God-given gifts. That's complementarity. They deny We deny that the God-ordained differences in men's and women's roles disparage the inherent spiritual worth or value of one over the other, nor do those differences in any way inhibit either women or men from flourishing for the glory of God. A lot of scripture there. For time, we're not doing a full defense of biblical male headship today. We're talking about toxic masculinity. But I wanted to bring that up. I wanted to see this teaching on what complementarity is. You need to understand that. You need to understand it so that we can explain it. You're having a conversation with a girlfriend over a latte, and she says, you know, does your church ordain women as pastors? And do you feel bad that they don't? Can you, as a woman, defend the position and explain it? So think through these things. They're important. We're going to talk about guarding against corrupted masculinity. And this is the last few minutes I want to take time with. By the way, there's an organization out there that I would just heavily not promote, tell you it's great, great resources if you want to read more about the issues of complementarity. It's the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. Their kind of signature book is this book. There is a copy of it in our church library and it's a big book and it's hard reading. The Empire of the Summer Moon will give you nightmares. This one will put you to sleep. Okay, so have it by your bed if you can't sleep at night. It's kind of like, you know, when King Ahasuerus couldn't sleep and they went and read to him all the tax rolls. So, you know, it's not as exciting a read. It's called Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. Exegetical studies in the scripture explaining this stuff. John Piper and Wayne Grudem are the main editors of the book, and then there are chapters by many theologians who are complementarians. So the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood is a council that meets and works continually in our nation to stand up for these issues, to frame them in the modern terminology, and to explain them to the culture. But this book was their signature book that was done, I think it was done back in the 80s. So some of it's a little bit dated in a sense, but still biblical truth. So it's just a good book if you wanna read more on the subject so you can defend these things. Let's talk about guarding against corrupted masculinity for a minute. Because there were things out there, and I guess, The things that I'm going to highlight, as much as they want to level accusations against the church, everything that I'm going to highlight is not something that's coming out of the church. It's something that's coming out of the culture. But there are things that we as men and women need to guard against. In Proverbs 4, we are told to guard what? Can you remember that? Guard your what? Heart. To do it how? Like during business hours? Full time all the time. With all diligence. Why? Out of it proceeds what? Everything in your life. Guard your heart. Yes? Amen. Amen. Amen. I don't know how many of you can hear what Sarah was saying, but she was just drawing attention to the statement to the last statement there, as we flourish for the glory of God. It's not about us. It's about God. It's about His glory and reflecting His image. And, you know, when that's central to our life, as Sarah said, all's good. When it's not, all's pretty bad. And we see families are the institution for which Christ ordains the church out of. A father and a dad has to be that responsible one to teach his family. And we have too many in our country that are coming from single family moms that are doing the duty of dad, and we see children that are being born out of wedlock, and we have a total destruction of our core beliefs. And so we have children we have running around with purple hair, nipple rings, and they're expressing their anxiety because they have no rooted foundation from their their own dads, and they were not responsible, not so much being masculine and disruptive, but not doing their responsible job for the church, bringing their children up in godly order. Amen, and I think it's important we note there on that point, masculine passivity is as much a corruption as is masculine aggression. And we see a lot of that in America. Masculine passivity, just check out. Okay, let's do these four real quick because we got to go on. Number one, to guard against corrupted masculinity, we as men need to embrace the biblical teaching of males honoring women. It's in 1 Peter 3, it's in many places. We need to honor women in every way. We need to hold open doors. We need to carry books. We need to serve women. That is countercultural. It may get you nasty looks when you open the door for a woman at the post office if she doesn't like it. Who cares? Do the biblically right thing. Men, we need to honor women. really harp on that and go bigger into it. We live in a culture that has dishonored women. And that has fostered an attitude that has led to increasing corruption of masculinity. Second one is this, and this is a huge one. We need as men to reject the objectifying of feminine beauty that has been amplified by the sexual revolution. We'll talk about this some next week when we talk about the sexual revolution and the LGBT movement and all that. We need to outright abhor this. It is evil. I talked to this in my Bible this summer, waiting for an opportune time to bring it out. The title of this editorial is Bikinis, Shorts, Let Female Athletes Wear What They Want. Do you remember the dust up this summer from the European Handball Federation? The Norwegian team, okay, if you play European handball and you're a male, you play handball in shorts. If you're a woman and you play European handball, you play in a bikini. The Norwegian women said, we don't want to play in bikinis. We want to play in shorts. They showed up in shorts. They got a what? A fine. I think this is actually an excellent article, and we're running over again, so I can't. The second editorial is even better by a woman named, I'm going to butcher her name, Froma Harrop. I don't know what mother and father would give their daughter the name Froma. Maybe in some culture it means something wonderful. I have no idea. Her editorial is called this, Unsure How Sexist Girls' Shorts Are? Just look at the boys. In the summer, it's plenty cold out there, so it's kind of safe to read this now. I'm not going to get screamed at. In the summer, boys dress for the warm weather, but girls dress hardly at all. Most high school guys are in baggy shorts, but not so much the girls. Why? Why? Because we have objectified and sexualized beauty to the extreme. American Christians need to model and embrace and stand for something radically different. I got two more, and we're out of time. Third one. OK, how are we going to guard against corrupt masculinity? Build guardrails into your vocational, civic, and church relationships with the opposite gender for your own safety and the stability of your marriage. Whatever his name was, CEO of CNN obviously did not do this. He did not build guardrails. And he went over the side of the road and he wrecked. Guard your heart and don't trust your heart. Build guardrails. Last one. Realize the pitfalls of social media and internet anonymity that allows you to build a false narrative of who you really are and fosters an escape from reality. There are many marriages and many families that are brought down and destroyed through social media today. See what's going on. Be careful. We got to just quit. I'm done. Next week we talk about the last of the accusations and that is concerning the church's oppression of sexual identity. You are