When I was growing up it wasn’t hard to count how many genders there were. But today, our children are growing up in a world where “male” and “female” are no longer considered the pattern for determining gender. In fact, someone recently told me that according to Facebook there are now 54 genders. This begs the question — does God’s design for gender matter? And if so, why does it matter? In my new blog video I share some key truths about why God’s design for gender is so critical for us today. If you’ve been wondering how to navigate this issue or communicate about it to your own children, I hope this video will encourage you and give you a vision far beyond what we see in our culture today.

Transcript

The other day someone informed me that, according to Facebook, there were 54 genders. I’m not exactly sure how other people are appropriating this — I can only guess. But I grew up — and call me old fashioned — but it wasn’t hard to count how many genders there were. One. Two. “Does it matter?” is a key question for us to ask. Does it matter that it’s gone from two to 54? The answer is yes, it does. In fact, it’s the first sign of a breakdown of society. A man and a woman are the base points of how God constructed His Kingdom. They are revelatory in how it reveals the Kingdom of Heaven. When you blur that, you can no longer see clearly the unseen realm. So it becomes critical that a man knows what a man is and knows how to behave as a man.

Now, I realize that could be threatening to some people. They may be thinking, “Oh, we don’t need any more of that!” Well, I understand what they mean, but I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about a man the way God intended him to be, — which is very different than what oftentimes we’ve seen around us. Even in the Church, there is the classic stereotype, “Submit, woman. Get in your place, woman,” but that isn’t a man the way a man is supposed to be. Jesus is the Man the way a man is supposed to be. He’s a servant of all. He lays down his life sacrificially. He’s the Hero of heroes. He is the ultimate Rescuer, and stands in the gap to sacrifice His own life so that someone else could live. That’s a man.

When these two genders (men and women) are each found in the right place, you have the proper Kingdom-pattern. For example, in Israel, you had the roles of king and priest. This one keeps the nation, this one keeps the house. I know that could get me in all sorts of hot water, right? But that’s actually what the Levites did, they were responsible for keeping the house. It wasn’t a derogatory position, it was the highest position in Israel. The Levites were separated out amongst all the 12 tribes, and they had the most privileged of all positions. They were the ones that kept the environment where the very presence of God dwelt.

What you see is a pattern that is set in the Old Testament revealed in the new, revealed and in through the Church. Does it matter? Oh, yes. When we lose that, we lose the revelation that the Church is, that marriage is, that an individual life is within the Kingdom of Heaven. Let’s get it back!

If you’d like to take these ideas deeper, join me for an eight-week course on honorable manhood.

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