Today with Jeff Vines

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I love you. I want you to live your best life.
I want you to have the greatest chance of success.
I want you to know what it is to truly
love and be loved. And the only way you can
do that is to understand how God sees you, not
how the world wants you to be or what it
tells you. We cannot understand sexuality unless we first understand
theological anthropology, how God sees all of us.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Today, Today, Today, Today with Jeff Findes, pasta apologist and
Bible teacher.

Speaker 3 (00:35):
Welcome back to Today with Jeff Finds. My name is Aaron.
We're about to continue with a message from Pastor Jeff
from his series on sexuality Identity in Jesus. If you
miss the start, you can find it all wherever you
listen to podcasts. Just search for Today with Jeff Finds
on any major podcast app As Christians, how are we
to understand sexuality when it comes to identity and Jesus.

(00:58):
In this series the talk, Pastor Jeff lays out the
foundation for this topic and gives understanding on how we
are to be identified by God and God alone. Let's
join him now as he continues in Genesis chapter one.
In talking about identity and just a warning. As you
can guess, there's some language and themes in this message
that may not be suitable for younger listeners. Here's Pastor Jeff.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
My heart goes out to a whole generation that has
been raised up with an incorrect anthropology, and things have
been shoved at them from all directions, and quite frankly,
I'm not sure how I would have turned out if
I lived in this generation in culture, I don't know.
That's why you can determine truth by how you feel
or by what culture tells you. Truth has to be

(01:48):
if it's truth, objective and only objective truth can come
from God. And here's what the Bible tells us about us.
Number one, you and I are created in the image
of God. Two, our image has been distorted by the
all all of us. Three. God is in the process
of restoring those who will come to him by faith
created an image of God. The image has been distorted

(02:09):
by the fall. So we all have desires in us
that are not consistent with who we truly are. All
of us come on, every single one of us. They're there,
but God is in the process. I wish it happened
just like that. But in the process of restoring those
who will come to Him by faith, so that my
identity who I am, begins with understanding that you're created

(02:30):
in the image of God, but also understanding that you've
been tainted by sin. All of us we have infinite
worth and value and meaning because we're created in God's image.
But we also, all of us have desires within us
that are impure and unholy because we've been tainted by sin,
all of us. And Genesis one twenty seven says this,

(02:52):
look carefully, this is the only ext of Jesus we're
going to do in this message. So God created mankind
in his own image, in the image of God. He
created them not Did you notice those those two lines
sound like the same exact thing to me. Well, there's
a reason, male and female. He created them. So man
as a whole, male and female. We are described as

(03:13):
being made in the image of God, the imego day,
the image of God. What does this mean, Well, it
means we've been given divine characteristics. Although you and I
retain Him by sin, we have human qualities that are
reflections of the attributes of God. Our capacity of the
love to forgive, compassion, empathy, for one another, our ability
to feel, to desire, intimacy are all reflections of the

(03:36):
image of God in us. This is the reason God
created the natural world. And after he did he said
this is good. But after he made male and female,
he said, this is very good. Did you notice that
nothing in that listen, nothing else has been created in
the image of God, just you and me. The Bible
presents a rather high anthropology concerning mankind, and that is

(03:58):
only us are created in the image of God. But
that same scripture Genesis tells us that sin does enter
our world. And when sin enters the world, this image
of God that were created in became distorted, but not lost, effaced,
but not eradicated. So we're made in the image of God,

(04:19):
but that image is tainted by sin. And we all
have sin, all of us, so that sin is universal
and pervasive. But it isn't who I am. Sinful people.
This is the next important segment here. Sinful people are
still created in God's image. You're created in God's image.
Whether you're a Christian or not, doesn't matter who. You're
still created in God's image. Even if you're not presently

(04:40):
submitting to God. You're still created in God's image. Whether
or not you experience same sex attraction or identify as
gay or lesbian, all people are created in the imago
day the image of God. This is who we are.
An identity can never be erased. It's not shifting or
changing its objective, which is why Christopher Yan, the gay

(05:00):
Christian from Harvard, also says this. This, the fact that
we're creating the image of God is an indictment of
Christians who walk or demonized people identified as gay, lesbian, bisexual,
and transgender. Such harmful actions and attitudes fail to honor
the dignity and value of others created in the image
of God. It also forsakes the believers calling to reflect

(05:23):
the image of Christ and proclaim the good news to
those who have yet to believe. Do you hear what
he's saying? Come on, we've all grown up and we've
all heard pastors talk about how terrible those people are.
We're all terrible. We're all created image of God, but
we're all tainted by sin, all of us. If you're
hammering this image of God thing, yes, because the image

(05:44):
of God impacts every question that concerns humanity. Look again,
so God created man in his own image. That's the
first line that lays the foundation in the image of God,
he created him. The second line repeats it in a
different order, and we'll talk about why in a second.
And then he says male and female he created them.
Now listen. This is called parallel lines of poetry in

(06:06):
Hebrew literature. Hebrew language utilizes threefold repetition as one of
its most explicit superlatives. For instance, Isaiah says, Holy, Holy,
Holy is the Lord God Almighty. The whole earth is
full of his glory. The succession is supposed to cause
the listener to pause and reflect on a very profound truth.

(06:27):
So Isaiah says God is Holy, Holy, Holy. Genesis says,
just as the image of God is essential to who
we are male and female, that's also essential to who
you are. So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God. He created them repetition for emphasis.
But the third line says God created male and female

(06:50):
in his image, and that is the fundamental reoccurring element
of the creation narrative differentiation. God creates light and darkness.
He creates day and night, evening and morning, land and sea,
land and atmosphere, plants and trees, fish and land animals,

(07:12):
and male and female. So as hard as someone might
try to alter his or her own body, the most
that can be done is to artificially remove our augment
body parts, or use pharmaceuticals to unnaturally suppress the biological
reality of one's essence male or female. But in essence,
we are all of us, either male or female distinctive.

(07:37):
Now there's a point zero zero eight exception. We'll talk
about that in the future. Let's just stay the course
right now, or go down a rabbit hole and never
come back. Sexual differentiation is not a social construct. It
was not man's idea. It is intrinsic to who God
made us to be in his image. It is a
biological reality. Regardless of how you feel, the fact that

(08:01):
you are male or female is sacred. This is why
my heart hurts for the next generation, because if male
or female, if that's sacred given to me by God,
then that means the best life I could possibly ever
live is within that design. If I start violating the
ultimate original design, I have little to small chance of

(08:23):
ever experiencing the greatness of what it is to be human,
as given to me by God himself. And when we
deny this reality of who we really are. We let
experience supersed essence. Let me say, I'm not saying loose.
The problem is the feelings that these young people are having.
Those feelings are real. Do not tell them those feelings

(08:43):
are not real, the real. But I have a lot
of feelings that are real that are not for my
advantage or prosperity or abundant life. And when we allow
what we feel to supersede who we are, when we
allow psychology to usurp biology, we deny the truth of

(09:06):
scripture and embrace eighteen hundred existentialism. We're created by God,
male and female, in the image of God, and that
image has been tainted, and as a result, all of
us have desires that are inconsistent with our true identity,
every single one of us. But doesn't the Bible tell
us that we're supposed to love each other and marry
each other's burdens. Right, So if I have desires in
me they're unholy, do you come along and shoot me?

(09:29):
Or do you come along and put your arm around
me and say, Jeff, this is not acceptable. But we're
here together. We're gonna make it. We're gonna bear each
other's burdens Galatian six. However, and this is a big however,
did you know that the imago day is not only
a statement in scripture, this is who you are. Do
you know it's also a command because the Bible assumes
that you and I will be tempted to live in

(09:51):
a way that violates essence. So Christ followers are exhorted
to clothe themselves Romans thirteen fourteen. Put on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and make no provisions for the Okay, now
things are becoming clear. Now we're on the journey, Paul
the Apostle Romans eight thirteen. For if you live according
to the flesh, if you live according to what you
always want or feel, you will die. But it's by

(10:14):
the spirit that tells you your essence and what is
appropriate and acceptable. You put to death the misdeeds of
the body, you will live. So the Bible tells us
that we have been those who become Christ followers. We
have a new spiritual man or woman, but we're still
incarcerated in the flesh. You with me, you're a new

(10:34):
band or a new woman, but they're still an incarceration.
Your true identity wants to live the life that God
wants us to live in fullness, but it's restricted by
the flesh. And the essential us, who we really are,
wants to do the good, but the flesh doesn't fully cooperate.
Come on, you know that's true. You know your mind

(10:54):
wants to do the good, but the flesh has a
totally different story to tell. You don't have desires and
you come on, you don't have desires in you. To
say that if you have a desire, it must have
been given to you by God is ridiculous. Think about
how illogical that is. Let me ask youself, who do
you want to kill? Come on, besides your husband, who
else who would you like to torture? Just give me

(11:17):
five minutes with him? You don't have the overwhelming desire
to gossip about somebody and just rip them to shreds.
That's not in you. What family member would you like
to run over with your car? Look, my wife and
I have this rule. We do not go to Chrispy
Creme Donuts unless the light is on. If the light

(11:41):
is on, it's a sign from God. It is We've said,
you know, we're not stopping there. But if the light
is on and we're in the vicinity, and we look
over and the light is on. It's a sign from God.
Sometimes I have to drive around like ten times before
that light comes on. But if the light comes on,
is from God. Now, let's think about this, Mama, just basic,

(12:01):
basic theology, anthropology, and just everyday life. I have a
desire to eat a dozen of those donuts every time
I pass by, don't you? Why don't you? Some of
you know I do, Why don't I? It's called gluttony.
Do you eat everything you see and everything you want? No,

(12:22):
every time you desire something, do you act on it?
Of course you don't. So Paul says, in the same way,
count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ. Therefore,
do not let sin reign in your mortal body so
that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any
part of yourself to sin as an instrument of weakness.
Interesting Greek phrase. What it's saying is your spirit, your essence,

(12:43):
your identity is one thing. But your body's gonna want
to do other things. And it wants to use your
hands and your eyes and your nose, the members of
your body it wants to use to fulfill the desires
of the flesh. But you've got to say, no, I've
got to die to sin and I'm alive to God
in Christ. But rather offer yourselves to God is those
who have been brought from death to life, and offer
every part of yourself again the limbs to him as

(13:06):
an instrument of righteousness. Now what does this tell us?
Remember what we said from the days of John the
Baptist until now, the Kingdom of Heaven has been subjected
to violence, and violent people have been forcefully advancing the
old king James. The Kingdom of God suffers violence, and
violent people take it by force. It's not about warfare,
It's about spiritual warfare, the kind of battle that you

(13:27):
and I are gonna face and have to fight or
we will lose. Listen, I promise you, and you know this,
if you're an honest person, I have desires in me
that are impure, just as impure as those you think
you have or somebody else has. We all got them, everybody,
and the bottle tells us in one Corinthians ten thirteen,
which we'll deal with later, no temptation has overtaken you

(13:49):
except what is common to mankind. Every time you think, oh,
my temptation is so much difficult than everybody else. No,
it's not. It might be particular to you, but everybody's
God that everybody's got that baggage, every single one of us,
and quite frankly, and we're going to talk about this
next week. There are many things that play a role

(14:10):
or a part in the temptations that a person has
as they get older, many things, And we can spend
so many hours talking about sociologists and what they think
makes a person still, or makes a person kill, or
turns you into a serial killer, or makes you desire
everything that you've ever seen food wise and you never
stop eating, or gives you same sex attractions, or makes

(14:31):
you want to transition from one to the other. We
can talk about all of those two we're blue in
the face and they're all probably true to some respect.
But the Bible simply tells you this, with the calling
of God comes the supernatural power of God to give
you ultimate victories over sin and death. No matter what
it is, you can win the victory. And the reason

(14:55):
sex sexuality identity is so prevalent in our culture as
a struggle as to be called we're inundated with it.
And if you show somebody something long enough, and you
just pour it into them long enough. Sooner or later,
you're gonna be tempted to some degree, some more than others. Nevertheless,
the Bible tells us when you are tempted, he will
provide a way so that you can endure. I don't

(15:17):
struggle with pornography, but do not put me on a pedestal.
I've got plenty of other struggles. I don't know why
I don't. I have no idea. Is it my upbringing?
Is it? What is it? It's just not something I struggle,
But I got other struggles that are just as bad.
Everybody has struggles, all of us. In fact, the Bible

(15:38):
tells us in James won when tempted, no one should
say God is tempting me. Boy, how appropriate that is
to this topic. Don't blame God for the tempting that
you're tempted to do something that is not consistent with
the word of God. Don't say, well, God made me
this way. We're gonna talk more about that next week. See.
I can't answer every question in What's sermon, But regardless,
don't say God is tempting me. For God cannot be

(16:00):
tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone, but each
person is tempted when they're dragged away by their own
evil desires and enticed. So we all have desires, and
desires in and of themselves aren't wrong. It's when we
act on those desires that it leads to sin, and sin,
when it's full grown, gives birth to death. Listen, the

(16:20):
desires of the flesh are complex. Legitimate desires are given
by God, but each of us have illegitimate desires that
are a result of a fallen world and being tainted
by the image of God. Please look, hear my heart.
I care about you, and if I truly care about you,
when you're struggling with any sin, whatever it is, I'm
not throwing you under the bus. I'm putting my arm
around you and say we're gonna work this together. And

(16:41):
I don't think any less of you because I've got
my own issues. Who are we? Male and female? Created
by God and the image of God. Every life is sacred,
Every race is sacred. This is the final aspect here.
Every sex is sacred. Why is every life sacred, every
race sacred, every sex sacred? And the answer is because
they're given by God. You can't determine your own life.

(17:04):
You had nothing to do with it. God gave it
to you. You can't determine your race, that's a gift
of God. And you can't determine your own sex, male
or female. All of these are determined by God and
are therefore sacred. So when somebody says to me, pastor Jeff,
why can't you be more affirming of someone who wants
to change their sex from melt to female? Are you transphobic?

(17:25):
And when somebody says that to me, I always want
to say, what does that mean? Am I afraid of
trans people?

Speaker 3 (17:29):
Know?

Speaker 1 (17:30):
Are you christ phobic? Are you afraid of Jesus? Because
here's the reason that I cannot affirm someone who wants
to change their sex from malt to female, for the
same reason I will not affirm someone who wants to
change their race. Race is sacred given by God. Sex

(17:51):
is sacred, given by God, and identifying as the opposite
or alternative to the identity that God has given you
is not only a transgression against God, but it's as
against yourself. You're putting yourself in a position where you're
never going to be able to live the life that
God's called you. To live. But what we said, if
God is the creator of design, then as long as

(18:12):
you operate within that design, you'll prosper. If you take
a sail boat that's meant to sell on the open
waters and you rush it near the rocks, you'll destroy it.
God made you male and female, and you violate design,
you do so and your own peril. So if a
pastor really loves you and really cares for you, he's

(18:33):
not going to affirm yes, even though God has made
you male, I think you should change the female because
your feelings tell you that you feel that way, because
your identity is not based on how you feel, but
on who you are, and you are a person created
in the image of God, and he created a male
and female. I want you to win. I want you

(18:54):
to thrive. Some of you, junior highers and high schoolers,
I know you're very confused about all the things that
are being shoved your way. But as you get older,
you're going to realize that it's all contradictory. One day
it's this, the next day it's that. But the Bible,
Jesus said, the word of God stands forever. Because I
want you to win and thrive. I want you to
know and experience God's pleasure and his presence in your life.

(19:17):
I want you to know what it is to be
your true self and to perfect this beautiful design God
has given you as male and female. But won't never
be able to until we come to grips with what
Jesus said in Mark seven. For it is from within,
out of a person's heart, that evil thoughts come sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance,

(19:46):
and folly. Now when you read that, why do you
just pick out sexual immorality? Look at the other things
that are there. Are you guilty of those? Matthew Henry says,
are wicking thoughts and affections, words and actions defile us.
And these only as a corrupt fountain sends forth corrupt streams,
so does a corrupt heart send forth corrupt reasonings, corrupt

(20:08):
appetites and passions, and all the wicked words and actions
that come from them. A spiritual understanding of the law
of God and a sense of the evil of sin
will cause a man to seek for the grace of
the Holy Spirit to keep down the evil thoughts. And
affections that work within. Do you know what this whole
series is really about? What does the world tell you

(20:28):
you are? And what does God tell you you are?
And if God tells you this is your essence, then
what is the greatest potential for your best life of
fulfillment and love and satisfaction. The Spirit of Christ knew
that we would struggle with things because of our tainted flesh,
and he told us in Romans twelve, do not be

(20:50):
conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed
by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be
able to test and improve what God's will is, his good, pleasing,
imperfect will. Jesus says basically this. You won't even be
able to know what His good and perfect will is
unless you refuse to be conformed to the thinking of
the world and instead renew your mind by the unchanging,

(21:13):
infallible word of God. So I call to you, first
of all, if you're struggling with sexual sin of any kind,
please know your pastor loves you and cares for you,
and does not look down upon you, or does not
look at you in a way he doesn't look at

(21:33):
his own life. Bear each other's burdens. I don't know
why this is the thing that is in your life,
but I also know there are other people, myself included,
who have battles in our lives that we've been fighting
since the day we became a Christ follower. And together
we're going to win this battle. If you're here and
you're frustrating because I haven't answered a question, or you've said, hey,

(21:55):
but what about this, keep coming, keep coming the all
four messages. Promise you it'll be answered. And if you're
a parent, a school teacher, a care worker of any
kind and you've got to deal with this all the
time and you don't know how to communicate to these
young minds and lives, keep coming. I'm going to help you.
But most importantly, couch everything I say in the truth

(22:17):
of the Gospel. What is the truth of the gospel.
We're all sinners, all of us, and we're saved by
grace through faith, and when we become a Christ follower,
the spirit of God comes on the inside of us.
But there's a lot of work to be done. And
whether it's our environment or everything that's happened to us
in this life, you know, the reality is we're all

(22:39):
tainted by sin of some nature, all of us. And
I apologize to you that the Church has pointed out
your sin is somehow Jesus had to stay on across
a little bit longer for you. I'm sorry that your
frustrations and the things you're dealing with somehow has been
made out to be the worst possible thing. It's almost
like it's the divorce issue of the sixties and said seventies.

(23:00):
What we did doing divorce people in the sixties and seventies,
and now we're doing that to the gay community. The
people have same sex attractions. Why do we do that?
Why don't we shoot our own? Wounded? One and all
wants to tell you that we love you and that
we know you're struggling, and we're here for you. We're

(23:22):
going to bear each other's burdens, but we're always going
to call you to the biblical sexual ethic without ever
compromising it, because it's the way to life. Amen, everybody, Father,
thank you for your goodness and your mercy. And I
pray in this first installment that the thing that we
would take away is how great the mercy and grace

(23:43):
of God really is for those of us who struggle
that when we confess our sins, that you are so
quick to forgive them and to give us supernatural power.
That when we face the temptation next week, next month,
that you are there to provide a way out. And
as we learn these exit avenues, give us the courage

(24:08):
to stand and fight so that we can be who
we were made to be in Christ, Jesus, and experience
the abundant life John ten ten that Jesus came to
bring and his name we pray. Amen.

Speaker 3 (24:25):
You've been listening to Today with Jeff Findes. Next time
we'll bring you a new message from pastor Jeff. You
can listen to more messages like this. Just search for
Today with Jeff Finds. Wherever you listen.

Speaker 2 (24:37):
To podcasts, you with Everything

Speaker 1 (24:57):
Today, Today, Today, Today with Jeff Fynes