What God Wants Women To Be

you may be seated well George Stephenson wrote a book entitled God in mind belief a number of years ago and he tells of a pivotal experience that he had shortly after he left seminary to take his first church was which was a church in the Scottish Highlands and while he was there not long after he started a crisis erupted a tenant farmer was caught in the act of stealing and was sent to the local penitentiary when his sentence was over a land over with a sense of social compassion decided to take him in and give him a job and help him to turn over a new leaf however when the arrangement became known to others in the community an outcry of protests went up folks were incensed at the landowner for bringing a convicted thief back into their midst and efforts were made to exclude the former convict and to put pressure on his benefactor Stevenson he says found himself caught squarely in the middle of the controversy not only because most of the people involved were members of his small congregation but also because he felt that when at the very heart of the mission of his church as he thought about the situation Stevenson realized that what was going on was exactly what Jesus said would occur in Caesarea Philippi when he had entrusted the keys of the kingdom to his disciples Jesus you remember it said whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven this meant that what the disciples would do from that time forward was by no means incidental or peripheral but would have eternal implications and this was as true of the actions of that small Scottish Church in Holland as it was in the first century Church you see Stevenson recognized that the struggle over this convicted thief was at heart a matter of binding and loosing those who wanted nothing to do with the former convict and who resisted all efforts to help him were in fact binding him to his old way of life the efforts of the compassionate landowner on the other hand the efforts to help him and give him another chance were aimed at loosing the the former convicts from the past and opening up for him a new way of living what broke the heart of the young Minister was the realization that both of those forces those who wanted to bind and those who wanted to lose were sitting in the same church side-by-side every Sunday morning the very first time that I read that story I immediately thought of another story about a seminary graduate who was interviewing for a ministry position with the church search committee the young student had already shared ministry philosophy had been interviewed and now had been asked to leave the room so the rest of the committee could talk behind their back finally the seminary graduate was invited back into the room and the chairman of the search committee obviously nervous cleared his throat and said first of all we just want to make it very clear that we like you very much that you have all of the educational requirements and the ability we think are necessary for this position you have a good personality you know the Bible extremely well and you relate well with both young and old it's it's obvious to us that you have a passionate desire to reach people with the gospel of Jesus Christ we just feel at this time that you're not the right one for our church the young Seminary graduate fought to hold back a tear and then sadly she asked but why this Mother's Day morning I want to be more than just sentimental as I talked to you but I want to talk to you this morning about what God wants women to be and as I do I want to remind you that what we're talking about is not incidental or peripheral it is very very important as the Church of Jesus Christ we either bind people or we loose them depending upon our actions and our attitudes this hit really close to home for me a number of years ago when my my youngest daughter autumn was just beginning to think about God's calling on her life and I was not just her dad but I was also her pastor and Nancy and I in the kitchen we're talking about our new youth minister we were searching for a youth minister and autumn eight years old at the time looked at me and she said dad how come you're only looking at boys to be the youth minister and I recognized at that point that I'm standing on holy ground that my answer to her at that point in her life is not incidental or peripheral but it has the power to bind or to lose you see little boys and little girls grow up to be what the most important people in their lives tell them that they can be and that they should be of course if we're followers of Jesus and that was what we are we've gathered here today as followers of Jesus we want to do the will of God we want to loose people to do what is right and not what is wrong even more important as important as it is but even more important than how our answers might be received by our own daughters we want our answer to please God because it's consistent with this word which has been real revealed to us through Scripture so what does God want women to be you know when you read the scriptures you find that God wants little girls to grow up to be women who do all kinds of different things proverbs 31 that was read to you earlier is a wonderful ideal and ladies just relax because I don't know about you but that passage makes me tired all over you too I mean when you read that passage it's a good grief who could ever live up to to all that's mentioned in that passage oh I want you to relax because nobody can probably live up to all of that all at the same time over a lifetime perhaps that you can but but I want you to notice in proverbs 31 this is God's ideal woman is obviously an equal partner in the relationship the marriage relationship it's not a picture of a domineering husband and a passive wife verse 11 says that her husband has full confidence in her that he trusts her and he praises her verse 28 says that she speaks with wisdom and faithful instruction is on her tongue this proverbs 31 woman is a successful businesswoman and a community philanthropist it says in the scripture verses 16 18 and 20 she considers the field and buys it out of her earnings she plants a vineyard she sees that her trading her trading is profitable she opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy can a woman work outside the home and be a successful businesswoman and please God well evidently according to Scripture this proverbs 31 woman certainly did it very well and she's held up by the scripture again as the ideal woman it's sad to me how sometimes we bind women from being all that God made them to be by our own unbiblical prejudices and I wonder how many little girls and young women have underachieved because they believed what the most important people said about them Megan Schafer my assistant the leader of our young singles ministry was basically told at a conference this week so what I'm saying is not it's not unimportant it's not the reality that we live with was told at a conference this week she shouldn't be working with our singles because she's a woman so the single's ministry and the porch ministry that's doing well shouldn't be happening because she's a female and it's not God's will for a woman to reach people for Christ and help them to grow in disciples certainly not as a leader that this past week and all my life growing up I heard ministers quote first Timothy 2:12 it's the primary passage where Paul says this I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man as if that were the end of all discussion and the reason women shouldn't have significant leadership in the church but no one ever talked to me ever about that verse in its immediate context and certainly not in the larger context of the Bible as a whole so I want us to look at that passage you're welcome to open your Bible to first Timothy chapter 2 verses 8 through 15 it will be on the screen either way I want us to look at that passage in its specific context in the context of the scripture as a whole first Timothy 2:8 through 15 Paul is the author and he writes therefore I want men everywhere this is in first Timothy chapter 2 8 through 15 I want men everywhere to pray lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing I also want the women to dress modestly with decency and propriety adorning themselves not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes but with good deeds appropriate for women who profess to worship God a woman should learn in quietness and full submission I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man she must be quiet for Adam was formed first and then Eve and Adam was not the undeceived it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner but women will be saved through childbearing if they continue in faith love holiness with propriety that's a you've got to admit that is an interesting passage isn't it and and and I want to leave it on the screen if they're able to keep up as I talk verse by first perhaps they'll put it there you know it makes me think of it's a verse we hardly ever talk about it's in second Peter chapter three verse fifteen sixteen rather which says his letters and Peter is writing about Paul like this is in the Bible but he writes his letters contains some things that are hard to understand which ignorant and unstable people distort as they do the other scriptures well what is hard to understand about first Timothy chapter 2 verses 8 through 15 well look in verse 8 it says that men are to pray lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing did you know in 30 years of church ministry I've actually been a pastor for a lot of those years but some of the music and youth minister in 30 years of church ministry I've only known a few men who prayed regularly lifting their hands really a few who did it at any time I mean why not because the scripture says I urge them to pray lifting holy hands I've almost never seen that and did you know I've served in churches where when men did do that it picked people off there was lots of anger and disputing you want to know why it's because that was a sign that they were charismatic right anybody raise your hand if you know what I'm talking about anybody out there can I have an amen okay you know what I'm talking about verse 9 says that women are not to wear elaborate braided hairstyles is is the way it's it's in the scripture translated a lot of times or adorn themselves with gold or pearls or expensive clothes and yet we don't really believe those prohibitions today many of you today have on goals and you have on expensive clothes or pearls a lot of you have braided hair we believe what the scripture is talking about to us it's talking about modesty that you should dress modestly in worship in verse 11 it says that a woman must learn in quietness and full submission she must be quiet but you know here's the weird part about that is because Paul the same guy who wrote this in another community in another church in 1st Corinthians 12 Paul says when a woman prophesize it means to proclaim the Word of God to preach it's the same word we use and so how can a woman and this is under the instructions for worship how can a woman be quiet and at the same time prophesy and strictly speaking I'm just which taking it straight up literally we don't believe a woman must be quiet because women speak in church all the time and in our Bible study classes all the time and what does full submission mean interesting over the years I've had women correct me rather sternly and I'm putting that lightly correct me rather sternly about this verse as they told me that a woman should be solid they should be quiet and they should not usurp authority over a man and it never dawned on them that what they were doing at the time correcting me was violating what this scripture said some of them in this room maybe verse 14 look at verse 14 Adam was not the one deceived it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner but we don't believe that Eve was the only one deceived or the only one who was a sinner and why do we not believe that is because of the Bible in Genesis 3 tells us that Adam was with Eve when she sinned and he a to read it in Genesis 3 she was with him as the temptation was going on and he said not a word and he ate - and the Bible says the scripture says that it was through Adam's sin that all of us became sinners listen to Romans 5:12 it says sin entered the world through one man and death through sin and in this way death came to all people in verse 15 it says that women will be saved through childbearing what what does that mean women will be saved through childbearing when you look it up you know what the word means it means child bear that's reason it's translated that way it means giving birth now that's what it means and and you can allegorize it or you can come up with all these ideas but just the simplest reading of the scriptures women will be saved through childbearing but but we know don't we don't we know through all of the rest of scripture that says women are saved just like men are saved through faith in Jesus Christ by grace through faith so they're just a there are a lot of things in this passage which were relevant and they made sense to the culture to which it was written I have no doubt but which don't make a lot of sense to us right now Paul we believe he was writing to the specific needs of the first century church at Ephesus and every Christian I know I mean I've never met a Christian in my whole life and I know a lot of them believe that all or even most of this passage should be applied directly to each one of us ie nobody that I know forbids pearls and worship or teaches salvation by childbirth nobody now now let me can I be real this is important to me that you understand this first Timothy 2:8 through 15 is not representative of most scripture like most of the scriptures just not hard to understand it's really plain and it's very clear but here's my problem is it that some people take one verse in the middle of that one passage that is difficult and they take that one verse and they say the part of the passage that says a woman cannot take authority over a man it that it does or can't teach that does still apply the day like all the other stuff in the passage doesn't it's all cultural but that one place that that one place still holds and further I could even deal with that because people I love and respect disagree with me on some of these things I can even deal with that but then some further even interpret that to mean that a woman can't serve on a committee that can't teach a second grader or that can't certainly be a woman's children a woman children's minister because to do so would mean that we're taking authority over the second graders parent and they interpret all the scripture through that one passage in verse now should we ignore that passage in verse absolutely not we don't have that right and I'm not ignoring it you can see the way I'm dealing with it we should not ignore it all Scripture is inspired of God and is profitable for teaching for reproof for correction for training in righteousness so that the man or woman of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work no we shouldn't ignore it was Paul wrong in the passage absolutely not but what I'm saying to you is that I just don't understand that passage very well and nobody that I know does and it's not the best passage to major on concerning prayer like I wouldn't go to that passage and develop a theology of prayer from that one passage interpret everything through that passage I wouldn't go to that passage and in turn interpret everything about salvation through that passage I would include it or about women when you consider first Timothy 2 verse 12 in the context of all scripture rather than interpreting all scripture through it you find the overwhelming preponderance of scripture affirms the value of women to God and it affirms a much larger role in the church and in his kingdom than most of us realize for instance you recognize don't you that although the culture of the Old Testament and the New Testament were largely oppressive to women notice how counter to culture the Bible is how radical it must have appeared Jesus spoke to a Samaritan woman when no self-respecting Jew would in John 4 he befriended an immoral woman when no one else would welcome but he did he cast seven demons out of Mary Magdalene in Luke 8 and called her and others to follow him and be his disciples and as you read the scripture they did follow him everywhere he went they followed him Tabitha translated is translated in the Bible as Dorcas and was called a disciple same word that's used of the Apostles in acts 9 through 30 verse 36 in the Old Testament Miriam was a prophetess in Exodus 15 what did it mean to be a prophetess well it's the feminine version of being a prophet like Jeremiah and Isaiah a prophetess preached the message that God gave to them Deborah was a prophetess and a judge in authority over men frankly by the way on the battlefield and God put him there put her there rather in judges 4 all the second kings 20:2 was a prophetess you've got to consider all of that when you're looking at first Timothy to the New Testament sites Anna in Luke 2 and Phillips for unmarried daughters who prophesied in acts 21 to prophesy means to preach it just means to preach the message that God gave them in Acts chapter 2 Peter quotes the Prophet Joel saying listen to God's Word in the last days God says what's he referring to in the last days he's referring to right now he's quoting Joel in the Old Testament that he's talking about when the Messiah comes and he writes this in the last days God says I will pour out my spirit on all people your sons and daughters will prophesy your young men will see visions your old men will dream dreams even on my servants both men and women I will pour out my spirit in those days and they will prophesy the Apostle Paul he recognized Priscilla is one of the leaders of the church in Rome with her husband Aquila in Romans 16 Paul called Phoebe a diakonos it's the exact same word that we use in timothy to talk about deacons diaconis literally translate the same way it means a deacon he commended Euodia and Sinti ki as his fellow workers in Philippians 4 he listed junior which is a feminine name no scholar of any with any seriousness debates this it's a feminine name and among the Apostles the highest level of leadership in the early church in Romans 16 7 also in the same chapter you have travina and tri fossa in purses who it says worked hard for the Lord in 2nd John chapter 1 verse 1 it's addressed to the chosen lady and her children now to get away from that you have to allegorize it means you can't take that part literally and you've got to allegorize it to talk about the church in general but literally the simplest reading to the chosen lady and her children some suggest the pastor but certainly someone influential and in you remember don't you that the resurrected Christ chose to appear first to Mary Magdalene and to send her to the disciples with the news of the Easter as the first evangelist in Christian history do you remember that Paul's first convert in Europe you remember who it was and this is the way the gospel came to the Western world the first convert was a business woman whose name was Lydia she was one of the leading citizens of Philippi she soon established the church which met in her home in Colossians chapter 4 Paul says great ninfa and the church that meets in her house scripture simply could not be more clear concerning God's attitude there's neither Jew nor Greek slave nor free male nor female for you are all one in Christ Jesus and what we read in Scripture has also been borne out in church history it's well known it is a documented fact that by the 3rd century women outnumbered men largely far more women than men who have Christians at that point what it means very simply is that Christianity advanced and progressed primarily because of the influence of women skipped to the 20th century there were 40 of angelical missionary organizations led by women armies of women missionaries went out they weren't only evangelizing but also starting hospitals and schools including an 8,000 student University in Korea one of the best mission run medical schools in the world was in Vellore India started by women women missionaries were the first to translate the Bible into hundreds of languages in language groups they did it in the most rugged places one writer wrote the more difficult and dangerous the work to higher the ratio of women to men twice as many men marched in women marched into China as men as missionaries and because the women were hindered from teaching men in the Bible schools they went to the homes and they taught by the rivers as they washed clothes they produced so many Chinese Bible women to that to this very day women are more prominent than men in the Church of China and it is exploding I'm talking Christianity is exploding in China and at every level in every place women are prominent and it's not just church history frankly it's Baptist history Hudson Taylor's life Maria led groups of women missionaries deep into China on long preaching journeys where no Westerners had ever gone in where the gospel had never been Lodi men you ever heard a lot him in I mean she was the one who was used by Southern Baptists to promote foreign missions I remember so many my older Deacon said when are we ever going to pay that lady off seems like every year you know we're raising money for for Lottie Moon do you know the irony of all that is is that early on as a missionary she was criticized for not staying in her place in 1833 she wrote an article entitled the woman's question again in which she was frustrated because people were lost and dying and going to hell and she was not allowed to share the gospel with them because she was a woman she wrote this can we wonder at the mortal weariness and disgust the sense of wasted powers and the conviction that her life is a failure that comes over a woman when instead of the ever broadening activities she had planned she finds herself tied down she wrote what women want who come to China it's free opportunity to do the largest possible work what women have arrived to demand his perfect equality good grief you never heard that digit that's that's something she wrote her field director T P Crawford and sisters a closed meeting in which only men were allowed to speak by the way that la demon only do women's work she responded in a letter simple justice demands that women should have equal rights with men in missions meetings and in the conduct of their work and when he tried to forcibly limit her she wrote his plans would make him through the board dictate or not only for life but after he passed from earthly existence if that be free give me slavery I never heard that in one of the promotions for Lottie Moon opera did you over time though Lottie man was so successful at evangelism so one of the reasons Christianity exploding today is because of her influence in church planting and training indigenous pastors in North China that her leader came to say that I estimate that a single woman in China is worth to married men but it's not just Baptist history it's my own history when I was at Central Baptist Church in Jacksonville we had no singles ministry I mean we basically no singles ministry at all and finally I tried everything I finally decided to pray about it I asked our deacons to pray but I asked our church pray about this this is an issue that tons of singles that the percentage of singles in our committee was outrageous we didn't have the money to hire a full-time singles person and so we began to pray and God began to show me a woman named Jackie hint in our congregation already working her husband had died of cancer here's earlier one day I called her in the office I said have you ever just considered doing part time have you ever considered ministry has that ever been on your mind and she said when I was a when I was in grade school we used to go to a camp of a Baptist missionary Alliance BMA we used to go to a camp and I felt God calling me to ministry but she said I was told that women can't do ministry so I asked her to help us part time she worked herself into a full-time position and did a phenomenal job not because she was a woman but because she was the one that God was leading us to so I want to ask the question again what does God want women to be the answer is that God wants women to be all kinds of wonderful things and where the world do I get that I get it from the scripture he wants to be respected partners in the marriage relationship successful businesswoman women fully involved in ministry and God wants women to be anything else I feel the Lord leading them to be because they're equal in God's eyes to men and on this day that we celebrate women I believe God wants us to embrace attitudes that loose our little girls and our young women to become the godly women that he wants them to be instead of binding them and discouraging its snuffing out the Holy Spirit and his work to encourage them God wants mothers and women to be all kinds of wonderful things but you know what the most wonderful thing that God calls a woman to be is a godly mother of all that I've said the most wonderful thing is to be a godly mother on this Mother's Day we also need to stop binding our little girls in our young women by indirectly and directly telling them that the profession of being a mother is not a worthy career we need to tell them they can be anything God calls them to be but perhaps the most noble thing that they'll ever be if they're able to have children is to be a Christian mother several years ago Reader's Digest had an article that discussed the ten most challenging careers for women do you recognize that being a mother didn't even make the list it wasn't even there a recent newspaper quoted a lady from New York City who said the best and the brightest of today's women do not choose to be mothers in a time when the breakdown of the families considered our nation's greatest vulnerability and it should be the profession of motherhood is often demeaned and derided listen women ought to have the opportunity to succeed in the business world how to be paid the same as a man when they do the same job with the same results but we need to affirm well that being a mother is a very very worthy career in fact it is perhaps the most noble of all careers I can't tell you how often I go out to eat with with young families or middle-aged families and as we're talking at some point what do you do comes up and I cannot tell you the number of times I've said to a couple and he tells me and then we said what do you do to her and then almost with a feeling of shame she puts her head down and she says well I don't do anything I'm just raising the to over and over again and so what I say is what you mean is you work in the home don't you and I'm telling you what when you work in a home with two or three kids that's some kind of job let me tell you what I'd go get a job rather than have to do that that's like--that's amen that is hard work and it is valuable work so always correct it don't ever say to me you just stay at home with the children Tony Campolo his wife chose to be a stay-at-home mom and one day while attending a faculty gathering at the University of Pennsylvania with her famous professor husband and sociologist confronted her in a demeaning way with the question and what is it that you do my dear and I'm so glad she didn't say well I don't do anything I just stay at home with the children no this is what she said and I'm quoting I am socializing to homosapians in the dominant values of the judeo-christian tradition in order that they might be instruments for the transformation of the social order into the teleologically prescribed utopia inherit in the eschaton that's more like it in a time in yeah that's that's what women do they socialize homeo so not homeo Homo sapiens just not just intellectually and emotionally and physically but also spiritually so whether you're stay-at-home mom or whether you have another profession in addition to being your mother never underestimate the importance of the influence that you have as a mother I mean I can just can't tell you how important that is that will stay with your kids not until you die but until they die I love the story about the little boy I mean they're doing the play you know how you do the plays and you work with the kids on their lines and then and you work and work all week and then when it comes time the lights are there and the people that freaks them out so they're his job he was Jesus and his job one line was to say I am the light of the world they rehearsed it I am the light of the world I am the light of the world over and over again it came time he got up on the stage the lights were there the crowd he's supposed to say I am the light of the world and he can't remember what he's supposed to do so he stands there moms on the front row she's look he's looking down at her for help and he whit's she whispers him and he bows up and proudly says my mama is the light of the world right well you are you are and there's nothing more important than the influence you give your children and nothing more important than to show them the light of the world I promise you this you'll come to the end of your life and I'm not the end of my life I'm just young middle aged of course but I can tell you this you start looking back and the thing that you start to value more than anything else is your children and and what you've done to invest yourself in your children there's not anything that's more valuable than that these two get caught up mall that's around us but don't let it happen don't let it surprise you because it goes back for those of you with younger children it goes by really quick quicker than you know and there's nothing more important than you'll do is to invest your yourself in helping your child understand that Jesus is the light of the world proverbs 31 ends by saying charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised give her the reward that she is earned so I hope she gets everything that she wants this Mother's Day you should do everything she tells you to do amen women ladies yeah I mean just bless them and and let her work bring praise at the city gates I'm gonna invite you this morning for our ladies to remain seated and perhaps for our men to stand and clap for them in a white it's worthy and deserving all right all right let's pray together just everybody stand up would you please you know baby you may be here this morning you never committed your life to the Lord and I want you to know that that giving your life to Christ is one of the most spring things that can ever happen to you we're so afraid that somehow we'll give our lives to the Lord it's going to keep us from things it won't keep you from anything except those things with hinder you from being the person God created you to be and I would invite you maybe to go to the connection center today maybe you have questions go there let us visit with you about that maybe today would be the start of your walk with Christ maybe looking for a church home this is place God's called you to be if so we'd love to visit with you about that and we'd love to meet with you in the connection center and we'd welcome you into this place or we love you we thank you so much for today and for the encouragement that it's been to be together we need this and then Lord we thank you for your word we thank you how for you you set us free when we come to you and to be the people you've called us to be and Lord we probably died at our our mothers and the women in our congregation might feel blessed today I feel empowered and courage to answer the call on their lives we thank you especially for mothers the tremendous difference that they have on our lives even the ones that are with us anymore they're still influencing us and we give gratitude and thanks to you for them and we pray this in the name of Jesus and as we give our offerings back we do so with gradual because we recognize everything that you that we have has been given to us by you we pray this in the name of the risen Lord and Savior Jesus and the people God said together amen must

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Length: 39min 28sec (2368 seconds)

Published: Tue May 16 2017