{"id":18501,"date":"2018-12-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-12-02T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/ecclesiology-042\/"},"modified":"2018-12-02T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-12-02T06:00:00","slug":"ecclesiology-042","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/ecclesiology-042\/","title":{"rendered":"Ecclesiology 042"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[99],"series_event":[484],"sermon_service_type":[473],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18501","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-1-timothy","series_event-ecclesiology","sermon_service_type-sunday-school","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Ecclesiology 042","sermon_date":"20181202","sermon_month":"12","sermon_year":"2018","sermon_notes":6254,"sermon_slides":6255,"sermon_mp3":6261,"sermon_id":"1221814192044","series_or_event":484,"service_type":[473],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":99,"chapter_and_verse":"3:8-13","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nEcclesiology 42, 1 Timothy 3:8-13\n\n12-2-18\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 42\n\nFather, we\u2019re grateful for today, grateful for the cool weather, grateful for people that you have brought to Sunday School, grateful for a chance to communicate to people electronically so we just pray that\u00a0 You\u2019ll be involved with this study and guide it and direct it. Help us to be people of sensitivity but also at the same time people of love.\u00a0 I ask that\u00a0 You\u2019ll be with our main service that follows as we continue to look at Your very important book You\u2019ve given us, the Book of Revelation and as we participate in the Lord\u2019s table.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory, and also the fellowship lunch that follows. And thank You in advance, Father, for the food.\u00a0 I lift all of these things up in Jesus\u2019 name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026 Amen!\n\nIf\u00a0 you all could locate 1 Timothy chapter 3:8-13 and we\u2019re continuing our study on Ecclesiology, the doctrine of the church.\u00a0 We spent some time on the activities of the church and we\u2019ve moved beyond that to the government of the church.\u00a0 And we saw the various theories that people have on how to govern a church.\u00a0 The elder rule model is the model that has the best support in the New Testament.\u00a0 Well if that\u2019s true then we ought to have somewhere in the Bible giving us the qualifications for elders, right?\u00a0 And in fact we do!\u00a0 These are verses you should just know where they are, 1Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9.\n\nWe\u2019ve seen that there is no fixed number of elders that are given in the Bible, just the general ideas of plurality.\u00a0 We\u2019ve seen distinctions amongst elders, some teach, some rule. We\u2019ve seen the basic duties of an elder which is to function like a shepherd would in the natural world. \u00a0And then we\u2019ve seen that elders for bad conduct can be removed.\u00a0 And from there we switched to a second office in the church, which is the office of deacon and we saw that the office of deacon came into existence in Acts 7:1-7 in the church in Jerusalem and that office was basically there to liberate the apostles who were the functioning elders over the church at Jerusalem from having to get involved with the distribution of food to widows.\u00a0 And that was turned over to trusted men and therefore the elders\/apostles could devote themselves to a ministry of prayer and the Word.\n\nAnd just like there are qualifications for elders there are also qualifications for deacons in 1 Timothy 3:8-13 and that\u2019s the part of the study we were looking at before.\n\nDeacons are mentioned, as I mentioned, in Acts 6:1-7.\u00a0 [Acts 6:1-7, \u201cNow at this time while the disciples were increasing in number,<\/em> a complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews<\/em> against the native<\/em> Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food.<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [2] So the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, \u201cIt is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables. [3] Therefore, brethren, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task. [4] But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.\u201d [5]\u00a0 The statement found approval with the whole congregation; and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch. [6] And these they brought before the apostles; and after praying, they laid their hands on them.\u00a0 [7] The word of God kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith.\u201d]\n\nAnd in Acts 6:3 you\u2019ll find some of the qualifications for deacons.\u00a0 We walked through those last time, and so now we\u2019re moving to another section of Scripture which reveals also the qualifications for deacons.\u00a0 I read these verses to you last time but you probably haven\u2019t been thinking about them, maybe you have, I should give you the benefit of the doubt I guess but I know life has so many distractions.\u00a0 So let\u2019s sort of remind ourselves of what these verses say.\n\n1 Timothy 3:8, \u201cDeacons likewise,\u201d now why is he saying \u201clikewise\u201d?\u00a0 Because he just gave the qualification for elders in the prior seven verses, \u201cDeacons likewise must be<\/em> men of dignity, not double-tongued, or addicted to much wine or fond of sordid gain, [9] but<\/em> holding to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. [10] These men must also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons if they are beyond reproach. [11] Women must<\/em> likewise be<\/em> dignified, not malicious gossips, but temperate, faithful in all things. [12] Deacons must be husbands of only<\/em> one wife, and<\/em> good managers of their<\/em> children and their own households. [13] For those who have served well as deacons obtain for themselves a high standing and great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.\u201d\n\nSo from that list I made a list here of what you look for in a deacon.\u00a0 And of course this is important because the congregation, I think at least every year or two years is voting to reconfirm the deacons and elders we\u2019ve put forward.\u00a0 So we ought to be intelligent vote casters and you can\u2019t do that unless you know what the Bible says about these subjects and the places and addresses where the Bible reveals these things.\n\nSo to be a deacon what do you have to be?\u00a0 Number on 1, \u201cmen of dignity,\u201d basically respectable.\u00a0 Number 2, \u201cnot double-tongued,\u201d and of course when I think about double-tongued I think about James 3 which has one of the most convicting chapters in the whole Bible on how to handle that\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2x2 slab of mucous membrane between the gums called the tongue.\u00a0 James says, \u201cWith it\u201d that\u2019s the tongue, \u201cwe bless our<\/em> Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; [10] from the same mouth come both<\/em> blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way. [11]\u00a0 Does a fountain send out from the same opening both<\/em> fresh and bitter water?<\/em> [12] Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Nor can<\/em> salt water produce fresh water.\u201d\n\nSo there it\u2019s talking about our propensity as Christians to praise the Lord in church but it\u2019s so easy\u00a0\u00a0 to go back to the sin nature and all of a sudden with the same mouth that I use to praise the Lord in church I\u2019m now cursing people that are made in God\u2019s image.\u00a0 A deacon should not be that way, should not be what the Bible calls \u201cdouble-tongued.\u201d\n\nFurthermore, a deacon should not be addicted to much wine\u201d it says.\u00a0 And this gets into the whole subject of drinking and is drinking acceptable and should there be a complete ban on drinking if you\u2019re a church leader?\u00a0 In all honesty I\u2019ve tried to look into this issue, I don\u2019t see a carte blanche ban on drinking, let\u2019s say at graduation or a wedding or something like that.\u00a0 I do see a ban on alcoholism and drunkenness and substance abuse.\u00a0 But you\u2019ll notice over in 1 Timothy, same book, chapter 5, verse 23, Paul himself recommends wine for medicinal purposes.\n\nHe says to young Timothy, \u201cNo longer drink water exclusively,\u201d so I\u2019ve got my water up here today and I shouldn\u2019t be drinking that exclusively I guess\u2026 \u201cNo longer drink water exclusively but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019m not one of those to impose bans where\u00a0 God doesn\u2019t impose a ban but what I see a prohibition against in Scripture is intoxication, drunkenness, substance abuse and the like.\u00a0 So a deacon should not be that way, it\u2019s not necessarily making a statement about no wine in social circumstances at all.\n\nAnd then they should\u2026 look at this one here, not be \u201cfond of sordid gain.\u201d\u00a0 Why would that be?\u00a0 Well because our deacons are counting our money after the service and if you\u2019re a person that\u2019s given over to loving money the temptation is to pilfer from the treasury.\u00a0 Legally that\u2019s what we call embezzlement.\u00a0 And of course it brings to mind one of the disciples, doesn\u2019t it?\u00a0 John 12:6 Judas had custody over the little bag of money that the disciples would carry around and he used to help himself for whatever he wanted out of the bag.\u00a0 He was an embezzler. [John 12:6, \u201cNow he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it.\u201d]\u00a0 And of course this is why he complained about Mary taking expensive ointment and pouring it on Christ and he makes a statement in early John 12 this money should have been given to help the poor when in reality he had no concern for the poor at all, what he had concern about is more money being in that bag for him to embezzle from.\u00a0 .\u00a0 [John 12:8,\u00a0 \u201cor you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have Me.\u201d]\n\nSo this is the kind of a nightmare\u00a0 you run into when you put someone in charge of church finances who has a character that\u2019s \u201cfond of sordid gain.\u201d\u00a0 You can put some internal controls in place to kind of minimize that temptation.\u00a0 We have two deacons taking the count whenever we\u2019re counting money after the service but we certainly don\u2019t want to be in a situation where people are embezzling the Lord\u2019s money.\u00a0 And sadly this happens at churches more frequently than you would think and there\u2019s a prohibition against it.\u00a0 \u00a0You can protect yourself against it by looking at the character of the deacon very carefully; is he given over to a fondness for sordid gain or not?\n\nA deacon also must hold to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.\u00a0 In other words, he needs to be a person that understands and defends the mystery realm doctrine of the church.\u00a0 And if you want to know what our position is about the mystery realm doctrine of the church we have teaching statements in our church constitution and then we also have our position statements demonstrating the angle that we teach from.\n\nNow we had a situation with a deacon when I first came here and he was one of these guys that had\u00a0\u00a0 a problem with one of our positions doctrinally, in this case it was the pre-trib rapture of the church.\u00a0 Our position statement, number five is very clear that we believe in the pre-trib rapture of the church and he had a problem with the emphasis that we were placing on it.\u00a0 And so he kind of took it upon himself to get into different small groups and try to start what he would call a dialogue and I\u2019ve noticed that when people want to start a dialogue about something they typically want to change something. And what he was doing is getting in these small groups and dropping little hints here and there against the doctrine of the pretrib rapture of the church.\n\nThe reality of the situation is that\u2019s not what a deacon is supposed to be doing.\u00a0 A deacon is supposed to be defending what we, as a church, believe is mystery realm doctrine.\u00a0 So if a person wants to become a deacon they need to look at our position statement very carefully and our statement of faith very carefully and not get into groups and around people in private circumstances and malign those doctrines.\u00a0 They should be advocating those doctrines and promoting those doctrines. And if a person can\u2019t do that then I believe they should not be a deacon, or an elder for that matter, and they should be disqualified from their position because Paul is very clear here that the deacon \u201cmust hold to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.\u201d\u00a0 And if you can\u2019t accept what this church believes doctrinally my best advice is don\u2019t become a leader in this church and in the Houston area there\u2019s probably about four thousand churches to pick from so I\u2019m sure if you get out there and look you can find a church that you can agree with, and the Bible is very clear on this.\n\nYou\u2019ll also notice that a deacon\u00a0 must first be tested.\u00a0 What does that mean? Do you give them an exam?\u00a0 That wouldn\u2019t be a bad idea in my opinion but I think here \u201cfirst tested\u201d means you don\u2019t, as the Bible says, \u201clay hands\u201d too quickly.\u00a0 You don\u2019t put people in positions and in charge of things when you really don\u2019t know the character of the person.\u00a0 Why is that? Because people can do a very good job of masking their true character and their true beliefs and sometimes it takes a while for those things to come out.\n\nIn the same letter notice 1 Timothy 5:24, it says, \u201cThe sins of some men are quite evident, going before them to judgment; for others, their sins follow after.\u201d\u00a0 So some people\u2019s basically sinful belief system or sinful conduct is not obvious at first and so you have to put them through kind of a season of observation.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t tell you how long that season is supposed to last but the Bible is pretty clear, you don\u2019t lay hands too quickly on somebody; they must be first tested to figure out what these people actually think, what they actually believe, what their core character is like.\n\nAnd I find this violated in a lot of churches because we have these slots to fill and so the temptation \u00a0is we\u2019ve got to fill these slots and so the temptation is to kind of brush people to the front of the line without really knowing them that well at all.\u00a0 And my perspective on the whole thing is if we don\u2019t have people to fill the slots then maybe that\u2019s a sign from the Lord that we should reduce the number of slots.\u00a0 And there has been more than one occasion in elder board meetings, whether it\u2019s elders or deacons where we just can\u2019t find the people to fill those slots and we\u2019re very comfortable saying okay, until the Lord raises up somebody else we\u2019ll eliminate those slots and shrink those slots because we\u2019re not going to lay hands on people and rush them to the front without them first being tested.\n\nYou\u2019ll also notice that a deacon must be \u201cbeyond reproach.\u201d\u00a0 Does that mean a deacon has to be perfect?\u00a0 No, no one is.\u00a0 Does that mean that a deacon must be sinless?\u00a0 No, no one is sinless.\u00a0 What it means is he has to be sinning less.\u00a0 We don\u2019t make that as some kind of barometer, if you\u2019re not sinning less then you\u2019re not saved\u2014that\u2019s what Calvinism and Arminianism and Reformed Theology do, they\u2019ll hold your salvation hostage if you\u2019re not bearing fruit.\u00a0 And that\u2019s not our belief system here.\u00a0 But what it does disqualify a person from is leadership. There\u2019s kind of a mindset that everybody is\u2026 we\u2019re all leaders, right?\u00a0 NO, we\u2019re not all leaders!\u00a0 The Bible is very clear that leadership is a privilege for some; salvation is by grace alone by faith alone as a free gift open to all but leadership by contrast is a privilege for some.\u00a0 So you don\u2019t put people in positions as an elder or a deacon whose lives are open to criticism because of an ongoing perpetual pattern of sin.\u00a0 See that?\n\nIt\u2019s not dealing with an occasional slipup; it\u2019s dealing with the perpetual pattern and that\u2019s what the Bible is talking about when it says \u201cbeyond approach.\u201d\n\nAlso it\u2019s very clear that a deacon must be \u201cthe husband of one wife.\u201d\u00a0 Now what does \u201chusband of one wife\u201d mean?\u00a0 I wish I had a really simple definition for you on this but the fact of the matter is there\u2019s eight interpretations of \u201chusband of one wife.\u201d\u00a0 I have a paper online that you can find, it\u2019s called The Meaning of the Husband of one Wife in 1 Timothy 3:2.\u201d\u00a0 [http:\/\/www.spiritandtruth.org\/teaching\/documents\/articles\/15\/15.pdf?x=x]\n\nSome people think if there\u2019s a divorce in a person\u2019s background, either early on in their Christian life or even before their Christian life, before they were saved, they are disqualified from leadership.\u00a0 That really is not the perspective of that paper and the elders at the time agreed with what I wrote in that paper and one of the things I say in that paper is that the verbs here are all in present tense.\u00a0 So it\u2019s not looking at a person about what they did 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 50 years ago,\u00a0 it\u2019s looking at what they\u2019re like today.\n\nThe Greek actually means a \u201cone woman man,\u201d is what it\u2019s talking about.\u00a0 A deacon\u2019s present character has to be such that he is a \u201cone woman man\u201d currently.\u00a0 Can you look into their past?\u00a0 Yes, not as a basis for completely banning them but as a basis for figuring out what they\u2019re like today.\u00a0 That\u2019s the inquiry; that\u2019s the present tense of this.\u00a0 Because it also says an elder (we saw this last time) must not be pugnacious or hot tempered.\u00a0 Does that mean if a person lost their cool, road rage or something, someone cut them off and they got upset in the car fifteen years ago that they are no longer qualified to be an elder or a deacon in Christ\u2019s church?\u00a0 No, that\u2019s not what it means but it becomes an issue if that\u2019s what they are like over and over and over and over again. See that?\n\nSo when it talks about a husband of one wife what it\u2019s talking about is their present character a character of fidelity or commitment?\u00a0 And people say well that means a deacon has to be married, right?\u00a0 Well, no, because Paul, who wrote these words, wouldn\u2019t have qualified; neither would Jesus Christ have qualified. I don\u2019t know if there\u2019s a Mrs. Jesus out there.\u00a0 And so what it\u2019s saying is a wife is not required but it\u2019s sort of assumed.\u00a0 If they are married are they devoted to that marriage or not?\u00a0 That\u2019s what you\u2019re trying to figure out when you look at someone\u2019s character.\n\nAnd then it talks here also about\u2026 look at this, good managers of their children and household.\u00a0 The Bible is pretty clear over in Luke 16:10, it says, \u201cHe who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.\u201d\u00a0 If a person can\u2019t manage their own home or their own house how in the world could they be expected to manage the house of God, or the church of God?\u00a0 That\u2019s Paul\u2019s point.\n\nSo you always examine people based on what are they like in the little things because if a person is unfaithful in the smaller things that character is going to follow them on a bigger stage.\u00a0 And you go right on through the Bible and you\u2019ll see over and over again the types of people that God promotes.\u00a0 He promotes people that are faithful in something small.\u00a0 For example, Joseph, you can see his character from age 17 to age 30, before he was elevated to second in command in Egypt he was faithful no matter where God had him.\u00a0 In prison he was faithful, in Potiphar\u2019s house he was faithful.\u00a0 He was even faithful in rejecting the sexual advances of someone else\u2019s wife.\u00a0 Faithful, faithful, faithful and all of a sudden one day he wakes up and he\u2019s second in command over the whole empire because his character had proven himself.\n\nAnd it\u2019s the same with David, when Samuel came to Jesse to anoint the next king following Saul he had Jesse bring out the sons and Jesse brought out all the sons except the runt of the litter, he was immediately dismissed by Jesse, and Samuel said well, the runt of the litter, David, is God\u2019s man.\u00a0 And you remember what David was doing? He wasn\u2019t doing anything majestic or powerful, he was just faithful tending the sheep so he had a character that could be trusted in something small and so he became elevated to the second king of the United Kingdom.\n\nAnd these are the kind of things you look at with a deacon: are they faithful in what we would call the smaller things, children and household and things of that nature.\u00a0 Now people say well, then, they\u2019ve got to have children or they\u2019re not qualified, right?\u00a0 Well it\u2019s sort of like \u201chusband of one wife,\u201d a wife and children are assumed but they\u2019re not required.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because Paul himself, who wrote these words, wouldn\u2019t have been qualified; neither would Jesus!\u00a0 But if they have children and if they are married you have to look into those marriages and their custody over their own family to determine their qualifications.\n\nAnd all of this is completely under assault by the culture, as you know.\u00a0 I don\u2019t mean to get into politics but from my memory the first time this came severely under attack was through one of our Presidents, Bill Clinton, the 42nd<\/sup> President of the United States and you know about the private life of Bill Clinton.\u00a0 And at the time, remember the impeachment and all those things that came against Bill Clinton; there were so many talking heads saying well what he does in his private life really has no bearing on what he does in his public life because after all, the economy is roaring along\u2026 right?\u00a0 The stock market is up.\n\nAnd I remember seeing the first time in my life this idea of what someone does privately has no impact on what they do publicly really being promoted during the Clinton era. And that\u2019s the secular world and sadly that starts to invade the church where we look at people and say well, they\u2019re talented, they\u2019re gifted, suppose they\u2019ve got a few character flaws, that\u2019s no big deal, we can kind of gloss over those.\u00a0 Well to do that you have to throw out what Paul is saying here.\n\nIt\u2019s interesting to me that when\u00a0 you look at the qualifications for elders and deacons there\u2019s not a lot here about talent.\u00a0 That\u2019s our focus, we want to know are they talented and I don\u2019t find anything in these lists about talent.\u00a0 The only thing I really find is an elder must be \u201capt to teach,\u201d it doesn\u2019t even say an elder has to have the gift of teaching, he\u2019s just got to be apt to do it.\u00a0 Other than that all of these qualifications as you go through them deal with the subject of character.\u00a0 So this is how officers are to function within God\u2019s church, both elder and deacon, the two major offices in God\u2019s church.\n\nAnd now we go from the frying pan into the fire.\u00a0 I taught this over and over again at the College of Biblical Studies, Ecclesiology, I taught this for seven years and every time we got to this section I always winced because I was teaching in primarily an African American community where their churches believe in female preachers, female pastors, female prophets called prophetesses.\u00a0 And every time I went down this road and tried to explain what God said there was always someone in the class that was on a collision course with what I was saying.\u00a0 So it\u2019s not a subject I really like to talk about, particularly in our feminized culture where the barriers between men and woman and their roles is being radically re-altered as we speak.\u00a0 Here we are at little Sugar Land Bible Church trying to hold a doctrinal position based on a book written two thousand years ago.\u00a0 I mean, this is not the easiest thing to talk about but I\u2019m going to give you my shot at this.\n\nAre there gender restrictions on either of these offices?\u00a0 Are there gender restrictions on elders?\u00a0 Are there gender restrictions on the office of pastor-teacher?\u00a0 Are there gender restrictions on deacons?\u00a0 That\u2019s where we\u2019re going here.\u00a0 And the subject is so volatile I\u2019ve to actually make a few preliminary remarks even before going this direction because what people do is they really don\u2019t hear what you say, they find the one restriction that you\u2019re putting on them and that becomes their whole focus.\u00a0 So try to not become emotional about this but listen to all of the comments in their totality.\n\nSo a couple of preliminary remarks.\u00a0 The first one is (and I believe this very strongly) women over the last 2,000 years, and ever here at Sugar Land Bible Church, are really the backbone of the church.\u00a0 And I say that with all sincerity; if you were to take every woman out of Sugar Land Bible Church this place would collapse, I think almost immediately.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know what it is about women compared to men here in the United States but I find the most devoted service oriented Christians typically are female and it\u2019s always like the husband (not in every case of course) but it\u2019s always like the husband is coming kicking and screaming.\n\nAnd so one of the things that\u2019s very helpful on this whole subject is the notes by Dr. Thomas Constable, my professor.\u00a0 I graded for him for a few semesters at Dallas Seminary, he was the primary reader on my Master\u2019s Thesis and my Doctoral Dissertation.\u00a0 All his notes are available online; he\u2019s go 7,000 pages of Bible study material,\u00a0 just go to SonicLight.com and you can find it. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0[www.soniclight.com\/\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sonic Light has moved to the Plano Bible Chapel website]\u00a0 And he has an appendix in 1 Timothy which is very helpful, Appendix 2, and in Appendix 2 he lists every place in the Bible where God uses a woman.\u00a0 And as you go through this list it\u2019s overwhelming.\u00a0 I mean it\u2019s overwhelming that God wants to use women in ministry.\n\nJust to give you a few examples, I wish I had time to read the whole list, women served in the doorway of the tabernacle, Exodus 38:8.\u00a0 [Exodus 38:8, \u201cMoreover, he made the laver of bronze with its base of bronze, from the mirrors of the serving women who served at the doorway of the tent of meeting.\u201d]\n\nMiriam was a prophetess, Exodus 15:20, \u201cMiriam the prophetess, Aaron\u2019s sister, took the timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dancing.\u00a0 [21] Miriam answered them, \u2018Sing to the LORD, for He is highly exalted; the horse and his rider He has hurled into the sea.\u201d]\n\nDeborah was a prophetess and a judge, Judges 4 and 5.\u00a0 [Judges 4:4, \u201cNow Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time.\u201d]\n\nHannah prayed in the house of the Lord, 1 Samuel 1.\u00a0 [1 Samuel 1:13, \u201cA<\/a>s for Hannah, she was speaking in her heart, only her lips were moving, but her voice was not heard.\u201d ]\n\nHilkiah was a prophetess who prophesied before the high priest and the men of King Josiah, 2 Kings 22:14, [2 Kings 22:14,\u201cSo Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe (now she lived in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter); and they spoke to her.\u201d]\n\nMany women sang in the choirs, 1 Chronicles 25, \u00a0[2 Chronicles 20:21, \u201cWhen he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who sang to the LORD and those who praised Him in holy attire, as they went out before the army and said, \"Give thanks to the LORD, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.\"]\n\nThe prophet Joel predicted that one day your sons and daughters will prophesy, Joel 2.\u00a0 The virgin Mary\u2019s praise is recorded for us, Luke 1.\u00a0 Anna was a prophetess who served in the temple day and night, Luke 2.\u00a0 A loyal group of women accompanied Jesus and served Him on His ministry tours, Luke 8.\u00a0 Jesus spoke with a Samaritan woman at time when religious leaders didn\u2019t talk to women at all, John 4.\u00a0 Jesus cared equally for the physical infirmities of woman, Mark 1.\u00a0 He (Jesus) permitted Lazarus sister to sit at His feet and learn, a privilege only granted to men at the time, Luke 10.\u00a0 Women had been healed by Jesus praised Him publicly, Luke 13.\n\nIn a male dominated culture Jesus redressed legal situations which were weighted against women, Matthew 19.\u00a0 Jesus entrusted women with the high privilege of carrying the news of His resurrection to the twelve disciples, Mark 16.\u00a0 Mary Magdalene was of the first people to see Jesus as a risen Lord, John 20.\u00a0 The Holy Spirit fell on both men and women on the day of Pentecost, Acts 2.\u00a0 Women prayed with men in the early church, Acts 1.\u00a0 Women had various ministries of hospitality, service and good works, Acts 9.\u00a0 Priscilla and Aquila, I\u2019ll talk about them in a second if time permits, took Apollos aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately, Acts 18.\u00a0 The Holy Spirit fell upon women as His prophetic mouthpiece, Acts 21.\n\nDo we need more evidence?\u00a0 I wish I had time to read every verse.\u00a0 Paul instructed the older women to teach the younger women, Titus 2.\u00a0 Paul encouraged both unmarried men and women to remain single and devote themselves to the Lord\u2019s service, 1 Corinthians 7.\u00a0 Euodia and Syntyche were coworkers with Paul, Philippians 2, Romans 16, ten of the twenty-nine people Paul commended for loyal service were women, Romans 16, etc. etc. etc.\n\nSo when you talk about gender restrictions in certain offices of the church you have to look at the whole council of God\u2019s Word.\u00a0 These comments should not be taken as God doesn\u2019t want women in ministry at all; that\u2019s far afield from what the Bible teaches.\n\nBeyond that, when we talk about gender restrictions on some offices within the church what totality of ministry are we talking about here?\u00a0 I would say it\u2019s\u00a0 a fairly small percentage.\u00a0 Some people would say one to two percent.\u00a0 And we had a female counseling teacher at the College of Biblical Studies that used an expression and when I heard this expression I said that nails it, can I use that expression and she gave me carte blanche<\/em> permission to use this.\u00a0 She called it the Eve syndrome.\u00a0 God says to Adam and Eve\u00a0 you\u2019re free to do anything you want, Genesis 2.\u00a0 Right, but there\u2019s one restriction.\u00a0 So what did Eve focus on as she was tempted by the serpent?\u00a0 She wasn\u2019t focused on all of the things she could do, she was focused on the single thing she couldn\u2019t do.\u00a0 And I\u2019m afraid that\u2019s what happens in this whole discussion of gender restrictions; instead of focusing on all the ministry that\u2019s open to women what people have a tendency to do is to focus on the single thing that God places a limitation on.\n\nSo anyway, those are some introductory remarks that I hope make sense.\u00a0 Part of my explanation of this involves the Trinity.\u00a0 In the Trinity the Son submits to the Father, right?\u00a0 Didn\u2019t Jesus say \u201cNot My will be done but Thy will be done.\u201d\u00a0 However, within the Trinity the Father is fully God and the Son is fully God.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 So when Jesus submits to the Father does He relinquish one iota of His deity?\u00a0 He does not, so therefore the subordination within the Trinity (listen to me very carefully) does not relate to ontology.\u00a0 Ontology means value.\u00a0 It relates to function or role and so when we talk about female submission either in the church regarding certain offices, within marriage, unfortunately what people hear from that is well, you don\u2019t value women.\u00a0 Or you think women are less valuable than men.\u00a0 And you see, that whole analogy fails when you look at the Trinity where the Son is in submission to the Father in function only, not in value or worth.\n\nThe Bible is very clear that both men and women bear God\u2019s image, do they not?\u00a0 Doesn\u2019t Genesis 1:27 say \u201c\u2026in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.\u201d\u00a0 So the woman is not less valuable than the man, she is a co-image bearer with the man. So therefore requiring her submission in certain areas should not be taken as she\u2019s less valuable than the man.\u00a0 It\u2019s a function of role not value.\n\nAnd not only are men and women equal in terms of creation but they\u2019re also equal in terms of salvation.\u00a0 1 Peter 3:7 says, \u201cYou husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an under\u00adstanding way, as with someone weaker\u2026,\u201d let me stop right there, why would Peter say the woman is weaker than the man?\u00a0 I don\u2019t think Peter is saying the woman is less intelligent than the man, all you\u2019ve got to do is compare me and my wife to see that pretty clearly.\u00a0 Not less industrious than the man, but she is more fragile than the man.\u00a0 I think it\u2019s a general rule that a woman will be reduced to tears faster than a man.\u00a0 People always want to quote these exceptions, these amazon women you see on TV that take the man and put him in a headlock with WWF and all this stuff.\u00a0 I\u2019m not talking about exceptions, I\u2019m just talking about general rule.\n\nBeyond that, if we were to have two football teams, we\u2019re going to make this side female and this side male, where are you going to put your money in terms of the winner.\u00a0 I\u2019m going to\u00a0 put my money on the males because males are physically stronger than a woman.\u00a0 So even though that\u2019s true what does Peter say?\u00a0 \u201cYou husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an under\u00adstanding way, as with someone weaker since she is a woman\u201d now notice what he says, \u201cand show her honor as a\u201d what?\u00a0 \u201cfellow heir of the grace of life so that your prayers will not be hindered.\u201d\u00a0 The woman is the inheritor of the exact same salvation as the man.\u00a0 It\u2019s just like back in Genesis 1 both female and male are image bearers of God.\n\nSo my point is these remarks where we start getting into gender limitations on some ministry rolls should in no way, shape or form be taken as (A) women don\u2019t belong in ministry at all; (B) men are more important than women.\u00a0 So we have to have balance in this.\u00a0 And when\u00a0 you get into this subject someone will ask well can a woman be a CEO of a corporation?\u00a0 Would you vote for a female for President.\u00a0 Well I guess for me personally it depends on the female.\u00a0 There\u2019s one female that if I lived in her era and in her country I would vote for her over and over again, she\u2019s one of my favorite politicians of all time\u2026 Margaret Thatcher.\u00a0 So the remarks that we\u2019re making here have nothing with whether a woman should be a CEO, whether a woman should run for President, because people like to take these remarks and extrapolate them outward and Paul is just not dealing with that subject.\u00a0 You form\u00a0 your own beliefs on that subject.\u00a0 Paul is dealing with ecclesiastical matters and\u00a0 offices within the church because this all comes up under ecclesiology which is what?\u00a0 The study of the church.\n\nSo those are my preliminary remarks, now we\u2019ve got to take the hard medicine, right. Let\u2019s start with elder.\u00a0 Are there gender restrictions on the office of elder.\u00a0 Look at 1 Timothy 3:1-2.\u00a0 We\u2019ll start with elder and then work our way down to deacon as time permits.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cIt is a trust-worthy statement: if any\u201d what\u2019s the next word? \u201cman aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work that? What?\u00a0 What\u2019s the pronoun? \u201che desires to do.<\/em> [2] An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the\u201d what? \u201chusband of one wife,\u201d I don\u2019t know how it\u2019s possible for a female to be the husband of one wife, and you\u2019ll notice that he says \u201cman\u201d and you\u2019ll notice that he says \u201che.\u201d\n\nTake a look at Titus, remember Timothy and Titus are all part of the pastoral letters.\u00a0 Titus 1:6, Paul also lays out the qualifications for elders and he says, \u201cnamely, if any\u201d what? \u201cman is above reproach, the\u201d what? \u201chusband of one wife,\u201d that would be an impossibility for a female, wouldn\u2019t it.\u00a0 So I think when you look at the subject of elder the case is (to my mind) pretty closed, open and shut, however you want to phrase it, it\u2019s pretty clear that there\u2019s a gender limitation on that role.\n\nNow what about women behind the pulpit. Take a look at 1 Timothy, same book, verses 11-14. \u00a0We\u2019re going through the pastoral letters to resolve these issues; the pastoral letters carry greater weight on this subject because the whole point of the pastoral letters is how to govern a church.\u00a0 A lot of people run off to the Book of Judges to get their view, people say well Deborah was a judge.\u00a0 Okay, the Book of Judges was written during a period of 300 years when the nation of Israel had no kind and everyone did what was right in their own eyes.\u00a0 [Judges 17:6, \u201cIn those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.\u201d]\u00a0 Is that where we\u2019re going to go to develop our philosophy of ecclesiology?\u00a0 To that book?\u00a0 No, we\u2019re going to go to the places that govern the governance of the church, specifically the pastoral letters, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy and Titus.\n\nNotice what it says here, 1 Timothy 2:11-14.\u00a0 \u201cA woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness.\u201d Now \u201cquiet\u201d here is a different word than silence.\u00a0 It\u2019s not saying put a piece of duct tape over your mouth and don\u2019t talk.\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s talking about a quiet attitude and a spirit rather than utter silence.\u00a0 [11] A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissive\u00adness.\u201d\u00a0 Verse 12, \u201cBut I do not allow a woman to\u201d what? \u201cteach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cQuiet\u201d again is not the word for absolute 100% duct-tape over the mouth silence.\u00a0 And people say well, is it okay for her to teach as long as she\u2019s not a ruling elder, because it says I don\u2019t permit\u00a0 a woman to teach or to have authority over a man.\u00a0 Well, I asked Dr. Toussaint, my teacher at Dallas Seminary, a Greek scholar, about this and he says the moment you get up and teach you have the authority because you\u2019re directing the thoughts of people.\u00a0 So a woman is not to be in a position of teaching over men within the church.\n\nWell Paul, you sure are a chauvinist sexist pig to say something like that.\u00a0 Well, notice Paul\u2019s rationale.\u00a0 Verse 13, \u201cFor it was Adam who was first created, and<\/em> then Eve.\u201d\u00a0 People say well,\u00a0 you know, Paul was just sort of dealing with the culture of the day.\u00a0 No, Paul anchors his case in pre-fallen creation which transcends culture.\u00a0 In other words, these are transcultural concepts that Paul is basing his belief on.\u00a0 He\u2019s basing his belief on what God did before sin entered the world.\u00a0 What did God do?\u00a0 Number one, He created man first and the woman second.\u00a0 Number two, when Eve sinned who did call out to in Genesis 3:9?\u00a0 He called out to the man.\u00a0 [Genesis 3:9, \u201cThen the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, \u2018Where are you?\u2019\u201d]\n\nWell, that\u2019s kind of odd, if she sinned first why would He call out to the man?\u00a0 Because the man was created first and he had the position of leadership.\u00a0 When Enron goes belly up you go after the CEO, not the janitor.\u00a0 So you can see that God had a design in leadership before sin ever entered the picture.\u00a0 And by the way, before sin entered the picture what you\u2019ll discover is Adam names Eve.\u00a0 When someone is named in the Bible, like God names things like the earth and things like that, God is showing His authority over what He made.\u00a0 When He gave Adam the privilege of naming Eve He was also showing headship within marriage because people like to say well headship within marriage, that\u2019s just a result of the fall.\u00a0 No it\u2019s not!\u00a0 These are pre-fall, pre-sin institutions.\u00a0 And this is what the Apostle Paul is dialing back to when he\u2019s dealing with this subject of women teaching over men.\n\nHe says, \u201cI do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 [1 Timothy 2:12]\u00a0 Now look at this, we\u2019ve already talked about this, verse 13, \u201cFor it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve.\u201d\u00a0 Look at verse 14, \u201cAnd it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.\u201d\u00a0 Adam was created first but it was the woman that sinned first.\u00a0 Now what does that mean?\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t give us a lot of explanation.\u00a0 Here\u2019s my understanding of it.\u00a0 There is something within the female composition, it\u2019s not a matter of a lack of value, it\u2019s not a matter of a lack of intelligence or anything of that nature.\u00a0 It is a matter of something within the female composition, perhaps her emotional makeup, which makes her more susceptible to (watch this very carefully) spiritual deception.\n\nYou say well I don\u2019t like your opinion.\u00a0 Well, you can go take this up with the Apostle Paul because Paul himself in a pastoral letter is making these remarks and he\u2019s anchoring his case in God\u2019s original design for men and women.\u00a0 You go to verse 15, what\u2019s the woman supposed to do?\u00a0 \u201cBut women will be preserved,\u201d now some of your versions say \u201cbe saved.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cSaved\u201d we always think saved means trusting Christ and going to heaven; that\u2019s not what saved always means in the Bible.\u00a0 It primarily means that but a woman is preserved or saved from something temporal.\u00a0 What is she saved from?\u00a0 She is saved from an inclination that she naturally has to grab the reins of power.\n\nYou say well how in the world can you say a woman naturally has the desire to grab the reins of power either in the family or in the church?\u00a0 It comes from Genesis 3:16.\u00a0 Genesis 3:16 says, \u201cTo the woman He said, \u2018I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.\u2019\u201d \u00a0And people use that Hebrew word \u201cdesire\u201d and they run off to the Song of Solomon that was written four centuries later and they say well the woman is just filled with romantic desire for her husband.\u00a0 Well first of all how could that be a ramification of the curse?\u00a0 I mean most men would probably want that to happen anyway\u2026 Amen!\n\nAll you\u2019ve got to do is go one chapter to the right and\u00a0 you can see what desire means because the same word in the same book, by the way in the same semantic grammatical layout except for the switch from the singular to the plural is found in Genesis 4:7.\u00a0 What does it say?\u00a0 God is speaking to Cain who is thinking about murdering his brother.\u00a0 He says, \u201cIf you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door;\u201d look at this, \u201cand its desire is for you, but you must master it.\u201d That\u2019s the same grammatical layout and the same word \u201cdesire.\u201d\u00a0 Cain, here\u2019s what\u2019s going on as you\u2019re being tempted; sin is trying to control you but what you have to do is govern it.\n\nSo what happens as a result of the fall is the woman has a natural proclivity and inclination to control the man.\u00a0 That\u2019s called feminism.\u00a0 The man, by contrast, will resent it and will not like it and he will react against her by trying to rule over her harshly.\u00a0 That\u2019s called chauvinism.\u00a0 So what has happened because of sin\u2019s entrance into the world is the tension already exists between men and women within marriage.\u00a0 It\u2019s funny because people come in to counseling and they say I\u2019m having marriage conflicts.\u00a0 And I\u2019m thinking well of course you\u2019re having marriage conflicts, the Bible said from chapter 3 you\u2019d have marriage conflicts.\u00a0 And it relates to this woman desiring to control the man and the man trampling down the woman.\u00a0 And\u00a0 you see the only escape from this natural tension is Ephesians 5.\n\nEphesians 5:22-33 says, a husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church.\u00a0 That\u2019s the answer for chauvinism.\u00a0 And the woman is to submit to and respect her husband, that\u2019s the answer for feminism.\u00a0 See that.\u00a0 So if the two marital partners re not committed to walking out on a moment by moment basis Ephesians 5:22-33 what they\u2019re stuck with is tension in their whole lives.\n\n[Ephesians 5:22, \u201c[Wives, be subject<\/em> to your own husbands, as to the Lord. [23] For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being<\/em> the Savior of the body. [24] But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be<\/em> to their husbands in everything. [25] \u201cHusbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, [26] so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, [27] that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. [28] So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; [29] for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does<\/em> the church, [30] because we are members of His body. [31] FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND SHALL BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH. [32] This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. [33]Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it<\/em> that she respects her husband.\u201d]\n\nNow when my wife and I get into arguments or disagreements I will say this; nine times out of ten it\u2019s related to what I just said.\u00a0 Either she is trying to rule over me or I am trampling her down and not treating her like the fragile base that God has given me. See that?\u00a0 I\u2019m not honoring her, I\u2019m not respecting her.\u00a0 And by the way, this is the total disaster of a young woman marrying an unsaved man or vice versa.\u00a0 Well, I\u2019m thinking about marrying this unbeliever.\u00a0 Why are\u00a0 you doing that?\u00a0 Well, we have so much in common. Well what exactly do you have in common?\u00a0 You\u2019re a goat, they\u2019re a sheep, you\u2019re going to heaven, they\u2019re going to hell, you\u2019re a child of God, they\u2019re a child of Satan.\u00a0\u00a0 You really don\u2019t have anything in common.\u00a0 Even if you like the same baseball teams.\n\nSo what you\u2019re doing is you\u2019re hooking yourself to someone that doesn\u2019t have the ability to walk out Ephesians 5.\u00a0 Do you see that? And this is the disaster of two people getting married with different maturity levels in Christ.\u00a0 The only way your marriage is going to work is if the two of\u00a0 you are committed moment by moment as disciples of Christ to walking out Ephesians 5.\u00a0 If you\u2019re not going to do that, and it takes two to tango, then\u00a0 you\u2019re stuck with tension all your days.\u00a0 The woman\u2019s natural desire is to control the man.\u00a0 Going back to our passage in 1 Timothy 2:11-14 the woman\u2019s natural desire is to grab the reins of Ecclesiastical power within the church.\n\n[1 Timothy 2:11-14, \u201cA woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. [12] But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. [13] For it was Adam who was first created, and<\/em> then Eve. [14] And it was<\/em> not Adam who<\/em> was deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression. [15] But women<\/em> will be preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint.\u201d]\n\nHow can she be saved from that?\u00a0 She is to pour herself into the tasks that God gave her which is what?\u00a0 Verse 15, \u201cBut women will be preserved\u201d preserved from what?\u00a0 Genesis 3:16, her desire to have power, \u201cBut women will be preserved through\u201d what? \u201cthe bearing of children if they continue in the faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s where the woman has her influence over her children.\u00a0 Now people always say well what about people that can\u2019t have children, they bring up all these exceptions.\u00a0\u00a0 These are general principles; Paul is not going to carve out every single exception or else 1 Timothy would read like the United States Tax Code, just go on and on and on.\u00a0 These are basic generic principles.\n\nSo the woman is not to grab the reigns of authority within a church, she is to throw herself into her family and children and I think what she\u2019ll discover is over the long run she\u2019s going to have a lot more influence over life and the direction of the world.\u00a0 You\u2019ve heard the expression, \u201cshe who rocks the cradle\u201d what? \u201crules the world.\u201d\n\nAnd by the way, Timothy, who Paul is writing to, might know a little something about this because if you go forward to 2 Timothy 1:5 what does he say there.\u00a0 \u201cFor I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Keep that thought in mind.\u00a0 Go to chapter 3, verse 15, Paul says to Timothy, \u201cand that from\u201d what? \u201cchildhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.\u201d\u00a0 Why is it that when Paul came along Timothy was ready to go?\u00a0 Because he had the influence of a mom and a grandmother than poured the Word of God into Timothy when he was an infant.\n\nAnd so people in our culture look at limitations on women and where she should invest her time as some kind of l imitation but the fact of the matter is she who rocks the cradle actually rules the world.\u00a0 Look at Richard Nixon as an example.\u00a0 Richard Nixon receives a call in the middle of the night in what\u2019s called the Yom Kippur War, 1973, Golda Meir needs help because Israel is being attacked from all sides.\u00a0 She tried to call Henry Kissinger and Henry Kissinger said let the Jews bleed for a while.\u00a0 So she wises up and picks up, I guess the red phone, and calls Richard Nixon in the middle of the night ant when he picks up the phone and hears this plea what exactly does he remember.\u00a0 He remembers the voice of his mother who taught him the book of Esther as a kid, which is about the deliverance of the Jews, and he remembers her voice saying \u201cRichard, if you\u2019re ever in a position to help the Jewish people you should do it.\u201d\u00a0 And he says to Golda Meir for the first time in my life (on this red phone conversation) I finally realized why I\u2019m President of the United States.\n\nSo a woman being told that\u2019s where your primary authority is, you should invest your time over here, we think that\u2019s some kind of slap in the fact.\u00a0 The reality is we bought into the culture\u2019s idea of things.\u00a0 A woman can have a huge impact just by investing herself into her children and in the case of Timothy her grandchildren.\n\nSo Paul is very clear that the woman is not to be behind the pulpit.\u00a0 And people say well does that mean a woman can\u2019t teach at all in the church?\u00a0 No, it didn\u2019t say that because we just read about Lois and Eunice teaching Timothy as a\u00a0 youth; a woman can teach men who are, I would say under the age of puberty, who aren\u2019t men yet but are boys; there\u2019s\u00a0 place for that.\u00a0 By the way, flip over to Titus 2:3-4; we desperately need this in any church, we need it at Sugar Land Bible Church, \u201cOlder women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good,\u201d look at the word \u201cteaching\u201d there, [5] \u201cso that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children.\u201d\n\nThere is a complete place in any church for a woman to teach other women, particularly younger women, and don\u2019t we need that?\u00a0 Because these younger women today, they\u2019re getting their values from television, advertisements, Madonna, whoever, and we need women to come alongside younger women and teach them and role model Christianity.\u00a0 So clearly a woman can teach kids or pre-puberty boys.\u00a0 Clearly a woman can teach younger women.\u00a0 And then over in Acts 18:26, and I\u2019ll stop with this verse, what does it say here?\u00a0 It talks about Priscilla and Aquila who came alongside of Apollos, and it says in verse 26, \u201cand he began to speak out boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila\u201d now who is Priscilla and Aquila?\u00a0 Husband and wife.\u00a0 \u201c\u2026when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and \u201dwhat? \u201cexplained to him the way of God more accurately.\u201d\n\nSo quite clearly a husband and wife together in a non-congregational setting can have a role as teachers. So when you look at the whole Bible and we say there\u2019s a prohibition on female eldership and a prohibition on female what we today would call senior pastors you should not get the impression that a woman can never teach under any circumstances.\u00a0 You\u2019ve got to look at the whole Bible on this; a woman can teach children or boys, a woman can teach other women or younger women, and a woman can teach a man in a non-congregational setting when she is alongside the authority of her husband.\u00a0 See that?\n\nSo are there gender restrictions on the office of elder? The answer in my opinion is yes.\u00a0 What about deacons, and praise the Lord I ran out of time, I don\u2019t have to talk about deacons and I\u2019m two minutes over but we will open this up to Q & A; we will have some Andy barbeque down the road [laughter].\u00a0 But that\u2019s the best I can do with a highly volatile sensitive subject.\n\nShall we pray.\u00a0 Father, we thank You for Your ancient Word and how it speaks to our lives.\u00a0 Help us to be people of the Book and to define our parameters not from the world but from what You have revealed. We\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026 Amen.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t