Avoiding the Majors by Majoring on the Minors
A Sermon by Dr. Neil Chadwick
Avoiding the Majors by Majoring on the Minors In the story of Jesus and the Woman at the Well (John 4:5-30), there are three Attempts at Avoidance - three issues brought up to distract from the important Person, Jesus, and His message.
2. The Tradition Issue - vs. 12 "Are you greater than our father Jacob?" 3. The Worship Issue - vs. 20 "You claim we must worship is in Jerusalem." But Jesus doesn't allow this woman to avoid the more important issues, and forced her to focus on her own situation and her need. Today there are many distracting and disruptive issues in the church. Much to the delight of Satan, there's a lot of infighting, and the unity Jesus prayed for has been compromised. We are going to briefly look at two of these issues. ISSUE # 1 - The place of ministry for women in the church. We offer these points:
Luke 8:3 - "Joanna the wife of Cuza, the manager of Herod's household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means." 2. Women were used by God to announce the resurrection of Jesus - they were the first to proclaim the most important message of the Christian church. Matthew 28:7 - "Then go quickly and tell his disciples: `He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him. Now I have told you.'" Yes, the men disciples didn't believe them, but they nonetheless spoke the truth about the resurrection. 3. Paul included and acknowledged women in the ministry. Phillipians 4:2,3 - I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you, loyal yokefellow, help these women who have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life. 4. There were women who served as "ministers". Romans 16:1,2 I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church in Cenchrea. I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been a great help to many people, including me. Note, the correct translation of "servant" (diakonas), as everywhere else, should be "minister".. 5. In the New Testament, there were women who prophesied. Acts 21:8,9 - "...stayed at the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the Seven. He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied." I Corinthians 11:5 - "Every woman who prays or prophesies" What does it measn to prophesy? Simply, "To speak for God." However, there are a couple of Scriptures which confuse this issue. I Timothy 2:11, 12 - "A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent." Paul here was writing to correct a particular problem in the Ephesus church, he was not laying down a law for all time. "But," you might protest, "we should take the Scripture literally." But do we? Jesus said, "Wash one another's feet". Not too many churches practice that today. And more radical, He also said, "If your hand offend you, cut it off." Only a mental patient might attempt that. The exhortation that the woman should not have "authority" is no different for men. When Peter speaks to the elders of his churches, he writes, (I Peter 5:3) "[you] should not lord it over those entrusted to you" The goal is to serve one another in love, as shepherds caring for the sheep. So how do we know this is not a universal law?
The refusal to allow women to speak was not practiced in the Biblical account of the New Testament church. It is always dangerous to base an interpretation on a single verse. Instead of to keep out the women, it would be better for the men to look at verse 8, "I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing." In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul again said that the women should keep silence in the church. I Corinthians 14:33-35 - For God is not a God of disorder but of peace. As in all the congregations of the saints, women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church. In this case, silence was called for to produce an atmosphere of respect in worship. The women, not being educated, need to learn at home. Note that this implies that the husband should take responsibility to teach his family. This again is Paul dealing with a particular problem, a problem of order in the church. However, also notice I Corinthians 11:11 - "In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman." Each contributes according to the Gifts of the Spirit given by the Lord to His Church. Then there are the Scriptures which identify the man as the "head". Ephesians 1:22 - "And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church," Ephesians 4:15 - ". . . we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ." Ephesians 5:21-25 - "Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her." But we need to understand that the "head" does not mean "being the boss". The word really refers to the "source" - as in the "head of the river" being the mountains which supply all the water to create the river. A young child on the Art Linkletter show was once asked, "How do you make your mother happy?" The litte girl answered, "Do what she says even if she is wrong". But the instutions of marriage and the church are not "parent child" relationships, nor should they be like military relationships. We, men and women, are equal before God - created in the image of God, both male and female. Yes, this was marred by sin, but in Christ we begin the journey back to what God first intended. Why then is this an issue? Often, we men are insecure, and we go about trying to establish our own importance and position by thinking less of others. We have been nurtured on the military/sports model where put-downs are thought to improve performance. Recently I heard an interview of a basketball coach, one who had finally learned that encouragement worked much better than yelling and shaming the players. So let's lay the argument about the women's role aside, and rather than focusing on the messenger, let's focus on the message of Jesus and His love, His sacrifice and promise. Remember He said, "You will know them by their fruit", not their appearance, or their gender.
Notice this, they "all" spoke in tongues. Throughout history, the involvement of the church with speaking in tongues comes and goes. When the church becomes legalistic and institutionalized, tongues diminish. At times the use of tongues is nearly lost, like a lit match on a windy day, it is nearly extinguished. However, in this century there was a genuine revival of the use of speaking in tongues. It all began in Topeka Kansas - Agnes Ozman, a young student was the first. Since then (December 31, 1900) the movement has swept the earth. Much of the confusion over this issue is due to the fact that there are 4 different uses of "tongues" in the New Testament.
First in Jerusalem and Judea (Acts 2:4 - on the Day Pentecost). In Samaria (Acts 8 - the revival under the Deacon Phillip). And to the uttermost parts of the earth (Acts 10 - Peter at Cornelius's house; Acts 19 - the Ephesus 12). 2. Praise - Acts 2:11 3. Prayer - Paul in I Corinthians 14:2 (Romans 8:28) 4. Message for the church - to be interpreted (I Corinthians 14:26). We want to be in control. But notice James' teaching concerning the tongue. Speaking in tongues relinquishes the control to God. A wrong interpretation of I Corinthians 13:9 - "When perfection comes, the imperfect disappears." Some believe that the "perfection" refers to the printed Bible. Now that we have the Bible, we have no need for the "utterance" gifts such as tongues - interpretation and prophecy. However, "perfection" only comes at the end, when the Lord returns and we are transformed. Obviously "prophecy" and "knowledge" haven't passed away, so why should "speaking in tongues"? So here's the decision we all must make, to either allow ourselves to be destracted by these issues, or to focus our attention on Jesus.  - - Return to Top of this Page  - Email a Link to this Page
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