Sermon Transcript/Article: Where is God? I’m Losing Hope.
Many of you might be smack in the middle of a
terrible situation. If not, then you’ve had one in the past. You may be
wondering – Where is God in all of this? I want to trust Him. I know He’s here.
But I just don’t feel His presence or see Him working in my life. Well – that’s
where you’re faith in God really starts to grow. Because faith is all about
believing and trusting when we don’t see it. When we decide to keep trusting
God no matter what, we won’t lose hope. My purpose for this message is to encourage
you to make Jesus the foundation of your hope so that no matter how bad your
life gets you won’t give up and become hopeless.
Jesus is the God of hope. In Ephesians 4
we read that Jesus is called our one hope. In Hebrews 7 He is our better hope –
better than the old system of commandments. In 2 Thessalonians 2 Jesus is our
good hope – the one that will encourage our hearts and strengthen us. In 1
Peter 1 He is our living hope – He has given us new birth into a living hope
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. In Titus 2 He is called
the blessed hope – we wait for the blessed hope, the God that brings salvation
who will gloriously appear. And in Proverbs 23, Jesus is our future hope
–There is surely a future hope for us and we willnot be left
with nothing.We can hope in Jesus, because He is hope. Jesus
is better than the old law and its commandments. He overcame death and was
resurrected into heaven. He will return from heaven and resurrect His followers
to live with Him for eternity. If Jesus can do all of that, than He can help us
with our problems, too.
One of God’s characteristics is that He is
omnipotent, meaning that He is all-powerful. God’s power is not restrained in
anyway by anyone. He can do anything that He pleases, but He will never do
something that violates His other attributes. We may have a tough situation
beyond our control, but we can count on the omnipotence of God to help us. Our
all-powerful God gives us power in our weakness. Because nothing is too hard
for Him, our needs and problems aren’t too complicated for Him to solve. We are
told in Isaiah 40:20 that God gives power to those who are tired and worn out.
He offers strength to the weak.
I wouldn’t be trying to encourage you if I
didn’t know what it was like to feel hopeless. This is kind of embarrassing to
admit, but I remember a time when I was right in the middle of feeling
extremely hopeless and my only goal in life was to just keep surviving until it
was time to die. My only aspiration was to survive. I believed in God. I was
commitment to following Jesus. But I felt like the problem was so overwhelming
that I couldn’t find any hope of it ever getting better. Well, now that I’ve
come through that stressful time, I do see how He blessed me. He taught me so
much and He strengthened my Christian faith. He also helped me to grow in so
many different areas of my life beyond just spiritual, because I endured,
persevered and became strengthened through the struggle.
Everyone’s situation is going to be different,
so there isn’t a certain formula to follow for trusting Jesus. But it starts
with going to God first, because that shows we are acknowledging that He is our
foundation of hope.And then it requires that we hold on and keep
trusting, even if it’s for a really long time. Like it says in Romans 5:3-5 our
problems will develop our perseverance, leading to good character, and giving
us hope. And we must hang on to that hope that God will come through and not
disappoint us. One day, the problem will be over, you will be an overcomer,
and looking back you will be able to see that God was present and that
He was helping you.
There are so many stories in the Bible,
especially in the Old Testament, about people who were in seemingly hopeless
situations but they actually overcame because God was with them in their
situation. It was hard to choose just one story. But I settled on Joseph, the
son of Jacob and Rachel. His story is covered in the book of Genesis starting
in chapter 37 and continuing to chapter 50. I’m just going to paraphrase the
story because it’s so long, but you can read it for yourself.
17 year old Joseph was Jacob’s favorite son and
his brothers knew it. This led to jealously and hatred. Their hatred became
even worse when Joseph bragged about the dreams he was having that he would
rule over his brothers and parents. The brothers despised Joseph to the point
where they wanted him dead. Fortunately, the oldest brother Rueben intervened
so they settled for sticking Joseph in an empty cistern in the ground and then
sold him off as a slave to a caravan of Ishmaelite’s on their way to Egypt. Now
I know that Joseph probably really irritated his brothers, but no one ever
deserves abuse or to be sold into slavery. In Egypt, Joseph was sold to
Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials. And then the Bible tells us in Genesis 39
verse 2 – “The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered and he lived in the
house of his Egyptian master.” So despite the abuse of his brothers, being
uprooted from his normal life, and being sold as a slave – the Lord was
still with Joseph. Joseph was treated pretty well in Egypt until Potiphar’s
wife falsely accused him of sexual harassment. Then Joseph was sent to jail.
But verse 39:21 says – “the Lord was with Him; He showed him kindness
and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.” And then verse 23
states – “The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because
the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.” God
used Joseph to interpret dreams and to prophecy about the coming famine. In
chapter 41 verse 41 we are told that at 30 years old Joseph was in charge of
managing the entire country of Egypt. Joseph realized how blessed he was and
acknowledged God’s provision by naming his children Manasseh and Ephraim in
honor of God. Manasseh means “forget” – Joseph said that God made him forget
all of his hardships and his father’s home. Ephraim means “double prosperity”.
Joseph said that God prospered him in the land of his suffering and sorrow. The
story continues on and Joseph is eventually reunited with his brothers and
father and there is forgiveness and reconciliation. I’ll actually read now from
chapter 45 verses 1-11 which shows how Joseph reflected back on his problems
and suffering yet saw that they were used by God not only to benefit himself
but many other people too.
(Read Genesis 45:1-11)
Joseph’s story of abuse, rejection, slavery,
false accusation, and imprisonment is still being talked about today. God is
using Joseph’s experiences to teach us and to give us hope. And God can use
your story of how you overcame hopelessness to help other people. Your story
can have a bigger, eternal purpose that glorifies God.In Joseph’s story, we
saw a reoccurring statement: “The Lord was with Joseph.” As I was reading other
stories in the Old Testament, I discovered that the Lord was with other people,
too. The preincarnate Christ was with Hagar after Sarah mistreated her in
Genesis 16 and 21. He was with Abraham before the sacrifice of Isaac in Genesis
22, with Jacob in a dream in 31, with Moses in a burning bush in Exodus 3, with
Gideon while he was threshing wheat in Judges 6, with the mother of Samson when
she believed that she was unable to have a baby in Judges 13, and with Elijah
in the desert while he was praying for God to take his life in 1 Kings 19. The
Lord was with all of them. And these weren’t elite, super spiritual, holier
than thou people. These were normal human beings that couldn’t measure up to
God’s perfect standards of holiness, yet the Lord intervened in their lives.
And He intervenes in our lives, too.
On the Voice of the Martyrs website, I read an
inspiring story about a group of people in Mexico that overcame their feelings
of hopelessness. When 15 families told area guerilla leaders of their desire to
seek God, the leaders kicked them out of their village in Chiapas, Mexico. The
families slept in a stable for over a year. When the armed guerillas forced the
families out of the village, they had to leave behind all of their belongings.
Though they had nowhere to go and nothing to eat, no one was allowed to help
them. Ruth, a volunteer at Voice of the Martyrs, went to Mexico to help anyhow.
And for some reason, no one tried to stop her. As she gave the families food
and water, they were so hopeless that they wouldn’t even look in her eyes.
After they had eaten, Ruth showed them a Gospel tract that included a picture
of baby Jesus in a manger. The families, sleeping in a stable, immediately felt
a connection. They listened as Ruth shared the Gospel using the Story of Jesus
tract, and they were moved that God understood their circumstances. They placed
their trust in Jesus that day. Ruth and the local church continued to visit the
new Christians and provided for their needs. Together, they prayed that God
would provide a way for them to get their own land. Several months later, the
Mexican government interceded by providing them with over 7 acres of land and
paying 75% of the funds. The families built homes from used construction
materials. There was no running water, so they used a hose that brought water
from the mountain onto the property. Sometimes the guerilla leaders would cut
the hose with machetes to harass them. After visiting their homes, the families
took Voice of the Martyrs workers to see the place where they would build a
church and a school. Ruth had encouraged them to dedicate a portion of the land
for a church since God had provided land for them.
I thought that was a neat story. Although those
people lived as refugees for a year, God sent help and now they have their own
homes on their own land. And most importantly, they became followers of Christ.
But really – we don’t want to go through that kind of suffering. We really just
want God to change our circumstances. In actuality, He is God, He could do it.
But hope is not based on circumstances. It’s not based on what someone else
must do or must stop doing. Hope is based on Jesus. When everything else seems
to be falling apart, we have to have our stability in Jesus. The Bible says
that He won’t fail us. Our problems are like a big storm. And we must weather
the storm, and some storms will last a long time. But they will end. You have
to believe that.
Our Bible tells us over and over that we can
trust in God and find our hope in Him. Lamentations 3:25 The Lord is good to
those who hope in Him, to the one who seeks Him. Romans 15:13 May the God of
hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may
overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 5:5 Hope does not
disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts.
This earthly life is tough. And it will continue
to be tough. And some of us - will have it really, really bad. But God is with
us. And we need to hang on to Hope. Whether you feel God’s presence or not, He
is with you in your situation. Remember that our problems are like a storm. We
must weather the storm. Like all storms, our problems will pass too. Jesus is
our hope that will keep us anchored, secure, and able to endure anything.You know
what I’m talking about. I’m sure some of you are absolutely shocked at what
you’ve been able to endure over the years. But it will be so worth it to hang
on, because when the storm is over, you will be able to look back, strengthened
in your faith and then you will be able to see the mighty way that God worked
in your life. So basically, what I’m asking you to do – is never give up. Hang
on and grow closer to Jesus. And then, when you have overcome your
problem, glorify God and appreciate that He is your foundation and sustainer of
hope.
David, from the Bible, was a man that
experienced many troubles over his lifetime and he even hid in caves from men
who chasing him down and trying to kill him. So I’ll end with these very
appreciative words written by David in Psalm 30: “I give you all the credit,
God. You got me out of that mess, you didn’t let my enemies gloat. God, my God,
I yelled for help and you put me together.God, you pulled me out of the grave, you gave me
another chance at life when I was down-and-out. All you saints – Sing your
hearts out to God. Thank him to his face. He gets angry once in a while, but
across a lifetime there is only love. The nights of crying your eyes out give
way to days of laughter… I’m about to burst with song; I can’t keep quiet about
you. God, my God, I can’t thank you enough.”
Sermon Transcript/Article:
What is the Meaning of Life? (Ecclesiastes)
What is the Meaning of Life?
Most of us have asked that
question. And there is variety of answers that people come up with.
Well author Joseph Campbell
says that - “Life has no meaning. Each of us has meaning and we bring it to
life. It is a waste to be asking the question when you are the answer.” Author Henry Miller puts it
this way - “Life has to be given a meaning because of the obvious fact that it
has no meaning.
And I was really surprised by
this one. It’s a quote from Charles Schulz, the creator of the Peanuts comic
strip. “I don't know the meaning of life. I don't know why we are here. I think
life is full of anxieties and fears and tears. It has a lot of grief in it, and
it can be very grim. And I do not want to be the one who tries to tell somebody
else what life is all about. To me it's a complete mystery.
The last quote that I’ll read
is from Max Lucado, a pastor and Christian author. He said “Philosophers can
debate the meaning of life, but you need a Lord who can declare the meaning of
life.”
Well according to the Bible
in Isaiah 43:7 our purpose, the meaning for our lives, is for God's
glory. It’s all about God. He wants our love. He wants our praise. He
wants our worship. He wants us to have a relationship with Him. And He wants us
to live a life of service that accomplishes His will.
King Solomon wrote the book
of Ecclesiastes which is found in the Bible. It’s a short book. It only takes
about a ½ hour to read. And the whole point for his writing this book was to
express that life is meaningless apart from God.
Apart From God –
Everything is Meaningless
At one time or another,
everyone thinks – If only (fill in the blank) then I would be so happy and my
life would be wonderful. If only I had a different job, a better house, a new
car, and much more money. Solomon begins his book of Ecclesiastes by reflecting
on his past and noting how he has changed. Like all of us, Solomon wanted to be
happy. And he had it all. He got the different job. He was the king of Israel.
He got the better house, actually it was a palace. He acquired so much money
and material possession. He had over 700 wives and over 300 mistresses. He even
had great intelligence. He was a genius. However, despite all of his
accomplishments and material possessions – Solomon realized that His life was
absolutely meaningless. He wrote Ecclesiastes to warn others so that they could
learn from his mistakes.
He says in chapter 1“Everything is
meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless!” What do people get
for all their hard work under the sun? Generations come and generations go, but
the earth never changes. History merely repeats itself. It has all been done
before. Nothing under the sun is truly new. Sometimes people say, “Here is
something new!” But actually it is old; nothing is ever truly new. We don’t
remember what happened in the past, and in future generations, no one will
remember what we are doing now. (1:2-4, 9-11 NLT)
So… in the future, most
people really aren’t going to be impressed with what he own or what we have
accomplished. Like Solomon, we will discover that more money, fame, or power
won’t make us happier. But the world tells us to demand happiness, do all we
can to attain it, make personal satisfaction our chief goal. Well, Solomon had
attained everything the world thought he needed to guarantee happiness and
fulfillment. But as he reflected back on his life he discovered that his power,
his position, all of his wives, his wealth, and his accomplishments never made
him happy or brought meaning to his life.
The Bible contrasts the
world’s view, it says that true happiness and meaning is when we live for God’s
glory. We can use our accomplishments and possessions to please Him. We can use
them to be a witness for Jesus, to show compassion and hospitality. We can be
generous with money and use it to serve God by helping others in His name and
supporting Christian ministries. When we use our stuff in ways that worship God
– then we will find true meaning and importance in what we have.
The Disappointments of
This World
Something else that Solomon
wrote about was the several disappointments he had observed in the world and he
wondered why they had to exist. In chapters 3 and 4 he pointed out 6 apparent
contradictions in the world.
The first contradiction is
that wickedness rules where justice should. He says in 3:16 “In addition, I
have also noticed that in this world you find wickedness where justice and
right ought to be.” (Good News)
This is true for us, too.
Wickedness does rule where justice should. According to the International
Justice Mission - 30 million people are currently being held and used as
slaves. 2 million children are exploited through the commercial sex industry.
Hundreds of millions of the poorest people in the developing world are abused
by corrupt police who extort bribes and brutalize innocent citizens. All of
that is injustice.
2nd - People
created in God’s image end up dying just as the animals do. Chapter 3:19-20 –
Solomon writes“The same fate awaits human beings and animals alike. One dies
just like the other. They are the same kind of creature. A human being is no
better off than an animal, because life has no meaning for either. They are
both going to the same place—the dust. They both came from it; they will both
go back to it.”
As Christian believers, we
know that this is not true for us. Our death is not just like the animals. If
we’re followers of Jesus, we have a confidence that we will spend an eternity
with Him. John 3:16 promises us that God so loved the world that He gave His
only Son (Jesus). Whoever puts his trust in God’s Son will not be lost but will
have life that lasts forever.
His 3rd
contradiction is - No one comforts oppressed people. Chapter 4:1 - “Then I
looked again at all the injustice that goes on in this world. The oppressed
were crying, and no one would help them. No one would help them, because their
oppressors had power on their side.”
It is unbelievable how many
people are actually repressed, persecuted, or abused in this world. We even
have oppressed people in our own communities and in our churches. For example:
It is estimated that 1 in 4 women experience physical abuse within their lifetime.
Every day in the US, more than three women are murdered by their husbands or
boyfriends. Another example is that people all over the world are being
persecuted and killed for their religious beliefs.
4th The reason
that many of us work is because we envy what others have. Solomon said this in
4:4 - “I have also learned why people work so hard to succeed: it is because
they envy the things their neighbors have. But it is useless. It is like
chasing the wind.”
Most of us work for the money
– not just to pay the bills, but to get stuff. And it isn’t just Americans; the
rest of the world is becoming very materialistic, too. But what if we made the
focus of our work about representing Jesus well in our workplace? What if we
asked Him daily how He wants us to serve Him and love others while we work?
That would make our vocation much more meaningful.
His 5th contradiction
is that people are lonely. 4:7-10 “I have noticed something
else in life that is useless. Here is someone who lives alone.
He has no son, no brother, yet he is always working, never satisfied with the
wealth he has. For whom is he working so hard and denying himself any pleasure?
This is useless, too—and a miserable way to live. Two are better off than one,
because together they can work more effectively. If one of them falls down, the
other can help him up. But if someone is alone and falls, it's just too bad,
because there is no one to help him.”
So, people are lonely. They
sure are. And people are lonely for all sorts of reasons: death, divorce, being
isolated at home or in a nursing home, not having a family or group to belong
to, losing connection with neighbors or friends. And #6 - Fame doesn’t last –
Solomon said in 4:15-16“I thought about all the people who
live in this world, and I realized that somewhere among them there is a young
man who will take the king's place. There may be no limit to the number of
people a king rules; when he is gone, no one will be grateful for what he has
done. It is useless. It is like chasing the wind.” Yes. The important people of
politics will be replaced soon by someone new. And the famous celebrities are
always changing. For a time, they are well known and on the front of magazines,
but it doesn’t last long and people are interested in following someone else.
Solomon’s 6 disappointments
are still disappointing people today. We have a lot of disappointments in our
modern world. And usually we don’t really understand why these disappointments
exist. Why does God allow them? Many of the questions of life won’t be answered
to our satisfaction because we lack the ability to understand the answers. The
answers do exist. And one day, when we are beyond this earthly world, living a
perfect life with Jesus, we will get our answers. In the meantime, we have to
trust God and not lose faith in Him.
Also, we don’t have to just sit back and
helplessly observe the injustices and disappointments in the world. We can
visit and comfort oppressed and lonely people. We can speak out against
injustice. We can support the ministries that help meet the physical and
spiritual needs of people. We can tell others how to live an eternal and
perfect life beyond death. There is so much that we can do. And if you don’t
know where to start - just ask God. If you truly want to serve God and make a
positive difference in this world, just ask Him, and wait for the answer. He will give you
the opportunities when you ask.
Solomon’s Conclusions and
Warnings
(The key verse of Ecclesiastes
is 10:19. A party gives laughter, and wine gives happiness, and money gives
everything! (NLT) No. I’m just joking.)
The (real) key verse of
Ecclesiastes is 2:11 – But as I looked at everything I had worked so hard to
accomplish, it was all so meaningless—like chasing the wind. There was nothing
really worthwhile anywhere.” This is true for us today. If we had everything
that we wanted, we would still be dissatisfied. We would find meaninglessness
in it all.
Solomon concluded his book
with these words.” Now, what should we learn from everything
that is written in this book? The most important thing a person can do is to
respect God and obey his commands (another version says to fear God), because
he knows about everything people do—even the secret things. He knows about all
the good and all the bad, and he will judge people for everything they do.”
(12:13-14 ERV)
So, now we know that life
just from a human perspective is meaningless. Solomon does point us to the
answer of how to have a meaningful life. He tells us that we need to fear God.
That doesn’t mean that we need to be afraid of Him. It means that we respect
Him, stand in awe of Him. We recognize Him for who He is – our Creator, our
sustainer of this earthly life, the One who can give us eternal life. Also,
Solomon says to keep His commandments, to obey Him. One day we will face God
and He will judge us for how we lived our life and how we used the blessings
that He gave to us.
Solomon gave a similar
warning in 4:9 - Follow the impulses of your heart. If something looks good to
you, pursue it. But know also that not just anything goes;
You have to answer to God for every last bit of it. (Message)
God wants us to desire Him,
and that means keeping our focus on Him. And when we do this we deflate sins
such as self-importance, pride, and selfishness. When our focus is on God, even
on our worst of days, we can find meaning, purpose, and joy.
Chris Esty, on his website
The Bible Post said this about Desiring God:
Desiring God is more than
wanting to receive good gifts from Him, it’s a lifelong journey in which we
pursue all that He desires of us. We will rely on His wisdom instead of leaning
on our own understanding. We will maintain a prayerful life. We will expect the
coming of Jesus with joy—welcoming opportunities to share this blessed hope
with others. In short, we will follow the example of Jesus who expressed desire
for God at all times. Furthermore, desiring God means we will see His way as
the only way by which to live aright. It means we will want to be holy because
He is holy. God’s commands will govern our lives. And we will serve Him with
gladness every step of the way—knowing that each step we take will draw us
closer to our eternal reward.
I’ll end with these song
lyrics written by artist Jessie McClure:
As I came, surely I will go.
What have I gained at the end of the road? Anything that I can touch will soon
go back to dust. And I will follow suit. My heart belongs to who I can’t see.
But soon I will see you face to face. Looking in your eyes, I’m no longer
chasing the wind. I’m chasing You. I encourage you to chase
after God. Desire Him. He is our only satisfaction. He is our true purpose. God
is the meaning for our life.
Sermon Transcript/Article:
Complacency in the Church - Are We Too Self-Centered?
I’m going to spend a few
minutes talking about complacency in the church. Now, lately, I’ve been praying
for boldness, so this might just ruffle some feathers. I think that we’re
living in a time when a lot of Christians don’t give a dog gone about ministry,
outreach, or growing spiritually. However, a lot us sure want God to bless us
with financial prosperity and material success. Some of the largest churches
out there are using TV to suck in people through the promise of health, wealth,
and happiness. But, this isn’t what Jesus preached when He walked the earth.
Jesus preached giving not getting, generosity not stinginess. You can find that
in Mark chapter 4. But I think that the Christian church, as a whole, is
failing in this area.
For example: soup kitchens
remain open only a few days out of the week because there aren’t enough
volunteers. Christian summer camps are dwindling in attendance and many are
scrambling to find staff. Only a few people show up to the occasional prayer
meeting. 400,000 children are still in foster care in the United States. We
still have human trafficking, even in the US – slavery has grown since the
1800s, not decreased. We still have child abuse and domestic violence. People
are hurting.People are suffering.
People desperately need the
Lord. But how much do we really care? It appears that we don’t act like our
Christian faith is a priority in our lives. Work. Entertainment and eating out.
TV and Internet. Soccer and basketball practice – it seems that they rank
higher than Christian ministry and outreach for many of us. According to a
Barna poll, only 5% of all Christians in the United States actually tithe 10%
of their income. That means we’re missing out on 139 billion dollars that could
be used to fund churches and ministries.
Now if all of this doesn’t
apply to you – then great. But it applies to a lot us. It applies to me. Either
we appreciate our Christian faith and the salvation that we have through Jesus
or we don’t. We can’t just say a special prayer, show up to church and think
that we have our eternity secured. The Bible says that a true follower of Jesus
will be willing to sacrifice home, spouse, brothers and sisters, parents,
children, whatever for the sake of the kingdom of God. This is what Jesus told
a local wealthy official in Luke chapter 18 when he was inquiring about how to
get eternal life.
Solomon said in Proverbs 1:32
that the complacency of fools will destroy them. The Message version of
Jeremiah 6: 14 sounds way too familiar: My people are broken, shattered, and
they put on band aids saying: It’s not so bad. You’ll be just fine. But things
are not just fine. John warns us in Revelation 3 not to be like the Laodicean
church who professed to know Christ but didn’t really belong to Him or dedicate
their lives to serving Him. In Hebrews 6:12 we are told to not be lazy, but to
imitate those who through faith and patience - inherit what has been promised.
This writer was speaking to Christians who weren’t maturing quickly enough.
Yes. The Christian walk is a growth process that needs developing. But do we
need to move a little bit quicker? If these really are the last days, then we
need to feel some urgency and get moving.
I’m disappointed in myself. I
grew up in a Christian home and at 45 years old, I should be much more
spiritually mature. I haven’t been motivated like this for very long. So, let’s
challenge ourselves and let’s challenge each other. Being a representative of
Jesus is serious business.
Brother Andrew risked his
life smuggling Bibles into China. William Wilberforce risked his political
career trying to put an end to the slave trade in the British Empire. Elizabeth
Fry dedicated her life to social reform in London – ministering to prisoners
and setting up homeless shelters. William Hunter at only 19 years old was
imprisoned for reading his Bible and burned at the stake for refusing to deny
his spiritual beliefs. And Amy Carmichael went to India to rescue girls forced
into prostitution in Hindu temples. These people did more.
As a fellow believer in
Christ I want to challenge you to do more. I need to do more. But it’s easy for
us to become complacent and selfish when everyone else is doing it. We need to
give and sacrifice until it’s uncomfortable. We need to stop being satisfied
with minor achievements. We need to stop making excuses for ourselves and for
others. So let’s find ways to boldly speak out and let’s find ways to motivate
each other. Let’s get leading by example. Our kids and friends need to see us
funding the next ministry opportunity. They need to see us reading our Bibles.
They need to see us serving God in the community. They need to see us praying
and worshiping God. Because - being a follower of Jesus isserious
business.
Sermon Transcript/Article:
What Does it Mean to Be a Committed Follower of Jesus?
Well, I’m going to answer
that question, but first I want to tell you about a time when I was committed
to something else. Back in 1982, I joined 4H. Our group wasn’t an agricultural
club though. We did cooking and sewing. We were called the Needles and Noodles
4H Club of Clackamas, Oregon. And I was a really active member of this
organization. I even entered the 4H February food contests and participated in
the local county fair and state fair. So, you could say that I was committed to
my 4H membership.
Now what do you think would
happen if I contacted the 4H headquarters and told them that I wanted to be
publicly honored and recognized as an outstanding committed member of 4H? They
would probably ask: Are you actively involved in 4H now? And I’d have to say
“No” but back in the 80s, I was a very committed member. My mom was even the
club leader. I even took the official 4H pledge. But just because I took that
pledge back in the 80s and was committed to 4H - doesn’t mean that I am still
considered a committed 4H club member.
In the Bible, Romans 11 tells
us a similar story. The Israelites had a heritage that centered around God. But
throughout the Old Testament, we see that many of them got to the point where
they really didn’t take their faith seriously anymore. And after Jesus came to
the Earth, many of them rejected Jesus as being the actual Son of God. Since
their involvement with God ended, they were no longer considered followers of
God. Like my involvement with 4H ended, I am no longer considered a 4H member.
Since the unbelieving Jews were no longer serious about their faith – the offer
to follow Jesus was now made available to everyone else too.
This offer for everyone to
follow Jesus is recorded in Romans. Paul used the example of an olive tree to
represent God’s covenant of salvation that was made with the Jewish people
through Abraham. He explained that some of the branches of the olive tree, which
represented the unbelieving Jews, were broken off because they no longer
followed God. But the branches from a wild olive tree, which represented
Gentiles or everyone else, were grafted into the original tree because of their
faith in God. I’ll start reading at verse 17 of Romans 11.
17 It is as if some of the branches from
an olive tree have been broken off, and the branch of a wild olive tree has
been joined to that first tree. If you are not a Jew, you are the same as that
wild branch, and you now share the strength and life of the first tree. 18 But don’t act as if you are better
than those branches that were broken off (meaning the unbelieving Jews). You
have no reason to be proud of yourself, because you don’t give life to the
root. The root gives life to you. 19 You might say, “Branches were broken
off so that I could be joined to their tree.” 20 That is true. But those branches (the
Jews) were broken off because they did not believe. And you (Gentiles or
everyone else) continue to be part of the tree only because you believe. Don’t
be proud, but be afraid. 21 If God did not let the natural
branches of that tree stay, He will not let you stay if you stop believing. 22 So you see that God is kind, but he
can also be very strict. He punishes those who stop following him. But he is
kind to you, if you continue trusting in His kindness. If you don’t continue
depending on Him, you will be cut off from the tree. That’s straight from the
Bible.
I grew up thinking that the
special prayer I said when I was 4 years old was what I really needed to keep
myself from going to Hell. But there is so much more to salvation than just
saying a prayer. It was what followed after that prayer that really proved
whether or not I was a follower of Christ. I don’t think that Jesus is really
impressed when we join the group walking toward the altar to accept His
salvation if there is nothing spiritual that follows later. I don’t think He is
impressed with our past church involvement if we’re taking a break from Him and
the spiritual stuff now. He wants us committed to Him now, every day, forever
and ever. He wants us continually moving forward in our faith, and in our
commitment to serve Him, and in our relationship with Him. It is this sold out
serious faith that impresses Jesus.
Acts 5 tells the story of how
some of the apostles were persecuted for obeying God rather than the Jewish
officials. They continued to preach about Jesus and heal people in His name
because they were committed to following Jesus no matter what it cost them. At
the end of the story we’re told that the apostles were flogged with whips. But
they rejoiced because they had been given the honor for suffering for the name
of Jesus. And then, even though
they had just been physically persecuted, they went back to the temple and went
house to house teaching about Jesus.
Stephen, another dedicated
follower of Jesus, spoke out against the Jewish people accusing them of
rejecting God and killing His son Jesus. This boldness resulted in his death.
But He is an example of someone who was truly committed to Jesus. I’ll read part of Stephen’s
speech that that he spoke to the legalistic Jews called the Sanhedrin to that
you can hear his passion for following Jesus and for speaking the truth. I’ll
read near the end of his speech when he gets really fired up in Acts chapter 7
starting in verse 47. (NLT version)
46 “(King) David found favor with God and
asked for the privilege of building a permanent Temple for the God of Jacob.47 But
it was Solomon who actually built it. 48 However, the Most High
(God) doesn’t live in temples made by human hands. As the prophet (Isaiah)
says, (about God) 49 ‘Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool. Could you build me a
temple as good as that?’
asks the Lord.
‘Could you build me such a resting place? 50 Didn’t
my hands make both heaven and earth?’ 51 “You stubborn people! You are heathen
at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? That’s
what your ancestors did, and so do you! 52 Name one prophet
your ancestors didn’t persecute! They even killed the ones who predicted the
coming of the Righteous One—the Messiah whom you betrayed and murdered. 53 You
deliberately disobeyed God’s law, even though you received it from the hands of
angels.” 54 The Jewish leaders were infuriated by
Stephen’s accusation, and they shook their fists at him in rage. 55 But
Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily into heaven and saw the glory
of God, and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 56 And
he told them, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in
the place of honor at God’s right hand!” 57 Then they put their hands over their
ears and began shouting. They rushed at (Stephen) 58 and
dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. His accusers took off their
coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 As they stoned him, Stephen prayed,
“Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 He fell to his knees,
shouting, “Lord, don’t charge them with this sin!” And with that, (Stephen)
died.
Stephen was a really good
example of what it means to be a committed follower of Jesus. It’s not
something that we can do half-heartedly or do just a few months out of the
year. Jesus wants followers that are appreciative of Him, that are committed to
Him, and are willing to be a little radical for Him. He’s not going to ask all
of us to go through physical persecution like the apostles did. But, He may ask
us to do more than we are doing now and to be willing to sacrifice. But it will
look different for each one of us. We need to ask ourselves. Am
I passionate about growing closer to Jesus? Am I sold out for Him? Am I in this
100%, 365 days a year for the rest of my life? Am I so dedicated to Jesus that
I am willing to sacrifice whatever He asks of me? Or am I doing just the
minimum and hoping that it’s good enough to get me into heaven.
Let’s remember what Paul said
in Romans 11, verse 22. So you see that God is kind, but He can also be very
strict. He punishes those who stop following him. But he is kind to you, if you
continue trusting in His kindness. If you don’t continue depending on Him, you will
be cut off from the tree.
Sermon Transcript/Article - What is the Will of God for Your Life?
What is the Will of God for Your Life? So many of us
desperately want to know the will of God. But God’s will is more than an
occupation, a place to go, or knowing who to marry. The Bible has much to say
about the will of God, but it’s mostly instructions about how to live a life
pleasing to God rather than how to make specific decisions that will affect the
events in our life. The Bible says that it is God’s will that we live a holy, sanctified
life, that we trust God, that we don’t conform to the world, but instead be
transformed by changing the way that we think, that we be willing to suffer for
doing good for Him, that we are thankful to Him for everything, that we rejoice
in God, pray to Him often, that we seek godly counsel, that we read the Bible,
and that we conform to the image of God’s Son – Jesus. Also 1 Timothy 2 in
verse 4 says that God’s will is for all people to be saved and to understand
the truth about Him. God is foremost concerned about the salvation of people
and that we are living holy lives that please him. But you may have reached a
level of spiritual maturity in which you are now asking how you can make more
specific decisions that line up with God’s will for you.
Pastor John MacArthur says the following about finding
God’s will. If you have salvation through Jesus than you have the Holy Spirit
living within you. And Spirt-filled people do not stumble around trying to find
out what God wants. They just go. People often ask – How do I know my spiritual
gift? And MacArthur says that the best way is to live a Spirit-filled life, see
what God does through you, look back in retrospect and say – Oh, that’s what I
do when God has control of me. Apparently, that is my gift. There is no need to
get analytical. The whole point is that we need the Spirit of God to be
released in our lives. The Spirit-filled life is living every moment as though
you are standing in the presence of Jesus Christ. It is being saturated with the
things of Christ with His Word, and His person. The only way - is to study the
Bible which discloses all that He is. To be spirit-filled is to live a
Christ-conscious life saturated with the thoughts of Christ – spending time
with His word and spending time with Him. And there is no shortcut to that.
Basically, if you’re not interested in reading His word
and growing close to Him, then there’s no point in trying to discover His will
for your life. Because His will is all about Him. The purpose of His will is to
bring people to Him. Finding His will for our life is not about us feeling
accomplished or fulfilled. So, if you’re not interested in living a
Christ-conscious life, then there’s no reason to do His will
You may be asking - what is it that God wants you to do?
Well, what do you like to do? What do you do for fun? What are you interested
in? What things excite you? What are you good at? What opportunities do you
have? Look at what you are doing now and see how you can do those things to
serve God. I don’t think that finding God’s will is as complicated as we sometimes
make it out to be. Get doing things to serve Jesus and the Holy Spirit will
help you figure it out. So where do you start? Well, you could look at the
different ministry opportunities that are available to you and try some of them?
If you start serving meals at the homeless shelter and find that you really
don’t enjoy it, then it’s probably not God’s will for you to be doing this. God
is going to work with your personality and your interests. He wants you to
enjoy serving Him and to become passionate about it. The main point is to get
started and explore areas that are interesting to you. John MacArthur expands
on this and says that it’s important to “keep moving. So many people sit around
waiting for that celestial crane to move them, saying – I don’t know what God
wants me to do. They need to start moving so God can steer them to that area of
service He has planned. Knowing God’s will may mean pushing down a narrow line
until you hit a dead end. At that point, God will open a door so wide, you
won’t be able to see around it – only through it. You may bounce off a lot of
closed doors, but that is God’s way of forcing you into His open one. Get
rolling and be persistent. You see, the will of God is not primarily a place.
The will of God is not, first of all, for you to go there or work here. The
will of God concerns you as a person. If you are the right you, you can follow
your desires and you will fulfill His will.” Being the right you is spoken
about in Romans 12:1-2 “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I
plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you.
Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind HHHe will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship
Him.Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God
transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will
learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” So –
Offer yourself in sacrificial service to God and think like God. This way you
will know His perfect will for you.
Lets’ say that you do have clarity and you know exactly
what you are going to do and you believe that it’s God’s will. Now that doesn’t
mean that you won’t have opposition and obstacles to overcome. Sometimes
family, friends, and church leaders don’t have the same excitement that you do. It is helpful to have input and
confirmation and encouragement from your church, but it’s not required. The
Holy Spirit will lead you and give you confirmation. Your church leaders might
have a different vision than what you want to do. So, if you really feel that
God is leading you to do something, then go do it. We need to obey God, not
other people – in reality they are just humans and see things through human
eyes with their own human biases. Yes. It is important to get wise counsel from
spiritually mature people, but you are the one that gets to make the final
decision. If you have accepted Jesus’ salvation
and you follow Jesus then you have the Holy Spirit living in you. And the Holy
Spirit will tell you what He wants you to do with your life. This is something
that does not come from someone else, this comes from the Holy Spirit. You do
not need a priest or a pastor or a spouse to intercede between you and God. The
Holy Spirit will directly lead you. Instead of waiting around to get permission
or an invitation – you may need to just go do it.
One of my favorite heroes is Gladys
Alyward. After hearing about China, she became passionate about going there to
teach people about Jesus. But after only 3 months of missionary training, the
mission agency told her that she was not qualified to go to China and that they
felt she would never be able to learn the language. So she had no agency to
send her there. But Gladys saved up money working as a housemaid and then she went
to China. There in China- she did learn the Chinese language, she preached
about Jesus, and she cared for unwanted children. One of her most memorable
accomplishments was during wartime when she successfully led 100 orphaned
children on a 100 mile walk from their bombed out village to a safer part of
China. It’s a good thing that Gladys listened to God instead of the missionary
agency that had told her she wasn’t qualified to go. I’ll read a quote from
Gladys Alyward. “If
God has called you to China or any other place and you are sure in your own
heart, let nothing deter you. Remember, it is God who has called you and it is
the same as when He called Moses or Samuel.”
Theologian
Martin Luther forever changed Christianity when he rejected the practices of
the Roman Catholic church. Based on his understanding of the Bible, Martin
Luther publicly declared that the Bible did not
give the pope the exclusive right to interpret scripture. Luther felt that God
was calling him to tell others that the key to spiritual salvation was not to
fear God or be enslaved by religious dogma, but to believe that faith alone
would bring salvation. He decided to ignore the strong requests from the church
officials that told him to stop speaking out against them. That led to his
official excommunication from the Roman Catholic Church. But as a result of
following God’s will, Luther translated the Bible from Latin into the German
language, which gave ordinary people the opportunity to read God’s word for
themselves. Martin Luther started protestant Christianity. He is the one that said:
“Peace if possible, but truth at any
rate.”
Elisabeth Elliot went with her husband to Ecuador to
minister to the Auca tribe. Despite the fact that they killed her husband with
a spear, Elizabeth felt that it was God’s will for her to stay and live with
the tribe. As a result, she was able to witness to these people and display
Christ’s forgiveness and reconciliation. Many people made decisions to follow
Jesus, because she chose to stay. I’ll give you a quote from Elizabeth Elliot,
too. “Does it make sense to pray for guidance about the future if we are not
obeying in the thing that lies before us today? How many momentous events in
Scripture depended on one person's seemingly small act of obedience! Rest
assured: Do what God tells you to do now, and, depend upon it, you will be
shown what to do next.”
You might find yourself if a similar
situation in which the opposition is strong, but the personal call of God is
stronger. Here’s an example: Let’s say that there is a woman that feels like
the Holy Spirit is leading her to preach about Jesus. But maybe she belongs to a
church that doesn’t want women to preach. Maybe that’s their belief or just their
tradition. That’s okay. She doesn’t need to change them in order for her to do
God’s will. She can still find a way to preach. She could find a different
church that encourages women to preach. She could start her own church and
preach there. She could invite people to her home and preach to them. She could
preach through videos over the Internet or preach downtown on the street
corner. She could rent a conference room at a hotel, advertise, and then preach
her message. Or, she could be a guest speaker at another church. I think that
God is thrilled when a person – man or woman – wants to speak publicly about
Him, telling others about how they too can have eternal salvation through Jesus
and about how to grow spiritually.
We need to figure out how to get through
the obstacles in order to go do what we are called to do. If you are going to do
the will of God, then you need to expect spiritual opposition from Satan. But
you have got to get through that. God wants you to do His will and he will give
you the means and the abilities to do what he’s called you to do. And we have
that promise straight from Jesus who said in John 14:13 “You
can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring
glory to the Father.” He promises that He
will give us what we need to bring glory to God and further His message, if
we’re asking according to His will.
There are times, when we’re looking for
God’s will, when we may need to slow down and wait it out. Sometimes we find
ourselves in really difficult situations in which it wouldn’t be good to just
go for it and see if God closes the door. In these situations we may need to be
more concerned about the present moment and wait for God to reveal the next
step. When we ask for specific, for the moment guidance, and we obey God, He
will faithfully show us the next step when it’s time. This is how we learn to
walk with God, trusting Him - one step at a time. Psalm 37:23-24 can be very
reassuring to us that – “The Lord
directs the steps of the godly.He
delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never
fall,for the Lord holds them
by the hand.
We can use this same step by step
approach on a daily basis when we want to do God’s will in our everyday normal
life. What do you think would happen if while on your way to work, you said
“God, what do you want me to do today in my workplace? Please show me. Please
give me a special opportunity today to represent You.” It sounds too simple
doesn’t it? But I know from experience that God will answer this question when
you sincerely want to serve him. God knows you better than anyone else knows
you. He knows the perfect situations to send your way. I think it’s important
that we strive for living in His will on a daily basis.
In review: The
most important thing about God’s will is that it is His will for everyone to
know the truth about Him and to have salvation through Jesus.
Then, it is
God’s will for us to live a Christ-conscious life saturated with
the thoughts of Christ – spending time with His word and spending time with
Him.
Then, we can
get busy doing things for Jesus and trust that God will steer
uso that area of service that He has
planned for us. And when we are
pursuing God’s will, we need to expect opposition from the enemy and maybe from
family and friends and people at church. But it’s crucial to obey God rather
than people. God has given us specific interests, talents, gifts, and a special
personality to be successful at doing His will.
I’m going to
end this beautiful passage from Galatians 6:4-5 – “Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been
given, and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself.
Don’t compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for
doing the creative best you can with your own life.”
Should women be allowed to preach? I told myself that I
wasn’t going to speak about this topic again. But I can’t help myself. It’s one
of the most debated subjects among Christians. This topic is more popular than the
subject of gay marriage. It is the most popular question at the Christian
website gotquestions.org. Should Women Preach? was the most viewed
post on my blog. Since I wrote it in May of 2008 it has had 17,565 page views. I
can’t believe it. When I wrote it, I did my best. But in the past 7 years, I
have learned more and fine-tuned my view, so I’m doing a revision to that post.
You see, when I was a kid, I didn’t realize that “women
preaching” was an issue. I grew up going to a church where I saw both men and
women equally participating in all aspects of the church. In fact, every Sunday
night, I heard a woman preach at our church. I grew up thinking that women
could be just as knowledgeable and wise about spiritual issues as men. In my
childhood church the men didn’t appear to feel threatened by the women and the
women didn’t appear to be overstepping any bounds. It seemed like they all just
worked well together. But then I became an adult and I realized that this is a real
controversial issue.
What
People Are Saying
I decided that I wanted to speak on this subject, because
it is actually a serious problem in the Christian church. People have become
hurt, frustrated, angry, and divided over whether or not women should preach
about God. That’s not what Jesus wants for us. Jesus wants Christians to
encourage one another in the faith, and in ministry, and for us to live in
unity with each other. Paul reiterated this to the Christians in 1
Thessalonians 5:11 when he wrote “Therefore encourage one another and build
each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” But a lot of Christians sharing
their opinions on this subject have not done so in a spiritually encouraging
way.
I’m going to refer back to the blog post that I wrote in
May 2008. In that post, I supported the idea that women should preach and I received
62 comments about it. All of them were strongly opinionated and many of them were
down right rude and hurtful. But, I thought I’d share a few with you so you can
see where people are coming from on this issue.
I’ll start with Louis who said “You have the spirit of
Eve. Women are not to teach or preach because they are susceptible to
deception.”
Amy said “I commend you for having the courage to write
all of that. I love it that my church has allowed women to teach and to be in
leadership. Though, sadly, many left over the issue.”
Anonymous said “You are part of the lukewarm Apostate
Church. Get right with God now, the time is short.”
There was a woman that said “We just need to be under our
husband's spiritual leadership. If your husband believes you should preach,
follow him. If he doesn't, then don't.”
Another Anonymous person said “For a woman to hold any
office in the church is sinning in pride for self-gratification and should not
be permitted.”
Pastor David said “I am preparing a teaching regarding
women's ministry and I wholeheartedly believe in the need and right for women
to minister.”
Nelly said “The men are to teach and preach the Word,
while we as women are to be in subjection to them and to stand behind their
backs, praying for them. And I believe this is an honor for us. If a woman were
teaching a man he would have a hard time concentrating on the lesson because
she was immodestly dressed.”
And Whitney said “The Holy Spirit gives spiritual gifts
to everyone, male and female, and one of those gifts is teaching. We certainly
can't fathom the mind and thoughts of God, but I don't see why He would call a
woman to do something if He wouldn't allow her to do it.”
What
are Women Feeling?
Denise George wrote a book called What Women Wish Pastors
Knew. In order to write this book she surveyed a variety of Christian women. The
results from her survey showed that the majority of the female respondents actually
believed that women should be serving in all areas of church leadership and not
forbidden from any position. She found that women simply want to serve Christ.
But because of the controversy of women in leadership some feel afraid to
pursue their call due to being misunderstood. Some experience humiliation
because people publicly speak out against their type of ministry. Some feel
deprived of serving because although they use their skills in the secular world
they are not allowed to use those same skills in their churches. She also found
that they feel frustrated, excluded, overlooked, held back, stifled, unimportant,
and some feel like second-class citizens.
Why
Do Women Want to Preach?
Now, why would a woman even want to preach? Well, maybe
it’s for the same reasons that men want to preach. I can tell you about myself.
When I write a speech and speak it to other people, I am doing it as an act of
worship to God. My Christian faith is important to me. I appreciate the
sacrificial death of Jesus and that I have salvation and eternal life through
Him. I want to tell other people about this and about how to be a follower of
Jesus. When I speak about the Bible I aim to tell only the truth about God’s
word. Along with reading Bible commentaries – I try to read the verses in
context, to look at the cultural setting and to attempt to understand the
author’s original purpose in writing. When I speak, I want to teach people
about the attributes of God and point out the exciting things that I see in the
Bible. I want to offer ideas to help make the Bible applicable to people so
that they can use it in their everyday lives. And when I speak, I try to show
compassion and offer real hope to the hurting. I encourage people to serve God
and to reach out to people in their communities. I try to speak out against
injustice and advocate for the vulnerable. I speak about Jesus, because I enjoy
it and I want to glorify him. And these may be some of the reasons why other
women want to preach. And these may be some of the reasons why men want to preach.
Are
Women to Remain Silent in Church?
The verses that Christians often refer to when debating whether
or not women should preach are found in Paul’s letter to the Christians in
Corinth. The passage is 1 Corinthians 14:33-35 and it says "The women are
to keep silent in the churches; for they are not permitted to speak, but are to
subject themselves, just as the Law also says. If they desire to learn
anything, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is improper for a
woman to speak in church.” (NASB)
Now, these words written in Paul’s letter mean only one
thing. But the problem is that theologians, Bible scholars, and preachers can’t
agree on what Paul’s original intention was concerning these specific words. As
a result there are a variety of interpretations despite the fact that there is
only one real meaning. I found that some of the interpretations are vague, some
are very specific, and with most of them people add their own ideas to Paul’s
original words.
One interpretation is that it was a rule for a specific
time and circumstance and so there are now obvious exceptions. However, even
though Christianity emancipated women it did not give them equality with men.
Another idea is that Paul’s words don’t mean that all speaking by women in a
public assembly is prohibited – just preaching, teaching, and prophesying.
Women can still share about how God is working in their lives just not in an
authoritative manner. There were extraordinary instances when women led
spiritually such as with Deborah, Huldah, and Anna, but these were rare cases
and must not be used as an example of what the norm should be. One
interpretation is that women cannot speak with spiritual
authority unless they have an extraordinary revelation to communicate
which is given to them by the Holy Spirit. Another idea is that God has ordained
men only to have spiritual authority in the church through preaching. However,
women may take a less authoritative role by encouraging other women and teaching
children. Yet another interpretation states that it is only okay for women to
teach or preach indirectly such as through books or audio recordings because if
a woman taught in person, her femininity could be a distraction. Some churches
won’t allow women to speak from behind the lectern during the official Sunday morning
service, but they are allowed to teach and preach in other rooms of the church
building at any other time. Other churches will allow a woman to be a guest
speaker even on a Sunday morning in front of the entire congregation – as long
as it isn’t called preaching. Some simply say that men were called to preach
and to be the spiritual leaders, but if they aren’t going to do it than women
will have to. Another thought is that this passage of Paul’s was directed only
to the Corinthian church. His reasoning was based on a localized cultural issue
in which certain women may have been disrupting the church service. And yet
another idea is that this passage was actually a quote from the original Corinthian
church’s letter that Paul was responding to. The quote reflects the traditional
thinking of the Jewish law and that is why Paul’s words that followed this
controversial passage in verse 36 states: “Do you think God’s
word originated with you Corinthians? Are you the only ones to whom it was
given?”
Well, this was just a sample of the various interpretations of this passage of
scripture. Most people choose the one that they like best. While some people
determine their theological beliefs depending on who said it. I don’t think
anyone can say with 100% certainty what Paul really meant. So I am not going to
choose one of the previous ideas and promote it as the truth. Instead, I’d like
to look at the example of Jesus. We can understand so much more about this
subject by looking to Jesus rather than debating Paul’s confusing words.
Looking
at the Example of Jesus
Jesus’ relationship with
women was considered revolutionary and radical in the Jewish patriarchal
society in which women were treated as social and spiritual inferiors to men. Jesus
challenged the traditional gender restrictions and cultural taboos. Women were
used to being bartered off by their fathers and were considered the property of
their husbands. They were not allowed to learn about spiritual truths from the rabbis
yet Jesus commended Mary of Bethany for listening to Him and for understanding
His teaching that He would die and become the Savior of the world. Women were
considered unclean, untouchable, and in need of purification after their monthly
cycles and childbirth. Yet Jesus allowed a woman with a 12 year chronic
bleeding condition to touch Him. He was so impressed with her faith in Him that
He healed her instantly. Jesus forgave the sins of women, like in the case of
the woman who was about to be stoned for adultery. Jesus spoke against the men
who oppressed and persecuted women for their sins yet weren’t interested in
condemning men for the same sins. Jesus asked women to evangelize for Him as
seen in the example of the Samaritan woman that He met at a well. He invited
women like Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Susanna, and many
others to travel with Him as His disciples and to help with His ministry of
proclaiming the kingdom of God. After His resurrection, Jesus commissioned Mary
Magdalene to go and speak for Him saying that He was returning to God.
Jesus was very liberating
for women and he was able to use their services in His ministry. He was
impartial and treated them equally which was a foreign concept in their
culture. Impartiality is one of God’s attributes. He does not display prejudice
towards any person or esteem
some as being more important than others. In Acts 10:34 we see that there is no
favoritism with God. He accepts people from every nationality and race. Paul
reiterates this in Romans 2:11 saying that there is no partiality with
God. And Deuteronomy says that He is the great God, mighty and awesome, who
shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. It is part of the very nature of
Jesus to treat all equally and that is why he did not discriminate concerning a
person’s gender, race, nationality, or socioeconomic status.
Paul carried on the example of Jesus and also included
women in all aspects of Christian ministry. He told the Christians in Rome to
welcome Phoebe as a representative of the church and he endorsed the ministry
work that she was doing. He honored his fellow Christian workers Priscilla and
her husband Aquila for risking their lives to help him and he mentioned the
church they held in their home. Paul appreciated Lois and Eunice, both women,
for teaching Timothy spiritual truths that prepared him for Christian ministry.
And he recognized the female apostle, Junias, who had been in prison with him.
Paul also told the Roman church to say hello to three women who had worked hard
for the Lord – Tryphena, Tryphosa, and Persis. In1 Corinthians, Paul talked
about Chloe’s church congregation. In Colossians 4 he referred to the
congregation of a woman named Nympha. And in Philippians 4, Paul requested help
for the two women named Euodia and Syntyche who struggled along with him as
they promoted the Gospel of Jesus. Paul appreciated Christian women and the
work that they did to spread Christianity through teaching, evangelizing, and
preaching about Jesus.
The
Gifts of the Holy Spirit for all Believers
What Jesus had to offer was
for all. This was explained to us in Galatians 3:28 – “There is no longer Jew
or Gentile,slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in
Christ Jesus.” In Matthew 28 we see Jesus telling his disciples to continue on
with the ministry that He had started. He gave them a commission to go make new
disciples of all people and to baptize them in the name of the Father, and the
Son, and the Holy Spirit. These new Christian disciples included women. And the
women were also included with the receiving of the Holy Spirit. This portion of
scripture in Acts 1 and 2 tells us that after the ascension of Jesus His
followers met in Jerusalem. Among the believers were women which included Mary
the mother of Jesus. On the day of Pentecost, they were all together when the
Holy Spirit entered the building and filled all of these believers with the
Holy Spirit. Then Peter explained to the on looking crowd that what was
happening to these followers of Jesus had actually been predicted by the
prophet Joel. This is what Peter said in
Acts 2 verses 17 and 18. “‘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.” He said that men and women would be filled with the Holy Spirit and
would prophesy. And in 1 Corinthians 12:4-13 we learn that the
people who are filled with the Holy Spirit receive spiritual gifts to use for
Christian ministry. It says “4 There are different kinds of spiritual
gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. 5 There
are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. 6 God
works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.
7 A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each
other. 8 To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give
wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge.9 The
same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit
gives the gift of healing. 10 He gives one person the power to
perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else
the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from
another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown
languages,while another is given the ability to interpret what is
being said. 11 It is the one and only Spirit who distributes
all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have. 12 The
human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is
with the body of Christ. 13 Some of us are Jews, some are
Gentiles,some are slaves,
and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit,
and we all share the same Spirit.” Further down in this chapter
Paul explained thatall of the believers are a
part of Christ’s body. And the parts include apostles, prophets, and
teachers, those who do miracles, those who heal, those who help others,
leaders, and those who speak in unknown languages. But it doesn’t say anything
about all of the spiritual gifts being available to men, but only some of them being
available to women Modern
Christian Women Evangelist Christine Caine had
some good advice that she shared in an interview for Christianity Today
magazine. She said “The Spirit of God lives within all of us who are born again
and out of us will flow rivers of living water if we let them. Let's not clog
the rivers up with dead end arguments, and let's simply get about the Father's
business.” Christians can keep arguing about the issue of whether or not women
should preach or hold positions of leadership in the Christian church. But
while we are arguing and trying to prove our points, a world of people still
exists that needs to hear about Jesus. So like Christine Caine suggested –
let’s just get about doing the Father’s business. What God really wants is for
his people to make new disciples. He wants as many people as possible to hear
about Him, to receive His salvation, and to make commitments to follow Him.
Throughout history, Christian women have bravely gone
against tradition. They preached when they weren’t supposed to. They traveled
the world as missionaries even though mission agencies said that they weren’t
qualified to go. And women today are still challenging tradition. In China, the
majority of Christians worship in house churches rather than the official
churches overseen by the government. Many of these house churches are led by
women. These house churches are the reason that Christianity is spreading so
quickly throughout China. If we encouraged women to be spiritual leaders and to
preach in this country, maybe Christianity would spread quicker throughout the
United States of America, too. According to the Barna research organization in
1999 5% of the Senior Pastors of Protestant churches were female. It doubled to
10% by 2009. I don’t know the most recent number. But I do know that women are
no longer waiting for permission from churches and denominations to preach.
They are fed up with being held back by religious tradition, spiritual
legalism, and especially by their own fears. It is not spiritual to be passive
or content with others telling you what you can and can’t do. Jesus wants you
to be ambitious and motivated about serving Him. He wants you to take risks for
Him.
Liberty University, the largest Christian university in
the world states on their website that the majority of their students, 59%, are
female. And if you look around your churches you will notice that the majority
of the people who attend and serve are probably female. Women love Jesus. They
want to serve Him and they want to lead other people to Him. So let’s encourage
women, rather than hold them back because of our traditions. Women have proved
that they are capable of serving humanity in the secular world. Women are
successfully starting and running businesses, saving lives through health care,
teaching in schools and universities, advocating for those who don’t have a
voice, and running non-profit organization. Well women can lead in the
Christian world, too
Conclusion
and Application
To the Christian
Women – I want to encourage you to speak out publicly about Jesus your Savior.
I think that if you did, Jesus would be very pleased with you. Can you imagine
speaking about Jesus and Him saying to you - “Woman, I really wish that you
would keep quiet about me. Stop telling others about me. Stop telling people
about how I died on the cross for their sins and that I give the free gift of
salvation to all who will accept it. Stop reading the Bible in public and
sharing your spiritual incite. Stop. I only want men to do this.” No. I cannot imagine
Jesus saying such a thing to you.
You are a
disciple of Jesus and you have been filled with the Holy Spirit. He already
gave you permission to speak about Him. The gifts of the Spirit and the
authority to preach about Jesus are for all. Jesus is the great liberator and He
is impartial. Our culture and human made religious traditions hold people back
and they exclude many. But if you have accepted Jesus as your Savior and Lord
than you are allowed to speak, teach, and preach about Him. Men and women are
called to preach. All races of people are called to preach. All ages of people
are called to preach. Despite all of the human limitations that may be holding
you back – Jesus has actually freed you. The message of Jesus is liberating. It
provides eternal life for anyone who wants to accept it. Jesus wants it spread
to as many people as possible before He returns to this Earth to take His followers to live with Him forever. So, whoever you are – if you are a
follower of Jesus, then you have been given the authority and the permission
through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to go preach about Jesus. So the
answer is – Yes. Women should preach.
Original post from May 2008
Should Women Preach?
I wonder how many women have been called to preach the Word of God, but are silenced in a church because "women are not supposed to preach".
Here are some of the popular Bible verses used to keep women from preaching in the church:Women should remain silent in the churches.
1 Corinthians 14:33b-35 "The women are to keep silent in the churches; for they are not permitted to speak, but are to subject themselves, just as the Law also says. If they desire to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is improper for a woman to speak in church. (NASB) The entire chapter of 1 Corinthians 14 is about having order during the worship service so that people will not be distracted from worshiping God. It addresses speaking in tongues, prophecy, and doing things orderly so that the Lord will be edified. When it says "women should remain silent in the churches", it is not talking about preaching. It doesn't say exactly why Paul said this about the Corinthian women. Maybe they were disrupting the service, questioning what was being said, or trying to get attention on themselves. Paul's reasoning was based on a localized cultural issue. Paul also tells the entireCorinthian churchto keep silent if there is no interpreter to tongues - 14:28 "But if there is no interpreter, he must keep silent in the church; and let him speak to himself and to God. (NASB) Silence is mentioned again in 14:30 "But if a revelation is made to another who is seated, the first one must keep silent."(NASB) During this chapter, Paul doesn't refer only to women when he talks about being silent in the church.
The Message Version of the Bible explains 1 Corinthians 14:34-36 this way. "Wives must not disrupt worship, talking when they should be listening, asking questions that could more appropriately be asked of their husbands at home. God's Book of the law guides our manners and customs here. Wives have no license to use the time of worship for unwarranted speaking. Do you—both women and men—imagine that you're a sacred oracle determining what's right and wrong? Do you think everything revolves around you?"
Women are not to teach or have authority over men. 1 Timothy 2:11-15 "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. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. But women will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety."Paul was concerned about the Ephesian believers turning to false doctrines and religious beliefs. In 1 Timothy 1:3 Paul is telling Timothy that the Ephesians are not to teach any other doctrine other than the apostle's doctrine. In 1 Timothy 1:4 Paul wanted Timothy to make sure that they didn't get into other beliefs, since Ephesus was a center for different false religions. These other religions, in Ephesus, were being led by women and they involved sexual orgies. The women were deceiving men and drawing them into these false religions. This probably is why Paul had concerns about the women taking over in churches. Paul says in 1 Timothy 2:11 that he wants the Ephesian women to be submissive to the church leaders probably because of the current situations in Ephesus at that time. The Message Version of the Bible explains 1 Timothy 2:11-15 this way "I don't let women take over and tell the men what to do. They should study to be quiet and obedient along with everyone else. Adam was made first, then Eve; woman was deceived first—our pioneer in sin!—with Adam right on her heels. On the other hand, her childbearing brought about salvation, reversing Eve. But this salvation only comes to those who continue in faith, love, and holiness, gathering it all into maturity. You can depend on this.Ministers are to have one wife.
1 Timothy 3:12 "A deacon must be the husband of but one wife and must manage his children and his household well."
Since the church leaders in Ephesus at this time were men, this verse refers to the deacons as husbands. Paul wants male church officers to be committed to their wives. He is saying that polygamy is not allowed. This verse was not meant to exclude single men or women from serving as preachers in the ministry.
Conclusion If women aren't suppose to preach in churches, then we need to find the appropriate Bible verses to back up this belief. The above verses do not apply. They were written to deal with different issues and addressed to the early Christian church in Corinth and Ephesus.
I did not write this post to promote feminism or to dishonor men. My purpose was to prove the fact that these verses do not provide Biblical evidence to keep women from preaching in churches. It's important that we don't twist around the original meaning of verses to fit our desired beliefs.
Just like men, women need to seek God's will for their lives. They need to do what He is calling them to do. Does this mean that women should go against the popular cultural views of the church in order to obey God's leading?
