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| WOMEN IN MINISTRY by Patrick Stevenson | ||
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1. GOD’S PERFECT PLAN a. In the Beginning Genesis 2:18 “And the Lord said, ‘It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him’.” Genesis 1:26-28, 31 “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion . . .’.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion (over the earth not one another). Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good!” Not until God had created man and woman did he say “very good”. The Hebrew phrase for “a helper suitable for him,” translates “a helper suitable” -- ‘ezer keneged. This first word is a very strong Hebrew word for helper. This kind of helper is not one who is subservient. The same word is used when talking about God throughout the Old Testament. The same word is used in Psalm 121:1-2 “I will lift up my eyes to the hills - From whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord . . .” The one who helps is the one who has something to offer the one who is helpless or needs help. God made for Adam an equal helper. Woman was created not to serve Adam but to serve with him. She was not his property but his associate in government and companion in the home. The first human words in the Bible were actually a love song from Adam when he first saw Eve! “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ’woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” (Genesis 2:23). God’s original destiny and purpose for men and women was to rule and work together equally. b. The Start of Satan’s Attack. Ever since God told Satan in the Garden of Eden that the seed of the woman would bruise his head (Genesis 3:15), the devil began attacking women and that attack continues today. The attack is also on men. The enemy appeals to man’s pride by saying that women are inferior. In most churches anywhere in the world, you will find more women than men. It is mostly women who are on the cutting edge of intercessory prayer ministries worldwide. This is because men have believed the lie of the enemy that they are spiritually superior to women. Pride destroys intimacy with God. This will effectively destroy the growth of a man’s ministry. c. Ancient Philosophers and Jewish Rabbis. Greek and Roman myths were introduced which distorted God’s plan for men and women. These myths portrayed women as the lowest of the low, not even having the same rights as slaves. Judaism and many of the Rabbis continued this in later years. Plato, one of the ancient Greek philosophers and a pupil of Socrates, gave many hateful remarks about women. He stated that there is no Hades and punishment in some after-place but that the god Zeus had inflicted punishment for sin now. This was in the form of “these creatures”, designed so that men can neither exist without their aid nor bear their company. “We cannot escape this pain, for it lives among us. They are our sisters, mothers, our betrothed, our wives and daughters, our mistresses and concubines. Furthermore, if we spend our lives in wrong doing and in cowardice, afterward Zeus will send us back into this life as women.” Greek goddesses were shown as having a more active involvement. Hera was hateful, her marriage with Zeus, the supreme god, was filled with deception, manipulation, insults, and fear. This is how Zeus threatened to deal with her. “I shall scourge thee with stripes. Dost thou not remember when thou wast hung from on high, and from thy feet I suspended two anvils, and about thy wrists cast a band of gold that might not be broken? And in the air amid the clouds thou didst hang?” Besides his children with her, he had offspring with at least seven other goddesses. Not only did he beat her and was unfaithful but he also taunted her with his sexual exploits. It is hardly surprising that the ancients came to accept wife abuse and flagrant adultery as normal, when Zeus was their divine ideal! Aristotle, a disciple of Plato, wrote that the female is a “monstrosity,” a “deformed male”. He also said, “The female sex has a more evil disposition than the male, is more forward and less courageous.” Aristotle also did quite a lot to promote homosexuality in ancient Greece. His advice to men was to be “separate from the female, since homosexuality is something better and more divine.” Women were not persons, not worthy of love and respect. They were objects to be used or, if possible, to be avoided altogether. All these ideas were rooted in the idea that woman was created as a curse from the gods. The Romans continued with the same gods and goddesses as the Greeks. A man named Virgil renamed them. The Greek goddess Hera became the Roman goddess Juno. Most Roman writers held women and marriage in low esteem. Men could never trust their women, because they believed they were daughters of Venus, known for her cheating heart. Roman law gave the husband the right to kill his wife for either adultery or drunkenness, since alcohol made a woman more likely to commit adultery. Therefore, women were not allowed to drink wine. The men, however, were free to do as they chose. It was into this world of Rome that the Gospel came. Jesus’ words did everything to elevate woman back to God’s original intention of equality with man. Many of the Jewish Rabbis continued being contrary to the teachings of Scripture like the Greeks and then the Romans. The Rabbis believed that women were more prone to sin than men. Everything about the female body was considered sexual. Even the little finger of a woman! That is how one class of Pharisees came to be called the “Bleeding Pharisees.”If possible, one should not look at or talk to a woman”. These particular Pharisees often walked into walls etc. while walking with their eyes shut to avoid seeing a woman! Occasionally some rabbis were more positive. Gamaliel, Paul’s mentor, likened women to a “golden pitcher”. Jesus came to end the consequences of a broken, sinful world. Jesus came to heal the rift between men and women, to restore and set men and women free. 2. THE STRATEGY OF THE ENEMY a. Breaking down the workforce. Two-thirds of all Bible-believing Christians are women. If women are restrained from fulfilling their God-given destinies this will seriously affect God’s end-time Commission. There is so much to be done to reap the harvest; we need more workers not less. Even some of God’s leaders have been fooled by the lies of the enemy and unknowingly become part of the enemy’s strategy. Certain scriptures have been misunderstood and the confusion continues in many churches today, concerning women and their active participation in ministry. Many times young inexperienced men have been placed in church leadership over more spiritually capable women. b. Suffering and death of women around the world. Although the picture is bleak in so-called Christian countries it becomes much worse in countries with little Christian heritage. According to World Vision: 450 million women are physically impaired due to childhood malnutrition. In many societies, girls and their mothers eat only after the men and boys are fed. Women make up half the world’s population but own just 1% of its wealth. Seventy percent of the 1.3 billion people living in poverty are women. A girl is twice as likely not to be educated as a boy is. Two million girls, mostly in Africa and the Middle East, are mutilated through female circumcision to diminish their sexual desire. Little girls who survive the procedure grow up to face painful sex, possible infertility, and a greater chance of dying during childbirth. According to Time Magazine: In Brazil, it is justifiable homicide to kill an unfaithful wife. In Russia, a woman’s office job can include having to sleep with the boss. In India, a husband and his parents sometimes conspire to kill his young bride after they have collected her dowry, freeing the young man to marry again and get another dowry. There are six thousand cases of this a year, and growing. c. Against God’s Image and Character. Genesis 1:27 God created male and female in His image. Satan wants to destroy God’s perfect plan. That is why down the centuries there as been an all out attack against marriage and the home, especially against Christian marriages, because he knows that a husband and wife working together in unity with the Lord is a wonderful type of the Trinity. God gave us gender differences to protect and rejoice in. Satan seeks to bring division and conflict and promotes homosexuality and lesbianism, When churches and Christians promote bias against women, it sends out the message that God is unjust. Florence Nightingale wanted to be a missionary, but there were no opportunities given her. 3. HOW JESUS REGARDS WOMEN a. Jesus came to restore God’s original plan for men and women and always treated women as equal. In the three greatest events of His life, women were highly prominent. In His birth, death and resurrection. In the Old Testament, kings were commissioned and anointed with oil. The greatest commission Jesus had was His death. John baptized Him but two women anointed him for His greatest ministry: i. Mary, in the last week before He was crucified, anointed His feet (John 12:1-8). ii. In Matthew 26:6-13 we read of the account of the woman who anointed His head with expensive ointment. Jesus said because of this her action would be talked about everywhere the gospel was preached. In the resurrection of Jesus, the women were honoured again in the fact that it was Mary Magdalene that He appeared to first. Women were the first to find the empty tomb and were the first ones commissioned to go and tell that He was raised from the dead. b. Jesus opened the door of freedom. He made the way for men and women to be baptised in water. He came against the Jewish traditions that did not allow women the same freedom in being taught from God’s word. Jesus taught Martha the profound truth that he was the resurrection and the life (John 11:20). When we look at the time that Mary sat at the feet of Jesus, it was a common expression at that time, to show the formal mentoring relationship between a rabbi and his disciple (Luke 10:38-42). We see the same meaning in Acts 22:3. Here it is the same expression Paul used to describe his education from Gamaliel. Women ministered both with and to Jesus. We read of Jesus travelling around the towns and villages telling the good news. Luke informs us that the twelve were with Him, and some women. These women were helping to support them out of their own means (Luke 8:1-3). Local cultures still being influenced by the heresies and wrong thinking from the ancients are still to this day trying to close the door that Jesus opened. Straying from the truth that God originally laid down for men and women to work together side by side without pride, strife or jealousies.
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