Galatians 2:1-2

Various Scriptures

Message #11 ~ Modeling Leadership – Part 2

Introduction & Overview

Last week we examined the first two of the 7 aspects of biblical eldership we want to examine
We saw first and foremost that biblical eldership is not a job for the puffed up, the conceited or the proud but it is to be the job of a servant and the leadership style is one of servant leadership
We examined several verses from the New Testament and saw how all of us but especially those who function as elders must be

Poor in spirit
Having the character of Christ who said he is gentle and humble of heart
That we must humble ourselves as a child in order to be great in his Kingdom
We saw that Gentile rulers lord their authority over their subjects but biblical elders must never do that
We saw that in order to be exalted in Christ’s kingdom we must humble ourselves
And lastly we examined Jesus’ words at the Last Supper when he said that to be a leader we must be a servant

To be a servant leader servanthood must a part of not just our actions but must start with our attitudes
So as we saw the goal of every Christian and the requirement of every elder is that they practice Philippians 2 and count others as more significant than themselves
The second aspect of biblical eldership that we looked at last week is that the biblical model demands shared leadership
By shared leadership we saw that there is nothing in the New Testament that affirms that a single person is to be seen as the “leader” of the church and that all should look to that one person for all guidance
In fact we saw that even the Apostle Paul always surrounded himself with others, even in his teaching ministry we saw that in Acts 15 there were many teachers and preachers in Antioch working alongside Paul and Barnabas
We saw that Christ left 12 apostles to look after the church in Jerusalem, not a single chief figure with 11 assistants but rather 12 equals sharing the load, the burden and the responsibility before God
We saw that the 12 appointed the 7 to serve in Acts 6 and these 7 served as equals again sharing the burden and the responsibility
We looked at many passages throughout the New Testament and saw that consistently they support the notion of shared leadership or in other words a plurality of godly leaders
Does anyone recall of the 18 verses on leadership in the New Testament how many refer to plural or shared leadership?
15 of the 18 references are to shared leadership and 7 are clearly within the context of a single church
Now the question was posed to me last Sunday is this the direction we are going to go at Grace Church, are we going to move to a completely shared model?
My answer then is worth repeating to all of you; the answer is I can’t make the decision for you, but I can encourage you and shepherd you by sharing with you what the Bible says
I won’t try and beat it down your throat but rather I would like to see the Holy Spirit speak to you
I would like you to examine the Scriptures for yourself (be a Berean) and see if what I have said agrees with the whole council of God and as the Spirit works there I think change will naturally come
But we have to be open to the leadership of the Holy Spirit in our lives; status quo can be a wicked task master, allow the Spirit to be the director in your life
So that brings us to this week; as I already mentioned we began our look at 7 aspects of biblical eldership
Let me review them for you quickly; they are:

Servant Leadership
Shared Leadership
Male Leadership
Qualified Leadership
Non-Clerical Leadership
Pastoral Leadership
Proper Response to Leadership

This week I was optimistic and had planned to cover Male Leadership, Qualified Leadership and also Non-clerical Leadership
However as I prepared to discuss Male Leadership it became clear that I needed to set the backdrop adequately and to allow the Bible to speak for itself so as I began to look at the number of passages on the topic it turns out that will be the only point we try and cover today

#1 Male Leadership

Male leadership is an interesting topic to preach on
In some cultures women are treated like second class citizens with less rights and privileges than men so teaching on this topic would need to focus the correct place of women and elevating them to the their proper position within the family, the church and within the community if I were in such a culture
In our culture both the role of the man and the role of the woman has been attacked by the same force, and that force is the feminist movement
While many date the feminist movement to 1964 when the book The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan was published the reality was that the trend towards this had been present for many centuries
Now the danger here is twofold

1) some of you can begin to cheer me on and nod your head in the belief that the feminist movement was all wrong and that nothing good came from it
2) others of you can tune me out or worse yet walk out because you feel I am attacking you personally and by extension all women

My desire here is to not be in the ditch on either side of the road; first the feminist movement was fueled by injustices perpetrated by men against women so when injustices are righted I will rejoice
However the feminist movement in their desire for equality rebelled against biblical norms and moved beyond just righting the wrongs and ultimately went too far
So now I have probably offended both groups, chauvinists think I haven’t been harsh enough and feminist believe I have been way too harsh
So what I would like to do to redeem this time together is to not offer up my opinion and muddy the waters with what my opinion is but rather let the Scriptures speak for themselves and allow the Holy Spirit to lead us into truth
Now specifically our study currently is around eldership and the structure of leadership God has provided for his church, so that will be our main focus but to understand this we will have to look at other aspects of male / female roles
To put this in the simplest language the notion of a female elder to the Old or New Testaments is unheard of
I am quite aware that many denominations have bowed to societal pressure and allowed women to serve as elders however since God forbids this we also know that God will not bless this unholy arrangement
What God has done is he has designed the church to mirror the family (remember we are called the family of God) and as such many of the passages of Scripture that address the proper role of men and women are family oriented
So while it is quite true the Bible doesn’t teach female elders I want to take a moment to share with you God’s design for this so perhaps you have a better understanding of what God’s plan is for women in the church
To do this I will break this down into 3 subcategories, A) women’s equality, B) women’s submission in the home, C) women’s submission in the church

A. Women’s Equality

I believe it is safe to assume that to some degree we are all aware of the inequalities that happen daily around the globe to women
There are entire civilizations and societies that that dehumanize women, they are enslaved, beaten, exploited and in large measure treated more like cattle than how a mother, a wife, a sister should be treated
It is one of the positive side effects of Christianity over the centuries is that Christians have historically pushed for greater equality among women
For example the notion of teaching and educating women so they could study the Word of God themselves can largely be attributed to Christian influences on the secular world
However not all that bear the name Christian have been such sterling examples of the equality that the Bible speaks of
There have been and continue to be those men who because of sinful desires use and misuse certain passages of Scripture so that they can lord their authority over women
For men such as these the only solution is to repent of their sin and study closely what the Scriptures do teach about the equality present between men and women in the Bible
So let’s try and understand what the Bible does teach and in order to do that we have to go back to the beginning, all the way back to Genesis because it is there that we find God’s ideal and also the root of the problem
Genesis 2:18, 21-24
¹⁸Then the LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him."
²¹So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.²²And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. ²³Then the man said, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man." ²⁴Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
You see God made a helper fit for him; not a slave, not a domestic servant but someone fit for him that would make up for man’s natural weaknesses
You see Adam’s response, bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; Adam sounds almost like a mother who has just given birth there is no hint of him looking at her with an eye of dissatisfaction of thinking less of her
But look just one chapter on in Genesis we come to chapter three and the fall of man and everything is about to change
You know the story Eve eats of the tree that they may not eat from and Adam does as well and God is calling them and the serpent to account for their actions and in verse 16 of chapter 3 we find this.
To the woman he said,…Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you."
From this point in history on women have sinfully been trying to take on the role of men and men have sinfully been lording over their wives; this is the curse, the stigma of sin imprinted on each of our lives
Ladies, you would do well to realize that your natural desire is to usurp authority away from men and act like a feminist and you must be on guard against that
Men, you would do well to realize that your natural desire is to lord authority over women and be a chauvinist and you must be diligent to guard against this
Neither feminist or chauvinist are given a pass in Christ’s kingdom; but instead both men and women are equal in the sight of God; consider the words of Galatians 3:28
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Remember Christ died for all, he redeemed us to the father in exactly the same way, and the entire church as a whole, both men and women he sees as his bride
Remember both men and women are children of God, priests to God, Spirit led and Spirit gifted servants of God and all members of the body of Christ; there is no possibility here of any inequality for we are all one in Christ Jesus
Men, if you are having trouble with this notion of the equality of women or you need a pattern for you life look no further than the Lord Jesus himself
He never treated a women unjustly or looked on her with contempt because she was a women even though this was very common in his day
You want proof that Christ esteemed women as individuals and as humans? Look at the number that followed him voluntarily and ministered to his physical needs
Thus all Christian men and especially those in a position of leadership such as an elder should be at the forefront of the debate affirming everything that God has testified about women through the Scripture
Additionally we should be working to remove the unjust criticisms that come from male cruelty as well as the irresponsible and unfair treatment that they endure
So while it is true that the Bible teaches that women are to be subordinate to their husbands and to the elders of the church it is never implied that women have less worth or even fewer abilities than a man
Women are certainly of equal worth and value; quite frankly in many cases they are of superior spiritual devotion, abilities and intelligence
Men I challenge any of you to read through Proverbs 31 and then pretend for one moment that you could keep the schedule that woman kept for 6 months let alone until children are raised

B) Women’s Subordination in the Family

Now we come to the more difficult task; we have established the equality of women with men we must now do the difficult task of identifying where God has chosen by his sovereign will to make distinctions among the sexes so that while equal there is still headship
It is important that we first understand this concept in the family unit because what happens in the family will trickle into the society and ultimately the church as well so we start with the family
Allow me to make this comment about subordination before we dig into subordination in the home; when we hear the term subordination we immediately begin to think of inferiors don’t we?
I just got through explaining equality and then I start speaking of subordination and some of you are thinking to yourself that I am going to tear apart everything I just said
So please hear me out on this; subordination does not imply inferiority in any way; this is a subordination among equals
Forget for a moment male / female roles and assume you have a boss in the business world
That boss is of course no more valuable as a human than you are they? So in the sense of worth you are equal to your boss
Is the person the boss because they are the best, the brightest, the most talented, the smartest and so on? In many cases they are not
It is quite possible that you may work for a boss yet you are smarter, more talented, etc. and you may excel above your boss in a wide spectrum of things yet they are still the boss
This is an example of subordination among equals, both you and your boss are equal in worth and value yet you submit
There is no guarantee that the boss is really better equipped for the job that he or she is doing but they are still the boss
However, in order to maintain a healthy relationship with that employer you must submit and subordinate your will to that of the boss
So my point is subordination in no way negates equality it simply is another part of God’s plan for the sexes
So now let’s try and understand God’s design for the subordination of women within the family structure
From the beginning of time God made man to function as the head of the family, to govern it, to protect it and to support it by providing for its needs
Likewise from the beginning of time God designed woman to care for, to support and nurture the family
God’s design for men and women can be seen in our physical makeup, our emotional makeup and our spiritual makeup
Whenever we as mere creatures attempt to tamper with God’s design here the family and ultimately the society suffers
So from a biblical standpoint let’s quickly examine what the Scriptures say
Ephesians 5:22-24, 33
Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands…However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
God is quite clear here on what is ideal design is for the family, it is male headship and to amplify the point he makes the comparison to Christ’s headship over the church
Scholars with an agenda have tried to do fancy things here to point out that this is not what this passage is saying yet the point is clear, God’s design is for man to be the head of the family structure
Now of course the type of headship God has planned here is not a demanding type of leadership but on the contrary and loving and more importantly a self-sacrificing type of leadership
If you read on in Ephesians 5 Paul instructs men to love your wife as Christ loved the church (and how did Christ love the church?) by dying and giving himself for her. Paul says men, take Christ as your model, you want a better wife, sacrifice more for your wife in order that she can be spotless before you
So in short Ephesians teaches that a wife should submit to her husband and that the husband wife relationship should mirror Christ and the church where Christ is the head of the Church and husband is the head of the couple
Just as the Church should submit to Christ so the wife should submit to her husband
Colossians 3:18-19
¹⁸Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. ¹⁹Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them.
The implication here when we see this phrase “as is fitting in the Lord” is that this is the norm for all Christian households
Paul is making this an imperative and not something that is optional that can be set aside and debated later as whether it is important or not he just says do it
However even in this there is not supposed to be imbalance, the Christian wife would certainly lead manage and teach as well as make many day-to-day decisions for the entire household, decisions that will affect her husband
The Christian wife would know her husband and would be sure to as she makes decisions that they are what he would do if he were there, likewise the Christian husband can trust his wife to carry out his will even in his absence
This should not be seen as in any way suppressing a woman’s creativity, leadership ability or self-expression
Again looking at Proverbs 31 as the model we see a woman who is a manger, a merchant, an entrepreneur and philanthropist in the community.
And how does the community respond to her, the honor her, they view her as strong, wise and hard working and her husband is honored because of her
Titus 2:4-5
and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, 5to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.
Again we see the gospel clarifying what God had set forth from the beginning. God has set apart older women to teach younger women what?
To love their husbands and love their children. Now what woman doesn’t do those things? The reality is there is always room her for growth and maturity in these things and God provides that maturity by sending mentors along
Finally let’s examine what Peter says on this topic of women within the family
1 Peter 3:1
Wives be subject to your own husbands
I think it is important to note the balance here, women are to be subject not to all men, not to all husbands but to their own husbands
In verse 4 Peter speaks of inward beauty and of course that is precious in God’s sight
And then in verse 7 we see Peter, just like Paul, exhort Christian men to take the time to understand and honor their wives
Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.
Peter here, uses the expression “weaker vessel” again this is not a term that negates equality but refers to the physical makeup of woman
Men’s bodies are naturally built in a more muscular fashion than a woman’s body
But also in this corrupt world it is quite common for men to try and exploit women and that what Peter is warning against
Women think about it, have you ever taken your car to a mechanic and once the man at the automotive repair shop starts talking you wish you had your husband, father, brother some man there so you know you weren’t being taken advantage of?
This should never be the case in the Kingdom of God and Christian men should remember that their wives are joint heirs of the grace of life

C) Women’s Subordination in the Church

There are important parallels between the family and the local church which is just an extended family of brothers and sisters in Christ
As we have just seen the Bible is quite clear that the man is to function as the head of the family and the wife is submissive to her husband in the marriage union
As Alexander Strauch has said:
The roles of husband and wife – so carefully revealed in Scripture – must never be reversed in the church family. Likewise, the practices of the local church must never undermine the order of the individual family, for the church must support the family and build upon it.
Stephen B. Clark further amplifies this point when he writes:
The structure of leadership [in a Christian church] has to be setup in a way that supports the entire social structure of the community. If the men are supposed to be the heads of the family , then must also be the heads of the community. The community must be structured in a way that supports family, and the family must be structured in a way that supports the community. It is in the family that [children] learn their community roles as well. Conversely, what they see in the community reinforces what they learn in the family. Thus, to adopt different principles on the community level weakens the family and vice versa.
You see 1^st and 2^nd century women played a very active role in the ministry along with Paul
We see this for example in Romans 16 and also Philippians 4
However even as these women were diligent in the Lords service this did not negate their subordination in church meetings
So just as we saw that there is a pattern of submission in the home there is a pattern of submission set forth in the church as well and that is seen clearly in two key passages we want to consider briefly today
The first is 1 Timothy 2:9-15
likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, 10but with what is proper for women who profess godliness--with good works. 11Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. 12I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. 13For Adam was formed first, then Eve; 14and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. 15Yet she will be saved through childbearing--if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.
This passage lays out several key items for ladies, it begins by speaking of modest dress and inward beauty in the first two verses we looked at
Next Paul speaks of quietness in church when he says “Let a woman quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. But I do not permit a woman to teach or have authority over a man.”
Paul makes two emphatic prohibitions here:

Not to teach
Not to have authority over a man

It is clear from this that woman are not to be elders in the household of God however this does not disqualify them for ministries that are outside of church services
These specific prohibitions would be directed primarily at what we call the worship service, the time we are in now.
This does not imply a woman cannot be engaged evangelism, encouragement, hospitality, and other good works as we see reinforced in multiple Scriptures in the New Testament
Paul closes this thought out by giving us God’s reasoning for this order, He begins by Saying For Adam was formed first, then Eve; 14and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. 15Yet she will be saved through childbearing--if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.
Paul is referring to Adam’s authority because he was created first, again not superior just that he was created first, this is consistent with Deut. 21:15-17 that discusses the responsibilities of the firstborn
God’s pattern seems to imply certain privileges and responsibilities on birth and created order
Adam’s position as head of the family was due to his prior creation to Eve
Adam was created to be the religious leader of the family not Eve, in fact Eve was not equipped – apart from Adam – to discern the subtleties of Satan
You see Satan circumvented Adam the God-appointed head to get at Eve whom he had correctly perceived that he could deceive
Adam was not deceived by Satan but rather willfully disobeyed God
Because of this God ordained difference between men and women God does not allow a woman to have authority over a man within the confines of the home or the church
The second key passage is similar in content but directed to a different congregation; 1 Corinthians 14:33-35
As in all the churches of the saints, 34the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. 35If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.
This teaching comes right on the heels of Paul speaking about order in church services and rules surrounding utterance gifts such as prophecy and tongues are to be used
Based on what we see here prophetic utterance, speaking in tongues and teaching in church services is prohibited
Again I point out that the context is in church; this has nothing to do with a group of ladies gathered in a home or a coffee shop to study the Word or encourage each other
This is specific to a church service, or a worship service as we might call it
Paul did address women prophesying in other places such as 1 Corinthians 14 and 1 Corinthians 11
We can be quite sure that women in the 1^st century prophesied, taught, and evangelized and we know that they did it in a way that was in complete harmony with submission in church to the male headship the Christ established for his Church
This is true of all of the great New Testament women, Mary, Martha, and later Priscilla, Phoebe, Euodia, Syntyche, Lydia and I am sure there were many more
They were saints and joint heirs of the grace of life but they were also voluntarily submissive even though they were esteemed of equal worth and value
Now it is often argued that Paul was writing to his day however he gave this command to two separate churches in different regions with different customs
In short there is nothing that would suggest the passages were meant only for these churches or only for this period of history
The only people that can seem to find a justification for this thinking are those that seek to use the Scriptures to prove this point vs. looking at the Scripture and seeing what the clear teaching is

Conclusion

The God ordained roles for men require more from men than simply that they are not chauvinists; in fact God holds them accountable for what happens within their families and for their actions toward their wives
Likewise ladies, the role God has ordained for you is much more than just insuring that you don’t usurp authority but there is much work, nurturing and ministering that you are given to do
The sexes are equal in worth in value before God but separate in function, the enemy of our souls has tried to stir up people around this doctrine by suggesting that Christianity speaks of women as being inferior when it does not