Leadership & Ladies
Good Morning,
The first two times the word hearkened is used in the Bible are also the two most deadly moments in human history.
Genesis 3:17 “And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;”
Genesis 16:2 “And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.”
My wife is my best friend; she is the one I wish to please and greatly long for her approval. She is not the guide for our spiritual life, though. Twice, men HEARKENED to their wives on major issues, and twice, the result was terrible. The first time was when Adam HEARKENED to his wife, ate the forbidden fruit and plunged the world into sin and death. The second time was when Abram HEARKENED to his wife, went in unto Hagar and gave birth to the Islamic culture.
Our church would crumble without the help and blessing of countless godly ladies on our staff, in teaching positions, and out soul winning. The danger occurs when ladies begin charting the path for the future and start making the spiritual choices without the leadership God has ordained. When ladies come out from under the leadership of God-ordained authorities, trouble ensues.
Isaiah 3:12 “As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.”
In both stories, women took on spiritual leadership and destroyed the path God directed them to travel because the men failed to take spiritual leadership.
God directed Paul to warn the church about ladies taking leadership:
1 Timothy 2:11 “Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.”
vs. 12 “But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.”
I am so thankful for the godly ladies in our church who faithfully accomplish their duties but always do so under the leadership of their pastor or ministry leader. These ladies are wise, godly women on whom we depend.
I am addressing two issues: one, the lady staying under the authority of the man; the other is the lady not being in authority over the man. WOW! That is politically incorrect; but, honestly, I think everything in our Bible is probably politically incorrect. We do not really care about building our church upon what men think but upon God’s commands.
My wife teaches a ladies’ adult Sunday school class, under my leadership and with my blessing. Our secretaries basically run our office, under my leadership and with my blessing and gratitude. Our nursery superintendent oversees our nursery and almost one hundred workers, under my leadership, and with my blessing.
In this matter, a few good things that can turn bad are homeschooling and home Bible studies. Most often, these are done without any input from the father or the pastor. No ill motives are involved, yet often, the problem of a lack of leadership occurs. The dad or the pastor simply resign from the responsibility, and the lady (as anyone with a good sense would do) simply steps up to try to fill the gap and take care of the need as best as she can. Nonetheless, much division in the church comes when people become more loyal to their home Bible study or to their home school than they are to their church or to their pastor as the spiritual leader.
Many ills in our religious world exist due to ladies assuming leadership over their God-appointed spiritual leaders. These are just a few examples:
1. The Foursquare church was founded by Aimee Semple McPherson.
2. Christian Science was founded by Mary Baker Eddy.
3. Unity Christ Church was founded by Ethel Higgins.
4. Seventh Day Adventist church was founded by Ellen G. White.
Many others could be cited. Keeping Divine authority is no guarantee that we will not get messed up, but failure is guaranteed when we begin by removing ourselves from under Divine authority.
Pastor