Nurturing the Nations Reclaiming the Dignity of Women in Building Healthy Cultures

1
Nurturing the NationsReclaiming the Dignity of
Women in Building Healthy Cultures

• The Bride of Christ

2
Part 4THE TRANSFORMING STORY

• 12 The Big Story
• 13 Genesis 1 Equal in Being
• 14 Genesis 2 Corresponding in Function
• 15 Genesis 3 The Distortion
• 16 Sexism and the Spirit of Baal
• 17 The Coming of the Bridegroom
• 18 The Bride of Christ
• 19 The Wedding of the Lamb
• 20 The Reign of Women Nurturers of Nations

3
The Mystery of Marriage
4
The Mystery of Marriage

• Genesis 224 For this reason a man will leave
  his father and mother and be united to his wife,
  and they will become one flesh.
• Ephesians 530-32 For this reason a man will
  leave his father and mother and be united to his
  wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is
  a profound mysterybut I am talking about Christ
  and the church.

5
The Broken World A Broken Pattern

• adultery is too often normative
• marriages end in divorce
• men and women simply live together
• sex is recreational or a form of entertainment
• sex is a way for a man to prove his manhood
• homosexuality and pedophilia
• lesbianism
• bestiality

6
The Love Story of God

• The world has been waiting for the Love
  Story of God to be completed, so that we may
  understand the full glory of Gods intention for
  marriage. The fore-shadow is in Gods faithful
  love to Israel and Christs self-sacrificing
  headship of the church.

7
Preview

• The Affirmation of the Trinitarian model by the
  New Testament church
• Equal in Being - Galatians 326-28
• Diverse in Function - I Corinthians 113
• Christ and His Bride
• The Birth of the Bride - The Church
• The living metaphor - As Christ Loved the Church

8
The Birth of the Church
9
The Sea Change

• The Gospel writers Matthew, Mark, and Luke refer
  to women in 112 distinct passages.1
• In the book of Romans, Paul sent personal
  greetings to fifteen women and eighteen men.2
• In Romans 16, he mentions seven women by name.

10
The Sea Change (cont.)

• He even named Priscilla before Aquila (Romans
  163), something unheard of in that day.
• Paul positioned women as fellow saints, and
  co-workers in a way that would have stunned and
  offended his fellow Jews.

11
Equality in Being

• (Galatians 326-28)

12
Equal in Being

• Read Galatians 326-28
• Questions
• What is the context of these verses?
• What does it reveal about our salvation?
• What does it reveal about men and women?

13
The Old Covenant

• The sign of the Old Covenant was circumcision
  (Genesis 1710-11).
• It was for males only.
• It ceased when the New Testament times began
  (Gal. 615 Col. 311).

14
The New Covenant

• The sign of the New Covenant was public
  confession (Romans 109) and Baptism
• Baptism was instituted by Christ (Matthew
  2819-20)
• The earliest Christians were baptized (Acts 2
  38-41)
• Baptism is an outward sign of an inward
  repentance and faith (Acts 238, 41 812f.
  1614f. 33f. 188 192f. cf. Heb. 61f.)

15
The Day of Pentecost

• Even before the Day of Pentecost, women were
  devoting themselves to prayer (Acts 114)
• On the day of Pentecost there were 120 believers,
  both men and women gathered (Acts 114-15)
• Acts 2 records the coming of the Holy Spirit upon
  the assembled men and women
• The priesthood is now for all believers (I Peter
  22-5, 9 Rev. 16 cf. 510 206), men and
  women. And Jesus is the one High Priest (Heb.
  216 31 414-16)

16
Women in Ministry (Kingdom Mission Team)

• Diakonos ministers/servants (including the
  office of deacon)
• Sunergos co-workers

17
Women in ministry (Kingdom Mission Team)

• Set 1 Acts 936-39 Acts 1613-15 Romans
  161-2
• Set 2 Acts 1818 Acts 219 Phil. 42-3
• Set 3 Romans 167 I Corinthians 111 2 Tim.
  15 2 John 1,10
• Question Who are these women and what are their
  ministries?

18
succourer

• Romans 161-2 I commend unto you Phoebe our
  sister, which is a servant of the church which is
  at Cenchrea for she hath been a succourer of
  many, and of myself also.
• prostatis meaning a woman set over others a
  female guardian, protectoress, patroness, caring
  for the affairs of others and aiding them with
  her resources
• Note the place of authority for the purpose of
  nurturing and caring for others

19
Diversity in Function Authority

• (I Corinthians 113)

20
1 Corinthians 113

• Now I want you to realize that the head of
  every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is
  man, and the head of Christ is God.

21
Headship
22
kephale

• Three times in this passage we find the word head
• This is the Greek word kephale.
• Literally the head, both of men and often of
  animals.
• Metaphorically anything supreme, chief,
  prominent of persons, master lord of a husband
  in relation to his wife of Christ the Lord the
  husband of the Church of things the corner
  stone.

23
Governing Authority

• I once looked up over 2,300 examples of the
  word head (kephale) in ancient Greek. In these
  texts, the word kephale is applied to many people
  in authority, but none without governing
  authority. In the Greek-speaking world, to be the
  head of a group of people always meant to have
  authority over those people.
• 
  Theologian Wayne Grudem

24
Authority Structure

• Is part of the nature of the Godhead and thus its
  very context is loving, other-serving
  relationships
• Foundational to the nature of creation. It is
  part of the un-fallen Order of Creation.
• Is not evil in itself

25
Fallen Authority Structures

• Twisted and deformed in the fall as seen in all
  forms of governance
• Tyrannical governments and compliant (not acting
  as free men and women) citizens
• Dominating husbands and rebellious or servile
  wives
• Sexism relishes in the authority structure to the
  extent that it denies a womans worth
• Feminism denies any authority structure, deeming
  the structure itself as evil

26
The Cross and Authority Structures

• Authority structures are not abolished by the
  cross, as if they were evil.
• They are redeemed by the cross and are to be
  reformed by the followers of Christ.
• It demands that the bounds of authority structure
  not be expanded or contracted beyond that which
  scripture establishes.
• Reestablishes the context of authority from
  fallen authoritarianism to loving,
  self-sacrificing relationships

27
Jesus is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords
(Rev. 1714 1916)

• And yet he is a servant (Mark 1035).
• His being a servant is not a contradiction to his
  being a King.
• It defines the nature of the use of his
  authority.
• His leadership is defined by his service his
  headship is defined by his self- sacrifice.

28
There are four spheres of governance

• The Individual
• The Family
• The Church
• The Civil Society

29
The Individual

• The individual The agent equipped by God to
  govern in the other three areas of governance in
  a way that stewards creation and glorifies God
• The Means - Internal Self-Government

30
A Kingdom of Priests
31
The Family

• The family Gods agent for raising children and
  producing the next generation of nation builders
• Means Education parents are responsible to
  educate their children
• The husband has delegated servant leadership as a
  King to be the head of his wife and family.
• The wife has delegated servant-leadership as the
  Queen of the House, as the nurturer of her
  children and the succorer of her husband and the
  guests in her home.

32
The Church

• The church Gods agent for redemption and the
  advancement of the Kingdom
• Means The Bible
• As the priesthood of believers, all Christians
  are called into fulltime ministry.
• Maleness is not a requirement for ministry in the
  church, nor is it required for all forms of
  leadership.
• Men and women are free to responsibly use all
  their natural and spiritual gifts.

33
episkope

• There is a distinction between office and
  ministry
• There is only one limitation placed on most men
  and all women - governance
• The office of episkope - Oversight
  overseership, office, charge, the office of an
  elder the overseer or presiding officers of a
  Christian church.

34
Civil Government

• The civil society Gods agency for insuring
  justice and social order
• Means the sword
• There are no gender restrictions on work,
  ministry and leadership. There is freedom for a
  woman to pursue being a servant-leader in any
  sphere of society

35
The Pattern of Marriage

• Ephesians 521-33

36
Marriage The Tangible Expression of an
Intangible Reality

• Marriage is a tangible, concrete, earthly
  expression of an intangible, heavenly, and
  eternal reality, namely the loving relation
  between Christ and his people. Non-Christians may
  not know this, but Christians should. By their
  faithful, persevering, covenant love as husband
  and wife, Christian couples provide a tangible
  expression of a spiritual reality much greater
  than themselves...

37
Marriage The Tangible Expression of an
Intangible Reality

• For this reason, the two who are one, are
  also three, since they point beyond themselves to
  the Savior who draws people to himself in
  faithful love (John 1232). What could possibly
  be more significant than that my tiny and
  faulty little marriage relationship as a tangible
  sign of the everlasting and unfailing love of
  God? Theologian Michael J. McClymond

38
Ephesians 522-23

• This refers back to the Creation when he
  describes the marriage pattern
• The creation order of one man and one woman in
  marriage, in a profound and mysterious way points
  to the glorious and eternal marriage of the Son
  of God to His bride.

39
The PatternChrist and His Church

• As Christ is the loving-servant-head of the
  church, so the husband is to be the
  loving-serving-head of his wife.
• As the church is the loving-respectful-help to
  Christ so is the wife to be the
  loving-respectful-help to her own husband.

40
The Pattern of Marriage

• Read Ephesians 521-33
• What are men and women called to outside of
  marriage (vs. 521)?
• What are husbands called to do (vs. 525-30)?
• By what standard?
• What are wives called to do (vs. 522-24)?
• Which role is harder? Why?

41
In Being Equal

• (Eph. 521)

42
In Being - Equal

• Before we are married, we are sisters and
  brothers in Christ.
• In that framework we are to submit ourselves to
  one another.

43
Marriage is Other-Centered

• Marriage is the first earthly relationship
  that we enter which requires us to shift the
  focus of our lives from ourselves to others. It
  is inherently other centered.
• Michael Craven
• Vice President
• National Coalition for the Protection of
  Children and Families

44
In Function DiverseThe Husband

• Loving-Servant-Headship
• (Ephesians 525-30)

45
To Love Like Christ

• Therefore, headship is not a right to command
  and control. Its a responsibility to love like
  Christ to lay down your life for your wife in
  servant leadership. Headship is the divine
  calling of a husband to take primary
  responsibility for Christ-like, servant
  leadership, protection and provision in the home
  italics mine.
• Pastor John Piper

46
The How of Headship

• This passage does not say that the husband is the
  head of the wife.
• The husband does not need to hear that he is the
  head of his wife
• He needs to hear how he is the head.
• The man is not the head of all women, but only
  one woman, his wife.

47
How is the Husband Head?

• vs. 23 as Christ is
• vs. 25 just as Christ
• vs. 28 In the same way
• vs. 29 just as Christ does

48
The Nature of Headship

• While the word head means a position of
  authority, the nature of the authority is defined
  by Christs example, not Sexisms
• The pattern is built on relationship of
• God to Israel
• Christ to His Church
• A head to the body
• The husband is to be towards his wife

49
The Operative Word - Love

• The word love appears six times in these verses
• twice in vs. 25
• three times in vs. 28
• once in vs. 33
• All six times it is agape love
• It is not eros intimate sexual love
• It is not phileo the love of friends

.
50
Agape Love

• This is the love that sent Christ to the cross
  (John 316 I John 316)
• It is self-sacrificing love

51
Most Like a Crucifixion

• This headship, then, is most fully embodied
  not in the husband we should all wish to be but
  in him whose marriage is most like a crucifixion
  whose wife receives most and gives least, is most
  unworthy of him, is in her own mere nature
  least loveable. For the church has no beauty but
  what the Bridegroom gives her he does not find,
  but makes her, lovely.

52
Sanctifying Love

• The husband is to think more of his wife than he
  does of himself (Phil. 23-4)
• Love means to sanctify (vs. 26-27)
• Love means to feed and care for (vs. 29)
• Feed, Greek - ektrepho to nourish up to
  maturity
• Care for, Greek - thalpo "to keep warm to
  cherish with tender love, to foster with tender
  care

53
In Function DiverseThe Wife

• Loving Respectful Helper (Ephesians 522-24)

54
Responding to Christs Leadership

• And submission is not slavish or coerced or
  cowering. Thats not the way Christ wants the
  church to respond to his leadership he wants it
  to be free and willing and glad and refining and
  strengthening. Submission is the divine calling
  of a wife to honor and affirm her husbands
  leadership and help carry it through according to
  her gifts italics mine.
• Pastor John Piper

55
Submit

• Greek word hupotasso
• A Greek military term meaning to arrange troop
  in divisions in a military fashion under the
  command of a leader.
• In non-military use, it was a voluntary attitude
  of giving in, cooperating, assuming
  responsibility, and carrying a burden.

56
hupotasso

• The word is found three times in these three
  verses.
• It is used in other passages that speak of a
  wifes relationship to her husband (Col. 318 1
  Peter 31 Titus 24-5).
• It is often translated submit yourselves to
  reflect that the submission is a intentional
  action.

57
submit yourselves

• The model for the wife is found in Marys
  attitude and free volition when she said to the
  angel Gabriel I am the Lords servant. May it
  be to me as you have said (Luke 138).

58
Unto Your Own Husband (vs. 22)

• The woman is not told to submit to all men or any
  other man. She is only called to submit to her
  own (Greek idiois) husband.
• Men are not the head of all women. The headship
  of a man is towards his own wife only!

59
As to the Lord

• The wife is to submit to her husband just as she
  would to Jesus Christ.
• This can be seen as both
• Motivation motivated by Christ she is to submit
  to her husband
• Imitation in the same way she submits to Christ
  she is to submit to her husband.

60
There is Symmetry

• The husband loves his wife
• as Christ loves the Church.

• The wife submits to her husband
• as the Church submits to Christ.

61
Just as the Church

• Just as the Church surrenders her identity,
  her hope, her future, to her Bridegroom, so the
  wife submits herself to her husband.

62
In Everything

• This is the Greek word pas and it is translated
  all or all things

63
This does not

• Mean the wife is to disobey God in order to obey
  her husband (Acts 419-20 529)
• Preclude the wife from thinking and asking
  questions. She is called to love the Lord with
  all her mind (Mark 1230)
• Mean that the husband can lord it over his wife
  (2 Cor. 124 1 Peter 53). She is not his
  property or his inferior she is his equal.
• Mean that she is to be imprisoned in her home,
  barefoot and pregnant

64
Respect

• The Greek word is phobeo " to reverence,
  venerate, to treat with deference or reverential
  obedience
• The wife is to pro-actively respect her own
  husband

65
Concluding Thought

• Gods commands concerning marriage involve
  self-denial for both husband and wife, but of
  different sorts. The wifes submission
  establishes the God-ordained headship of her
  husband, and the husbands love insures the
  wifes best interests, her treatment as a person.
  Each ones obedience helps the other to fulfill
  his or her duty.