Podcasts about recovering biblical manhood

The following is an AI-generated rough transcript of the Equipping Hour. It may contain inaccuracies.  Opening and Introduction Smedly Yates: Well, good morning. Happy Sunday. Welcome to Grace Bible Church this morning and to Equipping Hour. This morning, we’re going to be doing a follow-up from an equipping hour that Jake taught on January 11th on dementia. And that was, Jake, that was riveting and encouraging. And I thought you taught us everything we needed to know, but apparently you didn’t. Because the numbers of follow-up questions from that equipping hour broke all records. So we’ve sort of accumulated those questions. And let me just encourage you, if you didn’t get a chance to listen to that equipping hour from January 11th, pull it up on the website, go back and listen to that. And this morning, what we’re going to do is just put the questions that many of you asked in person and submitted. Or just get to ask those of Jake in front of all of us. And so Jake really is going to give most of the answers here. I don’t know if I have a whole lot to say. Other than these are the questions we got, Jake, help us. So with that, let me open us in a word of prayer and we’ll get started. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for your kindness to us. We don’t deserve to have physical ability endure in this life. We don’t deserve to have mental capacity sustained in this life. We truly only deserve condemnation under your wrath for our sins. And so anything that you give to us, we pray to use as a gift, as a stewardship, to use well and for your glory, and to be content and to trust you as things diminish. And we thank you for the preparation, for mental decline. You’ve already given us from principles from your word. We pray even now as we discuss caring for one another and seeking to glorify you in personal worship in our physical existence that you would be honored as we listen and apply and are strengthened and sharpened to help others. We ask all this in Jesus’ name. Amen. I’m going to start with kind of a personal question that came in, Jake, and it goes like this. If I try not to get dementia, you gave us a lot of helps, dietary exercise, sleep, some of those things that were really helpful, practical things. So if I’m doing those things, if I’m trying not to get dementia, am I expressing distrust and dissatisfaction in God and his sovereignty? Stewardship, Planning, and God’s Sovereignty Jacob Hantla: Maybe. So, yeah, we spend a lot of time talking about the practical ways that you might want to steward this life and this body that God’s given you. The big hitters were exercise, right? We said if there’s one that you can do, it’s that. But there’s a lot more. There’s a, but if you’re doing those things, is that sinful? It might be. There’s a way to do the right thing for the wrong reasons. Planning, though, is not unbelief. Planning like God doesn’t exist is unbelief. or planning like God’s way isn’t best in your selfishly, arrogantly grabbing after your own desires. That’s unbelief. That’s sin. So the issue isn’t whether you should steward, but it’s whether an action that you’re saying is stewardship is actually a mask for control, pride, and fear. Proverbs 27:12 says the prudent sees danger and hides himself. There’s a way to see that. Where you see danger, you hide yourself from it. You take planned steps in order to avoid it that actually roots itself from fear of the Lord. And that would be right. And in contrast, it says the simple go on as if that danger isn’t there and they suffer for it. So there’s nothing inherently righteous or right and just saying, I’m going to trust the Lord and use that as a mask for just lazy thoughtlessness. Similarly, there’s nothing righteous at all in saying, I don’t want what I fear is coming and I’m going to grasp after what I want. But James 4, you guys might want to open there. This is, a really, really helpful section of scripture for planning. And it reveals why we actually have to, at the heart of all of this, guard our hearts, not merely do the right thing. James Chapter 4. And this is in the context of the warning, or the command to humble yourself from verse 10, humble yourselves before the Lord because God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. And now, he says, come now, verse 13, you who say today or tomorrow, we’re going to go into such and such a town, spend a year there trade, and make a profit. Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? You’re a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will do this or that. So the take home from that is not don’t plan, don’t run a business, but rather as you run it, run it as one who actually embraces and recognizes your temporalness, your weakness, your dependence, and God’s sovereignty. Smedly Yates: If we zoom out from the topic of dementia, and we just think about the principle underlying that, we’re dealing with the realities of God using human means in his sovereign plans. If we rephrase the question, we might say, is it sin and distrust of the Lord to study for your chemistry exam? No, of course not. Can you sin by studying for your chemistry exam without thought toward God and exalt your own pride and intellect and your hard work? Yeah, that’d be wrong. A godless, practical, atheistic approach to effort would be sin. But a laziness that says, well, I’m just trusting in the Lord, but I’m not going to go apply for a job, study from my exam, practice for the athletic endeavor, or whatever is sin the other way. And I love the example of evangelism. We know that God will save people, but we know that God uses means to do it. So is it a failure to trust God when I go out and share the gospel with people? No, it’s actually the obedience that God uses as a means to accomplish his ends. Now, I can’t control the results. So you can be faithful, worshiping the Lord, telling others how great Jesus is all day long and nobody gets saved and God is honored and we trust him. Jacob Hantla: Yeah. There’s two biblical, I love the illustration. It’s throughout the Bible of horses and chariots. You can write down Proverbs 21:31 and Psalm 20:7. In Proverbs 21:31, it says, the horse is made ready for the day of battle. Who does that? We do that. The people do that, and they go, battle, but it says, but victory belongs to Yahweh. And similarly, in Psalm 20:7, this, this was actually one of my favorite passages in fighting cancer. I stole it from Piper in his book, Don’t Waste Your Cancer. He says, some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we trust in the name of Yahweh our God, which doesn’t mean go to battle with slow horses and broken down chariots, it’s wise to get the best you can. If you know that you might be facing a future with dementia or anything else you might face, chemistry test or other health problem, be diligent to plan, but do it in a way that when you don’t get dementia, it wasn’t your effort that gets the glory. It was Yahweh’s. And if you get dementia anyway, you say, it was the Lord’s will. It’s best, I trust. Reverse Sanctification and Dementia Smedly Yates: A question came through, and really there were several facets that sort of get at the same kind of question. But people wondered, and this comes obviously from people who have worked hard to care for people with various forms of dementia. But it seems like Christians at times can experience what looks like reverse sanctification. Is that what’s going on there? Have people been abandoned by the Holy Spirit when behaviors change in mental decline. Jacob Hantla: Yeah, I think probably about five, six of you asked that question with very particular circumstances in mind. And the question doesn’t overstate the reality of what occurs. So reverse sanctification. Sanctification is the process of progressively being conformed to the image of Christ from the point of salvation, usually, and normally for a Christian, until the point when they finish well, die, and are taken home, and then glory. But that doesn’t always happen for Christians. The reality is sometimes in dementia, some Christians become more childlike in their faith. It’s not inevitable that your sanctification will reverse. And I don’t think that’s the right term. It’s the observed reality that we see. But sometimes their faith becomes more simple, but not less godly. They might tell the same stories over and over again. Or if you imagine sometimes what happens in dementia, your existence in the moment is separated from what’s gone before it. So you’re always disoriented. That’s terrifying. And so you see the Christian in those moments having a childlike trust questions that you feel bad for them, but they are trusting the Lord in a real way. But sometimes, and this is the words of Dr. John Dunlop, wrote a book on the Christian and dementia. He goes, dementia can indeed change personalities. It has transformed wonderful, loving, godly people into tyrants. And that happens. I’ve seen, you see somebody who was self-controlled loving. and as they progress into dementia, they curse. They use language that’s not befitting a Christian at all. There’s inappropriateness in all kinds of ways. And so what’s going on there? I think it’s helpful. I’m going to do another physiology lesson. Bear with me, I promise it’s worth it. It helps me. So there’s some types of dementia, especially that there’s one we talked about called frontotemporal. What does that mean? It’s the area of the brain in which it happens. And it changes the way that your brain physically works. So there’s an, I’m going to oversimplify a little bit. So, but this is, this is helpful. If you think of your prefrontal cortex, you might have heard that word because we joke. Teenagers, their prefrontal cortex isn’t fully developed. And that’s true. It’s why you don’t trust your kids to make life-altering decisions. But the prefrontal cortex is, you could think of it as the executive control center of your brain. It houses the part of your brain for abstract thought, concentration, working memory, and most critically, inhibition of inappropriate thoughts and actions. You and I do it all the time you think it’s like the breaks. There’s a filter on, thank God there’s a filter, right? Something comes to your mind and it doesn’t come out your mouth. Because of the prefrontal cortex, it overrides automatic impulsive thoughts. It helps you consider the consequences in the future before acting. It connects your current behaviors to the past experiences and your goals. And when that area is damaged, somebody has a really hard time choosing the appropriate behavior for the situation. The damage, it sort of removes the filter. There’s another thing, orbital frontal cortex. It’s just another area of your brain. You don’t need to know the big word. But what that is is that’s particularly critical for regulating social behavior. When that area of the brain gets damaged, like if you get a cancer to that area or a surgery that affects, that area instantly, that person can explain what appropriate social behavior is, but they don’t recognize when their behavior violates that. So it’s manifested by like just a list from a textbook that I looked up on this. It’s greeting strangers in an overly familiar manner, standing too close to others, inappropriate touching, being aware of social norms, like I said, but unaware that your behavior violates that, and that can go to extremes, sexual inappropriateness, language inappropriateness, and they’re just unaware. You and I, if we were to be saying that, it would be sin. In this case, it actually may represent a physical inability. So what’s going on there? I want to think about the brain and the believer. When the Holy Spirit expresses self-control in a believer. So, right, the fruit of the spirit is self-control. And I just said, well, self-control comes from the prefrontal cortex. So are we just our brains? No. When the Holy Spirit makes a believer new. And when the Holy Spirit controls that believer, he does it in a way through the working of our physiologic brain that enables us to submit to him, which means that he’s actually using our prefrontal cortex in a renewed way. I think it’s helpful. Open your Bible’s to Ephesians 5:18. I think this is really helpful. And there is an inner working between the way our brains and our most inner us, your soul, your mind, you’re who you are. There’s a working there that we, don’t truly understand, but that we can get glimpses into here. And I think that that, if we think of the way our brains in the working of the Holy Spirit to accomplish things like self-control, I think this is a helpful verse. Ephesians 5:18, do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery. And what’s that contrasted with? But be filled with the Holy Spirit, with the Spirit. So what does alcohol physically do? Alcohol in a person, it actually, you’re going to now see why I did this physiology lesson, it actually dramatically reduces prefrontal cortex activity. It takes the break off. It takes the filter off. You may still have the Holy Spirit, but the physiologic means that he uses to exercise control of, you would use to minimize your expressions of sin while in this body that’s falling apart, you’ve now chemically altered that. And so you have a lack of self-control, an impaired moral reasoning, increased risk-taking. Similarly, your orbital frontal cortex goes dysfunctional. That’s why I mentioned those two things. That happens with alcohol and anything that stimulates GABA receptors. That would be like benzodiazepines, some sleeping pills, some anti-enactylase, some anti-enactylase. anxiety meds, it can lead to social inappropriateness for those same reasons. Opioids. Research shows that chronic amphetamine and opioid use alters decision-making by ways that are very similar to focal damage to that orbital frontal cortex. You can see now chemicals interacting with your brain in a way that we’re used to seeing those people don’t act right. THC from marijuana, same thing, decreased brain volumes in chronic use, especially in the orbital frontal cortex. Sleep deprivation. Tons of breakdown, temporary, and the connection between amygdala, which is like your fighter flight, your stress area, and your prefrontal cortex connectivity. So sleep deprivation triggers this. You basically don’t have a brain. on your emotional regulation. So why am I going through all that? If we have the ability, it’s right for us to keep ourselves from breaking our brain intentionally. Don’t be drunk. Avoid chemicals that would alter those areas and make the expression of self-control more difficult or less likely. and you can actually, you see it in your kids when they’re unslept, more prone to sin. You see it in yourself. So imagine yourself with 48 hours without sleep, then drink a little bit of alcohol. You will become disinhibited, irritable, and be much more prone to sin. Don’t do that to yourself. But now what happens if that’s actually happening physically because areas of your brain are dying, they’re tangled up with proteins, or they’re otherwise that they can’t access the energy stores to function? That’s effectively what they’re, but they can’t sleep it off or sober up. It helps you be probably a little more understanding and maybe see that it’s not actually a reversing of sanctification, but rather, I think it’s a, well, let’s just turn to 2 Corinthians 4, and I think we’ll see what it is. You see that dementia can change behavior by damaging the brain’s physiologic instruments of restraint and judgment, but it’s not the same thing as the Holy Spirit moving out. sanctification isn’t stored in a lobe of the brain. You are more than your brain. It’s actually our brain is that part of us that’s wasting away. It’s not our inner man. So 2nd Corinthians 4:16, we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. day. This is helpful to remember in somebody whose outer self is falling apart, not just physically their body doesn’t work anymore, but their brain’s not working. This light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. As we look not to the things that are seen, but the things that are unseen, the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. It’s really helpful. when we look at somebody with dementia and it looks like they’re becoming less and less Christian. I love the way John Piper says it. He has a helpful ask Pastor John on dementia. And he says, Paul’s telling us that weak, in glorious, demented shadow of a once strong Christian in front of us is on the brink of glory and power. You need to go into nursing homes and think that way. These people are on the brink of glory and power. We must keep this continuity in mind between diminished powers of human beings here and the spectacular powers that they’re going to have in the resurrection. It’s so important if we lose a sense of that continuity for the Christian, will assume that we are becoming less human rather than being on the brink of gloriously superhuman. So it’s helpful to see that your brain is the outer person that’s wasting away. And that isn’t necessarily connected to the what God has done in the most inner you. Confrontation, Rebuke, and Care for the Weak Smedly Yates: Given that reality, Jake, we think about somebody whose inhibitions are broken down. The manifest ability for self-control allows things in the heart to make their way out. Is there ever a place for confrontation, rebuke, encouragement, help for somebody who’s still living the Christian life, still susceptible to sin? At what level is it appropriate? How should we think about, you know, helping behavior and rotten speech and things like that? Jacob Hantla: Yeah, absolutely. There is. You have to recognize that the purpose of rebuke would be repentance, right? And just like with children and with all Christians, it’s really wise and necessary to discern when possible between sin and inability. The reality is that we can’t always do that. But before I go there, I want to get back to this question. Let’s think about ourselves and what we’re going to be prone to do with what I just said. I’m going to be prone, you might be prone, to say, well, I didn’t sin. It’s just my physiology that made me do it. You don’t get off the hook ever in the Bible because your physiology had a weakness. God uses our weakness and our physiology as the platform in which he demonstrates his power, and particularly his power over sin. Our brains, actually a significant part of why they’re weak and why they break like this, is because it’s a part of God’s judgment for us. Romans 1, right? We became futile in our thinking, and our minds were darkened as a result of our unwillingness to acknowledge God as God. We are not merely our brains, and yet the dysfunction of our brains is actually a significant part of the fall. God renews that. He changes that in the believer. And if you as a Christian say, I know where I am particularly vulnerable, maybe I’m heading down a path towards dementia, or maybe I have some particular weaknesses where I haven’t slept much this week. I just had back surgery. I know I’m going to be on an opioid for pain, and I know that I’m going to have a particular—even if you can’t say the area of your brain that’s going to not function right—you're going to say, all right, Jake taught me that I’m going to tend to act inappropriately towards people. I’m not going to view myself rightly. I’m going to have a lack of self-control. I better ask for help. I’m not going to justify sin, but I’m actually going to be more vigilant for it. Fight it more diligently and get people around me to help me fight it. So now let’s go to the question of, is it ever appropriate to rebuke a dementia patient? Let’s assume that person is a Christian. Go to 1 Thessalonians 5:14. If that person is a Christian and they are sinning, even if they’re not even aware of it, they’re going to say, will you please come to me and help me? I’m going to need help. We need to, as best we can, use the right tool for the situation. Discern weakness, faint-heartedness, and still don’t hesitate to admonish unruliness or idleness. So 1 Thessalonians 5:14: “We urge you, brothers, admonish the idle or the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak.” Do you see those three different instructions? Somebody might be expressing sin. All three of these might be evidences of—in all of these three cases—there might be somebody evidencing unbelief or something that needs turning, changing. And in one case, the tool is admonishment. In another, it’s actually help. And in the other, it’s encouragement. Now consider the person with dementia. Their brain is not functioning the way that yours is. They can’t connect their actions to what’s socially appropriate. They can’t connect their actions with the goals they’re aiming at. They might be unclear as to even the situation that they find themselves in, the context of their life. That’s a pitiable—in all the right ways—pitiable circumstance. That would tend to make that person fainthearted, very weak. What they probably need more than admonishment is help and encouragement. I love Poithress. This is from Piper and Grudem’s book, Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. He says, “Our privilege as Christ’s children altogether should stimulate rather than destroy our concern to treat each person in the church with the sensitivity and respect due to that person by reason of his age, gift, sex, leadership status, personality,” and I would add mental status. So how should you do this? With mild impairment, let’s just go down a category. If you had somebody with mild impairment—not all dementias, it’s not this catch-all where everybody’s all the same—you can have a mild impairment. Probably normal accountability. They’re going to tend to need more admonishment and help and encouragement, but be slower, be gentle, be more concrete. You’re probably not going to be able to string together three or four if-then statements to logically get them there. Make it simple. Sort of like when you’re admonishing your three-year-old, maybe your five-year-old, your seven-year-old. You still do it, but not in the same way that you would a 25-year-old or a 35-year-old. But then with moderate impairment, your correction probably becomes more redirection. Just simple statements of, “That’s not okay. Let’s go over here.” Change the environment. And then severe impairment, probably treat it more as symptom management, prioritizing safety, comfort. Simple statements still: “That’s not okay.” Like you would use for your one-year-old: “Use your hands for gentleness. We don’t speak like that. That doesn’t honor the Lord.” Normal Aging, Forgetfulness, and Dementia Smedly Yates: Statements like that. This is so helpful, Jake. I think partly because we don’t want to be in a position where we’re shocked and our black-and-white categories of sanctification, justification, get in the way of compassionate care and love for someone who is in a weakened state that needs help. It’s not dismissing sin, but just really helpful, compassionate care. I have a more personal question for you. Last evening, we had a number of friends in our home, and I got confused and thought that a dear sweet friend was somebody else altogether. And it occurred to me later, I asked a really strange question that didn’t make any sense to her at all. Do I have dementia? Jacob Hantla: I don’t think so. But you are getting older. There’s a forgetfulness that’s just a part of being human. And there is a forgetfulness that’s increasingly normal with age. Smedly Yates: You’re right behind me. You’re catching up. No, you’re not catching up, but you’re behind me. Jacob Hantla: Percentage-wise, I’m catching up, and I will never in an absolute, absolute way. So there’s normal aging, and some normal cognitive decline with aging is very different than actual dementia. So if you do have questions about that, it’s helpful. Regardless, if you just say, hey, I’m getting old. I’m not sleeping as well. Just as a result of not sleeping as well, as a result of just being weaker, maybe having more history behind you, some more stuff to forget, or whatever, you realize, hey, I don’t have dementia, but I’m not who I once was. That’s not a bad place to be. There’s a weakness there that’s helpful to get people around you to augment your weaknesses. How much more, if you were heading toward dementia. I promise I’ll tell you if I see it. You do the same for me. But regardless, you might or you might not. I don’t think you do. But let’s say that you’re saying, I forget stuff, do I have dementia? The second that you start thinking that, you’re probably not the right person to be making that call. It’s wise to get family members, elders, even medical professionals, doctors to assess: is this dementia? Is it a reversible cause? What’s the probability it’s going to accelerate? And then as you start seeing more and more likelihood that, yeah, this is progressing, start getting people around you to start relinquishing intentionally controls that you might have on your life. Can you double-check me on any purchases greater than X amount of money? Let’s go update the will. Let’s get you on a power of attorney. Invite them to take away the keys at the appropriate time. Even if you say that’s a long way from now, that’s a really humble way to invite, in a godly way, people who love you to be enabled to help you. Forgetting the Gospel and Childlike Faith Smedly Yates: Jake, can a believer forget the gospel in a mentally diminished state or not have the ability to articulate the gospel? Jacob Hantla: Yeah. They can. Memories are stored in our brain. And you might not have access to those memories even while you are saved. Right? That unbreakable chain of salvation will end in glorification from Romans chapter 8: all those whom he foreknew, and it gets all the way to glorification. And in the midst of that may be a trial like your memories are disconnected from you in a way that you can’t explain concepts like substitutionary atonement, you might not even remember that Jesus is your Savior, though he is. And so if somebody has forgotten those things, don’t tire of reminding them of those things. Because even if that memory can only stay with them for that one moment, it’s real. And it might help them endure that moment. It’s a really complex, I can’t say that we understand it at all. But God does. There’s a complex relationship between our thoughts, our memories, how those connect to our actions, and what our ultimate status before God that’s normally expressed through faith. And you can’t have faith without trusting in Jesus. So how can somebody who doesn’t even know who Jesus is trust in him? I’m just going to say I’m not God. God knows. And when you are in your right mind, if you do, that’s evidence of God’s work in you. Because nobody can say Jesus is Lord apart from, in me, and being it, apart from God changing them, saving them, making them new. And so if their brain breaks, and they no longer are able to say that in the same way, I don’t think that’s going to be devastating because they weren’t saved on the merit of faith, but they were saved by grace through the exercise of faith. That faith may look different now. But it’s helpful to think of what kind of people go into the kingdom. Like the disciples, when the children were coming, and they said, no, don’t let them near. And Jesus says, no, it’s, it’s that kind of person who gets into the kingdom. Don’t think that those, faith doesn’t have to be complex. Faith doesn’t have to be well reasoned out. That doesn’t mean that you have an excuse not to think. Peter says, add to your faith knowledge, right? We are expected to grow in faith. I’d love to hear you expound on this, Smed. But there’s a childlikeness of faith that actually in your dementia, you might be able to express that. In your arrogance, maybe in your self-trusting when your faculties are working, it may actually be God’s means of separating you from your strength, because when we’re weak, we’re strong in him, that we don’t get to see all the interplay of that, but we may be a means moment by moment of reminding the Christian who forgot who Jesus was of who he is. Smedly Yates: I think that’s so helpful. The weakest place you will ever be in life are at your last moments on the earth. No matter how it is you go out of this life. Just last night I was working through the details of the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15. And listen to this, Paul is comparing the resurrection to a seed sown into the ground and then what comes out afterwards. And there are different levels of glory from sun, moon to stars, different kinds of bodies, fish, and other things. But not everybody’s the same. But every human being who faces physical mortality ends life here and then experiences resurrection, every one of us will experience the most profound weaknesses in the last moments. And here’s how Paul describes it. The body is sown, placed into the ground like a seed, corruptible. Subject to absolute humiliating corruption, raised incorruptible. No longer ever subject to corruption. And when we think about brain deterioration, that word corruption is weighty. Sown in dishonor. The last moments of anyone’s physicality are the most dishonorable. Stripped of power, stripped of strength, stripped of dignity, but raised in glory. And Jake, what you shared earlier about somebody being on the brink of the kind of glory that C.S. Lewis described—if we were to see a resurrected saint now we’d be tempted to fall down and worship them or run away in abject terror. We just have no idea what this glory is like on this side of it. But we go from the lowest, most undignified, most powerless spot in our earthly existence in those last moments. And he goes on and says, put in the ground in weakness, raised in power, put in the ground natural, raised supernatural. And so the earthy is first and then the spiritual. And so it’s just helpful to think about not being surprised when someone is at their most profoundly weak, not just physically but mentally, end-of-life scenarios. Jacob Hantla: Yeah, it’s profoundly humbling. And it makes us want to say, I don’t want to be there. Can I avoid that? Okay. I mean, do your best. And ultimately God may bring us there in a way that all of us, sometimes our last moments are momentary, sometimes our last moments of that corruptible humiliation last a really long time. In this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on, we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, this physical body that’s falling apart, we groan, being burdened. Not that we would be unclothed. It’s not merely saying, hey, let’s take this thing off, but that we would be further clothed so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. It’s not even worth comparing. And so if that’s the way that God has to be glorified in us—to go back to that first question—okay, I’ll do that. It’s light and momentary, even if it lasts a long time. And even if I’m not even able in the moment to contemplate what time is, it’s humiliating. And you know what? I’m going to ask the Lord to take that from me. I’m going to say, God, please don’t. That’s an okay prayer. That’s similar to what Paul prayed and said in 2 Corinthians 12. And Jesus says, no, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. And if Jesus says that to you, Christian, you can say, okay, I’m going to be content with weaknesses. And man, if you get to care for somebody in their weak moments there, it’s helpful to have these things in mind to know they’re on the brink of glory. Marriage, Roles, and Dementia Smedly Yates: I want to move to a practical and theological question related to roles, thinking particularly about husbands and wives honoring biblical roles in marriage, particularly when a husband is experiencing mental decline and dementia. How does a wife caring for a husband honor those roles with a diminished ability? Jacob Hantla: Yeah, that’s a really helpful question. I loved thinking through this. Smedly Yates: I came up with it myself. No. Several people asked. I just wrote it down. Jacob Hantla: You did. I think we want to avoid two opposite errors. One is a view of submission and leadership as a rigid subservience. If a husband can’t lead, the wife can’t act. Or on the other side, a role evaporation. That illness or inability cancels biblical patterns. Both of those would be absolutely wrong. Did you get that? One would be if the husband can’t lead, then the wife shouldn’t be able to act. And if the husband can’t lead because of inability, role distinction, that God set out that is grounded in creation order, not in ability, right? Men aren’t pastors because we’re better at it or smarter at all or better teachers. That’s not where God grounds it. But in his purposes. And so it’s helpful. If we think about what femininity is, so we’re helping a wife whose husband is just incapable of leading in the ways that she wishes he could, a heart that longs to follow. You think of 1 Peter 3:4. The adorning for the woman is in the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. Normally, that’s going to be expressed through submitting to husbands, to their leadership, even in ways, as long as their leadership—for unbelievers, as long as their leadership doesn’t lead them to go against the Lord—even submitting to that with a gentle and quiet spirit. That’s going to play itself out differently for a husband who can’t lead through inability or poor decision-making due to brain decline. You go to Proverbs 31. This breaks the category of a submissive wife as one who’s subservient and just says, “Tell me exactly what to do, so I only do that thing.” No, an excellent wife who can find, she’s far more precious than jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her. He will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not harm all the days of her life. You see right there a husband who can trust his wife, whose wife is working for his good and not harm, that’s a wife who’s embraced godly roles. It’s not a wife, it’s not neediness that she expresses, but productivity and care. Jump forward to verse 15 of Proverbs 31. She rises while it is yet night, provides food for her household, portions for her maidens, she considers a field and buys it, the fruit of her hand, she plants a vineyard, she dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong. She perceives that her merchandise is profitable, her lamp does not go out at night. This is a woman who can work, who can work hard, but very different from that which feminists would say, hey, a woman who doesn’t need a man, a woman who functions for her own good, depart from him, but this is a woman who’s functioning strong for the good of her husband. And her husband trusts, she, verse 27, looks to the ways of her household. She doesn’t eat the bread of idleness. Children and her husband call her blessed and praise her. Charm is deceitful, beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. This biblical femininity is rooted in fear of the Lord, love of her husband, not a desire to dominate over the husband, but to come alongside as a God-given helper to build him up, that can be demonstrated in very unique, very God-glorifying ways with a husband whose mind is increasingly not working. It’s fundamentally a disposition to honor and support the husband voluntarily and gladly. Leadership often involves delegation. So, husbands: if you’re heading that way, plan in advance for the kinds of ways so that your wife, even when you can no longer give your preferences, she knows, and it seems like in the moment, she’s actually working against it when you no longer understand what’s going on. She’s actually able to follow. So it’s good and right for the wife to be productive, capable, in a way that might look independent, but with a hard attitude that supports. So anticipate that. I want to give a personal example. This is actually hard and a little bit embarrassing. So dementia is different than delirium. Delirium is something that’s short-term, usually from a cause. You see it in elderly when they get like UTIs. You can see it from medications. Post-surgery, I see it all the time with anesthesia. As many of you guys know, I spent a long time in the hospital with Burkitt lymphoma. I was getting a lot of chemo. They stick a needle in my spine, give me chemo directly into my cerebral spinal fluid around my brain. I was on tons of pain medication and all kinds of other medications that did weird things to my brain. I don’t remember this time, but there was apparently a few days—I remember bits and pieces of it—where I was out of my mind. I at one point apparently tried to hit Kiki. I took all my clothes off and tried to go in the hall at the hospital. Kiki was a loving, submissive, supportive wife by helping me not do that. I am very grateful for her tearfully persevering, guarding me from myself as my brain was failing me. At that point, thankfully, in a reversible way. But she was not stepping out of her God-ordained role by saying, “No, Jake, you cannot go in the hall naked. No, Jake, you cannot hit me. Jake, get in bed,” and even physically and chemically restraining me for a time. That was a gracious expression of role differentiation that I think honored the Lord and honored me. I remember also, just husbands to wives, me at the—I was reading my vows this morning from almost 25 years ago. I wrote in those vows. And I’d encourage you guys to think through that now. And singles, as you’re thinking through marriage, think through what it might mean in all the different stages. I said, “I pray that as we grow old together, our love will grow stronger because we are together growing as one closer to Christ. I commit myself to loving you, even when your beautiful body is gone, even when your mind is not sharp, even when you do not recognize who I am. No matter what the cost to me, I will be married to you until God takes you.” And that’s what it means. That love isn’t in it for what the other one can give. It’s not self-seeking. It actually seeks the good of the other. So have this mind in you, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped after, but he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being found in human form. He did that all the way to the point of death, death on the cross. That’s what husbands are called to. That’s what all of us are called to. So thinking, I am above changing this diaper or correcting my spouse for the thousand and seventy-second time this week. Stooping that low is nothing compared to our Savior’s humble condescension to us. And so you actually are embracing God-given roles as a Christian when we help and endure and love our spouse to the very end. Honoring Parents and End-of-Life Care Smedly Yates: And that’s a great segue, Jake. When I think about what you just described, our parents did those very things for us when we were helpless. There may come a time where those roles are reversed and we’re helping our parents in their end-of-life situations. I’m going to ask you a series of questions that came in and you can answer whichever ones you want. I’ll try to go faster so we get through them. Maybe. Maybe we do a part 17 of this series, whatever. But I’m thinking about the command, the prohibition, do not sharply rebuke an older man. And the positive commands honor your father and mother. Those commands don’t expire. And when I think about don’t sharply rebuke an older man, there ought to be an elevated view of those who have walked this life longer than we have. We’ve lost that in an American culture, right? Tribal cultures have kept that in some ways. Other places, other cultures have kept that. We just sort of disregard the elderly as a new cultural phenomenon. And, you know, the word euthanasia, the beginning of the word is, is eu or good and thanasia, thanos, death. Good death. It’s not good. And we don’t discard people when they’re no longer of utilitarian purpose. But that is where our culture is going. And Christians must look very different. So when we think about how do we gently, compassionately, lovingly honor God, honor our parents, loving them through end-of-life scenarios. Here’s a series of questions. How do I honor those relationships when compassionate care, sometimes correction, help the 1,077th time. Dad, use your words. Don’t use your hand. You know, whatever it is. Give me the keys. How do we do that and honor them in our disposition? Number two, is it sin to employ the resources of home health care or a live-in situation, a retirement community, etc.? And then what do we need to think about with end-of-life scenarios? Yeah. That’s a lot of questions. Let’s go. Jacob Hantla: Let’s go. So I think honoring your parents means, first off, it’s a disposition of the heart, but it’s a disposition of the heart that is connected to meeting their physical needs. You went to 1 Timothy 5. Do not sharply rebuke an older man, but encourage him as you would a father. And then dot that dot, second, verse 2, older women as mothers. And then it rolls into, let’s think of widows who are truly widows. Open to 1 Timothy 5. This is maybe a section that you’re like, you might not read this honor widows who are truly widows section, thinking it applies to you. It does. And I think in it is the answer to this question, or at least a significant part of it. Verse four, the thought here is the church needs to take care of widows, but don’t do so in a way that robs a family of the responsibility and need to take care of their own parents. So look at verse four. If a widow has children or even grandchildren, let them first learn to show godliness to their own household. And now look at this three part: make some return to their parents. So rooted in just a mom, dad, thank you for however many years of my life. You changed my diapers and fed me and looked after every need. It’s okay if my career is messed up because I have to have you in my home and I have to go take care of you. That is, do you see what it says? That is actual showing of godliness. I love what you just said. It’s so different than the culture. The culture might do this in a way that Christians have to be sharply different than. It is godliness to make return for the way that your parents cared for you. Number two, this is pleasing in the sight of God. You don’t do it out of social obligation—well, who else is going to do it? They don’t have enough insurance. Or even if they do have insurance and you do get the privilege of having live-in help. No, you are seeking to please the Lord as you make return to them. This is pleasing. Yeah, and then the third was, yeah, so godliness, make return to their parents. It’s please the Lord. Take care of your parents. Meet the needs. And if you don’t, verse 8, do you see what it says? If anyone does not provide for relatives, especially members of his household, do you see what you’re saying? You have denied the faith and you are worse than an unbeliever. This is what James is referring to in chapter 2. That’s a faith that’s dead being by itself. The religion, end of James 1, the true religion, takes care of orphans and widows in their distress. How much more are your parents? So, yes, take care of your parents. You have to. It’s a great privilege. It’s actually God’s ordained means of living out godliness. So can you send your parents to a care home? Does that mean you have to maximally sacrifice? Not necessarily. It doesn’t mean that you have to perform every task. Neglect is sin, but using help may be wisdom. The reality is dementia needs are often 24-7. They involve skilled needs at times. They may wander, fall, be incontinent, unsafe swallowing. Care at home at all costs—that may be rooted in love. It may also be rooted in pride or even foolishness. Honor can actually look like choosing a good facility, visiting often, advocating, overseeing care. Encourage the church to be involved, but don’t demand the church do the work at you avoiding it. I don’t remember what the other questions were. Smedly Yates: That’s all right. We got one minute left, Jake. Would you close our time in prayer? Closing Prayer Jacob Hantla: God, thank you for your word and just how replete it is with wisdom and principles and instruction and most of all revelation of who you are and what pleases you. God, I pray from this and just from this lesson and all the trials that you bring us through related to dementia and so many others that you would increasingly form us each individually and then corporately as your body. Form us into your image. Increase our godliness and then, God, bring us safely home. We love you. Be glorified in our lives and in our church. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. The post Equipping Hour: Dementia and the Christian Q&A appeared first on Grace Bible Church.

A new MP3 sermon from Providence Baptist Fellowship is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: Recovering Biblical Manhood in the Home Subtitle: Sovereign Grace Fellowship Speaker: Adam Fitzgerald Broadcaster: Providence Baptist Fellowship Event: Sunday Service Date: 6/29/2024 Bible: Titus 1:5-6 Length: 42 min.

We’re featuring highlights from Dr. Scott Lively’s presentation during IFI’s 2024 “Recovering Manhood” worldview conference.… Continue Reading

In this episode, I had the opportunity to talk with JC Groves. JC is one of the hosts on the very popular Recovering Fundamentalist Podcast. We discuss backgrounds, biblical manhood, and living out the gospel in our daily lives. I think you're really going to be encouraged by this conversation. In his words..."JC was born into a very strict, conservative Independent Fundamental Baptist family. His parents were part of a large IFB church in Indiana while his father went to an IFB bible school. In the mid 80s they moved to Chattanooga so his father could continue his studies at Tennessee Temple University. JC comes from a family of preachers. His father and grandfather Charlie Sturgill both served as IFB pastors. JC has been serving in ministry as a student pastor in Tennessee, Georgia and Utah since 2001. In 2012, he and his family moved back to Georgia to help start the Ringgold Campus of Rock Bridge Community Church where he served as Campus Pastor through September 2020. JC and his family now live in Statesboro, GA where he serves as the College & Student Pastor at Connection Church. JC is married to Kym and they have 6 kids, all 10 years old and under: Kaden, Colton, Corbin, Kenzie, Katie Mae & Karoline Jane – and a chocolate labradoodle named Bowden." Learn more about the Recovering Fundamentalist Podcast here: https://recoveringfundamentalist.org Follow JC on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/jcgroves/ Learn more about Be A Man here: https://linktr.ee/be_a_man_bam If you enjoyed the episode, please like, subscribe, and share with a friend!

Dr. Carmen Joy Imes returns to the Dojo!! Pre-order Being God's Image: Why Creation Still Matters at https://www.amazon.com/Being-Gods-Image-Creation-Matters-ebook/dp/B0BLD43TVC/ Follow Carmen on Twitter: @carmenjoyimes Carmen's blog: http://www.carmenjoyimes.blogspot.com https://www.ivpress.com/carmen-joy-imes Carmen's Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/Carmen-Joy-Imes/e/B07BNPY56Q Carmen's books can be found at: * Bearing God's Name: Why Sinai Still Matters - https://tinyurl.com/v39syn5v * Carmen's published dissertation - https://tinyurl.com/48ab2uad * Praying the Psalms with Augustine and Friends - https://tinyurl.com/2xwtb4f4 Other Resources on Women in ministry from both Complementarian and Egalitarian perspectives: Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (edited by Wayne Grudem & John Piper) - https://tinyurl.com/mr4cc539 Women and Men in Ministry: A Complementary Perspective (Robert Saucy and Judy Tenelshof) - https://tinyurl.com/m78fc77e Discovering Biblical Equality (edited by Ron Pierce, Cynthia Westfall, and Christa McKirland) * 3rd edition - https://tinyurl.com/2kbwmrap * 2nd edition - https://tinyurl.com/7kf3t75f Paul and Gender (Cynthia Westfall) - https://tinyurl.com/mrxfbsza 40 Questions about Women in Ministry (Sue Edwards and Kelley Mathews) - https://tinyurl.com/5b6busx6 Paul, Women & Wives (Craig Keener) - https://tinyurl.com/4729axj4 Is God a Misogynist? (David Hilber) - https://tinyurl.com/yfhmes3r Women and the Gender of God (Amy Peeler) - https://tinyurl.com/ms9f623f Two Views on Women in Ministry - https://tinyurl.com/ywzju9rx Women in the Ministry of Jesus - (Ben Witherington III) - https://tinyurl.com/yck77zef Disciple Dojo is a 501c3 Nonprofit organization. As such we rely on donor support to make this teaching available freely online. Please consider supporting this ministry if you benefit from the videos or podcast at http://www.discipledojo.org/donate

Join the conversation as Matt and John talk about the final four, complementarianism part 2, and MJ 0:00- Intro 17:00 Complementarianism  35:08- this day in sports 39:10- one thing Kevin Deyoung, Let's Reason Together about Complementarianism → https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/complementarianism/ Kevin DeYoung, Men and Women in the Church → https://www.amazon.com/Men-Women-Church-Practical-Introduction/dp/1433566532/ref=sr_1_1?crid=34KJUKKZ2KBT9&keywords=deyoung+men+and+women+in+the+church&qid=1648408668&sprefix=deyoung+men+and+owomen+%2Caps%2C1233&sr=8-1 Andreas Köstenberger, God, Marriage, and Family: Rebuilding the Biblical Foundation → https://www.amazon.com/God-Marriage-Family-Second-Rebuilding/dp/1433503646/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2U3J0BIU0ISIG&keywords=kostenberger+god+family+marriage&qid=1648408705&sprefix=kostenberger+god+family+marriage%2Caps%2C108&sr=8-1 John Piper & Wayne Grudem, Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood → https://www.amazon.com/Recovering-Biblical-Manhood-Womanhood-Evangelical/dp/1433573458/ref=sr_1_1?crid=H93I8C044OE7&keywords=recovering+biblical+manhood+and+womanhood&qid=1647800967&sprefix=recovering+biblical+manh%2Caps%2C1612&sr=8-1

Join the conversation as Matt and John talk about March Madness, Complementarianism, and Florida Gulf Coast. 0:00- Intro and sports 16:35- complementarianism 38:55-this day in sports 42:47- one thing Mary Kassianm Complementarianism for Dummies → https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/complementarianism-for-dummies/ “What are Complementarianism and Egalitarianism?” → https://www.christianity.com/wiki/christian-terms/what-are-complementarianism-and-egalitarianism-what-s-the-difference.html 5 Myths about Complementarianism → https://www.crossway.org/articles/5-myths-about-complementarianism/ John Piper & Wayne Grudem, Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood → https://www.amazon.com/Recovering-Biblical-Manhood-Womanhood-Evangelical/dp/1433573458/ref=sr_1_1?crid=H93I8C044OE7&keywords=recovering+biblical+manhood+and+womanhood&qid=1647800967&sprefix=recovering+biblical+manh%2Caps%2C1612&sr=8-1  

Does the Bible really teach that women are to remain silent in church? As in silent, silent? For all time??? Why did Paul say this and what did he mean? 1 Corinthians 14:34 says, "Women should remain silent in the church. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission as the law says," but WHY and WHAT does Paul mean in saying this??? And what about this mysterious "law" that's mentioned? How can we make sense of this passage, especially given the many other ways that Paul encourages men AND women to participate (with the spoken word!) in church? In the last episode, we explored several possible ways of understanding this passage that seem to be the most consistent with what we learn about in several other key passages of the New Testament, and that do not universally exclude women from speaking in church. In this episode, we'll discuss how some Bible teachers interpret this passage in a way that reinforces their mindset that women are restricted from preaching in church. We start with John MacArthur and his criticisms of Beth Moore, along with taking a brief look at his sermon on 1 Corinthians 14:34-35. You can find those talks here and here. Next, we consider what John Piper has to say about women preaching in this Q and A clip. Even though he is a zealous supporter of complimentarity with hierarchy, he does not line up with MacArthur that women need to be silent in church. D.A. Carson shares his position on this text in Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, edited by John Piper and Wayne Grudem, but doesn't offer any clear explanation of the text. Lastly, we examined Denny Birk's article, "Must Women Be Silent In Churches? (I Corinthians 14:34-35)" published by the 9Marks organization. Scripture references include: 1 Corinthians 14:34-35, 1 Corinthians 1:2 and 11:5, & Romans 12:12-13. Music by BenSound.com.

Husbands, you are responsible as king, priest and prophet of your home to lead your house like Christ leads the church.

I. Unchanging Biblical Truth in a Confused Age And I'd like to ask that you turn in your Bibles to the text that Darcy just read as we continue our study in 1 Corinthians. We've come now to this passage, 1 Corinthians 11:2-16. Now, this week I was talking to someone about the Word of God, and I was thinking about the marvels of the Word of God, the written Word of God, and how incredible it is. And one of the great gifts of grace to me in my life has been that this is my portion, that I get to study God's Word continually, I get to drink it in, I get to marvel at it, and to teach it, and this is an incredible grace to me. But as I was talking to this individual, I was thinking about some conflicting images of the Word of God, and one of them comes from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount where he says, "Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rains came, and the streams rose, and the wind blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall because it had its foundation on the rock." So Jesus likens his words, indeed, the entire Word of God, to a rock. And the image there is immovability, unchangeability. It's not like the sand that's going to be changing all the time, but it is unchanging, it's rock-like You have that image, but then in Hebrews chapter four, we're told that the Word of God is living and active. Living and active. How do you put those images together? How do you put together the image of immutability, the rock solid aspect of the Word of God, together with the fact that it's living and active, it's a living, active, rock? And that's the thing that's just such a marvel to me, as we come to the Word of God we are reading the same words that great, great, great grandparents were reading. They've never changed, or they're in every generation. And that we can build our lives on this unchanging rock, that gives me a sense of peace and certitude. The fact that as I get up here today and on this text... And it is a challenging text, we're going to talk about that. But to realize that this text has read the same for 2000 years. It never changes. And so we can drink in this Word of God, we can feed on it, as Jesus said. Another image of the Word of God is that it's food. "Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." And so, for me, as I study the word and as I teach it, I realize everything asserted in the Word of God is true, and good food for us. And we should delight in feeding on it. And then it never changes. Jesus said, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away." So this includes controversial passages like the one that you just heard read. And I bet you're saying, "No, that's not a controversial passage." Dear friends, now that is a controversial passage. We're talking this week and next week, God willing, on head coverings for women. And so maybe you've lived in a different place, or maybe your head's been in the sand or something like that, you're not aware of how controversial this might be. But I'm telling you, even... And perhaps especially when the text is controversial, this is where we need to understand what good food this is and how much we need to hear it. Our age, the age we live in, is inherently unstable. There's a mental, emotional, spiritual instability in the worldview of our age. I don't think that's uniquely true for us. It's true in every generation. But in Ephesian 4:14 Paul talks about people who are tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching, and by the cunning and craftiness of men and their deceitful scheming. So that's that picture of instability really like building your house on sand. And that's what we're surrounded by, terrible instability. But just because the world, our time, the culture out there, is challenging something that's taught in the Word of God, doesn't mean we should abandon it, not at all. If anything we should study it all the more, and cling to it all the more, because it's exactly here that we need to drink in and to feed on God's word. From the beginning Satan has challenged God's word, from the beginning in the Garden of Eden, as the serpent, Satan, was testing, was tempting Eve, and Adam was just standing there quietly right next to her. But he says, "Did God really say?" And so he raises questions, he questions the Word of God. "Is that really what it says?" And then in that same encounter, he openly contradicts God's word. "You will not surely die." That is a lie. And so that's what Satan's been doing. And so in every generation Satan questions the Word of God, contradicts the Word of God, twists the Word of God, uses certain aspects of it like he did right there. He said, "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God..." That's actually all true, but he is lying through the truth. That's what cults do, frequently, take some true aspect and twist it and use it. So we have to be aware of it, and we need to hold steadfastly to the Word of God. II. Our Culture, Authority, and Feminism Now admittedly, as I've already mentioned, this is a very challenging passage. There are challenges for us in our culture with this text. In general, our culture struggles with authority. And I don't think, again, that's unique to us as Americans. But we do struggle submitting to God-ordained authority. That's a problem, and all human beings have it. Also, our culture has uniquely, and it's developed much in my lifetime, an attack on the significance of gender, what it means to be a man or a woman, what is intrinsic in gender. I don't need to trace out comprehensively and in great detail the rise of feminism in the West or in American history, but it's clearly part of the landscape, the mental landscape of our day, and we have to be aware of it. And it's relevant, and it connects with the text we're looking at today. Recently, recent history for us began in the 19th century with the Women's Suffrage Movement, started in 1840, it seems, with an effort to gain the vote for women. And it was consummated with the 19th Amendment on August 26, 1920, winning the vote for the constitutional right to vote for women. The Women's Movement from 1920 to, let's say, the early 1960s was more or less dormant, not much changes happen. But with the turbulent decade of the '70s came a great deal of protest, a lot of unrest, and part of that was the so-called Women's Lib Movement that happened. In 1963, an author named Betty Friedan wrote a book called "The Feminine Mystique", and in that book she addresses a number of things. But one of them was the great un-mentioned issue for women in America today is a gross dissatisfaction with the standard roles of wife, mother, homemaker, that many women in those roles were deeply dissatisfied with their role, so she said. And some perhaps were dissatisfied before reading her book, and some were very dissatisfied after reading her book, but it was a seminal work. Along with that, there started to grow a hostility in some members of the Women's Liberation Movement, or The Women's Movement, which was an us versus them feel, a hostility toward men. Along with that in the '60s was the '60's Sexual Revolution where sexual morals were being openly challenged and pushed on. And so along with that came a union of feminism and the Women's Movement with the issue of abortion. And so women wanted to be able to walk away from a sexual encounter... There's this breaking down of all sexual mores and all that. But the ability of a woman to walk away like a man can from a sexual encounter, and abortion became almost like a central plank in the Women's Movement. Although the Suffragettes, the women leaders at the turn of the century, from the 19th to the 20th century were universally what we would call pro-life and thought that abortion just gave men an out, and could walk away, but it changed radically by the end of the '60s. Along with this, more extreme forms came in terms of the embracing of homosexuality, of lesbianism, etcetera. If gender doesn't matter in terms of vote or property ownership or education or jobs, why should matter at all? Why should it matter at all? And so in the sexual encounters, freedom so that the gender itself didn't matter in any way, shape, or form. And the most recent version of this has come with the transgender movement, which has pushed our nation almost to the point of irrationality in some issues, bizarre places, where the idea of sex, as biologically defined, is asserted two types, male, female. But gender is more personally felt or identified with, etcetera, it's a transient thing, and it comes and goes. I perceive in all of this, as we have to look back as Christians, biblically, a concerted satanic attack on the significance of gender, something that God established from the very beginning of the human race. In Genesis 1:27 it says, "So God created man in his image, in the image of God he created him, male and female, he created them." The Challenges of the Meritocracy Along with that, other aspects of our culture, one of them is what I would call the American meritocracy. And the idea here is that we are the land of opportunity. As the Declaration of Independence said, that, "All men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights…" Including "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." This was in contrast to the aristocratic system in England where what mattered the most was who your father was, and what order, what birth order, if you were the first son or the second son, etcetera. And so all of that kind of system. And so for us in America, we said, "The perks of our land, the perks of our culture, such as power and money and property and pleasures and all of that, goes to those who deserve them, and who can earn them." And so, you can rise from a dirt floor log cabin to be President of the United States, as Abraham Lincoln did. It's the land of opportunity. Well, the darker side of the meritocracy is the not-so-subtle message that you're worth as a human being is tied intrinsically to what you can achieve, such as what you could put on a resume. And so the more you can achieve, the more accomplishments in education or in business or whatever, the more important person you are. Conversely, if you're not able to achieve much, you're not worth much, you don't earn much, and you're not worth much as a person. So anyone who can achieve much is worth much, people who can't achieve much aren't worth much. So therefore, any restriction on women, frequently called the glass ceiling in the corporate structure, whatever, is a restriction on their essential worth as human beings, that they're not worth as much as human beings. And so when they hear this text and other biblical restrictions, gender-based restrictions on women, they see it as teaching an inherent superiority of men to women. And so that's why this topic is frequently met with anger, a great deal of anger. So for us as Christians, we have to realize our intrinsic worth and value comes from being created in the image of God. And the absolute equality of the sexes in that is clearly taught, right from the beginning. And for us as Christians, also our intrinsic worth and value comes from the fact that Jesus, the Son of God, died on the cross for us, and shed his blood that our sins might be forgiven. And that is equally true of men and women. And we find also our intrinsic worth and value comes as Christians from being adopted into the family of God, fully by grace, that we are called the children of God, and that's equally for men and women. And that we're going to the same heaven that none of us deserves, and we're going to be wearing white robes, and around that throne, and we're going to be celebrating the greatness of God in saving us. And that's absolutely equal between men and women. That's where we find our worth and value, not in what you can achieve, not in your works. Actually what we're going to do when we get to heaven... We'll be rewarded for our good works by grace, but our standing in heaven does not depend on any of those things, but on the grace of God. So all of this, this topic, head coverings for women, gender-based differentiation of roles in the home and in the church, is lumped frequently with slavery and other type issues to disprove the Bible itself. The Bible itself is an archaic word. And it's coupled frequently with evolution and evolutionary view of thought life, that we have evolved beyond the Bible. We've gotten beyond these things, and we could really tell those people back then a thing or two. So we've gotten beyond the scripture. And so, people make this kind of argument, that as we look at gender-based roles and slavery that the Bible itself is obsolete, archaic, it's worthy of being scorned. A Challenging Text Now, on top of all of that, friends, we have some exegetical challenges in the text. Have you noticed? Were you listening? As we walk through verses 2-16, you must see that some texts are harder than others. And really understanding what Paul meant, line by line, is hard to do in some places, easier to do in others. There are some challenges in this. My methodology is sequential exposition. Sequential means you take the next chapter, the next text. This is the next one. I didn't get up this morning and say, "You know what I really want to preach on? Head coverings. Been looking forward to this for months. Finally, a chance to preach on head coverings." Not at all. It's just the next text. Frankly, if I can be honest, this text protects me from my own cowardice. You probably know what I mean. It's just the next passage Also, exposition means, What does it mean? Lift it up and follow the patterns and try to understand what it's really teaching, and therein lies the challenge. What kinds of challenges await us? Well, verse three, and we'll deal with this today. I'm planning, God willing, on two sermons on this. But verse three, What does the word head mean in verse three? We're going to talk about that today. Along with that, can we identify, can we trace out what kind of adornment Paul is talking about for women? Is it a veil? Is it a prayer shawl? What is it? What are we talking about? In what sense in verse seven, is the woman the glory of man? What does that mean? How do we understand the woman is the glory of man? What does Paul mean when he says in verse 10, "A woman out to have a sign of authority on her head"? What does that mean? What does, in that same verse, verse 10, "Because of the angels" mean? And finally, in verse 14, What does, "The very nature of things" tell you about all this? What do all of those things mean? So this is like a cliff hanger. Come back next week and I'll do my best to walk through it. We're not dealing with most of those exegetical questions today, but the general principle. Now, along with this comes the difficulty in general of bridging the gap from an ancient text written two millennia ago, to our present day, 21st century America. How can we do that? And however difficult these challenges are, it's well worth the effort. This is what we need to do. For all scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, training, and righteousness. What Does it Mean to Be a Man or a Woman? We need to understand what this is. And especially because, in my opinion, our culture has gone crazy on the issue of gender. And I said this a number of years ago, something I read from John Piper and Wayne Grudem's book, "Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood". One of the key issues is when a 12-year-old son asks his dad, "What does it mean, dad, for me to be a man and not a woman?" That's a key moment. What is masculinity? What does it mean for me to be a man? Or conversely, a woman. If she were to... A young woman, ask her mother, "Mom, What does it mean for me to be a woman and not a man?" Our culture has zero answer to that question, or those questions. Actually, they're trying to sweep it away so that it doesn't mean anything particularly to be a man or a woman. For me, what I want to do is I want to find out. I've already traced out the significant ways we're exactly equal, but I'm also interested in the ways that God's made us different, and how much we really need each other. And I can't put words to it. I can't put words to the differences between men and women, but there are differences. And for us to delight in them, and for a young man to delight in being a young man, a man, as such, and be glad that he's a man. And for a woman to delight in being a woman, because she's a... To delight in that, and for us as a church in a very healthy way to delight in each other as such. Now that seems to me to be biblical health on this. So let me lay my cards on the table. What do I think this text... What's going on in this text? What I think is happening is there is a timeless trans-cultural principle given in verse three, and that is the headship of men, in the church and in the home. That is timeless, it's trans-cultural, it's rooted in the Trinity, and we're going to talk about that today. Along with that comes temporary cultural expressions of that timeless principle. And so, in every culture there's going to be a way for that principle of male headship, of male leadership, to be displayed especially in corporate worship. But those will change from place to place. So I am not advocating that women go out and buy anything for next week for a church, I'm not advocating. I understand that some of our sisters in Christ really strongly believe in that and do that, and I respect their views. But I do not think that there's a timeless trans-cultural physical thing that women need to wear on their heads, or that it even necessarily has anything to do with the length of hair. Although we'll get into all that next week, so putting all that to next week, but we'll talk about that, God willing. III. Paul’s Praise for the Corinthians (vs. 2) So, now, let's walk through it, in verse two, Paul begins with praise for the Corinthians, "I praise you for remembering me in everything, and for holding to the teachings just as I passed them on to you." So let's set this in context, always we want to set it in context. Paul is writing to the Corinthian church that he among others, helped plant. This church, tremendously gifted but very dysfunctional, series of problems, I'm not going to walk through them cause I've done it just about every week, week after week. But lots and lots of dysfunctionality in the Corinthian church. Factions, divisions, pride, scandalous sin, lawsuits among believers, sexual immorality of the worst kind, issues with marriage. And then for three chapters, the problem of paganism, meat sacrifice to idols and idolatry, all of that. Now, Paul is addressing problems in corporate worship, public worship. So he's going to deal with the issue of women in public worship, women's role in public worship in the first half of Chapter 11, then problems with the Lord's supper in the second half of Chapter 11. And then for three chapters, 1 Corinthians 12, 13 and 14, problems with spiritual gifts, and how they function, especially in corporate worship, especially tongues and prophecy. And so that's where we're heading over the next number of weeks and months. Yet, actually, despite all of that dysfunctionality, despite all of those problems, he actually praises and encourages them here, "I praise you for remembering me in everything and for holding on to the teaching just as I passed them on to you." He praises them. And so this is a marvelous thing. You know the idea of remembering, it's like, "You remember that I am an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not just anybody, with some opinion, that I actually am passing things on to you, that I receive from God." Now the center piece of that is he uses the exact same language in 1 Corinthians 15, and that he says, "For what I received, I passed on to you as of first importance, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures... " top priority, he's praising the Corinthians for holding on to the gospel, which he passed on to them, and not just the gospel, but lesser important teachings as well. The gospel is of first importance, but these other teachings, they're holding on to as well. So they're recognizing his authority, his right to speak the word of God to them, and He praises them for that. And this is a vital pastoral principle. It's so important that those in leadership: Pastors, and also parents, fathers, speak words of encouragement and not just be... We've heard of those fathers that you can never please them. They never say a word of encouragement, they just keep the pressure on all the time. Paul wasn't like that, he was just a loving spiritual father and he's constantly trying to find ways to encourage the people he's working with. And if any church was a mess, let's be honest, it was this Corinthian church, and yet he's praising them. So I think that's a beautiful principle. IV. The Timeless Order Revealed (vs. 3) But now, Paul has to deal with and address the issue of women in corporate worship, and so he's got to address that, and he does that here in verse three. "Now, I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God." So this is, I believe, a timeless trans-cultural principle that he's laying out here. So we begin right away by asking this key question, what does the word head mean here? How do we understand this word head? Some of you will know what a battle ground that question has been and how much back and forth there is on this issue of the word head. Some feminists who come to this text, find some uses of the word kephalē, which is the Greek word for head meaning source, like the head of a river, it's where everything comes from: The source or origin. I think that the goal is probably pretty transparently to get away from a question of authority. And so the idea here is that Paul is not talking about authority at all, he's just talking about the origination. But, while the word does occasionally mean source, as in the head of a river, whenever Paul's talking about interpersonal relationships and he does it many times, he uses the word head many times, it's inevitably a picture of authority. And the clearest of this is at the end of Ephesians Chapter 1. Christ is the Head of Every Man Listen to what Paul says about the Lord Jesus Christ: "God raised Christ from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that could be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the Church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way." There is zero doubt that Paul was talking about the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ there, over everything, over the rulers and authorities and powers, the demons, over human kings and princes, over everything. God raised Jesus from the dead, and seated Him. Now, note, Christ's headship there in Ephesians 1, is not to dominate it or strip it bare or be tyrannical over it, not at all, but rather to serve the church, to protect it, to care for it, nurture it, and bring it to perfection. So, he rules over everything, for that purpose, for the benefit of the church. A lot of the problem that we have with authority is the way that sinners have wrongly wielded that authority, tyrannically to indulge their own fleshly drives and desires. We've seen that again and again. Alright, so that's the first statement. Christ is the head of every man. Look at Verse three, "I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ," again the issue here is authority. Paul establishes the authority of Jesus Christ over every man. Now this is an incredible statement here. Jesus says in the great commission, "All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me." This... The authority of Jesus is over every human being, over every man, specifically here, men, but over every human being that will be made very clear at the second coming of Christ. Read about it in Revelation 19, when He comes back and on him is written the words King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and he has a sword coming out of His mouth, with which to strike down the nations, he is the coming king and right after that he is going to gather all the nations before Him. He will sit on a throne in Heavenly glory, and He will separate all the nations, he will separate all the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he's going to put the sheep on his right, and the goats on his left. He has that kingly authority, he is the king, he's the head over every man and He will judge them, and He will say to those on his right, the sheep, "Come you who are blessed by my Father, take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world." And he has the right to do that. And he also has the right to say to those on his left, the unbelievers, the goats, "Depart from me, you who are cursed into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels." He is given that right to be the judge of all the Earth. He is the head of every man, and this awesome picture of judgment day, I think is what I have in mind when I hear these incredible words that Paul says in Philippians Chapter 2, that because Jesus was willing to die and even the death on the cross, because of that, "God exalted him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, in heaven and earth, under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the father." So that's what I get out of, "I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ," whether they recognize it or not. The Head of Woman is Man Now the second step I think is the point that he's making here. He is not talking generally about Christ's headship over everything, or even the third point that we'll talk about in a moment, but specifically male-female relationship in the church, and specifically I think in corporate worship. The head of every woman is man. Let me read it again, verse three, "I want you to realize the head of every man is Christ and the head of woman is man." The head of woman is man. Now, if the word head means authority over as we've been asserting, this teaching has to do with the leadership of men over women. Now in the ESV, which many of you probably have, there's a different translation here than the one that you saw read. There, it's acknowledge that the word translated man, can also be translated husband, and the word translated woman can be translated wife. And so, the ESV decided to go with a marriage assertion here which is clearly taught in Ephesians 5 that a wife should submit to her own husband as to the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife, and it's just openly asserted. So they went there and brought it to this particular verse, "And so the head of a wife is her husband." However, while that's true, and I think part of what Paul has in mind here, in 1 Corinthians 11, but not all of it, it doesn't really fit the context here. First of all, you have to add an additional word. The head of a woman is her husband. That possessive is just not there in the Greek. So there's more of a general kind of universal assertion being made. Furthermore, if you keep reading the ESV translation, you'll see that they can't be consistent at some point they're going to have to flip back over to men. Like when it talks about where the woman came from that she came out of etcetera, well, I don't know about you, wives, but I don't think you came out of your husband. So just as you walk through that, I think that was a one-off just at the very beginning with Adam and Eve, you know what I'm talking about. That was an unusual moment. And Paul's going to talk about that, but I just don't think they can be consistent in the way they translate it. It just doesn't fit. It's larger to see a general relationship between the sexes here in the church and also in the Christian home. And so it's a pattern, I think a general pattern of male leadership. We're also looking at corporate worship and life in the church publicly. Look at Verse 4 and 5, "Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head, and every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head." So we're talking about general male leadership in the church and in the home. And indeed, throughout the Bible, you see a consistent pattern of male leadership, of kings and military leaders and all that. As a matter of fact, in the entire 66 books of the Bible, there's only one godly and seemingly God-ordained woman leader over men in the entire Bible and that's Deborah in the Book of Judges. And anyone who's read the book of Judges knows it's an odd book with lots of odd things happening. So it's almost like the quintessential exception that proves the rule. Other than that, there are none. So, it's just a consistent pattern of male-leadership throughout the Bible. But here I think Paul's mind is on the church and in the home. Now, modern people under the influence of feminism have acknowledged that was true back then, but said it's just archaic patriarchy and sexism that again, that evolutionary view we have now grown past, we've grown beyond. Now we have to realize how male dominated the Greco-Roman world indeed was, and that the Gospel came with a liberating force over women. The equalities that I've already talked about, which go to the basis of the gospel, equally in the image of God, equally fallen into sin and in need of a savior, equally redeemed by faith in the blood of Christ, equally adopted as sons and daughters of the living God, equally indwelt by the Holy Spirit, listen to this, equally gifted by the spirit to do certain things in the life of the body, equally going to heaven and equally spending eternity in Heaven. All of those things were radical for the Greco-Roman world, radical. And they go back to the way Jesus himself taught women. A number of weeks ago, I said, I think it's important for us as Christians, all of us to have the exact same view of scripture that Jesus did. Amen? Well, I think the same is true of this issue. We should have the same view of men and women that Jesus did. And if we have that, we're going to be fine. Jesus elevated women in ways that were radical in his day. He wanted... Remember Martha and Mary, remember how Mary was getting busy doing all the cooking remember? And where was Mary? Sitting at the feet of Jesus, in the posture of a disciple, drinking in his doctrine, and Jesus upheld that she has chosen the better portion and it will not be taken from her, she was drinking in the Word of God. And you look at the intensity of Jesus' interest in winning a Samaritan woman to Christ, and what she... The effect she had in her community. He went after her and wanted her and rescued her from darkness through the Gospel. So there's that elevation. Yet, it's important to note that in choosing out 12 leaders for the future of his church, he chose out 12 men. 12 for 12 it's not like he didn't know that there were qualified women or any of that, it's just he chose men to lead, and that's clearly what he did. Again, don't think Jesus was hindered or hampered by cultural norms. You know Jesus he is not hindered or hampered by anything he wanted to do. Look how He dealt with Sabbath regulations and how he dealt... He was bold and courageous, he said it how he wanted it to be. And so we should have the same view. He cherished women as women, men as men, and he established men in leadership while elevating women, in the ways we've said. Now in Corinth, I believe, that the women began using their spiritual gifts: Prophecy, tongues, other things, very freely especially in corporate worship and it seemed like they were going off the rails. And we're going to see this in the teaching on spiritual gifts, in Chapters 12 through 14, that there was a tremendous amount of disorder in public worship in Corinth. We're going to talk about that, and I think this was part of it. So Paul wants to deal with gender-based roles in the corporate life of the church. So men and women are equal in these vital areas, but still there are roles and the establishment of male leadership and a clear evidencing on Sunday morning of that male leadership is what Paul has in mind. When an outsider walked in, it should be very clear that men are leading, that's what he wants to talk about. And we'll talk about that also with prophecy. The Head of Christ is God But lest anyone should think that this headship and submission is in any way demeaning, he gives this final headship statement, look at the end of Verse 3, I'll read the whole thing again, "Now, I want you to realize the head of every man is Christ, and the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God." Now, here we are swimming in some of the deepest theology we will ever swim in. Here, we come into the theology of the Trinity and the functional subordination of Jesus, the Son of God, to the father in the Trinity. It's amazing the amount of debates that have been even over this one. The fact of the matter is I believe that the Bible teaches that the Son, the second person of the Trinity, has always in some sense, submitted to the leadership of His Father from eternity past, through His incarnation, right now and on into eternity future. Not everyone holds this but I think this is true. Now, the key thing here is the Father commands and Jesus obeys. And that's never reversed. It's never the case that it's Jesus' turn to command and then the father obeys, it's never that way. The Father commands, Jesus obeys, even to the cost of His life. So what we have to understand the father made a plan from before the foundation of the world, to redeem sinners by the blood of His only begotten Son. This plan was set in the mind of God before time began. This is taught in a number of places, but in 1 Peter 1:19-20, it speaks of, "The precious blood of Christ" with which we were redeemed, he was "a lamb without blemish or defect chosen from before the foundation of the world." What does that mean? It means that Jesus before he was incarnate knew all along that some day he was going to obey his father and die on the cross. So that means all of that time, he was in submission to the Father's plan knowing what it was before he entered the world. And furthermore, He entered the world to obey his father. As "the son of man," his favorite title for himself, "I want to show you how to obey God because you don't seem to know how to do it." And so he is a role model of submission to God, and He says, in John 6 verse 38 and 39, "For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but to do the will of Him who sent me." Do you hear how radical that is, "I have come down to submit to my father." "And this is the will of Him who sent me that I shall lose none of all that has given me, but raise them up on the last day." Jesus goes beyond that to say, every moment of his life was lived in submission to His Father's will. He says, "I do nothing on my own, but I speak just what the father has taught me." Sometimes, I think Jesus' extended prayer times at night or His quiet times in the morning were basically the father telling him what to say that day: "This woman is going to come, this man is going to come, this is what I want you to say." Jesus, I don't think would descend from that. "Everything I say the father told me to say." And then He said this, "I always do what pleases Him." Oh, how sweet is that? "Every moment of my life, I seek to please my Father." In Gethsemane, when the cup metaphorically was there of wrath poured out that he was going to drink on the cross, He said, "Not my will, but yours be done." "I'll drink the cup." Jesus' willing death on the cross is the highest display of his obedience to the Father's will. He says in John 14:31, "The world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what the Father has commanded me to do." Even his own resurrection was done in submission to the Father's will. He said in John 10:18, "No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of my own accord." In other words, no one can kill me if I don't want to be killed, no one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of my own accord, I have the authority to lay it down and I have the authority to take it back up again. This command I received from my Father. At every moment, even his own resurrection, he did an obedience to His Father, from beginning to end. Now, turn over, if you would, one page maybe, or it's on the same page in your Bible, to 1 Corinthians 15, and this is goes on into eternity, future. 1 Corinthians 15:24-28, it says, "Then the end will come, when Christ, hands over the Kingdom to God the Father after He has destroyed all dominion, authority and power, for He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death, for He has put everything under his feet." Now, when it says that everything has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God Himself, who put everything under Christ. When He has done this, verse 28, "Then the Son Himself will be made subject to Him who put everything under Him, so that God may be all in all." That's the end of salvation, that's the end of the work of everything, where Jesus packages up the universe and hands it back to the Father in submission to Him, isn't that awesome? This is an eternal submission to the kingship of God. And when we get to heaven, we're going to be in concentric circles around the throne of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. Now the key point here is that in all of this, the Son is exactly equal to the father in essence as God. This is key to everything. Jesus is equally God to the father: Equally wise, equally powerful, equally worthy of worship, equally worthy of glory, that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. That we would honor Him, He is worthy of worship, all of these things. Now let me stop and tell you a little story. Yesterday, I hope I don't mind... Calvin I don't mind... You don't mind me telling you this story. Yesterday we were having a Bible study, Calvin and I, came a knock on the door. Interesting, we don't get many visitors, not unannounced, you probably don't either these days. Anyway, so I go to the carport and who's there but a well-dressed man and woman, Jehovah's Witnesses. Here we go. I happened to have a Bible literally, physically in my hand. He looked down and said, "It looks like you're ready for our visit." I'm like, "Sure come on in." and I did, they came in and it's like... But I wanted... Fair warning, I said, "I want you to know who I am and what we're about to do here, okay? Don't be deceived. I'm a Southern Baptist pastor, I love the Lord Jesus Christ, I consider you to be in great spiritual danger and I want to talk to you, and we had about a 45-minute conversation. "Fundamental issue," I said, "My biggest problem with the Watchtower is that you're polytheists, you believe in two Gods. You believe in God with a big G, Yahweh, Jehovah God, and you also believe in Jesus, a creature, a created being, who is afforded the title little g-god, that is two and I'm just going to call that polytheism." The Bible is fiercely monotheistic. You cannot overstate how passionately committed Jehovah God, Yahweh, God is, to letting the universe know there is no one like Him, no one. There's an infinite gap between God the creator and every creature. It's the problem I have with the Watchtower, with the Jehovah's Witnesses. I want... Just rest assured, he didn't convert me. I'm still a Baptist preacher, I'm not a Jehovah's Witness. But I did warn him at the end, John 8:24, "Jesus said, "I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am… you will die in your sins." They have to believe that Jesus is the I AM that spoke to Moses out of the flames of the burning bush, He is God. The only way to make sense of that, friends, is the Trinity: One God, three persons, co-equal, co-eternal. And therefore the subordination of the Son to the father is completely functional. It's not essential, the father is not essentially greater than the Son, He is greater in that he's the one that gives the commands, it's a functional subordination but he is equally God. The radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of God is Jesus, and if you've seen him, you've seen the Father. The beauty of this. Therefore, the headship of man over woman should not be offensive. It does not teach an ontological essential superiority of men to women, not at all. Women can be and often are every bit as intelligent as men or more so, every bit as inspirational as leaders, every bit as gifted in the Spirit or more so, none of that would change the headship of men in the church and in the home. It's something that God set up for order and for His glory. Now we're going to talk about practical aspects of this next week, God willing. We're going to walk through all of the head covering aspects and the hair aspects and do the best we can. But I believe that this leadership of men in the church, so that men should be elders in the church and not women, that men should be the teachers and preachers in the Church and not women, is not in any way meant by God, by Jesus or by Paul to be demeaning to women. It's just a functional role that we play, and it's the order that God wants and it's timeless. However, there are cultural expressions of that that we're going to get into God willing, next week. V. Applications So what applications can we make for this? Well, first, just stand in awe of the infinitely deep truths we've just looked at. Stand in awe. I don't fully understand the Trinity, I never will. But just stand in awe at the level of submission of Jesus to His Father. We find our salvation in that. The fact that he was willing to become obedient to death, even death on a cross, although he was God in very nature God, He didn't consider equality with God something to grasp but He made himself nothing so that we can be saved. And we're going to spend eternity worshipping Jesus as God. Equally worthy of worship, we'll spend eternity. So, just stand in awe of that. Secondly, understand the basic nature of our rebellious hearts. We just fight authority. It's just in us, it's part of the carnal mind, men and women alike, we fight it. Whoever God sets up... God-ordain authority, we tend to resist and rebel. Here's the thing, we find our salvation in this beautiful invitation Jesus made, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light." That yoke is His kingly authority, his right to command. He said, "If you will just bow your neck and put it under my yoke, you will find rest for your souls. Serve me, love me. And now I just want to invite you if you came here this morning, as an unbeliever, and you heard that text read and you're like, "Why am I here?" Well, I think you may be here for just this moment. Jesus is reaching out and offering you forgiveness of all of your rebellions against God's authority in your life that you've shown by breaking his laws for years. He is willing to forgive you and cover all of your sins through His blood. Just trust in Him, all you have to do is call on him, but as you call on Him, realize you're calling on him as King. He is master and he will say, "Take my yoke upon you, submit to my leadership and you'll find rest for your souls." Now for us we're going to learn more about this God willing next week. There are roles, gender-based roles, in the church and in the home. Men are to be godly Christ-like leaders, heads, over their wives and wives are to submit to them as Ephesians 5 says plainly. In the church, we also believe that, that the role of teaching and preaching is given to men as he makes very plain in 1 Timothy 2, verse 12, he says, "I do not permit a woman to teach or have authority over a man, she must be silent, for Adam was formed first then Eve." So this is a timeless creation order but it's not in any way demeaning, it's not saying that women can't articulate Christian doctrine with great power and clarity, it's just how God wants it to be. And so for us to fit into that pattern and then finally to delight, to absolutely delight in the uniqueness and difference of men and women we've got to hold up this banner. It's getting bizarre in our culture, we need to say it is a delightful thing for women to be women, and for men to be men. Close with me in prayer.

One of the primary goals of the church should be to bring the truth of God and his Word to the culture. It seems that in the wake of feminism the exact opposite has happened. Feminism has crept its way into the church and it is very slowly but surely destroying biblical manhood and woman hood. I would highly encourage you to check out the following links. Read the two articles that I (attempt) to reference, A Theological Basis for Women in Ministry and A Case for Ministry of Women. Also, I would encourage you to read Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, Male-Female Equality and Male Headship, and Responding to Evangelical Feminism. Follow me on instagram: @alrighteousness Visit me online at: www.alrighteousness.com Email me at: jacob@alrighteousness.com

Recovering Biblical Manhood and the Role of Fathering from the Jesus Story sermon series at Capital Community Church

Part 7 in Recovering Biblical Manhood & Womanhood

Part 6 in Recovering Biblical Manhood & Womanhood

Part 5 in our series Recovering Biblical Manhood & Womanhood

Part 4 in our series Recovering Biblical Manhood & Womanhood

Part 3 in our series Recovering Biblical Manhood & Womanhood

Part 2 of our series Recovering Biblical Manhood & Womanhood.

Part 1 in the series Recovering Biblical Manhood & Womanhood