Women in The Pulpit, Part 1

Greetings, friends and new listeners and welcome to The Sound of Faith. I'm Sharon Knox thanking you for joining us today because we know that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Our message today is women in the pulpit. This controversy in the body of Christ refuses to go away. And after Sound of Faith was canceled on a network of 19 stations because I'm a woman, for the first time in my 40 years of ministry, I was forced to teach on this subject, women in the pulpit.

Glory to God, you may be seated. My mother alluded to this and so I'll just make this the point. I'll tell you on Friday afternoon, I was finishing up my notes for my sermon for today and I got a phone call and it was an agent for the radio agency that we use to find stations for us and times for us to go on these stations. So she would be the go-between. I say she, it's an agency, but I speak to a particular woman, a vice president.

So they will scout out stations and times and they'll be the go-between between the station and us. And so she called me and she said, Sharon, I don't even know how to tell you this, but I've got bad news. And I said, well, what is it? And because I've never spoken to her on the phone, everything is email and text, you know? And so for her to call me, I thought, hmm.

So she said, I just got an email. She'd gotten it earlier, but she'd gotten an email from another agency that owns radio stations, owns gospel radio stations across the country. She heard from them that they were canceling our program on all the stations that were on with them, 18 stations, because it goes against their Southern Baptist doctrine that women are not allowed to teach men from the pulpit. And I'm thinking, but I'm not the pastor of all them people out there in radio land. They got their own pastors. And besides that, I never claimed to be pastor. When people ask me who the pastor is, I don't even flinch. I say, my dad, brother Hardy is the pastor and I'm an assistant pastor.

Amen. I've never said anything other than that, but they called here at the church and they spoke to someone and the way the conversation was worded, whatever, they got the answer that brother Hardy is retired. I'm preaching and I'm pastoring. And that's all they wanted to know. And they were friendly because they were looking and seeking for an answer. So then they went back and said, clearly Sharon is pastoring and we need to get them off of the air as soon as possible. They were hoping that we would just say, okay, goodbye, we're done with you and quit Friday. But they said, if not, if they won't go off immediately, give them their two week notice. But you know, I've got out the contracts yesterday and started looking at them and everything I signed says you have a four week notice. And I intend to push for that. At this point, I'm not concerned. I feel like this is God shutting doors and we need to take that money and go other stations. They don't have the only stations. And so we need to take the money and go elsewhere and God will show us what to do, but I'm going to make them keep their word and that'll give us time to look for other stations.

Amen. And so our agency, the woman was so upset. She says, Sharon, I was so angry.

I wanted to retaliate. She says, but the person that she's speaking to that has the, owns everything said they don't agree with it either, but they have to go by what the guy at the top says. They don't, they didn't like doing it. They didn't agree with it, but they're, they work there and they're doing what they're told to do.

And you know, we've been on these stations for two years and some longer because some of them go way back, way back when my dad was on them years and years ago. So it just, and they, and they attached, she sent me their email and they attached their beliefs by an article written by the Southern Baptist magazine and everything in it about why women are not allowed to preach or teach or pastor. And you know, it got very lengthy and technical, but here it all boiled down to this. It boiled down to that man is the head of the woman period.

And because man is the head of the woman, the woman is not allowed to have authority over the man. Now, all the fancy things they said and all of the things that they discussed, it boiled down to that. So if you all will indulge me today, we're going to look at the pictures. I have never preached on this subject in my life because I never needed to. Why do I have to preach that to you all? You all aren't throwing me out the door, but I feel that the time has come for me to get this information.

And I spent all day yesterday and this morning, I put that other one on the back burner to get this. And I don't really know how it's all going to come out because I've never done this particular subject, but there's only one way to do it and that's to jump in. Because I intend to answer them in a godly, kind, Christian way. But you know, sometimes people just hand down dogma and they never sit down with their own Bible, with their own lexicons to see what the words say. They just, because that's what they learned in university and that's what they learned in Bible college.

And so they repeat it and they've never themselves actually taken the time to see if possibly there could be error in that position. So if you will allow me today, we are going to look at it and we're going to begin in 1 Corinthians chapter 11. And I know the Holy Spirit will help me not to trip all over my words and help all of us get revelation.

Because it's one thing to dig out all the information and I'm good at that because that's what I like to do. But I love it when the Holy Spirit in the moment, in the moment, gives you that revelation and lets you see something right in that moment. I love that. So we're in 1 Corinthians 11, 3. But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ and the head of the woman is the man and the head of Christ is God. Now this sounds like Paul is saying that Christ is the head of men, but he's not the head of women because man is the head of woman.

Let's read it again. I want you to know the head of every man is who? Christ. And the head of the woman is?

The man. And the head of Christ is? God. So it sounds like Christ is the head of the men, but he's not the head of the women because man is the head of women. Well let's turn to Ephesians 5, 23.

Look at this. And you know a lot of these things are going to be talking about marriage, but because I am not talking about marriage today, I am not going to elaborate, okay? I'm going to stick to what we're talking about. So Ephesians 5, 23. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is the savior of the body. Oh, well let's see, here we're not talking about men and women, we're talking about what? Husbands and wives.

See? Now we have clarification because you have to take the scriptures rightly divided. And if you have two scriptures that should be saying the same thing, but they're saying something different, you have to look closer. Now how can we look closer to see why Paul would say in the one that man is the head of the woman, and in the other that he is saying that the husband is the head of the wife?

It's a whole different ballgame, isn't it? One is domestically in the home, and the other is spiritually in the church. Do you see that?

Now let us help us out a little more. A real student of the Bible would go and get the Greek lexicon because we know that 1 Corinthians 11 and Ephesians 5 were not written in English. We know they were written in Greek. So let's look at the Greek words. So what is the Greek word for man? It's aner. It's spelled A-N-E-R, pronounced aner. That's the Greek word for man. What is the Greek word for husband?

It's aner. Same word. What is the Greek word for woman? Gine.

And you see it all the time, gynecology. Gine, G-Y-N-E, but they really say gune. That's how it's pronounced. Gune. What is the Greek word for wife? Gune. Because gune refers to a female. She could be a virgin, she could be an engaged woman, and a wife.

So now we understand what's going on here. Since these two Greek words can both mean man and husband, woman and wife, we have to look at the context. We must look at the context as well as agreement with the other verses to determine what is Paul meaning here. Is he talking about men and women or husbands and wives? Is he talking about women in general or strictly wives? See, the question is, is every man the head of every woman?

No. See, a man may be the head of one woman, his wife, but he is not the head of every other woman. So 1 Corinthians 11, 3 cannot mean that every man stands in the same relationship to every woman as Christ does to every man. Because I'm telling you that Christ is the head of the woman. Because he's the head of the church. So just as Christ is the head of the man in the church, so Christ is the head of the woman in the church. Because if that's not true, then women are not part of the church.

Because Christ is the head of the church. And if he's not our head, and the man is our head, then we're not in the church. Hey, what about unmarried women?

What about unmarried women? Who's their head? If they're in the church, Christ is their head. But domestically, a woman who is married, the husband is the head. And when you see the Greek words, and you go back and read 1 Corinthians 11, 3, and using the same terminology that Paul used in Ephesians 5, 23, the same Apostle Paul, then we see that it's a whole different ball game.

Amen? Because now when we read it, but I would like you to know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God. But if we understand that man and husband are the same, and woman and wife are the same, then we can understand what Paul is talking about. So, you know, Benny is my head in the home. But he's not my head in the body of Christ. He's not my head in the church. He's not my spiritual head.

Amen? He's not my spiritual head at all. I don't go to Benny and ask him to go to Jesus for me. I don't go to him and ask him to pray about this, that, or the other for me.

Now we come together in agreement on things, because if any two on earth would agree as touching anything they shall ask, it shall be done. And there's nothing more powerful than the prayer of agreement, and Satan recognizes this. That's why he gets husbands and wives fighting one another, because 1 Peter 3 tells us that if you fight one another, your prayers are hindered. So, wow, we make it easy on Satan when husbands and wives fight, because then our prayers are hindered. You know, sometimes it doesn't take much for him to get it going. Right? It doesn't take much for him to get it going. You know, you just can be having a bad day.

You didn't eat today, and now you're all tense and grumpy and crabby and all that, and it can escalate. So my point being this, that Benny does not go to the Lord for me. I don't go to him. I have one mediator between God and man, the man Jesus Christ, 1 Timothy 2.15.

He's my mediator, not my husband. Amen? Every woman can come to Christ directly without the consent of any man, be it her husband, be it the elder, the bishop, the pastor, whomever. I don't have to go to a priest or anybody else. I go to the Lord right myself. I'm not a subordinate in the body of Christ, and I say I meaning women. We know that Romans 8, 16, 17 tells us that the Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, and if we are children, then we are heirs and joint heirs with Jesus Christ.

There's not three levels there. There's heirs and joint heirs. There's not and subordinate heirs.

Third party heirs. Amen? Doesn't exist.

Amen. Of course, we all know the verse that we all use all the time, and it's very powerful. Galatians 3 tells us, verse 26, for you are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many as you have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek.

There is neither bond nor free. There is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Now, because a lot of people will use that verse to try to disprove these ones that claim that women cannot hold this position in the church of preaching and teaching, they will explain to you at great length that this verse, Galatians 3, 28, is speaking only about salvation, your position as a born again believer in the body of Christ as being saved, that there's no Jew or Gentile, there is no slave or free, and there's no male or female. And they will tell you that in that regard, everybody is equal and that, you know, there is no greater man over woman, etc., having to do only with your position of salvation as a believer in the body of Christ.

So that's what they will say. And then to support that, let's turn to 1 Corinthians 14, and we'll read some verses there, and let's look at verse 34. Now we're going to get to the heart of the matter and the verses that they use. Let your women keep silence in the churches, for it is not permitted unto them to speak, but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also says the law. And if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home, for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.

Right away, I have to point out the fact to you that the translators are not consistent. They said women and husbands. Now you either got to say women and men or husbands and wives.

You can't mix them up, because it changes everything. Did you see that? It says let your women keep silence. And if they have anything they want to ask, let them ask their husbands. So these are married women. If you got a husband, you're a wife. They should have translated it and let the wives keep silence in the churches, for it is not permitted for them to speak, for they are commanded to be under obedience, as says the law. And if they want to learn something, let them ask their husbands when they get home and not sit there during the church service asking their husbands questions, because it's shameful.

Why? Meaning it causes disruption. You know, you get a few conversations over here and a few conversations over there, and sometimes the young people get back there and they start getting, and you can hear it.

And you got to turn around and give them a little dirty look, like shh. Well, imagine this. These women, number one, were not as educated as we are today. So things were coming over the pulpit they may not have understood. Well, what did he mean by that?

Well, what does that mean? And so they would ask their husbands questions. And so this was causing disruptions. And he was saying if they want to learn something, if they want clarification, if they need understanding, let them wait till they get home and ask their husbands then. Amen? But while they're in the service, they shouldn't be speaking. They should be obedient. Now, if we go back and say let your wives keep silence in the church, then it matches husbands.

Ask when you get home. You see that? It matches then. Why did they say women, now remember it's the same Greek word, they took gune and said women, and then they took aner and said husbands.

And they should have been consistent. So obviously Paul is not talking about all women because these women had husbands. And not all women have husbands. So we understand that what he was saying here is let your wives be quiet during the church service. Let's look at verse 23 while we're here. If therefore the whole church be come together into one place and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned or unbelievers, will not they say that you're all mad or you're all crazy? But if all prophesy and there come in one that believes not or one who is unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all. Drop down to verse 31. For ye may all prophesy one by one that all may learn and all may be comforted. Now here Paul is talking about the whole church and of course he is giving the regulations, I don't like that word but I can't think of a better one right now, of how the gifts should operate in the church.

But we're looking at this point that he's making that we see here. We're talking about everyone, men and women, husbands and wives, singles and marrieds, all in the same church, in the same service. How many see that? And he's saying that when you're all there together as one, it's not a good idea for everybody to speak in tongues at one time.

Because then people will come in and say those people are nuts. But he said if you speak in tongues one at a time, and of course we understand there's a gift that goes with that in the church, which is interpretation, or if you prophesy one at a time, then the Holy Spirit can use that to convict their hearts, the unbelievers, the sinners, those that come in. How many see what I'm saying? But then he says because you may all prophesy as long as you do it one by one. Didn't say only the men could prophesy and not the women.

He said you all may prophesy. So I know the point he's making is he's not putting a governor, he's not saying don't have prophecy in the church. He's not saying you've got too much prophecy in the church. He's not saying you've got to limit your prophecy.

He's saying you just have to do it in order because God is not the God of confusion. You can't be over prophesying one another or speaking in tongues over one another in a service where people have no idea what you're talking about. But here's the point I want you to see is that all may prophesy. And then if all prophesy, women and men, guess what will happen? All may learn. So men sitting in the congregation can learn when a female is prophesying.

Do you see that? All can speak in tongues. All can prophesy as long as we do it in order. And you know Brother Hardy has preached on the gifts many times and so he always targets and focuses on the order part because we never needed to talk about the male-female thing in Faith Tabernacle. So you know what happened on the day of Pentecost. You all know it. I'll just refresh you. You don't need to actually for me to read everything but you know that Jesus had told them to tarry in Jerusalem until Father sends the Holy Spirit and you're going to receive power when you get the Holy Spirit and you shall be my witnesses.

I think you've got to open your mouth and talk to do that. So we find out in Acts 1 that they found an upper room and they all gathered there. It names specifically the eleven disciples of Jesus.

It names specifically Mary, the mother of Jesus, and it says with the women and also Jesus' biological brothers, Mary's other sons. So we have the disciples, we have Jesus' brothers, we have Mary, the mother of Jesus, and we've got with the women. And they were all there in that one place, in one accord. Amen. And we know that the Holy Spirit fell and when he fell they became cloven tongues of fire that sat upon all the men.

You know? Said it sat upon each of them. Each of them.

Every single one that was there including all the women. And then you know when they got so filled up they began to go out of the building and they were speaking in all these languages, probably about seventy different languages they were speaking, and then the people outside thought these people are drunk. And you know they really believed that and they said to Peter, what meaneth this?

And what did Peter do? He referred to the Old Testament prophet Joel and he quoted it and he said, but this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel and it shall come to pass in the last days sayeth God I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy your young men shall see visions your old men shall dream dreams and I'll pour out my spirit on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my spirit and they, servants, male, handmaidens, female shall prophesy. Amen?

Is that what it says? I'm quoting now from a reading from Acts 2 16 and 18. Amen. I hope you're being encouraged by our message Forget, Reach, Press. In his letter to the Philippians written from a Roman prison, Paul wrote of his great joy in Christ and his secret to his successful ministry.

I forget those things that lie behind. I have known scores of Christians who get stuck in depression and failure because they keep looking back and lamenting about the past. Only when you let go of the past can you embrace the present and reach out for daily victory in Christ. As citizens of heaven, Paul said we are pressing towards the mark of the calling upon high, the rapture resurrection. We should be pressing for the goal aligned with our eyes on the prize.

Heaven is in our view and the saints who have already crossed over are calling out, don't faint and don't look back. Forget, Reach, Press is available on CD for a love gift of $10 or more for the radio ministry. Request SK196, mail to Sound of Faith, P.O. Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland 21203 or shop online at soundoffaith.org where MP3s are also available. To order by mail, send a minimum love gift of $10, request SK196 to P.O. Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland 21203. Saints air time is costly, so if the Lord moves on your heart, please consider sending a special love gift to help us whether or not you wish to place an order. Until next time, this is Sharon Knott saying, Maranatha.