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Sabbath, May 29, 2004 Pastor Tom Hughes
Newark Seventh-Day Adventist Church
“ORDAINED TO SERVE”
Summary:
The Priesthood of All Believers...
The Ohio Conference and the Seventh-Day Adventist Church does not discriminate when it comes to men or women in ministry.
The policy of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church:
...both men and women can be elders,
...both men and women can be deacons,
...both men and women can preach;
...both men and women could be deaconesses.
Do you know why? Because it all comes from the same Greek word. “Deacon” or “deaconess” does not exist in the Scriptures.
There is no gender differentiation there. It’s the same word used for both. http://wm.gc.adventist.org/
Opening Remarks
Happy Sabbath! Is Cheryl (Young) here? I want to invite her the next few Sabbaths to get the Pathfinders to lead out and we’re going to try to help them to integrate into the sermon for the next Youth Sabbath (July 31). On this Youth Sabbath, we weren’t able to quite get our young people organized. However, this often happens when you start anything new.
At the Reynoldsburg Church, they were able to do it. The Reynoldsburg kids actually did the entire sermon today and it was the best sermon I have heard all month—‘cause I didn’t have to preach it! Well, it’s the only sermon I’ve heard all month. But it was awesome, you know? - these young people getting up front.
They always say “The young people are our future,” and I agree with that but I say, “Our young people are our present.” If we don’t get them involved and let them lead out now, when they get older they’ll wander away, and they’ll just not come back, and I don’t want that.
I always notice, in Adventist churches, there are a lot of grayer hairs, like mine, and then a lot of young people in the young, young ages; and a lot missing in between. Where are our youth? Where are our flock?
Keep in mind, you’re supposed to be helping me. Even though I’m moving in and doing all this stuff, I asked you some weeks ago to start thinking of young adults who used to attend this church; who are no longer coming. I want to make a list of all those young adults that aren’t attending, and then I want to begin contacting them and trying to get them back to this church.
We need our young people; all those generations that have been lost. Do you think the Lord’s going to hold us accountable for those generations? So you’ve gotta help me, though. I’m the “dumb guy,” remember, for the first six months. I don’t know anybody’s name, I don’t know where I’m going, I don’t know directions anywhere—I’m the new pastor. And I have people telling me all sorts of things and giving me all sorts of advice. It’s a wonderful thing!
We have been going to stores and getting things, trying to move things in, trying to get electrical (work) done, putting up drywall. All this week I’m going to be painting, and I have to be back to West Virginia by Friday; they’re going to load all our stuff on the truck. And then, on the sixth (June) or seventh, they’re going to unload it. So, by the sixth or seventh, I’m not sure which, we’ll actually have all our stuff in the house. I’ll be real happy about that!
I apologize that you really, kind of, have only had a half, or a quarter, or a third of a pastor, but Reynoldsburg hadn’t had a pastor in over fifteen (15) months and they were definitely of a mind that half a loaf is better than none. And I think they were at the end of their rope, and I think that’s one of the reasons God rushed us here. They really needed some encouragement. So we’re so glad were here.
I love being here in the Newark church. I just feel so at home in this church. You folks have been so kind, and so warm, and so spiritual, and Debbie and I just feel like we belong here; like, this is our home. And as I sit in this church, and I look out, and stand on the shoulders of all those who have done so much hard work over the years, it’s such a joy just to sit in a beautiful place like this and be with God. And that’s what we have today is a beautiful Sabbath, we’re all here.
God has given me a message to preach to you and I want to do it. Let’s bow our heads for prayer…
Father, as we open Your Word, we ask that You would make it clear to us; that You would make it manifest. Father, if we are learning new things, I pray You’ll give us an open mind and a willingness to look at things in different ways than we’ve ever looked at them before. If we’re talking about the old “landmarks,” I pray You’ll help us to put our foundation down deep, to build our house on the solid rock, Jesus Christ. Ant then we know when the floods come we will not be moved. Anoint the word as we open it. Anoint the speaker and the hearer that Your message might be made manifest. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.
“Youth-Oriented Day,” today. That’s why I was glad to see Ralph (Geer) up here. He’s one of the “youngest” people I know. He likes hats. I like his hats. I like his clothes. I like his jackets that he wears. He’s got that young spirit. You know what I mean? It doesn’t matter. You know? I’ve met young people that act like they’re sixty, and eighty year olds that act like they’re twenty, and they’re filled with joy and life. “Young at heart,” they call it. I like that guy. Don’t tell him I said that!
“ORDAINED TO SERVE”
Galatians 3:28. That’s going to be our text that I want you to study, think about, and meditate on.
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
The Roman Catholic concept of ministry that I was raised in as a young person was that there is an all male priesthood, that women were not called by God to minister, that only the priests were able to interpret the Bible, and that no woman was worthy to minister. I was told that the laymen (“lay men”
the “dummies” who were not properly trained enough in the ministry to do it) weren’t smart enough—they were too ignorant to interpret the Bible—and only the trained clergy were able to interpret the Word of God.
During the Dark Ages when the Reformation took place the Methodists, the Episcopal church, the Lutherans, and many of these other churches all broke off from the Roman Catholic Church and formed different churches. These churches took with them many of the same misconceptions that the Roman Catholic Church had begun to impose upon the congregation. The first, and most heinous, is that “You are too ignorant to understand the Word of God.”
When you open your Bible and read it, the Holy Spirit moves upon you, gives you wisdom as you study it and pray about it, and you can interpret God’s Word.
The other misconception was that you needed a mediator to go between you and God. Well, you do. The Bible says in the book of Timothy, “There is one mediator Jesus Christ.” They took the Old Testament priesthood, which ended at the Cross and said, “We’re going to transfer that into the New Testament.”
Well, I’m sorry, that’s not what the Bible says to do.
When I talked to my priest, he said, “Do you believe in the Bible only?”
I said, “Yes.”
He said, “You don’t believe the Pope has the right to change the Bible or to interpret it?”
I said, “No, I don’t. I think whatever the Bible says, that’s it. You can’t change it.”
He said, “You’re not a Catholic;” he said, “You’re a Protestant.”
I said, “Well, now you tell me; I’ve been in this church for twenty years!”
We as Seventh-Day Adventists teach the priesthood of all believers. Now that means that every man; woman, who is a member of this church who has been called by God and baptized by the Holy Spirit, has gifts and talents that God has given them for MINISTRY. You are not laymen and I’m clergy. I am also in a sense one of you; and you are one of me. We are all ministers to minister the Gospel, and a deacon or deaconess is a minister the same way a pastor is a minister.
The pastor has more authority in the church because he is the head of the church in the sense that he is the head of the elders. He’s the first officer. He’s responsible for all the flock; so the “buck stops” with the pastor but I thank God I don’t have to pastor the Church. Christ is the Great Shepherd, I’m the under-shepherd, and my elders are my fellow “pastors;” my fellow ministers. The ground is level at the foot of the Cross and we all have been given a ministry.
Do you believe in the priesthood of all believers, that all of us are ordained to be ministers and to be preachers, every one of us? That’s what I want to talk to you about.
I reject the old, Dark Ages mentality that only the minister can minister, and that the laymen are just to let the preacher do the work of the church, and they’re just to go about their business and show up once a week. I reject that. And today, we are going to look at what the call to ministry that each church member receives means.
We all have a God given ministry. The God given gifts to perform our ministries God has already given you. God does not discriminate against anyone when it comes to ministry. Whether you’re a male or a female, whether you’re young or old, there is no discrimination.
The Ohio Conference and the Seventh-Day Adventist Church does not discriminate when it comes to men or women in ministry.
The policy of the Seventh-Day Adventist
Church is that:
The word “Deacon” or “Deaconess” is not found in the original Greek in the Scriptures.
There is no gender differentiation. It’s the same word used for both. Both men and women can hold the office of a deacon.
So when a man gets up and takes up the offering, and a lady takes off the tablecloth, those things are rooted in our stereotypes and our traditions of what a man and a woman can do. A woman could just as well take up the offering and the men can take that tablecloth off that table.
Our divinely ordained purpose is to serve God and our fellow man. We were created to serve each other; not to compete with each other, and dominate each other, and fight over who’s going to be the greatest!
“The Savior’s commission…”
You know I make no apologies for quoting one of my favorite authors. Okay? I don’t use this person as the Bible. I just want to make that clear. I have only one rule of faith and practice—I get my teachings and beliefs from this Book. The Bible is my only rule, but I think this wonderful “authoress” has done much to shed light on the Word so, I like to quote from my favorite author; often. Don’t misunderstand that, I’m not preaching from her.
I just read you a text from the Word and we’re going to illuminate it.
“The Savior’s commission to the disciples included…”
Now, do you remember that commission? “Go ye therefore into all nations baptizing them; teaching them all things whatsoever I have commanded you.”
Remember that? We call that The Great Commission. Amen? Are they our marching orders to go and preach the Word throughout the world?
“The Savior’s commission to the disciples included all the believers…”
Does that mean that the men were sent to preach and to evangelize but the women weren’t? What does the word “all” mean? “All believers” means, ladies, you were sent to preach and teach and evangelize, too, just the same as the men were sent. You’re next door neighbor needs a witness and God doesn’t say, “Oh, well you’re a woman, you can’t witness for Me.” That’s not what the Bible says.
“The Savior’s commission to the disciples included all the believers. It includes all believers in Christ to the end of time…”
Now does that mean you? I’m quoting from the Spirit of Prophecy.
Now, the Spirit of Prophecy and the Bible, as you hear it this morning, may not sound like what you’ve always believed or what your tradition has been. Traditions are wonderful but the Bible is more wonderful. And if the tradition and the Bible conflict, I’ve got news for you: that tradition’s gone and the Bible stays.
Now we’ve always preached that to everybody else, are we willing to apply it to ourselves?
“…It is a fatal mistake…”
Now what does fatal mean? You can die from it.
“…It is a fatal mistake to suppose that the work of saving souls depends alone on the ordained minister. All to whom the heavenly inspiration has come, are put in trust with the gospel. All who receive the life of Christ are ordained…”
Did you hear that?
“…All who receive the life of Christ are ordained to work for the salvation of their fellow men…”
Did you know that; that you have been ordained, just like I have been ordained, to preach the Word and to carry the Gospel forth? You didn’t know you were an ordained minister, did you. When you were baptized, didn’t the Bible say that the Holy Spirit would come down and anoint you like a dove out of heaven? And when that Spirit anointed you, did you know that that Spirit anointing you and filling you when you were baptized was your ordination to go forth and preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Did you know that? Some of you didn’t know that; now, you do!
“…For this work the church was established, and all who take upon themselves its sacred vows are thereby pledged to be co-workers with Christ.”
You are ordained just like a preacher; you are a co-worker with Christ just like a preacher. Isn’t that exciting?
1 Peter 2:9…
“But you are a chosen generation, a royal…”
What?
“…priesthood(!)”
What’s a priesthood?
“…a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light…”
Now when it says “…you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood,” is he talking about just the men in this church, ladies? (“No.”) Are you part of that priesthood, ladies? If you are, would you say “Amen?” (“Amen!”)
There are seventy percent (70%) of our Church that are female.
Uh, Oh! The Spirit’s moving! Whoa! I’m sorry, I apologize for this (walks down from the pulpit into the congregation).
There are seventy percent of this church that are female and for too long they’ve been told they’re second class citizens.
They can teach in the Cradle Roll,
They can teach downstairs with the little children,
They can teach everywhere but from this pulpit,
They can teach everywhere but as an elder –
They can teach, they can do all these things,
but when it comes to the power, the authority that God wants to give they have to sit in the back of the bus and take a second class seat. That’s not what the Bible says.
Ladies, you are part of that royal priesthood. You have been called, ordained, and commissioned to preach the Word—to go forth with the Bible in one hand, the Gospel in your heart, and share that Gospel with your friends and neighbors and relatives. And there is nothing; there is no office in this church that the door is closed to you!
The Seventh-day Adventist Church teaches that each member is a priest, divinely ordained to minister for God.
We are all set apart to carry the gospel to the entire world. Both men and women are called to this priestly ministry, which replaces the Old Testament system of sacrifices and oblations. There is no earthly priesthood today other than the priesthood of all believers.
The Roman Church that has usurped the Old Testament priestly system and tried to impose that upon the Christian Church is doing so of their own accord; without any Biblical foundation for it. There is no all-male priesthood anymore. We are now in the period of time under the Gospel, which is called the priesthood of all believers. Every man and woman in this church is to minister for God.
Our great high priest is in heaven, ministering at God’s right hand. In the church today, each member is called to perform a ministry and to bear witness to the truth. The gifts of the Spirit are available to all believers, and the Spirit distributes them as He wills, regardless of the race or sex of the believer.
Today I want to focus on the ministry of men and women, elders, deacons, deaconesses, and how God uses them in ministry.
Interestingly, God does not differentiate in His Word between deacons and deaconesses. He calls both men and women “deacons” in the Bible.
The position of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and the Ohio Conference is that men and women are free to minister in these positions if called by God and recognized as such by the local church.
There are many biblical texts that show that the church’s position is correct, and I want to look at a few.
It makes me proud to know that our Conference and our denomination takes a position that encourages people, regardless of their race or sex to minister in the way that God has called them through the Holy Spirit to minister. Discrimination against a person because of their race or sex would certainly not be in keeping with this Church’s high calling. And in the Newark Church, we don’t discriminate against people based on their race or their sex.
It is interesting that the word “ordination” does not occur in the New Testament. The verb “to ordain” does not occur in the New Testament. There is no biblical evidence that even the apostles were ever ordained. So all this “back and forth” is kind of superfluous. The most important information concerning ordination comes from the Pastoral Epistles.
1 Tim 4:14…
Paul says to Timothy: “Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophetic utterance when the council of the elders laid their hands upon you.”
So for elders, deacons, and deaconesses, the laying on of hands is a biblical thing that we should do. Were going to talk a little while later about deaconesses.
How many deaconesses do we have here today? (some in congregation raising hands) Nice and high. Oh, we’ve got lots of deaconesses! How many of you deaconesses have been ordained by the laying on of hands? Can I see your hand? One. Okay, two. All right! We’re going to have to have an ordination service. And I will show you where the Spirit of Prophecy says that women who are deaconesses doing the work of the deaconess are to be set apart by the laying on of hands. And for too long we haven’t done that. Why? Why do we ordain the deacons and not the deaconesses? I don’t understand. But we’re going to correct that. We’re going to make that right. I want you to notice what it says about a bishop.
1 Timothy 3:1-7…
1 “This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of elder (a bishop), he desires a good work.
And elder (A bishop) then must be blameless, the husband of one wife,
temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach;
3 Not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous;
4 One who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with
all reverence
5 (For if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?);
6 Not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil.
Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside (the church), lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.”
Interesting. There are many qualifications here for elder. As we read the list we are all aware that no one could measure up to these qualifications perfectly and at all times. However, the person should be a committed Christian who, by God’s grace, does his or her best to live up to that high calling. They should be a person of integrity who has a good reputation, both in the church and without. The person presented here is a balanced, open, friendly, loving, humble person, who is willing to use the gifts of the Spirit, like teaching, to benefit the church and the community, and they are ordained to serve.
S
ome have suggested since a woman could not be the husband of one wife, she couldn’t serve as an elder. Well, if this were the case, then Jesus couldn’t be an elder, neither could Paul because neither of them were husbands of one wife. Paul could have served in that capacity if he would have gotten married but since he wasn’t an elder, then he couldn’t write seventy percent (70%) of the Bible (New Testament?) and he couldn’t be a minister I guess. No, that’s not what it means.
It’s clear that what he is saying in their day, in their generation, I don’t know why anyone would want to do this, but he was saying you can only have one wife. He didn’t say that you had to be married and it wasn’t a statement on gender. What is was, was he was simply saying only one.
In those days people would have two, three, four, five, six wives. I can’t handle one, why anyone would want more than that, I have no idea! (audience laughing) They must have been out of their minds; that’s all I can say!
Of greater concern to me, is the passage found in Timothy, which is most often used to exclude women from ministry. And I think, really, this tradition of being against women in ministry comes from a misunderstanding of these Bible texts simply because people don’t do their homework. They don’t go look up the historical context and what Paul meant when he wrote this. They just read it, jump to conclusions and then move down the road with their theology.
1 Timothy 2:9-13…
9 “In like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel,
with propriety and in moderation, not with broided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing,
10 But, which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works.
11 Let a woman learn in silence with all submission.
12 And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to
be in silence.
13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve...”
…and he goes on to talk.
Now, we as a Church don’t follow that rule in the strict way it’s written there. Because if we did then we wouldn’t have women teaching in any of the Sabbath School classes, they would never give the children’s story, they would never be able to come up front and be a Sabbath School teacher, and they would never be able to preach, and you would have to sit there in silence and not speak. That, obviously, is not what Paul was saying.
Some have used this text as a justification or banning all women from serving as elders in the church. However, a careful study of the text in its context reveals that Paul was not writing about all women as a class or group. And, those of you who can’t read Greek maybe miss this, I’m going to share it with you. In the Greek, Paul did not use the article, which would have denoted women as a class, nor did he use the plural word for “women” in that sense. He used the singular woman instead, indicating He was writing about a specific group of women who had problems with modesty, chastity and exhibition of wealth (vs. 9). Now, to suggest that all women of the first century were guilty of immodesty, being unchaste or exhibition of wealth is not biblically accurate.
There is nothing in this passage to support the silencing of godly women or forbidding their teaching in the church, their call to any form of Christian service, or the use of all the gifts of the Triune God that He has bestowed upon them.
In this temple were a group of female teachers who claimed that they were prophetesses and that they had a special gift of revelation superior to that afforded to men. They taught that they were superior, even to Christ, because they were female and that females were the best mediators to bring spiritual truth to mankind.
Now these people in that temple worshiped Diana, the Goddess of the Ephesians. Remember that Ephesus boasted thousands of “sacred prostitutes” and these prostitutes performed “sacred marriages” enacted by priests and priestesses or by sacred prostitute and worshiper, effecting a union with the god. And they taught that when you went and paid these sacred prostitutes and had relations with them you were worshiping God, and that God was going to bless you financially and spiritually with fertility.
Now can you imagine, ladies, these priestesses were teaching that it was okay for the men to go up on the hill and worship God in their temple. Can you imagine a young pastor trying to handle that kind of distraction!
Such cult prostitutes constituted a significant—some believe as much as seventy percent (70%) of the Ephesians population both in the famed temple of Artemis (or Diana) of the Ephesians and also the temple of Aphrodite (Venus) the Harlot. The temple of Artemis was where the Roman Goddess Diana was worshiped as “the goddess of the woods (hunting) and the patron of women in childbirth.”
“Her temple served as a bank for safe deposit of others’ wealth and for loans at a profitable rate of interest. It also owned extensive lands and fisheries that contributed to her (temple’s) great wealth. Because of its size and wealth, the temple of Artemis (or Diana) was acclaimed as one the seven wonders of the ancient world.”
This temple was 220 feet wide, 425 feet long, and had 127 columns up to 60 feet high.
Now, how high is this roof here? What would you say? It’s probably 60 feet or less isn’t it? So their columns were as high as that point. A hundred and twenty seven of them, this big around, all the way up to there.
They lent money at two percent (2%) and three percent (3%) interest. This temple, this religion with all these sacred prostitutes was the banking center of that ancient world. Timothy had to deal with women who claimed to be prophetesses and priestesses who were converted and came into the “Adventist” church of the time, the Christian Church. They came into the church and these women were sacred prostitutes—what an oxymoron (!) who were billionaires—millionaires and billionaires.
They would come in with gold strung all around their necks: long, solid gold earrings. They would take gold strands of solid gold and braid them into their hair so that when they walked you’d see their hair and it would twinkle when the sun hit it. That’s what they called “broided” hair. When these women walked in, they didn’t walk in like humble little quiet church mice—to maybe begin to teach—they walked in with authority and power and in money. And they put their wealth on display, and their physical beauty because they were prostitutes. They put their beauty and wealth on display and they came into the Church and tried to be the same kind of a priestess teacher that they were in their temple in the Church. Paul said, “Don’t let these women teach or have authority over the men in the church because if they do, you know what kind of women they are, they’ll mislead our men…”
Now to take that text designed for Temple courtesans and apply it to women today is offensive to me. The office of Temple courtesans, whether temporary or permanent, was considered commendable in those days, as evidenced by inscriptions proclaiming the holiness of those who served as Temple courtesans. Many of these temple prostitutes were converted and found their way into the early Christian Church. They brought with them their belief in the superiority of women as mediators and tried to impose their unchaste and immodest form of sexual religion upon the church.
One of the concerns appears to have been over women who formulated new and unorthodox doctrine. As woman heretics were known to be involved in sexual immorality, (1 Tim. 5:11-15; 2 Tim. 3:6-7) we also postulate that they were teaching a religious practice that included sex and symbolic death.
That the prohibition does not include orthodox female teachers is apparent from the reference to Priscilla, (Have you heard of Priscilla and Aquilla in the book of Acts? Did you know that Aquilla, her husband, was the one who supported Priscilla, and Priscilla was the evangelist in the family. Did you know that? It’s very interesting).
In 2 Timothy 4:19, Priscilla instructed Apollos at Ephesus. Apollos actually became a pastor of the church at Ephesus. Now how silly it would be to state women couldn’t teach and then acknowledge that a woman taught one of the greatest apologists for the Christian faith, Apollos! Paul also spoke highly of Eunice and Lois, Timothy’s mother and grandmother who shared the faith with Timothy. Furthermore, older women are encouraged to be “teachers of what is good.”
It’s a tragic mistake to disbar women from orthodox ministries to which they feel called of God because of 1 Timothy 2:12, when we don’t even understand the context! There’s a greater likelihood that the scripture here refers to the heretical doctrines and practices of women, and their assertion that they have been given a special revelation, which only they can impart to men. A vaunted superiority, an assumption that God could speak most authoritatively through an individual of a particular sex, does not accord with the teachings of Jesus Christ or Paul, in whom there is neither male nor female. We are all one, according to Paul, in Christ Jesus.
We deny that any person has a privileged position with God on the basis of gender. The only inside track is the one given to us by Jesus Christ through His shed blood, His grace, and His ministry in the heavenly sanctuary as our great High Priest. We reject all male priesthoods, and acknowledge that the priesthood of all believers is the only priesthood in position today. Jesus is our only mediator between God and man.
As we have seen by carefully considering the context of this passage, immodest, unchaste, wealth-flaunting women were the ones not permitted to teach. Orthodox women who were modest, chaste, and humble were not excluded from the teaching ministry, such as Pricilla, Eunice, and Lois.
Ellen White makes some very strong statements regarding ordination of women, and women preaching, and women doing pastoral ministry and let me share a few:
“There are women who should labor in the gospel ministry. In many respects they would do more good than the ministers who neglect to visit the flock of God.”
There are women who should labor in the gospel ministry!
“Sister R and Sister W are doing just as efficient work as the ministers; and some meetings when the ministers are all called away, Sister W takes the Bible and addresses the congregation.
She’s saying, “Sister W is out there preaching when the pastor can’t come and they’re doing just as good a job as the ministers.” I didn’t say that, Ellen White said that. Here’s another one:
“Teach this, my sister…”
Did you hear me? “I suffer not a woman to teach.” Oh. Well, evidently, this prophetess doesn’t interpret it that way.
“Teach this, my sister. You have many ways opened before you. Address the crowd whenever you can; hold every jot of influence you can by either association that can be made the means of introducing the leaven to the meal. Every man and every woman has a work to do for the Master…” Amen?
“…Personal consecration and sanctification to God will accomplish, through the most simple methods, more than the most imposing display.”
“Missionary work—introducing our publications into families, conversing, and praying with and for them—is a good work and one which will educate men and women to do pastoral labor.”
Ellen G. White says both men and women should do pastoral labor.
“The experience, (canvassing) thus gained will be of the greatest value to those who are fitting themselves for the ministry. It is the accompaniment of the Holy Spirit of God that prepares workers, both men and women, to become pastors to the flock of God.”
I didn’t say that both men and women should be pastors, Ellen White wrote that. Don’t get mad at me, I didn’t write it.
Now, let’s look at some other texts that are relevant.
Philippians 4:2-3…
“I implore Euodia and I implore Syntyche…”
I call them “Odious” and “Sintouchy.”
These two ladies were having a little power struggle and Paul was straightening them out.
2 “I implore Euodia and I implore Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord.”
Quit fighting! Have unity.
3 And I urge you also, true companion, help these women who labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life.”
Paul called these two women his “fellow workers.” These two women were preaching, teaching; spreading the Gospel with the apostle and would certainly be qualified lead any modern church.
Ellen White makes this statement about women as teachers:
“Intelligent women, if truly converted, can act a part in this work of holding Bible classes. There is a wide field of service for women as well as for men.”
She’s saying, “Teach! Take your Bibles and teach the word of God.”
Romans 16:3-4…
“Greet Priscilla and Aquilla, my fellow
workers in Christ Jesus,
who risked their own necks for my life, to
whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles.”
Priscilla, according to most scholars, was the one who was the evangelist in the family. We have already mentioned how she taught Apollos, who became the great apologist for the Christian Church. Paul as a fellow worker, which is our conference way of saying “minister,” does not only recognize her, but she was recognized and appreciated by all the churches she ministered to. She must have been an extremely knowledgeable and capable teacher to instruct Apollos. She “ministered the word” which is exactly what an elder does.
Romans 16:7…
“Greet Andronicus and Junia, my countrymen and my fellow prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me.”
Did you know that Junia is Junias? The word for “Junia” is female. Junia was an apostle of the Church and she was female.
The Roman Catholic Church in their zeal to have and all male priesthood buried that fact for thousands of years. If you go back and study into Church history…Now this manuscript is from the fourth century. So three hundred years after Christ, the Bible and the church fathers even earlier, speaks of a female apostle who was noteworthy. John Chrysostom (one of the early Church Fathers back in the fourth century) had no doubts regarding Junia’s sex or value when he exclaimed, “Oh how great is the devotion of this woman that she should be even counted worthy of the appellation of apostle!”
According to the Oxford Companion to the Bible, Junia was “The only woman called an apostle in the New Testament. Paul’s relative or compatriot, Junia had been in prison, perhaps for the gospel. Her name suggests that she may have been a freed-woman or a descendant of a slave freed by a member of the Junian clan. As an apostle, Junia must have claimed to have seen the risen Christ (Jesus) and have engaged in missionary work.
Although previous scholars have interpreted the name Junia as masculine (in the Dark Ages), church fathers (which go all the way back almost to Bible times), including Origen (third century), John Chrysostom (fourth century), and Jerome (the translator of the Bible)…”
All explained that Junia was a female, and this information has recently been unearthed.
“…Further, while the hypothetical…
…male name Junias is unattested in ancient inscriptions, the female Latin name Junia occurs over 250 times in Greek and Latin inscriptions found in Rome alone. Therefore scholars today generally interpret the name as feminine.”
So, did you know in Romans 16:7…
Why did I go through all this? You’re sitting there going, “This is a history lesson. I’m bored…zzzzzzz!”
Why am I going through this? I’m going through this because in Romans 16:7, you have a female apostle listed in the list of noteworthy apostles, a woman. You didn’t know that, did you. Some of you didn’t know that; I want you to know that.
Now, I found all this interesting, but my Greek skills are a little limited. And I was like, “I…I think this is a female word! It’s in the feminine…I…I gotta look this up!” I study, I find out, “Yes, it is!” I look, I study; all the scholars say, “Yes, Junia was a female.” I go, “Oh, I need some help!” I called Andrews University and got the head of the Greek Department of the Theological Seminary. His name is Dr. Richard Choi, Professor of Greek, and the head of the Greek Department at Andrews University.
According to Dr. Richard Choi, “The Greek word used here is definitely feminine.” He informed me that “Women were apostles, teachers, deacons, evangelists, and church leaders involved in every aspect of church life, until the Third and Fourth Centuries.” And that “When The Papal attitude towards women brought in, women were then subjugated and excluded from ministry. But up until the fourth century, women were actively involved in all the outreach.”
I think we ought to go back to the way they did it in the Bible and scrap the whole Dark Ages model of the laity and the clergy, and women being shut out. That is not the Bible. I want to go back to the apostolic message.
I
n the Bible, the biblical model we have women as prophetesses. Have you ever heard of a woman prophetess Seventh-Day Adventist?
Joel 2:28-31…
God says,
28 “And it shall come to pass afterward
That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions.
29 And also on My menservants and on My
maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those (in the last)days (before the coming of the Great Day).
30 “And I will show wonders in the heavens
and in the earth: Blood and fire and
pillars of smoke.
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness,
And the moon into blood, before the
coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.
Other texts where woman are used by God in prophetic ministry:
Ezekiel 13; 17
Acts 2:17-18; 11:27; 13:1; 15:32
The four daughters of Phillip – Acts 21: 9, 10
Miriam – Exodus 15:20
Deborah – Judges 4:4
Huldah, the great prophetess – 2 Kings 22:14
Noadiah – Nehemiah 6:14
Isaiah’s wife (“Mrs. Isaiah”) – Isaiah 8:3
Elisabeth – Luke 1:41-45
Anna – Luke 2:36-38
And of course, have we ever heard of a woman prophetess? I seem to think there was a lady who used to go around prophesying in our Church. Wasn’t there?
1 Corinthians 11:4-5, 11…
4 “Every man praying or prophesying,
having his head covered, dishonors his
head.
5 But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head…”
The word “prophesy” means to proclaim God’s word, and Paul says every woman who prays or prophesies or proclaims the word of God should not have her head covered. What he’s saying there is that women were all the time praying in public. Women were all the time prophesying, preaching, proclaiming the word. It was no big deal in Paul’s day.
We have to understand he (Paul) wrote those texts that everybody uses to try to keep women down and not allow them to minister, we’re doing that based on an incorrect historical interpretation, and we’re not even looking at the Greek to see that he wasn’t talking about women as a class, he was talking about one group of women in a single church—that’s it.
Galatians 3:28…
“…there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female…” We’re all one.
In the world ordained by Jesus Christ, women of ill repute, like the woman at the well, were treated with respect. They weren’t talked down to. Jesus revealed Himself more plainly to her as the Messiah than he did anyone else. Jesus respected women.
Mary was allowed to sit in the circle with the elders. Can you remember when Mary was sitting in the elder’s circle and Martha came in and said, “Why isn’t she working in the kitchen?” Jesus said, “She has chosen the better part.” Did you know to sit in the circle of the Rabbi’s disciples was to be one of the elders in council and you weren’t allowed to sit in that circle unless you were one of the group?
Mary, Ellen White says, was an evangelist that Jesus ordained to go forth and preach His message. Very interesting stuff, isn’t it?
After the Resurrection, Jesus sent Mary forth with a message to the cowering disciples. (chuckle) An apostle is one who was sent forth. Mary was a mightier worker for God than they were. In Christ, there is neither male nor female. We’re all one on equal footing.
Ellen White writes…
“Women can be the instruments of righteousness, rendering holy service. It was Mary that first preached a risen Christ (Jesus). If there were twenty women where now there is one, who would make this holy mission their cherished work (preaching Christ), we should see many more converted to the truth. The refining, softening influence of Christian women is needed in the great work of preaching the truth.”
Don’t get mad at me. I didn’t write that.
Women need to be preachers of righteousness.
I’d like some of your little girls to grow up and be mighty preachers. I’d like God to be able to use some of your young women to do great things for God and to proclaim God's word. Wouldn’t you? I don’t want to say to our young ladies, “You are only able to do half, or you can only do these things and we’re going to discriminate against you and you’re not allowed to do this or that or the other.”
Can women preach? Ellen White thought so. See went all over the church preaching in thousands of churches. And it seems to me God blessed her ministry, don’t you think?
Back in those days in the first century, Jesus set an example, and He expects us to treat women as equals, giving them the respect they deserve. In God’s church, they are not second-class citizens that can be discriminated against because we want to keep them in the same status as women of the first century.
Did they treat women properly in the first century? No, they treated women as property. They were treated as slaves. Yes, we should do that today, right? Both Paul and Jesus were revolutionary in the way they treated the women of their day with respect. As co-workers in the gospel of Christ, Jesus had no problem sending his female disciples to go work for Him, and they were ordained to serve as deacons and deaconesses also.
1 Timothy 3:8-13…
8 “Likewise deacons must be reverent, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy for money,
9 Holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience.
10 But let these also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons, being found blameless.
11 Likewise their wives must be reverent, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things.
12 Let deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.
13 For those who have served well as deacons obtain for themselves a good standing and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.”
Whoever desires the office of a deacon or deaconess desires a good thing. It is a noble work. It is a work of ministry, not just in keeping up the church building, or taking up the offering. It’s also a work of visiting the sick, in distributing the church’s goods to the poor, and in ministering to the discouraged and the downtrodden. And many of your deaconesses are involved in your wonderful Community Service ministry, which I can’t wait ‘til I have the time after I get moved in to be able to go down there and fellowship and help. What a wonderful ministry you have!
“Ministry does not consist alone in preaching. Those minister who relieve the sick and suffering, helping the needy, speaking words of comfort to the desponding and those of little faith…”
Those who are hurting, those who are emotionally troubled, those who are having struggles. When you encourage them, when you speak a word of faith to them, you’re ministering—you’re lifting them up.
“…Nigh and afar off are souls weighed down by a sense of guilt. It is not hardship, toil, or poverty that degrades humanity, it is guilt, wrongdoing. This brings unrest and dissatisfaction. Christ would have His servants minister to sin-sick souls.”
God challenges our deacons and deaconesses to be ministers of comfort to the elderly in nursing homes, to be leaders in community service ministry, to be teachers of the young ladies, instructing them in marriage, to take communion to the shut-ins and help heal the broken hearted.
Ellen White states clearly that deaconesses that minister to the sick and the young are ministering to the necessities of the poor, should be ordained by the laying on of hands:
I’m bringing the plane in for a landing, by the way, in case you’re wondering. I always have to tip you off a little bit because you know, Pastor Hughes can go on forever! I have much to share with you, but not all today, okay! Let me read this to you.
“Women who are willing to consecrate some of their time to the service of the Lord should be appointed to visit the sick, to look after the young, to minister to the necessities of the poor. They should be set apart to this work by prayer and laying on of hands…”
Does the Spirit of Prophecy say to do it? I didn’t hear any “Amens.” Can I get a little help? (“Amen!”)
“…In some cases they will need to counsel with the church officers or the minister; but if they are devoted women, maintaining a vital connection with God, they will be a power for good in the church. This is another means of strengthening and building up the church…”
Laying on of hands on women and ordaining them is a means of strengthening and building up the church!
“…We need to branch out more in our methods and our labors. Not a hand should be bound…”
Not any woman’s hand, not any young girl’s hand should be bound.
“…not a soul discouraged, not a voice should be hushed; let every individual labor, privately or publicly, to help forward this grand work. Place the burdens upon men and women of the church, that they may grow by reason of the exercise, and thus become effective agents in the hand of the Lord for the enlightenment of those who sit in darkness.”
Amen! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! (Pastor and congregation clapping hands.)
We read in the Bible about many faithful examples, like Stephen ,who gave his life for Christ, and the Apostle Paul was lead to Christ by that great preaching deacon, Stephen. He lead Paul to Jesus! Deacons, you can preach and lead a “Paul” to Christ and change the world! You’re not just a deacon to open the doors of the church and lock up after everybody leaves! Is that all a deacon is? No! You’ve got a ministry!
And you say, “Well, Pastor, I don’t know how to do it.” That’s why I’m here! We’re going to have a meeting called “Putting The Church To Work.” We’re going to train the elders, and the deacons, and the deaconesses, and get you guys revved up and charged up, and filled with the Holy Spirit, and send you out there and let you minister! That’s what God wants you to do. He doesn’t want you to just take up the offering.
Now, if you think about it, we see in the book of Romans how God used a woman to reach out and minister to all the churches in a large area. Listen to this:
Romans 16:1-2…
1 “I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is a servant of the church (a deaconess) in Cenchrea,
2 That you may receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints, and assist her in whatever business she has need of you; for indeed she has been a helper of many and of myself also.”
Now the interesting thing is, according to Chrysostom, Phoebe was a deaconess who was “hindered in no way by her sex.”
For years, they interpreted Phoebe even though is says, “our sister,” as a male deacon. Now how these guys did this stuff, I don’t know. They must have really wanted to keep women out bad. She is described here as a servant of the church. Did you know the Greek word used here for her is “Diakonon,” which means “deacon.”
We have read in the book of Acts about Dorcas the wonderful deaconess. Example after example is there for us. Wonderful men and women, who gave all their money, all their time, and even their very life for the sake of Christ.
Oh, that God would raise up men and women today, who would be willing to give of themselves in this day to reach this dying world! Thank God, that God still calls men and women to serve him! Thank God, that even in this church, many have answered the call of the Holy Spirit, and are here today to be ordained to minister according to their spiritual gifts.
God has people in this church that He wants to use to proclaim the word; both male and female. He has elders, deacons, and deaconesses – both male and female – that He wants to use to proclaim God’s word. And in this church, and in this conference, in this denomination, women are called as the priesthood of all believers to minister.
If you stop and think how silly some of the things we’ve said and done in the past has been. Now think about it, Deborah was a judge. She ruled over all Israel, she preached throughout the land, and was a judge in Israel. There were dozens of prophetesses who prophesied—they were prophetesses! God’s Spirit came upon them and they prophesied for God. Our own denomination, Ellen White was a prophetess. According to the Bible, Junia was an apostle, Mary, according to Ellen White, was an evangelist.
Now let’s think about this. Okay, women can be prophets, women can be evangelists, women can be used of God as a judge over all Israel. Think about this. Women can be used to preach, to minister, to be apostles – but “Oh, that local elder job, wow, that’s really an important job!” She can’t do that one. She can be an apostle, she can be a prophetess, she can be an evangelist, she can be a preacher – but, “Oh, that local elder, boy, that is really an important job!”
Is there any male or female in Christ Jesus? Can a woman preach the word of God? Can a young girl on the next Youth Sabbath get up here and share a message? A Pathfinder – can the girls get up and share the word just as well as the little boys can? I say let’s move forward into the twenty-first century and let’s leave some of these discriminatory practices in the past and let’s go back to the real Bible position and leave behind all the Dark Ages, Ecclesiatomy of the Roman Church, and let’s go back to the Bible—where we’re brothers and sisters in Christ and we all are going to minister the word!
I’m going to dispense with the closing hymn and ask my wife to come up. We’re going to sing it to you, and then we’ll be done. I want my wife (Debbie) to come minister!
I really enjoyed having Alicia (Luckett) read. That was really neat. And I’m looking forward to the next Youth Sabbath (July 31), where we can have the young people leading out and doing things. And whether they are a boy or a girl, we want them to know that Jesus can use them in ministry.
"IS THE DOOR STANDING OPEN FOR ME"
Words and Music by Take Three
My troubles are many; my pleasures are few;
I guess life is always that way.
But I don’t complain ‘cause I know I’ll be free;
If I can get to heaven someday.
Chorus
But tell me, where am I now?
Am I almost there?
Is that heaven’s bright glory I see?
Is that Jesus I hear calling out my name?
Is the door standing open for me?
Sometimes I get weary; I don’t know where I stand.
I stumble and fall on the way.
But Jesus has promised to reach out His hand;
I’ll get to heaven someday!
Chorus
My friends don’t believe me when I tell them it’s true
That somewhere there’s a home made for me. They’re all made of gold and there’s one made for you.
Come with me to heaven and see!
Chorus
Is that door standing open for me?
Is that door standing open for you? Did you hear Jesus calling out your name? He wants you to be saved. He wants you to work for Him. You’re all ordained to minister. When you were baptized, God ordained you to carry His gospel commission: “Go ye therefore into all the world.” The priesthood of all believers—whether you’re male or female—God’s going to proclaim the word through you.
Father in heaven, help us all to not fall into that Dark Ages mentality where we put one group of people in a second-class position. But help us Lord to allow people to use their spiritual gifts to minister in whatever way you call them to do so, Lord. And may they be willing to follow You and to do those things that You have called them to do.
Help each person to know that God has ordained them to share the message with their friends and neighbors and not in some phony way. It’s like Brother Larry’s (Smith) song today was such a blessing! It talks, Lord, about what we’re going to have someday when we all get together in a simple way, in a way that’s beautiful and direct. Help us to be willing to share our faith like that, in a way that people can understand, and in a way that’s kind and loving; and may people listen. And, as they see Jesus in our eyes and in our hearts, may they want to love Him, too. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
The program is over, but the service has just begun!
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