The Role of Woman?

Men and women were created equal. Spiritually, they are equal. There’s no difference in prayer between a male and a female. But there are some obvious differences between the sexes. In Genesis 3:16, God tells Eve, “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in pain shall you bring forth children; your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.” Then He says to Adam, “Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you.” In other words, the woman’s desire will be to satisfy her husband, while the man is going to have to labor because the earth will work against him. As a result, men are independent. They leave the home to go out and provide and protect. In God’s basic family format, that’s what a man is called to do. He basically sets the path for the family. Meanwhile, a woman is responsive. She responds to what her husband is giving her.

The most obvious way these differences manifest is in the way we approach sex: A man will see or hear something and all of a sudden, a light goes off and that’s it. He wants to have sex. His thought process is more linier; women are contextual thinkers. For her, it’s about what happened in the last day or so. It depends on where they are at emotionally. It’s important to recognize our differences and to learn from them. In fact, one of the biggest problems today is that men and women aren’t releating to each other.

Since women are responsive, what happens if there’s no leadership? They’ll respond and become the leader. If a man isn’t giving love, what does he expect back? You have to give love. She needs to feel confident and cared for. A man needs respect. In fact, this is what he’s looking for more than anything else. He needs to feel honored and supported even more than he needs to feel loved.

But what does it really mean for a woman to submit? Ephesians 5:22 says, “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as also Christ is the head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.” Talk about a strong statement. First of all, what is submission?

Submission is not being extorted into something. It’s not “you do this.” You don’t give up your individuality. The Bible says to “submit as unto the Lord.” How do we submit unto the Lord? We submit willingly and wholeheartedly. We submit in love and respect. Meanwhile, verse 25 says: “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her.” So men are to love their wives as Christ loved the church. What did Christ do for the church? Christ died for the church. He humbled himself for the church. He gave up everything for the church. That love is the love that God is telling a man to give to his wife. In other words, “I will live and die for you.” With that, she will respond back with, “I can submit to that if I know if his whole mind, body and spirit is totally committed to me in love.” Now, there are different strengths in different families. But what we’re talking about here is the attitude of a man’s heart. If a man is saying that he’ll do whatever is necessary to see your betterment, what can you do but respond to that and say, “I will love you, I will give myself to you, I will live with you.” What we’re talking about here is understanding each other in the context of God’s word.

These aren’t isolated comments. This works if you’re both walking in the word of God, and if your common goal is to serve God first. If you’re single, you have to be able to think of him as a leader. You can’t do this if he’s self-centered, putting his own desires above yours. It’s hard to follow somebody like that. But the Bible shows us that a woman desires a godly man that would guide and direct in the word of God and be a priest to the family. This is where the blessing is.

1 Peter 3:7 says, “Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.” In other words, there’s a value to serving God. In fact, Genesis 18:19 says, “For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he was spoken to Him.” God is saying “I know that he will be an example and he’ll lead his family in the way of the Lord. He’ll shepard them along, as a priest of the family, so that the Lord may bring upon him His will and purpose.” When men are guiding their families in the way of the Lord, bringing them into the presence of God, and teaching them about the things of God, it opens the door for God to pour out His blessings, grace and power. He is able to bring on the things that He wants so desperately to give us.

Love and Marriage

 

God created man and woman at the same time. Genesis 1:27 says: “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” But for a while, Adam is physically alone in the garden. In Chapter 2:18, God says, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” He puts Adam to sleep, takes one of his ribs, makes it into a woman and brings her to him. So now the one man, Adam, becomes two individuals. It’s important to understand this as we look at marriage because immediately afterward Adam says, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”

Notice that it was God who said that man shouldn’t be alone; Adam didn’t ask for anything. When God put Adam to sleep and took woman out of him, he developed two individuals that were incomplete. What he took out of Adam now resided in Eve; what was left in Adam, resided in Adam. Both men and women come from the same place, but they are different in nature. We think differently. We operate differently. But the Bible tells us that these two individuals complete each other. Immediately after Adam wakes up, he says, “She’s part of me—and for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife.” This is where we see marriage. The King James reference says that a man shall “cleave” to his wife. It’s a sexual term. You have two individuals coming together. Just think about that. It’s the second greatest decision any human being can make. The first is giving your life to Jesus Christ. The first is an eternal decision. It’s saying, “I make you my Lord and Savior, I give you my life.” The second decision is two human beings coming together and saying the same thing, “I give you my life while I’m here on earth to live and dwell together as one.” It’s a great decision. It’s not something that should be made haphazardly. It should be made with Biblical principals in mind: That you’re giving your life to one another.

God invented marriage. God invented sex. God invented the family unit. He has a plan for each and every one of us together. God joins a couple together. Adam didn’t go searching for Eve; God brought her to Adam.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll look at marriage: how men and women are different; what it really means for wives to submit; what’s expected of men; the importance of sex; and how God says you should prioritize your life (spouse, kids, job). Many people wrestle issues, such as: Should I put my kids before my husband? She’s always telling me what to do; shouldn’t it be the other way around? Why don’t we ever have sex? You’ll find great answers to these questions in the word of God. In fact, you may be surprised by what the Bible has to say, and how relevant it is today. Stay tuned.

What is God looking for?

In Matthew 6:25-28 Jesus says, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they are? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature. So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grown: they neither toil nor spin.” He’s saying, “Look at how God takes care of a field of flowers. You have a relationship with God the Father. How much more will He take care of you?” He then tells us to seek the relationship first, rather than things. “Therefore, do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

Yet today in the Christian church, I’ll tell you, a vast majority of our prayers are for things, when we should be praying, “God, please reveal yourself to me God. I want to know you. I want to know the power of your love in my life. I want to see your hand in my life. I want to experience you God.” Moses did it. Moses said, “I want to know you.” What did Paul say? “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection.” You see hearts here that are not looking for things but looking for the Creator of things. It’s all about a relationship. God is looking for people who will seek Him and not things. There’s a difference to seeking His hand or His face. Moses sought His face. David sought His face. Paul sought His face. They didn’t seek what He could do for them. They sought Him for who He was. The gospel is the relationship that we’re called to. It’s nothing else. God wanted us in a relationship. He gave us life and life more abundant. He rejoices over things in our lives. We pursue things when we need to. But all of our life, we’re pursuing the one who gave us life and that’s God the Father and Jesus Christ.

In this simple message, Jesus, says, “Look at what God did for the world. Look at how He cares for creation. Don’t you think you’re much more valuable than that?” Seek God first and the rest will come. Being obedient to the word of God is what brings the blessings, and you’re obedient because of your relationship with God—not because or laws and rules, but because you learn His character and understand the gospel. 2 Corinthians 5:14 says, “For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if one died for all, then all died, and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselvbes, but for Him who died for them and rose again."

What does it mean to be obedient? Matthew 22:36 says that everything rests on two commandments: “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said to him, “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your heart, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

How can God command us to love Him? How do you do that? The only way that you could do that is if you give so much love and give so much of yourself that the person can’t help but love you back. He said, “Love me with all your heart, soul and mind—because I’m going to make it easy on you. I’m going to buy you eternal life. I’m going to buy you a place in heaven. I’m going to give you a relationship with Me. I’m going to take care of your enemies and I’m going to bless you in the earth.” He revealed His love to us first. God commands us into this love relationship with Him, but He makes it so easy because He loves us back in such a way where we can’t deny Him the love. And then He says to love our neighbors as ourselves. Why? You can’t do one without the other. Jesus said, “If you love me, you’ll keep my commandments, which means you’ll love others.”

1 Corinthians 13:3 says: “And tough I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.”

If you give all your goods to the poor, but you don’t have love, it’s nothing. If you have faith that can move mountains but you don’t have love, it’s nothing. That’s what it’s saying here. It doesn’t matter how much you put in the offering bin unless love is attached to it. It’s the catalyst that makes it all work. It energizes all of our Christians acts.

The difference between successful Christians and those who aren’t are those that know their God. Those that know Him are the ones that can have faith in Him, that can love Him. Those who truly know God can live this life. There’s a difference between knowing He’s there. In Exodus we learned they knew He was there, but they didn’t want to go close to Him. But Moses says, “ I’m going to draw near. I’m going to come into his presence.” Why? “Because I want to know this God that delivered me and my family.” That’s the heart we should have. In fact, we should be singing and rejoicing over the relationship that we have with our Father.

Think about this life that we have with the trinity. We have the Father who made a way for us to come into His presence and to access His power and grace. We have Jesus who gave His life for us and bought us the salvation that we now stand in. And we have the Holy Spirit to lead us, teach us and direct us into the things of God. I challenge you today to pray for your relationship with God. Ask God to reveal Himself to you. Tell Him that you want to know Him and for Him to become such a part of your life that you can’t live any other way. If you draw close, He’ll draw close and it will make your life a lot easier. The church grew because of the power of God in men’s lives. When people moved in the Spirit and the power and the anointing of God, things happened. Money came. People came. We need to get back there. We can if we give our hearts to Him and begin to pray.

What gives God joy?

What loving father wouldn’t want the best for his children? A father tries to be a loving provider and to protect his family. God does the same thing. He’s a protector. He blesses people who are obedient to His word. Deuteronomy 30:9-10 says, “The Lord your God will make you abound in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your land for good. For the Lord will again rejoice over you for good as he rejoiced over your fathers, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this book of the Law, and if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”

Many people want the blessing of our Lord without the relationship, but I’m telling you: It all comes in one package. The relationship and the blessings come together, and you’ll live the life that you’re called to live. Deutoronomy 30:19-20 says, “I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

Here, we see a loving God who reaches out to humanity, willing to bless, looking for opportunities to bless. If you want to know who God is, look at Jesus. In John 14:7, Jesus says: “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” The people closest to Jesus are asking Him to show them the Father, and He says, “Look at me.” In verse 11, He goes on to say, “or else believe for the sake of the works themselves.” In other words, “When I brought salvation, it was the Father working through me. When the lame walked and the blind could see and the deaf could hear—that was God.” Every time we see someone approaching Jesus and asking to be healed, what does He say? “I will.” With crowds around Him, He says, “I will. I will.” This is the heart of our Father. Read the four gospels; everything Jesus did was under the anointing of God and the Holy Spirit. He acted on their behalf on the earth just as we should act on their behalf today.

Jesus wept a couple of times in scripture. In Luke 19:41-44, He is weeping over the city and a group of people who rejected His sacrifice, and He says, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

Jesus is hurt over the rejection of the power, grace and mercy that is accomplished in God. He’s hurt because He sees the benefit missed and because He sees what’s coming ahead for those who reject the word of God. He’s hurt because of love for children that are lost. Here, He is saying, “How often I would have helped you and brought you peace, but you rejected me.” This is God. He wants a relationship with you—and He rejoices over blessing you.

The Heart of God

In the beginning, God said, “Let us create man in our image, after our likeness.” Notice He says “us” and in “our” image. It’s plural. Some denominations teach that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, are one. The Bible shows us that they are three separate beings acting in concert. Most people identify with Jesus Christ throught the crucifiction. But do we really know who God the Father is?

God created man, and man sinned and was separated from God. A wall went up because of the unrighteousness in man, and Jesus had to mediate to bring the two back together. In the meantime, men grew up on the earth not knowing the truth; they grew up alienated from a god of mercy, love, peace and grace; they grew up with a distorted view of who God was, distanced from their Father, the one who could bring them the greatest blessing. He loves His creation, but He has to judge righteously. The Bible says there is no darkness in God; He is all light. Still today, most Christians don’t understand who God the Father is. I’ve never heard an extended, comprehensive teaching on Him, a complete understanding of God’s attributes. In the Bible, we see Him laughing. We see His arm reaching out to help people. We see a lot of different attributes that human beings can possess. We also see that He is a spirit. But how does God describe Himself? God is love. People weren’t looking for salvation. God sent Jesus. In John Chapter 3, He said that He so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son. We see a father who gives his son in love, for our redemption.

Unfortunately, we don’t see that in a lot of peoples’ eyes when we talk about the Father. Often, He’s misunderstood as a scolding master, as somebody who you don’t want to deal with. The result is that people push away from the greatest blessing. They are pushing away from a God who loves, and who wants to encompass you and bring you in.

In Exodus, after the Red Sea is parted and the people are delivered and loaded up with goods from the Egyptians; after they are in the place that God had promised their forefathers some 400 year before, God manifests Himself but the people don’t want to draw near:

Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off. Then they said to Moses, “You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.” And Moses said to the people, “Do not fear; for God has come to test you, and that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin. So the people stood afar off, but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was.
Exodus 20:18-21

They’re saying, “You know what, we don’t want to go there. We don’t want to draw close. Here’s what we want: We want the blessings but we don’t want the relationship. Because I just don’t know how to deal with that. I understand what He did for me. I understand that He parted the Red Sea; that the Egyptians gave us all this gold and sliver; that He delivered me and my family; that He killed the invading army behind me; that He brought me into this place that we knew about 400 plus years ago. I know all of that is true, and I know there must be a good side to Him, but I just don’t want to deal with Him because I don’t understand Him.” The one who did understand Him was Moses. What did He do? He drew near. He went into the presence of God. Moses said, “Don’t fear God. He wants to test you. He wants to bring you to a place where you respect and understand Him.” And the first thing God says is: “Listen, just go back and tell them what we said.” He still wanted them to know that by following His commandments, He could bless them. The effect of pushing away from God because you misunderstand Him is that you don’t come into the presence of the one who truly put the plan together to save you; the one who delivered you—and brought you out of the Egypt in your own life.

We see God bringing judgement and often we think that’s all He is—that He’s just looking for us to trip up, so He can come step on us. But He has no pleasure in judging wickedness. What He wants is for people to turn from their ways so that He can have a relationship with them. In Ezekial chapter 18:31, He says: “Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O, house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,” says the Lord God. “Therefore, turn and live!”

These scriptures show us the heart of God. If you think about the big picture: He sent Jesus to die so that we can all come together and learn the word of God. So that we have the blood of Jesus to ask forgiveness for sins and so we could be seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. He sent Jesus, His son, to die for us, to heal us, to bring us back to a place where we could have this relationship. We should be running to Him. We should be communing with Him, praying to Him, worshipping Him, praising Him, because He’s worthy of our praise. He wants the best for you.

God The Father

In John 17:1-7 Jesus prayed: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. I have manifested your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they kept your word. Now they have known that all things which You have given me are from You.”

Jesus is looking back and He’s praying: “Father, I have glorified you; I have revealed you; I have manifested your name to those who would listen.”

The most misunderstood of the trinity is the Father. We’re able to relate to what Jesus did. We see the crucifiction. When you think of Him, you see a figure, a man. Your senses can relate to that. But the Father is blurry: He doesn’t conjure up an immediate image. A lot of times, we see Him in judgment, and we don’t really know what to think of Him. But it’s important to learn who He is. The ministry that Jesus had was to show us the Father.

Over the next 4 weeks, I want to look at some scriptures that reveal some of God’s attributes and try to instill in us some things about Him. First, I want you to understand that the trinity is three separate entities. Some denominations teach that they are one, each manifesting differently. I believe, and I think the Bible lays it out pretty clearly, that they are three separate beings, acting in concert together.

In the scripture above, Jesus says that He was sent by God. He didn’t send Himself. How can He do that? In John 14:15-18, Jesus says that He will pray to the Father to give us another helper, which is the Holy Spirit. If you look at the trinity, the Father develops the plan, Jesus usually executes the plan and then the Holy Spirit reveals the plan. They are separate but they are working together. This is evident in Matthew 3:13-17:

Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the end of the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?” But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then He allowed Him. When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God, descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying,“This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

They are all manifesting differently but all three are there. There are many denominations that believe that they’re one. And the Bible does repeatedly refer to them as one. But it also says that the church is “one body.” Obviously, we’re many members in the body. You don’t give up your individuality, but we’re acting together.

The Bible says that Jesus the Son sits on the right hand of the Father. How can He sit on the right hand unless there are two seats there? The Father is a separate entity unto himself—and He really is at the top of things. He makes the plans.

In John 16:23, Jesus says: “And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”

This is the structure of New Testament prayer. Jesus says, “You’ll ask me nothing” and He taught them how to pray: “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name…” Our prayers are directed to the Father in Jesus name. We go to Him in Jesus’ name because it’s a covenant relationship that we step into as a result of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But God is the all in all we pray to in the name of Jesus Christ to bring His power, grace, love, mercy—whatever we need—into our lives. So it’s very important that we understand who God is.