The World Needs Women Ministers
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | - Happy Friday, everyone.
00:00:07.480 | We have an email from a listener today.
00:00:09.400 | Here it is, Pastor John, my name is Sarah,
00:00:11.580 | and I admire your ministry.
00:00:13.400 | I'm 19 years old and have listened to your sermons
00:00:15.340 | off and on throughout the last two years.
00:00:17.580 | They have really helped me desire God.
00:00:19.620 | I'm learning what it means to delight in Jesus.
00:00:21.780 | I attend a Christian university and have felt called
00:00:24.180 | to do something in ministry or evangelism.
00:00:26.260 | My question is, how as a woman can I work in ministry
00:00:29.900 | and evangelism while abiding by biblical rules
00:00:32.500 | and instructions for women,
00:00:34.580 | as in not having authority over a man?
00:00:37.380 | Pastor John, I would love if you could answer this
00:00:39.240 | because I am confused.
00:00:41.400 | - Amen, amen, amen, that she feels called
00:00:46.420 | to ministry and evangelism or whatever.
00:00:50.260 | I just wanna so affirm that women and men are ministers.
00:00:57.360 | In no way does any biblical view of manhood
00:01:01.260 | and womanhood imply that men are out and about
00:01:04.020 | being active for Jesus and women are not out and about
00:01:07.300 | being active for Jesus or in and about being active
00:01:10.780 | and Jesus with, for Jesus and their families.
00:01:13.940 | So amen to the question.
00:01:16.020 | And I would really encourage her or any of the other women
00:01:21.020 | who are asking questions.
00:01:24.680 | I've tried along with Wayne Grudem
00:01:26.940 | to ask 50 crucial questions.
00:01:29.220 | That's the booklet, they can get a free PDF of it
00:01:31.780 | at Desiring God, or you can buy the booklet at Amazon.
00:01:35.740 | 50 crucial questions in which I try to answer that question
00:01:39.820 | and 49 others.
00:01:42.960 | But here, just a few pointers.
00:01:44.960 | First, Sarah is right to care about both things,
00:01:49.960 | dreaming ministry and honoring God's pattern
00:01:53.760 | of how men and women relate to each other in all of life,
00:01:56.940 | both home and church and society.
00:02:01.140 | And she's right that the Bible is not as unclear
00:02:06.140 | as some people think it is on 1 Timothy 2.13.
00:02:10.620 | "I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority
00:02:13.980 | over men, rather she is to remain in quietness
00:02:18.540 | as she learns."
00:02:22.860 | Those two things, teach and exercise authority,
00:02:27.680 | are the very two things that distinguish an elder
00:02:30.660 | from a deacon.
00:02:31.980 | Elders are to exercise authority or govern,
00:02:35.100 | and elders are to be the authoritative teachers
00:02:37.360 | in the church.
00:02:38.200 | So what Paul seems to be saying here
00:02:40.340 | is that there should be male elders in the church.
00:02:45.340 | Not all teaching and not all authority are restricted
00:02:52.440 | from women in that verse.
00:02:55.960 | It's over men.
00:02:57.640 | There's a kind of authoritative teaching over men
00:03:02.480 | that is referred to there.
00:03:04.960 | And it compromises the way God has wired men and women
00:03:09.700 | when women, over time, become the authority
00:03:13.080 | in a man's spiritual life.
00:03:14.560 | I really believe that.
00:03:15.400 | I think that's why Paul put that there.
00:03:18.560 | It undermines something deep in both the man and the woman.
00:03:23.200 | But there are endless possibilities for ministry for women
00:03:27.480 | in this world that do not put them under
00:03:31.680 | or into that position.
00:03:33.520 | I wrote another little booklet called "What's the Difference?"
00:03:37.080 | And at the end of that booklet,
00:03:38.960 | I put 80 kinds of ministries just to give women examples
00:03:43.960 | of what kinds of things are open to them.
00:03:48.440 | Let me close with a story.
00:03:49.820 | As I have talked over the years in various places
00:03:54.200 | on manhood and womanhood issues,
00:03:57.680 | back in the '80s, I would get a lot more vicious,
00:04:02.680 | negative flack than I do today.
00:04:06.480 | And I can remember one young woman really angry at me
00:04:10.640 | saying, "How dare you call my calling
00:04:15.360 | "to ministry into question?"
00:04:18.200 | And instead of saying to her what I might have said,
00:04:22.760 | like, "I'm not calling it into question.
00:04:24.520 | "God is calling it into question," I didn't go there.
00:04:26.760 | I just said, "You know, it may be that you haven't
00:04:31.760 | "misheard the voice of God,
00:04:35.620 | "but that you've misapplied the voice that you heard."
00:04:41.920 | In other words, maybe God is saying to you,
00:04:46.320 | "Follow me, serve me, give your whole self to me.
00:04:50.420 | "I'm gonna use you mightily in my purposes on the earth
00:04:54.840 | "to glorify myself and to save sinners
00:04:57.140 | "and to build up saints.
00:04:58.140 | "I'm gonna use you for that."
00:05:00.120 | And then you maybe took it and spun that out
00:05:03.900 | in terms of, "Oh, I guess I'm supposed to be a pastor
00:05:07.340 | "and have authority over men in that role."
00:05:10.760 | And I just said, "Maybe not.
00:05:12.360 | "Maybe you've just misread the word."
00:05:16.200 | And then when they say,
00:05:20.020 | "Well, what are you saying we can do?"
00:05:22.840 | My answer is 75% of the seven billion people in the world,
00:05:27.840 | I just checked this to make sure this is a true statement,
00:05:34.400 | 75% of the seven billion people in the world
00:05:39.400 | are women or under the age of 15.
00:05:45.880 | They have limitless needs of every kind, right?
00:05:50.040 | Physical needs and education needs and spiritual needs
00:05:55.040 | and relational needs and parenting needs
00:05:58.440 | and needs for rescue and endless needs that they have.
00:06:03.000 | And my response is do anything you want.
00:06:06.960 | Care about them, care about them physically
00:06:10.640 | and especially eternally
00:06:13.120 | and minister in whatever way you can.
00:06:16.480 | - Yes, thank you, Pastor John.
00:06:17.840 | And once again, those books are titled
00:06:19.440 | "50 Crucial Questions About Manhood and Womanhood"
00:06:22.160 | and "What's the Difference?"
00:06:23.720 | And that long list of ministry opportunities for women
00:06:25.880 | can be found in an article Pastor John wrote
00:06:28.080 | titled "A Challenge to Women"
00:06:30.560 | published on January 1st, 1995.
00:06:33.000 | The two books and the article can be found free of charge
00:06:35.360 | at desiringgod.org,
00:06:37.560 | all because we have generous financial donors like you.
00:06:41.040 | So thank you.
00:06:42.400 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke.
00:06:43.440 | Thanks for listening to the Ask Pastor John podcast
00:06:45.560 | and have a wonderful weekend.
00:06:47.320 | (upbeat music)
00:06:49.920 | (upbeat music)
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