There are No Jew, No Greeks, etc...part 23

As a leader and as a woman, I can relate to those women who want a leadership role in the church. And because of various women that Paul names as being important in the Church, I don’t believe Paul didn’t want women to lead. I do believe he thought there is a time and a place for our leadership. Paul says in (I Corintians 4:6) not to go beyond that which is written. Then, as a woman, where there is a man they should be in authority in the church, and I am under him. He is my head, as Christ is his head. I am to be silent, not to cause controversy, but to submit and do as he wants within the spiritual bounds of what God tells alls of his people. Does that mean I cannot lead. By no means! Paul named several women in the house churches that were instrumental in the leadership of those churches with a man. But only because they understood what authority was. What this means is that there are different ways to lead, not just getting in front of people and saying, "Do this and do that" but also by example.

As far as submission goes, that has to do with little things. Does one church use instruments and another not? Will this keep one out of heaven? My question goes back to, what is the purpose behind such instrumentation? And why if one is in God’s family does one choose to pick a fight about something trivial and peripheral like using a piano or not? Satan doesn’t have to send demons to prevent me from accomplishing my task. I already have made my decision. If I chose to allow things on the periphery to cloud my view of what is truly important, then I forget to submit and to keep peace, to love my brother and sister enough to not war with them. Is using an instrument going to cause me to want to say that if I don’t use it I cannot display God? Do I assume that my instrument is better than the instrument God made in me? I really need to be introspective if I choose to do something that is controversial yet not essential to my salvation, because eventually it will infiltrate my salvation, it will affect my relationships with others and with God. I can say I love you to my brethren, but if I don’t demonstrate respect for them, how is that showing them love? If I say that I am not going to abide with the leadership even if I say I worship with them, how is that keeping divisions out of the church? My rebellion may be cute, may be in style with humans, but if my concentration is on what I want to do rather than obedience to what the authority wants me to do then I am not being respectful nor am I a particularly good example. Jesus pleads for unity. (John 10:16) He even says there’ll only be one fold because only those who listen to his voice and hear him will come to him. In order to hear that one voice I must be unified in him, a member of his body and I cannot be any more or any less important (Rom 12:4,8)

There are no Jews No Greeks, etc Part 22

The meat of the matter is unity in purpose. Am I prepared to be holy? (Rev 2:1) Am I prepared to act as one of His family, His daughter, part of the bride of Christ? (Gal 1:2) Am I prepared to remonstrate to Him, to respect Him, to show reverence to Him/ (Acts 9:31) Am I prepared to learn from Him during this time of community and communing with God, so that I then can be His witness, or do I use this time to demonstrate that I know this and that, and that my talent is this and that, and that I love God this much? If so, I am preaching to the choir. My family knows what I can do. If my lifestyle in the church is so that others will want to come in by seeing my testimony through my talents or through me speaking in what should be a time of worship, how is that showing Him that I know He knows best? How is that demonstrating to Him that I truly want to be His witness? (Acts 15:4) The Hebrews led by Joshua did some pretty stupid things, marching around Jericho 7 times, smashing jugs, blowing trumpets because the Lord told them too, not because it was going to win over those in Jericho. Our purpose is to demonstrate His power, not mine given by Him, but His power and that is beyond proving. His own Word proves Himself as true and trustworthy. (Rev 2:12) God is holy, Jesus is holy, I am to be holy and upright and to follow Him . (Rev 3:7). Jesus is God, holding the Spirit of God within Himself (Rev 3:1) and as God is, so Jesus is. (Rev 2:8) Jesus, and God and His Spirit, live forever and there is power in Jesus and God and His spirit. My goal during worship then is not to improve or to show others a new view of Christ, but to truly reverence Him. Show Him, demonstrate Him. Be like Him. And the way to be like Him is to submit to the authority of His Word and those who He anointed as leaders in the body of Christ I worship.

There are no Jews no Greeks, etc Part 21

The church also defines my relationship with God. In John 8:35, “Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.” Jesus explains that when I become His child, I am no longer a slave to my desires but am a child, entitled to His inheritance of Heaven. Along with my other brothers and sisters. In John 10:16, Jesus also says, “I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice and there will be one flock and one shepherd.” That means to me that I cannot choose my brothers, that my brothers are whoever believes in Christ. There is hope for all peoples of all countries and all distinctions and diversities. God loves them all and all are open to instruction. There are truly no women, no men, no I need help. I need help being the woman that God wants me to be, in the church, loving the brotherhood, because there are still some people I feel uncomfortable seeing in church, simply because we may not get along. I need God’s wisdom, and His love, and His conviction. I need Hezekiah’s attitude in Isaiah 37:15-20. “And Hezekiah prayed unto the Lord, saying, ‘O, LORD of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest between the cherubim, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: thou hast made heaven and earth. Incline thine ear, O LORD, and hear; open thine eyes, O LORD, and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent to reproach the living God. Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations, and their countries. And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them. Now therefore, O LORD ourks through His son. What of what Paul said about the make-up of His church in 1 Corinthians 12? Are there then prophets in the church? I have come to one conclusion. What does it matter, as long as I have all I need in God’s Word, which says that within the confines of that book is all I need to get by, is all I need to take hold of the treasure in heaven that waits if I follow through on my faith. If a person truly is a prophet, his gift will be able to be tested, as in the bible, and that person will reveal some divination about God, and he will truly be blest by God. Certainly the church was built on prophets, namely because there was no written code of God’s Word that I or anyone else now can refer to. A prophet is like a teacher with divine wisdom, and in that sense people calling Jesus a prophet are correct. But in the Word, is the living water. In the Word as Jesus says is the bread of life. There is only one head, if I follow Jesus, I am following that head. (Eph 1:22) And truth be told, if I am following Jesus, and have as living proof of His testimony (that is, His Word) why do I need a prophet to direct me to something I can read for myself? The bible in Hebrews 1 speaks of there being many prophets that divined about Christ prior to Christ and now there was just one. Yes, and that is His Word, because in His Word He is alive. When I live in His word and follow His Word, I am alive in Him. So are there prophets? God tells me not to squelch the Spirit. If someone can give me a piece of news that is not in God’s Word yet stands the trial of God’s Word that I am directed to do in Rom 12:2, then I will call that person a prophet of the Lord. Otherwise, he is nothing but a teacher of God’s Word.

There are no Jews, no Greeks, etc. Part 20

So many times I want my needs met by going to Church, but that is not the purpose. In Jeremiah 33:22, God says, “I will make the descendants of David my servant and the Levites who minister before me as countless as the stars of the sky and as measureless as the sand on the seashore.” This reiterates His covenant with Abraham and is a prediction of the Church, because the descendants of David and Levites are those of us who come to Christ and those of us who are it’s leaders and that I will be one of many that are innumerable. Enough to fill my needs without looking. And should I cry when I hurt/ Sure, why not? God wants us to be honest with Him. He knows that there will be times my needs go below the needs of others and for that His son tells me, in Luke 7:52, Jesus says, “They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to each other: ‘We played the flute for you and you didn’t dance; we sang a dirge, and you didn’t cry’.” This is a warning to have faith, and not be as the unbelieving leaders saying and refuting his claim that he was the Son of God no matter what and in a later passage gave the penalty for that lack of faith, that is, if they didn’t repent they could not inherit the kingdom. Not a rich resplendent jewel filled kingdom, but heart-felt loving peaceful kingdom that God was going to bring. My needs will be met, but I am not at church to see that they are met. I am at church to homage the One and Only Father, to please Him.