I have already written a post about women's role in the church. If you would like to see it, or refresh yourself, it was posted July 3. 2015. Go over to the right sidebar and click on July 2015, then scroll down. You will have to click on "Previous" at the bottom two separate times before you arrive at "The One Question I Always Get."
But something else came to me in the past couple of weeks as I mulled this over when the question came up yet again. Women are the ones who always question the limitations God has placed on them. I find that odd because God has placed limitations on a whole lot of other people too.
Bachelors are not allowed to be either elders or deacons. Camp awhile in 1 Timothy and Titus and tell me which of the qualifications a bachelor cannot have as well as a married man except being the husband of one wife and ruling his house well.
A godly couple who have no children are not allowed to serve this way either, no matter how many other of the qualifications they meet.
Only apostles were allowed to pass on miraculous spiritual gifts. Even a godly man like Philip the evangelist, who had also been chosen one of the first deacons, was not allowed to do so. (Acts 8:14-24)
A man who has been given the spiritual gift of tongue-speaking is also limited. This is a man filled with the Holy Spirit, yet if there is no one who can interpret his tongue he is told in 1 Cor 14:28 to sit down and be quiet!
God has always placed limitations upon people. Under the Old Covenant, you could not be a priest if you were not from the tribe of Levi, and not only that, but also from the family of Aaron within that tribe. That left a lot of people out, and some of them took issue with it. Korah and Dathan and Abiram complained, saying they were just as good as those God had chosen for the priesthood. Listen to Moses' reaction:
Moses also told Korah, “Now listen, Levites! Isn’t it enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the Israelite community to bring you near to Himself, to perform the work at the LORD’s tabernacle, and to stand before the community to minister to them? He has brought you near, and all your fellow Levites who are with you, but you are seeking the priesthood as well. Therefore, it is you and all your followers who have conspired against the LORD! As for Aaron, who is he that you should complain about him? ” Num 16:8-11
May I just paraphrase a little? Ladies, isn't it enough that God has separated you from the world to bring you near to him as his children, able to be a part of his church at all, and given you the hope of salvation? Yet you will stand up and conspire against the Lord? It isn't men you are complaining about, any more than it was Moses back then—it is God.
Look at the rest of the story: Then Moses said, “This is how you will know that the LORD sent me to do all these things and that it was not of my own will: If these men die naturally as all people would, and suffer the fate of all, then the LORD has not sent me But if the LORD brings about something unprecedented, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them along with all that belongs to them so that they go down alive into Sheol, then you will know that these men have despised the LORD. ”Just as he finished speaking all these words, the ground beneath them split open. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households, all Korah’s people, and all their possessions. They went down alive into Sheol with all that belonged to them. The earth closed over them, and they vanished from the assembly. At their cries, all the people of Israel who were around them fled because they thought, “The earth may swallow us too! ”Fire also came out from the LORD and consumed the 250 men who were presenting the incense. Num 16:28-35
God says the complaining of those men was sin (Num 16:26). Moses said their complaining indicated an attitude of ingratitude, and one that scorned the very service they had been called to do as Levites. Do I want to be party to that?
God does place limits on certain groups of people—not just women. It is his right as our Creator to do so. After reviewing this event from the Old Covenant, if I have ever complained before, be sure that I will never do it again.
Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe ,for our God is a consuming fire. Heb 12:28-29
Dene Ward
But something else came to me in the past couple of weeks as I mulled this over when the question came up yet again. Women are the ones who always question the limitations God has placed on them. I find that odd because God has placed limitations on a whole lot of other people too.
Bachelors are not allowed to be either elders or deacons. Camp awhile in 1 Timothy and Titus and tell me which of the qualifications a bachelor cannot have as well as a married man except being the husband of one wife and ruling his house well.
A godly couple who have no children are not allowed to serve this way either, no matter how many other of the qualifications they meet.
Only apostles were allowed to pass on miraculous spiritual gifts. Even a godly man like Philip the evangelist, who had also been chosen one of the first deacons, was not allowed to do so. (Acts 8:14-24)
A man who has been given the spiritual gift of tongue-speaking is also limited. This is a man filled with the Holy Spirit, yet if there is no one who can interpret his tongue he is told in 1 Cor 14:28 to sit down and be quiet!
God has always placed limitations upon people. Under the Old Covenant, you could not be a priest if you were not from the tribe of Levi, and not only that, but also from the family of Aaron within that tribe. That left a lot of people out, and some of them took issue with it. Korah and Dathan and Abiram complained, saying they were just as good as those God had chosen for the priesthood. Listen to Moses' reaction:
Moses also told Korah, “Now listen, Levites! Isn’t it enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the Israelite community to bring you near to Himself, to perform the work at the LORD’s tabernacle, and to stand before the community to minister to them? He has brought you near, and all your fellow Levites who are with you, but you are seeking the priesthood as well. Therefore, it is you and all your followers who have conspired against the LORD! As for Aaron, who is he that you should complain about him? ” Num 16:8-11
May I just paraphrase a little? Ladies, isn't it enough that God has separated you from the world to bring you near to him as his children, able to be a part of his church at all, and given you the hope of salvation? Yet you will stand up and conspire against the Lord? It isn't men you are complaining about, any more than it was Moses back then—it is God.
Look at the rest of the story: Then Moses said, “This is how you will know that the LORD sent me to do all these things and that it was not of my own will: If these men die naturally as all people would, and suffer the fate of all, then the LORD has not sent me But if the LORD brings about something unprecedented, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them along with all that belongs to them so that they go down alive into Sheol, then you will know that these men have despised the LORD. ”Just as he finished speaking all these words, the ground beneath them split open. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households, all Korah’s people, and all their possessions. They went down alive into Sheol with all that belonged to them. The earth closed over them, and they vanished from the assembly. At their cries, all the people of Israel who were around them fled because they thought, “The earth may swallow us too! ”Fire also came out from the LORD and consumed the 250 men who were presenting the incense. Num 16:28-35
God says the complaining of those men was sin (Num 16:26). Moses said their complaining indicated an attitude of ingratitude, and one that scorned the very service they had been called to do as Levites. Do I want to be party to that?
God does place limits on certain groups of people—not just women. It is his right as our Creator to do so. After reviewing this event from the Old Covenant, if I have ever complained before, be sure that I will never do it again.
Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe ,for our God is a consuming fire. Heb 12:28-29
Dene Ward
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