John spoke thi morning from John 12:23-36, a sermon he entitled ‘Lifted by Love, Attracted by Grace.’ Sin has broken the relationship man had originally with God and causes us to fear that relationship with God for which we were created, but through Jesus, we are drawn back into relationship with God. Sin and shame cause us to look down, unable to see God’s brilliance and glory, but God wants us to look up. He lifts us from our facedown position of shame to our knees in prayer and longs to lift us onto our feet so that we can become the people He made us to be.

Jesus told His disciples they are the light of the world (Matt 5:14) who are called to shine like stars in the universe. (Phil 2:12-16) The reason God has put us on our feet is so that we can emit and radiate God’s light, being effective, honest and constant lights in a dark world. Heb 4:14-16 tells us that we can only maintain this glow as we dwell in God’s presence. We are not called simply to be passive reflectors of God’s light, but to be light-emitting disciples.

A reflector on a bike is passive, simply reflecting any light that shines upon it:

LEDs (light-emitting diodes) are light sources which emit bright light when activated:

Jesus calls us not only to reflect His light, but to allow His light to shine through us so that we can each shine in such a way that people are drawn to Him and glorify God through our lives. We are called to work out our salvation, evaluating and discerning God’s individual plan for our lives so that we can reflect Him in all the different circumstances and experiences of life.

The wider question of the role of women in church leadership is beyond the scope of this blog: it’s a question that has been debated for centuries, and countless books and articles have been written on the subject. However, it is important to address such issues, for gender equality is indeed a major talking point in today’s society. It is hard for young people to understand the historical question of a patriarchal society; when we read passages such as 1 Timothy 2:11-15 in the 21^st century, we can come away with the idea that women are, in the words of Tom Wright, ‘second-class citizens at every level… not even allowed to dress prettily… daughters of Eve (and she was the original troublemaker)’ for whom ‘the best thing for them to do is to get on and have children, and to behave themselves and keep quiet.’ Such a view either feeds men’s view that they are superior in every way or causes women to seethe because they feel misrepresented on so many levels. It leads to impassioned debates and heated arguments, but does not necessarily help us to know what the Biblical position on gender differences and leadership really is.

A stereotype is ‘a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing.’ There are definite truths to be found in stereotypes, but just as we should all recognise that not all Englishmen wear suits, bowler hats and carry umbrellas or are lager-drinking football hooligans, not all Frenchmen wear striped jumpers and berets with a string of onions and garlic around their neck and not all Middle Eastern men with beards are terrorists, so we ought to put aside gender stereotypes to discover what the Bible actually has to say about gender differences.

Men and women were both created in God’s image (Gen 1:27), but there are fundamental biological and emotional differences between them. Paul recognises diversity within the church, talking about the church as a body made up of separate parts which nonetheless form a unified whole (1 Cor 12:12-31, Romans 12:4-8). Just as he has been keen to stress the need for a wide range of spiritual gifts in order to build up this vibrant organic body of Christ (Eph 4:1-16), we have to recognise that men and women possess different gifts and personalities which are all needed, but which are not identical. The typical stereotypes of macho men and simpering women or hen-pecked husbands and ‘women who wear the trousers’ are not enough to recognise the diversity and complexity of human beings.

It does seem that when Paul writes to Timothy in Ephesus, the emphasis there was on a female cult worship: ‘The Temple of Artemis (that’s her Greek name; the Romans called her Diana) was a massive structure which dominated the area; and, as befitted worshippers of a female deity, the priests were all women. They ruled the show and kept the men in their place.’ (Tom Wright) Such a philosophy, minus its religious overtones, may well seem typical of today’s Western society too. There is little surprise, then, that Paul should want to avoid Christianity following this path, which might explain his use of the idea that women should not teach or ‘assume authority’ over a man (1 Tim 2:12). ‘Paul is saying, like Jesus in Luke 10, that women must have the space and leisure to study and learn in their own way, not in order that they may muscle in and take over the leadership as in the Artemis-cult, but so that men and women alike can develop whatever gifts of learning, teaching and leadership God is giving them.’ (ibid.)

Both men and women have many different gifts. I believe the ministry of women is often significantly different to the ministry of men and that for all in leadership, it’s vital to understand the Jesus principle that ‘whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.’ (Mark 10:43-44) Diversity is really far more necessary than we often think, but nothing can ever supersede this principle of service. I believe the best leadership teams will include both men and women (because then the scope of service is greater) who will be willing to work together in humility and submission (Eph 5:21-24) with mutual respect.

Paul is often portrayed as a misogynistic leader, relegating women to a subservient role in the church (and society), a view largely based on 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 and 1 Timothy 2:11-12. Certainly, these verses can be taken to mean women should be seen and not heard, and have been used throughout history to justify a male-dominated view of leadership. However, it is difficult to see Paul as a miserable woman-hater when he takes pains to stress the unity and diversity of the church regardless of gender (see Gal 3:28-29) and to emphasise his affection and support for so many women in church life (Rom 16:1-5, Rom 16:6-7, Rom 16:12, 15).

Already in 1 Corinthians, we have seen that a literalist understanding of Scripture, whilst giving us an apparently easier role in terms of exegesis (interpreting the Scriptures), may not be the best approach (see the discussions on 1 Corinthians 8 & 11.) As John Stott comments, there is a need to distinguish between Biblical principles (which don’t change) and the cultural outworking of the principle (which may well change.) This is never easy, though the extremes are. It’s much easier to ban women from any form of leadership than to wrestle with apparent contradictions in the Bible. It’s much easier to adopt modern views of gender equality than to wrestle with Scriptures which affirm the differences between the genders and assert these differences to be God-given (and tampered with at great risk of harm to people.)

Whole books have been written on the question of women in ministry and church leadership; many denominations (including the Anglican church) have grappled with this subject for years. In terms of the passage in 1 Cor 14:34-35, however, there are several different views as to why Paul suddenly mentions the need for women to be silent in the middle of a discussion on spiritual gifts.

That the silence he mentions is not a blanket ban on women speaking in church at all is evident from the fact that he talks of women praying and prophesying in other parts of the Bible (see 1 Cor 11:2-11; 1 Cor 14:26). Female prophets are mentioned in the Old Testament (Huldah in 2 Kings 22 & 2 Chronicles 34; Deborah in Judges 4 & 5, Isaiah’s wife in Isaiah 8:3); we have already considered Philip’s four daughters who prophesied in the New Testament. (Acts 21:9) The notion, then, of total silence from women seems to be at odds with the normative practice of the church throughout history.

Some (e.g. Tom Wright, Lis Goddard) have argued that the silence required from women was because of their disruptive behaviour in church services (given that this comes in the context of church order during services and based on assumptions about the cultural behaviour of women in Corinth, for which there is some historical evidence.) Others (e.g. Wayne Grudem) believe that the silence required refers to the weighing or evaluating of prophecy (which should be left to the wisdom of male leaders). Whatever the conclusion about the specific cultural situation in Corinth, the principle we are left with is that church services should have order (since God is a God of order, not chaos) and that women need to learn submission (see also Ephesians 5:21-24) whilst acknowledging their valuable role in church life.

Paul concludes his advice on tongues, interpretation and prophecy (1 Corinthians 14:26-40) with some very practical advice. It seems that church services could be a little chaotic at Corinth, with everybody so eager to share that they were all talking at once! Paul advises order and give-and-take in these services. It’s good that everyone wants to participate, which is essential if the body is to be built up: ‘When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up.’ (1 Cor 14:26; see also Eph 5:18-20, Col 3:16) However, he urges limitations on messages such as tongues and interpretation and prophecies to two or three and asks that these be given one at a time, not simultaneously! (1 Cor 14:27, 30, 31). Moreover, there is never any sense that the speakers are in some kind of ecstasy which cannot be controlled: he advises the one who seeks to bring a message in tongues to be silent if there is no interpreter present (1 Cor 14:28) and reminds them that the spirit of prophets is subject to their control (1 Cor 14:32). Clearly, the God who brought the whole universe into existence out of chaos (see Gen 1) is a ‘God of peace, not of disorder’ (1 Cor 14:33). Everything should be done in a ‘fitting and orderly way’ (1 Cor 14:40), rather than services being a free-for-all which cause confusion and even fear.

It’s interesting to see that spiritual gifts – often viewed suspiciously and nervously by many because they are, by definition, beyond our rational understanding – are treated in a very practical and matter-of-fact way by Paul. There is something quite prosaic and pragmatic about his approach in this chapter. Casting Crowns talk of ‘reckless abandon wrapped in common sense’ (‘Somewhere In The Middle’), a phrase I believe captures something of Paul’s teaching in this chapter. The God who made us body, soul and spirit knows that every part of us can be used to serve Him. We pray with our minds and our spirits; understanding and reason have their place, but so do spiritual gifts! Getting the right balance is not always easy; hence the need to ‘weigh carefully’ what is said through the gifts of the Spirit (1 Cor 14:29). Michael Green suggests 7 criteria for judging the gift of prophecy:

(1) Does it glorify God rather than the speaker, church, or denomination?

(2) Does it accord with Scripture?

(3) Does it build up the church?

(4) Is it spoken in love?

(5) Does the speaker submit him- or herself to the judgment and consensus of others in spiritual humility?

(6) Is the speaker in control of him- or herself?

(7) Is there a reasonable amount of instruction, or does the message seem excessive in detail?

These questions again may seem very prosaic, but as we seek to grow in these gifts, we need to be aware that the God of peace will lead us in every step and help us to grow to maturity in ways that are not necessarily extravagant or outwardly ‘special’. Spiritual gifts are indeed supernatural revelation given to build up, encourage, strengthen and comfort the church, but that’s no reason to throw out common sense or reason either. Getting the balance is always the tricky part!

When I was a child, I was encouraged to ‘say grace’ before a meal, a short prayer of thanksgiving for the food on the table. I found this odd, as I could not see how God had provided the meal when I’d watched my father go shopping for the provisions and my mother cook the food. What did God have to do with that?!

Over time, I learned more about God’s provision, including how He gave my parents the strength to earn money to buy the food and the skill to prepare it, as well as being the source of all that we find in the earth. I learned to pray ‘give us today our daily bread’ (Matt 6:11) and about God’s provision of manna in the wilderness (Exodus 16).

One of my favourite stories of God’s provision is in 1 Kings 17, when Elijah, having predicted a great drought, sees God provide food and drink for him through the ravens and a widow at Zarephath. All she had was a little flour and a small jug of oil: not exactly a vast amount! But just as the boy who gave his loaves and fish to Jesus found that these could go much further than he had imagined, so too this widow found that the flour and oil lasted much longer than was humanly possible. Elijah prophesied to her “For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land” (1 Kings 17:14) and so she discovered that God’s provision could outlast her supplies!

A similar story is told in 2 Kings 4, when a woman is told by Elisha to get every jug and jar available from her neighbours and to pour her little jug of oil into all of them as a means of paying off her debts!

I find that these stories not only encourage me to trust God to provide for all my needs (Phil 4:19), but I am reminded that oil is often a symbol of the Holy Spirit. We are encouraged to pray for daily bread; the Israelites collected manna on a daily basis (except for the Sabbath), not being required to hoard food, but to trust God to supply it. In the same way, Paul urges us to keep on being filled by the Spirit (Eph 5:18). We need the oil of God’s Spirit every day, to anoint us, to equip us, to give us strength for the tasks ahead. We need fresh oil. It’s not enough to live on past blessings. Just as bread easily becomes stale and is then unfit to eat, so too our lives can become stale if we do not come before God every day for His infilling and refreshing. And just as I learned that it was God who helped my parents to put the food on our table, so too we need God to help us in the ‘everyday’ things, the ordinary, mundane things:  our ‘sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life.‘