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00:00 You know, but have you noticed this morning uh everybody up here except me was a
00:06 woman. And that was very deliberate. It was very deliberate to show you what our
00:11 sisters can do. But did I just contradict what Paul spoke in
00:17 Corinthians? So this is this is a text we're going to go through very difficult. No, this is the difficult
00:22 text and Peter brought it up some weeks ago. I wanted to recast this because it's a family life topic. Before we do
00:28 that, some advertising. So, Family Life is starting a new ministry called Grief Support. You can
00:35 contact Adeline. This is something we're working with, Glad Tidings Church. And
00:40 uh anyone of you who are struggling with uh loss of someone or you know someone
00:46 who is struggling with that, a spouse, a family member, do contact us. And we
00:53 want to come alongside you and support you. One thing FBC does is that we network with other churches besides
00:60 grief support. Yesterday parenting course went very well. Where is Gary and Mag? Where are they? They're somewhere
01:06 around here. Where are both of them? Ah, there they at the back here. Okay. They are they actually from Trinity Methodist
01:12 Church, but they have PR residences in FBC because they always here. So, we have granted them PR citizenship. And it
01:18 was great. I'd like to thank Brandon also. So, a parenting course uh has started. Anyone of you interested, you
01:25 can register for the next one. And we're going to start hopefully with the Chinese church a marriage course but for
01:32 Chinese and it will be done in Mandarin. That's something we also picking up. Those who require counseling, pastor
01:39 Joshua's available because my is going on long leave. You can talk to him. You're not sure about what he can
01:45 provide, you can talk to me. So that's enough advertising for today. Um a bit
01:50 of clarification. uh we have been talking a bit about the body of Christ and the differences of
01:56 them. Charismatics, evangelicals, Catholics and Protestants. So me, Peter
02:01 and Eden spoke. We wanted to clarify this a little bit. This is Susanna Cole as you all know her. She spoke for us.
02:08 And there's Arsh Bishop Julius. I I know him personally. He was my junior in my university. And he's Catholic. And I
02:16 want to tell you if there was anybody who came alongside Susanna Co in this difficult time was him and the Catholic
02:23 Church. Now what we're trying to say that we are not whether is pastor Leon or Sam we're not saying that we endorse
02:30 everything the Catholics do. In the same way we are not saying we endorse everything the Baptist do. I think both
02:37 speakers are trying to say the body of Christ is big. We shouldn't judge people by labels. So a little bit of
02:43 clarification right because we had a bit of queries for that. Okay. Subject matter today strong woman.
02:50 During my time she was considered a strong woman. I I remember we had girls in our group. I mean all all you young
02:58 people don't know her. She's an old woman by now right? But during my time she was a strong woman. And she knew
03:04 exactly what she wanted. I don't know whether she got what she wanted whether she's happy. But is that what a strong
03:09 woman is? How about men? What is a real man?
03:15 Let me tell you what a real man ish biblically. Now, all the if you are a
03:20 real man in the house, okay, I want you to turn to the woman next to you. Okay,
03:26 all the men in the house, just turn to woman next to you. Turn to woman and repeat after me. You say this. You say,
03:35 "You are a beauty queen from heaven." Can we do that?
03:41 All right. All right. So, all the men turn to the woman. I want to hear this loud. We haven't heard any male voices.
03:48 We we getting soprano the whole morning. All right. At a count of three, I want to hear the bass voices. You are a
03:55 beauty queen from heaven. This morning, we really going to go after a man. All right. One, two, three.
04:06 I think we really need to pray. That was very unconvincing.
04:14 This morning we're going to talk about a difficult topic and and in the church circles there is this debate uh going
04:19 on. I want to give you the two terms. We're talking about grace among charismatics, evangelicals, Protestants,
04:25 Catholics. I wanted to give you this term in case you're not aware of it. The first term is called complimentarianism.
04:33 And we will just come and tell you this a position FBC holds. All right. It is a
04:38 belief that the husband should be the spiritual head of the family and that husband and wife will have different and complete roles in their marriage. And
04:44 let me suggest this is echoed in the church because the family and the church mirror one another. Other churches
04:52 practice egalitarism. The belief that there are no separate gender roles in marriage and that
04:57 husband and wife will lead the family collaboratively. Now I want to stress again this morning, let us have grace
05:05 between those in our midst who believe in being e egalitarian and let's have
05:10 grace with those who believe it should be complimentarian because I've been doing doing a lot of reading. People get
05:15 very ungracious. They they they throw accusations and they they badmouth one another. But this is the topic we're
05:22 going to go about today because this has bearings in the church and the family. And there's an extreme you can go. If
05:29 you're too complimentarian, you basically become a chauvinist. The man decides everything. I wear the pen. If
05:37 you're too egalitarian, you become genderless. You become blended. Doesn't matter whether you're a man or a
05:43 woman, you can do everything. So there's a danger of going everywhere. So today we're going to look at this. We're going
05:49 to ask the question at the end of the service. What is the biblical definition
05:54 of a real man and a strong woman? You're only going to get to it at the end of it. So, you have to stay for the whole
05:59 sermon. All right. So, let's pray. Lord, we um come before you in this topic and
06:05 um and there's a lot of bearings for us in the church and what we do in the
06:11 church echoes what we do in the family. So, we ask for humility this morning,
06:17 especially for myself. I pray right now you humble me that I don't like to hear the sound of my voice coming out and in
06:24 this controversial topic right this divisive topic we ask for grace and perhaps some of the things I say this
06:30 morning people won't agree but let's discuss this in a gracious manner agreeing to disagreeing and everything
06:37 we do whether we whether we eat or drink or discuss about gender roles we do it
06:44 for the glory of you said it in Jesus name amen now I want to qualify find myself I'm whatever I'm going to say
06:49 this morning is my view only because this is a very very divisive topic. It's
06:55 not even FBC's official stand. I I and Peter has spoken about this. This is one
06:60 of the most divisive topics in the Bible. It's not so simple and Peter did the talk about it. I'm going to revisit
07:06 it from another angle but I want to clarify this is my view. So don't throw
07:11 the church. All right. Now number one I want to give you this text. This is the principal text Peter went through and I
07:17 I'm going I I added chapter 14 which he's going to go through later. Let me tell you why it's so difficult. Number
07:23 one few things. Uh the first few verses I highlighted the word hate. All right.
07:28 The problem with it the Greek word is called kalassi. It has two meanings. It either means headship authority
07:36 or it means source. And there's an equal debate about it. Why do they say source?
07:42 Because when you go to verse 12, it says, "For a woman came from man, man is also born a woman." Everything comes
07:48 from God. So the Greek word is disputed. That's one. And is equally disputed
07:53 among scholars. Number two, the perplexing verse is verse seven. Look at that. A man ought not to cover his head.
08:01 We're talking about veils this morning. Since he is the image and glory of God,
08:07 but woman is the glory of men. Huh? Why only man is the image and glory of
08:13 God? Why? Why not woman? So that's the other complexing verse. And this verse is this
08:21 is one of the key verses which a lot of especially in a complimentarian camp
08:26 cannot understand. Verse 10, for it is for this reason a woman ought to have authority overhead because of the
08:33 angels. Why? And the language used here for angel the Greek rendering actually
08:39 is very clearly messenger actually is the same rendering when you talk about Rahab uh the spies come to her so the
08:47 the context here is about sending a message sending a message to who and
08:53 then it's complicated at the very end because verse 14 from the veil which is what verse two and verse 6 is he
09:00 suddenly goes to hairstyles you know does not the very nature thing teach you a man has long hair is a disgrace to
09:06 him. They want charalot to all the guys with ponytails here. I used to have a tail. I'm guilty of this. But a woman
09:12 has long tails of glory. And then he says long hair is given to her as a covering. So is is the is it about the
09:18 veil or long hair. So there's a lot of confusion on that. Now added to the mix,
09:24 added to the complication is chapter 14 because verse five says every woman who
09:32 prays or prophesizer that means she is praying she's prophesizing. Look at verse four of chapter 14 verse4 woman
09:40 should remain silent. So isn't Paul contradicting himself in three chapters?
09:46 And let me just complicate it more. So look at that. He say if they want to inquire anything about something verse
09:52 35 they should ask their own husbands what if the woman is not married
09:58 it's very complicated anybody who tells you they got clarity I
10:04 suggest needs to work on their pride so we're going to unpeel this slowly because this has great bearings to us I
10:10 want to give you the context chapters 11 12 13 14 is about the church
10:17 worship service He begins in the first few verses here about men and women in
10:22 the church service symbol veil. He then continues about rich and poor people in
10:28 the church during the Lord's service symbol the Lord's supper that's how the text ties and then he goes to chapter 12
10:35 about gifts in the church and then 13 Sam gave a wonderful sermon last week
10:42 angers that you do everything in love meaning 112 is tied to 13 this entire
10:47 chapter is tied to 13 then he goes back to 14 about what prophecy and tongues
10:53 and he ends that with this verse So the whole thing is tied. So we are
10:58 talking about women in church. That is the context. So we're only going to give
11:04 two points. Women's rights, men's rights, Paul's views on rights. Number two, and this is the key thing, the
11:11 image of God or the Latin word is the imgo day and gender roles in the church.
11:18 Um Caroline sent me this and it's I thought
11:23 of picture that speaks a thousand words. Is Mario's home kids washing the chairs
11:31 in the church? Let me ask you a question. Is it their responsibility alone to wash
11:38 the chairs? No. Right? Let's just say one day the
11:44 church ran out of budget and the church says, "Okay, all you fine gentlemen and women here after service today, go and
11:51 wash the chairs." Do you think you should do it? Oh, that's not very convincing. Yes. Right.
11:58 Now, let me up the scales. Do you not think the elders should also wash the chairs? Of course, the elders should not
12:06 only wash a chair. They should wash it and not make a big deal about it. Did you say, "See, you look at me. I'm elder
12:12 washing the chair. You You should wash a chair and make sure nobody sees you."
12:18 Why? Because I have no right to say, "Hey, I elder." No, I don't do all this
12:23 washing toilet thing. That's the way of the world. Now, why am I telling you
12:28 this? Because we forget the previous chapters that ties to this. And it's
12:34 something that goes all the way back to chapter six. You see, Paul's thinking is tied. Chapter six, there's a lawsuit
12:40 going on. He tells the believers, give up your right to sue a brother for the
12:45 sake of others. And then in 8, 9, 10, he talks about rights. The first right is
12:52 the right to eat meat offered to idols. He says if you stumble someone else, give up that right. That's chapter 13.
12:59 That's love. Then he goes to chapter nine, rights of an apostle. He says, you
13:05 know what? Going to stumble you. I'm going to give up that right. Then he goes back to chapter 10. Food offered
13:11 the idols give up. Right? Now what is Paul saying? Paul is talking about a
13:18 Christian gives up his rights. You see, he's going from food offered to idols to
13:25 rights of apostles to gender differentiation. Because when you talk about gender roles is always about
13:32 rights, my right as a woman, my right as a man. And he uses this as the verse to
13:39 tie into the chapter. No one should seek their own good but the good of others.
13:45 And in this particular case, men, you should seek the good of women. Women,
13:51 you should seek the good of men. So when we see things like this in this debate
13:57 on pro-life and pro-choice, this is the ringing call of the pro-choice movement,
14:02 it's my right, my body.
14:09 You narrow-minded Christians are very patriarchal. You men are trying to control me. You know what Paul will say?
14:15 He says, "Yeah, you're right. You don't have a right over your body.
14:21 Your husband has." And all the women'sly people go and fight. Then he flips it.
14:27 He says, "In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own
14:33 body." So Paul will say what right? Women's rights, men's rights.
14:39 You have no rights. That is our fertile ground. Why do you
14:46 not have why you have no rights? Because the moment you talk about rights, you become God. You are God of your life. I
14:55 control my body, my destiny. I do what I want. I am king of my life. But the
15:02 Christian faith is about a savior who gave up his rights. who being very much
15:08 in the nature of God did not consider equality with God something to be grasped.
15:14 So that's our grounding. That's the gospel. And if you're not a Christian here
15:19 today, we encourage you to look at this from that perspective because in the end, it's not about men or women. We all
15:25 want to be gods in our lives. But Christ loved us so much. He died for
15:30 us so that he can be king of your life. And I'd like to encourage you to talk to
15:36 us about this. So here is the way we should approach this. All you husbands
15:42 give up your rights because you love your wife. All wives give up your rights
15:48 because you love your husbands. And this is much harder to do than in practice.
15:55 That's why today's talk is mainly about a church. I think one day if you feel right, we should do a talk about a
16:00 household, men and women in a household. That will take one hour. So I don't want to delve into this but that's our
16:06 background. Now here is the verse. You see when we see a picture of this and I
16:13 spoke to Zishan and if you may not notice some of our Pakistani sisters when they come to church they will put
16:18 on the veil because it's in their culture. So in Pakistan they call this the doty in Pakistan for every woman who
16:26 prays to prophesize where the head uncovers. They they they understand it.
16:31 I spoke to Zishan about it. Zishan knows his Bible to him. Yeah, you apply the verse. But to us today, if we apply to
16:38 FBC, we think no logic, what for one of a will
16:43 and this is a cultural issue. So let me talk tell you about this and and Peter talk a little bit of honor and shame. I
16:49 want to I want to go larger. It's called what we call a collectivism culture
16:55 where the culture of the society is very homogeneous and the expectations of
17:01 that. Um, let me just tell you the main context. The context is about maintaining gender distinctions in
17:09 culturally appropriate ways while ministering in a worship service. That's a mouthful, but that is really what the
17:15 text is. It's not about a home. It's not about gay issues or or or woman being
17:22 bossy or men leading. It's is really about that. And he says something which Peter
17:28 brought up which which I want us to reinforce. He gives this paral rule. Head of every man is Christ. Head of the
17:35 woman is man. The head of Christ is God. So this this parloral running is coming on. The man is the head of woman. God is
17:42 the head of Christ. And then he gives two cultural context. Verses four is about the veil. Verses 14 is about
17:49 hairstyles. Why? Because that's very much the context of Corinth. Let me give you an example of last week. There was
17:57 this incident about this Indian family who stole things from Bali. I don't know whe how many have seen the
18:03 video. It's quite funny. They stole everything
18:08 they could su. Now what was interesting was the
18:14 response from the Indian people in Indian TV called it national disgrace
18:22 because Indians has a collectivism culture. So when you
18:28 go to Bali and steal things, you represent India. You shame India. We're going to take
18:34 away your passport. That's Indians for you. Now Chinese, huh?
18:42 Chinese completely different. Chinese they they're very proud of it because
18:47 Chinese tourists are notorious about it. But my point is this. In certain cultures, what you do represents the
18:55 tribe or the family. So let me give you the difference in Korean culture is
18:60 collectivism. The first thing is honor shame tradition. What you do brings shame in particular to the father. No to
19:06 the father. Number two the roles of husband wife children are clearly defined. You cannot say you know what I
19:12 don't feel like walking. I'm going to go on a holiday for three years and then feel myself. They say hello your dad was
19:18 a farmer. You're a farmer. Period. No discussion. you know and it's patriarchal and in it is hierarchy.
19:26 There's a very strong hierarchy in Roman society. There's no such thing as equality.
19:32 Women cannot vote. Women uh cannot own property. And if a woman of a low class
19:39 tried to marry a man from a higher class, she has to be a concubine. Paul was a free citizen. They call it a
19:46 free man. And then they freed people, slaves to became free. You are secondass citizen. Roman society does not
19:53 acknowledge everybody's equal. No such thing. So when the church brings this up, there's neither male or female,
19:60 slave or you know freed man. It is completely radical because Roman society
20:07 is hierarchal. And the most critical thing is the dressing symbolizes the
20:13 culture is beyond the veil. And I'll show you some pictures later. Today in
20:18 western society, in westernized Malaysia, what you do has no bearing on your family. Your kid goes out of line.
20:24 They don't know that's the way they are. The roles of husband, wife, childrens are individual choices. You can be a
20:30 stay-home dad. Your mom and dad can work. You know, you can do what you want. It's about inclusive equality and
20:38 how you dress. You come to church, you got short hair, long hair, you got a ponytail, you wear jeans that it doesn't
20:44 bear. So this is why we have difficulty reading the text because it seems very alien to us. So give you example the
20:52 women wore what is known as a stala. Basically it was a ve they put on when they worship. If you're a highclass man
20:59 you wore a toga. If you're ordinary citizen you wear that. The dressing is very clearly defines your roles. And
21:07 have you noticed in the pata familia of the Roman family the father had absolute
21:12 power. So this is the context and the veil represented that. So the veil has two
21:20 meanings you know one it is about the the woman's place in society and it also
21:26 points towards the headship of the man. And here's one thing a lot of people miss. It points to the head of the
21:32 family as protector. So you got to keep that in mind. Now
21:39 he's appropriating a cultural tradition of time but modifying the symbolism to
21:44 Christian context. That's the key because Jews were doing it. I read up about the Talmud and the the Romans when
21:52 he when he went to the temple they did the same thing. So Paul is doing something he did in the book of Acts
21:57 when he came to the altar of the of to an unknown god. He's taking a culture of
22:02 that time but he's taking what is good taking off what is bad. He's bringing it
22:07 to the church and he's pointing it back to creation order. That's what a lot of people miss. So when you tie today,
22:15 tithe today, you can see a way float. Why? Because today women kick butt.
22:22 Women carry guns. Women are CEOs.
22:27 I mean a a woman in Rome and a woman today is completely different. But there
22:33 is a culture. And what is the culture of today? It is a culture of inclusivity.
22:40 Now, it's important to pick this up because I believe if Paul was alive today, he would have done the same
22:46 thing. Why? Because as in the Roman culture, certain parts of it was good.
22:51 He took it to the church and he modified it. There are things here which are very biblical. For example, there's a steal
22:57 from the movie Spider-Man. That's a you saw notice the woman with a veil.
23:03 That's the first time I seen a Hollywood movie where they put in a Muslim woman in the background. Have you noticed
23:08 that? It shows you how the world is shifting very heavily to inclusivity.
23:13 This is a photo from an education program America. Notice how it very carefully crafted. It includes handicap
23:20 people of many nationalities, people from men and women. Everything is placed
23:26 down there to show inclusivity, dwarves. So, so these are not things that are
23:32 bad. And the problem we have with the church is that we like to just throw everything out, but these are things the
23:38 church has to take in. Being inclusive is not bad. What is bad is when in being
23:44 inclusive goes all the way where it comes to this. And in Taiwan now, men
23:50 can wear skirts. They just passed a ruling. And it's getting ridiculous. That's getting
23:56 genderless. Now, hold the thought. I want to just break this down. So the veil has two symbols. The principal
24:02 symbol is the woman the glory of man. The secondary symbol is that it points to the man as the image of glory of God.
24:10 Keep this in mind because the head of woman is man and the head of Christ is God. And then Paul gives the proposition
24:17 in 8. He goes to Genesis. Man did not come for woman. Woman for man. Neither
24:22 was man created for woman but woman for man. Four. And so we take the first verse verse 18 because he God says not
24:30 good for men to be alone. I will make a helper. The NIV is terrible. The right word is help me.
24:37 It means equal but opposite complimentary. That's the first thing.
24:42 That's why woman for man and that's why woman the glory of man. But how then is God man the image and glory of God
24:49 alone? It comes from this earlier verse in verse chapter 1 verse 25. God created
24:55 mankind's own image. In the image of God, he created them male and female. So
25:00 let's recap a bit. Number one, men and women are equal. But there is a specific role for woman.
25:09 Man, man got an ego. He think he can be alone. He can't.
25:14 He needs a woman. He needs a help me. Like old song goes, it's a man's world,
25:20 but it's nothing without a woman. And why is that? because it points to God.
25:25 Because the head of Christ is God. So let me distill it down for you. Man, woman equal.
25:32 But where did this come from? It came from this. It came from the dance of the trinity as
25:38 Leon calls it. Because in the nature of God, in the image of God, this is the
25:44 image. The image of God is in God is father, son, holy spirit equal. But who
25:50 is the head? God the father. So you cannot not be complimentarian
25:55 because the image of God, the imo day of God is already in a hierarchy. Jesus is
26:02 equal with God but God is head. Now what does it mean? This I want to
26:07 see anybody knows this movie. This is very old movie. Any movie buffs know this movie?
26:13 Jerry Maguire. And what is the most famous line which is so biblical which
26:19 Jerry Maguire tells the woman you you
26:25 complete me. Men in the house turn to the woman next to you
26:31 and say you complete me. One 2 3
26:40 Lord. Come on guys. Let's do it again because it's biblical.
26:46 That's what help me is. You complete me. Let's try it again. Huh? I want to hear
26:51 the bass voice. One, two, three. Wow. Woo.
26:59 That's biblical. So, let me now take back the idea is image. That's what what God made. The
27:06 man led the woman. He went to the garden of Eden. He tried to open the durian
27:12 because ego like that like that. The woman say don't be so stupid like cut like that. Then the man climbed up the
27:18 Eden take the the pisang. Now the woman tell you hello we goring the thing we get goring pis. The man not very smart.
27:24 The woman helped but the man led. The man led and they had dominion over the
27:30 earth. The man tried to wrestle the animal. The woman tell me how don't be so stupid like that's a bull. Don't be
27:35 bullheaded. And then a serpent came to the woman and
27:42 she made a fatal flaw. The serpent offered her fruit. She's the
27:48 help meat. What's she supposed to do? She's supposed to go back to the man and
27:53 discuss. Suddenly she takes over the role of the man. She eats and then gives
28:00 it to the man. And then when the man is exposed, he relinquishes all his
28:05 responsibility. Say, "God, not my problem. The woman did it. You put her here with me."
28:12 And ever since then, men and women have been fighting.
28:17 That's the gospel for you. Very simple, huh? That's the gospel for you.
28:25 And so God brought in Christ. And by his death on the cross, he told
28:31 man, assume back your leadership and die for your wife. Ephesians, that's
28:39 your leadership role. You want her to submit, you die for her. And in church, you protect women.
28:46 And the cross, he tells women, I, son of God, submitted to the father, so you
28:53 submit to headship. And we are now reimaged back. That's it.
28:59 Someone over can go home. But there's there's the test. Now let's go for a bit of application. Now
29:05 here is the issue because Timothy 2 8:15. Let me just give
29:11 you a few minutes of this. He says this, a woman should learn quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to
29:17 teach or assume authority over men. She must be quiet. Now there's a huge debate into this. I want to I want to go into
29:22 the details. But what is the justification? Same thing. Adam was formed first then Eve. Adam was not
29:30 deceived. He was a woman. Paul is arguing from creation. So when you look at this text, what is
29:36 Paul arguing from? He's also arguing from creation. So here is the dilemma and I'm going to
29:42 give you my own view, not Peter's view. You see, the complimentarians have a problem. They argue Timothy as
29:50 universal. They argue Corinthian as cultural. That's contradictory. And I
29:56 read the article, some of the scholars, Bruce Merkel, all of that very unconvincing. Both arguments are from
30:02 Genesis. The egalitarian people are right. They are consistent. They are saying they are saying both are
30:08 cultural. Why? Because in the Timothy text, Paul says, "I do not permit." He doesn't use the word God. It's cultural.
30:15 The the egalitarian argument is right. It's both cultural. So, you have a deadlock.
30:20 What is the solution? So, Anolim says the solution is
30:26 the will.
30:31 And I suggest to you humbly the wheel has a place today. What we don't realize
30:39 is up to the 20th century the church veil and all major scholars Martin Lloyd
30:47 Jones RC Sprout Bruce Walke all support the veil.
30:52 In 19th century London women had some rights. They were not like in first
30:58 century Corinth they veiled. But after the war,
31:05 women dropped the veil for many reasons. Now I I tell you
31:11 why this makes sense. Because the veil is the only way you can understand the
31:16 angel because is a mark of authority. The angel comes to the church. He sees the woman with the veil. He sends a
31:23 message back to God. Woman has authority to pray and to prophesy. That's to me
31:28 that's the only way the text makes sense. Look at the first picture with a woman in a veil. Wow. To me, she comes
31:35 and she preaches. I recognize the headship of men. Now, I'm I'm treading on dangerous
31:40 territory here. So, bear with me a while. Huh? Because you are not asking us to build. No, bear with me. Tongu
31:48 sabah sabah. But I'm saying biblically that's the only thing that makes sense
31:53 for me. That's the only way that makes sense. The veil has a place in the church. Now I want to read you a
32:01 testimony of a woman. She she was from a reformed pisterian church. You know reformed pbbyarian very bible based on
32:07 you know she was in a church that didn't veil. She read scripture. She struggle with scripture and she veil and this is
32:14 what she said. She says do you struggle to feel what other people would think for covering your head? Most of us who
32:20 cover probably have when I first began to drape a scrub scarf over my hair in church I was petrified. Is a church
32:26 which doesn't do it. I was the only one while my husband and I were wholly convinced that this is
32:32 what scripture mandates were glad to follow it. My personality is there was someone who strongly dislikes sticking out doing anything that causes people to
32:38 notice. Would I lose friends repel potential friends be gossip about? What were others think? Would it think it would be legalistic doing this because I
32:45 believe it made me bet in God's eyes? Would they think that I send in judgment of women who didn't cover as I did? Neither of this was true and I thought
32:52 all of it made me sick to the stomach. And here's the key thing. The one thing that sustained me through this question
32:57 is to rest my eyes on the savior and to do it for the love of him. Here's a woman to study scripture. was in a
33:03 church that doesn't ve will came to a conscience decisions that the veil method and she came to church and she ve
33:10 so here's my view tomorrow next Sunday you come to church you will veil personally we should not stumble you
33:17 because this is a woman who studied scripture but let me let me tell you what I think
33:23 is the most powerful motivation for the will and and this thing I really grappled with and and and I will tell
33:29 you very few scholars teach this and I particularly for Malaysia. Now, here's
33:35 another girl called Angela Dea. I've been reading the testimonies. No, and she tied Corinthians 11-13. She she tied
33:43 it to the love of others, which is biblically very true. But I want to I want to make a point. You look at the
33:50 head scarf, doesn't it remind you of something?
33:58 Doesn't it remind you of the way another culture wills? It does. Right
34:06 now, I will tell you this. If I'm a woman of that culture and I've been wearing that veil for a long time and it
34:12 was a sign of subjugation and I was I came to a church where I saw
34:19 a woman with a veil, hair was exposed, but it was a sign of liberation.
34:26 What did the church just do? The church just built a bridge for evangelism.
34:32 To me, that is the most powerful reason why we should not second guessess the
34:37 veil. And there was a I won't mention it, but you know that documentary from
34:43 the word where it came from, it came from a very deeply steep people in that religion. And they described the angel
34:50 deer described to the serenity and the liberation she feels by wearing a head garment and the negativity receptor
34:57 tells a tale the sense of unity of veil brings to her and other women. I'm not going to mention it despite differing of
35:04 religions the covering of heads bring together different women from different cultures and societies as well liberating them. What I'm trying to tell
35:10 you that it's a talking point. One day all of us will go before God
35:17 and God will ask us did we minister to certain cultures and I posit to you the
35:23 veil in the church is a very powerful symbol to connect to this culture.
35:30 That's why this anal view and is a view I struggled with. I read many times. So
35:38 disclaimer hey what are the teaching today next Sunday all come reveal confuser
35:44 I'm not saying that I'm saying we need to have symbols
35:51 or if there's no symbols we need to really remember the mandate of creation
35:57 and the mandate of creation is women you complete men
36:03 you protect women to the point of laying down your life. If every household did
36:09 that, there will be less divorces. But let's today go on church. The
36:14 household I'll do another sermon. So let me tell you about the glory of men. You
36:20 see to some people that's the glory of man. That's a terrible picture. Is actually a dirty old man. Dirty old man
36:29 and with a young chick. So if a guy says, "Wow, wow, you got hot girl." That is not the glory. You know it's a
36:36 terrible depiction of woman being the glory of men. A better picture is this.
36:41 The woman is the crown. The crown is beautiful. But when she
36:47 puts it on the head of a very balding ugly man, she completes him.
36:54 Amen. Amen. So women here are the crown. All us
36:60 losing our hair. You put on me, you complete me. Hallelujah. That's the
37:06 sermon for today. You are the help me in ABC. And that's why today we had a lot of help me coming
37:12 up. And so here's a roll call of the things we need women to do in FBC.
37:18 And look at this morning. Prayer warrior Moren worship service announcer Leeling. And
37:25 you don't realize our some of the best Bible study teachers in the church are women.
37:31 Ask Phelis Pearly, they all do the Bible study questions. In fact, that's the best example. Help me because I preach
37:38 tomorrow. No need to do Bible study questions. Woohoo. Why? Because Pearly would do it for me.
37:46 Phyis would do. She's my help me. Missionaries, Perry, you know, and I
37:52 tell you women when they do this, they bring a certain grace. On Friday, Perry led Bible study and she brought us
37:57 through what is known as electto deina. I tell you a man cannot do it. He was so gracious
38:03 Caroline doing alpha. You see women are refined. Men are very to one you know.
38:09 So a woman comes and she does thing one way looking men pay the big picture. The
38:14 woman fills in the details. So this morning we call all women come forward
38:19 and serve ABC because the harvest is plentiful and the workers are few. Okay. Now all
38:26 the men are saying yeah we lead. All right. And all the alpha m going women summit was so difficult.
38:33 H you forget one word man. You're not leader only. No you are servant leader.
38:39 Before you forget you are servant leader.
38:44 Now here's the question. The servant leader points to Christ. He lays down
38:50 his life for the flock and he protects women.
38:55 So I'll ask you now. Let me take it a bit more serious. If a woman is a victim of domestic violence, where a safe place
39:02 she can shelter, the right word is church.
39:08 You think so? If a woman is a victim of domestic violence, who can she seek comfort from?
39:15 The right word is elder or pastor.
39:20 You think so? I will tell you the evangelical church
39:27 has been a colossal failure in this area. This is the president of the
39:33 southwestern Baptist seminary, you know, and I went through an entire story in her counseling. There's a recording of
39:40 him counseling a woman and telling the woman, "You need to submit. Go back to your husband." And the recording shows
39:45 it because the woman got the recording. She says, "Get ready. He's going to get violent with you." that that is
39:52 completely unbiblical. And here's the problem with men. We have taken the submission
39:58 thing out of context and forgetting our roles as protectors in this. And that's
40:04 why the movements like church to silence is not spiritual. This is this is the
40:09 shame of the spiritual church because this comes out of a secular movement called me too. The world is leading the
40:15 church. That's the shame of the church because men have absounded the responsibility to protect women.
40:23 I will say this to you and in Asian culture is worse. You know why? Because Asian culture there's a culture of
40:29 shame. You don't bring it up. In his book, Angry Men and the Women Who Love Them, Paul Hisgram says this. Many times
40:37 in the church, submission is held over the heads of women by men who are emotionally manipulative, abusive in
40:44 order to get their way and maintain power and control. So I I want to say a message to men
40:51 and maybe I'm going to take this to the household. You want a better marriage and and and this talks to me. You want a You want a
40:58 better marriage? You make sure your wife knows you are prepared to die for her.
41:04 And before your ego says, "Yeah, of course willing to die." Hello. Before
41:09 you say you can die, give up your rights for your life. Give up your TV rights.
41:15 Give up your golf rights. Give up your all your rights. Then your wife will be convinced you will die for
41:22 me. Either that or talk. Now I speaking to myself also. Huh? So
41:27 men protect. You see the statistics for domestic violence in Malaysia is going
41:33 up and the church has to shine for Jesus in this area. This is the great
41:38 commission. We need real men to lead the church in the following way. One, protect women for domestic violence.
41:44 Two, uphold single mothers and fathers. Three, exalt singles. Give back dignity
41:50 to divorces. Men should lead this. Your leaders have a lifestyle at home that demonstrate the willing to die for their
41:55 wives. All wives today you go back it says honor to you today no TV no golf
42:02 die to we serve it anyway the church where you see the need and not get intimidated your wife knows the Bible
42:08 better that's very important please highlight that so these are little things we do
42:16 so let me end with this what is a real man what is a strong woman
42:23 I suggest to Do why does scripture not give a clear definition?
42:29 Because the Bible is not interested in independence. The real word is real men
42:36 love strong women. Piper say this when men are women are
42:41 together in the church more of God's glory shown that it will be all in
42:46 little silos of individuality. What's a real man? What's a strong woman
42:53 is when they are interdependent on one another. Not overly dependent and
42:59 not independent. Interdependent and complimenting one another. Let's pray
43:06 and we ask the worship team to come up. Lord, we we thank you this morning. It's a difficult topic. We ask that you speak
43:13 to us, oh Lord. speak to all the men here that we
43:18 reclaim back our roles as protector of women.
43:25 For those of us who are married, remind us it is our responsibility to
43:30 demonstrate to our wives we are willing to die for them. And when we do that, we
43:36 pave the way easier for our wives to submit to us out of reverence and fear.
43:43 for women. I want to just say this, especially in
43:48 evangelical church, many ways you subjugate yourself.
43:54 You're a help me. You complete men. And I like to say this morning, the
43:60 church is calling you, calling you to demonstrate that.
44:06 And Lord, we ask that we learn to grapple with the issue of symbols.
44:14 Do we need a symbol in this church or constant reminder to remind ourselves of the headship of men
44:21 and how women come alongside to compliment? Let us go through these issues, oh Lord,
44:28 in reverence and fear. And Lord, if some women do decide to veil, let us not mock
44:35 them, let us demonstrate an ability to work with everybody's conscience.
44:42 And for people who don't want to veil, let us not judge them, but let us always constantly remind
44:48 ourselves we are re-imaged back to you through the work of Christ. And we say
44:54 this in Jesus name. Amen. We're going to we're going to close with this song. And hey, suddenly got men up here. one man.
45:01 So we're going to sing this song. Hey, another man. Why? Because we are interdependent.
45:08 Ah, so we got strong women and two real men. So I'm going to invite all the real
45:13 men and strong women to come to stand up as we sing this song. What we going to do is the first verse, the women are
45:20 going to sing. You're going to show the man how we
