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00:02 Okay, today we're going to be dealing the with the first of probably three
00:07 passages where we'll deal with the contentious issue of men and women in
00:14 society. This is chapter 11 and then there is uh chapter 14 and then we'll
00:19 probably add another sermon in one Timothy chapter 2 so that we'll be able to define relationships between men and
00:26 women. Now, if you're looking at the topic today, let's uh before we start, let's have a word of prayer. Lord, we
00:31 ask that you speak to us this morning, help us understand it what it means uh
00:37 to live under submission of your will, how to express proper reverence for
00:44 gender distinctions and gender equality in our lives. We ask for Jesus. Amen.
00:49 Right. So issue is head veils today and uh the 116 Congress of the United States
00:57 overturned 181-year rule recently and allowed women for the first time to have
01:03 a headdress in Congress. If I looked around, is this sermon going to be
01:08 relevant to today? I can see no relevance at all. I only see one lady
01:14 calls me Melody and she's wearing a hat. So bottom line at the end of this sermon
01:23 you see the the pre I thought the conclusion was quite obvious because the conclusion the beginning and the end is
01:29 the same and the first people first service tell me but you never gave conclusion. Look you don't have to wear
01:34 head veils okay as I give you the conclusion but I need to show you how we get there theologically. All right. So,
01:42 head veils uh uh or head coveries controversial um in their time and also
01:47 now in certain societies. In fact, there are about uh some churches are wanting to bring them back. Not First Baptist.
01:54 Okay. Uh a veil accentuates natural beauty of a woman. Some women pray better that way. It feels all right.
02:01 Veils are like sacred tabernacles, a mysterious kind of thing. So, we want to bring them back. um in certain other
02:08 societies a symbol of male domination extremism. So more you see one of that
02:14 you know freaks some people out and some people think it's great. Uh so it's controversial and if you look into the
02:19 Corinthian society here you have a society where women
02:25 are seen and not heard. They hide in the back rooms of the house. When they get
02:31 out into the public they are always accompanied by a male chaperone. they do not drive their Honda Civic alone. Okay?
02:39 If you go to Saudi Arabia, they don't drive even they don't even drive there. So, it's a very patriarchal society
02:46 where women are, you know, in some commentators say the women's rank is slightly above the pig. All right? So,
02:52 they're actually suppressed. Now when they become Christians, there's a new
02:57 found freedom when they throw off the shackles of male domination and patriarchy and suddenly they can come to
03:05 church and they're like praying in public, sharing or prophesying in public
03:12 or letting their hair down. And half of you here, if you were to be in Greek society, half of you here will be
03:19 considered prostitutes. Why? Because your hair is down. Look, look, look, look, look. Okay, proper
03:26 women don't wear hair like like like this. They always are covered. All
03:32 right. So, is it in that context that we we have to understand that we take this uh today? Now, today, you know, you can
03:39 wear your hair whatever you like. Nobody thinks you're a prostitute and nobody thinks it's abnormal. So, in that sense,
03:45 the actual culture is transcended. But what I want to do is get to the actual
03:50 meaning of the text in terms of what it has to say about men and women. Now, there are five arguments Paul brings
03:56 out. Let me read to you. I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain traditions even as I've delivered them to you. I want you to
04:02 understand that the head of every man is Christ. The head of a wife is a husband. Head of Christ is God. And everyone who
04:10 prays, every man who prays or prophesies with head covered dishonors his head. But every woman who prays or prophesies
04:16 with her head uncovered dishonors her head. So this is the same as if her head
04:22 was shaven. Now here the idea is actually headship of men and over women.
04:31 Okay, this whole idea of headship is not really about the head veils. It's deeper than that. There are gender distinctions
04:37 which is basically based on headship which is exemplified or symbolized by the covering. Now if you read the text
04:45 you might like most people have in past interpreted well he's giving you hierarchy law God
04:51 man woman woman bottom of the ladder just above the pig right okay that's what they think but if you actually look
04:58 at the text a little bit closely you'll find that I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ head of
05:03 wife is husband head of the of of of Christ is God so they're basically pairs
05:09 man submits to Christ woman the head of man, a man is the head
05:14 of woman and God is the head of Christ as it were. So there are actually four pairs and what he's doing is
05:20 differentiating the pairs, separating them and he's also basically uh uh
05:26 ordering the pairs. Okay. Now the the interpretation of kafale kafale is Greek
05:32 for head. Three different types of interpretation. People scholars argue
05:38 about it all the time. Traditionally, it's been the head means authority, supremacy or leadership. Others more
05:44 egalitarian will translate this as source like a source of a river. And thirdly,
05:50 uh Anthony is large commentary says it's preeminence. They each have some
05:55 evidence in Greek literature. But the point is not whether is authority, supremacy, source, or preeminence. It's
06:03 what's the bottom line? Bottom line, there is some degree of subjection because Ephesians 5:21, submitting to
06:09 one another out of reverence of Christ. And if you look at household codes in the New Testament, whenever Paul writes
06:15 about it, he talks about submission, but it's wives submitting husbands, children
06:21 to their parents, bond servants to their masters is all in one direction. You don't see submit to one another in
06:27 Christ and then they toalate the the the master will submit to the slave and the man to the woman. No, it doesn't go that
06:33 way. So whatever you call it, whether it's a head, whether it's the source, or whether it's preeminence, the bottom
06:39 line is how does this actually work out uh in the couple's relationship. Now
06:44 this idea of headship is dishonored by men's hairstyles. You know, uh
06:51 hairstyles matter in those today. I think whatever you come got hair, no hair, long hair, short hair, colorful
06:57 hair, nobody cares. But in those days is important. Every man who prays or prophesies ahead covered dishonor his
07:03 head. Does nature not teach you that if a man wears long hair is a disgrace for disgrace for him? So which means if you
07:10 come looking like this or like this shame
07:15 that's why my fellow elder used to hide his ponytail, right? Whenever he preach he would just tuck it in so he won't
07:21 stumble you so that Alex and the rest won't come and grow long hair too. All right. So this is shameful in that
07:28 society. Okay, in this society, nobody really cares. This is honorable. If you look at a picture, this is Alexander the
07:34 Great. Short hair, nice crew cut kind of thing, right? Headship is dishonored by
07:39 women's hairstyles, too. You see, if if a wife prays or prophesy head uncovered,
07:44 dishonors her head. This is the same as if her head was unshaven was shaven. For if the wife will not cover her head, she
07:50 then should cut her hair short. But since it's disgraceful for a wife to cut her head short or shave her head, let
07:55 her cover her head. So, which means for a woman, if you look like any of these three women, it would be extremely
08:02 shameful if you walk into church, it's all down like a prostitute or you have Anne Heatherway or what's her name? I
08:09 can't remember. Natalie Portman, it's all bald. So, all
08:15 these in Greek society would be shameful and you wouldn't be able to come in church without us having a word with you
08:21 about that. What is honorable in Greek society women is like this. You can look all the British Museum antiquities. You
08:27 look at the Greek culture, you will go and see most women have the hair up. Okay? Never down. Uh and always in a bun
08:35 or with some sort of covering like this. All right? So just gender differentiation and distinctions are
08:42 then shown uh display honor or shame. So if you are short-head man or woman to
08:49 the veil, it is honorable. If you have any of the other variations below, it is
08:54 shameful. So therefore Paul frowns upon you if you wear any of these things
08:60 there. The second argument is argument from created order. A man ought not to cover his head since the image and glory
09:08 of God but a woman's the glory of man. Woman was not made from man was not made from woman but a woman from a man.
09:15 Neither was a man created for a woman but a woman for a man. That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority
09:21 on her head and comma because of the angel. So here is argument from created
09:26 order. When men and women were created in Genesis chapter 127, both of them
09:33 reflected the image of God. But if you look in chapter 2, there is a micro
09:39 dection of the way creation was done. And it was when the Lord said, "It's not
09:44 good for that man should be alone. I will make a helper fit for him." And so the Lord caused a deep sleep to fall
09:50 upon the man. and he slept and took his ribs and closed it in his place with flesh and the rip that the Lord had taken from the man he made into woman
09:56 and brought her to him. So actually here if you see very carefully it was not an
10:02 ideal situation for this to be very good. It has to be a man and a woman and
10:07 a woman was created to basically to basically help a man. So therefore it's
10:12 from that design specification. So if you look at old man like this with no
10:17 hair, spectacles, can hardly see, 90 year old, ugly. So he has to marry
10:23 somebody like this. Makes him look good. The glory of a man is what? A woman. A
10:29 woman makes a man look good. Or some old ugly guy from Italy and his wife has to
10:35 be like this, right? Okay. Or you look at everybody else here. Salman Rush Di
10:42 uh uh the the husband of what's her name, huh? The singer. Yeah. Sen Deion, you
10:49 know. So the men look great, don't they? Wives are to bring glory to the man.
10:55 Unless you're uh this wife, then there is our problem. Isn't there
11:03 marry the wrong wife or the uh big problem? Okay, you know why? Because proverbs say an excellent wife is a
11:10 crown for her husband. But she who brings shame is a rottness to his bones.
11:16 So if you're greedy and you steal money and you you subjugate people, you bring
11:22 shame to his bones. So instead, so Ben Merkel concludes Paul appeals to
11:27 creation to demonstrate differences between men and women that God established from the beginning. Violating these distinctions brings
11:33 shame instead of glory. Third one is argument from angels. The wife should have a symbol authority which is the
11:39 veil on her head because of the angels. Now commentators are all split as what
11:45 angels apparently angels must be involved when you worship. So when your worship team is singing you know they
11:51 all sound very good because somebody at the background adding to the augmenting the sound maybe I don't know the three
11:57 possible interpretations maybe priests. Some believe they're horny priests because they look at the women if
12:02 they're not covered they get very horny. uh or horny angels or holy or guardian
12:08 angels. We don't know. Um uh really third one is argument from nature. Does
12:13 natur not teach not nature teach you that if a man wears long hair is disgraceful for him but if a woman has
12:19 long hair it's her glory for her hair is given to her as a covering. So this is argument for from from the nature. When
12:26 God created men they have shorter hair than women. Women have longer hair. It's
12:32 for their glory. So this when you actually reverse the roles you're dis removing gender distinctions which
12:38 brings shame to God's church. Lastly is argument from practice. If anyone is inclined to be contentious we have no
12:44 practice nor do the churches of God which means all the churches practice the same thing. Women come in they
12:51 observe the decorum they wear head veils and the men do not. So let's come to
12:56 application. What Paul advocates? Paul advocates two
13:02 things. One, gender distinctions and one the other one is gender equality. We'll
13:08 deal with gender distinctions first. President Jimmy Carter nine years ago,
13:14 the Parliament of World Religions actually wrote, okay, belief that women
13:19 are inferior human beings in the eyes of God gives excuses to the brutal husband who beats his wife, the soldier who
13:26 rapes a woman, the employer who has a lower pay scale for women employees, or
13:31 parents who decide to abort a female embryo. So gender differences whenever we talk about gender distinctions is
13:38 always conceptualized as inequality and domination and in fact President Carter
13:44 said religion is one of the basic causes of the violation of women's rights. So they they say you know is the Bible I b
13:52 blame the Bible but actually you shouldn't blame the Bible because you look at what the Bible says. The Lord
13:57 said it is not good for a man to be alone. I will make a helper fit for him.
14:03 The Hebrew word is a helper who is corresponding to him. Not the same, but
14:09 it's like a lock and key. They're complimentary to him. That's what it means. So therefore, if he's she's going
14:14 to be complimentary to him or it's like a a key fitting a lock basically, they are going to have different
14:20 characteristics. Okay. Now, gender distinctions are therefore designed by God and rail and
14:27 not as a result of the fall. God created Adam and Eve, not Ev Adam and Steve.
14:35 Okay. Now, uh Carol Gilligan, a professor of psychology, NYU, actually
14:40 looked at the psychology of males and females, and you find that naturally females uh tend to exhibit
14:48 characteristics that would foster interdependence. They're very collaborative where women work together.
14:54 They always work together with other people. Very collaborative. Men, however, because they think they're superman, the men always want to be
15:01 independent. That's what they like. And if you look at male and female leadership styles, feminine, the
15:06 inclusive and relationship building, masculine, competitive, individualistic,
15:12 masculine mindset, females show vulnerability to build authentic trust
15:18 and respect. Men invulnerability. Men can do no wrong. Okay, some are husbands
15:24 like that, right? including myself. Okay. Empathy. Women can say, "Oh, so
15:30 sad." They can empathize with you. Men, no empathy. We are all Superman. Bulletproof
15:36 apparently. Okay. But that's how we've been brought up. That's how we've been taught that men don't cry. How many men
15:42 cry? See, men don't cry. In real life, we cry, but you never see, right? So,
15:48 this is uh ingrained into us. Now, the fall distorts our gender distinctions.
15:53 You see, I will make exacerbates that I will make your pain in childhood bearing very severe. With painful labor, you
16:00 will give birth to children. Now look at women. Your desire will be for your
16:05 husband. Which means when women's natural tendency is to strive for interdependence,
16:12 her striving for independence is cursed and then can becomes dependence.
16:18 And a man's natural striving for independence become what? Domination.
16:25 That's what happens to them. So therefore the woman is cursed that she will always try to find her significance
16:30 from a man in a world where men are cursed to always desire to dominate
16:36 women. Don't tell me it doesn't affect you. It affects every single marriage.
16:42 All right? Because we are all tainted by the fall. Here's a global survey that
16:47 looked at uh global uh views on equality of women versus men. Thou almost 20,000
16:54 interviews published last year. And you look at global views and Malaysian views and the top three things which women are
16:60 concerned about is sexual harassment, sexual violence and sexualization of women in the media. And ironically,
17:08 it's women being dependent on men. Look at Carmen Diaz. She says, "I think every
17:14 woman wants to be objectified." How are women objectified? When you say men objectify women, we treat them as sexual
17:20 objects, but they desire to be treated as sexual objects because they want to look pretty and sexy and have wear plunging necklines in order to raise
17:27 their self-esteem. So actually women are playing into men's game, which is actually subjugation, which is the
17:34 opposite. So very very ironical, isn't it? uh this is a women's deliver conference this year and it's the
17:40 largest conference on gender equality and they aim to see in the world by 2030
17:46 that the genders will be equal. Conclusion from this conference which was just concluded a few weeks ago was
17:52 that 40% of girls and women which 1.4 million live in countries where their
17:58 equality is graded very poor. Another 40% of girls and women 1.4 4 billion
18:04 live in countries where they greater poor. Only 8% of girls and women live in countries where they are ranked good. So
18:12 women's equality have a long way to go. Malaysian women, this is Hayes Asia
18:18 salary glide 2017. What do they think about gender barriers
18:23 at work? 44% of women somewhat barriers at work and 12% say very much barriers
18:31 at work today. This is Malaysian women. Obedient wives club. Look at this chap
18:36 who published the do the the obedient wives club. Domestic violence, infidelity, prostitution stems from a
18:42 lack of belief in God and the failure of women to satisfy their husbands. Always blame on the women uh attitudes like
18:49 that. Perception of percentage of female CEOs in Fortune 500 compan the worldwide
18:55 perception is that at least 20% of women are CEOs. Right? In reality only 3%.
19:02 3%. Uh, American Association of University Women. Okay. Among postdoal
19:09 applicants, women had to publish three times more papers in the most prestigious prestigious journals or 20
19:16 times more in the less prestigious journals to be considered as productive as male applicants. This is totally
19:22 unfair, isn't it? Right. This is European data looking at PhD graduates, associate professors, and full
19:29 professors. the number of women as a percentage get smaller and smaller and
19:34 smaller at the top. So there's great inequality. So therefore, women should
19:39 be more like men, right? They grow their muscles, be as assertive, but there's a
19:45 there's a rebound effect. If women start to be like men, for example, these two were fighting it out a couple of years
19:51 ago, right? Common uh competing in the man's world, you must be self assertive.
19:56 When a woman is self assertive, she's called aggressive, ambitious, or out for herself. When a man is self assertive,
20:03 he is confident and strong. Wow. This is like uh what kind of double standards do
20:10 we have? I'm sure see the girls are all nodding in your law firm or wherever it is. When you try to be like a man, they
20:17 say you're aggressive and all that. This is another study uh at a professors and
20:23 uh and and basically a description of female professors. They're more likely
20:28 female professors are more likely to be called emotional, annoying or unfair.
20:35 They're very least likely to be called genius, interesting or influential. When
20:40 when's the last time women executive they talk came tell you hey you're a genius or you're influential or you're
20:47 interesting. They usually are, you know, quite condescending. If they're good, they call you helpful and pleasant. Oh,
20:53 they're helpful woman and pleasant woman. They won't call you expert or experience. Those are terms reserved for
20:58 men. That's the cold reality in life. Then there are gender stereotypes in it. Oh,
21:05 look at this. Man will sit down there, smoke his pipe, and read, and a woman will do everything superwoman. All
21:11 right, bangta. Most women drivers are slow and paid little attention while on
21:17 the road. When you honk at them, they get agitated and some even showing hand signs to other drivers.
21:22 This this kind of thank God he belongs to the old generation of government, not the new generation. And then you've got
21:29 gender distinctions between boys and girls. Boys must wear blue, girls will wear red. 100 years ago turbal because
21:38 100 years ago in American society the men actually wear red because red is the side of blood and men fight and spill
21:45 blood so we should wear red. Stereotypes change. Uh so certain roles
21:53 are gender specific. I mean men can never have babies right? So it's gender specific but certain roles are not. You
22:00 could be anything. You actually your men can be hairdressers. It may be even better hairdressers. All right.
22:06 Traditional roles have changed. Ideas have changed. For example, we're talking about this line talks about the belief
22:11 that men should uh go to work, okay, and earn money. Women should stay
22:17 at home. Now, it started off like that in 1985, okay? And women uh uh disagree that a
22:26 man's job is to earn money, woman job is stay at home. Said the ones that disagree, look look. By the time it comes to today, the majority of UK women
22:34 believe do not believe this gender stereotypes anymore. And I think there are gender gender stereotypes who
22:39 actually suppress women. Um Pope Francis when you talk about complimentarity, you
22:46 cannot be specific to particular um jobs. He he wrote recently in this
22:52 international colloquium when we speak of complimentarity between men and women in this context. Let us not confuse that
22:57 term with simplistic idea that all roles and relations of two sexes are fixed in
23:02 a single static pattern. Complimentarity will take many forms and each man and
23:08 each woman brings his or her distinctive contributions to their marriage and to the formation of their children. His or
23:14 her personal richness, personal charisma, complimentarity becomes a great wealth. It is not just a good
23:20 thing but it's also beautiful. So we should do away with this fixed static thing that it's only blue for boys and
23:27 and red for girls and there are certain gender types which will determine what you do except for if you're going to get
23:33 pregnant. All right. So uh you know in the 19th century they used to think that
23:39 men's brains and women's brains were completely different. You knock off into half open the coconut then you see oh
23:45 man's brain or woman's brain. They found there was differences. Okay. Men's
23:50 brains are on average 8% to 14% heavier than women. Uh but if you but so
23:56 therefore the men in the 19th century thought oh wow men men clever heavier got more stuff there right? So therefore
24:01 women shouldn't go to university. But you look at today there are more university graduates who are women than men. What's the deal? And they look into
24:09 the anatomy of the brain and they found that the women have a higher percentage of gray matter, the thinking one, less
24:15 percentage of white matter and men have larger empty spaces.
24:22 So that's why we got a bigger brain. All right. Um and if you actually look
24:27 at MRI scans, there's a very famous study of a,400 MRI scans. And this work
24:34 done by Israeli uh um uh researcher. She looked about 50,000 neuroscientific uh
24:41 journals and they found that there are very few structural differences between men and women. But there's a significant
24:46 overlap. There's a continuum between femaleness and males in the entire brain. Majority of brain show a mosaic
24:52 between female and male structures. Very very few brains are purely like all male
24:58 all female uh features. and the male type brain can switch to female type
25:04 brain under stress. So we can actually change. So this idea that we are fixed
25:09 uh each one fixed for particular uh profession is actually wrong. Raya
25:15 al-Hassan first Arab woman interior minister Japan first uh captain who runs
25:22 a flies an aeroplane. So women can do most things. uh Empress Wooen
25:30 at China. So we shouldn't stereotype people. Yet the danger is there is male
25:37 and female complimentarity which we believe in. On one hand, we shouldn't go to male domination which is patriarchy
25:44 which we subjugated. On the other hand, the feminists will move in this direction where women are more like men
25:49 and then they become homosexual and then they've got this idea called gender fluidity. We are now faced with a great
25:56 challenge in our society where people think gender is a choice. You can decide
26:02 what you want to be. So you dress your children like this pink pants and all
26:08 that all that. So the guy grows up totally confused at who he is. All right. He gender is a choice. We have
26:14 non-binary people. You know binary people it's male or female. Now you're telling children you can choose
26:20 whichever one you want to be. And here this is a survey uh that looked at uh people asking were ask questions. Girls
26:27 should be raised as girls, boys should be raised as boys. You agree or disagree? Those who agree is here,
26:33 disagree is here. And you can see most Asian countries believe girls should be raised as girls, boys should be raised
26:40 as boy. But you come to Western countries, you can find most of them start to say that we could have a choice
26:45 and you don't have to necessarily to do that. Look at Malaysia. 42% of Malaysians believe in being gender
26:52 neutral or disagree that you should girls should be brought up as girls and boys should be brought up as boys. This
26:58 is a challenge to our society where gender distinctions are obliterated and gender is a choice on a whim. So but the
27:08 Bible advocates as Paul advocates the use of head veils. Why? Because it's gender distinctions. Then we talk the
27:15 other issues that we want to deal delve into. Not only that men and women are different and those differences are
27:20 given by God innate and it glorifies him but we are also equal. There was a
27:27 southern Baptist convention in 1929 where all the men gathered together all
27:33 the pastors and leaders in America and the headquarters here and they invited the leaders invited the president of
27:39 women's missionary union to speak to them. As soon as she got up into the pull pit to say five words, half the men
27:46 got up and left. They were insulted. That woman had an audacity to take the
27:51 podium like a man. They had a huge discussion and they reassembled
27:56 at the Sunday school hall down the road where the same woman went up to the podium and spoke to them. You see how
28:03 men are crazy? They thought, you know, you stand up in a proper hall, she has authority over
28:10 them. if it's Sunday school sort of setting she doesn't have authority over them. So, but the issue here is that men
28:16 and women are equal used. Look at the words I will make him a helper. The word helper is called in in in Hebrew is
28:24 called Asa. E is used 21 times in the Old Testament
28:29 and 16 times out of the 21 refers to God. Three out of the 21 times refers to
28:35 someone's bailing you out. So basically obviously this person is not inferior.
28:42 Psalm 54, behold God is my helper. The Lord is the upholder of my life. Who
28:48 wrote Genesis? Anybody know? Moses, right? Look at what Mo Moses uses
28:55 the word Eza. And in fact, when Moses had two children, look, Exodus, Jethro,
29:02 Moses' father-in-law, had taken Zipper, Moses' wife, after they sent her home along with two sons, the name of one was
29:07 called Gersam, for he said, "I have been a sjuner in a foreign land." And the name of the other is called Elea, for he
29:14 said, "God of my father was my help and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh." When I named my second son Joseph, I
29:21 added the word Joseph. Why? because it means God adds. Moses uses the word Eli
29:30 Asa which means God is my helper. So in
29:36 in Moses eyes, Asa does not denote a subordinate figure. It does not denote
29:41 inferiority. He's a description Isa is a description of God's character as
29:47 strong, helpful uh a deliverer. Now if you look at gender equality,
29:52 nevertheless, a woman in the Lord, a woman is not independent, nor a man of a
29:58 woman. As long as a woman is from a man, a man is now born of a woman, all things are from God. But everyone who who
30:05 prays, every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered, dishonored. So what what you see here,
30:11 Paul is saying that men and women are not independent of each other. Okay? You you you are a woman was made from men,
30:18 but man is now born of a woman. there you need each other and he allows women
30:23 to pray and prophesy in public. Well, in ancient Greek society, women were not
30:30 able to do that. This was revolutionary. In fact, Acts chapter 2:1 17, in the
30:36 last days it shall be God declares, I will pour out my spirit on all flesh and your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your young men shall see
30:42 visions and your old men shall dream dreams. So when the Holy Spirit comes upon all, they will all participate in
30:49 ministry. For as many as you were baptized into Christ and put on Christ, there's neither Jew nor Greek, neither
30:55 slave nor free. There's no male or female. You're all one in Christ. And so
31:01 therefore, he also bolsters his argument of equality by headship. I want you to
31:07 understand that the head of every man is Christ. That head of wife is her husband. The head of Christ is God. Now
31:14 we're talking about the trinity. In the trinity, the father sends the son. So is
31:21 the father superior to the son? If you understand the trinity, the
31:27 trinity is co-equal. You can have father, son and holy spirit as equal in
31:34 essence. They are god. Okay. But they have different roles. One plays a role
31:40 father, the other son and the holy spirit. Okay? And then if you look in 1 Corinthians 15:28, when all things are
31:46 subjected to him, that the son himself will be subjected to him who puts all things in subjection under him that God
31:52 may be all in all. So if it does not assault the dignity of Christ to be
31:58 subject to the father, why should it assault ours is the question. Now
32:03 different roles doesn't mean different essence. Okay, you look at a football, we got Lionel Messi on the football
32:11 field. What can he use? Can he use his hands? Huh? Only Maradona can use hands. Okay,
32:19 if you know what I mean. He can only use legs. If you're a goalkeeper, what can you use? Hands and legs. A head also can
32:28 both of them. All right. Okay. But who is more valuable on the the transfer fee? The one can only use the leg,
32:34 right? So the multiplicity of roles do not denote value. Let me give you an
32:40 example. If you Mahate gets in a plane, he gets inside the plane and and the
32:46 captain says, "Fasten your seat belt." He stands I'm prime minister, you can't tell me what to do. I'm not fasting my
32:52 seat belt. Can he say that? No. If he gets on the plane, it even though it's
32:57 his plane, but the captain tells you to fasten your seat belt, you better fast. You can you can decide not to faster,
33:03 but you will die. All right. So, basically, uh the rules are made the subjection rules are so that society
33:09 works. It is the best formula so that manhood can sorry men and women can work
33:15 together. So basically different roles does not imply different value. So how
33:21 can men and women be equal and different in a fallen world is the most important question we need to ask. All right. Now
33:28 the gospel the gospel makes a difference. You see the whole idea of the gospel is Jesus Christ come in the
33:35 world and sacrificing his life to save
33:41 ours. So the world looks for happiness through self assertion. The Christian knows that joy is felt is found in self
33:49 abandonment. Right? So if you're in the world you got to push ahead. You got to beat the man.
33:54 You got to beat everybody else. But in Christ the way to forward is actually servantthood. Let's look at the um
34:01 Ephesians text. Wives submit to your own husbands. Wives are asked to submit but
34:07 the submission is voluntary and with glad response. Okay, they're supposed to
34:13 submit to husbands as unto the Lord. So therefore, what what has God done? God has taken the husband because he may be
34:19 a horrible fellow. Okay, and taken him out of the equation and he merely becomes the target which
34:26 you subject yourself to. But for the Lord, he removes it. So this reciprocal
34:32 relationship where I submit to you if you're nice to me disappears completely away. You submit because you love and
34:40 submit to God. And you look at the husband. Husband loves your wife
34:46 just as Christ loved the church. So husbands are commanded to love their wife. They're not commanded to compel
34:51 submission. Cook breakfast. Tomorrow lunch. I want chaka.
34:56 you better. He's not. Some people husbands think that their job is to compel submission.
35:03 Your job is not to compel submission. Your job is to give yourself up. So therefore, when we're talking about
35:09 mutual submission, she submits to your direction. You submit your ambition to
35:16 her good. Which means before you decide what to do or where to migrate to or whatever, it has to be for her good. So
35:23 that's a mutuality in submission and sacrifice the two swwords. That's what
35:29 the gospel brings into it. So equality is like someone said Tim Keller said it's like medicine. It's only useful.
35:35 You're sick. You can go to to to my house. I am very rich by every room got penadol. I got so much penado. I'm
35:42 talking about 5 million tablets. You got five million tablet and you don't have a fever. What's the use? It's only useful
35:49 if you've got a fever. Equality is only a big thing if you're unequal or or or
35:56 or you're so in Christ. Christ has given us everything. So gender distinctions,
36:03 we should be looking at biblical womanhood and biblical masculinity. For women here, how Peter describes how they
36:11 are to look into the inner female self. when they see your respectful
36:16 and they're pure which means morally pure. Do not let your adorning be external uh braiding of your hair and
36:23 the putting on a jewel gold jewelry or the wear clothes that you wear but let your adorning be the hidden person of
36:30 heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit which in God's
36:36 sight is very precious. You want to be precious to God. You want God to look at you and say, "Wow,
36:42 a gentle, quiet spirit." That's biblical femininity.
36:47 1 Timothy 2:10, attire with modesty, self-control, and with good works. So,
36:54 you rather than pile all the sawasti crystal and then the the different color
36:59 hair, all that, pile on the good works because they actually bring your beauty out. And what about the men? Biblical
37:07 masculinity, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing
37:12 honor to the woman as the weaker vessel. He recognized biologically there's a difference, but he shows her honor
37:20 because she's weaker yet they are co-airs with you. See, there's a distinction. They're weaker, but yet they're equal. There's always this
37:26 tension. They're different, but they're actually equal. I wonder if you remember this couple called Gowin and Lein.
37:35 They were the first finalists in the Asia's Got Talent some years ago and
37:41 they show some beautiful acrobatic skills. The lady would be jumping up and
37:46 down twirling in a samosas pump can land on his shoulder without cracking it.
37:51 Imagine if the man had triple somersa land on the woman's shoulder. They will have no more shoulder, right?
37:58 But the way the two interacted her with a grace and acrobatic ability, him with
38:04 his strength, his steadfastness, always there whenever she lands, he will
38:09 be there. And I remember the last uh episode where they were the finals, they
38:15 were going for the prize and he they did a beautiful for performance. She was twirling with one toe on his shoulder
38:21 and he was lifting her up and you could see some pain expression on her face. And when they came down and they
38:26 explained themselves to Simon Cowell, she cried because he knew the boy had injured his
38:33 hand. And yet he stood there, he sacrificed,
38:39 and he never let her down. And her heart melted.
38:45 She cried. And that's when he pops the question.
38:51 That's true. Isn't that a beautiful picture of womanhood and manhood which
38:58 is how God describes us? This is fuchia.
39:03 Some of you are fuch and uh 1800s there were the Catholics and the
39:09 Methodists went there and and they spread the gospel. Catholics didn't do very well in that part of town. uh you
39:16 know because they had meetings uh and when they had the meetings you know Catholics believe all men women equal
39:22 all together but the Methodists were very clever when they worship meeting together men and women separate separate
39:29 by one partition women worship alone and men worship alone and you know Christianity grew under the Methodist
39:36 not the Catholics why because the Methodist respected gender distinctions
39:42 which were operational at Fucha in 1875. They're not operational in Fucha in
39:49 2019. But because they recognized that it would be shameful if they were together,
39:56 they did what Paul did. They allowed the women to minister. They had separate partitions. As a result of their
40:02 ministry and growth, there are about 8 90 women who are called Bible women in 1875. By 1907, there were 894. And there
40:09 was great numbers who actually came to know Christ. and and and the liberation of women to serve uh accomplished many
40:16 things. One of which were this horrible idea of binding the feet which would cause the feet to be totally distorted.
40:24 There's a fracture of at least four of the bones. If you look at x-rays uh and
40:29 you know why do anybody know why women were bound in the feet?
40:34 Why? Huh? They cannot run away. So men men chase
40:43 men chase can catch very fast, right? Uh when women's feet are bound, they
40:49 actually walk with a very we call a mincing step and and that tightens the
40:54 thigh muscles and that's better for sex. Ah duh.
41:02 Whatever men do to women is always for them. They don't care about your feet. They only care about their pleasure in
41:08 sex. You see, so again, women were liberated because of this. In fact,
41:13 there was an anti-foot movement started by 60 Chinese Christian women in CI men in 1874, which then led to later on
41:21 abolishment. And this was the first of the uh lady doctors who graduated at University of Michigan and came back to
41:27 China. You see all over the news the Bible, you see women in different roles. Uh they have leadership, but in
41:33 different roles. Queen Esther, I will go up to the king though it is against the law. If I perish, I perish. This is when
41:38 the when the Jews were were almost wiped out by the Persians from a diabolical
41:44 plot and yet she sacrificed herself. She she she plunked ahead and actually implored her husband to spare the Jews.
41:52 Then you've got another crucial time in history where the midwives were going to kill off all Jewish children. There was
41:59 an edict by the prince, the the king of Egypt, but the widwives feared God and
42:05 did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live. At each crucial point in
42:12 the life of Israel, a woman did the right thing, and the right thing saved
42:18 the nation more than one time. That's how important women were. What about a
42:23 time where where where life was really bad for the people of Israel? God raised
42:28 up a woman in leadership. Her name was Deborah. Collaborative kind of
42:34 leadership. You see Deborah Deborah never had a machismo kind of leadership, but she's out in front. When she went to war, she got Barak to come along. It's a
42:40 interdependent kind of style of leadership which was quite different. Then in the old New Testament, you see
42:47 Mary Magdalene accompanied Jesus through her sufferings. All the men ran away. Mary Magdalene was there through the
42:53 suffering and the crucifixion first to witness Jesus' resurrection. Jesus chose her to announce the news to the
42:58 disciples a place of a woman. Priscilla and Phoebe got Priscilla uh actually
43:05 took Apollos aside and explained to him scriptures better. Some women if women
43:11 some men the woman explain scripture you like my God I can never have a woman
43:17 explain scripture to me. That's ridiculous is it? Women have a role. uh Romans uh 16:2 there's a deaconist
43:24 called Phoebe. Now the challenge I want to leave us with today
43:31 is that the Lord said it is not good that men should be alone. I will make a
43:39 helper fit for him. You see men and women alone or separated it's not good. That's
43:46 the only time the entire creation scheme that it is not good. It is good that men
43:52 and women are together and they each have a gender distinction.
43:57 All right? And in that distinction, the distinction cannot be misinterpreted in such a way that women are subject to
44:03 men. We need to fight that. We need to be at the forefront. In many many countries, the Christians at the forefront of the revolution that will
44:09 give women equality. And that's what the church should have. We should of all people in the world show equality and
44:17 honor to our sisters in Christ. And we also cannot have a situation where our g
44:22 gender distinctions are discarded. Where there's no male and there's no female
44:28 and you whichever sex you want to be or indeterminate you decide
44:34 because the world is looking in its craziness. It needs to look at some sort
44:40 of standard. This is a survey done in the euro Europe and you can find the
44:46 number of women who identify themselves are after so many years of feminism since 1960 as actually very few you know
44:52 less than half in most country the worst is basically Sweden and you look at the data in the United States is even better
44:58 here you have United States ladies and African-Americans Asian-Americans Hispanic and white when you ask them I
45:06 do do you uh I uh um support women's rights Yes, everybody supports women's
45:12 rights. Are you a feminist? Very few people are feminists. You see
45:18 what I mean? While they say women should be equal, but they don't say women
45:23 should be the same as men. Women want to be treated as women. This is one of the
45:29 most belligerent atheists I ever come across. His name is Pierce Morgan.
45:34 And he was having this talk on British television where he lamented the fact
45:40 that even in the school, he's got a six-y old girl and they go to school and the teacher asked the girls, you know,
45:45 the girl school, hey, how do you feel today? Do you feel like a girl or a boy?
45:51 You actually got a choice. Today is a boy day. Today, tomorrow is a girl day.
45:57 And and he was so frustrated here as an atheist. You know what he said? It's not about judgment. is about having some
46:03 sort of boundaries. The world is looking for boundaries. The world is looking for
46:08 somebody to tell them what is right and what is wrong, what is male, what is female, because the world is totally lost. And where is the world going to
46:16 find these boundaries? The world is going to find these boundaries in the church.
46:22 It's the way we treat our sisters in Christ. It's the way our sisters in Christ contribute to the growth of the
46:29 church. Rodney Stark is the one who's done the most work in the world documenting the growth of Christianity
46:36 first 300 years and he started off with about 1,000 people who were Christians after Christ's death in AD40 and by the
46:43 time AD 300 came along there are 6 to 700 million Christians the majority of
46:48 the Roman Empire who become Christians by that time and the role of the women
46:53 in this growth is not insignificant very substantial surplus of females In
46:59 the Christian population, in I in a normal Roman population, it's 131 men to
47:07 100 women. Guess where all the others went? They killed them. Infanticide or
47:13 abortion. In the rest of Italy, it was 140 to 100. But in Christian circles,
47:19 the women were surplus more than the men because there was no abortion, no infanticide. And when it
47:25 comes to conversion and response to the gospel, it was always the women who responded to the gospel, not men. And
47:32 that attributed to the rise because women were strategic. Christian women had higher status with the Christian
47:38 subculture than pagans. Christians, women had leadership positions as well.
47:43 They preached the gospel. We went, they influenced people. And there were also exogenous marriages with secondary
47:49 conversions. Finally, we have a paradigm to show to the world.
47:56 It is like a dance where a man plays his role and a female plays a role.
48:03 Imagine the story of two young people meeting in church, both in their 20s,
48:09 and uh they they chitchat and they kind of like each other.
48:15 And the man and the boy says to the girl, you know, could be one of you guys. Uh, you know, oh, service
48:22 starting, you know, uh, hey, there's a good spot. Why don't we sit there? The girl looks at the spot. Okay, I usually
48:28 sit there, but okay, I'll sit with you. Sit sit down and and they observe each other how they worship and prayed. At
48:34 the end of the service, they got up and he said, "Well, I'm feeling hungry. Can I treat you to lunch?" And this is this
48:40 is basically the boy asking the girl. Now the girl doesn't like she'll say I got to go back and feed my cat. Right?
48:47 Gotta do that other cat die, right? But if she likes him say I give me I'll just
48:53 telephone my mother ask my mother to feed the cat. So she telephones her mother and you know it's like a dance
48:59 I'm going to one step and she responds one step and then he responds and so they they start to walk to the to the to
49:05 the three below mama store because they don't have car and halfway there two gangsters come up
49:13 to them you know and they're like and they get I want your money and then oh
49:19 langy lang loy I want her too and and and before they get there they
49:25 were sharing and sharing each other and he founds out you know this girl is very rich like Yo Jong Lelay's daughter or
49:30 something and she also has a black belt in Tawwando and and as these two men are coming he's
49:36 thinking why should I push her in front because she's the one with a black belt in tando right
49:42 obviously right a and you know what he lunges forward
49:49 and sacrifices himself and pushes the girl back and you know what happens
49:56 He's unconscious.
50:01 And um the girl springs to the action and two men have their teeth knocked out and they're unconscious as well. And
50:07 then the ambulance ride to Zubang Medical Center. She's thinking that's the kind of guy I
50:13 want to marry. You see, you see there's an interplay
50:18 here where where where he takes the initiative and say look sit there and
50:23 she doesn't reject it. She doesn't say to him you think I don't know where to sit.
50:29 She she it's like a dance. She responds and say I I I treat you to eat malo. She
50:35 doesn't say I'm your daughter and you think I got no money. It's not about
50:40 ability or essence isn't it? It's about the man showing initiative, a man
50:47 showing a caring nature to look after you, which what women want. That's why women don't want to be feminists. And
50:53 the last one is not about who knows tawando who doesn't. The fact that he's willing in his god-given impulse to
50:60 protect the woman irregardless of his lack of ability is
51:05 what a woman for all the noise about feminism really wants to see in a man.
51:12 Now that's what should be played out in a church when there is male leadership
51:19 and uh female reception an affirmation of that strength. And so therefore when
51:25 the world looks at this dance you see the marriage and the church are the only two places in the world where you got
51:31 ring fence with this gender distinction and headship. So the world will see is this is a beautiful dance. And when
51:38 Pierce Borggan says there got to be boundaries, where is he going to look? He's going to look to the church. He's
51:45 going to look at the way men treat their wives and wives treat their husbands in
51:51 this church. going to see how the young people, young men and young women treat
51:56 each other in this church as well where we respect each other, consider each
52:01 other as equals and yet maintain gender differences and we both minister
52:07 together for the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let's pray.
