Dangerous Adjustments in the Church

Transcript

GRM 1224
09/08/2019
Dangerous Adjustments in the Church
1 Corinthians 11; 1 Timothy 2:4
Gil Rugh


It's good to be back. As sometimes happens, when I go away I get things on my mind. We have been studying the book of Ecclesiastes, and that's on my mind, but it's not on my mind for today. So we will return to Ecclesiastes, and we will be picking up in chapter 9 when we get back there, so we look forward to that. But some things took place, really before I left on vacation, that drew my attention and got my mind on certain things. I also had an opportunity to meet with a couple of men, they are not part of Indian Hills but have their own ministries, and met with them on different occasions. They shared a concern that had come to them that I also had, so that got me thinking. I'll have some thoughts to share with you today rather than looking at a specific passage of Scripture.

One of the things that happened this past summer was that a major evangelical denomination changed their doctrinal statement, and that always is a concern and an interest of what is taking place. The two men that I met with on different occasions wanted to talk about that matter, too. They had become aware of it and the concern. As I reflected over some of the material that they had put out and the reasons for the change made me ponder. What happens to evangelicals? Sometimes evangelicals (using the word as it is used broadly, bible-believing Christians) claim to believe the Bible, claim to believe the truth of the Word of God but over time they are willing to let go of some of those truths that they held so tightly, so dearly for a long time. And the amazing thing, this is an evangelical denomination. I don't want to particularly mention it right now because I don't want to be attacking specific churches, because this wouldn't include every church in that denomination. But it did amaze me, 80% of the delegates at this conference voted to change the doctrinal statement. And that is a large number, 80% were in favor of changing the doctrinal statement. That left a minority of 20% that were not supportive.

They changed the doctrinal statement from being premillennial. Premillennial refers to the coming of Christ to earth to establish a kingdom that had been part of biblical prophecy through Old Testament and into the New Testament. The book of Revelation closes with an emphasis on that kingdom. Well, premillennialism is that Christ will come to earth some day and establish a kingdom with His coming over which He will rule. Amillennialism, another view, “a-” meaning no millennium. They believe that the kingdom is not an earthly kingdom, they believe it is just a spiritual kingdom in hearts of believers and someday Christ will come at the end of time and we'll go into eternity. And there are other variations, postmillennialism and so on. But those two basic view. This denomination, an evangelical denomination, has been premillennial. They decided to change their doctrinal statement.

Let me read you, I was given some material that they sent out to their people and their delegates that they would be voting on this, why they are going to be broadening the acceptable views on eschatology within their denomination. Now you see, broadening the views of their eschatology, but what they will do will be much broader than eschatology, but this is what they are particularly focusing on. They always soften this by saying you don't have to change your view, this won't require anyone to change their personal view on the millennium, the earthly kingdom that Christ will establish, if you believe premillennialism. But it does allow for a few more differences. There are going to be major differences, and it recognizes that the timing of Christ's return is not a doctrine of first importance. I have talked with you about this on other occasions. But the tendency to do is to say eschatology is not a priority doctrine, so it's down here, not that important. You have to understand the hermeneutics that lead you to your eschatology are very important.

I wasn't reading it for a connection with this, but I was reading a book on hermeneutics while I was gone. The man wouldn't hold everything the way that I would, but he was very clear -- your principles of hermeneutics, your principles of how you interpret Scripture will determine what your eschatology is. Then he went through whether you are going to be premillennial, or amillennial, or postmillennial and so on. So they say that the timing of the Lord's coming is not of first importance. But the hermeneutics that determine the view you have on the timing of future events is very important. We'll see that in a moment.

They are doing this because it will relieve the tension that our holding a particular view of the millennium has caused. And this will enable us to recognize various levels of doctrine and focus on the majors. See, we have prioritized and eschatology, future things, even though so much of the Bible is focused on prophetic future things, we have put it down here on the lower level. It's not of primary… I've shared others who have promoted this view as well. This won't change our commitment to biblical inerrancy, and they are aware of the history of those who changed this doctrine at a school like Fuller Seminary. They also soon followed up with a changing of their doctrine on inerrancy. So they want to make sure you understand, we're not changing our commitment to the Bible's inerrancy, or our commitment to a consensus hermeneutic. What is a consensus hermeneutic? I'm always suspicious when they use hermeneutic in the singular anyway, but a consensus hermeneutic. Well, if you have a consensus hermeneutic and I am a premillennialist who is part of your denomination, my consensus and others, 20% here, the consensus of this denomination when they formed their doctrinal statement was literal interpretation of prophecy. Now this does not change our commitment to our consensus hermeneutic. Consensus is something everybody generally agrees on. Well, you are changing your hermeneutics for interpreting biblical prophecy. How can you say it is not changing our consensus? At least 20% of the people voted no, it has changed. A consensus hermeneutic means we are doing what the majority thinks. Well, I thought the Scripture was the authority. Now when everybody agrees… What are you going to do when, like I mentioned Fuller Seminary, the faculty there decided we don't believe in inerrancy. Well, the consensus was we don't believe in it, therefore now it is not in our doctrinal statement anymore. So a consensus hermeneutic.

And it won't change the major lynchpins of our shared eschatology. Now I tell you I took this with me on vacation. I shouldn't. But I reread this and I say it will not change the major lynchpins of our shared eschatology. Consensus hermeneutic, shared eschatology, it won't change our lynchpins. Well, one of the major foundational points is the premillennial return of Christ. You say you are going to vote to change it and then tell me you are not changing it.

Now I happen to have a copy also of the seminars they would have at this annual meeting, seminars with the various subjects. There are 11, maybe 12, I can't tell whether the 12th one on here was an actual seminar because they don't title it. But out of the 11 that they titled, 9 of them have to do with social, racial kinds of issues. You know what that tells me, this denomination has undergone a change in their practice over the years to the point that now they want to change their doctrinal statement to bring it in line with their practice. Premillennialism teaches that the kingdom will not be established until Christ comes to earth to establish it. Amillennialism teaches we are in the kingdom now, its a spiritual kingdom in the hearts of believers. And since we are in the kingdom, we ought to be doing kingdom things, we ought to be involved in changing the social injustices of the world, the racial injustices of the world, correcting political unfairness, the division between the “haves” and the “have-nots.” All that becomes part of our kingdom work. And we find out, that's what all the seminars here, 9 of the 11, and I'm not sure what the other 2 are about, the title doesn't give it away.

But for example… I'll list off what their seminars are. Becoming a Just Church: Cultivating Communities of God's Shalom. We're into this justice thing and God's peace, and now this whole idea of what is peace, what is a just church. And we get into social justice, racial justice. What about a biblical church? The church is the pillar and support of the truth.

Another seminar, Christians at the Border: Immigration, the Church and the Bible. Well, my Bible didn't tell me anything about the Mexican border, the border with the United States. But we are into these social things, political things, racial things.

Adoptive Church: Creating an Environment where Emerging Generations Belong is another seminar. Now you tell me what that means. We want to create an environment where emerging generations belong. Well, I thought the Bible says the church is the pillar and support of the truth, the church is the place where the truth is proclaimed. Teach the Word, preach the Word. I don't care what your generation is—emerging, unmerging. Who belongs? Anyone who wants the truth, who loves the truth. We're going to create an environment… What we see now is we are going to remake the church because we have to decide what people want today. How are we going to reach these people? This is not new, we keep remaking the church. Here is what young people want, here is what these people want.

Here is another seminar—Oneness Embraced: Reconciliation to Kingdom and How We Are Stronger Together. Wait a minute, you see what has happened. We're having seminar, you're going to have a seminar to change a major doctrinal issue and none of the seminars are about the doctrinal issue. Do you know why? It has been a long time since they have been serious about the doctrine. Their practices moved away from their doctrine, so now it is time to change the doctrinal statement so it fits our practice. I think we ought to be evaluating our practice in light of the doctrine. In 1967 the liberal Presbyterian Church in the United States changed their doctrinal statement, 1967. But do you know why they changed it? They hadn't practiced that doctrinal statement for so many years they decided to change it and bring it in line with their practice. Now we have an evangelical denomination doing it.

Here is another seminar. White Awake: An Honest Look at What It Means to Be White. I wasn't going to attend that seminar so look at the next one. I wasn't there.

Welcoming the Stranger: Justice, Compassion and Truth in the Immigration Debate. You see this is an evangelical denomination, they are going to change a major portion of their doctrinal statement and the hermeneutics that bring you to that doctrinal statement, and all the seminars don't even grapple with that. Why? Because that's a done deal. Eighty percent of the people are already ready to vote for it because we already practice this, we're already practicing like we are in the kingdom. We are concerned about justice, compassion and truth in the immigration debate.

Another seminar, The Color of Compromise. You see all these things get to be either social or racial. Another one, I love this one, just two words—Woke Church. You see that word “woke” appearing, you hear it in the news, woke. How it came into our vocabulary about five years ago in connection with the Black Lives Matter movement. And woke came from African expression, it means you became awake. And so a woke person is a person who is alert to social injustice, racial injustice. So now we are going to have a woke church, it has come awake, woke up. But it specifically… now here the definition was given, a perceived awareness of issues concerning social justice and racial justice. So we are going to have a woke church that has an awareness concerning social justice and racial justice.

All these things… that is 9 of the 11 seminars. Doesn't care about doctrine? Doesn't care about truth? We're going to change the doctrinal statement, we can do that here with a vote because we are already there. Eighty percent of the people voted yes, let's change it. Now let's get to the seminars and find out about all… Because we've been practicing being in the kingdom. This is what I'm talking about, we ought to be careful. We are doing kingdom work, we're spreading the kingdom. Then we have to get it social. This is where neo-evangelicalism… Some of you have been in the class on that, we've talked about it on Sunday night. Do you know what happens? People begin to adjust the practice. Those in neo-evangelicalism, I reread some of their major books while on vacation, those men didn't start with exegesis of Scripture, men like Carl F. H. Henry, George Elton Ladd. They had a burning passion and commitment that the church be socially active and socially involved. We won't be able to change our world and society unless we get involved socially. They believed we had to have intellectual recognition, they see our scholarship. We have to move out and have a scholarly evangelicalism on the level of the world so the world will recognize our scholarship and realize we have the best ideas. And then we don't want to be viewed as narrow. Those are the kinds of things driving them, page after page as I reread some of this, and do you know what they did? They decided a premillennial doctrinal statement was not compatible with those desires, and soon they changed the doctrinal statement. One of them even wrote a major work theologically where they could make the changes. You begin to adjust the Word to fit the practice which has departed from the Word. That's why doctrinal statements become meaningless. One of our major evangelical seminaries, there is a faculty member teaching there, and someone who had done schooling with them said, “How can you be on the faculty and sign the doctrinal statement? You don't expect me to interpret the way the original writers did.” So we change it and now it's just a matter of time. Doesn't surprise me, that 80%. Do you know where we go in the evangelical church? We go from strong teaching (we don't jump to false teaching) we go from strong teaching to weak teaching, then weak teaching brings people with weak discernment, not appreciating the connection of doctrine and practice, so then we come to false teaching, corrupt teaching.

I had a pastor in another city early in my ministry, he used to call and talk with me on occasion. He was a converted Jew, sound theologically, we had great discussion. But he talked about the battles in his church, and it was a growing church, getting larger, but it was a relentless battle. He left, I don't remember all the details of why, and they had a man in who had a reputation of being a Bible teacher but over a long time his teaching was sort of washed out and then he left to move on. Do you know what they got? They got a man who had no theological training at all, he didn't go to a church that was a bible-believing church. How does a church move from commitment to truth and a passion for the truth being taught to we don't care if our pastor has any training in the Bible, has been part of even a bible-teaching church, we hire him. What in the world goes on? How do you get from there?

Part of what happens is the world begins to shape our thinking. Francis Schaeffer, many years ago, back in the 1980s, but some of you still read his stuff, said, “Look where the world is and you will see where the church is in ten years.” But that has gotten compressed, look where the world is, you'll see where the church is in about ten days. I mean, we run to keep up with the world. Look, social justice, racial justice. The church is absorbed in that and then if you don't support that, you believe it is good to discriminate against people, you think it is good to have inequalities. We have been studying the book of Ecclesiastes, there are realities in the fallen world. As a believer I want to live a godly life, but the church is not called to reform the world. The church is called to bring a message of new life, not reformation. Reconciliation to the living God, being reborn. Then we get off, if you are not fully supportive you are against it. Now we get to the controversial part, that is just getting us started,

We live in a world where we are feminizing the culture, it is pervading the world but we'll just limit it to talking about our country. There is a feminizing of our society. We are going to break down, there cannot be any distinction. A schoolteacher told me, we are not allowed to teach grade school kids or call the grade school kids boys and girls. You don't use gender language, you call them students. This kind of thing going on. There is a school being built in California, they will not include men's restrooms and ladies' restrooms. They will have restrooms. And if you talk about men as different than women pretty soon you are viewed as you think it's all right that men take advantage of women and men abuse women. It's just like if you believe what the Bible says about sex, you hate homosexuals. You are a hater if you are not a lover. I think as a result of sin we have divisions, those divisions cannot be rectified, will not be rectified until Christ comes to establish the kingdom. Doesn't mean I don't want to lead a good life. I've shared, we had a house and elderly neighbors, we cleared the snow on their walk. But I don't think the church ought to have a snow cleaning necessarily, we help others in the body and personally we do things. So this comes in.

With the feminizing of our society look at the political situation. Who is driving the narrative? Everybody agrees it is women, they are setting the pace and the men are trying to adjust to fit, there are changes going on. Now it doesn't bother me that the world does that. I am disappointed to see how rapidly we move away from any even semblance of commitment to a God who has revealed Himself, but do you know what is happening in the church? These things come in. Someone mentioned in the political discussion on TV, not in any way a believer and I would have no reason to say, said the next election will be decided by the women. He was serious. He gives the demographics and then he says, “That is going to be a major change because women are different than men.” I'm surprised he could say that but he did. He says, “And their interest is different. They are interested in things like healthcare and all the personal things.” Now that's true, God made us different as male and female. Now as the world tries to change that, really what it ends up doing is trying to reverse the roles. They don't say more men ought to do what women did, but there ought to be an equalizing and an elevation, and the push is on the elevation. Women can say whatever they want, but the men better be careful because they are in the position of power. They have abused it, white male leadership. We have mixed the race and the gender thing and pretty soon the church gets sensitive to this. I talked about some of these things to my first hour class and afterwards someone said to me, “You could get in trouble the next hour.” I hope not because we are here to believe the Word. If I say things that are not biblical, just put them in the garbage can and out of your mind. But if they are biblical, we have to know.

I see a feminization and this will lead us away from a serious study of the Word of God. It is already happening where the women's influence grows and the men begin to follow the women. And the woman's interest is different than the men, they are interested in the social things, the emotional things, the personal things. The number one criticism, and I know you are going to find this hard to believe, but the number one criticism I have had over the years as I have evaluated is -- you are not warm enough, you are not personable enough, you are not loving. I mean, get over it. I mean, where would you get a more personable, loving, warm guy? But it does come, and it comes primarily from the women, sometimes from the women through their husband. Now that's not a put down of women. But we need to be careful we keep our roles. The strength of Indian Hills has been godly men who understood the role and position God has given them, and godly women who understood and understand their position and function in a biblical way. From the beginning we have had an emphasis on male leadership because that is what God says. The women have poured themselves into supporting that leadership and doing the things consistent with their gifts and so on. But now more with the pressure of the world in subtle ways, we have more people leave Indian Hills and I'm told, my wife is unhappy, my wife is uncomfortable. Then someone brought his wife to see me and said I don’t know. I said, “Maybe we can talk, when she talks to me she'll realize how lovable and likable I am.” But she just sat down with me and said, “I don't think you are a godly man, I will not sit under your ministry.” Somebody else called and told one of our staff, we're leaving. It was the wife, and at the end she said, “We think Gil is arrogant.”

What do you do with this? You get into emotions and feelings and this is where I see a coalescing of the social, the racial, the feminizing because now we get into the feeling area. We battled this with charismatic issues, but now this has spread. And when you say it is truth plus my feelings, you've corrupted the truth. You have elevated your feelings to the level of truth, just like salvation is by grace through faith. If you say faith plus something, you have corrupted the faith, it is no longer saving faith, you take the truth and add something else to the level. I can't tell you how many people say, “We are not leaving over doctrine, we don't have any doctrinal differences.” I'm not saying everybody ought to stay, but the reasons bother me and concern me. It's not the doctrine, it's not the teaching. Do you know what I pray for as I see pastoral changes in the city? “God, provide men there that will be the strongest teachers the city has seen, that will be passionate about the truth, that will teach the truth, that people will flock to their ministries to hear the truth.” The worst thing is we get men that are weak or indifferent to the truth. Then that weakens everything. We want to be sound and solid. And I am concerned, I see that. Had somebody else come in with his wife and tells me, “We're going to be leaving, we're going to go to a church, it's not as sound in its teaching, its doctrine is not as sound but we are going to go.” I said, “Why would you take your family, your children, and put them in a situation where you are telling me is not as sound?” “I don't know, I guess we are just frustrated.” Well, get over it. I mean, we compromise the truth. The pillar and support of the truth (we're going to look at that verse in a moment) that's what the church is. When we abandon that, then we move away from being what God says we must be.

Come to 1 Corinthians. I believe it is key because I believe God made men to be leaders, He made them different than women. That's not a put-down on women, but unless the men develop a passion for the truth and a commitment to the truth that overwhelms everything else, we will abandon the truth. It's not enough to say we'll go to another work that's biblical. You cannot abandon your responsibility and cover it over. And the key role that a saved man has in his home is to provide godly leadership, first for his wife. That's where it starts. And God has appointed him as the head.

We're in 1 Corinthians 11, and we're not going back to Genesis but these are built on Genesis. In 1 Corinthians 11 Paul wants to talk to them about what he has taught them before. Verse 2, “Now I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold firmly to the tradition, just as I delivered them to you.” You have been doing good in a lot of areas “but I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man.” Men, you understand that. You better do what He says, you are responsible to that. I'm not independent here, I'm dependent. I do the will of the One who is my Lord. That supersedes even pleasing my wife, if it comes to that. Now I want to have a biblical leadership, a loving leadership, a Christ-like leadership, but it does not mean yielding my position of leadership. “Christ is the head of every man, the man is the head of the woman, God is the head of Christ.”

Jump down to verse 7. “The man ought not to have his head covered,” note, “since he is the image and glory of God. And the woman is the glory of the man.” Now I realize you get outside these walls, these are fighting words, you are a woman-hater. No, this is what God says. The man is the image and glory of God, the woman is the glory of the man because the woman was created out of the man. Read the next verse, “For man does not originate from woman, but woman from man.” We're back in Genesis 1, God created the man from the dust and then out of the side-part of the man He created the woman. We claim to be evangelical Christians and we believe the creation account, but we let our practice erode, and pretty soon our practice erodes enough, we change the Scripture to fit our practice. “Indeed man was not created for the woman's sake, but the woman for the man's sake.” I don't think anybody will have that on their political agenda. It's not a put-down of a woman. The best, the most fulfilling, the most important thing is for a person to function as God created them to function. He didn't create the man to function as the woman, or the woman to function as the man. And He didn't create them to be two men, He created them to be different, complement one another. He created the man first, that establishes his priority in leadership, and key area here is for the wife. If that breaks down you won't have good, godly leadership in the home for the children when they come. And do you know what happens when that breaks down in the home? You come to the church and you find people who don't want to submit to the elders either, then God's whole structure that He established. Then we come up, you see now whole authority in our home, country is breaking down, and you come to chaos. You come to the Bible, God has established authority at all levels. People disregard the police, just throw things on them. I've told you, my dad told me when I was in grade school, if a policeman ever tells you to stop, you stop. If you turn and run he'll shoot you in the back and it will be your fault. Now they have to wrestle and fight and struggle, and they can run up and dump things on. Which it breaks down. If we don't like the President we just say all kinds of things about him. We don't find that in Scripture. But then we pride ourselves, we say all about the country and everything that is going on out there and in our homes we don't have a biblical structure.

If men yield the leadership to the women, we will not have Bible-teaching churches. Now I understand, godly women love the Word of God, but then godly women do not usurp the position given to their husbands. They are built for something different, they are looking for something more personal, so that's what they bring to our lives, that's God's plan. We begin to think somewhat like the world while we have a doctrinal statement -- yes, we believe the Bible is the inerrant, authoritative Word of God -- but we haven't been practicing that. Had a woman who was key in our women's ministry for many years, they were going through a conflict. She stopped by to see me and said, “Do you know what?” Those were the days before computers and social media. She said, “If we could get the women to stop talking on the phone, everything would quiet down.” Now I'm not saying that, I'm just telling you what she said. You know now we have social media, we have all these things but God hasn't changed. The woman is to submit to the man's leadership.

Then he goes on to talk about factions, and this creates factions. Why does he bring in the woman at this stage? Come over to 1 Corinthians 14:34, “The women are to keep silent in the churches, they are not permitted to speak. They are to subject themselves, just as the Law also says.” Now note this, “If they desire to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home. It is improper for a woman to speak in church.” Men, we have to step up. There was a time back, we had the Christian psychologists and they were writing on what a husband ought to be, a woman ought to be, children… I told Marilyn, “I don't want you reading this. It's not good for you, it's not good for our relationship. There are good, sound things to read.” As the husband I am responsible. We say I'm the provider, protector of my wife, the important protection I provide is spiritual. Men let their wives read and listen and get involved, then they wonder… That's my responsibility. What is your wife doing that for? What is she reading that for? There may be certain people she shouldn't be talking to. You can't make your wife, what am I going to do if my wife says no? Like the man who brought his wife in, he says, “I'd be careful what I say, she is a strong woman.” That doesn't mean I yield. All I can say is here is what is biblical and I will do what is biblical, I cannot yield that. You want to stand with Joshua and say as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

When you lead, that doesn't mean that person is always there, sometimes they have to be brought along. If the wife is having a problem with an area, the husband needs to be ready. Let them ask their husbands at home. I realize the evangelical world has moved away from that, our evangelical seminaries are training women and then they'll come out and be teaching. All I know is what the Word says. And they ought to be looking to their husband. What makes you think that God has given you the wisdom to decide this instead of your husband? There is a concern, you ought to come to your husband and the husband ought to be ready. This is biblical, this is what we do.

I had somebody stop me, I was down looking at books. And we talked, I knew the person and her husband well. We were talking and out of the blue she just says, “Well, my husband says we are staying so I guess we are staying.” What do I say? Good for your husband. I didn't even know what the problem was. But do you know what? A few months later I got a letter from them saying, “We have appreciated the teaching, we're going to be moving on.” The book of Proverbs warns the wife to be careful that she doesn't take over. I realize I am blessed to have a godly wife who supports me and encourages me and submits to me. It would be hard to live with a woman who didn't. But men, you have to be a man. Your first allegiance is to God, to Christ. I can't say, “Well, Christ, I am not going to obey what you said I ought to be.” I can't drag my wife, but I can plant my feet, I'm not going. And here are the reasons.

Come over to 1 Timothy 2. He is talking about things that need to be put in order. It's where he talks about the church is the pillar and support of the truth. But in chapter 2 he talks about the salvation and the grace of God. 1 Timothy 2:4, “Who desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. There is one God, one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus who gave Himself as a ransom for all.” What a glorious testimony. I watched a man who was being interviewed on a political program for an hour and he is a charismatic evangelical, but he has a ministry of evangelicals reaching out to Jews and showing the Jews that evangelicals love them. He said there are 7 million people joined and they showed pictures in this interview with the President of the United States and Netanyahu in Jerusalem. So he has this kind of stature. And he is being interviewed by a man who is Jewish, a Jew. And the man said to him, “Tell me, what is an evangelical?” And this pastor said an evangelical is someone who believes the Bible is the authoritative Word of God, inerrant and authoritative in all that it says. That's it. Here is an example, we begin to not be open with the truth. Roman Catholics would say that, a variety of groups would say that. What about telling him an evangelical is one who believes the Son of God, the Messiah of Israel came to earth, suffered and died on the cross to pay the penalty for the sin of the Jews and of the non-Jews. He was raised from the dead and now salvation is provided for Jew and Gentile. Well, then it would look like you were converting the Jews. We begin to soften and what do we do? That Jewish man didn't learn anything. We believe the Bible is the inerrant Word of God. Oh, so that is what an evangelical is. The name Jesus Christ was not mentioned once in an hour-long interview, how sad. Well, we move away from the truth subtly.

Come to 1 Timothy 2:8, “Therefore I want the men,” in light of here, the gospel that he presented. I was appointed a preacher and an apostle for this gospel. I just read to you He desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Therefore I want the men to do this, “in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands.” They are to be godly men, leading in prayer, “without wrath and dissension.” Likewise I want the women to adorn themselves with proper clothing and…” down to verse 10, “by means of good works.” Women are to function differently, but godly. What does he say? “A woman must quietly,” verse 11, “receive instruction with entire submissiveness. I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet.” Oh, that was cultural, that was because women weren't educated in those days in Ephesus. The Spirit of God says it was because of how God created them.

Verse 13, “For it was Adam who was created first and then Eve.” The very order of creation established the priority of the man. So the woman ought to be looking to her husband. The man oughtn't to be going from church to church because his wife is not happy, doesn't feel good about that, isn't comfortable with that. He is the leader. My dad did a plaque for me, it still sits in my office and it shows the character of me running out of my office door and it says, “I must hurry and catch up with the others, for I am their leader.” Sometimes men are functioning like that. We need men who are planted in the truth, in their commitment to Christ, in their love for their wife, their family, the church, whatever. And they are immovable.

I remember asking my dad why we were changing churches, I was just entering my teen years. It was not my vote but in those days you didn't get a vote when you were a kid and you were a kid until you got out and could pay your own way. He said we are making the change because we have to be where the Bible is being taught. That's what is important. I didn't forget it. Here I am all these years later, 60-some years later, I can tell you what he told me. We need men who are planted. Instead of saying this is a problem with the women, this is the problem with the men and the feminizing of the men. My wife ought to be able to make her own decisions. She should, under my leadership. God didn't appoint two leaders. That's what it says, isn't it? It was Adam who was created and then Eve. Do you believe the creation account? Men, man up. That means I better know the Word, I better know what the church is, I better know what we are about. Doesn't matter that somebody likes something, my kids like it there because they have this.

Come down to verse 15 in chapter 3. Paul says, “I am writing,” I am anticipating coming. He knows this is a problem, it is not new. The devil doesn't come up with new ideas, he just keeps pushing the old ones and every cycle seems to get worse. So this problem and conflict between men and women, it has been joked about—happy wife and happy life and all those things. And the book of Proverbs addresses how unpleasant it will be when you have an unhappy wife. But the solution is to be a godly man and then by God's grace trust that your wife will be a godly woman.

But he says, verse 15, “I am writing so you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God.” Let's establish whose family this is, it's God's. It's not mine, it's not yours, it's God's. It's the church of the living God, belongs to Him. And what is it to be? The pillar and support of the truth. He doesn't say the pillar and support of the truth and good feelings; the pillar and support of the truth and emotionally satisfying. We come up with these ideas we think are on the level with the truth. Well, I'm not happy. Well, maybe you ought to deal with why am I not happy. Is the truth not taught? People say, “I don't have any doctrinal problem.” Well then you have a problem with God. Maybe the doctrine is not getting a grip on your heart and mind. That's a personal thing. This will make you happy. We're going through Ecclesiastes, there will be a time when you won't experience that same happiness. Your joy will come from knowing the Lord is in charge, even in my misery. We don't put into practice the Word of God. What good is the Word of God? We're like this denomination, we changed our practice long ago so we'll just rewrite our doctrinal statement and move on. We believe in the creation account, we believe in the difference between a man and a woman, we think it is terrible what the world does, and no, I don't do what my husband wants me to do, no, I don't provide godly leadership for my wife. At the very foundation of everything, we just begin to dig away and remove it. You'll note he comes out of the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.

Come down to 1 Timothy 4. The Spirit explicitly says,” “it couldn't be any clearer, “that in the latter time some will fall away from the faith.” Now note this, these aren't people out here, unbelievers who have opposed the faith from the beginning. These are people who have professed faith and adherence to the truth of God will fall away. This is part of the problem in leadership. Now you can get on and listen to everybody. I'm surprised how many people will make their authority someone other than the leaders God has appointed, like the elders. Like the husband, if you are in the home; like the elders for the church. God appoints elders and says submit to the elders, and the elders guard the purity of the church. I don't agree with the elders, but I can still be godly because I'll just go to another “Bible-believing” church. That is rubbish, it is doctrines of demons, deceitful spirits.

People think I sometimes can say things softer. Paul says they are deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, the hypocrisy of liars, seared in their own conscience. But wait, they profess to be believers, they have just fallen off. Well, give them a kick in the pants. They better get back because sometimes you don't know whether they are believers who have fallen away or false believers who are just going the way they always wanted to go. Why don't people like the truth? We used to talk about it among evangelicals, even in the city. I told you I was invited to a meeting years ago of evangelical pastors of large churches. But they said there are two requirements, #1, you will not talk about doctrine. We're evangelical pastors, we're talking about the church but we won't talk about doctrine. Where are we? Is it any wonder the church begins to wander? We have more churches in the city but I think the ministry of truth has gotten weaker in the years I have been here, more washed out. More talk about we're biblical, but less concern with the truths of the Word of God. Those who want to corrupt that, that's part of the doctrine of demons.

Verse 6, “In pointing out these things to the brethren you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine,” the healthy doctrine, “which you have been following.” You ought to hold that so tight nothing is going to move me away from that. I love my wife too much to follow her away, my kids too much, too much to follow them away, my allegiance to Christ is too great. We need men who will step up and stand and be firm. Not it's all right. We have had family members who say I know it was my mother, she didn't want to go. And we men say I have my job and . . . That is the emphasis we have had over the years -- we have a biblical church, a biblical structure and the structure is the men will lead. And godly women have helped make it all go because they have assumed their roles. So that gives us a strong body all around.

One more passage (we won't go to) but Peter says the wife is the weaker vessel and men live with your wives in an understanding way as with a weaker vessel. You have to understand, be understanding of my wife, I have to be willing to bring her along, have to love her as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her. Christ didn't love the church and follow the church, He did what was best for the church.

So my concern in all of this, to see the erosion of what is the foundation of a biblical church being given away with subtle movements in the practice so our practice is less and less conformed to the Bible. But that's all right, nobody is perfect. And pretty soon we move from sound teaching to weak teaching to little or no teaching, which opens the door to false teaching and practice.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the riches of your Word. Lord, we would not take the privilege that is ours, not only to belong to you, to be objects of your love and care, those entrusted with the treasure of your Word. It is a treasure, you identify it as a treasure. It is to be precious to us, more precious than life. Lord, we desire to be a church that stands for the truth, that practices the truth. It is easy to see the error in others, it's easy to criticize the shortcomings in others. But Lord we need to examine ourselves to see if we are being biblical, if we are honoring you by honoring your Word. Lord, for any who may be here who don't know you, Lord, they may have grown up here, they may have attended for years, but the truth of the Word has not gripped their hearts. They have not submitted in faith to Jesus Christ, the salvation that is found only in Him. Lord, may that become a truth for them. May we take nothing for granted, but Lord, walk with the confidence that you will guide us step by step as we are obedient to you in the Word entrusted to us. We pray in Christ's name, amen.