But develop them in every other kind of ministry. You need to encourage them. You know, the younger ones do not know what their gifts are, and they are timid. The older ones should encourage them, give them opportunity, and give them some advice, helping them.
You know, sometimes encourage them; and if you find that they are going in the wrong direction, then discourage them and help them to come in the right direction, because the Lord may not want them to be in this ministry of God’s Word. So, not only the elders, but those brothers and sisters who are more spiritual do need to have a care over these younger ones.
The question is: on Sunday, if you let someone who has never spoken try for five minutes, and there are so many brothers and sisters—or maybe even unbelievers—there, would that be a real problem? Of course it would be a real problem.
So when do you try them and let them train? You have them in small groups. When you are in a small-group fellowship or in a small-group Bible study, you know, that is the time when you allow them to express themselves. After a certain time, they begin to develop, and then maybe they are able to speak more.
So that is the way it is.
There are really many questions on this, but simply speaking, it is this: What is a woman’s place in the church? Do women have ministries in the church?
I remember one day a sister got so angry and unhappy. She said, “We sisters do nothing in the church but serve in the kitchen.”
That is not true.
God created man and woman. They are different. They have one life, and yet they are different. Why? Because God wants them to cooperate. Each must play his or her part.
This is the divine order. God set up a divine order. Amen. That is man and woman. Why? Because the design of God is that, through the cooperation of man and woman, God’s work and God’s purpose can be done and fulfilled.
So, dear brothers and sisters, today in this world, you find we reject that divine order. This is one sign of the end of the age. But God has a divine order.
This divine order is not kept in the world, not even kept in homes. But God has a home He has redeemed. He expects that order to be followed in homes. He expects that order to be followed in the church.
This does not mean that the woman is lower than the man, or that sisters are lower than brothers—not at all.
Because when God shows us the divine order in 1 Corinthians 11, He says, “God is the head of Christ; Christ is the head of man; man is the head of woman.”
Now, brothers and sisters, in the Godhead, the Father and the Son are one. They are one in substance, one in essence, one in everything—equal. But, for the sake of God’s work to be done, there is a work to be done, and the Father and the Son agree: the Father will take the place of the head, and the Son will take the place of the body.
Do you think it is easy for the Father to take the place of the head? Not at all, because in taking the place of the head, He has to sacrifice His authority.
For all the work to be done, it is agreed between the Father and the Son: the Father will take the place of the head, and the Son volunteers to take the place of the body. So He came into this world to become Christ, the Anointed One.
So here you find, when our Lord Jesus was on earth, He always took the place of the body. He never usurped the place of the head.
You read the Gospel according to John. He said, “I cannot do anything by Myself. I do it because I saw My Father doing it. I cannot even say anything of My own. I say it because I have heard My Father say it. It is not Me; it is My Father who is doing the work.”
You find how, throughout His life, He denied Himself—that is, His own will, His own head. He refused to be His own head. He accepted His Father as the head: “Not My will, but Thy will be done,” to the point of drinking the bitter cup and being crucified on the cross.
That is the example. That is the cooperation. That is how the work of redemption is done. That is how God’s purpose of securing a bride for His Son is done.
Brothers and sisters, in that same divine order, Christ is the head of man—and the word man means man and woman. Every male believer and every female believer takes Christ as head. We are His body.
That is to say, we do His will. The will is His. He is the One who wills, not we. We are the ones who believe and do it. Is that true with you?
Why do we need to present our bodies as a living sacrifice? Because when you present your body as a living sacrifice, you acknowledge Christ as your head. “Now I am a body here, belonging to You. May Your will be done.”
Unless you see that God is the head of Christ and Christ is your head, you will never be able to accept that man is the head of the woman.
Man and woman are equal, sharing the same life. But God, for a work to be done, made them differently, that they may each fulfill their part. One alone cannot do it; two together will do it.
In the church, this divine order has to be recovered. Man in the church represents Christ; woman in the church represents the church.
And that is the reason why you find government—elders—are chosen from men and not from women.
You know, today in this modern world, we want to reverse this. We will not accept divine order. We want to appoint women elders. Why not? Women can be queens ruling an empire. Women can be prime ministers. Why not women elders?
Well, if you want to make the church like the world, do it. But if you want divine order, then, brothers and sisters, in government God does not seem to give women governmental responsibility. It is the work of men.
But in ministry, there are many ministries. The question is this: many sisters have a greater measure of Christ than brothers. So how about that?
You say elders depend upon spirituality. Then women—sisters—are more spiritual than brothers. Thank God for that; that is true. But, brothers and sisters, there is a divine order there.
If a sister is really spiritual, she will know her place in the church. If one of our sisters needs to be told what her place in the church is, something is wrong.
You know, in 1 Corinthians 14, Paul said, “Let the women be silent in the assemblies.” And he said, “You should know it. If you do not know, that is what it is.”
Thank God, the ministries of the sisters are most necessary and essential. As a matter of fact, you find everywhere that the brothers may give the order, but the work is mainly done by the sisters. Everywhere it is the same thing.
The brothers take the leading part, but the sisters take the supporting part. It is the supporting part that really does most of the work. How would the church be if there were no sisters?
Dear brothers and sisters, God has given the sisters ministries of many kinds. Why must you want what God has not given you?
Let me be more specific.
You know, in 1 Timothy 3, you find that not only are the qualifications of the elders given, but there are also deacons, or ministers, mentioned. There are women there; in other words, there are deaconesses there.
Now, deacons and deaconesses serve the church in the many affairs of the church. They are not a governing body, but they are actually the body that does all the various works in the church: visiting the sick, taking supplies to the needy, looking after people, serving tables, and doing all these things in the church.
You know, these are deacons’ work, and you have deacons and deaconesses. So, in other words, you find that there is much work that you can do in the church as deaconesses. And, of course, as a sister, as a member of the body of Christ, according to the gift that God has given you, there is a function in the house of God in which you can function.
But I think the problem today is: can a woman teach? I think that is the real problem, just as, can a woman govern in the church?
And God does give women teaching ministry—prophetic ministry. You know, the daughters of Philip the evangelist were prophetesses. No doubt Priscilla had a teaching ministry. You know, she was the one who taught Apollos, that great teacher.
Thank God, in church history we find many women who taught, and we received much help from these women. Think of Monica, how she was helped greatly by [unclear].
In 1 Corinthians 11, when a woman is praying or prophesying, let her head be covered. So that shows that a woman does pray and a woman does prophesy.
And yet, in 1 Corinthians 14, it says, “Let a woman be silent, as in all the assemblies.” Is there a contradiction?
In 1 Timothy 2, I think, he says, “I do not allow a woman to teach, nor to have authority over man, because it was Eve who was deceived, not Adam.” Is there a contradiction there?
God gives women gifts of teaching, and yet here you say, “Let a woman be silent.” Then why does God give her a teaching ministry?
Well, to really understand this problem, I have to go around a little bit. You know, the letter of 1 Corinthians is a corrective letter. In other words, it was written to correct certain things.
Paul was in Corinth for a year and a half, meeting with these brothers and sisters. He left them, and then after several years he heard that something had happened in the church in Corinth. They also wrote him and asked him a number of questions, and some people from Corinth came to him and told him about their problems.
Because of this, Paul wrote this letter called 1 Corinthians. So 1 Corinthians is a corrective letter. That is the nature of that letter. You have to understand.
Now, the Corinthian believers had been meeting together for several years already. Paul never told them how to meet. Paul never told them who could speak and who could not speak. No.
You know, this is the way God always does. When God’s people first begin to come together, He does not lay down certain rules and regulations, straitjacketing us and saying, “Now do this; do not do that.” Brothers and sisters, if you do that, you stifle life.
When life begins, you give life freedom. You do not try to bind it with rules and regulations. You do not do that. Let life grow.
So the Bible never tells us how to meet, who is to speak, and who is not to speak in the beginning. Just come together. Leave it with the Holy Spirit.
Brothers and sisters, do you dare to do that? If you believe in the Holy Spirit, in the presence of the Holy Spirit, if we hold Christ as head, brothers and sisters, that is what it should be.
And here you find these people meeting together under the headship of Christ, with the Holy Spirit in their midst. But unfortunately, many of them remained immature. They did not grow up.
Because of that, after several years they were still doing childish things. In doing these childish things, they really, in a sense, hindered the growth of the church, bringing chaos to the church. And that is where order and regulations come in.
As a matter of fact, those who are spiritual should sense that order within them. Only those who are carnal do not sense order, because order in Scripture is not something put on; it is the order according to life.
When your life grows, you drop these babyish things. Who told you that? Nobody told you. You drop them because life tells you, “This is out of order.”
If you still cry out in the middle of the night for milk and you are already a teenager, it is out of order.
Brothers and sisters, order is life. For some people do not follow life; they remain in the flesh. And that is the reason why instruction comes in afterwards, not before—not before life, but after life.
Life begins to grow, and then you discipline life to make it grow better. That is a Scriptural principle. You do not prune the vine unless that branch bears fruit, and you prune it that it may bear more fruit—much fruit.
So evidently, in the beginning both the brothers and sisters spoke in the meetings. Both brothers and sisters taught in the meetings. And evidently there were some sisters who were very active, so they taught and taught and taught until the brothers became very timid, and they drew back and drew back and drew back.
That is what happened.
So the apostle said, “Now it is time. Does the Word of God come to you alone?” You know, you read 1 Corinthians 14. Why should the woman be silent in the meetings of the church? “Does the Word of God come to you alone?”
Now the Word of God has come to the brothers. Let them have the visible part. You do the invisible part.
This silence concerns teaching in the assembly. When brothers and sisters are all together, it is the time when the divine order should be manifested. So that is the reason why Paul said, “Let the woman be silent; let the man teach.”
But that does not mean a sister cannot give a testimony. But do not try to use the testimony to teach. That does not mean a sister cannot pray. But do not use your prayer to teach people.
In Timothy it says, “I do not allow a woman to teach, nor to have authority over man.” So this is one sentence. The teaching there has something to do with authority.
You know, teaching is of two different kinds. One kind of teaching is that you take what you have been taught and you teach. The other kind of teaching is that God gives you the discernment and understanding to decide on doctrine, on teaching. And that is with authority.
So you find that for a sister to teach is all right, as long as she does not try to define doctrine. Because that is with authority, and God does not give that to women.
Many heresies in this world come from women teaching, laying down doctrine. Why? Because women are made more of the heart. That is the reason why they can easily be deceived. Men are more cold; therefore, they seem to be constitutionally made better to decide doctrine.
So, brothers and sisters, women can teach with only a little limitation. That is all.
Furthermore—and I am treading on dangerous ground—I believe a woman can even teach when brothers and sisters are all there.
Let me tell you a story. I have lots of stories.
Once, when I was in Hong Kong, there was an interdenominational retreat, you know, and a sister was teaching there—a famous sister. I knew of her, and I went to hear her. I was in the audience.
Before she started, she said she had received a letter challenging her: “How dare you teach?” And it was written by Stephen Kaung.
I never wrote that letter. If I wrote a letter, I would not be there. Unfortunately, somebody used my name and wrote that letter.
Another story. In Shanghai, we had some sisters who were so gifted, and they knew the Lord. I received much help from them.
And we had sisters’ meetings. You know, they were not teaching brothers. Before, they were famous evangelists, traveling around and teaching people and so forth. But later on they felt their place was not to do such things, so they refused to teach the brothers anymore. But they taught the sisters.
So we had sisters’ meetings, and these sisters were teaching there. You know what? Behind the wooden wall, on the stairway, we brothers were all sitting there.
So we felt very uncomfortable about it. Why was it that we could not receive the benefit? Why should we be bound?
If this is the Word of God, we have to obey it. No matter what, we obey it. But perhaps we misinterpret or misunderstand.
So, as we searched and searched before the Lord—we have not made it public yet—we came to a conclusion.
We felt that, actually, there are two kinds of meetings in Scripture. One we call church meetings, and the other we call ministry meetings.
A church meeting is where brothers and sisters come together as the church. There is a mutuality there.
And it is in the church meeting, because the brothers represent Christ and the sisters represent the church, that the brothers take the prominent part and the sisters play the supporting part, to keep that order.
But the ministry meeting is different. A ministry meeting is the exercise of a gift. It is not mutuality; it is one way. The one ministers to the others.
So finally we came to the conclusion: if the Lord gives a sister the gift of teaching, why not let that sister teach in a ministry meeting? In other words, we call a meeting to hear the Word of God, and we ask the sister to teach us.
The only thing we do is that we always ask a brother to chair the meeting. Why? In case anything should happen and authority has to be exercised, then that brother will exercise that authority.
I wonder if this will solve our problem. No, I just leave it with you.
Dear Lord, Thou art the head of the church. We are Thy body.
We thank Thee that it is our privilege and joy not to will, but to obey.
Lord, do show us more of Thy headship. Do enable us to be Thy body.
We do pray that Thy divine order will be recovered in the church, so that Thy work may be done.
We pray that the brothers and sisters will not be against each other, but will be working together for the building up of the body in love.
We do want Thee to have Thy bride. Come quickly, Jesus. Amen.