Well, we are gathered here this morning to consider together the matter of the place and ministry of the sisters in the church.
Now, we know that there are many voices and many different ideas concerning this matter, and we do not want to add to the confusion. Our desire is that we may go back to the Word of God—the truth—and trust the Holy Spirit to enable us to understand the truth. And the truth shall set us free.
Now, when you consider the matter of the sisters’ place and ministry in the church, you have to go back to the very beginning, because this is where it starts.
Our brother already mentioned that verse in Genesis 1:27:
God created man in His own image,
male and female created He them.
Again, in Genesis 2:18, the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helpmeet for him.”
So, brothers and sisters, when you consider these two verses, you can see clearly two things. One is that man, in his fullest thought, is a composite being. He is composed of a male and a female. They share the same life, but they are made differently, and they have their specific and distinctive functions.
God is after a cooperation—a working together of two parts, distinct and yet with the same life. By bringing the two into one, God’s will shall be done.
So, brothers and sisters, we find there is a fundamental principle we need to understand: man and woman are created equal. They share the same life. There is no inferior or superior, either in a man or in a woman, so far as life is concerned. They have the same life; they are equal.
And yet, when God created them, there was a difference. When God created Adam, He formed the red earth into a body, and into that body He breathed the breath of life, and man became a living soul.
But in creating the woman, God caused Adam to sleep, and out of his side God took something. In the original, it is not a rib; it is something out of him. And with that which was taken out of Adam, God made the woman.
So you find, in the process of the making of the man and the woman, there is a difference. The difference is not only in the physical makeup; the difference is also in the psychological makeup.
It is God’s will that this should be this way, because God is after a cooperation, a working together, each supplying the specific function in order that man may be completed—not only in their lives together, but in the work that God has entrusted to man.
Our brother also mentioned that verse: after God created man, male and female created He them, then He gave them dominion. Now, why did God give man dominion? It is to rule for God, to subdue all things, and to bring all things back to the feet of God.
Now, this is a tremendous task God has entrusted to man, and this task cannot be accomplished without the working together in harmony of man and woman. So, brothers and sisters, this is what we find in the very beginning of the creation of man.
Now, of course, in modern times we find there are very many different ideas. I think it is because men do not know God and do not know His way or His purpose.
Let us remember that, so far as we are created, we are created equal—equal in life. There is no reason why man should be more spiritual than woman, or woman should be more spiritual than man. God gives grace to man and woman exactly the same. He is not partial in any way.
So I do hope that we who are the Lord’s will be returned to the original thought. Whatever the world may think about man and woman, we as God’s people, in the redemption of our Lord Jesus, are being returned to the beginning.
We should not have any idea that man and woman are unequal before God. We are equal in life and equal in grace. God is not partial in any way.
But that does not mean that because we are equal, therefore our ministry and our place in the family or in the family of God are exactly the same. We are equal, and yet in God’s creation we are made differently. There is a purpose there. We cannot go against nature.
Nature is what God has created. So you find in 1 Corinthians 11 that it mentions this word nature. God has made it that way, and if you function according to the nature that God has created, then you get the best result. You get satisfaction and fulfillment.
If you work against the nature that God has put in us, then we are against God and against His way. You will find that in that situation there will be failure and unfulfillment.
So, in 1 Corinthians 11:3, it shows us that there is a divine order.
Now, brothers and sisters, order is for the development of life and also for the accomplishment of work. If there is no order, life cannot develop properly.
God is a God of order. In 1 Corinthians 14, it says that God is not a God of confusion, but of peace. In other words, our God is a God of order. He sets order in the universe, and this is the government of God.
Without government, without order, life cannot grow properly. Now, we live in this country, a democratic country. We are all created equal, but we still need a government, do we not? We still need a president. Why?
The reason is that without such order, without such government, we cannot live our life peacefully, happily, and successfully. Everything will be chaotic. Without order, there can be no coordination, no cooperation, no working together. Each will go according to his own idea, and under that kind of chaotic situation life suffers. You cannot grow.
Even when you are driving, there is order and there is authority. It does not mean that a policeman has a bigger life than you, or that he has a better education than you. You are equal, but you have to obey the policeman or you suffer punishment.
Because order is for life. Life grows with order; otherwise, it grows wild and not normal. But more than that, divine order is for work. In order to do our work together as one, there has to be an order.
It is for this reason that you find in 1 Corinthians 11:3 the divine order:
Christ is the head of every man;
and the man is the head of the woman;
and God is the head of Christ.
Now, this order is based upon God Himself. It begins in God. God is the head of Christ.
Let us remember that, so far as the Father and the Son are concerned, They are equal. Our Lord Jesus said, “I and the Father are one.” They share the same life, the same amount of life—nothing more and nothing less. Whatever the Father is, the Son is. What the Father has, the Son has. Everything is equal between the Father and the Son.
And in Philippians 2, it says that our Lord was equal with God, and it was not something to be grasped after. He did not need to fight for it or strive for it to get into that place. No, it was His by right.
So the Father and the Son are one in life, but for the sake of a work that God is doing, God set an order even in the Godhead. That order comes out of love.
It is not that the Father forced the Son to take a lower place in the work, nor was the Son forced to do that. This order comes out of love—out of the very life of God.
Love wants to do something. Love wants to accomplish something. Out of that love, the Father wants to give everything to the Son as the heir of all things. He wants to give man as a special gift to His Son, to be His helpmeet, His bride.
In order to have this work done, in order to defeat the enemy that is trying to frustrate God’s purpose, the Son willingly, out of His love for His Father, said, “Father, I will take the place of the body, and You take the place of the head.”
With the cooperation of the head and the body, that work of redemption shall be done. So, brothers and sisters, we need to see the beauty of order.
Order is for the sake of work. Order is an expression of love. Order is for the growth of life. Do not be afraid of order. It comes from God, and it is found even in the Godhead. In other words, Christ has set an example for us.
He emptied Himself. He emptied Himself of His glory and of His honor—the things that accompanied Him as God. Of course, He could not empty Himself of His deity, because that is what He is; that is His life.
But He emptied Himself of all these things that surrounded His deity. The reason He had to empty Himself of these things was that He could take a lower place. The Bible tells us that He took the form of a bondservant.
Formerly, He had the form of God. Now, the form here is not the outward appearance. The form here, in the original, is the inward quality and character. It is an inherent character, not an acquired state.
So here it proves that our Lord Jesus was the Son of God. He was equal with the Father, nothing to be grasped after. He is God.
And yet He willingly took the form of a bondservant. In other words, when Christ was born, outwardly He took the fashion of a man; but inwardly, in His heart, He took the form of a bondservant, because that is where man should be.
Man should be the bondservant of God—a love slave, not a forced slave. But man had lost this. So our Lord Jesus, when He came to become a man, in His heart was a bondservant unto God. He had no right of His own. He gave up everything. He did not claim anything.
Like a bondservant, He handed everything over to His Father. Throughout His life as man, there was one principle that governed Him. Everything He did, even what He said, was governed by one principle: “My Father’s will.”
He refused to be head of Himself. Why? Because He had taken the place of the body to honor His Head. He was fully prepared and willing to be the body.
You know, the head plans and decides, and the body receives and works it out—performs it. Whatever the head decides is done by the body. Without a body, whatever the head determines cannot be done.
That is the relationship between the head and the body. That is why there has to be one life. If there are two lives, you find it just cannot work. They share the same life with the same love. Nothing is forced, but everything is harmonious.
The body is willing to do whatever the head has decided, even unto death—yes, the death of the cross. Brothers and sisters, it is because of this that the work of salvation was done. God’s work is done on that very principle.
This principle of order is carried into the family. When God created man, in the forethought of man God had the family in view. They share the same life, but they have different functions. They complement each other; they do not compete with each other.
Unfortunately, you find in modern society that man and woman—husband and wife in a family—compete with each other instead of complementing each other. God has assigned to each his or her place. If each would take his or her place and work together harmoniously in love, the family would be blessed by the Lord.
According to the divine order in the family, man is the head of the family, representing Christ; and woman is the body of the family, representing the church. Beautiful.
The Bible tells us that, so far as divine order is concerned, Christ is the head of every man. “Every man” there is in contrast with woman. In other words, Christ is the head of every man.
Do not think that man is the head at all times. No. So far as divine order is concerned, Christ is the head of every man. The relationship between man and Christ is the relationship of the body to the head. Before Christ, man is the body.
That means man is to carry out the will of the Head, Christ Jesus. Man is not to be his own head. Unfortunately, sometimes men forget, thinking that because God has made them head in the family, therefore they are the head.
No. He is first the body, and then, representing Christ, he is the head. So when you think of divine order, do not think that man is superior—not at all. Man is under authority also.
You find that the centurion, whom our Lord Jesus said had great faith, said, “I am under authority.” Because he was under authority, he had authority over his soldiers. Otherwise, he would have no authority. His authority was derived, not inherent.
So we do hope that in the family, if man could take his place under the headship of Christ, knowing the will of Christ before any decision is made, man would never exercise his headship by himself.
The man should humble himself before Christ in fear and trembling, lest he make himself head instead of Christ. He is to bring the headship of Christ into the family.
At the same time, you find that the woman’s head is man. In the family, the head of the family is the man, and the woman is to take her place as the body.
You cannot have two heads in the family. There can only be one head. Why? Because with two heads, nothing can be done. The husband has this idea, the wife has her own idea, and each has her own way to do things.
It is just like in the book of Judges: there was no king, and everyone did according to what he thought was good. What he thought, or what she thought, was good may not be good.
I remember many years ago, when we first began. I do not know if any of you were here at that time. Jerry was here; I wonder about the others.
When the Lord first began to gather us together as an expression, it began really with the sisters. Oftentimes, that is the case in the beginning.
There were three sisters who really took responsibility when I visited Richmond. I spoke in one sister’s home, and most of those who came were sisters. Almost no men—well, one or two.
But gradually the Lord began to bring some young brothers into our midst, and Jerry at that time was a young brother. He is a grandfather now.
That is how we began. We met irregularly, only when I visited, once a month for a weekend. But later on, the Lord began to give us the desire that there should be a testimony to the headship of Christ and the unity of the Body of Christ.
We began to be burdened with that, and we prayed about it. But we felt that when you want to have something more concrete, more permanent, you need to work according to the divine order.
At that time, we shared with the sisters and with some brothers. There were some young brothers in our midst, and we prayed about it.
Until the three sisters said, “Well, we are willing to take the supporting part and ask these brothers to take the leading part.” So far as age was concerned, they were older and more experienced. I am not a judge of spirituality, but I would say they were more spiritual than the brothers.
And yet they were willing to obey the order of God. So they stood back and asked the brothers to stand forward. Thank God, God gave these brothers not only humility, but also the willingness to bear the burden. That is how we first began.
Even after we had met for a number of years, I never once openly spoke on head covering. Not because I did not believe in head covering, or because I shied away from the full counsel of God, but because I was waiting.
Divine order is not forced at all. It has to come out of love. It has to come out of willingness. It has to come out of understanding. Otherwise, it would be a law, and law binds. Only love builds.
So I was waiting for the time. And you know what happened? The sisters at that time began to study this matter of family.
As they studied the matter of family, a question was raised: in the family, should there be a head? Of course, Christ is the Head of the family, no doubt. But according to the Word of God, according to God’s creation, according to God’s order, who is to be the head of the family humanly speaking, representatively speaking?
They realized that their husbands should be head. But all over the world, I think it is the same. Some people say Chinese women are very strong, but when I came to the West, I found the same thing here.
These sisters were strong sisters. They used to rule their families. Their husbands listened to them, and if their husbands did not listen, the family would be disrupted.
It is a cooperation. If one is too strong, the other has to be a little weak; otherwise, there will be a crash.
Some sisters said, “But my husband is weak—weak spiritually and weak even psychologically. Now I have to take over; otherwise, how can the family run?”
Well, there is a solution. The sisters began to realize, “We have to make our husbands take the leading part in the family. We should take our place as the body of the family.”
A family is built mostly by women—by wives—not by husbands. The husband may lead and supply, but it is the wife who builds the family. Think about that.
So at that time the sisters began to think, “By the grace of God, we are willing to step back. Instead of making decisions for the family, we will ask our husbands to make the decisions. We will support them and pray for them, that they may take their place in the family.”
Thank God, this is how it began. When this was happening, they came to me and asked me about head covering. That was the time that I spoke with them on head covering.
Now, brothers and sisters, let me tell you how I feel. You can judge for yourself.
I believe in head covering. I do not consider this a Corinthian custom. I accept it as the Word of God. It is nothing in itself, but it is related to God’s divine order. That is a big thing. I think very few things are bigger than divine order.
That is the way I look at head covering. Head covering is not a law to be enforced outwardly.
This time Dora and I were in Paris, and we had a strange experience. The group that we were with consisted of people coming from a certain city in China. That city was Wenzhou.
That city is considered now as the Jerusalem of China because there are so many believers there. God did a marvelous work there. They were the gypsies of China; they went everywhere throughout the world. You go to Europe, and you find them everywhere—very successful business people.
That group in Paris all came from that little city, and they came from the same background as I had when I was in China. They kept very strictly the old tradition, but they loved the Lord.
For instance, in their worship time, for two hours there were unceasing prayers. Everybody prayed. Brothers and sisters, when I experienced that, I felt ashamed.
And yet, they kept very strictly all traditions. When we were in China, we believed in head covering, so every woman had head covering.
When we entered the meeting, I was going to speak, so they wanted me to sit at the front. I went to the front, and Dora usually followed me. But while she was following me, suddenly she was snatched away. Why? Because the sisters had to sit on one side and the brothers on the other side.
That was our custom in China before—not now. Not only that, during the meeting Dora put on a white covering, but everybody else had black. So some sister came and changed it.
Now, I do not believe in such things. I believe head covering is not a law. It is an expression coming up from within. When you see divine order, it is an honor, a glory, to have head covering. Otherwise, it means nothing.
Head covering does not have the same position in the Bible as baptism or the Lord’s table, but it does have a place—a rightful place—in the Word of God.
Christ has His head covered before God. But because He is head to every man, the sign of covering cannot be on His head. That does not mean that He is not covered before God. When He exercises headship, He is under the covering of God, never by Himself.
The same thing should be true with man. Christ is the head of every man. Man should have his head covered before Christ. But because he is to be the head of the woman in the family, the sign cannot fall upon him outwardly.
But thank God, this blessing is given to woman. God gives woman the sign of authority on her head. It not only reminds them where they stand in the order of God; it reminds the brothers that they should have their heads covered before Christ.
Every time you see a sister with head covering, it reminds me that I should be covered before Christ.
There is a testimony in 1 Corinthians 11 that even goes to the angels. For the sake of the angels—the rebellious angels—Lucifer did not cover his head before God. He rebelled against God’s order and tried to rob the place of the Son of God, to be equal with God.
Here on earth, there is this sign of authority, and it puts Lucifer and the rebellious angels to shame. Quite a testimony.
So we do not force any sisters to put on head covering. It is something that you have to take to the Lord. If the Lord shows you, do it. If the Lord does not show you, do not do it because others are doing it. Brothers and sisters, it is a matter of divine order.
Now, in a family, for the sake of the welfare of the family, it is God’s will and His order to have the man be the head and the woman be the body. But it is not something separated.
When the man functions as the head, he does not arbitrarily give orders. That is not the way. He is not only under the headship of Christ, but his wife, being his helpmeet and his life, should pray together with him and seek the feeling of the Body before any decision is made.
But the decision should be made by the husband. In the same way, the wife is to build the family, rule the family, and rule the children—but not without the husband with her.
So they work together, and it is a cooperation of love. Nothing is forced. Nothing can be balanced by law. Love works together as one. That is how you find a family blessed by the Lord.
Now, the family is just a type of the church. You remember Ephesians 5. Paul was speaking of the family, and he said, “Look at the family.”
The husband represents Christ. As Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her, so the husband should love the wife and give himself for the wife—to nourish her, to cherish her, and to treat her as his own body.
The woman represents the church. As the church obeys Christ in all things, so the wife submits to the husband, supports the husband in all things, and works together with him.
So, brothers and sisters, I feel that there is a problem here, if you allow me to share with you. Today I am not preaching; I am sharing.
In China, among God’s people, we made a mistake. Because the Lord had shown us what the church is, we gave ourselves to the church to such an extent that we neglected our families.
We had meetings almost every night. When I was working, I usually left home at seven and would not arrive home until seven in the evening. But if there was a meeting, I went straight to the meeting. I had no time for the family.
Fortunately, in China we had maids and servants, so that was how the family was taken care of. Otherwise, I do not know how.
But when I came to this country, I saw the opposite among God’s people—not among the world. Thank God, it is a good sign that among God’s people Christians really pay much attention to their families. I thank God for that.
But I discovered one thing: many men, and women too, always go to extremes. Today, with God’s people, family has become the thing in their life: “My family.” That is all.
That is wrong. Family is not the ultimate end; family is a means to an end. God raised the family for the church.
That is why you find Joshua saying, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” That is it.
Do not make your family the goal of your Christian life. We cannot make our spirituality the goal of our spiritual life. We need to grow, pursue, and be spiritual—but why?
Not that you may be a monument standing for everybody to admire. That is not God’s purpose. Why is it that God wants us to be spiritual? We should be spiritual; we must be spiritual. Why?
Because this is a step toward the building of the church. Otherwise, how can Christ build His church? There is no material.
So, brothers and sisters, if our own spiritual welfare is not the ultimate end of our spiritual life, then the same thing is true with our family.
We need to rule the family and build up the family according to the will of God—the stronger, the better. But it is not the end. It is for the church.
Every family is for the church: the husband, the wife, and the children.
So, brothers and sisters, I feel this is something that we have here in the West. On the one hand, I am thankful for what has happened; on the other hand, I am worried.
Because our whole effort is focused on our families, we neglect the building of the church. We have to find a balance somewhere.
We should not neglect our families. We should be with our children. We should help our children to love the Lord and to serve the Lord. But that is for the church, for the building of the church.
Because God’s eternal purpose toward us is the church—not you, not your family, but the church.
May the Lord give us wisdom in parenting: not to neglect the family, no, because that is where it begins; but it is not where it is going to end. It should end in the right way.
Now, when you come to this matter of the sisters’ place and ministry, after all this time, finally we come to where we are.
You need a foundation, because without a foundation, how can you build? We do not want simply to treat symptoms. When you have a headache, you take aspirin or Tylenol; when you have something else, you take another medicine. We want to go to the root of things.
So, what is the place of the sisters in the church?
Do you remember that verse in Galatians 3:28?
There can be neither Jew nor Greek,
there can be neither bond nor free,
there can be no male and female;
for ye all are one man in Christ Jesus.
What a wonderful verse. In Christ Jesus there is no Jew and no Gentile. In Christ Jesus there is no bondman or freeman. There is no social distinction, no racial distinction, and thank God, in Christ Jesus there is no male or female—no gender distinction.
Are you glad to hear this verse? In Christ Jesus, He is all; He is our life. Because of this, there is no gender distinction. I do hope, brothers and sisters, that you all remember that in Christ Jesus we are equal—the same, no difference.
That is the reason why we who are washed by the blood, God has made a kingdom, priests unto God. We are all priests unto God. There is no difference in Christ Jesus.
Not only is our life the same, but so far as our ministry is concerned, it is the same ministry with distinctive character.
It is not because, in Old Testament times, you could not be a priest if you were a woman. Even in the Old Testament, you had prophetesses—women. But in the New Testament, in Christ Jesus, there is neither male nor female. We are all priests unto God.
Being priests unto God, we all can serve Him. It is not because you are a sister that you are deprived of service unto the Lord. Exactly the same: we are all priests unto God.
At the time of the Lord’s table, Christ is the Head of the table, and we are invited by Him to come. As priests unto God, we are all equal before Christ. We can worship, we can pray, we can praise, and we can sing unto Him.
It is not because you are a sister that you cannot pray. In the exclusive Brethren meetings, the sisters cannot pray. They not only cannot teach; they cannot pray.
I visited them in this country when I first came. I went to their meetings, and sure enough, when they studied the Bible, only the men shared; the women were all silent. In prayer meetings, only the men prayed.
Because of that, they had an ingenious way. They started a meeting together in the prayer meeting, and that was among the Open Brethren. When they prayed, the sisters went into another place and prayed by themselves.
But we do not believe that. We believe we are all priests. Before Christ, we are all equal. Therefore, in the worship time, sisters, feel free to pray.
In the prayer meeting, we are free. We do not have an intermediary class to pray for us, as in Old Testament times. Feel free to pray, because you are priests unto God.
In Bible study, we study the Bible together. Share what the Lord has shown you. In preaching the gospel, women may declare the glad tidings.
Brothers and sisters, do not think that because you are sisters, you are forbidden to do this or to do that. I remember once a sister said, “What is our ministry in the church? What is our service in the church? In the kitchen—nothing else.”
That is not true. That is not true. You are needed in the kitchen, and you are needed in meetings of other kinds too. You are very, very much needed.
I do hope sisters do not have that feeling of being oppressed, suppressed, or having an inferiority complex. Thank God, in Christ we are all equal—free, free in Christ Jesus.
Freedom is in the Spirit. If you are not in the Spirit, nothing is free. Do not feel free to do anything if you are not in the Spirit. But in the Spirit, there is freedom.
But that does not mean that because of this, in the church there is no order. In Christ Jesus, we are exactly the same; but in the church, because it is a work of God, there is a divine order.
This you find in the Word of God. In the church, men, as husbands in the family, have the responsibility to lead and to supply. That is their responsibility.
The sisters, as wives in the home, have the responsibility to support and to build. Much of the actual building in the family is done by the sisters, not by the husbands—by the wives. This is evident.
The same thing is true in the building of the church. The sisters actually bear the greater responsibility; they do the work. If the sisters do not function faithfully in their ministry, the church cannot be built.
There are areas that God gives especially to the sisters to minister.
For instance, the children in a family. Who really trains the children? Not the father; it is the mother. Because the mother stays with them, the mother knows them, and the mother is always there and available.
The same thing is true in the church. The sisters are close to the younger ones—the children. That is their special sphere of ministry.
Now, it does not mean that a man should not do it. A man has his part too. But mostly, you find in the children’s work that the sisters bear the greater responsibility. That is the area. God made it that way. They have the love, they have the affection, and they have something that men do not have.
The Bible speaks of sympathy. In Romans 12, sympathy is to be exercised in sincerity. In the matter of sympathy—seeing the need, ministering to the need, feeling and helping the need—mostly this work is done by women, by sisters.
If the sisters do not minister, that area will be lacking. In our midst, that is a great lack. People will come and go, and nobody notices. Nobody goes after them. Nobody asks about them. Nobody visits them.
Very spiritual, very unreal. The church cannot be built that way. Sisters, you have great responsibility. I do not try to excuse the men, the brothers, but sisters, this is a ministry especially suitable to you.
Of course, not to be gossipers. Pray. Prayer ministry is a special ministry for the sisters.
Some sisters say, “We have nothing to do in the church.” But sisters, you have much more than you can handle.
But again, I will go back and say there is a distinction. That is why you find that in the church meetings, usually the brothers will take the lead.
Now, it does not mean that because they take the lead, therefore they take it all. They take the lead for the sisters to fill in. That is cooperation—working together.
It is not in any sense that the brothers are more spiritual than the sisters. Oftentimes, it is just the reverse. But that is the divine order. If we keep the divine order, the growth will be natural—supernaturally natural.
So, sisters, I am just mentioning principles. There are many things that you can do.
Now, the tricky part: can sisters teach? Can sisters preach? Can sisters minister the Word of God? Why not?
In 1 Corinthians 11, it says that if a woman prays or prophesies, let her have her head covered. God gives gifts to sisters—teaching gifts. Not to all, but to some.
So there is no reason why, if God gives gifts, you cannot exercise them. You can.
I often think of 1 Corinthians 14. It says, “Let women keep silence in the churches.” But do you know, 1 Corinthians is a letter of correction.
Paul was with the Corinthian believers for eighteen months. That is not a short time for Paul. During those eighteen months, he was with the believers, meeting with them all the time. He never once told the sisters, “You should be silent in the meeting. You should not preach. You should not teach.” He never did.
If he did, he did not need to write 1 Corinthians 14. Why? There is a reason.
When God’s people first come together, they are more like a family. In the family atmosphere, there is great freedom. The husband, the wife, the children, the older children, and the younger children can all talk and all share.
That is for the growth of life. Because in the beginning, if you put in a law, it stifles the growth of life. So Paul, being a wise master builder, knew this.
He never told the Corinthian believers how they should meet, whether the sisters could teach or not. He never did. Evidently, in Corinth a number of sisters were gifted. They could teach.
Because they could teach, they threatened the men, and gradually they began to take over the teaching ministry.
But thank God, as the church began to grow, Paul raised up brothers who were also gifted with teaching. When that happened, life had grown to a certain point, and order had to come in.
Order comes in with life. It is something from within, not an outward forced thing. Divine order always comes from life. As life begins to grow, the church is to follow God’s order.
That is the time when you have elders, deacons, deaconesses, and leaders in the church. Paul said, “Let the men take the lead, and let the sisters support it.” Is that not beautiful?
So it does not mean that the sister cannot teach. It is just that in the church, let the men take the lead and let the sisters support them. I think that should be enough for this point.
Now, finally, sisters’ meetings. What about sisters’ meetings? Do you find sisters’ meetings in the Bible? I do.
Paul went to Philippi, and he went to a sisters’ meeting. Of course, the men had all disappeared because they were not faithful to God, so only the sisters were there praying. Paul went to a sisters’ meeting.
It is true that in the Bible, so far as the church is concerned, God does not specify what kind of meetings we should have. The Bible does not even tell us how we should meet. Why? Because it is an organic body, and the Holy Spirit is there.
The Holy Spirit will teach us in all things, according to our need and according to the stage of growth.
So, brothers and sisters, remember: it is true that in the Bible you do not have a sisters’ meeting, a children’s meeting, or a young people’s meeting. But can we have a sisters’ meeting? Of course we can, if there is a need for it.
God is not bound. There is the liberty of the Spirit. If the sisters really feel there is a need for them to come together to encourage one another, thank God for that.
The sisters may feel they have a special need that the whole church should not be involved in, or cannot be involved in. Have a sisters’ time together. There is nothing wrong with it.
But remember, whether it is a sisters’ meeting, a brothers’ meeting, a young people’s meeting, or a children’s meeting, it is not separated from the church.
It is not something apart from the church. It is a part of the church, and this is something we need to remember. In other words, the sisters’ meeting should not go independently without the support, understanding, and guidance of the church.
So is the young people’s meeting. So is the children’s meeting. All these have to be related to the church.
If the sisters feel they have a special need, and they pray together and feel the need of it, they should talk to the responsible brothers in the church. They should share their burden with them and get their understanding and help.
Then the sisters’ meeting will not be a separate thing, isolated by itself. You need head covering.
Now, what are you going to do in the sisters’ meeting? It depends on your need. There is no rule or regulation.
If you feel at one time you need to come together to pray, thank God for that. The church needs lots of prayer.
If you come together to share your problems and your experiences, to help one another in practical things, fine. If you feel you want to come together to study the Word of God, why not?
Or if you want to come together and arrange how you can go out and help, praise God for that. There are lots of things you can do. But never be independent.
I think I have shared with you all that is in my heart. Can we have some prayer together?
Prophesying—in Old Testament times, the prophets and prophetesses prophesied. Even though the emphasis is slightly on foretelling, if you read Old Testament prophecy very carefully, it is more forth-telling than foretelling.
In other words, prophesying is when you are moved by the Spirit of God, and God gives you an insight into God’s mind concerning His people or concerning His work. Then you prophesy; you tell forth as you are moved by the Spirit of God.
The Bible says that no prophecy is by man himself, but holy men of God, as they were moved by the Spirit of God, spoke. So prophesying is more inspirational in nature.
Of course, it should never contradict the written Word. Teaching is more according to the Word of God, so it is more instructional than inspirational. That is the difference.
In New Testament times, we find that the foretelling part is very, very minor, if any. But the forth-telling part is more prominent.
Unfortunately, in charismatic movements, they make prophesying go back to Old Testament times, even making the prediction of people’s personal lives more prominent. That is very dangerous.
The question is: when is it appropriate for a woman to prophesy? If you want to use a modern word, to prophesy is preaching, because preaching is actually telling forth the mind of God.
If a woman is to prophesy, the best place is in a sisters’ meeting. When you have a church meeting, as you find in 1 Corinthians 14, when the whole assembly gathers together, because there is a divine order there, it is better that it is not done.
But again, I want to take back a little. We know that there are some sisters who are very gifted in preaching and teaching. We are not talking about Old Testament prophecy.
It is strange because even in New Testament times you find Agabus, who was a prophet and who really predicted. You also find Philip’s four daughters, who were all prophetesses. But the Bible never tells us where they prophesied or how they prophesied.
You have to put the whole Bible together and try to find the proper place and the right functioning. If you have a basic understanding, there should be no problem.
Sometimes God does raise up some sisters who are so gifted in teaching. For that reason, we feel that if a proper order can be maintained, they can exercise their function to all the brothers and sisters.
When I first began to serve the Lord, we had some sisters who were much older, much more experienced, and gifted.
Because they submitted to the order of God, they refused to be so public. They used to travel in China and lead meetings, but when they began to see God’s divine order, they ministered only to the sisters.
While they were ministering to the sisters, I and many other brothers sat behind a wooden wall. There were some holes there. We sat behind the wall, listening. That is what we did.
But thank God, later on He released us, because we felt that in the church meeting you have to keep the order, but there are meetings that are not church meetings—ministry meetings for the exercise of gifts.
If God gives her the gift, let her exercise it. So we would usually call a meeting, let a brother share the meeting and open it, and then ask the sister to share.
The reason is that in case there is disorder, in case there is confusion, the brother will take charge, because authority has to be exercised.
The question is about head covering. The Bible speaks of the woman’s hair being her covering, so why is it necessary to have a cloth covering?
Different people seem to read differently into the Word of God. Some people say that because the Bible says a woman should have long hair, and it is her glory, the hair is in lieu of a covering. Therefore, if you have long hair, that is the covering.
But if you read 1 Corinthians 11 very carefully, you will find it is not so. In other words, the long hair is God-given head covering, and the cloth head covering is a response to God’s order.
God has already naturally given you this sign, and in submission to God’s order, you put a sign on your head. That is why it says that if you do not have the head covering, then you should shave your hair. You have neither—either both or neither.
The head covering, as you read in 1 Corinthians 11, is a sign of authority on your head. The immediate authority, of course, is the husband, but as you trace upward, it is Christ; it is God.
At the same time, there is another meaning to it: it is for the enemy, to put the enemy to shame—that man, who is created lower than the angels, can submit to God, unlike the angels who rebelled against God.
Sisters, I know we only have five minutes left. Would you like to take a few minutes for prayer?