Part 4 - Matthew 10:5-6 - No Dogs Or Women Allowed! Series

Part 4 - Matthew 10:5-6 - "NO DOGS OR WOMEN ALLOWED."

Some years ago in Whitsunday Baptist Church a few men got together and started a prayer meeting. We met every week on a MONDAY MORNING AT 6 AM at Wyn’s place. It was high up on the side of a mountainous hill that overlooked Proserpine and back towards Airlie Beach. Beautiful setting! The mist would hover in the valleys on a winter’s morning and the view was spectacular from above. By the end of the meeting the mist was gone and wisps of clouds hovered over the valleys. A perspective from above is always a good way to start the week. They were great prayer meetings. I miss them.

Even Jesus gathered 12 men together, prayed with them and taught them, and He also gave them a higher perspective on life. BUT WHAT ABOUT THE WOMEN?

For many years Golf was played only by men. Some have considered GOLF to be an acronym meaning Gentlemen only, ladies forbidden. I remember hearing about some women who objected and won a court case to include women in their local Golf Club. In 2007, the Women’s British Open in Golf was played at the historic Old Course at St. Andrews in Scotland for the first time. The Clubhouse is famous for its Chauvinistic sign which reads "NO DOGS OR WOMEN ALLOWED."

We placed no restriction on dogs in the prayer meeting but we said "NO WOMEN ALLOWED!" Just for the blokes! We felt we could accomplish a whole lot more without having women present to distract us and restrict us from being ourselves. Men seem to want to impress women when they are around. We didn’t want that. We wanted to be REAL with eachother, and ACCOUNTABLE to eachother. We laughed a lot, prayed a lot, shared a lot and had men from all over the world join us at various times. Sometimes the group grew quite large. At other times it was quite small. NO WOMEN OBJECTED to our prayer meeting.

Have you ever wondered why Jesus only calls men to be among the 12 disciples? WHY NO WOMEN? Did He just want to be with the blokes? Did He think that ONLY MEN could get the job done? I don’t think so. You would think it would be to His advantage to have women as disciples, especially when you had a hungry crowd - someone said a woman can feed a crowd at a moment’s notice when there is no food. They would be good to have around the Pharisees who refused to take in what Jesus was saying - someone said a woman will just keep trying to get through to a man EVEN WHEN HE JUST DOESN’T GET IT.

In the wider circle of disciples there were women. He obviously has close women friends also such as MARY AND MARTHA but they are not included in the twelve. Why? Was it a CREATION PRINCIPLE that a man should lead? Did Jesus choose men to REVERSE THE CURSE caused by Adam’s sin when he disobeyed God by eating the fruit from the TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL? These men preached REPENTANCE?

All through the Old Testament the Jews are the people God chose to take His message to the nations. Jesus gives them THE FIRST BITE at the apple, so to speak, concerning the New Covenant message, only this time it’s from THE TREE OF LIFE.

Did it have something to do with the fact that He was sending them to the JEWISH PEOPLE FIRST and culturally women would not have been accepted as teachers in the synagogues? All I know is that eventually it was men AND WOMEN who changed the world with the message of the gospel, BUT AT FIRST, for whatever reason, it is a small group of men who lead the way with this spiritual responsibility. Personally, I think it’s great to see blokes taking the lead.

I love the way that Jesus doesn’t only teach me, He also SENDS ME. I have a purpose to fulfil as I represent Him today. I am to put what I learn from His Word into practise. That’s true for men and women alike.

The emphasis of this passage has nothing to do with whether Jesus chose men or women. It’s to do with being sent as His representatives. The apostles were "sent out ones" who had His authority.

God bless you Church as Jesus sends you out with His authority to act today, as He gives you a higher perspective on life so that you can share your faith and see the curse reversed, and as you learn to apply His Word to the everyday situations of your life.

Pastor Ross