Women In Ministry Part 2 Series

NOTE: New Light Faith Ministries and Barry Johnson Ministries, founded by Rodney V. Johnson and Barry O. Johnson, respectively, are partnering to offer Bible studies for Christians who are seeking to grow in their relationship with Jesus. This is a Bible study lesson, not a sermon. The Bible studies teach foundational truth that are designed to challenge, encourage and, most importantly, flame the fire of hunger in the Christian who wants to learn more about who they have become in Christ Jesus. The Bible studies you find on this site contains the written version of the lesson. However, these lessons also include a video and an audio file of the study, a PDF version of the lesson and a sheet for note taking. If you would like any of the additional resources for these studies, please email us at newlightfaithministries@gmail.com or bjteachingltr@gmail.com for more information or contact us at the email provided on both of our Sermon Central pages. Be blessed.

Women In Ministry – Part 2

Introduction

The question of whether it is proper for a woman to preach or exercise leadership in the church has received much attention in recent years. Some denominations permit and even encourage the unrestricted use of a woman’s gift in all of the offices of the church, while others consider it unbiblical for a woman to preach to or excise authority over a congregation that includes men. Today is part two of our study titled “Women In Ministry.” In part one, we looked at four women in the Old Testament who played major roles in Israel’s story: Miriam, the first prophetess identified in Scripture; Deborah, a prophetess and a judge; Huldah, a prophetess; and Queen Esther. In this lesson, we are going to look at women in the New Testament who played important roles in establishing the early Church and who are specifically mentioned in Paul’s writings. As we ended part one, we asked you to keep in mind what is recorded in Joel 2:28-29 – “28. It will come about after this that I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. 29. Even on the male and female servant I will pour out My Spirit in those days.” God makes it clear here in Joel that He would use both men and women to deliver His message to His people. And this is important as we continue to look at this topic. We cannot let religion and it’s traditions about what women can and cannot do in the Church take the place of what God has said in the Bible about the vital role women play in the spread of the Gospel.

Now, there is one last passage we need to examine in the Old Testament before we get into the New Testament. The passage is Genesis 1:26-28. “26. Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ 27. So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:26-28) Notice in verse 26, God says “let them have dominion” and in verse 28 He says “have dominion.” From the beginning, dominion or rulership over God’s creation was designed to be shared by the husband and wife. And, based on our reading of Scripture, there is nothing that indicates God had changed His mind.

As we go through the New Testament examples, we want you to recognize that a lot of what we will cover is based on Paul’s interactions and recognition of women in ministry. We are calling your attention to this fact because as you recall, Paul was trained as a Pharisee and Pharisees held a very narrow view of women doing anything and definitely not anything pertaining to ministry. So the fact that Paul, as a trained Pharisee, acknowledged women in ministry says something. Rodney, why don’t you get us started with our first New Testament reference.

New Testament Intro

Barry I want to reiterate what you said about Paul as that is important. He acknowledged women in ministry and I believe he did so because he understood Jesus’ heart as Jesus never differentiated between men and women. Both were allowed to sit at His feet and learn, ask questions, and gain an understanding of who He was and what He meant to them. The best example of this is when Jesus visited Martha and her sister Mary as recorded in Luke chapter ten. Beginning at verse thirty-eight, it says, “38. Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. 39. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. 40. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, ‘Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.’ 41. And Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. 42. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:38-42) Mary was sitting with the men at Jesus’ feet learning. Traditionally it was the expectation that she would be doing what Martha was doing, preparing food and serving the men, but that is not what was in her heart to do on that particular day. She had a desire to learn from Jesus and regardless of the expectations that had been placed upon her, on that day, in that moment, she chose to sit at His feet with the men and do just that. When Martha complained and asked Jesus to correct her, He corrected Martha instead because Mary had chosen to learn. Women were present throughout the New Testament. Remember what was recorded of the prophetess Anna? Luke 2:36-38 says, “And there was a prophetess, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years and had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37. and then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple, serving night and day with fastings and prayers. 38. At that very moment she came up and began giving thanks to God, and continued to speak of Him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.” Anna served God continuously in the temple as a prophetess after her husband died and she gave thanks to God when Jesus was presented in the temple. As I said a minute ago, women were present throughout the New Testament as many were mentioned by Paul as “fellow-laborers” so there is no question that women had a role in the New Testament Church. Barry, let’s begin with what happened on the Day of Pentecost because that day opened a lot of eyes about women being seen as equal to men in the eyes of God.