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For Women Only 2: Crazy Enough to Lead Phoebe 5/20/07

Allen R. Hunt Mount Pisgah Romans 16.1-5

I did not think much of it until the phone rang
Couple I’ll call Ben and Betty had been visiting our church in another town

Betty taught with Anita – second marriage for Ben after bitter divorce

Trying to find a church home – so we invited them to come worship

Visited once or twice – then not around for a while so I followed up with them

Ben called me back – Made it clear that they would not be returning to our church

“Because you have women not only reading Scripture in worship but in leadership roles.”

Because of that conversation years ago, I have had this message on my heart – in working on this series, God directed me to share a teaching message with you

Discover things today that few Christians know – because God is in the details

Many Christians agree with Ben– much debate about women’s role in church
Churches where women cannot pastor, some cannot lead, and some where cannot speak

Introduce you to a very interesting passage you probably have never visited – overlooked

Romans 16 (read here) – where …
1) You meet the most interesting people and learn the oddest things

Look at all the things you learn about the early Christians

Not so much what they believe but how they lived – and who they were

Notice how many folks Paul knew in Rome – place he had likely never been

Says a lot about travel and commerce in Roman empire – that he would have that many Christian acquaintances in Rome – people he had met in Asia Minor now there

Notice the mention of house churches – multiple ones around Rome – church focused around homes, where people gathered

Notice how many women Paul mentions

Notice their prominence, their roles

Most folks ignore the details of this passage – but learn a lot when you look at the details

God is in the details

2) Silent women: What the apostle Paul SAID on occasion

(1Timothy 2.11-15; 1 Cor. 14. 33b-36)

33For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.
As in all the congregations of the saints, 34women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. 35If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.

36Did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only people it has reached?

Paul is famous for this passage from 1 Cor. 14 – women to be silent, submissive

Heard that passage quoted by preachers and Christians all my life

Paul giving instructions to church in Corinth and we really do not know the details of this

But clear that on occasion, Paul told women to play a secondary role and to be quiet when the church gathered together – perhaps specific problems in that church

1 Timothy takes it further and tells women to have no authority over a man in spiritual things – submissive

Most folks read these two passages and stop there – as if that were all the Bible had to say about women and the church – some choose to place women in secondary role

Others, more liberal, say Bible outdated – ignore this passage – we have a different view of women

Both of these positions are wrong

Here’s why

3) Mission Matters Most: What Paul and early Christians DID

Important not only to look at what he DID not just what he SAID

The first two people Paul mentions in Romans 16 – are women

Learn a whole lot when you look at the details we discover about those women

Remember Romans

Paul ready to head to Jerusalem from Corinth – taking an offering to the poor there

Before he leaves, Paul dictates this letter to fellow named Tertius

Sends it to Rome via a woman named Phoebe – no UPS, FedEX or email – hand delivered – good travel system

Tells Romans that after he goes to Jerusalem, he will head to Spain – to share the Gospel

Plans to stop in Rome – asks for their help – prayer and financial – exactly how we still do things today – on a mission you ask the church for help with prayers and finances

Then Paul gives marvelous letter, Romans – perhaps greatest thinking piece of the Bible

And he sends it with

A) Phoebe (Romans 16.1-2)

1. Commend – circle that word – Paul sends the letter via Phoebe

He entrusts that important task to her – a woman

‘Commend’ - lets us know that she is carrying it for him – she represents him – ‘commend her to you’– i.e., receive her, welcome her – ‘she is my emissary’

When she arrives with the letter, treat her as you would me – fellow believer

He then calls her a

2. Deacon (Phlp. 1.1; 1 Tim. 3.8-13; Col. 1.23-25; Romans 15.8)

Important word – means “servant”, usually term for a leader – as it is here

Word Paul uses for leaders in churches – like Phlp. 1.1

1Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,
To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons

Word Paul uses to describe himself in Colossians 1

Position Paul describes in detail in 1 Timothy 3

Position modeled after Jesus in Romans 15.8

8For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God's truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs

Phoebe is a deacon, leader in church in Cenchraea – meets in her home as a matter of fact

Paul is saying – she’s not only carrying letter – she has authority, she is a deacon, a leader

God is in the details

Then Paul calls her

3. Helper/Patron (Luke 8.3; Acts 16.14-15; 17.12; Mark 15-16)

Real word here is Patron – means she has means – a wealthy woman – capacity to support others

Housing the church in her home, providing for the needs of other Christians, traveling to Rome, entrusted with the letter – this is an extraordinary woman

No question about it – Phoebe is playing a leading role in the church

Now – look at the very next person mentioned in the letter

B) Priscilla (1 Cor. 16.9; Acts 18.1-3, 18, 26; Rom. 16.3-5; 2 Tim. 4.19)

She and her husband met Paul in Corinth – natives of Pontus, came to Corinth from Rome when Claudius ran all the Jews out of Rome during a persecution

They are tentmakers, like Paul

When Paul left for Syria and Asia – they accompanied him

And now they are back in Rome

1. Partner_(Romans 16.3-5)

Notice how Paul describes her here – “my fellow workers”

And her name comes first – highly unusual – nearly unheard of in first century

And he says she has risked her neck for his sake – partner in mission

Paul is grateful – risked themselves not only for him but for all the churches of the Gentiles – these folks are leaders – and her name comes first – she is primary

2. Persuader

(Acts 18.1-3, 18, 26)

She is also a persuader

When they met Apollos in Ephesus, a great Christian preacher – called him aside and corrected him

She clearly is playing a leading role

Leader
Again, church meets in their house

I.e., wherever they go, they lead

Do not miss this: First two leaders mentioned in Romans 16 – women

Playing huge crucial roles in the Church as it develops and emerges

So my position and that of the Methodist church has been that what early Christians and Paul did matters at least as what they said

Particularly because we do not know all the circumstances around the settings where Paul instructs the women to be silent – special problems in those churches? We don’t know

But we do know Mission comes first – it matters most

God uses whomever He needs and is available to advance the mission

And it seems very apparent that God called and used women in prominent leadership roles in the early church

26You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Gal. 3.26-28)

III. So in the Methodist church, in early Church, and in Bible, gender does not matter nearly as much as mission

In fact, early Methodists – England and Ireland - led by lay people – converted in large settings, gathered in small groups, like house churches – taught by mill workers, farmers, men and women alike – no such thing as ordained preachers in most places

When the Irish potato famine hit – folks fled Ireland

Arrived in America – no more Methodist house churches/small groups/”societies”

Did best they could – just looking for leadership anywhere they could find it - mission

Barbara born in County Limerick, Ireland

At age eighteen Barbara publicly professed her faith in Jesus Christ

Barbara married Paul Heck, and together they braved a 63 day trip to NYC in 1760

City's spiritual carelessness startled Barbara, as did degeneration in those of her extended family (cousins, in-laws, more distant relatives)

She pleaded with her cousin, Philip Embury, to preach

He maintained he couldn't as he had no church or congregation

"Preach in your own home, and I will gather a congregation", Barbara replied.

Mustard seed beginning consisted of four people: Barbara, her husband, a laborer, and female servant. Black and white. Male and female, they persevered

Soon congregation had outgrown private home where it was meeting

Barbara designed first Methodist church-building in the new world

Building soon outgrown, and in 1768 another raised in New York City.

Seats had no backs and gallery reached by means of a ladder. 100’s every Sunday.

When War of Independence loomed, Barbara Heck’s family moved, to Montreal area.

Undaunted, however, Barbara commenced her mustard seed sowing all over again.

It took her years to gather enough people to form the first Methodist class in Canada.

I.e., first Methodist church in America designed by a woman who loved God and stepped up when there was no one else to do so to organize a group of Methodists in NYC

Then did the same thing in Canada

These were remarkable people – people of courage and faith

So is it any wonder that Mount Pisgah – begun by a preacher who crossed the Chattahoochee to preach to the settlers on this side of the river in 1831

That preacher? A woman named Mrs. Martin

No one really cared she was a woman – she had the bread of life, she was called of God

Mission matters most – God uses whom He calls

Invitation to lead today – important time in our congregation’s life and history

Transition and head into Fall – calling men and women alike to lead – see card