Feminism (Part 2)

Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author, Dr. Mike Avendrop. Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing

Pastor Mike open the Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the scriptures verse by verse with No Compromise.

Turn to Ephesians chapter 1, I want you to see how this word is used for authority. Just one other spot in the triune thinking,

Ephesians chapter 1, verses 22 and 23. You have to have your thinking caps on when it comes to the abstract concept of the

Trinity, but I think you'll be encouraged. Ephesians 1, 22, Trinitarian thinking,

Trinitarian language, and we see the word head and it means authority. And he put all things in subjection under his feet, the

Father did to the Son, and gave him the Son as source over all things of the church, absolutely not.

As authority, our head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

It does not mean origin, it doesn't fit the context. The Corinthians were usurping the authority of God's word, acting like they were men, doing things that men should do and they shouldn't.

And God wants the difference to remain in the worship service.

We are equal in Christ, but there are differences, who does what? I have a question to ask you.

Is Jesus equal to the Father? Is the Father equal to the

Son? Is the Spirit equal to the Son? Yet Jesus could say in full equality, my food is to do the will of him who sent me and accomplish his work.

Is Jesus worse because he's sent by the Father to do the work of God? Absolutely not.

You say, well, I can't really get the Trinity. Amen, welcome.

If you deny the Trinity, I'm not sure you can be saved. But if you think you can fully grasp it with a finite, sin -tainted mind, how can there be three in one?

Let me teach you quickly three points about the Trinity that if you remember, I'd suggest you don't write it in your margin.

I suggest you write it in the front of your Bible or in the back of your Bible. So if a Jehovah's Witness comes or someone else who denies the

Trinity, these are the three things that you need to remember about the Trinity before we get back into the passage about headship.

Number one, if you'd like to understand the Trinity, you must believe there's only one God, eternal, immutable.

His being is one, indivisible. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our

God is one. Actually that word one in Deuteronomy 6 doesn't mean one in isolation, but one in unity.

No one's like God, there's one God. Isaiah 43, before me there was no God formed, there will be none after me.

First Corinthians 8, 4, there is no God but one. That's why all other gods are false idols, aren't true, because there's only one

God. The fundamental truth of Christianity is there's one God, we are monotheists. That's point one.

Point two, if you'd like to understand the Trinity, you must remember that there are three eternal persons described in Scripture.

Three eternal persons, the Father, the Son, the Spirit. And they are never identified with each other.

The Father's never called the Son, the Son's never called the Spirit, the Spirit's never called the Father. Distinct persons, yet one

God. Turn to Matthew 28. So let's go to Matthew 28 and see how can there be three persons in the

Godhead, Father, Son, and Spirit. I always think of Holy, Holy, Holy, the song, God in three persons, blessed what,

Trinity. Matthew chapter 28, because man can't grasp something doesn't mean it's not true.

God, I can't completely understand you, it seems like it's transcendent logic, supralogic, it seems illogical.

It's not illogical, but we can't get our mind wrapped around it. That should not be cause for you to go, okay, it can't be true, because you can't understand the mind of God, therefore it must not be true.

That would be the wrong way to go about it. But here in Matthew 28, the small g, Great Commission, Matthew 28, 18.

Here it goes. The precision of the language. No wonder God took

Alexander the Great by the nose and yanked him up into Palestine and said we need this language because Hebrew's very picturesque, but not very precise, and we need an engineering -like language that is super precise because this

God we serve is precise and without precision you can't understand the Trinity. Jesus came up and spoke to them saying, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.

Still equal with God, in essence, but subordinate. Now he says to the men and all those who would follow, go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name, stop there, in the singular name.

What if, verse 19 said, baptizing them in the names of the

Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit? You have three gods, there's only one God, but it's singular name.

What if Jesus said baptizing them in the name of the Father and in the name of the

Son and in the name of the Holy Spirit? You'd have three separate beings, but it doesn't say that.

What if Jesus said baptizing them in the name of the Father, comma, Son, comma, Spirit? I'm a dad,

I'm a father, I'm a worker. One God described three different ways, but he doesn't do that.

What does he do to make sure it's as precise as you can get? Three in one. One God, three persons. Baptizing them in the singular name of the

Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. The unity of the three, all under the bounds of a single name.

Friends, did Jesus say, I am the Father? He said, I and the Father are one, but did he say,

I'm the Father? No. Did Jesus say, I'll send another comforter, me?

No. Did Jesus himself in the form of a dove descend upon himself? No. I could put it this way if you're a kid and we're just trying to get your attention a little bit.

Did Jesus throw his voice when he was getting baptized? This is my beloved Son in whom

I'm well pleased. I always thought that was interesting when I'd watch Ed Sullivan as a kid. How does that person throw his voice? It's an interesting thing.

When the Father sent the Spirit, was he really sending himself? Is the Spirit who intercedes before the

Father's throne now in Romans chapter eight really the Father talking to himself? Trinity, one

God, Trinity, eternal Son, eternal Father, eternal Spirit, and they're not the same.

Three eternal persons. And then the final thing that you should remember when it comes to the Trinity, not just that there's one

God, not just that there are three persons, but that the Father, Son, and Spirit are all fully God. Father, Son, and Spirit are all fully

God. Deity of Christ, deity of the Spirit, deity of the Father. So if you get these three posts down, post one, there's one

God. Post two, there's three persons all, none of them are the same, and they're all

God. You'll understand what you should understand about the Trinity. Jesus is called what

Yahweh is called in the Old Testament, the first and the last. Jesus is called what Yahweh is called in the

Old Testament, Savior, Shepherd, Rock. Jesus does what Yahweh does in the

Old Testament because he is Yahweh, he creates, he saves, he forgives. You say, no, no, no, he's just the

Son of God. God the Father is God and Jesus is the Son, lesser of essence.

What does Son mean? I'll tell you what Son means. I have a son sitting right over here, or he should be sitting over there. Where is he? Where are you sitting?

Son means that that person possesses the nature of his father. That's what that means.

So what's the point? The Father and the Son are equal, but they have different roles. Husband, since that's true, men, since that's true, you aren't superior to women.

You have a different role at work, maybe, maybe not. At home, yes, and in the church, yes.

And wives, my husband has a different role and he has headship in the home. Well, you don't have to get all crazy about it to think somehow you're inferior or you're not equal to him because you are equal in Christ.

Now back to chapter 11 of 1 Corinthians. Let's talk about this a little bit more. See, I said you're going to have to have your thinking caps on, but this is

Paul's argument. How do you figure out gender roles in the church? Answer, well, this is what culture did.

This is a patriarchal language. This is the talk of the day. See how bad men were to women throughout all these years.

That's not what Paul does at all. Paul says you want to understand men and women's roles, you've got to understand the Trinity or you don't get it.

Oh, Mike, but you don't understand. No, the Corinthians didn't understand. And if they did, they would have the right roles.

See the three there? The head of every man is Christ, the head of her wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is

God. Let's talk about that for a minute. The head of Christ is

God because if you get that one down, then you can get the other one down regarding men and women. Ready?

Some of you look ready. Some of you look like the Trinity. I actually want your mind to be short -circuited when you think of the

Trinity. I hope you're going to go home and go, I got to go home and listen to that sermon again. I don't know what he's talking about, but if he wants to grow the church and get a lot of money and a lot of people, that's the wrong kind of sermon.

I don't want a lot of money and a lot of people based on how I preach. I just want to be faithful.

And if God brings the people, fine, if he doesn't bring the people, fine. The Father, the

Son, and the Spirit are all equally God. Does the Son have more or less attributes of God than the

Father? Is the Son more wise than the Father? Is the Father more gracious than the

Son? Is the Holy Spirit more powerful than the Father? What's the answer to all these questions?

The Father is fully God, the Son is equally fully God, and the Holy Spirit is equally full of God. So what can it mean

Christ reports to the head God? It has nothing to do with equality.

It has to do with subordination. It has to do with function. It has to do with a captain and a sergeant.

It has to do with a husband and a wife. They are equal, yet they are different. How many times have

I said that today? Do you know what this sermon is about today? Subordination does not mean inequality.

And there has to be subordination at home, but the passage is there has to be subordination in the church. In the

Corinthians, we're insubordinate. Come one, come all. We're all equal in Christ, and they made the feminist fallacy true in what they did.

We're equal in Christ, true, therefore we have equal functions, false. The Godhead is equal in nature and essence, yet they have different functions.

The Son is subordinate. But I want you to know, even though the Son is subordinate, there is not a single attribute that the

Father has that the Son does not have. There's not a single attribute that the Father has that the Son doesn't have to the same degree.

R .C. Sproul said, when we speak of subordination of Christ, we must do so with great care. Our culture equates subordination with inequality.

But in the Trinity, all members are equal in nature, in honor, and in glory. And all three members are eternal, self -existent.

They partake of all aspects and attributes of deity. If you'd like to thrill your friends with theological jargon, you could say the

New Testament in the Trinity teaches ontological equality, but functional subordination. Boy, I just kind of got goosebumps down my back when

I said that. Ontological, our essence, equality, yet functional subordination.

And that was good. People say I put my hands up when we sing because that just epitomizes my praise and worship to God.

But people don't do that when I preach, though. I thought when God speaks through a sinful preacher, that's supposed to be the epitome.

One time I was in Africa, and I told that story to some of the men there who were pastors. And we were having a good time, and we took a lunch break, and they all got lined up and sat in their seats and everything ready, and their books open,

Bibles in their notebooks. And then I came in as a speaker, and I started to preach, and every single man raised their hand.

It's like, oh, the word of God. Equality, yet in,

I was going to say yet in subordination, yet subordination. Now let me ask you this, this is really cool.

When was the son subordinate to the father? You go incarnation, true.

How about in eternity past? Because the feminists say this, in the incarnation, subordinate yet equal.

But in eternity past, equal but not subordinate. And in eternity future, equal but not subordinate.

So now with the time I have left, here's what we're going to do. I'm going to show you three places where Jesus is subordinate to the father, yet equal.

Eternity past, incarnation, and eternity future. Ready? Number one, let's start with the incarnation, the one in time.

Jesus submitted as a son on the earth. Not much controversy there. Now if you misunderstand the

Trinity, you'll go to a verse like this one, the one that the Jehovah's Witnesses tell you at your door, and you can kind of get bamboozled.

Listen to this verse. Now that you know subordination does not mean inequality, and Jesus on the earth subordinated himself under the authority of the father.

When you read this verse, it makes all the sense in the world. John 14, 28.

You heard me say to you, I'm going away, Jesus said. I will come to you. If you love me, you would have rejoiced because I'm going to the father, for the father is greater than I.

The father has more attributes than the son? No. The father's more merciful than the son? No.

The father did more in creation than the son? No. But how is the son having not as much authority as the father?

How can the father be greater than I? Quoting Jesus, answer, by function.

And the incarnation, Jesus said, father you sent me. You just read John sometime. You sent me.

You sent me. You sent me to do your will. There is functional subordination. The father sends.

By the way, that's what father means, doesn't it? I'm a father and I should be given reverence.

People should rely on me. And I'm in authority. Those are three things that a father does.

Why is God called father? For many reasons. Not because he's male, like we think of male, but he is to be relied upon.

He is to be revered. And he's the head. And no wonder

Jesus said in John six, for I've come down from heaven not to do my will, but the will of him who sent me.

So Jesus is lesser of a God, right? Lesser of a person in the Godhead. No. Sproul goes on to say, the son obediently comes to the earth to do the will of the father.

We must be careful to note, however, that there is no sense of begrudging obedience. In other words, we have one

God and so we can't think that the father says, son, go redeem the elect.

Those sinful people, go redeem them. And the son's like, okay, whatever, I guess I go. No, because there's one

God, the one God's mind says, father, son, and spirit together, we will redeem the elect and make them look like Christ to the praise of the glory of our grace.

And we will be exalted. And so the father says, I have a plan, son, go. The son says, yes, I'm in on that plan.

I planned it with you. I will gladly go. I will eagerly go. But him eagerly going to do the will of the father makes him unequal to the father?

No, it makes him subordinate to the father. Jesus is in no way inferior to the father.

I and my father are what? One. Does that talk about ontological essence or does that talk about functional subordination?

You guys are smart. You guys are smart. I had a friend who said, every time I hear a word from the pulpit

I don't understand, I go home and look it up and just write it down. Then I got it. By essence equal, by function subordinate.

I and the father are one. Talking about what? By essence. The father's greater than I by subordination.

But you know the really neat thing? It's not just on the earth when Jesus subordinated himself to the father, but in eternity past.

Maybe one of my all time favorite topics is to talk about God before Genesis 1 .1. It's mind blowing.

Jesus submitted himself to the father on earth, number one. Number two, in eternity past.

I have a question for you. When did the commissioning take place for the son to come to the earth?

In eternity past. Jesus is the eternal son. He didn't become son when he cloaked himself with humanity.

He was always son. He was the eternal son, eternal obedience of the son, eternal subordination of the son.

Yet equal of course. God had planned and predicted long before the incarnation that Jesus would live and he would die and he would be raised from the dead and he would ascend to heaven.

Acts 2, this man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge. It was all planned.

No wonder Jesus said in Hebrews chapter 10, or it's said of Jesus, when Christ came into the world he said, behold

I have come to do your will. What were the first words out of baby Jesus' mouth? I don't think

Jesus said this with his mouth as a baby, but can you imagine? Before Jesus was born he talked.

Here's the point. Before time began, the council of the trinity, father, son and spirit had a plan.

And even back then when the plan was made and the plan was agreed, the son said I'll gladly do it and I'm under your authority father.

You send me, I'll go. Not just on earth, father, you're greater than I am. Father, I don't know these particular facts as I'm setting aside my access to all my privileges of deity, but in eternity past the same thing happened.

An eternal relationship of the father and the son. And then lastly, submission in glory.

Jesus Christ is subordinate to the father functionally in glory, although by essence equal.

Turn to 1 Corinthians 15. Internal subordination. Now as you're turning there

I want you to think about the future. Will God in the future be known as the father, the son and the spirit?

And if so, still using language of subordination and authority. Father having authority over the son.

Don't change his name when he gets into glory, nor do we say to ourselves, let's see, 15 times in the

New Testament Jesus Christ sits at the right hand of God the father. A secondary place of authority.

God has the place of authority. He sits on the throne as it were figuratively, but at the figurative metaphorical place, the right hand of the father is a place of authority, but it is secondary authority.

The eternal subordination of the son in past, on earth, and in the future.

And look at chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians. It's so wonderful. Then chapter 15 verse 24 comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God the father after destroying every rule and every authority and power.

For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

For God has put all things in subjection under his feet. And when it says all things are put in subjection, it is plain that he has accepted who put all things in subjection under him.

When all things are subjected to him, it's all at the foot of the cross as it were.

Then, this is future, then the son himself will also be inferior to him.

No. Subjected to the father who put all things in subjection under him that God might be all in all.

How cool is that? That on earth the son was equal to the father, I and the father are one.

Yet he said I came to do your will and you're greater than I am. In eternity past, God's greater, the father's greater in authority but not by person, our essence, our quality, our attributes, our honor.

And in the future after everything's said and done and everything's put under Jesus' feet, Jesus gives it to the father and says

I'm under you. So if the father has authority over the son and the son's under the father and there's equality and no one gripes about that, no one wigs out about that, no one's having some conniption fit about that.

When you grasp that, then you should say to yourself if God has placed me in authority at home or at the church,

I'm not better, I just have a different function. And if you're on the underside of that, like a member of the church where the elders have authority over you, you say the elders aren't better,

God has just decreed that role. And if you're a woman in the church, you say the men aren't better but God has just decreed the role.

And so show me a feminist and I'll show you someone who has a low view of the trinity. Four takeaways.

Number one, ladies and gentlemen, submission is not bad. It does not mean inferiority.

I think I've said that all along today, haven't I? If you're taking notes, that's the sermon. Subordination does not mean you're a victim.

Number two, whatever God calls himself in the Bible, you should call him.

Oops, did I just say him? Sorry. You should call the he, she. No. What God calls himself.

Jesus could have said, by the way, all that Old Testament prophet stuff and God the father and all that patriarchal nonsense, this is who he should be called.

No, he called him the father. We're taught to pray our what? Father. Oh, no,

I got bad thoughts about men and patriarchal stuff. I got a bad father on earth.

Friends, you think about if God, the greatest father ever, should be revered, relied upon, and to be tucked underneath his authority, you can still say,

God, you're my father. So what the Bible says about calling him things, he's not called the mother.

He's not called he, she. He's not called the he, she. God is not called the creator, sustainer, redeemer.

The father, the son, and the spirit. Number three, rejoice in authority.

Don't buckle against it. Don't go against it. Don't buckle under it either.

The opposite of authority is chaos. Ask the government in Somalia.

God has a well -ordered system at home and in the church, and we rejoice in that. Otherwise, we're saying,

God, we don't like the way you do it, and we don't like you because you have a well -ordered functional system, as it were, called the trinity.

And then number four, I've been waiting for this all day. Authority is godlike, and submission is godlike.

People go, oh, it's just authority. That's godlike. Because the husband's over the wife, and the elders are over the church, and that's like God the authority.

What about the son? The son submitting, Philippians chapter 2, even though he was

God, he is God, he didn't grasp his exercise of his attributes.

He cloaked himself with humanity. And if the son submits to the father, it is godly to submit.

It is godlike to submit. Isn't that good to know? It frees everything up. Right? The moral of the story today is, the truth that you need to remember is,

God is one. He exists in three persons, the father, son, and the spirit. They are all

God. And the son gladly subordinates himself to the father, yet everyone's equal. And therefore, the picture of God as the trinity fleshes itself out in the church between men's roles and women's roles.

Who can teach? Who can't teach? What men can do, what women can do, because everyone is a sinner saved by the grace of God who does what

God, who made the universe, says to do. God in three persons, blessed trinity. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life -transforming power of God's Word through verse -by -verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 8 .30 and 11 a .m. and Sunday evenings at 6 p .m.

We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston, Massachusetts. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org

or by phone at 508 -835 -3400. The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff or management.