Honeydew - Questions and Answers — Zac Poonen

There were a few questions that were sent to me earlier on. Do you have any more with you? No. OK. If I'll answer the ones I have here and then if there are any other questions, I'd be glad to answer them.

Authority, Head Coverings, and Women's Ministry in the Church

One of the questions here relates to authority in the church. 1 Timothy 2 .12 states clearly that authority in the church is male. It speaks in 1 Corinthians 11 again about orderly behavior, that a woman is not to partake in public debates.

But it states that a woman can pray or prophesy with her head covered and the wife should have her head covered as a sign of subjection to her husband. Some say the wedding ring is a sign of today. What does it mean here when it says because of the angels?

OK. Now, as you know, among believers, there's a lot of difference of opinion on this. But personally, this is how we have practiced it in our churches. And this is my conviction that scripture teaches very clearly that because Adam was made first and he was made to be a helper to Adam, therefore a woman must that order and creation indicates that God intended authority to be with the man.

That's very clearly written in 1 Timothy 2 .12 and 13. A woman should not exercise authority over a man because Adam was created first and then Eve. It's a very simple explanation. And then the second thing is that a woman should not teach because a woman was deceived and not Adam.

That reason is also given there. So there are two spheres of ministry which a woman is not called to do in a church. One is being a leader and the other is doing the teaching in a church. Now this is referring to the church because in the next chapter, he says, I'm writing all these things, chapter three, verse 15, so that you can know how to conduct yourself in the church.

So this is not talking about ministry outside the church. A woman can teach other women. Titus chapter two says a woman should teach other younger women. We can teach children, can share the gospel with unconverted people, men or women.

And that covers 90 percent of the world. So she has a sphere of ministry in 90 percent of the world. And even within the church, she has a sphere of ministry within at least 50 percent of the church who are women.

And more than 50 percent because if you include the children as well. So there's a very wide sphere of ministry open to all women. It's only a small sphere that's restricted of teaching in the church and leadership.

Now that's God's order. It's just like, I mean, it's no use arguing about it. It's like God has not ordained that men should bear children. What to do about it? God's given that privilege to women. Okay.

We accept it. We men accept it and say praise the Lord. We don't attempt to compete or any such thing in that area. We're glad to hand over that ministry completely to women. And that's what it says here.

You know, after it says about women should not teach, but it says a woman can bear children in 1 Timothy 2 .15. So that's also a ministry, you know, to bring up children in the fear of God. And the covering over the head is a symbol like many symbols.

The 1 Corinthians 11 deals with two symbols. The first half of the chapter deals with the head covering. The second half of the chapter deals with breaking of bread. Both are symbols. And I've noticed that people who seriously accept the last 12 verses of 1 Corinthians 11, the last 12 verses deal with breaking of bread.

They don't say that is a cultural thing, but they do have a controversy over the first 22 verses. But it's in the same chapter. Both are symbols. The breaking of bread is a symbol of Christ's body being broken for us and of our union with Christ.

And 1 Corinthians 11 speaks about a woman covering her head, symbolizing three things. First, it says a woman, verse 7, is the glory of man and the head of a woman, verse 3, is the man. Therefore, a woman should cover her head because the glory of man has to be covered in the church.

And woman is the glory of man. That's what it says here in verse 7. A woman must cover her head because she is the glory of man. Man should not cover his head because he is the glory of God. The glory of God should not be covered in the church.

It's a symbol. The second is a symbol of authority, verse 10, that a woman is taking the place of submission if she is a wife to her husband, if she is a daughter to her father, if she is a widow to the elder of the church.

A signifying that she takes the spirit of submission. And it says here, because of the angels. That was the question in this question. Because of the angels, 1 Corinthians 11 .10 means, it's a sort of a warning, not only to women, but all who rebel against authority.

Remember how the first angels fell. The first angels fell through rebellion against authority. That's how Lucifer became the devil. So I believe that's the meaning of that. And I personally don't believe that we can replace what's written in God's word with a wedding ring or anything like that.

And the third reason is, it says a woman's hair, verse 15, is given to her as a glory. You know, a major part of a woman's attractiveness is her hair. And if she shaves off her hair, she's not going to be as attractive.

And I believe the third reason why it says here a woman should cover her head is that she should cover her attractiveness in the church. Perhaps to avoid distraction, I don't know. But anyway, that's what scripture says.

It's a pretty long passage of 22 verses. Sorry, not 22 verses, up to verse 16. It's actually divided into 16 verses, and then the next 18 verses deal with the Lord's table. But at the end of this section, the first 16 verses, he says, if anyone is inclined to be contentious, Paul recognized that even in that time, there were going to be people who argue about this, like that's particularly in the last century.

Well, the last 50 years particularly. He says, if anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no other practice, nor the churches of God. So he says, that's how we do it. And he leaves it at that, and he says, we're not going to get into an argument.

Personally, in our church, I would say I would teach this, but if some sister didn't have a conviction, I would say, well, it's up to you. You do it as the Lord leads you, as you are convicted about it.

Divorce, Remarriage, and Human Responsibility

Another question concerns divorce. If an unsaved man summons his saved wife for a divorce, because he wants to marry another woman, is it right for that saved wife now to marry again, if she got saved after she was married to her husband?

Now, there are many people who feel that anything done prior to our conversion is blotted out by the blood of Christ, and all things are passed away, all things are become new. But we have to be careful.

As far as God is concerned, that's right. But there are human responsibilities that we have that are not wiped out, just because we did it in our unconverted days. Supposing I borrowed a thousand dollars from somebody when I was unconverted, and then I got converted, and I say, well, you know, God's blotted out all the past, brother, I'm sorry, I'm not going to return that money anymore, because it's all gone, that was the old man.

You know very well, that would be totally unchristian. Zacchaeus went back and returned all that he did in his old days. So, I mean, if you say that a man's marriage is annulled, just because he got married as an unbeliever, well, then a lot of those people, you have to consider them as single, then you can go and marry somebody else's wife as well.

Because you say, well, that was when she was an unbeliever, she got married to this man, but now she's not married, because that happened in the unconverted days. No, I don't think it's true. It doesn't make a difference when we were married.

Because we must remember that marriage was not instituted by God for Christians. It was instituted for human beings, for society. Adam was not a Christian, he was a man. And as a man, he needed a wife.

And God gave him a wife, not because he was a child of God, but because he was a man. And if a Hindu gets married to a Hindu woman in a temple, God recognizes that marriage. Those are two, what God has joined together, let no man put asunder.

If you say, well, because they got married in a Hindu temple, they are not husband and wife, would you say it's right to go and marry that woman, who is married to that Hindu man? No, we would get into ridiculous situations, if we ever went that way.

It doesn't make a difference when we were married, even if we didn't have a proper marriage ceremony. It says about Isaac that he took Rebecca into his tent and she became his wife. I don't know, they never probably signed any certificate or any such thing.

They didn't have paper in those days in any case. Whichever way people get married in different ways, in different cultures, but when they are married, God accepts them as husband and wife. And it's a very sacred relationship, which must never be broken.

There may be situations where a woman is abused physically and probably sometimes very badly emotionally where I would even recommend, where I would recommend that she stays separately but not divorce.

Because the Bible says in Malachi, God hates divorce and we must take that position. And where a person has divorced already, when they come to the church, I would encourage them not to marry again. If they have already married and got children before they came to the church, then I have no command in Scripture.

In Scripture, Jesus only gave a command concerning a person who is considering divorce, he should not do it, and considering remarriage, he should not do it. But I don't see a command in Scripture for those who are already divorced and remarried before they come to the church with their children.

And so therefore, I would consider each case by the principles of Scripture which say, let everything you do be done in love, in compassion, not making the poor children suffer for the sins of their parents, and with wisdom.

But one thing certainly, I would never give such a brother any responsibility in a church. Because the Bible says, an elder must be the husband of one wife, so if he's got two wives, one is forsaken and the other is married, he can never have responsibility in a church.

So these are the standards of God's Word. We can't make a law concerning every situation, but to answer this question, it is not right for her to marry again. If she should consider herself as one who has been forsaken by her husband, as long as her husband is alive, it's not proper for her to marry again, that's my conviction.

You know, it's interesting that in India, we don't have this problem at all. It's one of the blessings of poverty. And I think my children went to a school where there were a thousand students, and not one of those students was from a divorced family.

You can walk down a street with two hundred houses and none of them will have divorce in their homes. So Indian culture frowns against it. So we've had very little problem in this area at all, by God's grace.

There are certain blessings that come with poverty, and this is one of them. Another is a question about if I really desire godliness above all things, but I have to be honest and say that I'm still a mixed believer, I started to pray that God would remove the love of the world from my heart, the lust of the flesh, eyes and pride of life, but I don't seem to be free from it.

Taking Sin Seriously and Walking by Faith

Now first of all we must be convinced, there are a couple of things we must be convinced about. One is the seriousness of sin. You know, if I think of sin as a weakness, I won't take it seriously. I mean if you got a little patch in your hand which you suspect is leprosy, you would not take it lightly.

And if it's spreading, you wouldn't say, oh well yeah, I got a little bit of leprosy, it's okay, what to do, I mean, is it spreading? Yeah, it's spreading a little bit. I mean, but that's the way people talk about anger.

Brother do you still lose your temper? Yeah, I lose my temper once in a while. Does it happen more than once a day? Yeah, sometimes it happens. Leprosy is spreading. You see, we take it so lightly. And anything you take lightly, you'll never overcome.

You know, you go to a village, people in the villages of India, they don't know what cancer is. Because leprosy you can see, people are scared of leprosy because there are visible evidences. But a person got cancer in the stomach, he doesn't know.

Okay, he lost his appetite a bit, and the doctor examines that village woman and says, you got cancer. Oh, cancer is it? They just go about their work and I got cancer. It's not serious, but an educated person, boy, they are really scared.

They say, I've got to do something about this to get rid of this cancer. Now, I don't find that attitude among Christians to say things like anger, the lusting with the eyes. I don't find that attitude.

And then I say, I'm not surprised that such few folks don't get victory over sin. So the first thing we need to be convinced about is the seriousness of the sins that Jesus spoke about, particularly in the Sermon on the Mount.

Jesus spoke in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapter 5. You just take Matthew chapter 5. Anger, lusting with the eyes, sinning with the hands, telling lies with the mouth, the desire for revenge on someone who's hurt me, Matthew chapter 6, seeking the honor of men.

These things Jesus hated. He denounced it. But I find lots and lots of Christians don't seem to be taken up seriously with these sins. When I see, the Bible says, it's another question here, it says about, it says faith is the thing that overcomes the world.

How does this achieve daily? Does God remove the affections in our heart towards the world and things of the world one day or does this happen gradually as we exercise our faith? That's 1 John 5 .4, it says, this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith.

The world, according to 1 John 2 .16, is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. And 1 John 5 .4 says, the victory that overcomes this world is faith. So that's the second thing we need.

One is to see the seriousness of sin. The second thing is faith, faith in God's promise. You know, faith doesn't come by imagination or by, like I said earlier, my bright ideas. There's only one way that faith can come.

Romans 10 .17 says, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. The word of Christ is the New Testament. This is the word of God, the word of Christ is the New Testament. And faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ.

So, I cannot have faith for whatever I want to have faith for. No. It must be based on the word of Christ. Now if I try to have faith for something which the New Testament does not promise me, it will be very difficult to have faith.

What I call faith will be just something I try to work up. See, faith must be based on God's promise. God told Abraham, you are going to have a son. That's why he had to believe. And that's the basis of his faith was that God had told him.

And Abraham said, yeah, Lord, I believe that. So, without God having first told Abraham, you are going to have a son, however much he may have wanted to have a son, he couldn't have faith for it. There was no possibility of faith where God has not first spoken.

Now, if you can understand this simple principle, if God has not first spoken, you have no basis for your faith. I mean, you can pray for it, but that's not faith. Faith is based on what God has revealed.

For example, I'd like to have hair on my head. Some of you who are not bald don't realize what a tremendous advantage it is for you to have hair on your head. I don't mean just for good looks, I'm not bothered about that.

I'm just thinking about protection when we go out in the sun. You don't need a cap, I need one all the time. Now, however much I may desire this, I can't have faith for it, because I don't have a promise.

In the New Testament, it says you ask for hair and you'll get it. So, I can hear some preachers say, Brother, trust God for hair on your head. I struggle to trust God for hair on my head, nothing happens.

I lose a few more the next day. But, I'll tell you what I can have faith for. Romans 6 .14 says, Sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. There I can put my foot down and say, Lord, this wretched sin is having dominion over me.

Anger, lust, telling lies, seeking the honor of men, desire for revenge, bitterness. These things are having power over me. And your word says it will not have dominion over me. I'm gonna have faith. Based on what?

A clear promise of scripture. As clear as God telling old Abraham, You're gonna have a son. Your wife's gonna bear a baby. Okay, Lord, I believe it. So what if my wife is 90 years old? She's gonna have a child.

He believed it because God said it. So if you can understand this simple thing which says in Romans 10 .17, Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. It's not whatever you want. It's what God has promised.

And it's what God has promised clearly. Don't go to vague verses. And imagine that that's what God's promised. You know, for example, it's a very common thing nowadays for people to... It's not nowadays, but the last 40 -50 years people have been preaching on this verse.

You know what John wrote in his letter, in the third letter of John. Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health as your soul prospers. It's the sort of thing which anybody would write in a letter to anyone.

I would write that in a letter. Brother, I hope things are going well with you. I hope your business is prospering and I hope you're keeping healthy. That's all John is saying. Now people have gone into that verse and produced all types of doctrines on it.

That God wants all believers to be prosperous and all believers forever to be healthy and have led people into tremendous bondage on it. Look for a clear promise in the word of God. Not, John says, I wish this for you.

Paul once said, I wish all of you were single. Why don't people go for that? You know, there's a verse like that, 1 Corinthians 7. Paul clearly says, I wish all of you were single like me. You know, we have this selective choosing of verses which suit our convenience and leave out the other ones.

No, no, no, no, this is not the base of faith. Is there a clear promise in scripture? Why is it people choose that verse where John says, I wish you'll prosper and be in health and not choose what Paul says, I wish you'll all be single.

It's the covetousness of man which draws him to something which satisfies his lust. The love of money is one of the greatest lusts in our flesh. The love of comfort, the love of an easy life is a tremendous lust in us.

And religion caters to that lust. So, I'm just saying that we must be careful that we exercise faith based on what scripture says. So, the first thing, I must see sin as serious. And the second thing, I must have faith that in the new covenant, it says in Romans 6 .14, it's because you're under the new covenant.

Romans 6 .14 is a wonderful verse. You shall, sin shall not rule over you because you're not under the old covenant, but under the new covenant. In other words, under the old covenant, you could not hope for victory over sin.

You could get forgiveness. David said in Psalm 103, bless the Lord, O my soul, who forgives all your sins. But he could not say, bless the Lord, O my soul, who gives me victory over sin. He could not say that.

Because he was under law, under the old covenant. But under the new covenant, you can. Do you know, it's like, you know, when man invented a cure for leprosy. For years, there was no cure for leprosy.

But over the last hundred years or so, there's been a cure for leprosy. In the last few years, very good cures for leprosy where now we can advertise. It's advertised widely in India because a lot of people have leprosy in India.

That if you get leprosy, go to a doctor immediately because it can be cured totally. You can become a perfectly healthy normal human being. Think that we can proclaim that. And what would a leper, who is living without hope, feel when he sees such a notice?

He'll be so excited. Boy, I thought I had to live with this for life. And here I'm promised that I can be completely healed. What about looking at your anger like that? So often you lose your temper. Think of it as a leprosy and here you see the notice.

Anger will not rule over you. You can rule over it. You can finish with it. So that it's under your feet, not sitting on your head like it is. Think of the bad testimony it brings in your home. Think of how it spoils the atmosphere in our home.

Don't you think you should seek for that? More than for money and comfort. Do you think money will bring happiness in your home? If you get victory over anger, that'll be far better than if you get a little more money.

Any day. Why don't you seek for it? Why don't you get excited? Boy. Think of a man who is struggling with lust in his mind all the time. Plagued with dirty thoughts. And he sees one day the notice. Sin shall not have dominion over you.

This does not have to rule over you. Come into the new covenant. Boy, it's a liberating message for him. He must have faith. God, you can do it. It says in Matthew 13 .58 that he could not do many mighty works in one place because of their unbelief.

That means God says something and you don't believe it. It won't happen. God says, this particular sin that's bothering you, it will not rule over you. You say, well, Lord, I'm not too sure. It's ruled over me for so long.

I can't get rid of it. Okay. And according to your faith, be it unto you, you won't get victory over it. A lot of people who don't believe what God says. Well, they say, I can't get rid of it. My dad had it.

My grandfather had it. And I'm going to have it. So what? Why should I have it just because my father and grandfather had a bad temper? I don't have to have it. I'm in Christ. I can be filled with the Holy Spirit.

I can experience things that my father and grandfather never experienced. Not because I'm a better person, but because I believe God's word. So, it's very important that we believe God's word in these areas.

And seek to live the overcoming life that God wants us to have. Wants us to live. And here is another question about a lot of women nowadays who are concerned about how they look. The ideal figure and weight.

I realize all this is vain, but it's real. My sisters and I spend a lot of time discussing these issues, which we know are not edifying. And yet there's a bondage in it. As if we cannot do or don't want to accept ourselves the way we are.

I know that God accepts me completely, loves me unconditionally. But I don't share those thoughts concerning myself. And I know He did not come to better or save the flesh in me. But I find in me a desire to get the best of both worlds.

I hate this. I wish it were not so. I realize these things are like weights that pull us down to crush our faith. Now, I've realized one thing about this matter of being fat or slim. That part of it is hereditary, constitutional.

I've seen some people who eat such a lot and are still slim. And I've seen some people who eat so little and they still get so fat. So I realize this has got to do with heredity and genes. It's not our duty to judge anyone.

We must be comfortable with the way God made us physically. Our appearance, our height, our constitution. And not constantly wish that God makes me in some other way. Gluttony is a sin. To eat beyond what we need.

We're not talking about that. We're talking about being fat, which is not always related to gluttony. A lot of people are not gluttons. They are fat. I remember once I was in a place where in a question-answer time, somebody asked me this question.

Brother Zak, why are some people fat? So I said, I'll answer that question. I said, God has allowed some people to be fat on earth, to find out whether the thin people will judge them or not. So it's the thin people who are failing.

Because they judge someone. You know like the Pharisee said, Lord I thank you, I'm not like other men. And here's this person, thin person saying, Lord I thank you, I'm not fat like all these other people.

I'm slim and attractive, am I not? And it's that haughtiness that comes forth. I believe it's very important in a world where everybody is talking about this ideal figure and being attractive and all that.

Well what can I do? What can you do if your constitution and your figure is certain? Just say, Lord I thank you. Man looks on the outward appearance. Have got a continuous grouse against God, which they don't express sometimes.

But why did you make me like this? I want to say to you, you must get rid of it. If you haven't got rid of it till today, get rid of it today. Say, Lord I accept myself exactly as I am. You know we live in a, I live in a country where there are people who are very rich and very poor.

We have a thousand different standards of living. We have Christians who are rich and extremely poor and a whole range in between. And it's not due to lack of faith or anything that they are poor and it's not due to faith that these people are rich.

It's the circumstances in which they were born. In some cases they worked and earned and had some good fortune in life, made money. But, you know to accept one's circumstances, even if one is poor or rich and say, Lord I thank you.

If I can make things better, fine. You know the Lord, there is a verse in 1 Corinthians chapter 7 which explains this very clearly, which could apply to many, many situations. In 1 Corinthians 7 it says, Were you called as a slave?

You know a slave was worse than a servant. There were people who were bought like furniture. People would go and buy slaves. Were you called while a slave? Verse 21, did you get converted? And when you were converted were you a slave?

Don't worry about it. If you are able to become free, do it. But if you are not able to become free, don't worry. Just accept it. Because even if you are a slave in the Lord, you are free from sin. And the other person who is not a slave, he has to be a slave of the Lord.

So that's what it says here in verse 22. So, I would apply that to whatever circumstance you are in. I mean, I would say to people in my country, Okay brother, despite all your best efforts, are you still poor?

Accept it. If you can be better off, by all means, be free. Like it says here. But if not, remember, real wealth is not in these things. Like it says in the book of James, Let not the rich man glory in his wealth.

It says here, God has chosen, verse 5, the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which God has promised to those who love him. So, it may be poverty or wealth, it may be being fat or slim, it may be intelligence.

Some people are born intelligent, very intelligent. And some people, they struggle with trying to get their children to do well in school. Well, what can they do if the children are not so intelligent?

Emphasize to them the important thing is the heart. But this acceptance of ourselves, in the way God has made us, is very very important. The parents God chose for you are the right ones for you. The home you grew up is the right one for you.

To me, that's fundamental. It's from that point that we grow spiritually. Yeah, I think those are the questions. There was a question about the health and wealth gospel, or the prosperity gospel. Now, I come from a country which is very very poor.

Seeking God's Kingdom Rather Than Prosperity

It's the third world, India. And I have proved the reality of Matthew 6 .33, where it says, Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. And all these things. All these things means? Eating and drinking and clothing, all the necessities of life.

Not the luxuries. The necessities of life is what he has spoken of earlier. He says, don't look for these things. These things that are necessary for you. Your heavenly father knows that you need them.

They will be added to you. So I believe that a true disciple of Jesus must spend his life seeking God's kingdom. That must be his goal in life. To get more and more of God's kingdom. To promote God's kingdom.

To see that God's name is glorified in the country or town you live in. And the other things are not things you are supposed to pursue. God will add them according to your need. And I have seen in every single case.

When we started our ministry 27 years ago. And I realized that God called me to work in India. Which is not the poorest. But one of the poorest countries in the world. The villages of India are extremely poor.

And we have people sleeping on the streets. Not believers. But I mean poverty is so widespread. Many many slums. And I felt in this country. If I can prove. That in any country in any century. Matthew 6 .33 is true.

The best place to prove it is in a poor country. I mean to prove it in America. Where they have a social security system. Or to prove it in England. Where they have national health service. And so many other things free.

That's not such a great thing. They have food stamps for the poor in America. And so many advantages. In India there is nothing. If you are poor, you are poor. There is no social security. You won't even get free treatment.

Because the government hospitals are. Which do give treatment. Are so pathetically poor. In standards of hygiene. And there is so much bribery and corruption. That you cannot get free medical treatment.

And there is so much of corruption. In so many areas. So so so difficult to get employment. Such congested quarters we live in. I live in a city. Six and a half million people. In the city I live in. And the size of the city is twenty kilometers by twenty kilometers.

Six and a half million. And India has an increase of population. Of one and a half million every month. Eighteen million in a year. Now that's not births. That's births minus deaths. It's increase of population.

Eighteen million a year. Which means eighteen million more mouths to feed. Eighteen million more jobs one must have every year. Eighteen million more people need to find transportation by trains and buses.

Can you imagine the congestion there is? Can you imagine the amount of unemployment there is? The corruption this type of thing breeds. The shortage of food. Everything. And it's just increasing. They say in another ten or fifteen years we'll overtake China.

And become the largest most populated nation in the world. Is Matthew 6 .33? Does it still work in such a country? It does. We proved it in twenty seven years. Now I want to say I have never seen a single case.

This is a hundred percent success rate. I've never seen a single case in any village church of ours. Or any church where a person has honored God and starved. Never. I've never seen a case where a person has given himself to Christ and been born again.

Without his standard of living going up. Every single case. Their standard of living goes up. If they're in a slum. We had a sister like that. Who's in a slum. Got converted. And I tell you those slums are really filthy.