A. There is a growing pressure in the Lord's church for women to assume leadership roles in the church and in public worship.

  1. The influences of society and culture are having great effects on God's people.

  2. In recent years, some have rejected the limitations in I Corinthians 14:33-35 and I Timothy 2:11-15 and are attempting to place women in leadership roles.

  3. Now, the attempt has developed into an extremely divisive issue threatening the harmony and purity of the church.

B. This divisive issue must be settled through God's word (John 8:32) and not by what is politically correct or man's likes/dislikes.

 1. The Bible reveals God's will as stated in the texts for women pertaining their role in the Lord's church

 2. It is alleged by some that unless women have exactly the same role as men- they are regarded as " second rate Christians."

Discussion

 A. Meaning of head in I Corinthians 11:3 " head of man is Christ; the head of the woman is man; the head of Christ is God."

  1. Christ not second rate Savior because He is in submission to God

  2. Thus, the man or the woman are not second rate Christian because of submission to Christ

  3.Christ, man and the woman have different roles, but the differences do not make them inferior

 4.Head is from the Greek " kephale" meaning " source, origin or beginning" not necessarily "leader or ruler."

 5. " Submission" (Greek " hupotasso") the also found in Ephesians 5:21 means " voluntary yielding in love" 

B. What Can Women Do in the Church?

  1. Their God given limitations do not mean that women are to be inactive in the church

  2. From Titus 2:4-5, they play vital functions in the life of every congregation as follows:

  a. Teach other women

  b. be obedient to their husbands

  c.teach her children, 2 Tim.3:15

  d. teach privately, Acts 18:26

  e.relieve the afflicted, I Tim.5:10

  f..win their non-Christian husbands to the Lord, I Peter 3:1

C. What Women Can Not Do in the Church

  1. Pray in public, I Timothy 2:8

  2. To teach a man or to have authority over men, I Tim 2:11-12

  3. Authority from Greek " authentes" which means " to dominate someone."

  4. Eve did that in Eden when she took the leadership.away from Adam, Genesis 3:16

  5. To teach comes from the Greek " didaskein" to instruct, to lecture, to deliver a message/ sermon

 6. Women are to "learn in quietness; to be silent; to be in full submission"

  7. Silent is from the Greek " hesuchios" which means " peaceful, self-controlled, still or calm"

  8.Women, therefore, are not to override or over power the spiritual leadership of men in the church 

Conclusion

 A." To learn in silence" applies to all Christian women for all time/generation in all churches of the Lord

  1. " In full submission" (Greek " hupotasso") means " voluntary yielding in love."

  2. In a church assembly, the audience, including women, submits to the speaker giving the lesson

B. This was not a matter of culture in Ephesus or Corinth or in the First Century only

  1. Read the following passages I Corinthians 11:2-16; 14:33-38 and I Timothy 2:11-15

  2. The instructions were addressed to all Christians in all places for all time, I Corinthians 1:2 " to all in every place who call on the name of Jesus!"

 C. Summary of the Main Points

 D. Invitation to become true Christians, Matthew 11:28-30