Women - the Weaker Sex?

Women, the weaker sex. The question mark. 1st Peter 3 and verse 7 in the Revised Standard Version. It says that women are the weaker sex, weaker vessel in other scriptures. But the context, if you really read it, is not putting them down. As a matter of fact, God holds women up, where many religions do not or have not in the past. But I do find it interesting. I think you will too. You read this Bible, and the first 2,000 years in this Bible, starting in Genesis, going all the way up to the conduct of Abraham. 2,000 years roughly takes place. Women are a non-issue. Oh, matter of fact, only three women are mentioned. Eve, Adal, and Zilla. Not Godzilla, but Zilla. Zilla and Adal were married to Lamech and the first multiple marriage. The guy didn't condone. It took place then. But you go for 2,000 years, and there's no strong woman listed. Think on that. A third of human existence.

And they're not hardly even mentioned. And no woman. As a matter of fact, women in the Bible were at that time irrelevant. Women in that part of the world at that time, they didn't really matter.

I had thought because someone asked me, why? Why? Many are 6,000 years. In 2,000 years, women didn't even really warrant important. They had very few rights or privileges. And as the singer James Brown says, it was a man's world. And that's the way it was. Till one woman shows up on the scene. Her name was Sarah. It's all right. Her name was Sarah. And this laughing wife, who had a mother bear personality about her son. I think most of you know the story, so I'm not going to beat that in the ground. But I just wanted to reference her because she was a groundbreaking woman. She wasn't about to let some other woman's son mock, laugh, make fun of her son. She was also the one who laughed when said, you're going to have a baby. 90 years old. Doesn't matter. You're going to have a baby. I think anyone who is close to 90 years would laugh today. Yeah, Maria, maybe another one. God had his purpose. And I think that's very interesting. But even God, in this book, God listened to Sarah and even told her husband, Abra, listen to her do what she says when he wasn't going to. I find that to be very interesting because Abraham was a great leader and patriarch of his time. It's interesting because Sarah is the most mentioned woman in the Bible. Her name's mentioned more times than any other woman in Scripture. And she was the great grandmother of many nations, just like God promised she would be. Maybe she didn't see it. I'm sure when she was 90 years old and sitting by the fire before the angels came, she was not even thinking about having a child. She definitely at that time wasn't she was not reading baby books or what books and find name babies like most pregnant women did today do today. Weak women. Not really here. Not really here. I want to cover that because not that I'm taking anything that will be covered at our women's weekend. But I think it's important because according to my numbers now here we have 25 no 28 to 35 percent more women in this congregation than we do men. I'm glad you approve. It's not due to me or you, it's due to God. Or he did that because he has a purpose being worked out down here and I appreciate that. So I'd like to go, if you will, with me to a very strong woman. Her name was Deborah. Her name was Deborah, if you would join me by reading from the New Living Translation. And Deborah was because she was a judge. First female judge. She was also where everybody went to find out how to live.

Which asks the question, why? Why? And you just have to read her story in Judges 4 and you find out that there weren't men enough to handle a job. They wouldn't walk to the plate. Maybe they weren't even spiritually strong enough, obviously. But this is a very good point that God made showing just how important Deborah's position was at the time because he said, you're going to break these chains. And I want you to tell the top military leader to go attack. And you know what the top military leader said? Uh-uh. Not gonna do it. Not gonna. Unless you lead us. Isn't that amazing? Here was a military man talking to a judge. Who was used to sitting under a tree and giving judgments. And yet, he wouldn't go. Was his relationship with God not strong enough? I think we all might ask that question. How about ours? Is it strong enough?

And so, here in verse 14, he said then, Deborah said to Barak, get ready. This is a day the Lord will give you victory over Sisera, for the Lord is marching ahead of you. Marching ahead of you. As a matter of fact, one other translation and commentary brought up the fact that the men, the way the Hebrew is written, the men were kind of lazing around. They didn't really want to go fight. According to one translation, she said, get ready. Get up. It's time to go. That's leadership. That's man or woman. But God needed somebody to do it at that time. And he called Deborah to do it. So what was it about Deborah? She was powerful. She was fearless. She was also wise. And you might say she was more of a driver. Having to tell men to get up and go to war. But I think most of all, she was a spiritual apex at that time. She was purpose driven by God. And that should tell us a lot about her. Because it wasn't a position she had obviously seen before. You study the book of Judges, you see any other women? The most famous woman in Judges is who? Delilah.

What did you say her name was? Yeah. It's pronounced in Hebrew, Yael. So let's go down because it's in the next chapter. There is a woman. It follows in that chapter. In chapter 4, it tells a story. But when Deborah sang this song, I think she tells a better story. Because Deborah led the men and they conquered. And they were wiping out to the other side. And the head of their army, they're really what you would call him at the time their leader, he took off and ran. He wanted to save his life. And he runs into more of a desert part where a woman who had a husband had set up a tent. And they lived in tents. And this some call him a king. It's so debatable in the commentaries, whether he was just more of a little lord or his little area or not, whether he was really the king. That's just so debatable. Neither here nor there. But he ran to her tent. He needed her to hide him out. She obviously knew him.

And so if you'll join me in Judges 5 and verse 24, because I like how the story is told. As Deborah is singing the song about it, she was there. She saw it. She experienced it. She knew what went down. Verse 24, she said, Most blessed among women is Yael, the wife of Eber, the kenite. May she be blessed above all women who live in tents. A lot of women lived in tents. But maybe she'd be blessed above all of them. Hmm. Pretty important words. Cicera, a king or warlord, whatever he was, asked for water, and she gave him milk in a bowl fit for nobles. She brought him yogurt, which is thought she brought it in as as commentaries say. She didn't just give him like a cup of water. She brought it in a nice bowl, like, wow, I recognize who you are. Which made him probably feel pretty good, because he'd been running. He needed something. Then with her left hand, she reached for a tent peg.

With her left hand. And with a right hand, let's see where does it say that, and a right hand for a workman's hammer. I brought my 24-ounce hammer. It's probably may have been even heavier, but it's obvious in the commentaries that she was the one who set up the tents. Where you stretch those things and you put those pegs in and had to drive them in the ground. She was used to this. She was not a weak woman, not the weaker sex. On that day, let's go on and read the story. Since she had this in the left hand, this in the right hand. Then with her left hand, she reached for the tent peg and with her right hand for the workman's hammer. She struck Cicero because he had fallen asleep. And they're thinking, finally going to get some rest. I'm going to get some protection. She struck Cicero with the hammer, crushing his head with a shattering blow. She pierced his temples. He sank and fell. He lay still at her feet. And where he sank, there he died. It is believed, or as my scriptures say, that she actually took that tent peg and put it in his temple as he was sleeping. And she took that hammer and she drove that temple. She drove this straight through his temple into the actual ground. Yes, and she was determined. It wasn't something, oh, what did I do? Let's just say she drove the peg home on the ground. She knew it just like she had set up a tent. She killed this man. And there he sank and there he died. Weaker sex? Don't think so. I think the man who probably found him looked at it because she is memorialized here in this song, in scripture twice, because you can read about him four and you read about him five. Well, she did.

When something had to be done, she did it. I think that's amazing. But it's interesting because Yah-El, Yah, meaning God, Jehovah, El meaning God, the word is that Jehovah is God is what her word, her name meant, except for Yah-El. In another language, Yah-El means wild mountain goat, which if you've ever seen a wild mountain goat, not easy to contain, not weak, strong. So maybe that was what her name reminded people of. So two incredible women in the book of Judges. We have another woman named Esther. You know Esther? Incredible woman because when it was presented to her, the dilemma, that she would actually enter before a king, even though it was her husband, unannounced, doing something illegal because at the time it was illegal to come before a king when he isn't called because it was a way of assassination. It didn't matter who you were. The guards weren't to appear there. They had every right to run you through, as the word goes. But she knew she had to do it. And she had those famous words that we all know from Scripture. If I die, I die. If I die, I die. She was willing to do that. That's a pretty strong woman, if you think about it. And if you really know the story and studied the story, if he was still alive, I think you could ask Haman, the second most powerful man in the entire world at the time, because Xerxes was. He was his right hand man. Second most powerful man. She went toe to toe with him. And she won, didn't she? Did she win just because she was a beautiful woman? No. No. That she was. She wasn't just a pretty face, but she faced him down to his face. Which was, think about when you read that, she was really at risk. Because what if her husband didn't believe her? Or he took up for his man that he had made the second most powerful man in the world.

What qualities do you think of when you read that story about Esther? You have any? Yes. Connie? Yes. She put this thing together. She knew he liked to drink wine, didn't you? She knew Xerxes liked to drink wine. So why not have a party? Yes. Fearless. Very good. Fearless. Why? Because when you read this story in Esther, she basically did most of this planning herself. Mordecai, yes, told her these things, but this whole plan, the way the Scriptures tell it, it was her. She had the whole nation of Judah or Israel before. And if she did not win, that nation would be wiped out. So, did she have a relationship with God? I tend to think so, but God's not mentioned one time in there, is He? In the book of Esther. Not one time is God mentioned. But she believed Him. Yes. She saved her nation. And then we have another woman that God has preserved. Her story, only two women titles in the book. Esther and Ruth. Ruth. Ruth. That's where, as I've said before, we get the word ruthless, which is the opposite of what Ruth's character was. But think about Ruth. Ruth, one thing you must say, she was hardworking. Think about it. She didn't mind going out into the field and being considered of less, even might even say like a homeless person, where they left the fields by the side. So you had to just scrounge around and get that grain. It was on the outskirts of the field. She didn't really left where she was. Didn't have much money. Did have many resources, but she had a responsibility. And she was not only hardworking, she was dedicated. Dedicated to her mother-in-law. Would have been easy to go, okay, I brought you back in your country. I brought you back over. And now, here, your relatives, they'll take care of you. She didn't do that, did she? She showed mercy. She showed compassion. She stayed and she said, let your God be my God. And she is known for that. And that paid great dividends. What other things do you, qualities of Ruth, have you thought about as you read? Anyone? Besides, she was hardworking. What, loyal? She had faith. Yes, ma'am. Mercy, compassion. Yes. Yes, it. Yes. Did you have one? Obedience. Yes, because she had to change whatever way she had. She was willing to change them and follow God. Didn't she? Yes, Bill? Once she understood the law of inheritance, she made sure it got done. So she wasn't a dummy, was she? She knew.

Yes. Yes. Anybody else? Humble? Yes, to be able to do that. Just her whole life you look at it. And it's an example of humility. And as I thought, if she was a writer, an author, she'd be great because she could write a book, and it would be titled, How to Marry a Millionaire. Right? Because he was wealthy. In today's dollars, you go back because of what he owned and everything else. He would have been considered a millionaire. She. You could read her book, and it'd be a step-by-step process for women who want to marry a millionaire or a widow who wants a husband. And it would entail knowing how to work hard because she did being out with men harvesting. There were other women there, but she she was out there in from all accounts. She's out there from early morning to late at night till it got dark to take care of herself, but her mother-in-law. She looked after others. She would probably write that end there, and then she would probably write, you need to fall asleep at a rich man's feet. Because that's what she did, didn't she? To show. Now, if she married an older rich man, he might fall asleep at her feet, you know. But these are things that make us read about her, and we not only respect, but we admire her for what she's done. And obviously, God did because he made sure that King David came from her. And if you look at time being, she would have been a great-grandmother of David. It's very possible that David might have even met her. I met my great-grandmother. So, the Bible doesn't say, but wouldn't it be interesting one day to find that out? That he did. Women. A week or six. I've just pointed out four in the Bible. But someone complained to me one time that said, I think God is sexist. I think God is, just don't know that I respect him because so many times he inspired in his word that some of the great women of the Bible were good-looking women. And that is true. But there was more than just the good looks. Remember Rebecca? Who'd she marry? Uh-huh. Right. Remember a man went and got her? Remember what he watched her do? Because it said, it told about her that she was very beautiful and she was a virgin. But when he came up there to find the wife for Isaac, he watched and this young girl came up and said, because he made a vow to God that if a woman did this, he was gonna, that would be the one. Well, she did it. Except, how many young girls would like to come up, find a guy, get him water, and then offer to water his camels? All 10 camels. Camels typically drink 30 to 40 gallons of water at a time. 10, 300 to 400 gallons out of the well, or whatever it was at the time. She had to do it. I used to carry water to various places in a five-gallon bucket and plastic bucket, which wasn't very heavy, but at the time it weighed 40-something pounds.

400 gallons? Do you think she worried that her hair might get sweat on it? I don't think so. Which obviously tells you she was used to work. You just don't come up to a stranger, and go, oh, there you go. You got 10 camels. Let me have those. No, isn't that amazing, though, that God would put that specificity in there? That she was an amazing woman. When you look at the others, Sarah, what was she? Beautiful. The Bible said she was. We saw Rebecca. How about Rachel? Oh, Rachel has said, the Scripture says, she had a beautiful figure. Beautiful figure and a lovely face. So it's like, wow, that's pretty impressive.

Is that all there is? You just need to be good looking? No. Look, we saw Esther, didn't we? Remember what I said about her? Beautiful. She was beautiful. Now, there are some other cases of Leah. She had, as it says, weak eyes or whether she just wasn't really that attractive because he couldn't get her married off. Read that. Now, whether they say she was cross-eyed or whether she just couldn't see well and she was like this, we don't know. But, you know, that wasn't one. And then I can think of only another one. That would be Gomer, who's Josea married. And I mean, for a parent to give your name Gomer, I don't think she was, you know, surprised, surprised, surprised. But it's, God has always held women up to a higher standard.

Remember all the way back in the garden? God says, Eve was deceived. What's wrong with you, Adam? He wasn't deceived, was he? So was there a little allowance given? I think so. I think that's what you have to look at. And in Hebrews 11, it lists Rahab the what?

Yes. She took initiative and saved her entire family, didn't she? Because they would have been wiped out. Everyone was killed. Matter of fact, let's go there. Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11, in touch on that verse. If I can get back over here to Hebrews. Hebrews 11, verse 31, the New Living Translation. It was by faith. It was by faith. It was by faith. Remember? You look at all these examples of women, and they are women of faith. It was by faith that Rahab the former prostitute.

We all have had skeletons in our closet. It's amazing what God does for us. Wipes that clean, purges us, cleanses us. So whatever we were before, that's not what we are now in God's eyes. Was not destroyed with the people in her city who refused to obey God. You know, if they had all, if that Jericho had heard about it and they knew the stories, they had heard about what that army did and what God was doing, why was it just her?

If they had followed her example, the city would never have been destroyed. All the people wouldn't have died. Who refused to obey God, for she had given a friendly welcome to the spies. Amazing. And as I think of the Old Testament examples, I'd like you to go with me to a New Testament example. Luke chapter 8. Luke chapter 8 verse 1. Said soon afterward, Jesus began a tour of the nearby towns and villages, preaching and announcing the good news about the coming kingdom of God. Get you pumped up. You know, I mean, he was driven, he was purpose driven about the kingdom of God.

He took his 12 disciples with him, along with some women, who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases. Not exactly a ringing endorsement for these women before, was it? But what he did for them, they were now, not only followers of him, they were worshipers of him. And we see some from some of these names.

And they followed him and said, among these were Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. Are ones not good enough? Seven demons? That woman had a lot of problems. Can you imagine being tormented by seven demons? And it's written about? And then you, whatever else you read about her, go back to this. This is where she started with seven demons. And look where she ended up. Amazing story. An amazing woman who didn't let her past equal her future. That's God working in us. That's God working in incredible women. Weak? Don't think so.

Joanna, the wife of Chiza, Herod's business manager. We got an executive's wife here. Following him around, being part of this preaching to God. It's possible. Susanna and many others who were contributing from their own resources to support Jesus and the disciples. They took from what the money they had and they were giving it.

It doesn't say anything about tithing here, does it? No. But he gave, they gave from what they had. To continue the work. To follow Christ. And I know down through the years you've probably seen incredible examples of women who gave and gave. We have some in here that they didn't give us their tithes. That's between them. They gave of resources so that we could preach the gospel. We could take care of people. We could help heal people of various things in the Caribbean. And you're sitting right here in front of me. And I thank you for that.

I can't give you anything. Not supposed to. God will take care of it. But it's that. That is the spirit in which I want to see our women's weekend. As I see that energy, that synergy that comes together. And watch these women, though, I'm not able to come.

I've been cast out. And it's just going to be women at this meeting. Except I do get the last 15 to 30 minutes, don't I? Something like that. She's not looking at me like, I don't know. You may not even get that.

Get a closing prayer and thank people for being there. But this is why I have endorsed this and want to be a part of it because I've Fort Lauderdale. Women are excited about coming here. And I've heard from other women. And I want to see that. I want to see God's spirit and that energy, those sisters in Christ, come together. I want to hear their ideas because the last few minutes I just asked because it's not me saying anything. I want to ask questions. I want them to help me. I want them help me in the Caribbean. I want them to help the church. God only helped the United Church of God. I want to hear what these women have to say because the same power that I have seen in these scriptures here today, they're here thousands of years later in the Holy Spirit that so many of you women, all of you women possess. God preserved in the pages of our Bibles the lives and stories of women who were heroic, godly, and compassionate. Women who were homemakers, business women, yeah, business women like Lydia who assisted in the preservation of God's way of life in a Gentile country, living examples of both men and women who dedicate their life to God. I mean, think about Lydia. Come back and read what she says. She started a church before there was a church. Her, she did it out by a river. And then it came to her house. It is amazing when you read the book of written to the church at Philippi. Think about how it was started. Who was the founder of that church? You know, Paul got it started, but she was. She was there.

To me, incredible example. There is no stereotyping of a Christian woman. In God's view, all women were and are valued partners in the Great Commission partners in the preparation for the kingdom of God. Remember the name Priscilla and Aquila? Anybody remember Priscilla and Aquila? Do you know all through the Scripture? It never says Aquila and Priscilla. Yes. Was she more vocal? Was she? I don't know, but her name is put in front of his. You hardly ever see that. She was quite an example, a tentmaker, and one who went out, went out, and helped start churches. And got churches grounded. And you know, when you're a tentmaker, if you go back, study that sometime, just google that and go back 2,000 years ago and see what tentmakers would. What they used to make tents from. Skins. Okay. Skins they just picked up on the side of the road. Roadkill? No. Because people saw that they had to go and buy those skins. They had to buy, and then they had to know their stuff. And then they had to sew with hands. Sorry, Singer wasn't around. There was no Singer. But they had to make even the grommets and how those were put so they could dry the pegs and how they had tie ropes. And they did all this kind of stuff. It was physical work! The church was a part-time. Because she had to do that to make a living to support the church in where they were going and doing. Amazing. Amazing. Weaker sex, weaker vessels, maybe physically, but not mentally and certainly not spiritually. I wonder, I would love to see, since they gave us that example of those women that followed Christ, that supported Christ, they obviously spent day and night traveling and doing this with Him. Wouldn't you love to see the way that He treated them? Don't you think that example to the disciples, a bunch of 12 guys who were in their late 20s, middle late 20s, kind of have to be taught a little bit, isn't that amazing, of what Christ was able to do? That they would follow Him? There is no Proverbs 32 in my Bible. In yours? Norm, you didn't write a Proverbs 32 in your Bible? No? Okay, well, I thought if anyone would, it'd be you. But there's a Proverbs 31 written about an incredible woman to both men and women, the inspired Word of God, showing who we can all appreciate, not only our mothers who gave us life, but weaker sex? Don't think so. The XX chromosome, God planned it. It's an incredible work that God has done. And it's the guys who play football this past week, and will play football tomorrow. Stan? Don't know, that's a good one. The Steelers, but it's those athletes that they interview at their greatest moment. They call out their mothers. Hey, Mom, want to thank my mother who made this possible.

So we can all honor our mothers without her. None of us are here. And we can honor all of God's daughters. And so, looking at the examples and looking at the examples in which I see in front of me now, I never want to say the weaker sex. I want to say the meeker sex, for the meek shall inherit the earth.