Motherhood: The Feminine Gift - Part 2

5.11.03 message

Gary L. Cox

Walkersville Christian Fellowship

2 Peter chapter 3:1-13, “The second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: that ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Savior:  Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, ‘Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.’  For this they are willingly ignorant of, that by the word of God the Heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world then that was, being overflowed with water, perished:  But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and the perdition of ungodly men.  But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.  The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.  But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.  Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and Godliness. Looking forward and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?  Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for a new Heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.”

I suffer not a woman to teach

Verse 12 actually creates an ordinance in the church.  “But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.”  The Greek says, “to establish one’s own authority.”  Recognize that God is a God of order and authority and it is the authority of God that is going to rescue you.  Here is where we learn that true idea of subjection.  You learn to quiet yourself, to bring yourself under God’s order and in that context, a quiet obedient wife, obeying God, looking to God, “It’s God I’m trusting, He’s the one I’m after,” and then your not the one that has to be in charge. 

“I suffer not a woman to teach,” has to do with a woman being in charge and her concerns creating the understanding and the order of her home or her life out of her fear, whether it be in her own home or whether it be in the church at large. There is a place for the feminine gift in teaching but it doesn’t find itself addressed in the assembly.  It gets expressed in her home and in the community of other wives and mothers and daughters.

 If you are not being quiet, you are not being in subjection.  The quietness has to do with the manner of overall quietness, a resting in the Lord without an anxious heart.  The truth of God is going to be suppressed if we choose to live by our feelings instead of by the facts that God Himself knows how to orchestrate the leadership of the husband to a submissive wife.  The Gospel is going to be loud and clear when we are quiet and soft. 

A Woman’s Place

Verses 13 and 14. First, the order of Creation ordains a woman’s place in the home and her greatest ministry.  A woman who finds her place will find the fullest happiness that she’ll ever be able to know anywhere on earth.

Second, Eve was deceived before the fall.  If Eve was deceived before the fall, how much more today is that deception able to find its way into our lives and to ruin the things that we care about.  The feminine gift has to be under subjection so the heart is satisfied by that which inclines God’s heart.  The instinctive desire is satisfied by the Heavenly supply which is from God and nowhere else.  Verse, 15, “Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.”   The woman, full of instinctive concern for her family,is commanded to be in silence and subjection and that is a terrifying thought.  The feminine gift is going to find its fullest expression and its complete redemption when she is in the place God provided for her under the authority of her husband.  All of that powerful instinct, that desire for ministry, giving, caring, sharing, all of that comes to fruition and is preserved and redeemed in the process of raising a family.   

The last concept is the idea of fear: in fearful circumstances trusting God.  1 Peter 3:1,  “Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the Word, they also may without the Word by won by the conversation of the wives.”  The word “conversation” simply means manner of life.  “While they behold your chaste conversation (manner of life) coupled with fear.”  The issue is the wife trusting God in a difficult situation.  There are two kinds of words, there is the spoken word and then there’s that word which is presented in someone’s manner of life.  In the home when the words of a wife’s mouth must necessarily be silenced, God will enable her so that the words of her manner of life will speak with far more precision and power.  For a Godly Christian wife, the resistance of a husband to her words ought to be the first signal to be quiet.  Fear is the reason the feminine gift is stirred.  Faith is the means by which its brought under control. 

The feminine gift today is still the same gift that God made it to be when He first created man and woman and adjusted that gift at the fall.  It still has an eternal call to it, it still has an eternal satisfaction and we do well to give ourselves over to it wholeheartedly in every shape or form.  The only thing that can rob us from properly honoring the feminine gift would be if we let fear creep in, and we take control, we will reap the fruit of that in unrighteousness.  What a privilege it is to be a people today in a dark world where by our simple faith and trusting in God we can make known the Gospel by the manner of our conversation and how we honor the feminine gift corporately as a church, individually, and practically in our own lives.