Monday Morning Coffee with Mark

Pergamum

April 04, 2022 Mark Roberts Season 2 Episode 14
Monday Morning Coffee with Mark
Pergamum
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Welcome to the Westside church’s special Monday Morning Coffee podcast with Mark Roberts. Mark is a disciple, a husband, father and grand dad, as well as a certified coffee geek, fan of CS Lewis’ writings and he loves his big red Jeep. He’s also the preacher for Westside church.

Speaker 1:

Hello, and welcome to the Westside churches special Monday Morning Coffee podcast on this podcast, our preacher Mark Roberts will help you get your week started right. With look back at yesterday's sermon so that we can think through it further and better work the applications into our daily lives. Mark will then look forward into this week's Bible reading so that we can know what to expect and watch for. And, he may have some extra bonus thoughts from time to time. So grab a cup of coffee as we start the week together on Monday Morning Coffee with Mark.

Speaker 2:

Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to the Monday morning coffee podcast for Monday, April the fourth. I'm mark and I am holding a great cup of coffee. This is some GU Mullin. I was given some great Guatemala beans. I'm enjoying that a whole bunch, and I am ready to talk about yesterday's sermon for just a minute, but mostly I'm ready to dive into daily Bible reading as we're spending the year with Paul. And right now we're smack D in the middle of first Corinthians. So I want to get going just a quick start with all of the, so that we can get into this week. Get some of that energy that we had yesterday at west side and push that forward into our Monday and beyond. Let's do it. Let's get started. Let's talk about the sermon just briefly for a moment. Have an important note for you out of, of that sermon on the church in Pergamum from revelation chapter two. One of the things that really stands out about the account in revelation chapter two is that Jesus says, I know you dwell where Satan's throne is yet you hold fast, my name and you did not deny my faith. Even in the days of Anas, my faithful witness, who was killed among you were Satan dwells. We don't know anything else about Antipas. There's a legend that says he was roasted to death over a fire, which is just an awful and terrible thing to even begin to think about. But it tell us something about the price that new Testament Christians paid for their Christianity, and Antipas paid the Supreme price with his life. And he is honored by Jesus. Really glad to have the podcast where I can talk a little bit more and dig down a little bit deeper into some of this kind of thing. Can't say everything in the pulpit. And sometimes the more you you say in the pulpit, the less is gonna stick because you just threw so much information. I don't want the sermon on Sunday to be a data dump, but notice he is called specifically by Jesus. My faithful witness witness is an important idea in the new Testament in acts chapter one in verse eight, Jesus tells the apostles you'll be my witnesses as the gospel goes into all of the Roman empire. And then Stephen is specifically said to be a witness in acts chapter 20 and verse 20. He is mentioned there again, honored with that title. Uh, let me just grab acts 2220 there. The word of God tells us here. Paul is discussing his conversion. When the blood of Stephen, your witness was being shed, I myself was standing by and approving. So Stephen is honored with that title. And then Anas here is called a faithful witness. That's that's tall cotton when you're standing next to what the apostles were called to do and act chapter one in verse eight. What Steven did is he gave his life Anas, gives his life. And one of the things that you wanna know about that is that term witness there is the term from which we get our word martyr. And in the new Testament, it doesn't mean martyr. It means witness someone who will testify to something, but by about the third century, it was beginning to take on the meaning that we have assigned to the word martyr. And in fact, the word witness here in the new Testament Greek, you would recognize it. If you were looking at a Greek manuscript, it looks like our word martyr, very, very close to it. And by the third century, it was meaning exactly that somebody who was willing to give their life for their faith. And again, that just reminds us of what persecution was like, what it was like to be a disciple in the first century. And it reminds us again, as I talked yesterday about the church at Pergamum, that being a new Testament, Christian was tough. It was hard. And those B brothing did it and Jesus expected them to do it. And he expects you and I to do it. And maybe now not so much, wow. I'm not undergoing anything in comparison to what those brethren underwent, which of course is absolutely the case. I, I, I don't wanna depress anybody or push anybody down, whatever suffering you're going through. That's real for you. And it's difficult for you, but what we ought to get and what I hope you do get is there have people there have been people who effort far worse than anything that I'm going through. And they conquered. They conquered to the one who conquers. I will give some of the hidden manana and I will give him a white stone with a new name written on that stone that no one knows, except the one who receives it. They did it. And that certainly means if they were do it under that kind of pressure that I can serve Jesus Christ myself today. They did it. I can do it too. Jesus expected it of them. And he certainly expects it of me. Let's go forth and let's not let societal pressure dictate to us who and what we are. We are serving the one true king. We serve the one who has the sharp two edged sword. We serve Jesus, the Christ, just like our brethren in Pergamum did so very long ago. I hope that inspires you. It inspires me. Let's turn our attention now to how we can be the kind of disciples we ought to be. And we get a ton of that from the writings of Paul and a bunch of that is in that epi that he's writing to the Corinthians. Let's go read in first Corinthians chapter nine On Monday, then we want to read first Corinthians nine, 20 to 27. We're finishing this chapter where Paul all has talked so much about giving up his liberties. He never compromises his content, but he's always ready to meet folks, right? Where they are. If the truth is not at stake, one scholar said no one was more yielding and unimportant matters than Paul. And no one was more unyielding. When the gospel itself was at stake. We do well to think about that on our own evangelistic efforts. Where am I with my background? The way I was raised, what I'm comfortable with, where am I erecting barriers to the gospel that are completely outside of the new Testament. They have nothing to do with new Testament Christianity, but I'm making that a requirement before somebody can come to the kingdom of God. Paul says I won't do that to the Jews. Verse 20. I become a Jew to those who are outside the law verse 21. I become someone outside the law, weak folks like weak folks. I'm doing everything I can for the sake of the gospel. And he then says, verse 24, do not know that in a race, all the runners run, but only one receives of the prize. Many have noticed that it's almost like Paul is saying that it is possible to run and not receive the prize. Which of course is exactly what Paul is saying. And many commentators really cha about all of that, because that contradicts certain theological systems. I love what one commentator said. He said, some interpreters cannot believe that Paul is teaching that believers could fail to obtain the prize. And they usually come to this conclusion because of a prior theological commitment, not because of what the text itself says, oh my surely not surely we would not let what we have already decided. The Bible says and means cause us to misinterpret and miss the clear meaning of what Paul is saying here. The reality of course is lots of people do that. I have done that and I am capable of doing that. Maybe rather than poking fun at others. I need to look at myself. Am I reading the text and letting it speak? Or have I already made up my mind about some things verse 25, then pulses, every athlete exercises self-control in all things strict training and strict discipline become an important issue in chapter 10 that we are going to read tomorrow. And Paul wants the Corinthians to know he practices what he preaches and he practices what he wants them to be practicing. And that is being careful about this business of just running rough shad with your liberties over others and just running, loosen free with your liberties. Oh, I can do anything I want. I'm a Christian. It'll be fine. Really better. Be careful about that. There are people who have not been careful, particularly in their interaction with idolatry and idols and it got'em in a world of trouble. We're gonna read about that tomorrow on Tuesday, when we start first Corinthians chapter 10, see you tomorrow. Hello, Tuesday, it's first Corinthians chapter 10 that we're reading versus 1, 2 10, some in Corinth seem to be thinking that they can't be lost at trifling with idols and idolatry. Isn't a real problem. I wonder if some are saying I'm strong enough to go down to that. I and eat down there. I can handle it. Paul says there are some folks who had a number of spiritual blessings. Like you have spiritual blessings Corinthians, and that didn't end well for them when they got to messing with idols. And those people that he's talking about, those are the Israelites and he on the old Testament as an illustration of how dangerous idolatry can be idolatry caused most of the Israelites to be lost. Verse five, God was not well pleased. And these things, he says, verse six, took places as an example for us, those folks failed, even though had a form of baptism, they had a form of the Lord's supper. They had a form of the religion and the blessings that the Corinthians knew, but they put Christ to the test, verse nine, they were destroyed. They crumbled every kind of problem followed after them because they desired evil and they weren't careful in their associations and in what they did. So there's just a stern warning here, not to play with fire. That's where Paul is going in first Corinthians chapter 10. And that is a powerful warning for you. And for me, make good application to something that people think is right, that could ultimately lead to your spiritual downfall. I'm thinking for example, about movies. I certainly wouldn't say that movies are wrong, but if you watch the wrong kind of movie, could that eat away at your spirituality? I know sometimes people get tired of the preacher talking about TV and movies, but it seems appropriate in regard to first Corinthians chapter 10, we see the lifestyle of the world painted in glowing terms. All the things that worldly people are doing enjoying, and guess what Christian you're missing out. We pay our 5, 6, 7,$8 to see all of that. And we go home and our Christianity has been well. It's been pounded on a little bit, hasn't it? We need to do better than that. And Paul warns about the Israelite and warns about how they got involved in things that are just out and out wrong. They weren't careful. So he's telling the Corinthians to be very careful in how they exercise in their liberties, in these matters of Liberty, wasn't wrong to eat meat, but it could get you into trouble. Let me just give you one other quick note. It was a kind of a fad in denominational circles. 2, 3, 4, 5 years ago that everything in the old Testament had to be, had to be about Jesus, the Christ in this business of taking an old Testament story and using that, paralleling that into our day and saying, be like David, David was faithful. He was courageous. He went out and took on Goliath. No, no, no. That was that. That was all wrong. That's the wrong way to approach the old Testament. The old Testament is all about Jesus and that Jesus is the hero of the David and Golias story. And we must not, I, I still haven't exactly figured out how Jesus is the hero of the David and Golia story. But this really went, made the rounds. And even some brethren were affected by that. And I would just use first Corine, chapter 10, along with many other passages to show the failing of that approach. These things are written in first Corinthians 10 verse six. Paul says, as examples for us, we can learn from the stories in the old Testament, we are supposed to say, look at the Israelite. They did X, Y, and Z, and God was not pleased with them. We shouldn't be doing X, Y, and Z. That is exactly what Paul is saying in first Corinthians chapter 10. That's good preaching, not a wrong use of the old Testament. Of course we wanna point out where Jesus stands out in the old Testament. Of course we want to do that kind a new thing, but this idea that we can't learn anything from the successes and failures of people before the Lord in the old Testament is absolutely laid to rest. In first Corinthians chapter 10 and verse six, let's read the old Testament and let's learn from it tomorrow. Paul will draw. He has said here in these first 10 verses to a very sharp point, we wanna make sure that we get that point. And we'll talk a little bit more about that tomorrow on Wednesday. See you then today is Wednesday and we're reading in first Corinthians chapter 10 versus 11 to 22 powerful section here in first Corinthians 10 11, the podcast, because I get to give you some notes here that are just often overlooked. Verse 13 is the famous verse here. Everybody knows verse 13. I can't be tempted beyond what I I'm able to bear. God's always gonna provide a way of escape. We wield that passage to talk about temptation that we can be successful against temptation. But I wanna say this, this is not a passage where Paul or where the holy spirit is promising deliverance from every stupid and foolish thing that we ever do. Look at verse 14. Therefore, my beloved flee from idolatry. Paul does not say, Hey, you just go in that. I temple grab you some idle meat, Hey, have at it because God's not gonna let you be tempted beyond what you are able. Paul says, you need to exercise some common sense and cautions flee from idolatry. Now, verse 15, I speak as to sensible people, judge for yourselves. What I say, I think there are some times in my life where I have just gotten way too close to sin and temptation, maybe telling myself, well, I won't be overwhelmed by this. God's gonna take care of me. And in fact, I wasn't fleeing from sin at all and it wasn sensible at all. And I ended up being overwhelmed in the temptation. I'm sure the Lord would provide a way of escape, but I wasn't looking very much for the way of escape. I was looking for the passing pleasures of sin. Paul warns the Corinthians about that. He warns them rather than the idea that God is going to miraculously play you out of the arms of temptation at the last second. You don't need to be in a place where temptation is going to occur and going to attack you and overwhelm you. He then closes our reading today by talking about the Lord supper, the cup of blessing, the bread and the cup there. He talks about how we participate in a special meal. He's talking about the Lord supper and no, it's not a full meal, but it's a ceremonial meal. And that's the meal that we are gonna be part of. We don't go down to the idle temples and, and take part in the meal of demons. We can't be part of what pagans are doing down there. We have our table, we have our food. If you understand what I mean by that, if you understand what Paul means by that, we should not. Then verse 21, think that we can participate in idolatry and participate in the Lord's supper. So as Paul begins to head towards some very specific regulations about what you eat and what you do when you serve this meat that comes from an idol temple, he strongly reminds the Corinthian brethren and us of what the Lord supper means. It means that we are communing with God, that we have fellowship. That means participation together in Jesus Christ. And he'll have of course, a lot more to say about the Lord's supper in chapter 11, because they're making an absolute mess of all of that. But I really think in some ways, first Corinthians 10, 16 to 22 is a vastly overlooked section about the importance of the Lord's supper and how significant it is that we share in this with the Lord. You can't share in an idol with anything. An idol is nothing, but you can in fact share participate. He says, verse 16 in the body of Christ, it's a real worship service say real sharing together in a worship activity, which would mean we can't go and be involved in that fake business with fake idols, which actually is just the power of darkness. The devil and demons participation in I feast in pagan Temple's means one scholar says sharing pagan worship. That's not what Christians do. See you tomorrow. As we finish first Corinthians 10, with some, as I said, very explicit instructions about what we can and cannot do in regard to this eating and an important, oh, such an important principle that will help a us even beyond just this business of can I have some meat that's been down at the idle temples at all time principle that will help all of us even today see you tomorrow. We'll talk about the end of first Corinthians 10 It's Thursday. And we're winding up the discussion about eating meat, sacrifice idols. You may be tired of that, but watch how Paul in our reading today really pushes some big principles far beyond just the specifics of what you can eat. He joins the discussion. All things are lawful verse 23, but not all things are helpful that really HARs back to where he started this in eight one. And in some ways goes all the way back to chapters X in six 12, when some were arguing for sexual Liberty and saying the same kind of thing. The principle here is that there's a lot more going on than just what's right. And what's wrong. We need to think about what is right. We need to think about what is best, what is wise, but then in these chapters, eight, nine, and 10, we really need to think about what does my brother need? What does somebody else need? And one writer said, once again, the apostle is driving his readership to see the point that the sole criterion is not what pleases me. Rather, the believer must be concerned about how his actions impact others. So there could be meat that could be sold. The butcher doesn't know everything about every licensee, just buy it, just eat it. But if somebody's serving it to you then, and they're saying, Hey, this has been offered in a sacrifice. Mm, probably not doing that. Don't be doing that. They might think that I'm participating in idle worship. That could cause all kinds of issues not doing that. Don't want to cause somebody else a problem. Verse 31. Then here is the overriding principle, whatever you eat or drink, whatever you do do all to the glory of God. Notice that for Paul, something as mundane as a meal can be done to the glory of God. We think of doing things to the glory of God. That's like holding a Bible study or going to church and singing and doing religiousy stuff. Paul sees every part of life is being lived to the glory of God, even what we eat and how we treat what we eat. And so Paul says, we want to do things that glorify God. And if I do something that causes as others to be led into sin, that didn't glorify God and saying, well, there's nothing wrong with it. The Bible doesn't say that I can't, that doesn't help. That's not useful in any fashion. If I'm leading someone in sin, I'm not glorifying God. And if I'm doing things that break down my resistance to sin, that would be the earlier part of the chapter. First Corinthians 10, that it's not glorifying God, whatever you eat or drink, whatever you do do all to the glory of God. From our daily Bob reading. Today, you go out today and you say, I'm gonna glorify God in how I drive my car. I'm gonna glorify God in what I do on the job. I'm gonna glorify God in what I do. When the waitress gets my order wrong at the restaurant, then we will have been well served by seeing what Paul says, do all to the glory of God. That takes us to chapter 11, chapter 11 in verse one really belongs with chapter 10, be imitators of me as I am of Christ. You should get that at the end of 10 33, that's a terrible chapter division. Somebody needs to edit these divisions and put together a Bible that's got better cuts and, and where stuff goes together better. Of course, that would completely mess up everything. Someone would be up preaching and say, turn your Bible to first Corinthians 11 one. And for some of us in that new Bible, it'd be first Corinthians 10 34. And that would be a disaster. So we can't ever do that, but I sure wish we could. First 11 one really goes with our Bible reading today, tomorrow. Woo. It's gonna be interesting difficult section of scripture tomorrow. We'll talk about the head covering in first Corine's chapter 11 versus one to eight. See you on Friday. It is Friday and we are reading in first Corine's chapter 11, just one to eight verse one, really, as I said, yesterday goes with verse 33 of chapter 10. So we start really in verse 2 11 2. I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions. Even as I delivered on them unto you. Then Paul begins to talk about problems in worship and Corinth, and that includes some trouble with women and women throwing off their role and the sign of their place in society. And then some troubles with the Lord's supper in verse 17 to 34, and then a long section chapters, 12, 13, and 14 about troubles with miraculous spiritual gifts. Now, today, then we read about this difficulty with some women who don't have something on their head that they're supposed to have on their head. And I want to say a couple of things here. The podcast is probably not a place where I can address at any great length and a ton of detail, everything about everything. But I would just say this. It seems like there is some sort of women's liberation movement going on. Some women have some miraculous spiritual gifts and they are every woman verse five, who praise or prophesize. They are exercising those gifts. And because they have those gifts, they have just side that they do not need to appear as a proper Roman woman or proper Greek woman would appear in society. They are taking off this, covering that women in Claran, all of them, would've worn to be recognized as a proper kind of woman and not a loose imoral woman. So by saying the I'm already giving away my approach to this passage, there are a couple of different ideas about the passage. Some have decided that this is a text that says men and women need to appear differently. That there's some confusion about the genders and that men should look like men and women should look like women. And, and that may certainly be true, but that doesn't seem to be even remotely what's going on in Corinth at all. I don't see any indication that the problem here is that men and women are dressing incorrectly and getting confused about who's a man and who's a woman. Then some have said, of course, that Paul is mandating for all time that women are to have something on their head in worship. And that could be an artificial covering some kind of veiling or some have argued that actually the covering is a woman's hair and that it needs to be long. And I want to say that I appreciate those who are careful about that and who have made that argument. And I certainly appreciate our sisters in Christ who do cover their head in worship because that is the conviction they have come to from first Corinthians 11. I would never, belitle a woman who is doing that or demand that she take off that covering or in any way, try to say that somehow what she is doing makes her spiritually less than others who have arrived at a different from this text. If that is your belief from first grade, since 11 don't violate your conscious sister, by all means, do what you believe this set of passages is teaching. You must do. Having said that I am not compelled to that position. I think there are a number of things here that help us see that this is actually a custom that goes on in Carin and is not an all time thing for every woman in every place. I think the principles here would apply to all time in every place, but that this is a specific, the business of the what's on the woman's head, the veiling, the covering that that's not for every time in every place. That's a specific that's going on just in Quran. And I get to share with you here. Don't get to say everything. I do Friday Bible reading, and can't say everything there about everything. And I can't, can't say everything here about everything either, but I can share with you a little bit more, uh, about the customs in Corinth during the time of the new Testament, we know archeologists have dug up all this stuff. And so from that, we know that the Roman empire was troubled in new Testament times with a movement, a phenomena known as the new Roman wife. And there were some laws that had been passed that allowed women to retain their own property and to terminate marriage. And so women were getting some new freedoms in society and some women then were taking the bid in their mouth and they were running with it. And you, the next thing you know, there was some scandalous behavior going on among married women. There's good records about older women pursuing wealthy young single men. Wow. The Cougar phenomena is not a new thing. Is it, there is discussion of women abandoning their home, their marriage, their children there's discussion of sexual promiscuity by these new Roman wives. This creates a lot of turmoil. So Augustus, for example, tried to curb some of this, there were some laws passed in BC 17. There was discussion about husbands being required to prosecute their wives for adultery, single men who didn't marry, had to pay a tax. There was awards for child bearing and there were laws about pro the twos not being allowed to dress like a married woman. There was gonna be a separation between what a loose woman looks like and what an upstanding woman looks like. And that goes on and you can actually see that. And sometimes I've heard people say, I wish we had a picture of what a Corinthian woman looked like. Well, we do, it's called a statue. And those use our 3d pictures of what Roman women look like. And if you go look at statuary from that time, you will see that Roman women are wearing something called the stole S T O L a and it's kind of a mantle. It's a long dress. And a woman would pull the top of that dress up over her head. And it would then drap down over her head. This is certainly not the veiling that Islamic women are involved in, in very severe Islamic countries where you can't, uh, hardly see anything but their eyes or even in some societies, there's a netting that goes over their eyes. This is not, this is not the beekeeper's costume by any stretch of the, but it is a mantle that would go over the woman's hair and would come down and fall across her shoulders. And that was a symbol that she was trying to be a proper woman. And there's a Roman law that even talks about if a woman is not dressed as a matron, that's a woman wearing that veil, the stole, and someone calls out to her or entice her. He will not be liable to action for his injury. So husbands, your woman goes out, she's not wearing that veil. She's not wearing the stole. And some man ACOT her gives her Wolf whistle. Well, don't get your feeling hurt about that. She didn't dress herself in a way that said I'm a respectable married woman. And that helps us so much here with our reading in Corinthians. Now, I, I don't think there's anyone that has an approach to first Corinthians 11 that solves every difficulty and every problem in this text. One of the questions that always comes up here is just exactly where are women doing this praying and prophesy because whatever men are doing in verse four, women are doing that in verse five. And that certainly doesn't seem like that's going on in the assembly because in first Corine's 14, Paul certainly says women are not to be doing that in the assembly. I wish I knew more about that, but as best I can tell wherever this is going on, is this maybe going on in private homes? I'm not sure about that. It seems quite clear that this is a reference to that kind of custom, the custom of women being proper women, think about a Christian woman in the new Testament world. How should she appear as she goes out in public? How should she convey herself to the world? Should she look like a prostitute? Should she look like one of these imoral loose women? That's pushing the boundaries of society. Paul absolutely says, no, that's not our place at all. That's not going to help the gospels spread. That's not gonna help the church have the right kind of reputation. Christian women need to behave like and look like proper women. And so you see some of those ideas about this, just being a custom here in first Corinthians chapter 11. So for example, in verse 13, which we actually are not reading today will read that on Monday. But in verse 13, he says, judge, for yourselves, is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? The idea of proper there is fitting appropriate. Is that the right thing to do? And the ESV has wife here a lot, but it is just the word for woman need to be very careful about that. There's a marginal note in verse that this is just the word for woman and the translators have made a decision that this is the wife of prophets that may not necessarily be the case. This could just be any woman. And so he talks about how a man certainly could not. It would just be disgraceful. Paul says for a man to pray or prophesy with his head covered. Well, is that an all the time thing? Moses wore a veil when he spoke with God in second Corinthians chapter three, Paul will even discuss Moses's veil, the NAZA rights. They had long hair all the time. That was part of their vow. Neite men go to worship God. Their hair would be long Sampson's hair ran long. And in fact, when he cut it, that was actually a sin against God. So a man having long hair, having his head covered, that's not a, all the time across scripture, every, every single time you ever see that, oh my, that man is dishonoring his head. No, that's just what's going on in that particular circumstance and that culture and custom, I'm thinking about Moses back in the book of numbers. That's hundreds of years before first Corine, chapter 11, that that's a different time. That's a different culture. And we would have a different culture and a time. And so Paul even argues verse 14 does not nature itself teach you. That's a term about custom what you're used to, what everybody sees us fitting and appropriate. So I think that's the best way to understand what Paul is talking about here. And the timeless principle that we want to get from our reading today, that man was not made from woman verse eight, but woman from man now, verse nine, neither was man created for woman, but woman from man, there is a hierarchy in our world. In fact, that's where Paul begins our reading today. The head of every man is Christ for three, the head of a wife or a woman is her husband. And the head of Christ is God. There is a hierarchy. And that hierarchy is to be respected rather than to be seen as something that we can now throw off because we're Christians or because we have some kind of spiritual gift, oh, I don't have to play by those rules anymore. Paul says, that's part of how God made the world. That's part of the created order. And we all need to fit into that order. And we'll get more of that as I said in our reading on Monday. But I hope that helps you with our reading today. I'm going to say, and there's just be a number of times that I say this, I'll say this again. When we come over to first Corinthians chapter 14, it's very important that we don't see women as in any way, inferior to men, just because a woman is submissive to her husband, we are in submission to governing authorities. Do you think all of us are submission should be in submission to governing authorities. Paul says in Romans 13, do you think you're some way inferior to the governor or to the president? We are all in submission to our elders. Do you view yourself as in some way, I'm lesser than the elders of the west side church. Of course not women, aren't less because they fulfill their role. And that's a huge key to women maintaining their role when we treat women like their second class citizens, well guess what? It's not gonna be very long. And till some women start bucking against that, they don't wanna be second class citizens in the kingdom of God. They wanna be treated as full fledged members of the body of Christ and the fact that they have a different role to play in our assembly or a different role to play in the church, a different role to play in marriage that doesn't make them last. We've got to get that somehow through our heads men. I think somehow when we see the word headship or leadership, well, you know, that makes me so important and I can tread upon my why of tread upon women and mash them down. That is exactly what causes rebellion and causes women to want roles and, and places in the kingdom that they should not want. And that, that they're not suited for. God doesn't want them to have those places in the kingdom, but when we treat women badly, the next thing you know, a woman is gonna say, well, Hey, can I stand over there? Where, where the spotlight is, where you get lots of honor and, and esteem where people treat you, right? I'd like to have some of that. I, I, I have said before, and I I'll say here on the podcast, I think some of the troubles that we have with ladies in the kingdom of God come because men aren't treating our sister in Christ with the respect and honor that they are due. And I will say, again, said this many times, I think it's an important principle. If somehow we arrive at the conviction that God cheated women out of the parts of worship, the places in the assembly, the roles that really matter, then we are going to end up in no good place. God has given men some things to do. God has given women some things to do, and we need to do those with joy in the presence of the Lord. And we, we should not covet another position. Men should not be looking over there. Well, I, I wish I could have a baby and women should not looking over at men. I wish I could be doing this and this and this. No, we need to be content where we are. And we need to make sure first Corinthians chapter 11, that we are conveying to the world that we are respectable parts of society. And that we are not part of any attempt to throw off all role rules and rules and regulations and live in some kind of imoral sort of way. Well, I hope that helps you in your reading today. Not a very long reading, but I had a lot of things to say, read first Corinthians 11, one to eight. Maybe don't stop there, go ahead and read all the way through verse 16, and then you can read it all of it again on Monday. And I hope these ideas will help you and will help what you're thinking about that come snap into good focus for you. Like I said, it's a difficult passage. I don't know of anybody's interpretation or ideas about it that takes care of everything and fixes every problem. But I hope the idea that this is a custom and what is appropriate in that culture will help you understand how this fits in car and then how to make broader application of that to our society today. Well, thanks for listening. Thanks for reading the Bible with me. Thanks for listening to these sermon notes. Way back on Monday. If you love the Monday morning coffee podcast, I hope you'll share it with somebody. I hope that you'll rate and review it, subscribe and follow to it. And like I said, I hope you'll tell somebody else about this opportunity to build spiritual momentum on Sunday and just carry it all through the week that will help someone. And that will help this podcast be by by others. So until next time I hope your coffee today is delightful that your Friday is blessed and the start to a great week, uh, great weekend, I should say. And I hope that the Lord will be with you today. All day. I will see you on Monday, Monday morning with a good, good cup of coffee. See you then.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for listening to the west side church of Christ podcast. Monday morning coffee with mark. For more information about west side, you can connect with us through our website, just christians.com and our Facebook page. Our music is from upbeat dot I that's upbeat with two P'S, U P B E a T, where creators can get free music. Please share our podcast with us. And we look to seeing you again with a cup of coffee, of course, on next Monday,