Okay, so we're going to continue where we left off last week,
talking about the dominion mandate from Genesis chapter 1.
And last week, we talked about the masculine aspect of that,
the mandate for men.
And then this week, we're going to talk about the feminine dominion mandate.
Okay, so I'm going to pray, and we're going to jump in.
Father, thank you for your word.
Thank you, Lord, for the authority of your word.
Thank you for the life-giving nature of your word.
I pray that we would rejoice over your word, delight in your word,
and submit to your word.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Okay, so the feminine dominion mandate.
Okay, Genesis 1, I'm going to read it again this week.
Genesis 1, 26 to 28.
Then God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness,
and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea,
over the birds of the heavens, over the livestock, and over all the earth,
and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.
I just don't know if he just loves that phrase.
Every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.
So God created man in his own image.
In the image of God, he created him.
Male and female, he created them.
And God blessed them.
God said to them, be fruitful and multiply,
and fill the earth, and subdue it,
and have dominion over the fish of the sea,
and over the birds of the heavens,
and over every living thing that moves on the earth.
Sometimes we can tend to think of the dominion mandate only for men.
But if you look here, he's not just speaking to men.
He's saying that he created man in his own image.
In the image of God, he created a male and female.
He created them.
And then God blessed them, male and female,
and said to them, be fruitful, multiply,
fill the earth, so do it, and have dominion.
So because of the differing roles between a man and a woman,
men and women both equal in value,
but differing in roles,
and we are firm believers that your value does not come from your role,
which is much contrary to society's view of value.
Value, in the world's eyes, always comes from what you do.
And so if you don't do what someone else does, you lose value.
If you don't get to do what somebody else does,
you will never have as much value as they do.
But that's a worldly concept.
Okay?
Even the Trinity itself, although equal in their godness,
they have different roles.
Okay?
And so clearly, you can have these different roles
and still hold the equality between them.
So you have male and female.
And the question today is, what is the feminine feminine mandate?
What is the feminine role in this mandate?
Okay?
And with that, you know, sometimes you think, well, yeah,
because what about the woman being the weaker vessel?
1 Peter 3.7 says,
Weaker vessel.
So how does that work as a woman functioning in a dominion mandate
when she is a weaker vessel?
Well, I think a great way to look at this,
a great picture of this would be pregnancy.
Okay?
I think of probably the most pronounced point of feminine weakness
is when a woman is pregnant.
Right?
Because she's more vulnerable than ever before.
She's literally, you know, encased in her body
is this very fragile human being.
And so, you know, she feels very vulnerable in that moment.
And she has to protect this baby.
And she can't do what she would have normally done
before she was pregnant.
And she's in a very vulnerable, weak state at that point.
She's protecting that little child
and is not able to lift what she could.
She's not able to work and do...
There's all these restrictions put on her.
Why?
Because she can care for that baby.
And so in many ways, she is extremely weak in that.
But she also then births a baby and then nurses a baby.
So that is...
You see the other side of it where such power that comes from that.
And I think that's a great example of, yes, even though a woman is weaker,
she still is able to rule and subdue in such a way
where she's able to bring forth life in a way that's amazing,
in a way that is extremely powerful.
I mean, there are a few things more powerful than childbirth.
I mean, anyone who's witnessed childbirth, many have cried.
Even people who don't normally cry, cry.
Why?
Because there's just such a powerful experience.
And this is a perfect example how a weaker vessel can still be fruitful
and have power in the way they rule in the sense that they are able to give birth to a baby.
And there's often in birth, too, a lot of times my wife has been at a lot of births.
One of the things she'll come up with often is a woman saying,
I can't do this, like in the middle of childbirth, right?
I can't do this.
And, you know, one of the roles of a doula is to say,
oh, you have a midwife here as well, right?
So I'm sure you've heard that many times.
I can't do this.
But a woman is able to subdue those thoughts of unbelief and then give birth.
Oh, we have all kinds of people here.
And she's able to give birth.
And that's an awesome picture, I think, of the weak vessel still being able to overcome
the weakness of the moment and do an extremely powerful thing.
Well, what about when it comes to rule and we're talking about women,
what about 1 Timothy 2, 11 to 15?
It says,
So you say, you know, we're talking about the dominion mandate for women.
And yet here you have this restriction where Paul says,
I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man.
Rather, she is to remain quiet.
So when we talk about this, there is a specific,
just because she's not the teacher of authority over a man, okay,
that's not where she is supposed to rule.
That doesn't negate that she's still supposed to rule.
That's an important point, okay?
The fact that she's not supposed to rule over men
doesn't mean she's not supposed to rule at all, okay?
And sometimes that's the conclusion that people come to,
and that's an incorrect conclusion.
She still has the dominion mandate.
She just has to do it in the proper way.
And there is that restriction that she shouldn't rule over men,
but there are many things that she is to rule over.
So let's look at them, okay?
I want to look at six domains, kind of like we did with men.
Let's look at how women can exercise this subduing, ruling, and being fruitful
in these different domains of their life, different areas of rule,
these different gardens of their life where they can subdue, rule, and be fruitful.
First one would be personal life, okay?
As women, ladies, are you subduing things in your personal life,
ruling them, and being fruitful in them, okay?
A great example would be fear or anxiety.
As women, are you subduing any fear or anxiety in your life?
Are you ruling over it?
And then being fruitful to actually cultivate an atmosphere in your life and around you of faith.
And that would go as far as to say there's a feminine faith that overcomes fear that looks like laughing, okay?
But there's two sides of this.
The bad side of laughing is a cynical laugh.
This is the laugh of Sarah, of Abraham, right?
The healthy laugh is the Proverbs 31 laugh that laughs at the days to come, okay?
Let's look at this.
1 Peter 3, 3-6 says,
Do not let your adorning be external,
the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry or the clothing you wear.
But let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart
with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit,
which in God's sight is very precious.
For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves
by submitting to their own husbands as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord.
And you are her children if what?
If you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.
If you do not fear anything that is frightening, you are her children, okay?
There's a fear, especially because women are weaker in authority.
There is a fear being weaker in authority that comes along with that.
Because when you're in authority, you have more control.
When you're weaker in authority, you have less control,
which brings a propensity to fear and anxiety.
But a woman can overcome that.
A woman can overcome that, right?
By hoping in God.
Not by hoping in your husband.
Not by hoping in your circumstances.
Not by hoping in a position or whatever other circumstance.
No, by hoping in God is the way that you cannot fear anything that is frightening
because you're hoping in God, okay?
And by the way, he doesn't say that there's not legitimate things that are frightening.
I love that it says that it doesn't just say, do not fear anything.
It says, don't fear anything that is frightening.
As if to say, hey, some things are frightening, okay?
It's okay to say this is scary.
But you don't have to fear it because your hope is in God, okay?
1 Peter 4.19 goes on.
He says, therefore, let those who suffer according to God's will
entrust their souls to a faithful creator while doing good, okay?
We're entrusting ourselves to God, hoping in God.
Women, are you subduing your fears?
Are you subduing your anxieties?
Are you able, when that temptation to speak out fear comes,
you're able to have a gentle and quiet spirit that trusts in the Lord, okay?
Basically, one that has calmed and quieted your soul.
Like Psalm 131.
Oh Lord, my heart is not lifted up.
My eyes are not raised too high.
I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul.
Like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me.
Oh Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forevermore.
It's literally the same language as in 1 Peter 3.
Do you notice that?
It's talking about gentle and quiet, calmed and quieted my soul.
It's talking about not thinking of things too great and marvelous, not being afraid.
Because why?
Oh Israel, hope in the Lord, okay?
And there is a taking on of this dominion mandate in women when they say,
I'm calming and quiet in my soul.
Yes, there are things too great and wonderful to me, and they're scary.
But like a weaned child is my soul within me.
I will hope in the Lord, okay?
You have the two kinds of laughs.
The cynical laugh of Sarah in Genesis 18, when God says, you're going to have a child in your old age.
And Sarah laughs.
And the angel of the Lord says to her, the Lord says to Abraham, why did Sarah laugh and say, shall I indeed bear a child now that I'm old?
Is anything too hard for the Lord?
At this appointed time, I will return to you about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.
But Sarah denied it, saying, I did not laugh, for she was afraid.
He said, no, but you did laugh.
I always kind of get uncomfortable when I read that verse.
I was like, don't say that.
Don't say you didn't laugh.
Do you realize who you're talking to here?
Like, don't say that.
Just, he knows, okay?
He knows.
It's like, no, but you did laugh.
It's like, just acknowledge it, okay?
Okay, that's the cynical laugh.
You know, God says, is anything too hard for the Lord?
What a great question, right, from the Lord.
And essentially, that's the question we have to ask ourselves when we're faced with something difficult.
Is anything too hard for the Lord?
Is it?
And sometimes we can laugh with like this kind of scoff or cynicism.
That's not the laugh of a woman who's fulfilling the dominion mandate that God has given her.
That's not the right kind of laugh.
The right kind of laugh is Proverbs 31, 25.
Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come.
I love that verse.
That, to me, is such a beautiful picture of feminine beauty.
Because, ladies, if you don't know this, one of the most attractive things that a woman can possess is the lack of fear.
Hoping in the Lord.
That is very attractive to a man.
And it's very precious to God.
He says it's of great worth in his sight, okay?
So she laughs at the time to come.
When you put your hope in God, you can laugh at the times to come.
You can approach them with levity.
Lightness, right?
I think the other thing in a personal life that a woman needs to overcome is discontentment or complaining.
Okay?
Discontentment or complaining.
Elizabeth Elliot has this great thing to say about femininity.
She says, femininity receives.
It says, may it be to me as you have said.
That's quoting Mary after she was told she was going to have Jesus.
Okay?
Femininity receives.
It says, may it be to me as you have said.
Like Mary.
It takes what God gives.
A special place.
Special honor.
A special function in glory.
Different from that of masculinity.
Meant to be a help.
In other words, it is for us women to receive the given as Mary did, not to insist on the not given as Eve did.
Okay?
Let me read that last part again.
It is for us women to receive the given as Mary did, not to insist on the not given as Eve did.
Okay?
You see, this is the lie that's been perpetuated ever since Eve.
Okay?
Essentially, you've been ripped off.
Okay?
You did not get what you should get.
And there's more out there that you should have.
This was the lie in the garden.
Eve said, oh, this thing that's forbidden, I need this.
I want this.
And ever since then, that's the feminist movement.
The feminism says, God's withholding from you.
There's something you don't have that you need to fight for and clamor for and insist on the not given.
Like Eve did.
And it's been happening ever since.
Rather than Mary, who is the opposite of that, who receives what has been given.
A woman who is functioning in her God-given mandate to subdue, to rule, and to be fruitful,
takes what she's been given and makes it better.
She takes what she's been given and stewards it.
She takes what she's been given and she's not focused on what she hasn't been given.
The temptation would be, don't focus on what you have been given.
Don't be thankful for what you have been given.
Focus on what you have not been given.
Be discontent.
Grumble.
Complain.
Think about what you don't have rather than to think about what you do have.
That is the temptation.
And a woman who's functioning the way she should, she's content.
She's content.
And she's subduing her discontentment.
She's ruling over that and saying, I'm not going to let my mind go there.
I'm not going to, I'm going to be fruitful in the sense that I'm going to take what I've been given
and not focus on what I've not been given, but I'm going to take what I've been given
and I'm going to make it better.
I'm going to be fruitful in it.
Okay.
Another way you can subdue in our personal lives is education.
Okay.
Where a woman is theologically astute.
All right.
There are a lot of women who, because a man in the church is called to lead and that women
aren't supposed to take authority over a man.
They have then relegated theological astuteness to men only.
That is a tragic mistake.
Women, you should be given to theological rigor.
You should be given to Bible study.
You should be given to the knowledge of God.
You should be given to understanding how life works in such a way through the scriptures and
through the truth so that you can be a good teacher, so that you can bring good counsel,
so that you can be someone who is fruitful with the scriptures.
Not just farming that out to men.
Yes.
Men have a unique call in the church to rule and to teach, but that doesn't mean that women
don't teach as well.
And we'll look at that later on in this message.
But to do that, you must pay much attention to your own spiritual education, your own theological
education, and saying, hey, this is a big deal.
I'm not going to, you know, I'm not just going to let that be for men.
As women, we need stalwart women who are very rigorous when it comes to learning the scriptures,
knowing the scriptures, memorizing the scriptures, understanding the scriptures.
Do you have that vision to subdue your lack of knowledge, to rule in the gates, to rule
in these places of where you have been given responsibility because you know what God wants.
You know what the word says.
You know his will and you know his ways.
Very important thing.
Okay.
Another way we can personally subdue things is subdue the last minute plans and failure
to plan ahead.
Just letting life happen to us rather than attacking life with purpose.
Okay.
A lot of times women can get and feel overwhelmed by all the things coming at them, especially
with all the responsibilities of home and children and work and all these different things.
Okay.
And we can just react to those things instead of really just having a plan for those things
and not just being last minute, but having vision.
Not saying, oh no, vision is just for men.
Absolutely not.
Women should be functioning in a way where they're saying, I have vision for the different
domains in my life.
I have vision for how I'm going to handle these things when they come at me and I'm going to
subdue them.
I'm going to rule them and I'm going to make them more fruitful.
Okay.
Number two domain, marriage.
Okay.
Marriage.
This is, this would be different.
The one different one for those who are single, but there's something to say in that as well.
Okay.
Marriage.
Are you subduing, ruling, and being fruitful in marriage?
Now, that doesn't mean you rule over your husband, right?
And so there's a way to do this as a woman.
First Peter three says, wives be subject to your own husbands.
All right.
So that even if they, some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the
conduct of their wives when they see you respectful in pure conduct.
That's such a great verse to even say right there that, all right, I'm supposed to submit
to my husband as a woman.
And even if they do not obey the word, I still can be fruitful.
I'm not, I don't have this excuse that, oh, my husband hasn't done things right.
My husband isn't doing what he's supposed to do.
My husband has made mistakes.
In this case, my husband isn't even a believer.
Therefore, I'm a victim.
I don't have any hope in this matter.
Oh, on the contrary, no.
I can actually be fruitful in that scenario.
And without a word, by the conduct of their wives, when they see the respectful and pure
conduct, they can win over their husbands.
Right?
That's a powerful thing.
And it's something, it's a way that a woman in that context, even though she's not supposed
to rule over her husband, she can rule over her emotions.
She can rule over her unbelief.
And in that moment say, even though I lack authority in this area, I can still bring influence.
I can still bring fruitfulness by trusting in the Lord and doing my part and not being focused
on what the man isn't doing.
I'm going to focus on what I'm supposed to do.
I'm not going to be a victim to those things.
I'm actually going to be fruitful in this place of subjection and submission in order to
bring life into my marriage.
That's a powerful thing.
Oftentimes, though, we tend to think of this on two different kind of spectrums.
Either wife is usurpacious, she's not submitting, she's controlling.
And then, but on the other, and that's wrong.
Woman shouldn't do that.
She needs to be in the place that God's called her to be.
And she needs to be in submission to her husband.
But on the other side, and so if a woman sometimes feels like, oh, I'm doing a good job then
because I'm not doing that.
But on the flip side, if a wife can't ever do anything without first asking her husband,
that's also the other side of this coin.
Okay?
Most definitely, there are many things a wife should ask her husband about.
But if a wife can't do anything unless she asks her husband, she can't think on her own,
she can't be looking at things that are in her responsibility and taking dominion over
those things, subduing those things, knowing what her husband would want in certain situations,
and also having the freedom to be able to say, I'm a woman, I'm a competent woman, that
God has given a mandate to subdue, rule, and to be fruitful.
And I can make decisions that are godly and that will help my husband.
And I think sometimes in the name of submission, a woman goes too far and ends up being someone
who can't do anything unless her husband's there to tell her what to do.
And that is not the kind of woman that God wants in this world.
Okay?
He wants that woman to be able to subdue, rule, and be fruitful.
And that means that she's anticipating ways that she could help her husband and not having
to always ask him.
Okay?
She's also, when we look at, she's also in her role to be the glory of man.
1 Corinthians 11, 7 and 9, a man is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of
man.
For man was not made from woman, but woman from man.
Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.
Okay?
Proverbs 12, verse 4 says, an excellent wife is the crown of her husband.
So if man is the glory of God and woman is the glory of man, essentially she's the glory
of the glory.
And she should be glorifying the glory of God.
A man is the glory of God as something that secures praise or renown.
Okay?
A woman is the glory of man as a distinguished quality or asset that essentially makes things
better.
Okay?
She helps by glorifying what is given to her.
She makes things glorious.
Sometimes when people use the word glorified, they say, they speak of something that's better
than something else.
They say, this is a glorified version of this.
Right?
So a wife takes what she receives.
She takes what the husband has provided as the husband's role of a provider.
She takes what's provided and she glorifies it.
She makes it better.
She rules over it.
She subdues it and says, I'm going to make it more fruitful.
That's how a woman can be the glory of man in the context of a marriage.
All right?
This is what women do.
They take what's given to them in areas.
They receive things.
They say, may it be to me as you have said.
They're not saying, oh, I wish I had this or because I don't have this, I can't do something.
They're saying, no, I'm going to take whatever is given to me, whatever the Lord has given to me,
whatever life gives to me, and I'm going to glorify it.
I'm going to make it better.
Okay?
Great example of this, again, I'm going to go back to childbirth.
And in this case, I'm going to quote Jim Gaffigan.
And maybe you've heard this before.
Wouldn't quote a lot of things Jim says, but I'll quote this thing.
Okay?
Jim Gaffigan says, women are amazing.
A woman can grow a baby inside their body.
And then somehow a woman can deliver the baby through their body.
And then by some miracle, a woman can feed a baby with their body.
And when you think of the male contribution to life, it's kind of embarrassing.
But I think that's also just, although that's a funny joke, it's also interesting to see how the roles work.
Because essentially, in that equation, all man gives is his sperm.
The woman takes the sperm and makes a human.
You know?
That's insane.
If you think about it.
The man gives the sperm, and what does the woman do?
She glorifies it.
She makes it better.
Okay, I'll take that.
We'll combine it with the female egg.
And here you go.
Humans.
You know?
And not only will I make the human, I will birth the human, but I will feed the human.
You know?
That's an amazing thing.
But that typifies what women do.
They take what's given to them, whether a lot or a little, doesn't matter.
Okay?
And they take what's given to them by male authority in their life.
They take these things, and they don't say, oh, I wish I had this, or if I had this, I could do more.
It's like, no.
I'm going to take what's given and make something beautiful.
I'm going to take what's given and make something magnificent.
That is the way a woman fulfills the feminine mandate, the feminine portion of the dominion mandate in Genesis 1.
She takes what's given, and she glorifies it.
She is the glory of man.
That is an amazing aspect of femininity that I definitely love.
Okay?
Also, in this, when it comes to marriage, you can have two different sides of this, where are you taking things off your husband's plate versus waiting for him to come home and do everything?
Okay?
Sometimes we get in these role things where, instead of being a helper, who, again, anticipates, how can I help my husband?
How can I help him fulfill the mission that he has?
He was, the man was put in the garden to work the garden, and the woman was put in the garden to help the gardener.
Okay?
The man was given a mission, and the woman was given a mandate to help him with the mission, to submit to the mission, to submission, come under that mission.
All right?
As a wife, are you waiting for your husband to do all the things, and you can't do very much unless your husband is there to do it?
Or are you saying, yes, my husband is going to do a lot, and hopefully I married a man who does do a lot.
That's great.
Men should be doing a lot.
But I'm also going to say, how can I help him?
How can I help him do his mission?
How can I anticipate things that he has responsibility over that I, as his helper, could actually take off his plate to make things better, to make things easier so he can be more focused on his mission, more free in his mission?
That's how I can help him with that.
Do you think that way?
Or are you just kind of saying, well, that's his deal, that's his deal, that's his deal.
And there's these finely divided lines, that's his deal, that's my deal.
When there's certain things that may be his deal, but that you can help with and take off his plate so that he can greater do things called to do.
Okay?
Basically being a helper, which is in Genesis 2, right?
This is how, I love Proverbs 31, 10 to 12 says,
An excellent wife who can find, she is far more precious than jewels.
The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain.
She does him good and not harm all the days of her life.
What a great picture.
Okay?
So what about a single woman?
Touch on that for a second.
Okay?
I believe that God wants men and women to get married.
I believe that when he said it's not good for a man to be alone, he meant that a man should leave his father and mother, claim to his wife, and if he finds a wife, he finds a good thing.
Okay?
I believe that's supposed to happen.
And there are some who are called to celibacy, but there are some who are not called to celibacy who still find themselves not married.
If someone's called to celibacy and they're not married, that's a good thing because that's what God has for them.
If they're not called to celibacy and they just find in the brokenness of life and where we're at and how circumstances have happened that they're not married, that's a difficulty and affliction that's hard to deal with.
Okay?
But a woman in that mode as well can still subdue the fact that she's not having what God would want would be the ideal thing.
She can subdue the feelings and the affliction of that, the suffering of that, and say, I'm still going to rule and be fruitful in the midst of this unideal situation.
Okay?
Because it is an unideal situation.
But what can happen is, is a single person in that can be so focused on the unideal nature of that that they cease to be fruitful in their singleness.
And that is a travesty because that's not taking the dominion mandate and saying, no, I'm going to, even though this isn't ideal, even though this isn't ultimately what God in his overall overhearkened perfect will would want,
this is the lot that I have in life, at least at this point in time, and I'm going to make the most of this.
I'm going to be fruitful in this.
And I'm going to cause fruitfulness to come out of this, which I think is a powerful thing.
Third domain that a woman should rule or subdue, rule, and be fruitful in is the household, okay?
Which also includes children.
You see a lot of household language when it comes to women in the scriptures, and that's not by accident, okay?
A woman has a unique calling to the home.
You're going to ask the question, is a woman's place in the home?
No, her place is not in the home, but her focus is the home.
That will keep her in the home often, but it doesn't relegate her only to the home.
And Proverbs 31 is a great example of a woman who, although she was focused on her household, if you even do a word search in Proverbs 31, you'll see household mentioned multiple times.
But she is clearly not only in the household.
She is doing business outside of her household, but it's for her household, and that's the key.
A woman has a calling to rule her household, to subdue her household, to rule it, and to be fruitful in it, okay?
Titus 2, 3 to 5 says,
Okay?
So, again, talking about training young women to love their husbands and kids, talking about being self-controlled and working at the home, okay?
And then when you see 1 Timothy 5, you see younger widows in the negative light who are not widows who are being responsible in their widowhood.
It says that these ones in 1 Timothy 5, 13, learn to be idlers going about from house to house, and not only idlers, but also gossips and busybodies saying what they should not.
He's saying one of the negative things they do is they go from house to house.
They are not home managers.
They are not domestic, meaning a home ruler, okay?
That's what that word means.
What he then says to them is, okay, those of you younger widows who are not functioning the way a widow should, I encourage you, verse 14, he said,
I would have the younger widows marry, bear children, manage their households.
Don't go from house to house.
Manage a household.
And give the adversary no occasion for slander.
In fact, if you look at Proverbs 7, verse 1, Proverbs 7 is talking about the adulterous woman, okay?
One of the things that is said of the adulterous woman in Proverbs 7, 11 is that she is loud and wayward.
Her feet do not stay at home, okay?
So one of her weaknesses was that she was not home-centric.
She was not ruling in the home.
And because that responsibility was not something that she was taking on herself, it lent her to the waywardness of adultery, okay?
And this is the thing.
And God has certain roles for a woman, and when she functions in those roles, they are keepers of purity, okay?
When a woman is managing a home and not going from home to home, it keeps her from being the wayward, adulterous woman.
In the same way, when you see, like the verse we read before, when it talks about, in 1 Timothy, when it talks about a woman being saved through childbearing,
that word saved there isn't referring to saved like you're saved from your sins like the gospel saved,
because that would be ridiculous.
Then people who don't have barren people would never be able to be saved, okay?
If you look at the context of 1 Peter 5, the context of being saved in there is also used when it says,
watch your life and your doctrine closely, because you will save both yourself and your hearers.
That save, again, is not talking about you will save them like gospel saved and salvation from hell saved.
It's talking about saving them from what?
Deception.
So in the same way, when a woman is functioning in her God-given role to manage children, to rear children, to nurture children,
and that's true whether she has her own children or whether or not she doesn't have children,
she's still called to be someone who nurtures children, okay?
God has given women a unique ability to nurture children in a way that men cannot.
And we see this most often nowadays in the weirdness of the dad-mom,
this new thing where dads become the stay-at-home dad who's basically doing the role of what a mom used to do,
and how weird and clunky and out of place it looks,
because men have different bodies for different purposes.
Women have different bodies that are very suited for children.
Okay?
They have different hormones.
They have different makeups that God has created men and women for different purposes.
Men have a role with children for sure, but it's not the same as a woman.
Okay?
And when a woman finds herself doing things with children, it saves her from deception.
Does that make sense?
There are things, the role of a woman, she's functioning the way she's supposed to,
it saves her from deception.
That's a powerful thing.
Another way to redeem the use of the home, especially if you're someone who's not married and doesn't have kids,
it's Colossians 4.15.
Paul says,
Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea and to Nympha and the church in her house.
Again, I love even that, that management of the home, saying,
I'm going to subdue the home in such a way that it becomes a place of hospitality,
fruitful life-giving, where people want to be.
In fact, the church wants to meet here.
Why?
Because Nympha's got a home that is fruitful.
Okay?
This is another, again, this is another way that a woman, she takes what's given to her,
say, a man provides a home, a woman makes, a man provides a house, a woman makes a home.
Okay?
A house, you can, you've been in houses or seen houses, they don't feel homey.
They don't feel like a home.
Okay?
A man can provide for his wife and their family in a way and say,
Okay, I've provided a house, but a woman makes it a home.
A woman is, as a domestic rule, this rule over the house to say,
I'm going to subdue this home.
I'm going to subdue the things that are out of order.
I'm going to subdue the mess.
I'm going to subdue and use and rule over it and rule over the different aspects of the home
so that it is a life-producing, hospitality-producing environment that people want to be in
and that people are blessed for.
That's a beautiful thing.
And Nympha did that with the church.
Nympha had a church that met in her house.
She didn't say, she used that home for the church, which is a beautiful thing.
Proverbs 31, 27-29 says,
She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children rise up and call her blessed, her husband also, and he praises her.
Many women have done excellently, but you surpassed them all.
A woman, if she's following the dominion mandate, will do excellently,
and she will not give herself to the bread of idleness.
She will not give herself to the bread of idle Instagram scrolling.
Okay?
And there are many women who have a lot of time on their hands
who waste it with social media scrolling and such things.
Not that men don't do that as well.
But again, a woman inside her home, hopefully is taking authority over that home,
looks well to the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness.
Women, are you idle in your time?
Do you have a plan for your time?
Do you have a plan for the time that will come up that you didn't know you were going to have?
Okay?
Knowing that if I get some free time, this is what I'm going to do with it.
Most often, idleness springs forth from not having prioritized the time that you don't have now,
but if it comes to you, you'll know what to do when it comes.
Because the lack of decision in that moment of what you're going to do ahead of time
causes you to be paralyzed in that decision,
and most often you end up just doing one of these deals.
Just scrolling.
Okay?
But a woman who looks well to the ways of her household does not eat the bread of idleness.
She is experiencing this domestic household rule.
Okay?
She makes a house a home.
She brings the order where there's disorder.
Okay?
With her kids.
She sees that her kids are in a bang.
She's not just saying, well, you can get disciplined when you get home,
when dad gets home.
Yes, there are some times where that makes a lot of sense.
But if that is the default, you are not managing your home well.
And you should be the home executive.
We're managing the home, training the children,
so that when dad does get home, there's order there.
Coming home to order in the home,
order in how things are organized,
order in how the kids obey,
order in how the kids know how to sit,
order in that the kids aren't wild and disobedient
and hanging from the chandelier or the curtains
or whatever else they might be hanging from,
but that they actually are respectful, orderly.
And when dad comes home, when husband comes home,
he's not coming home to chaos.
He's coming home to peace.
No, it doesn't always work that way.
And that's okay.
Because it's not that you're supposed to dominate
from day one and on.
It's that you're always,
the dominion matter is to continually bring things into rule.
Okay?
So there's some things that take longer to subdue,
including an unruly child, right?
It doesn't happen overnight.
Many times it takes many, many, many years.
Okay?
And for all those who say,
oh, spanking isn't working.
I've heard this so many times.
We say, spanking isn't working.
How old is your kid?
Five years old.
How do you know?
How old is your kid?
Two years old.
How do you know?
How do you know spanking isn't working?
You're not done.
I mean, that's like saying,
you know, pulling a,
you know, putting a cake in the,
the batter for a cake in an oven
and two minutes taking it out
and say the stove isn't working.
It's like, what do you mean the stove isn't working?
You've only had it in there for two minutes.
You need to keep it in there for whatever,
a half hour or whatever it takes to cook that thing.
Okay?
So part of that dominion mandate
is for you to persevere
and subdue even your own belief
in the ways of God,
including discipline
and be consistent in that discipline,
knowing that yes,
over time,
I'm going to bring order to disorder
by following God's ways,
recognizing his ways
and saying,
I'm going to be fruitful
with what God has given me.
He's given me a home.
He's given me children
and I'm going to make them
into world changers.
You know,
I was reading something
about Thomas Edison's mom.
Thomas Edison,
do you know who Thomas Edison was?
Kids,
do you know who Thomas Edison was?
One of the greatest inventors
of all time.
Okay?
Invented things like the light bulb,
things we use today,
maybe take for granted,
but Thomas Edison was the guy
who thought of these things.
All right?
When he was in school,
the teacher sent him home
and told the mom
that Thomas Edison was dumb.
Well,
guess what Thomas Edison's mom said?
Like,
he's not dumb.
He's going to be great
and I'll take it from here
and then decided to take over
his education.
And I'd say she probably
did a pretty good job with him,
you know?
But again,
that's such a great example
of a woman saying,
hey, listen,
I'm going to take what's given to me
and I'm going to make it better.
I've been given this son.
The kid's teacher says he's dumb.
He wasn't dumb.
Okay?
Let's just say that.
He created a lot of value
in this world.
But maybe,
what would have happened
if mom didn't steward
that child well?
Maybe wouldn't have seen
all the value
that came out of Thomas Edison.
Behind that great man
was a great mom
who took on his education.
I love that.
That's awesome.
Okay?
Household executive.
It's a domain of your rule
is the household.
Number four.
Okay?
A woman,
and by the way,
if you're single,
you can still rule over a household.
You don't even have to own a house
to rule over it
and domesticate it,
make it this place
of life-giving fruitfulness.
You can rent and do that.
Seen it many times.
But it's something
that a woman should do.
It's something that a woman
should be known for.
And that's a very precious gift.
Homes are such a precious gift
in the practicals of life.
They're such a precious gift.
Think of all the great memories
of your life.
How many of them happened in homes?
Think of all the bad memories
in your life.
How many of them happened
in disorderly homes?
The home can be a source
of great grief
or a source of great
life-giving order and benefit.
How are you making your home?
Number four.
The church.
Okay?
Subduing and ruling
and be fruitful in the church.
Okay?
Again, glorifying it,
making it better.
Take what's given to you
and make it better.
Okay?
And this means
being a servant of the church.
Phoebe is a great example of this.
I commend you our sister Phoebe,
a servant of the church
at Centraea,
that she has become
a patron of many
and of myself as well.
That word servant
is the same word
where we get deacon.
Okay?
She was a distinguished servant
at the church there.
She's been a patron of many
and of myself as well.
She was a philanthropist.
She was actually bringing value
because she was a patron.
Okay?
She was able to give money.
She was able to serve.
That is a beautiful thing.
All right?
She took what she was given.
She made it better.
Subdued it.
Ruled it.
Fruitful in it.
All right?
You might say,
well,
but a woman can't teach men.
She can't take authority over men.
I don't have anything to do
in the church.
That is ridiculous.
Don't give in
to the sin of Eve
and think about
what you don't have.
Think of Mary
and say,
may it be to me
as you have said.
Yes,
I can't teach her
authority over men,
but I most definitely
can teach women.
I can teach children.
I can teach,
and I should.
Titus 2,
3 to 5 says,
older women,
they are to teach
what is good.
And so train the young women
to love their husbands
and children,
to be self-controlled,
pure,
working at home,
kind and submissive
to their own husbands,
that the word of God
may not be reviled.
Proverbs 31,
26 says,
she opens her mouth
with wisdom
and the teaching
of kindness
is on her tongue.
You can't teach
what you don't know.
Okay?
I love the story
of Priscilla and Aquila.
Okay?
Aquila is the guy
Priscilla's the girl,
by the way,
if you're wondering,
because they both
kind of sound like
they could be feminine names.
Now,
a Jew named Apollos
in Acts 18,
a native of Alexandria,
came to Ephesus.
He was an eloquent man,
competent in the scriptures.
He had been instructed
in the way of the Lord,
and being fervent in spirit,
he spoke and taught accurately
the things concerning Jesus,
though he knew
only the baptism of John.
Okay?
Also,
side note on him,
he's referred to with Paul
in 1 Corinthians 3,
I think there's
a really strong case
to say that he was an apostle,
and the way he's talking
about himself and Apollos,
he says,
we apostles,
when he's speaking
of him and Apollos.
Okay?
He was an apostle
who went to Corinth
and Ephesus
and did apostolic work there.
Okay?
So this is a man
who has influence.
This is a man
who's competent
in the scriptures.
He's eloquent.
He had been instructed
in the way of the Lord.
He's fervent in spirit.
He spoke and talked
accurately
the things concerning Jesus.
And then,
as he's speaking boldly
in the synagogue
in Acts 18,
Priscilla and Aquila
heard him
and they took him aside
and explained to him
the way of God
more accurately.
What a beautiful thing there.
And it's saying
Priscilla first
before Aquila,
which in the way
that things are written,
that means she probably
had a prominent role
in that exhortation.
But she did it
in a feminine way.
Okay?
She wasn't taking authority.
It doesn't seem like
because it's saying
she did it right.
She's taking authority
over a man.
Okay?
But she's teaching
in a feminine way.
She's instructing
and using what God's given her
to influence this man,
Apollos,
to make him into
a better man,
make him into
a better apostle.
That's awesome.
Okay?
She had a role there
that she was using
alongside Aquila
that was powerful.
And Paul mentions
these two multiple times.
Why?
Because they were probably
a really great couple.
Okay?
And it wasn't just mentioning,
oh, Aquila,
he's just such a great guy.
He's an awesome guy.
Oh, yeah,
that is Priscilla as well.
No, it's Priscilla and Aquila.
In this case,
Priscilla's mentioned first.
And in this case,
they were both used
to correct Apollos
and bring him
into more greater effectiveness,
which had a great impact
on the church.
Apollos was the real deal.
He was a big deal back then
and the impact
that he was having
one of the few apostles
that Paul mentions.
Okay?
So when you think
of the church,
are you subduing,
ruling,
being fruitful
with what you've been given?
Are you engaged
with the church?
I think sometimes
women end up
being disengaged
from the church
because of the role
that a woman has
and sometimes
hiding behind kids,
not engaging
in worship
and prayer,
not discussing things
or engaging
with men
in a proper way
and talking about
things that are
theologically rigorous
because maybe
sometimes hiding
behind children
or responsibility
to children,
that's not okay.
That's not okay.
Women should be engaged
in the church,
yes,
in a different way
because they have
different responsibilities,
but in many ways
the same way.
Engaged in prayer,
engaged in worship,
engaged in theological
rigor and discussion,
engaged not just
with women
but with men as well
in a way that
the church has built up,
using their gifts
to encourage
and strengthen.
That's a powerful thing,
a very powerful thing.
Number five,
work in your work,
subduing and ruling
and being fruitful.
Okay?
1 Timothy 5, 9-10
says,
let a widow be enrolled.
She has a reputation
for good works
and has devoted herself
to every good work.
1 Timothy 2, 9-10
said,
women should adorn
themselves
in respectable apparel
with modesty
and self-control,
not with braided hair
and gold or pearls
or costly attire,
but with what is proper
for women
to profess godliness
with good works.
Proverbs 31, 13-24
Listen to this woman.
She seeks wool and flax
and works with willing hands.
She is like the ships
of the merchant.
She brings her food
from afar.
She rises while it is yet night
and provides food
for her household
and portions
for her maidens.
She considers a field
and buys it.
With the fruit of her hand,
she plants a vineyard.
She dresses herself
with strength
and makes her arms strong.
She perceives
that her merchandise
is profitable.
Her lamp does not
go out at night.
She puts her hands
to the distaff
and her hands
hold the spindle.
She opens her hand
to the poor
and reaches out her hands
to the needy.
She is not afraid
of snow
for her household
for all her household
are clothed in scarlet.
She makes bed coverings
for herself.
Her clothing is fine linen
and purple.
Her husband is known
at the gates
when he sits among
the elders of the land.
She makes linen garments
and sells them.
She delivers sashes
to the merchants.
That's a hard-working woman
right there.
That's a woman
who is subduing
a lot of things.
She's ruling over
a lot of things.
Love it.
It's a beautiful picture.
Women should be known
for hard work,
good works.
You see this over
and over in the scriptures.
In fact,
at the end of Proverbs 31,
31,
it says,
give her the fruit
of her hands
and let her works
praise her in the gates.
It says that earlier on
the husband is known
in the gates.
What's he known for?
If the wife is being
praised in the gates
and the husband
is known in the gates,
the reason the husband
is known in the gates
is because he has a great wife.
And he's being praised
in the gates
because he's saying,
man,
you're able to do
a lot of things
because you have
a great wife.
She's incredible.
She's doing some great things.
He's taking what's given to her
and making it better.
He's taking what's given to her,
she's subduing it,
she's ruling over it,
and she's being fruitful with it.
She's not lazy.
She's hardworking.
She's not even lazy
in the fact that
sometimes even busyness
can be lazy.
We talked about this last week.
You just have a whole bunch
of things going on
but you're not doing
the things that are priority.
You find yourself busy
and you don't know
what you did
when you look back on a day.
You find yourself overwhelmed
but you're not doing
the things you were supposed to do.
Busyness can be
a form of laziness.
It's indiscriminate action
making you feel like,
oh, I'm doing something
but if you're not doing
the right things,
it's a form of laziness.
This woman in Proverbs 31
doesn't look like
she's doing it.
It looks like she's getting
a lot of things done
in an amazing way.
She has a plan
and she's executing.
Okay?
Lastly would be
everywhere else
which that could be
anything else, right?
Subduing, ruling,
and being fruitful
in every other area of life.
Ladies,
are you fulfilling
this dominion mandate?
Are you subduing
these different areas
and different domains
of your life?
You're ruling over them
and you're being fruitful.
Again,
why think of all the things
that you can't do
when there's so much
you could do?
There's plenty to do.
Sometimes it's,
Gina and I have talked
about this,
it's crazy sometimes
that women complain
about what they can't do
and it's like,
there is plenty to do.
There's plenty to do here.
Really?
You need more to do?
I mean,
come on.
When I read that,
I get a little overwhelmed
when I read that
Proverbs 31 thing.
I'm like,
wow,
that's overwhelming.
How in the world
is she doing all that stuff?
That's crazy.
She's a fruitful woman.
She's a woman,
she's dominating.
She's got,
she believes in the
dominion mandate.
She believes that God
anointed her for good works
and she's going to get out
there and do it.
All right?
These are the kind of women
that we want.
in all
in the world.