Message Four:
The Operation of the Sisters in the Practical Church Life

Introduction

In the first meeting of this conference we talked about four major items in the Bible related to sisters: allegories, parables, examples, and teachings. We have had a message on each of these topics except for the matter of teaching. Many of the teachings related to sisters in the Bible are very hard to understand, so we will not consider the teachings in this conference. Usually the simplest things are the hardest to understand. Simple things need experience to back them up. For this reason I would say that some of the clear teachings in the Bible related to the sisters' function are very hard to apprehend.

I. As illustrated through the healthy church life    

A. In one accord with the brothers to bring in the outpouring of the Spirit (Acts 1:13-14; 2:18)

This is the stand of the sisters in the church life. Their stand is to be in one accord with the brothers to bring in the outpouring of the Spirit. The outpouring of the Spirit is actually the accomplishment of God's New Testament economy. When the Lord breathed the Spirit into His disciples that was a partial accomplishment. The outpouring of the Spirit was the totality of His accomplishment. This outpouring came in because of the one accord of one hundred and twenty brothers and sisters standing together in fervent prayer.

In the church life, it is extremely hard to be in one accord, especially among the sisters. The brothers are raw, they don't notice things. The problem with sisters in regards to one accord is that they are fine and they see too much. In proper fellowship, it is a blessing to notice things in the church life. But on the other hand, when you notice things and you don't know how to fellowship, the one accord is gone. To be in one accord you must know this secret. When you have the ability to see things, you also need the ability to fellowship. Otherwise the church life will be frustrated by gossip and opinion. Also, the brothers give up easily. If a few brothers are in fellowship about something, and several insist on one thing, a brother will go along with it even if he doesn't agree. But the sisters won't give up when they feel they are right. To have the one accord, sisters must learn this lesson.

B. Becoming the first disciples in the apostle's labor in Philippi (Acts 16:12, 14), in Thessalonica (17:4), in Berea (Acts 17:12), in Athens (Acts 17:34), and in Corinth (Acts 18:2).

When the Lord sent His servant to raise up churches, the first response came not from brothers, but mostly from the sisters. The sisters should not despise themselves. In the Bible, the sisters were the first ones to follow the Lord and respond to His work, taking the lead to associate themselves with the reality of the gospel for the local churches to be raised up.     

C. Holding offices in the church life         

1. Operating by being sent out

Please have this understanding, sisters can become very useful. The sisters do have the ability to serve the Lord with greater capacity, even to the point that they can be sent out.          

2. Operating as deaconesses in the local church life

The word deaconess is the same Greek word as for ministering. In other words, it means a serving one. In all the local churches some sisters should function as serving ones, taking the lead to take care of the services. It is a shame that there are so few deacons and deaconesses operating in the church life in a proper way. Have you ever considered how hospitality is handled in your locality? Maybe only one brother is handling many burdens including hospitality. It would be good for some sisters to rise up and take the lead to serve in their locality.     

D. Functioning in different capacities in the Body         

1. Helping the saints by expounding the way of God – Priscilla with Apollos (Acts 18:26)

The church in Ephesus began with only a few saints, including Apollos, Priscilla, and Aquila. Apollos only had the teachings of John the Baptist. Priscilla and Aquila had been under Paul's teaching. Priscilla realized there was something lacking in Apollos' understanding. However, she did not expose him in the meeting in front of all the saints. Rather, she invited him to her home, and began to expound the way of God to him. This verse surely shows us that sisters are able to teach, and should be able to teach, if it is in a proper environment. It is not proper for a sister to exercise teaching publicly in the meeting. But Priscilla exercised in a healthy way to present the way of God to Apollos.          

2. Becoming the patroness of many – Phoebe (Rom. 16:2)

A patroness invests her whole person and all of her resources to bring what she sees into reality. Phoebe was a deaconess, but at the same time she operated as a patroness, to make sure that blessings were rendered to all the saints.          

3. Risking their lives for the apostles and the Lord's testimony – Priscilla (Acts 16:4)         

4. Laboring much – Mary, Tryphaena, Tryphosa, Persis (Rom. 16:6, 12)         

5. Exercising with the apostles to become a nursing mother to both the apostles and the saints (Rom. 16:13; 1 Thes. 2:7)

It is not wise for a sister to consider where her place is, or what she should do. There is so much to do. If you are rich in truth, expound the way of God. If you don't feel you have that much truth, you can patronize some. If you don't know how to patronize, then labor. At least you can come to the meeting hall to clean and dust. The church life needs many saints to labor much. And you can nurse some new ones. After the meeting go up to a new one and take care of her. When you comfort a new one, or make a new one feel at home, this is to be a nursing mother. All of these points show the functioning of the sisters in different capacities in the Body as seen in the Bible.

II. As illustrated through an unusual example of a spiritual family life – the household of Timothy

This example should be a comfort to the sisters whose husbands are unsaved.     

A. With a Greek father, maybe even unbelieving (Acts 16:1)    

B. With a godly grandmother and mother who possessed unfeigned faith (2 Tim. 1:5)

The situation of Timothy's mother and grandmother was difficult. Timothy's father was a Greek and may not been saved. Yet in such household there was the Lord's presence because the mother and the grandmother had unfeigned faith.          

1. Infused that same faith into Timothy (1 Tim. 1:5)

Timothy's mother and grandmother also passed this same faith on to Timothy. Many parents are overly concerned in correcting their children. Parents should remember that their children are in the Lord's hands not in their hands. Timothy grew up in a discouraging family situation. His father may not have been saved and may even have brought sinful things into the home. However, the mother and the grandmother were extremely godly, and were able to infuse something into Timothy that was greater than the sinful influence of the father. Timothy's mother "overpowered" his father by her unfeigned faith. She trusted in the Lord, she knew her God and Savior. This faith in her was eventually infused into Timothy so that he also possessed such faith.          

2. Helped Timothy to know the Scriptures since his infancy (2 Tim. 3:15)

Second Timothy 3:15 is a difficult verse to understand. How can a baby understand the Bible? We often like to ask when to start raising our children up spiritually. This verse shows us that we should start from day one. As soon as they are born you can sing songs to them at bedtime and memorize verses to them. They may not understand it but do it. Paul told Timothy, "from a babe you have known the sacred writings."     

C. Timothy was attested to by the brothers in Lystra and Iconium (Acts 16:2)

Eventually two nearby local churches both knew that there was a fine young man named Timothy in the church life. They knew this because they had heard of the family situation yet they admired this young man. For the church to attest someone means to know them and to somewhat admire them.     

D. Timothy was selected to go forth with Paul (Acts 16:3)

Are you willing for your sons to go full-time, to live a despised, poor life, and to suffer persecution from the Gentiles and from the church? This will happen if your son goes full-time. This was Timothy's life.

III. As illustrated through a healthy household in Bethany

This point was taken from the Recovery Version, John 12:1, footnote 1.     

A. Lazarus – the life of resurrection (John 11:43-44)    

B. Simon the leper – cleansed sinner (Mark 14:3)    

C. Bethany – outwardly afflicted    

D. With the Lord's presence – inwardly feasting (John 12:2)    

E. Having more sisters than brothers (John 12:2-3)    

F. Having members with different functions (John 12:2-3)         

1. Serving – Martha         

2. Testifying – Lazarus         

3. Loving – Mary    

G. Bringing in many believers (John 12:11)

IV. The necessity of the healthy operations of the households unto a prevailing church life

The last point of this conference is the necessity of the household. Everyone has to live somewhere, and that is your household. Wherever you are, there is a household, and that household becomes the source of blessing. Usually we concentrate on good individuals. Very seldom do we acknowledge a good household. Our thought is that a good church life has many good brothers and good sisters. But the term good brother is never mentioned in the Bible. A brother may be good, and his wife may be good but they may not necessarily have a good household. In a good household both the brother and the sister serve together. What the Lord desires is the household.     

A. The church life started from house to house (Acts 2:46)

Without houses, basically there can never be a proper church life.     

B. Many houses became houses of prayer and testimony – Peter went to Mary's house (Acts 12:12)

In the beginning of the church life, many houses must have opened up for the saints to eat together, enjoy the Lord together, fellowship together, pray together, preach the gospel together, and bear the Lord's testimony together. Satan attacks the household by making you selfish of your home and your privacy. If your household is not used by the Lord then Satan can come in with many things to distract you, but when the household is open to the church, even becoming a household of prayer and of the Lord's testimony, Satan has to flee. Salvation comes to the household.     

C. Many local churches literally met at a particular house, i.e., the church in Colosse in Philemon's house (Philem. 2), the church in Rome in Aquila and Priscilla's house (Rom. 16:5)

How good it would be if in a large metropolitan area with many small cities there could be many small churches meeting for house to house. You could have a large meeting hall for corporate meetings but your daily church life would be in the homes. These many houses could be houses of prayer and testimony. How crucial is the household.     

D. The secret of exercising the church life through our household         

1. To realize how crucial it is – a deciding factor of a healthy church life

It is not enough to realize that you are a good sister. Your household must be a good household. Your household must be a blessing to the church life. You need this kind of realization.          

2. To enjoy the Lord's grace – know that it is more blessed to give than to receive

As you open up your house, you will enjoy more because you are giving. As you give, the Lord will bless you more.          

3. To exercise with normality – present ourselves as who we are

This point is very crucial because it is easy for us to try to put on a good face when we have company. But this is not genuine, nor is it a healthy operation of the household. And it can be very stressful for you as the host to try to make everything perfect outwardly. You must learn to be very normal. Don't be pressured; don't be somebody else; don't even try to be spiritual. Realize that when you operate, you are going to bless the Body.

4. To realize that the saints' presence brings in the Lord's presence and many times "is equal to" the Lord's presence

When I invite a few saints to my home or visit them in their home, just be being in their presence, many times that equals being in the Lord's presence and even brings in the Lord's presence.          

5. With no work or accomplishment in view, rather to make our house a place of nurturing and serving

Our love for the brothers and sisters should not be cheap. We shouldn't just love them if they come to the meetings. Rather our home should be a place for us to nurture one another, also, serve and fellowship with one another. We should not have any other expectations. Otherwise, we will be discouraged if the brother we are caring for doesn't make it to the meetings. We expect that if we invite him over he should come to the meeting. But this is too much like running a business. If the Lord had treated us this way, He would expect that since He died for us, we should die for Him. If this were the case, none of us could be saved. But this is not the case. The Lord is not running a business. He did His part and left the rest to the Father. So we should do our part and leave the rest to the Lord. Our view should be that we invite saints over to love and serve them. How good this is!          

6. With no view to solve problems, rather seeking out the Lord's presence and enjoying each other's presence

The danger of trying to solve someone else's problems is that it causes them to focus on their problems. If you would like to help the saints, it is better that you just enjoy the Lord with them. Don't try to make your home a problem-solving center.          

7. To restore our physical strength by being with the saints

Even when you come home so tired, you should invite someone over. If you don't invite anyone over you will get more tired. But if someone does come to your house, your physical strength will come back. The strength and supply of the saints will produce physical strength in you. If you just concentrate on your tiredness, eventually you won't even be able to go to work anymore. It is worthwhile to learn that your strength is from the saints.

To learn this lesson we must also learn to be simple. Be who you are in normality. Don't try to make things fancy, or do anything extra. Just enjoy a good time in the Lord's presence. The church life is very simple. Don't try to make it complicated.          

8. To open our house as a practice and appreciate its value in the church life

In inviting saints to your home don't wait until the Lord tells you to do so. You do not wait for the Lord to speak to you before you eat each meal. You just know you need to eat. In the same way, using your house for the church life should also be your practice. Open your house every week to the saints. This is to have the reality of the church life in your locality.

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  Copyright © 2001 T. Chu, The Church in Cleveland