Who should be leading the local church that's on the corner of Church Street and Second Avenue in any given city? The pastor? The deacon board? The elder board? A certain group of select committees? The congregation? Some form of hierarchy, maybe bishops or cardinals or the pope? Maybe the pastor's wife. If you can imagine who might be leading a church it's probably been done or is being done. But the real question is what does the New Testament say about church leadership? Please open your Bibles with me this morning to Genesis chapter two, Genesis chapter two. Going to continue our study this morning on biblical church leadership. Genesis chapter two. In the beginning, when God created man, he created them male and female. We looked at this in depth a couple of years ago when we went through the first 11 chapters of Genesis. And the Bible teaches that there are distinctions between men and women. These distinctions, of course, were ordained by God and are binding upon the human race. They're really no different than the Ten Commandments. This is God's word, this is God's intention, this is what God has given us. But since man's fall into sin, men and women have purposely set out to blur or erase those distinctions. When Israel was preparing to go into the Promised Land, God, knowing the sinfulness of the pagans who dwelt there, commanded his people, he warned them over and over again, don't adopt the sinful practices of these nations around you. One of the commands he gave to them was to not blur the distinctions between men and women. So here we have this verse in Deuteronomy chapter 22 and verse 5 where this commandment comes from God. A woman shall not wear a man's garment nor shall a man put on a woman's cloak for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God. He commanded them not to wear the clothes of the opposite sex. Why? Why would He do that? Well, the basis of the command is that God created male and female differently and it's His will is that there be a distinction maintained between male and female. You know, the world wants us to believe that there is no difference between male and female. And the false narrative there has come to incredibly ludicrous point where not only homosexuality is promoted, but beyond that, parents are taking their children to parades and to libraries and other events that are hosted by drag queens, right? You know, I mean, you just, all you have to do is click on your news story once or turn your TV on. I mean, it's just widespread. And even now, state governments are passing laws to even outlaw this stuff because even the secular government knows this is not good. And transgenderism, of course, is the new religion in America. And that's where we are in our society. It's disgusting. It's terrible. And it all goes back to this one thing. They don't want to accept God's word when he says, in the beginning, he created them male and female. They want to blur. They want to do away with that distinction. If you don't like the gender you were born with, change it, invent your own, whatever. And we know all that. But the problem for us as Christians is that the thinking that led to these absurdities that we see in our culture today, that thinking has crept into the church. And it's crept into some churches that don't preach the gospel to the same degree where I've read of churches hosting drag queens in their churches. Again, just abominable. It's an abomination, that's what God says here. But what we have to remember here, and I put a quote in the bulletin about this, our doctrine determines our conduct. You've heard me say that over and over again through the years. Our doctrine determines our conduct. And although there have always been a small number of advocates for the ordination of women to the Christian ministry, It's really been rare in the church. But it began to gain some momentum in the early and mid 1900s when the Methodist church began to ordain women. But this modern Christian egalitarianism movement also started off calling it Christian feminism, if you do some research on this. It really began to gain steam in the 1980s. You may not be familiar, you may be familiar with egalitarianism and complementarity. I'll explain them briefly, but this, the word, the beginning of this word, egal, I don't even know how you say it, it's French anyways. As you might guess, it means equal, right? It means equal. And so philosophically, egalitarianism is concerned with establishing and maintaining an equal society. So the feminism movement of the 60s and 70s crept into the church, and this full-blown Christian egalitarianism movement was born. The historical, traditional understanding, scriptural understanding, of the role of men and women in the Holman Church is known as complementarity, which teaches that male and female, they complement, not with an I, with an E, right? They complement, they complete each other. And in what we saw in scripture when we studied it, in Genesis there that the image of God exists in both male and female. So this egalitarian group called Christians for Biblical Equity is the name of their group. They have the following mission statement and I'll just read it to you so you know where this group is coming from. They said that CBE exists to promote the biblical message that God calls women and men of all cultures, races, and classes to share authority equally in service and leadership in the home, church, and world. CBE's mission is to eliminate the power imbalance between men and women resulting from theological patriarchy. So that's their That's their mission. That's what they want to do. They're going to say, okay, so men and women are totally equal in every way. There's no distinction. And you know, so obviously what they're going to get as they're, they're fine with ordaining women to the ministry, women, pastors, women, elders, et cetera. So today what we're going to do is we're going to briefly look at what the scriptures say about the role of men and women in the church, and specifically in relation to eldership. But let's just go back and let's begin at creation. Because what we see here is male leadership was established by God at creation. If you look here in Genesis chapter two, in verse 18, we read, Then the Lord God said, this is after he created Adam, it is not good that man should be alone. I will make him a helper fit for him. So we see this and this is review for those of us who went through the study of Genesis. God ordained marriage and it was based upon human need. You read in verse 20 that God gave Adam gave names to all the livestock and to the birds in the heavens and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. And then he created Eve from his side. He created Eve, the helper that was fit for him. And Eve was created as a corresponding helper for Adam. In fact, we come to 1 Corinthians 11 verses 8 and 9 in the New Testament and we read, for man was not made from woman, but woman from man, neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. So the woman was created as man's helper, as fit for him. And again, we went through all this, it's just a brief review here, but we have to understand that the word helper does not imply in any way inferiority. This same word helper is used of God himself. God uses this word. One of the instances is Psalm 54.4. He says, the psalmist says, behold, God is my helper. Same word. So the word doesn't in any way imply inferiority. Eve wasn't created as an inferior being. And neither does the word suggest dependence. because man and woman are obviously interdependent. Again back in 1st Corinthians chapter 11 verses 11 and 12 Paul says, So really to understand, we've got to go back to the beginning, right? We've got to go back to Genesis and we see here this word helper, it does align with the fact that God created the woman for the man. Literally verse 18 says in Genesis 2, I will make for him a helper fit for him. So the woman was made to complement to complete and support the man and assist him in obeying God's mandate in this world. So the man needed a companion like himself, a friend and a partner whom he could absolutely depend upon and the woman was that perfect fit, that perfect helper. And you see the joy and the exuberance that he sensed, Adam, the first man sensed when he saw his wife. You know, this is at last bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. He's excited. He's thrilled to receive Eve. So what we see here in these early chapters of Genesis is that God created Complementary binary pairs, right? You go through the creation there. He creates heaven and earth. He creates light and darkness. He creates sea and land, sun and moon, and so on. And he creates male and female. And it's not just one or two verses in the Bible that teach the distinction between male and female. It's the entire narrative throughout scripture that reveals that God created a world in which certain aspects of creation complement other aspects of his creation. And male and female is one of those. Male and female marriage is a part of God's design that displays the goodness of the original creation. The differences between male and female intended by the creator are displayed throughout the scriptures including what we're looking at today, leadership in the local church. So we see that male leadership was established by God in the very beginning in his creation. We also see, and we're going to just run through this quickly because it's more of an overview, this first part of it, but male leadership was ordained by God and practiced throughout the Old Testament. I mean, the feminists, they look at the Bible and all they can say is, well, you know, it's biased. It's just a patriarchal book. Why do they say that? Not because it's patriarchal, but because it is God established men to be the leaders. And you see this, God called men to serve as focal points of his covenants with mankind. So we have the Adamic Covenant, we have the Noahic Covenant, we have the Abrahamic Covenant, we have the Mosaic Covenant, we have the Davidic Covenant. These are all men that God chose and used to reveal his truth in his covenant relationship with men. We do have patriarchs instead of matriarchs. The tribes of Israel are named after men, the 12 sons of Jacob. The only legitimate mediators in the Old Testament between God and the people were men. They were priests. In God's economy in the Old Testament he didn't ordain priestess. There were no priestesses, only priest. And again, God appointed kings instead of queens. There were occasions when a queen would reign, but it wasn't in the will of God. So we see this in the Old Testament. We come to the New Testament and we see that Jesus is the perfect standard of male leadership. You know, this may sound strange, but Jesus didn't send a daughter, did he? Jesus is the Son of God. And that's to fulfill scripture, of course, and that's That's the way God ordained it. So you come to the birth of Christ in Luke chapter 2 and you read. And when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord as it is written in the law of the Lord every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord. And when you have Paul explaining about Jesus being the The second Adam, the second man, I mean, that's exactly what it is. He's a man. 1 Corinthians 15, 45 through 47, thus it is written, the first man, Adam, became a living being. The last Adam, Christ, became a life-giving spirit. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust. The second man is from heaven. And so here's Jesus, appointed by God, chosen by God, the elect of God. He's a man. He's come as the Redeemer. And we see it as he's head of the church. Ephesians 5.23, and there are other passages, of course, as well, but for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, his body. So you have Jesus being the perfect standard of male leadership, and of course, we could talk about that for hours. But you continue going in the New Testament in Jesus' ministry and what does he do? He chooses 12 men as his apostles, as those whom he's going to send out to lead the church. There were women that followed Jesus. There were women that traveled. There were women that provided financially. and helped in many different ways, but the 12 leaders he chose were men. Well, you keep going and you see that male leadership in the home was continued by the apostles' teaching. We just referred briefly to Ephesians 5.23. In that passage, which you're familiar with, we read the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, his body. and is himself its savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. And it's not, of course, just this passage, Colossians 3.18, wives, submit to your husband as is fitting in the Lord. It's not just Paul, it's Peter, right? 1 Peter 3.1, likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be one without a word. by the conduct of their wives. So we see that male leadership was continued and established as a New Testament doctrine in the home. And then you keep going and you see that male leadership in the church was established and commanded in the New Testament. You read the New Testament And you see that it's leaders, the leaders who are appointed in the church, they're men. You come to Acts chapter one, Judas, Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus, is gone, he's dead. They have to replace him. They didn't consider bringing a woman on. They chose two men and prayed and cast lots And Matthias was chosen to replace Judas. You come to Acts chapter 6 and the church is growing and problems are starting to arise. And there's this problem between the widows. And one group of widows is saying, well, we're not being treated right. We're not, you know, our needs aren't being met. And the apostles, because they're concerned with doctrine and with preaching and with prayer, they said appoint seven men. They appoint seven men who most of us believe that were the first deacons there in Acts chapter 6. And then we come to elder leadership and what do we see? It's limited to men. The husband of one wife, an elder first of all must be blameless, above reproach and he must be the husband of one wife, 1st Timothy 3.2. So you read, you know, some of these, okay, you got these egalitarians, right, who they don't want to make any distinction between men and women. Some of them will just say, as somebody told me 40 years ago when I was first saved, when, oh, well, God was, I'm sorry, not God, Paul, he was just a male chauvinist. You know, he didn't like women. I mean, it's obvious, just read his letters. Of course, that's just, well, Can I say stupidity? But this isn't any better. You read some of these egalitarians now, and they say, well, the husband of one wife, actually, that was just an idiomatic expression, and it just meant that somebody couldn't be an immoral person. It really could have been, it could have meant that she could be the wife of one husband. I mean, they say this, okay? All I can say is give me a break, right? It's ridiculous. If we're going to take the word for what it says, it says the husband of one wife. It doesn't just simply mean that an elder can't be an immoral person. You keep looking here in the New Testament and you see that women are not to exercise authority over or teach men. In 1st Timothy 2, 11-14, So what's going on here? Well, we could spend a whole message on this passage. But let me try to briefly explain here. What Paul's doing is, his intent, I believe, is to remind Timothy that Eve was deceived by the serpent in the garden. The way she was deceived was that she took the initiative over the man whom God had given her to protect her and to care for her. And what Paul is saying here, the women, in the same way the women there in Ephesus, where Timothy was pastoring, he says the women at the church, they have to be sure they don't proclaim their independence from the men of the church, refusing to learn in quietness and submission by seeking roles that have been given to men in the church, the roles of teaching and exercising authority. because in doing so they'll make the same mistake that Eve made and that it will bring similar disaster on them and on the church. Let me read a quote here from one commentator which I believe is helpful. In verse 13, Paul says that the man's priority in the order of creation is indicative of the headship that man is to have over women. Rooting these prohibitions in the circumstances of creation rather than in the circumstances of the fall, Paul shows that he does not consider these restrictions to be the product of the curse and presumably, therefore, to be phased out by redemption. and by citing creation rather than a local situation or cultural circumstances as his basis for the prohibitions, Paul makes it clear that while local or cultural issues may have provided the context of the issue, they do not provide the reason for his advice. His reasons for the prohibitions of verse 12 are the created role in the relationship of men and women. And we may justly conclude that these prohibitions are applicable as long as this reason remains true." So I think you probably could follow that. What he's saying is, look, Paul's making these prohibitions of women not being in authority over men, not being in a position of teaching men. He's not basing them on some cultural norm or some some cultural problem in the church. He's going all the way back to creation before the fall. He's saying this is where this comes from. It comes from the revelation of God. It comes from the very intent of God for the two sexes, the two genders. And I think we'll understand this a little better as we really look at this matter of headship. You know, this is a problem. I mean, obviously the world, in our world, America today, totally rejects what I'm saying, what the scriptures say. But it's a struggle for a lot of Christian women. Probably the reason it's a struggle for a lot, well part of it, some of them, part of it that contributes to this struggle is because of the abuse of men. But let's look at this matter of headship and I think this will be helpful. Because the New Testament clearly names the husband as the head of the wife. In Ephesians 5.23, for the husband is the head of the wife. Again, I want to read one more quote to you. This is a different author, but I think he explains this very well. He's actually dealing with marriage. He says this, headship did not come down to us historically as an artifact of oppressive patriarchy. It began in heaven and came down into this world creationally as a pathway to human flourishing. A helper fit for him asserts the equal worth of the woman. She is fit for him, that is corresponding to him on his level, eye to eye as equal, created in the divine image as the man is. She is not the man's property or prize, prize of war, or political pawn, or even yet the mother of his children. The woman matters in her own right as the man's unique counterpart, the only one in all the creation who corresponds to him. The man and the woman need each other and benefit from each other. Their gifts and abilities differ, even widely, but to the advantage of both. The totality of each one's full potential nets out as equal with the other in its capacity to reflect the glory of God, the man in his own way, the woman in her own way. And so we understand that. There's this other verse in the New Testament, again, in 1 Corinthians 11, in verse 3, Paul says, I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ. Okay? The head of the wife is her husband. And then what does it say? In the head of Christ is God. I mean, if we can, if we can grasp the meaning of this verse, then we can, we can understand what headship is. We can understand what it means for the husband to be the head of the wife. We can understand what it means when we're talking about male elders. male pastors, not female, because head refers to authority. And this is how Paul repeatedly uses this word head throughout his letters. In Paul here, he refers to the Godhead, right? He says the head of Christ is God. Okay, what does that mean? Well, First of all, we see here again, Paul's not basing his argument. When he says that the head of the wife is her husband, he's not basing his argument on cultural grounds. He's not basing it on the fall of man. When Paul says that God is the head of Christ, he's not saying that the son is inferior to the father, is he? Jesus is fully God. Jesus is fully God. He's not saying Jesus is inferior to the Father. No. Rather, what he's saying is the Son, Jesus, he willingly submits himself to the Father's authority. The difference between the members of the Trinity is a functional one. It's not one of essence. It's not one of being. There are three co-equal persons. in the Godhead, in the Trinity. We see this in 1 Corinthians 15, 28. When all things are subjected to him, that's Jesus, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him that God may be all in all. You see, Jesus has subjected himself to the Father's authority. And he did so voluntarily. And he will subject himself to the father's authority in the future. Because the son has a different role, a different function from the father. It's not that he's inferior in his being or in his essence. And this is where the egalitarian view misses it. They miss the point of scripture. They conclude that a difference in function necessarily involves a difference in essence. If men are in authority over women, they would say, then women must be inferior. But the relationship between Jesus, the son of God, or God the son, we could say, And the relationship between him and the father shows that this reasoning is flawed. One can possess a different function and still be equal in essence and worth. Women are equal to men in essence and in being, but they have a different role in the home and in the church. There's no inequality, there's no inferiority. The son is subordinate to the father in his role. The Father sent the Son into the world, right? The Father sent the Son. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. This was the Father's doing. This was the Father's will. And yet Jesus willingly submitted Himself to that. I mean, He said this over and over in different words. He said, I've come to do the Father's will. I always do those things that please the Father. And here in 1 Corinthians 15 28, this is a reference to the future after Jesus earthly ministry, after his death, after his resurrection, after his ascension, when he returns. And what's he going to do? He again is going to submit to the Father. God exists in three equal persons. with differences in their function. And that's what Paul's communicating here about the function of men and women both in the home and in the church. There is equality in being in essence between men and women. There is not an inferior or a superior gender. Probably most of you, your wife is probably Some of you, maybe all of you, I don't know, smarter than you. She's definitely better looking than you. I mean, she's got a lot of good qualities that you don't have. Not that you don't have some good qualities that she doesn't have, right? You can probably beat her at arm wrestling. Maybe. But anyway, you get the picture, right? There's no inferior or superior gender. The difference is in function. And God has uniquely created male and female so they can both perform their function. And this is in the home, and it's in the church. And we could talk about its role in society, but that may be for another day. But specifically in the home and in the church here. Let's just make some concluding applications here. I hand it out in a separate handout. This is from the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, their core beliefs of the Danvers Statement on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. So back in the 1980s, these theologians and pastors, they saw what was coming in our culture. They looked ahead, and they saw through the women's lib movement, the feminism movement, they saw where this was headed. And they saw it start to infiltrate the church. And they said, we've got to come together and study this and make a statement. In fact, I've got the book at home. I referred to it some in preparation for this message. It's basically the, you know, it's put out by this group, the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, and it's about this thick, and I think it has like 40 chapters in it. It's an excellent book. But they, as you can see here, they summarize in this Danvers statement. Danvers is a city in Massachusetts where they met. You know, they summarize it, I don't want to look at the rationale, I hope you will read this though, but if you look here at the affirmations, we've looked at some of these things this morning. I'll just go through them real quickly here. It says, based on our understanding of biblical teachings, we affirm the following, both Adam and Eve were created in God's image, equal before God as persons and distinct in their manhood and womanhood. Two, distinctions in masculine and feminine roles are ordained by God as part of the created order and should find an echo in every human heart. You don't have to tell, you don't have to tell JP and Nariah that they're different, that one's a boy and one's a girl. They know that, okay? And it's not, I mean, maybe they wouldn't have figured it out yet if mommy and daddies didn't tell them, but, Everybody knows in their own heart really, unless they're suppressing the truth as Romans 1 says, everybody knows there's a difference between male and female. I mean that's just part of conscience that God gave us. And basically, that's what they're saying here. Number three, Adam's headship in marriage was established by God before the fall. It wasn't a result of sin. Number four, the fall introduced distortions into the relationships between men and women. And I think this is very insightful, what they put here. In the home, the husband's loving, humble headship tends to be replaced by domination or passivity. I've seen it over and over and over again, and so have you. You look at a couple, a husband and wife, and either the man is just domineering, lording it over his wife, and just the dictator, or on the other hand, he's just, you know, hiding in the corner, afraid to death of her. Good grief, I hope she doesn't yell at me again. I mean, you've seen it. And that's the problem, that's the distortion. Replaced by domination or passivity, the wife's intelligent, willing submission tends to be replaced by usurpation or servility. And again, you've seen that. In the church, sin inclines men toward a worldly love of power or of an abdication of spiritual responsibility and inclines women to resist limitations on their roles or to neglect the use of their gifts in appropriate ministries. You've seen it. I mean, this is what happens. Men, they don't stand up and become the leaders that they should be in the church, in the home and in the church. And so what happens? Somebody has to lead. So the women step in, whether it's as a mother and wife or whether it's in the church, because the men aren't doing their job. I mean they nailed it here. Number five, the Old Testament as well as the New Testament manifest the equally high value and dignity which God attached to the roles of both men and women. Both Old and New Testaments also affirm the principle of male headship in the family and in the covenant community. Redemption in Christ aims at removing the distortions introduced by the curse. In the family, husbands should forsake harsh or selfish leadership and grow in love and care for their wives. Wives should forsake resistance to their husband's authority and grow in willing, joyful submission to their husband's leadership. In the church, redemption in Christ gives men and women an equal share in the blessings of salvation. Nevertheless, some governing and teaching roles within the church are restricted to men. Number seven, in all of life, Christ is the supreme authority and guide for men and women, so that no earthly submission, domestic, religious, or civil ever implies a mandate to follow a human authority and to sin. Number eight, in both men and women, a heartfelt sense of call to ministry should never be used to set aside biblical criteria for particular ministries. Rather, biblical teaching should remain the authority for testing our subjective discernment of God's will. And then number nine is about reaching those outside with the gospel. And number 10 is a warning that if we don't heed the scriptural admonitions here, then it will bring destruction, destructive consequences in our families and in our churches. And that's very, very helpful. You can read the rationale for it as to why they came up with it. But again, this has been, you know, this has been the doctrine of the church for millennia. There have been, you know, those outside of the doctrine, this doctrine, but for the most part, this has been accepted as this is what the scripture says. And so I just wanna reiterate, you know, because again, this has been abused, right? I mean, it's been abused primarily by men, I believe in taking this matter of headship to a point of lordship where they're lording it over their wives or even in churches it happens. But you know it's just this truth that needs to be said over and over again that man is not superior in any way to Woman, any more than God the Father, is superior to God the Son in any way. Just as Jesus plays a different role in the Father, men and women have different roles in the home and in the church. Again, so how do women serve? They can't be elders. They can't be elders. Biblically, women can't be elders in a church. They're not to exercise authority. over men, they're not to be in a teaching position over men. But there are many, many opportunities for women to serve the Lord. And I'm thankful that many of you women do that. You do serve the Lord in many different ways. And really, as I put here, the only scriptural limitations placed upon women ministering in the church are being in authority over men and teaching men the scriptures. I mean I don't know of any other ones, I don't see any other ones. There are just countless opportunities for women to serve the Lord in the local church. And then finally men need to step up and be the leaders that God has called them to be in their homes and in the local church. We do find women carrying the spiritual load in the home. Fathers who are unwilling to take the leadership and spiritual instruction of their children. Discipline. We see it in the church. And really what it comes down to is, I think, is that men often aren't willing to make the sacrifice that it takes. It takes sacrifice to be a leader. And it's not, you know, being a leader, I mean, you're going to get criticized, right? You're going to make decisions, and some people are going to think, well, that was good, and some people are going to think, man, what are they doing? I mean, that's the nature of leadership, right? We know that. And it's the same, you know, if you're the leader, if you're the man in the house, the husband, the father, you know, your wife might question some of the things you do. When I was in college, one of my speech classes, I memorized this poem. I don't think the theology is real good in it, but the name of it is, What the Old Man Does is Always Right. Did you ever hear that? Look it up. It's interesting. What the old man does is not always right, okay? Fathers, husbands, elders, they make mistakes, right? There's no perfect leadership. We live in a fallen world, but it falls on us as men And I tell you to go back, and if you didn't hear it, go back and listen to the Father's Day message, where I preached on this verse here, 1 Corinthians 16, these verses 13 and 14, be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong, let all that you do be done in love. It falls on us as men to be the leaders in our homes and to be the leaders in the local church and to love our wives and to help them, to listen to them. They're in no way inferior to you, to me, not in the least sense. They're equal with you. Your wife is equal to you. Every woman in this church is equal to every man in this church, all of us. Before God, we are equals. We're all sinners redeemed by the blood of Christ. Yet when it comes to this matter of leadership, God has ordained men to be these leaders. I told my wife, I said, I don't want to preach this message. I mean, and yeah, I mean, I know it's true. I don't, I don't, everything I said I believe is true. And I think you probably do too. But we know the difficulty. We know the difficulty of applying it. We know that, we know the failures of leaders. We know that no leader is perfect. And sometimes we think, I could do better. I could do a better job. How many times has a wife thought, I could do a better job leading than my husband is? And you're probably right at times. But that's not what God has called us to, right? So I just want to encourage you. I don't think anybody in the church would come to me and say, really, pastor, I think that women ought to be elders in our church. I don't think so. And I thought, well, I can just kind of skip over this aspect of it. But the reason I spent all this time on it is twofold. One is that it's an issue out there in the world. It's an issue out there in other churches, OK? This movement, this egalitarianism is growing. It's becoming more accepted. That's one reason I decided to spend a whole sermon on it. And the other reason is because of this one last point we made here. Men in our church need to examine themselves and make sure they're being the leaders they need to be in the home and in the church. Because your home needs you as a leader, brother in Christ. And this church needs male leadership who are willing to make the sacrifice of their time, of their ambitions, of their hobbies, of whatever they're doing with their lives to make the sacrifice necessary to lead and take this church forward. So I hope that this has not only been a doctrinal statement, but also an admonition and a challenge to you, specifically as men, to examine yourself before the Lord and make sure you are being the leader you should be in your home and in your church. And of course our example is the Lord Jesus himself, the great servant of all, came to serve, not to be served, came and complete obedience to the father, died on the cross according to his will. Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me but not my will but yours be done, Jesus said. And the father's will was that he would crush him, that he would shed his blood and die on the cross for our sins. And of course, no man can be the leader and no woman can be really submissive as she should be without knowing Christ. If you don't know Christ, if you've never come to Christ and repented of your sin and believed on him, of course, that gospel invitation is always there for you to turn from your sin and believe on Christ and trust him. Father, thank you for your word. May it find lodging in our hearts. May you encourage us to go forward examining ourselves, whether we be leaders or whether we be those who are supporting our leaders, to make sure we're doing so to the best of our ability as we Relying upon your grace and your spirit, commit ourselves to what you've called us to do, in Jesus' name.