The following sermon was delivered on Friday evening, March 10, 2006, at Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey, during the annual Ladies' Retreat. The preacher is Pastor Gordon Cook from Grace Baptist Church in Canton, Michigan. This is the first sermon in a series entitled, The Shield, the Gift, and the Mirror of the Godly Woman. joy to be with you and to minister from the Word of God, and I would ask you, if you have a copy of the Scriptures with you, to turn with me to a very familiar portion of Holy Scripture, Romans chapter 12. This will be more of a stepping-stone text I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Well, let us again seek the face of God and ask Him for His help. To listen to the Word of God demands an exercise of mind and heart. It isn't a passive activity. So, you need help, and I need help. So, let's seek the God who has promised to help us. Let's pray. Father, again, we come into Your presence very conscious that we are always in need of your grace, very conscious that we are beggars. You have taught us to pray, thy kingdom come, and we would even pray tonight your kingdom would come, that it would come more into our own lives, that the reign of King Jesus would be experienced more and more We even pray for those who might not know Christ, that they this night would come to know Him as their Savior. But we pray, O God, for Your Spirit. We are dependent upon You for everything, for daily bread, and we need Your Spirit to help us, O God, if we are to be fed from that holy manna. And so we pray that You would feed us tonight, and we pray these things in Christ's name. This past summer, I stood in front of Mount Rushmore and stared in the face of those four former presidents. Their faces have been carved into granite stone, and there was no question that it was Mount Rushmore, that very distinctive-looking mountain with those presidential faces. And could we not say this, that every Christian home should be a Mount Rushmore in this sense? A Christian home is gloriously distinctive. It is a home that should be very different from every other home that is one of a pagan or unregenerate son or daughter of God. A Christian home will be distinguished by many things. A Christian home will be distinguished by the gospel. A gospel that has at its very heart forgiveness. A gospel that tells us not only that we are forgiven, but that we must constantly go to that throne of grace for forgiveness. And a Christian home will find dads and moms, husbands and wives, seeking and applying gospel forgiveness. A second distinguishing feature, a Mount Rushmore-like distinctive of a Christian home, will be this. It will be regulated by the Bible. It will be regulated by its precepts. its commands, its promises, and its principles. Thirdly, in terms of a distinctive feature, and much more like a distinctive, a Christian home will be a protected or guarded home. And by that, I simply mean this, that dad and mom, husband and wife, will always have a disposition of heart that says, watch and pray. They are aware of the enemies, the devil, the world, and sin. But in the fourth place, we can say this about a Christian home. A Christian home is where dad and mom, husband and wife, have embraced their God-given roles and functions. A husband will be a leader in that home, a husband will exercise an authority that involves service and sacrifice, and a wife and a mother—a Christian wife and a mother—will seek to fulfill her distinctive role and calling in that home. She, too, is a home builder. The writer of Proverbs speaks of the wise woman who builds her house and the foolish woman who tears it down. And to build a Christian home will require the brick and mortar of submission. Now, I know that that word submission is not a user-friendly term. I realize that modern society has a very jaundiced eye and a scorning frown towards the distinctive role and function of a godly woman in her domestic realm, but I want us, brethren—ladies, I call you brethren—I want us to think God's thoughts after Him. I want us to think of Romans 12, and we must not, we must not be conformed to this world, but we must have our minds constantly transformed. And the only way that can happen is if we are constantly taking the Bible and having it washed through our minds and our hearts. And if you and I are thinking biblically, we should think of submission in this way, or we can at least. Think of it as the gift, the shield, and the mirror. I told your elders, I said, if we have the conference and simply say it's on submission, no one might show up. So I said, we'll have a stealth approach. Stealth bomber. And we'll call it the gift, the shield, and the mirror. But it's true, ladies. It's true. And if you are to understand your calling and distinctive role and appreciate what God has given to you, it would be well for you and I to think in these terms, these graphic pictures of a gift, a shield, and a mirror, and to appreciate those word pictures or graphics We must think of it in terms of the biblical plotline, or follow the doctrine of submission from Genesis through to the New Covenant. And if we do that, we will look at it from these three main perspectives, or through these three major grids. Submission must be looked at through the lens of creation. It must be looked at through the lens of the Fall. and it must be looked at through the lens of redemption. I put it this way. Submission was originally instituted by God in creation. Secondly, submission was negatively impacted by man in the fall. And then thirdly, submission was beautifully exemplified by Christ in redemption. Well, let's then consider these three things tonight. This is the big picture of submission. Lord willing, tomorrow I will have a sermon that will set before you submission in terms of the negatives, or what it isn't. And then, Lord willing, the third sermon, submission positively, what it is. But, we want to look at submission from a broad picture perspective. And first we want to look at submission from the perspective of creation. Submission was originally instituted by God in creation. Please turn with me to Genesis chapter 1. Genesis chapter 1 has that first great story, the story of creation, And in Genesis chapter 1, we are introduced to God. He's the main actor in this first great big story of creation. And in this chapter, God speaks ten times. You have that recurrent phrase, and God said, and God said. And over the course of six days, God performs this great work of creation, a mighty, sovereign work, where He fills the empty, inky blackness that had no form with order, form, and beauty from top to bottom. And you might also note this when you read Genesis chapter 1, it leaps off the page. God is a maker of distinctions. Light and darkness, verse 5. Day and night, verse 5. You have waters above and waters below, verse 7. You have two great lights, one to rule the day and one to rule the night. And every Every fish, every animal, every tree, every flower, you could see a difference in terms of color and size and shape. And when God makes man the apex of creation on the sixth day, he doesn't cease to be a maker of distinction. Genesis 1 verse 27. So, God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them. And just to understand how wonderfully, fearfully made they were, who they are in terms of their identity, that little phrase, it's a pregnant phrase, they were made in the image of God. both the man and the woman, and that tells us that they were amazingly alike—amazingly alike. But we also know from this account that they were profoundly different—profoundly different. They were profoundly different, male and female. equal in essence, but a clear distinction in terms of function. And when you turn over to Genesis chapter 2, you have this ancient story given magnification. The sixth day of creation is put under the microscope. You have seventeen verses. And these verses in Genesis chapter 2 tell again the story of creation, focusing upon this wonderful creation of the man and the woman, and the story answers the question as to why men and women are different, and why they relate to each other differently. And that can be proven when you turn over to the New Testament. I want you to turn there, please, to 1 Corinthians 11. where Paul the Apostle goes back to creation to underscore that there are profound differences between men and women and how they relate to each other. Here in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, Paul makes reference to that ancient story of creation. and he cogently argues that in light of the circumstances of creation that the man and the woman are different as they relate and function in the home. Notice what he says in 1 Corinthians 11 verse 8, for man is not from woman but the woman from the man. The fact that God made the woman from the man, she was made from the rib of the man, is significant in understanding your role and your function in terms of the husband-wife relationship. In verse 9, same chapter, He takes us, again, back to that ancient story, nor was man created for the woman, but the woman for the man. And, no doubt, Paul had in mind that very word that's used in Genesis 2, verse 18, which defines the woman in terms of her unique, distinctive function. She is called the helper. one answering to his needs. But in the very fabric of creation, the very fabric, just as there is a moon in the sky and a sun that has been fixed in the sky, one to rule the day, one to rule the night, God has fixed, fixed in a man and a woman a wonderful diversity, distinction of roles in terms of authority and submission expressed in the home, but also expressed in the church. He mentions that in 1 Timothy chapter 2. where again he goes back to the ancient story of creation to underscore that there will be a difference in terms of function. Function. That a woman He says, learn in silence with all submission. He says in 1 Timothy 2 verse 11, and I do not permit a woman to have authority over a man but to be in silence. And here's why. Nothing superficial, not personal preference, human tradition. No. He goes back to that early story, that ancient story of creation that dictates for man, or Adam, was born first than he. Again, the circumstances of creation, there was a chronological priority. The man was made first, and that has significance in terms of her distinctive function in the home and in the church. God's design and purpose for husbands and wives. It's etched in creation. It's not like the latest fashion of clothes. It's not like those cosmetics that come off the assembly line in terms of lipstick and eyeshadow and different colors. No, etched in the very story of creation. But the ancient story, that story God establishes distinctive roles and functions. The story of creation tells why the husband's authority is fitting and why the wife's submission is fitting. And while Adam and Eve will delight in everything that God has made, the singing birds Well, they would have taken delight in hearing the howling wolves, and the roaring lions, and took delight in looking at the red roses, and the willow trees, and the red maples. Nothing would have brought them greater delight and joy than their marriage. and how each was so wonderfully and fearfully made by God they could appreciate the wonderful equality in terms of essence. But they could also, also find delight and joy in the diversity. One being a man and one being a woman. And Adam moved out to take the lead. He moved out to follow. Adam loved to take the initiative, and Eve loved to respond. Adam loved every inch of his distinctive masculinity. He praised God, he thanked God that he was a man, and Eve loved every inch of her femininity, and she praised and thanked God that she was a woman. No gripes, no grunts, no sighing, no each one loved, delighted in their distinctive masculinity and femininity, in their distinctive roles. Perfect harmony, perfect peace, perfect joy. Submission was originally instituted in creation. Secondly, ladies, we have a 30% black-white ratio in our church, and our black folk love to say amen. Okay, ladies, just a hint. Second, submission was negatively impacted by the fall. Now, we don't know exactly when it happened, do we? But, it seems to have happened relatively soon. When? Again, we don't know, but someday, someday, maybe weeks, maybe months, But a day came when Adam and Eve, they woke up in the morning, stared at that beautiful sun, they enjoyed the wonderful gifts of creation, they fellowshiped with God in the morning, had their own devotions that morning. They were in right relationship with God. But at the end of that day, they were no longer in fellowship with God. The darkest day in human history. is captured in Genesis chapter 3. Man holds, man rebels, man does the unthinkable and the irrational. They chose to disobey. They chose to transgress God's clear law and prohibition that had been set before them in Genesis 2, 16 and 17. and their sin is all the more aggravated in light of God's goodness to them, His bounty, His generosity. Look what God has said to them in terms of what he had given them. Genesis 2 verse 16, you have these words that were conveyed to Adam and no doubt he conveyed them to Eve in terms of God's generosity and goodness. And here God says, every tree of the garden you may freely eat. Think of all the trees that God put in the garden. Apple trees. pear trees, banana trees, cantaloupes and kiwis and mangoes and pineapples and grapes. I mean, you couldn't stock a grocery shelf with all that they had in terms of that garden of Eden. But the devil comes, and he brings a question mark upon God's goodness. And, if we observe the particulars of the temptation captured there in Genesis chapter 3, Eve appears to have been isolated from her husband. Eve enters into dialogue with the serpent. Eve is listening. Eve is talking. Eve is questioning. Eve is doubting. Eve is looking. Eve is touching. Eve is eating. And through it all, she acts independently of God and her husband. No hint, no hint that she ever, ever, ever Look to Adam. Why didn't she? Why didn't she call out to her husband? Why didn't she look to her head? Why? Did she just forget? Did she just ignore? But there's something, something terribly wrong When you read the circumstances of that temptation, something's out of order. These actions don't fit with God's original design and structure of authority and submission. And if you listen carefully to what she said, in dialogue with the devil, and if you compare word for word with God's earlier words about the tree in the midst of the garden, you will find, as Pastor Al Dunn has mentioned, that Eve is mixing words, Eve is dropping words, Eve is forgetting words, she's confused, The devil has tripped her up with his lies and with his deceit. He has her viewing God suspiciously. He has her thinking that her lot in life could be a lot better than it is. And like a fish, that gets entangled in a net, or lunges at a spinning lure with its sealed hook, Eve eats the forbidden fruit. And Adam, Adam the man, her husband, he sins too. And we could even argue, could we not, that his sin is even more reprehensible because according to 1 Timothy 2, the woman was deceived, but Adam wasn't. Adam does it with his eyes open. He fails to protect his wife. He fails to act decisively. And like an ox going to a slaughterhouse, Adam too eats the forbidden fruit. Adam and Eve have sinned, and Adam and Eve have failed to fulfill their God-given rules of authority and submission. And they pay a terrible price in terms of regret, guilt, and judgment. And both are held responsible for their sin. Both are brought under the curses of God and the appropriateness of the curses have often been pointed out by scholars that Adam finds the curse impacting his work. Genesis 3 verse 17, Eve finds the curse upon her childbearing and also her relationship with her husband. The husband-wife relationship has been marred. It has been marred by sin and now will be marred out by tension and conflict. Notice what is said in Genesis 3 verse 16. Your desire will be for your husband and he shall rule over you. And some have equated that with sexual desire. But if you compare Genesis 3-16 with Genesis 4-7, where you have exact word-for-word language, there in Genesis 4, God tells Cain, sin longs or desires—same language, same word—to have you. Sin wants to control you, Cain. wants to master you, Cain, but you, Cain, must rule over it. The issue is a control issue. It's the battle of the sexes. Eve, you're going to desire to rule the You're going to desire to dominate, control your husband, but he, if he is to rule, he will fight for his leadership. And in so doing, will often do so in a harsh, tyrannical way. Susan Foe, who was a graduate from Westminster Seminary there in Philadelphia, has written the book entitled Woman and the Word of God. It's always nice to hide behind a woman when it comes to some of these matters pertaining to women. Listen to what she says. The curse here describes the beginning of a battle of sexes. After the fall, the husband no longer rules easily. sin has corrupted both willing submission of the wife and loving headship of the husband. And so, the rule of love in paradise is replaced with struggle and conflict and tension, tyranny, domination, and manipulates. Sin has adversely or negatively impacted a woman, and her relationship to her husband, her distinctive role and function of submission, has been adversely affected by the fall. Submission was originally instituted by God in creation. We've seen that. Submission is negatively or was negatively impacted by man in the fall. But thirdly, thirdly, let's look at submission through this big picture of the biblical plot line of creation following redemption. We can say this, I believe, submission is positively established by Christ in the gospel. Now, God could have trashed everything, couldn't he? The institution of marriage could have been thrown to a lumber pile. And if we just look at marriage through the dark lens of the fall, or Genesis chapter 3, we might all be tempted to say, why in the world get married? But God has a plan. A plan of redemption. And that plan included restoring marriage to what it was in its beginning. God's original plan for husband and wife will be restored, not perfectly, but in large measure, by the gospel. If you read through the Gospels, you find Jesus making reference to marriage on several occasions, and He hearkens back to creation. Matthew 19, verse 44, Have you not read that He who made them made them male and female? And He says, For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one. Jesus looks back to Greece. Jesus lets his disciples know divorce is not God's way. Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, goes after the sin of adultery because he knows that that sin destroys marriage. But something else that Jesus does in the gospel to get marriages back to where they should be He displays two great actions in going to the cross. Love, right, and submission. He sets the high standard of love for husbands. That's why Paul, in Ephesians 5, says, Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church. But he also sets the standard for submission by his own example. Many of the passages in the Gospels, Christ himself tells us that he comes to do the will of the Father. I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. Jesus is coming to earth submitting to his Father's will. He goes to Gethsemane, and there you see him wrestling in prayer, sweating drops of blood. And what does he demonstrate there in the garden? Not my will, but thy will be done. He submits to the Father's will. And as he goes to the cross, we are told that he is obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Philippians 2 verse 8, there would never, ever have been a salvation, lady. No calvary. If Jesus had not embraced submission from the heart Jesus taught submission by his own life. He also taught submission to government. You remember when they tried to trick him with that coin that had the face of Caesar? Who should we pay? And what does Jesus say? Render to Caesar what is Caesar's. He's underscored and we need to submit to human authority. We need to submit to civil government. Jesus exemplified submission, did he not, in the domestic realm. Though he was never married, but he was a son. He had parents. Luke chapter 2 verse 51 says he went down with them, that is his parents, and came from Nazareth and was subject to them. It was the will of the Father that Jesus subject himself to Joseph and Mary. You see, Jesus was a submissive Savior. Jesus submitted quietly, meekly, humbly, every step of the way from Nazareth right to Golgotha. A perfect submission. A perfect submission. is found in the heart of Christ and His Word on our behalf. And, ladies, God, your Father, says to you, submit to your husbands. Submit to your husbands as to the Lord. It's the same Word. It's the same Word that describes Christ's submission is used to describe your submission. And it can be a bad thinking. It certainly can't be viewed with suspicion. Not when you think of it, ladies, from this perspective. It shouldn't ever create in your minds or hearts a bitter taste or a cold, icy response. Not if you're thinking biblically. Not if you're thinking God's thoughts after him. Not if you're thinking in terms of this plot line of creation, fall, and redemption. If you look at submission to this grid, this biblical grid of creation, fall, and redemption, You should smile and delight and embrace it with joy and gratitude. If you look at it from creation, you can say it's a gift, right? It's a gift. It's come from a good God. God could save everything he made, it is good. And after he made the woman and put them together as husband and wife, it's very good. It's very good. It wasn't given as a burden. It was given as a gift, a wonderful gift to humanity, a gift to help you and your relationship with your husband. Submission falls under God's pronouncement. It is very good. He didn't bristle. She didn't complain. She didn't frown. No, she was very thankful that God had made her to be who she was and had this wonderful relationship and was distinctively a woman in terms of giving expression to her femininity by this role of submission. Nothing in creation was otherwise. Nothing. Nothing in creation wasn't good. Creation tells us, ladies, it is good. Submission is a gift to you. But, secondly, we can say this. The Fall tells us something about submission. What does it tell us? Well, it tells us submission is a shield. A shield. A shield to protect. A shield to guard you. You see, when Eve steps outside of the protective realm of her husband's authority, that shield, she gets hit with a tsunami-like temptation. If only she had stayed close to her husband. If only she had understood that as she puts herself under that protective covering of his headship, she's on safe ground. That's where she was protected. That's where she was safe and secure. She should never, ever have dialogued with the devil. She should have looked the serpent in the eyes and said, no, you're talking to the wrong person. You should be talking to my husband. He's the head of our home. God's put him in charge. Ladies, submission is a gift. Submission is a shield. It protects you from the devil, and from the world, and from your own sin. But thirdly, we can say this about submission. If we are looking at it biblically, looking at it through these three great lens of creation, fall, and redemption, submission is a mirror. A mirror reflects an image. A mere loudspeaker to see something of Jesus Christ in you, living out the gospel in your home by the grace of God, you reflect the Savior. Our Savior was a submissive Savior. As I said earlier, there would be no cross if Jesus had not submitted to his Father. and submitted to the God-instituted authorities in his life. There's an awful lot said that isn't there about physical beauty, obsession with how we look on the outside. The Bible doesn't condemn externalized beauty, but it does prioritize inward beauty. 1 Peter 3, and the most beautiful women in the world are not found on the front cover of Cosmopolitan or People's The most beautiful women in the world, according to 1 Peter 3, are those who have a quiet and meek spirit, that inward beauty. The most beautiful women in the world are found in Christian homes and Christian churches. We worship a beautiful Savior, fairer than 10,000. You can mirror the beauty and the glory of Jesus Christ. You can do it in a way that your husband can't when it comes to submission. Now, he can do it in a way you can't when it comes to authority and love, loving you as Christ loved the church, serving you and sacrificing for you. He can reflect Christ in a way you can't because he's a man, he's a husband. But you can reflect Christ in a way he can't, by your submission, in your hope, and in your church. You can mirror Jesus Christ. The gift, the shield, and the mirror. Sounds very positive, doesn't it? Well, it is. It is. Why is there so much negativity today? Well, because the devil is the devil. And the devil's strategy is to take the things of God. He can take God's most beautiful gifts and he can put his dirty, grimy fingerprints all over them. He did it with the Sabbath day, didn't he? So that the Pharisees take it. He used the Pharisees. to take a beautiful gift of Sabbath-day rest and make it ugly. A beautiful gift of sex. He takes pornographers, harlots, prostitutes, pimps, and makes it look very ugly. He takes the beautiful gift of submission and uses radical feminists and tyrannical husbands and men and makes it look very ugly. It's a strategy. It's a strategy. He did it with the first woman, Mother Eve, didn't he? He goes into that garden and he tempts her, he deceives her. He takes that one thing that she couldn't do, you can't either, that one trillion, and he makes that the big issue. He focuses upon the negative instead of telling her all the wonderful things she could do. Like our children. Do they ever come to you and say, Dad, Mom, thanks for all the wonderful things you let me do. Lord, Dad, you won't let me do this." And they focus on the negative. I said that to my son not too long ago. I said, son, you're using the strategy of the devil. You focus upon the negatives. Think of all the wonderful things Dad and Mom let you do. That's the devil's strategy. That's how he works. Don't be ignorant of Satan's devices. He conned Mother Eve, and He can con you and I. He can con you, so you, you hear the word submission! Oh, it's an ugly thing. It's an ugly thing. No. It's a beautiful thing. It's a beautiful thing. A shield. A gift. don't fall prey to the devil. And don't take one of his beautiful gifts, ladies, and view it with sarcasm, or voice sarcasm against it. View it with suspicion. Don't be critical of it. Don't ridicule it, but be thankful. It's not a bomb. That's not the picture you've seen. It's not a bomb. It's not a grenade. It's not change in shackles. It's not pictured as a prison house. But a gift. A shield. And a mirror. Glorify God, ladies. Glorify Jesus Christ. Be like Him. And embrace your distinctive calling as wives and as mothers. There might be someone here tonight who's not a Christian. You might say, well, I'd like to have a Christian home. Well, you know, Mount Rushmore? The only way you could have a Mount Rushmore is by dynamite blast. That's right. The guy who tried to make rock mushroom didn't want to use dynamite initially, and then he really, I can't, it's granite stone, we have to use dynamite if we're ever going to have four faces, those distinctive faces on Mount Rushmore. The only way you can have a Christian home is to become a Christian yourself. And the only way you can become a Christian is with the dynamite of the gospel. That's right. Paul says, for it is the dynamo, it is the dunamis of God. Romans 1.16. You want a Christian home? You have to become a Christian. And the only way to become a Christian is through the gospel of Jesus Christ. You need the power of God to save you. You need to look to a Savior, a mighty Savior named Jesus Christ. and say, save me from the shackles and the chains of my sin. He came to set captives free. Let us pray. The Father, we thank you again for the Holy Scripture. We thank you for the clarity of your word, and we again make this our plea that you would teach us, write these things upon hearts and minds, help these dear Christian women to live in light of what your word teaches. Oh, we pray that all of us, men and women, would wonderfully mirror Christ Jesus, that we would be lightened souls in this dark world. Give them the grace they need. Help each and every one to embrace Christ and his gospel and to live that gospel out in their lives, day by day, in front of the eyes of their children, in front of the eyes of their husbands and their neighbors. And we pray this in Christ's name, amen.