Women Have Roles, Too (Part 2)

The continued series on Women Have Roles, Too from the Faulkner Lectureships taught by Dave Baker, Minister, Saltillo Church of Christ.

What would Mary teach the Twelve - and men everywhere - about the ministry of women?

1. John 19:25; Luke 23:55
2. Matthew 27:59-61
3. John 20:10-16 

On Sunday Mary had been up preparing spices for her trip to the tomb.

• • It was not a man who was first to the tomb, but a woman.
  • Jesus has the perfect opportunity to appear to men first, but he chooses to appear to Mary Magdalene who calls Jesus, "teacher". 
  • Jesus also gives Mary a charge (v 17) to give encouragement to His brothers.
  • Mary was there at Jesus' side on the cross, the first one at the tomb, and the first one that Jesus appears to after His resurrection.
  • You think she was important to Jesus?

When we think about the role of women in ministry we see a couple of things from Jesus himself:

1. Jesus clearly expected the men who followed him to see the value of women in the spreading of the gospel.
2. The apostles could not write about or understand the key events surrounding the resurrection without learning it from the women because they were the ones there. They were the eyewitnesses.
3. Jesus knew that the Great Commission would be a task so great that the full efforts of everyone - male and female - would be necessary. So, his first act after the resurrection was to mobilize women and send them to their brothers.
4. Instead of limiting Mary's ministry because of her questionable past, Jesus expanded her opportunities to serve Him and gave her powerful opportunities to minister to her brothers.

What kind of women do we need involved in ministry?

• Faithful, converted, active, understanding
• Those that are real about their past
• Some of the best connectors are sometimes women and men who have been through difficulties in their lives and are willing to share in that.
• Broken women - Brokeness must be welcomed and not shown
  • Rahab: mentioned in James as a model of faith and in Hebrews 11 because of her faith, a former prostitute.
  • Mary, Samaritan woman, sinful woman: are all models of faith

Ministry needs to be inter-generational in working and sharing together 

Our job is:

• To help women develop gifts - Romans 12:4-8
• To build a culture where women are welcomed into ministry (Titus 2)
  • Sound doctrine is about relationships in Titus
  • Women are qualified to teach things that some men can't (how to teach a a young woman to love her husband).
  • Older women and younger women alike need to be involved in ministry.

Women are important to ministry. They bring qualities to the table that some men just do not possess. We need to view them as important and use them to help us in our personal ministries.