Husband & Wife
Let all things be done
decently and in order. (1 Corinthians 14:40
KJV)
How
are we to know the pure order of things in the Church? By the doctrines of the
Church given us by God’s Word. Without order, we are like a foundering ship in
a storm. A simple example can be found in a home where a husband neglects his
responsibility as a father and head of the house, the result of which is chaos;
no one is in control unless the wife steps in, making things even worse. If the
husband relinquishes his authority to the wife, he loses his credibility, and
the family is divided. “But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp
authority over the man, but to be in silence.” (1 Timothy 2:12 KJV) Church
is not only at the gathering of the Saints in the Lord’s house on Sunday, but
in the home also, an important extension of the Church. The disorder of the
home is brought into the Church by disorderly people; for this reason women are
to remain silent in the Church, as God’s Word tells us: “Let your women keep
silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they
are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law“. (1 Corinthians
14:34 KJV) Women very quickly voice their displeasures with all who will
hear them, causing disorder. Many of the complaints they offer have to do with
the their likes and dislikes of the Church’s business. From that point all is
chaos; the men then pick up the cries of their wives causing greater disorder.
Women have ways similar
to the ways of men, though they are under the authority of the man.
Unfortunately for the most part they are critical of men because they each have
different values, the one for the overall well being of the home, the other for
the details of comforts and utilities. The wife in the normal family setting
spends all her hours in the home, where the man spends less than two thirds of his
time there. Just as the man requests better tools of his employer (authority),
the wife desires of her husband (authority) better working conditions for the
home. All of this jostling is quite normal; we all want better things for the
home and Church, both husband and wife. The problem comes when women compare
their lot with other women in the Church assembly, then become covetous of one
another‘s lot. Or men complain to other men about their wives at Church
gatherings. Rather, for the good of the home and Church, it is ordered by the
Word of God: “That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their
husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home,
good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.
(Titus 2:4-5 KJV) Also, for the men, “Husbands, love your wives, and be
not bitter against them.” (Colossians 3:19 KJV)
Because of Church
members who cannot find contentment in Christ, the Church has suffered dearly.
Disobedience has expanded itself to the point that the Word of God has been
allowed by the Church to be rewritten by malcontents; women are now allowed to
be Deacons; women are allowed to be Pastors; children have their own isolated
“children’s church”; divorce has become the accepted means of settling family
differences; there is no longer a recognized order of authority in home or
Church; there is no longer a word from the Church to the world condemning sin;
the salvation of souls has become the work of those ”specially called” home missionaries;
Seminaries have become liberal institutions of inferior theology; traditional,
holy, Church music has taken on a jungle beat.
All
these atrocities are sourced in the lack of order in home and Church. If the
old standards had been maintained, we would have a much different Church today,
healthier and of great significance in the world. Souls would be saved on a
regular basis. As it is today, the world laughs at its social, country-club
status of rock‘n roll, sports-spirited, supper club programs for entertainment
and the betterment of enrollment and income.
Source: Way Truth Life Ministry http://www.wtlministry.org
3/28/02