Everyone is Important to God

For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Gal 6:3 NKJV

This verse is difficult to understand. How can a son or daughter of God be nothing?

 When I was a new Christian, a pastor tried to correct my tendency to pride. He told me I was “nothing”.. Of course, he exercised so much power to judge and control me, that he seemed to be saying he was super important, but I was quite literally “nothing”. This is not Christlike ministry at all. It was spiritual abuse.

Paul was a Jews, as was Jesus. In Hebrew thinking we often find extreme black and white statements which are really shocking if we take them literally.

“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. Lk 14:26 NKJV

Jesus also tells us to love on another. Paul tells husbands to love their wives. Parents who hate their children are the worst sinners on earth. So Jesus is not telling us to hate people, but rather to love God more then we love our families.

Likewise, in Galatians, Paul is telling us not to be self important but to consider other people to be at least as important as ourselves.

Do nothing from selfish ambition or empty conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Php 2:3 NRSVue

Here again, Paul is not telling me I should go around feeling inferior to everyone. That is sick.

No. I see an insane man pulling faces and talking to himself. He is just as important to God as I am.

Years ago I was a language teacher. A young woman in my class was dressing and acting like a prostitute and I think she was. She was as important to God as myself.

So many churches teach women that their husbands are more important than they are, because men as supposedly wiser than women. The bible talks about doctrines of demons and I am convinced this is one of them.

I look around church meetings and I almost always see more women than men. Women who love God often find it hard to find a husband who is spiritually strong enough to be their married partner, and yet people rip bible texts out of context and tell us that the husband should always be the spiritual leader.

Clear eyed observation tells me this is dangerous nonsense.

Jesus tells you that you are dearly loved by the Heavenly Father. If you believe that Jesus suffered the punishment for your sins on the cross, if you accept the forgiveness that Jesus offers, you have eternal life.

You are a son or daughter of God for ever and ever. You cannot be a nobody. You are a very important somebody in God’s eyes, but you are not more important than anyone else. Why? Because God loves everyone without exception.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Jn 3:16 NRSVue

Humility and Mutual Respect

 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Php 2:3 NKJV

How can we apply this in practice?

• Should Billy Graham have considered other preachers better than himself?

• Should every husband consider his wife better than himself?

• Should every father consider his children better than himself?

• Should every pastor consider the church members better than himself?

This would seem very strange, counterintuitive. So how can I apply this in practice?

If I am a world champion athlete, should I consider every opponent or rival better than myself? Of course not, but if I am the best in the world, I must not admire myself, but rather admire other champions, champions of the past, champions in other sports or events. I should look for things to admire in my rivals, integrity, courage, fair play.

If I am greatly blessed and admired as a preacher, I must not claim the credit, but thank God for the people who pray for my ministry. I must not admire myself but honour other anointed preachers and also faith heroes of the past. I can preach about the heroism of persecuted Christians and esteem them better than myself.

If I am a father, I can look at my children as potentially better than myself and hope and pray that they might be better than myself as they grow up.

If I am a husband, I should be keenly aware of the talents, gifts and virtues of my wife in ways that are better than my own. If I am superior to her in some ways, she will certainly be superior to me in other ways.

What ever your virtues, achievements, gifts and talents might be, you will find talents and achievements to admire in others. God gives different gifts to different people.

Just as stronger Christians or leaders must not consider themselves superior, so also should less prominent people consider themselves inferior.

Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.
 
Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body.

And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body.

If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 1 Co 12:14–17 NIV

It is important to look for things to admire in others, but it is also important to thank God for the unique gifts He has given you.

Loving Partnership in Christian Marriage

 How should husbands and wives treat each other?

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. Eph 5:21–22 NIV

Many Christians quote verse 22 alone, but verses 21 and 22 are two parts of one sentence in the Greek New Testament. The word “submit” only occurs in verse 21, not in verse 22.  

 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Wives,  …  to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. Eph 5:21–22 NIV

This does means husbands and wives should submit to one another. There is no other way to meaningfully understand this single sentence.

There is much debate about what it means for the husband to be the head of the wife but that is a topic for another time.

Paul says husbands must love their wives as Christ loves the church, but he does not say the husband must command, direct or control his wife as Christ rules over the church.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. Eph 5:25 NIV

Bible teachers often ignore the fact that a husband and wife are fellow Christians and therefore the rules that govern relationships between all Christians must apply to Christian marriage.

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. Jn 13:34 NIV

There are some overrated Bible teachers who teach male domination in marriage. They say a man must love his wife and a wife must respect her husband. Then they focus on wives respecting (and obeying) while they merely pay superficial lip service to husbands loving their wives. So much nonsense!

Jesus said the apostles must love each other. Was this only for apostles? Of course not. All Christians must love each other as Jesus loves us, husbands and wives included.

If the husband is the leader, which is sometimes appropriate, he should follow the teaching of Jesus about leadership.

Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.
Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,
and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— Mt 20:25–27 NIV

Some leaders demand to be heard and obeyed, but good leaders listen and consider the thinking of others.

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, Jas 1:19 NIV

Many, if not most husbands are not good at listening to their wives. We all need to improve in this regard.

But many teach that the husband should always be the leader, ideally a kind Christian leader. Careful observation of men and women should lead us to question this belief.

Some men are natural leaders and many others are born to be faithful followers. Likewise some women are natural leaders and many others are gifted to be followers.

The couple who led me to faith were my uncle and his wife. She was created and gifted to be a natural strong leader, and her husband was an introvert with the qualities of a good partner and a faithful follower.

My aunt loved and respected her husband and he loved and respected her leadership qualities.

HONOUR ONE ANOTHER, HONOUR FOR ALL

Philippians 2:1-2 (ESV)   So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 

• complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

What does it mean: BEING IN FULL ACCORD AND OF ONE MIND?

• Many of us have been told it means that the senior pastor or executive leaders are the source of truth. Unity means you must never question any detail of the preachers’ messages or the leaders’ policies or doctrines.

• Unity is supposed to require of you, that you completely submit your thinking and conversation to the leadership of your church.

• Some people might find it difficult to see a difference between some Pentecostal leaders’ apparent claim of infallible authority and the similar claim of the Roman Catholics for their traditional leadership.        

This begs the question, what does it mean to be “of one mind?”

• The context of this passage seems to indicate a unity of attitude, an attitude of mutual respect and concern for one another.

The emphasis is not on the infallibly superior wisdom of the leaders but on active participation of all believers in spiritual connection with the Holy Spirit and with one another.

In every part of the New Testament, so called ordinary believers are called to scrutinise leaders and doctrines for themselves.

Matthew 7:15-17 (NKJV)   "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.

• You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.

Many of us have been taught to rely on the judgement of the pastor to warn us of unsound leaders and preachers.

• The sad thing is that it is often the senior pastor or the prominent leader himself who can be the source of the problem.

• So many trusting Christians are torn apart when their leaders fail. Congregations are taken by surprise when their church, splits, collapses or is taken over by leaders who behave like dictatorial cult leaders.     

I thank God for the great many pastors and leaders who do not fail. 

• Christians are also often at fault when they fail to realise how much leaders need prayer support to stay on track.

If we consider that some Pentecostal leaders wrongly claim to sit on the seat of Moses or behave like popes, we must not go to the other extreme. 

• There are many who don’t want to respect any spiritual leadership. They will not recognise the amazing gifting that God has clearly given some people. 

  • God does not give people powerful gifts by accident or for no reason.

Philippians 2:3 (NKJV)  Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.         

I am thankful that I am in a congregation with a very gifted but also very humble and kind leader. 

• He has wonderful spiritual gifts of leadership, healing, word of knowledge and wisdom but he also has great respect for others with gifts which he does not have.

This is so important, to honour people who are in some way better or more gifted than ourselves. This should teach us to honour genuine leaders and many of us fail in this. 

• However, it should also teach leaders to respect fellow believers amongst those they lead. In a healthy church, there will always be members who have some spiritual gift which the pastor does not have in the same measure.

We hear much teaching about honouring leaders and there is much truth in this. 

• However, there are churches in which the duty to honour leaders is so unreasonably emphasised, that the honour due to every believer is not given. Jesus saw this danger clearly.

Matthew 23:8-10 (NIV)   "But you are not to be called 'Rabbi,' for you have only one Master and you are all brothers.

• And do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.

• Nor are you to be called 'teacher,' for you have one Teacher, the Christ.