This is Part 5 of a 5-Part sermon series titled “Liberty and Justice for All” preached at Mt. Gilead UMC in Georgetown, KY. The whole worship service is in the link below titled “Sermon Video,” and the sermon begins at minute marker 7:45. Click here for Part 4.

Sermon Video

Galatians 3:28; Joel 2:28-32

Neither Male nor Female

“Ain’t I a woman?” That’s the famous question and title of Sojourner Truth’s most famous speech and it is perhaps the most famous abolitionist and women’s rights speech in the history of America. In it, she says,

“That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain’t I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain’t I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man – when I could get it – and bear the lash as well! And ain’t I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain’t I a woman?”

Sojourner Truth and many others who fought for women’s rights in the past two centuries have hit the nail on the head. They refused to believe that when the Constitution said all men were created equal that that meant only all of the males. You see, the word “men” or “man” within the last hundred years or so has taken on a single meaning, that it only refers to males. But the English language did not always define the terms “man” or “men” this narrowly. It used to be an inclusive term referring to humanity in general, if you were a human being, a person, as opposed to an animal or plant or some other species. And so, these women fought tooth and nail to earn the right to vote and have a voice and have just as many rights as males did. Women have come a long way in just a couple hundred years, and that is pretty remarkable.

And while Sojourner Truth and the other advocates for women’s rights were certainly right that the “all men” in the Constitution meant “all people—male and female,” they weren’t the first to do so in the history of the world. They weren’t the first to value women. Instead, it was Christ.

Jesus, Paul, and Women

Jesus, Paul, and the early church valued women in a day and time dominated by males when such a thing was unheard of. The Romans had a patriarchal society and culture. The Jews had a patriarchal society and culture. Nearly every society and culture back then was a male dominated patriarchy. And yet Jesus and Paul and the early church went against the grain of their own cultures that only valued men and devalued women.

First of all, God chose and called Mary, a young woman, to bring Jesus into the world. Sojourner Truth mentions this in her speech. She says,

“Then that little man in black there, he says women can’t have as much rights as men, ’cause Christ wasn’t a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.”

Second, Jesus had women disciples. This was unprecedented and almost scandalous in Jewish culture. Jesus was changing and shocking that culture by having female students and pupils as his followers.

Third, women were the first witnesses and evangelists of Jesus’ resurrection. And you’ll remember from that story that none of the 11 disciples, who were all men, believed them! Peter and John ran to the tomb themselves only to find everything true that the women had said. It is very significant that God chose women to be the first witnesses of Christ’s resurrection.

Fourth, at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out upon both men and women. Peter quoted Joel 2 in order to explain what was happening when the Holy Spirit came in power: men and women were prophesying, and the Spirit was being poured out on men and women.

Fifth, Paul entrusted his letter to the Romans to Phoebe, a deaconess in the early church, that she would be the one to deliver it to Rome, read it the church there, and then be the authorized person to answer any questions about the letter (Rom 16:1-2). Today Romans is considered the most important of all of Paul’s letters, and Paul gave this very important role to Phoebe.

Lastly and most noteworthy, Paul mentions female apostles—Andronicus and Junias (Rom 16:7)! Being an apostle is higher on the list of Christian leadership roles in the church than being a pastor. So why do some denominations today not ordain women to be pastors? Beats me. I’m grateful that the UMC affirms women in their calling to pastoral ministry. And in Paul’s day, women had apostolic ministries. This is all pretty remarkable given the male dominated societies and cultures of that day.

Liberty and Justice for All

And so, we see that Jesus, Paul, and the early church did the unthinkable in their time: they valued women, they saw their worth and dignity, and they supported them in leadership roles in the church when the rest of the world didn’t care. “There is neither…male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:28).

So where does that leave us today? Well, it leaves us in the place where we can call our Savior and the founders of the Christian church the first people in history to value women, their rights, their gifts, and their leadership. Christians are not and cannot be misogynists. We don’t hate women. We don’t try to oppress or suppress women. We don’t try to relegate women to the sole tasks of home, childbearing, and child rearing. That is not what Christians believe, despite the stigma that we’ve come accustomed to. Christians get blamed for everything these days. We are what my favorite comedian wrongly calls, “an escape goat.” But we have become the target on these social matters. We get wrongly painted as the enemies of justice and freedom and diversity and equality. Jesus, Paul, and the early church were the pioneers of all of these things. Galatians 3:28 is the so-called Magna Carta of Christian freedom. “There is neither Jew nor Greek”—that means racial equality and diversity in God’s kingdom. “There is neither…slave nor free”—that means social and economic freedom and equality. “There is neither male nor female”—that means gender inclusivity and equality. All in Christ’s kingdom.

Christians support all of these things. These are Christian values, biblical values. We aren’t racists, bigots, sexists, misogynists, or any other term or stigma that’s being thrown at us today. We are God’s people who love everyone just as God loves everyone. And we too desire liberty and justice for all, not because we are Americans first, but because we are Christians first. God is the one who wants liberty and justice for all, more so than you or I, more so than protestors, more so than even those who are still suffering under forms of bondage, injustice, and inequality. Satan is the author of such bondage, injustice, and inequality; make no mistake. He is the racist, bigot, sexist, misogynist—he is the Father of lies and sin. It is he who is causing all of this strife and worry and pain in the world right now. John 10:10 says that the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. But Jesus has come to bring life and wholeness.

I encourage you, friends, to take heart, to not listen to the lies being spewed about how horrible we supposedly are as Christians, that we hate and that we support injustice and oppression. That’s not who we are at all. Instead, he who is in us is greater than he who is in the world. Let’s be beacons of hope and light to the world around us. Let’s prove by our actions and words that we care and love and that we don’t support all of those awful things that we’re being accused of supporting. Paul says, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand find, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery…You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Gal 5:1, 13-14). So let’s love our neighbors, the world, as ourselves; that’ll show them that God wants liberty and justice for all. Amen.