God’s Perfect Design

In this modern age of high speed travel, high speed communication, and high speed living, mankind hardly can find time to serve the Lord. Just the idea of getting up each Sunday morning, and attending church services for 2 hours seems like an unimaginable task for this age.

We are trying to live multiple lives in one lifetime, and getting no where quickly. Adultery is at an all time high, and has infiltrated the church at all levels. Mankind are seeking multiple wives and husbands, and multiple occupations while trying to live longer and longer in order to obtain all that life has to offer.

God placed an order for this life that as worked since the beginning of the world. If mankind follows that pattern, peace and contentment is found. Let’s take a look at God’s perfect design for living.

One Man + One Woman

God didn’t design man to have multiple wives. He designed man to be married to one woman, and that for a life time. Gen 2:24 It was for the hardness of man’s heart that Moses allowed man to divorce his wife under the law of Moses. Mt 19:8 Jesus gave man only one exception for divorce, and that was for fornication. Mt 19:9; Mt 5:32 To the woman, Paul wrote that she was bound to her husband as long as he lived, but if her husband was dead she was at liberty to marry, but only in the Lord. Rom 7:2f; 1 Cor 7:39 If the woman divorced her husband, she was NOT free to marry again, but she could be reconciled to her husband. 1 Cor 7:10,11

Man Ahead of the House

Man was designed by God to provide for his family. 1 Tim 5:8 This means that it’s man’s responsibility to feed, clothe, and shelter his wife and children. God placed man over the woman in all things, and to take care of her needs. 1 Cor 11:3f; Eph 5:24 He was commanded to love his wife even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it. Eph 5:25

Woman The Homemaker

Woman was designed to have children, and be workers at home. Woman’s responsibility was to rear the children, and to attend the needs of her husband and children. She is commanded to love her husband and her children, and to be obedient to her husband in all things. Tit 2:3-5f; Eph 5:24 This is the doctrine all elderly women should teach to younger women. Tit 2:3

Church Leadership

Christ is the head of the church. Eph 1:22,23 However, God placed man over the church in all things on the local level. This means faithful, qualified men are to be elders, deacons, and preachers and teachers in the churches. Acts 20:28ff; 1 Tim 3:1-13; 2 Tim 2:2

Women were to keep silent in the churches. 1 Cor 14:33-40 She was forbidden to teach the Word of God, and to usurp man’s authority, but to learn in silence. 1 Tim 2:11-15 Her responsibility was to her husband to train up their children in the Lord. Eph 6:1-4 Her subjection to her husband is what qualifies her faithful, qualified husband to be an elder or deacon in the church. Her ability to train up her children in the Lord is the firm foundation that develops sound preachers in the faith. 2 Tim 1:5f; 2 Tim 3:15

Failure to Follow God’s Design

We only need to look at society to see what happens when we fail to follow God’s perfect design for mankind. When a Christian man marries a sinful woman, his house will be divided, and his children will be lead astray. The godly man is no longer qualified to lead God’s church or to preach the gospel. If he can’t lead his own family, how can he lead the church of God. 1 Tim 3:5

Many women today have abortions to delay having children in order to have careers outside of the home. A career minded woman can’t be an elder’s or a deacon’s wife. When women take the leadership away from the man, she is also usurping authority over God even as Eve did in the garden of Eden, and the Word of God is blasphemed. Tit 2:5

When God’s perfect design is broken, the church of Christ is also broken. If God had intended for unqualified men to lead the churches, he would have established such rulers. When churches no longer have qualified elders and deacons to rule it, false doctrine overtakes it. Acts 20:28-31

Conclusion: God’s perfect design may seem old fashioned, and out of sync with this high speed and wicked society we live in, but it still works. It’s so important for Christians to marry Christians. 2 Cor 6:14  One, is that their children be reared in the doctrine of Christ, and secondly that godly men might be qualified to lead the churches of Christ and that the gospel might be preached.

A godly man and a godly woman are the perfect team in God’s perfect plan of salvation. The future of the churches of Christ depends upon Christian men and Christian women to marry each other, and bring forth godly children. Therefore God designed one man, for one woman, for one church, which contains therein one doctrine, and one salvation. Gen 2:24; 2 Jn 9f; Jude 3 If we want to be in sync with God, let us first get in sync with God’s Perfect Design.