The Full Extent of His Love-Lent 1, 2015

“It was just before the Passover Feast.

Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father.

Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.” (John 13:1)

In our 2015 Lenten devotional series, we’re looking at Jesus’ final words to us before He goes to the Cross.  If the words “light” and “life” characterize the early chapters of the Gospel of John, there is one word that reigns supreme With Christ in the Upper Room (John 13-17).  That word is “love.”

What does it mean that Jesus now showed His disciples the full extent of His love?

full extent of his loveIn the Greek language, it has a double meaning.  It means both that He loved them to the very end of His days as well as He loved them to the fullest extent possible, which for Jesus, the Son of God, is a lot.

He showed the full extent of His love as final preparation.

Love can be modeled.  Love can be shown.  Love can be seen.  And love can be learned by experience.  But I wonder, can a person be taught how to love? Or do we just remember?

We come into this world as lovers made in Love’s image.  For God is love.  But the assaults of sin in this world cause us to build walls of protection around our hearts to keep us from being hurt.  We are taught—by sin—to resist being vulnerable in love.  Fear of being hurt is a powerful teacher…and a mighty obstacle to knowing how to love others.

1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

So Jesus came and showed us the Father.  He showed us what Love looks like.  When we see Jesus, we see the Father in whom all Love is perfectly displayed.  Jesus models the beauty of dependence upon the Father, complete with all vulnerability, unafraid of being hurt by sin, and totally trusting in God’s goodness and eternal providence.

Jesus didn’t learn to love.  He is God and God is Love.

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Give it up for Lent: Fear of vulnerability

Put it on for Lent: Love for God and neighbor

For further thought:

  • Can a person be taught how to love, or only regarding depth, to love more?  Can a person be taught to hate?
  • If yes, how do these things happen?
  • Why was it important (as Jesus was preparing His disciples for His death) that they would know the full extent of His love?  See John 3:16-17
  • What do love and hate have to do with the manner of the Gospel’s advance against the forces of this world?

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You can receive these devotional studies in your email (Monday through Saturday during Lent) by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Let’s meet With Christ in the Upper Room.

 

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These Coptic Christians

I am at a loss for words regarding the horrific treatment of Christians and Jews around the world, among the latest being the devastating loss of 21 Coptic Christian martyrs at the hands of ISIS.  When Jesus looked down upon that scene, ISIS–the embodiment of evil in the world–vaporized in His sight, and Jesus saw godly men on their knees, 21 people of the Cross in collective prayer.  Twenty-one faithful followers of God in the Egyptian Church.  Good and faithful servants whose names glow with glorious faith in the Lamb’s Book of Life.  Brave men who persevered to the end…and overcame…and whose souls cry out from under the altar of God, as in the Book of Revelation:

Revelation 6:9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. 10 They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” 11 Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed.

I want to believe that as they were preparing to lay down their lives for Jesus, the heavens opened up and each was given a sweet vision of the Son of Man standing at the right hand of the Majesty on High.  In a stunning vision of the Ancient of Days and in the glory all around His throne, these brave souls saw and felt nothing but joy inexpressible as the love of God in its fullest and purest form showered them with grace.  They have traded orange jumpsuits for white robes.  This world did not deserve these Coptic Christians.

coptic christians

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Gamaliel’s Advice-sermon text version

When we last encountered the adventures of the earliest Church, we saw the apostles thrown in prison as we moved from Pure Church to Powerful Church to Growing Church to the Persecuted Church.  Yes, the disciples have been in prison, were broken out of jail by an angel and then dragged back into court, essentially, by the religious officials.

Last week, in the climax of testimony instead of pleading the 5th, the disciples cry out,

“We must obey God rather than men! 30 The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead– whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. 31 God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. 32 We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”

That went over like a lead balloon among the religious leaders who had earlier said they didn’t like being made to feel guilty over their role in crucifying Jesus.

Which brings us to today’s passage in the adventures of the apostles known as Acts.   Today we’ll look at Acts 5:33-42

Acts 5:33 When they [the religious officials] heard this [i.e. that whole obeying God rather than men thing] they were furious and wanted to put them to death.

Ironic isn’t it that they didn’t want Jesus’ blood on their hands and now they’re looking to add the disciples’ blood to it?   Anger makes people do bad stuff.  Conniving stuff.  Irrational stuff.

granny on porch

  • An elderly lady was well known for her faith and for her boldness and talking about it. She would stand on her front porch and shout, “Praise the Lord!”
  • Next door to her lived an atheist who would get so angry at her proclamations he would shout, “There ain’t no Lord!!”
  • Hard times set in on the elderly lady and she prayed for God to send her some assistance. She stood on her porch and shouted, “Praise the Lord!! God, I need FOOD!! I am having a hard time. Please, Lord, send me some groceries!!”
  • The next morning, the lady went out on her porch and saw a large bag of groceries and shouted, “Praise the Lord!!”
  • The neighbor jumped from behind a bush and said, “Aha! I told you there was no Lord. I bought those groceries. God didn’t.”
  • The lady started jumping up and down and clapping her hands and saying, “PRAISE THE LORD!!! He not only sent me groceries, but He made the devil pay for them!!”

Yes, anger seldom accomplishes what we intend.  Or in the words of Jane Austen, “angry people are rarely wise.”

To keep the religious officials from adding more blood—that of the disciples—to the blood they’d already shed—that of Jesus—a religious leader steps in and offers wise advice.  Gamaliel’s advice might be summarized

Keep Calm and Learn from History.”

I love this section with Gamaliel because I believe it offers a very effective key to understanding Jewish evangelism.  It’s all about Messianic expectations.  These religious officials weren’t to be faulted for expecting the Messiah.  That’s what they were told to do!  They just weren’t expecting what God was doing in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.  They didn’t see, therefore, that Jesus was the Messiah.

So here’s where Gamaliel enters the scene.  Who is he?  Well, he was a prominent teacher of the law known in both present-day Jewish circles as well as Christian circles.  He was the son of the teacher Simon and the grandson of great teacher Hillel, both of whom were regarded highly with respect to the law. Gamaliel is among the “heads of the schools” and was the first president of the Great Sanhedrin of Jerusalem, according to Jewish sources.  Because of Gamaliel, we have external evidence (outside our Bibles) that what we are about to hear actually occurred. We see Gamaliel surface one more time in Acts 22:3 where Paul identifies himself as a student of Gamaliel (which was a source of considerable pride for Paul since Gamaliel was the greatest teacher of his era and embodied the best of Pharisaical thought).  So Gamaliel is an important guy…and hinge on which evangelism can turn and a bridge to our Jewish brothers and sisters.  Here’s why.

Let’s pick up in verse 34 But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while. 35 Then he addressed them:

“Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men. 36 Some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing. 37 After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered. 38 Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. 39 But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”

Gamaliel’s wisdom was evident.  He was a great teacher and also clearly a student of history.keep calm learn from HIS story black border

  • Even better than the Sunday School teacher teaching a bunch of 4th graders.  The lesson had just finished and the teacher asked if the children had any questions. Little David quickly raised his hand.
  • “Yes, David? What question would you like to ask me?”
  • “I have four questions to ask you, Teacher. Is it true that after the children of Israel crossed the Red Sea, they then received the Ten Commandments?”
  • “Yes, David.”
  • “And the children of Israel also defeated the Philistines?”
  • “Yes, David, that’s also true.”
  • “And the children of Israel also fought the Romans and fought the Egyptians and built the Temple?”
  • “Again you are correct, David.”
  • “So my real question I guess is, Teacher, what were the grown-ups doing all this time?”

Gamaliel’s teaching showed he knew his theology and he knew his history.  He urged those who were angry to Keep Calm and Learn from History.  Patience is often a very good thing.  Gamaliel brought up two cases from history to demonstrate that God’s will triumphs even if men are free to disobey.  That is a perfectly consistent idea within Pharisaical thought: man is free to disobey, but God’s will prevails in the end.

  1. The first guy is Theudas, about whom we know nothing other than his mention here.  Although I always find things like this interesting.  There is someone whose life was purposeful in God’s plan in some way to be mentioned in Scripture even if history overlooks his role.  Scripture says nothing except verse 36 Some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing
  2. But there’s also a guy named Judas the Galilean who was written about by the Jewish historian Josephus.  37 After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered.

Both men initially looked like they might be “somebody” (i.e. the Messiah) because they led revolt.  But there was a problem:  they died.  Thought to be somebody, but they turned out as not anybody other than a regular Joe or Theudas or Judas the Galilean. Death was the ultimate disqualifier.  And that’s why Jews—then and now—have such a problem with Jesus.  Jews from the various theological traditions (Orthodox, Conservative, Reform) disagree on just about everything except that Jesus could not possibly be the Messiah.  And behind that belief is the fact of Jesus’ death.

So Gamaliel says, Keep Calm and Learn from History.  Theudas (somebody) died: nobody.  Judas the Galilean (somebody) died:nobody.  Jesus somebody died….and He’s either a nobody like all the others or He’s a somebody…a real Somebody like the Messiah…and

38 Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. 39 But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”

One of the historical points of reference was what we heard about in our Old Testament reading (2 Chronicles 13:10-12) from this morning, fighting against God is always a losing battle.

Wait it out.  See what happens.  God won’t let a false messiah stand.  Eventually they will crumble from the weight of their own lies.  They die and it all goes away.  So, Keep Calm and Learn from History.

40 His speech persuaded them.

He persuaded them not to kill the apostles, but these religious officials still felt like there had to be some kind of punishment so the officials…

They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.  41 The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.

The apostles, too, kept calm and learned from history.  They looked at Jesus who died but whom they knew was raised from the dead.  They firmly believed because they had seen the Risen Lord in real time and recent history who commanded them to proclaim the Good News.  Remember all the way back in Acts 1 before Jesus left, He told them that this is what they were supposed to do: bring the Gospel to all the nations?  They’re obeying orders.

So, for a moment put yourself in the shoes of Gamaliel:  How do you deal with situations when anger is boiling up around you or within you?  Do you urge patience?  To Keep Calm and Learn from History?  Do you react without thinking through the consequences?  Had the Sanhedrin killed the disciples, they would have been fighting against God who was certainly able to raise up others.  Doesn’t Scripture say that if we’re silent, even the stones would cry out?  Fighting against God is a losing battle.

Perhaps this is a good time for a second group of questions.  Are there any ways you are fighting God on something?  Perhaps something He wants you to do?  Something He wants you to say?  Maybe you’re still squirming in His hand and not wanting to believe that Jesus is who He says He is?  Jesus of Nazareth has been the Messiah for almost 2,000 years.  The movement has does anything but die out.  The world has thrown Christians to the lions, crucified them, shot them, and burned them alive.  The world has beheaded them, tortured them, and imprisoned them.  The world has laughed at them, ridiculed them, shamed them, enslaved them, and economically targeted them.  The irony is the more persecuted the Church becomes, the more it grows.  It’s like one of those puffball mushrooms.  You can stomp on it, kick it, dig it out and throw it away, but the spores scatter and it multiplies.  So it is with the Church….for 2000 years, it has been growing, advancing and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it!

Ash Wednesday is this week.  The beginning of Lent.  If there are ways you’ve been fighting a losing battle against God for ownership of your life, this is a good time to lay that aside and trust Him.  Be ready to take Him at His Word.

Put yourself in the shoes of the apostles who spoke boldly that they’d obey God rather than men.

The death of Jesus is the turning point, the hinge on which Jewish evangelism (and all evangelism) turns because of His resurrection.  It’s why the apostles brought it up time and again.  Because unlike Theudas and Judas the Galilean, Jesus did not remain dead.

Mohammed?  Still dead.  Karl Marx?  Still dead.  Friedrich Nietzsche?  Yup. He’s dead.   Joseph Smith?  Still dead. Confuscious, Socrates, Plato, dead, dead, dead.  Jesus is not!  He rose from the dead and is very much alive.  He had to die in order for us to be saved.  Our sin and God’s holiness required this intermediary step between Jewish expectation of the Messiah and the Return of the vindicating King.  If there had not been this intermediary step of dealing with our sin problem, there’d be no one righteous when the powerful Messiah came to bring His holy ones to heaven.  It’d be a quick trip with nothing to see and He’d go home alone…if He hadn’t dealt with our sin.

So finally, as a thought for today, still in the shoes of the apostles:  Keep Calm and Learn from History.  That’s how they could rejoice even after having been beaten 40 lashes minus one.  For the 21 Coptic Christians (from Egypt) who were captured and taken by ISIS, they knew they may end up beheaded, or in a cage and burned alive…simply because they are Christians.  The latest that I heard is that the Libyan parliament confirmed their deaths and that they were kidnapped because of their Christian faith.  That’s bad news, awful news, tragic news for sure, but here’s their hope, their calm, and their peace.  It comes from the fact that History is God’s history. It’s His Story.  It’s Jesus’ story of redemption and rescue and God’s great love.  And to those who captured innocents and have been doing the killings, they cannot rest easy.  Why?  Because fighting against God is always a losing battle.  That’s how these 21 captives could rejoice in prison, even in martyrdom.  God is on their side.  No one can snatch them out of God’s hands.  And nothing, nothing, nothing! could separate them from the love of God in Christ Jesus!  The Pure Church, the Powerful Church, the Growing Church becomes the Persecuted Church and yet, they can do, we can do, the very same thing that the disciples did.

42 Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.

Keep Calm. Carry On.  Learn from History.  God will not be mocked.  Fighting against God is always a losing proposition.  We have the end of the book and it tells us God wins.  So, Keep Calm. Carry On.  And Learn from His Story.

Let’s pray.

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By way of reminder, the 2015 Lenten Devotionals entitled With Christ in the Upper Room will begin on Ash Wednesday (February 18th).  If you’ve signed up to receive them on the Seminary Gal Home Page side bar,  you will be receiving those automatically via email on Monday through Saturday, as well as the Sunday preaching messages during the Lent time frame.

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Gamaliel’s Advice-audio version

keep calm learn from HIS story black borderGamaliel’s Advice might be stated “Keep Calm. Carry On.  Learn from History.  God will not be mocked.  Fighting against God is always a losing proposition.”  Of course, we have not only History, but know that History is His Story, God’s story of redemption and love.   This message from Acts 5:33-42 was first preached by Barbara Shafer at Plymouth Congregational Church of Racine, WI on February 15, 2015.  You can listen to the full message at this link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Eoub1_ASKQ

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By way of reminder, the 2015 Lenten Devotionals entitled With Christ in the Upper Room will begin on Ash Wednesday (February 18th).  If you’ve signed up to receive them on the Seminary Gal Home Page side bar,  you will be receiving those automatically via email on Monday through Saturday, as well as the Sunday preaching messages during the Lent time frame.

 

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Upper Room Lenten Devotionals Begin Feb 18th

The 2015 Lenten Devotionals entitled With Christ in the Upper Room will begin on Ash Wednesday (February 18th).  If you’ve signed up to receive them on the Seminary Gal Home Page side bar,  you will be receiving those automatically via email on Monday through Saturday, as well as the Sunday preaching messages during the Lent time frame.

The format of these devotionals is a short scripture discussion, a “Give it up for Lent”, a “Put it on for Lent”, and a few questions for further thought.

You can access them also on the Seminary Gal Facebook page by clicking “LIKE” and you can always share them on your Facebook page (or via Twitter, etc.) by clicking the buttons below so your friends can enjoy them as well.  It’s an easy way to witness and a great way to encourage.

with christ in the upper room
http://seminarygal.com/with-christ-in-the-upper-room-lent-2015-devotional-series/

 

 

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A Few Good Men–message 02.08.2015

Last week, we had a snow day with the big blizzard in the Midwest.  So today we resume our Sunday preaching series on Acts of the Holy Spirit and the Apostles As long as I am in announcement mode, by way of reminder, the 2015 Lenten Devotionals entitled With Christ in the Upper Room will begin on Ash Wednesday (February 18th).  If you’ve signed up to receive them on the Seminary Gal Home Page side bar,  you will be receiving those automatically on Monday through Saturday, as well as the Sunday messages during the Lent time frame.  Now to our message for today which comes from Acts 5: 27-32.

There are some movies our family has watched enough times for memorization.  One of them is A Few Good Men.  Our son Eric can recite easily half the movie from memory.  We all get particularly animated in a couple of scenes.

One is from Gitmo:

Col. Jessep: I run my unit how I run my unit. You want to investigate me, roll the dice and take your chances. I eat breakfast 300 yards from 4000 Cubans who are trained to kill me, so don’t think for one second that you can come down here, flash a badge, and make me nervous.

And the other two are from the courtroom.  Defense attorney Kaffee’s opening statement:

When Dawson and Downey went into Santiago’s room that night, it wasn’t because of vengeance or hatred, it wasn’t to kill or harm, and it wasn’t because they were looking for kicks on a Friday night. It’s because it was what they were ordered to do.

Let me say that again: It’s because it was what they were ordered to do. Now, out in the real world, that means nothing. And here at the Washington Navy Yard, it doesn’t mean a whole lot more. But if you’re a marine assigned to Rifle Security Company Windward, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and you’re given an order, you follow it or you pack your bags.

Col. Jessep later proves the point about orders by asking the defense attorney Kaffee questions, as if to emphasize his authority.

  • Col. Jessep: Have you ever spent time in an infantry unit, son?
  • Kaffee: No sir.
  • Col. Jessep: Ever served in a forward area?
  • Kaffee: No sir.
  • Col. Jessep: Ever put your life in another man’s hands, ask him to put his life in yours?
  • Kaffee: No sir.
  • Col. Jessep: We follow orders, son. We follow orders or people die. It’s that simple. Are we clear?
  • Kaffee: Yes sir.
  • Col. Jessep: Are we clear?
  • Kaffee: Crystal.

The issues of following orders and of obedience in the chain of command were front and center in the courtroom scene as they were also central to the accidental death of Santiago.  Hold that thought of orders, obedience, and crimes…

In our passage of Scripture today, the high priest had given strict orders and yet Peter and the other apostles disobeyed a strict order from the Jewish religious leader, an order he gave to stop this teaching.  Stop.  Stop.

Stop sharing the Gospel!

Why?  Because the religious leaders felt like it was making them guilty of crucifying Jesus, the Messiah.  Which of course, they were…guilty, that is.  As are we all.

From the moment we take our first breath, we’re living, breathing sinners.  We come from a long line of sinners going back to Adam and Eve.  Of course, none of us wants to view ourselves as guilty.  But the truth is that since we sin, Jesus had to die or God’s image bearers would be lost forever.

Let’s look at our passage.  So far, there’s been a divine jail break with an angel getting the apostles out of prison so they could resume teaching in defiance of the high priest’s orders…orders given during the last time they were teaching and were imprisoned.  Right now, the apostles have been doing the very thing they were told not to do and are brought by the officials to the Sanhedrin.

Acts 5:27 Having brought the apostles, they made them appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest.  28 “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said.  “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.”

The special guilt that the religious leaders had (that the rest of us do not) was in the plotting to get rid of Jesus because He was making their religious lives harder.  People were no longer seeing the leaders as authoritative, as if their behavior was worth imitating.

Why did the leaders’ orders have to be followed differently by the people than by the leaders themselves?  Good question.

Jesus taught with God’s authority.  God was calling them to live differently than the hypocritical religious leaders were living, especially noticeable when Jesus was saying things like the 7 Woes found in Matthew 23:1-39.

 Matthew 23:1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.

The religious leaders liked their positions of power and authority.  It made them feel pretty proud of themselves.  But they didn’t obey orders.  They only gave them for others to obey.  Then Jesus comes along.  He’s a very humble guy, seeks no adoration whatsoever, and yet the crowds of people hang on His every word.  He does what He preaches.  He lives it.  And in doing so, He pointed out that the religious leaders did not do what God told them to do, along with everyone else.  They were hypocrites.

He didn’t mince words about it either.  Jesus said, Matthew 23:33 “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? 34 Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. 35 And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation.

Ouch.  No wonder they didn’t like Jesus very much.  All of this was in the mind of the high priest when he told the apostles to stop teaching in the name of Jesus.  The religious leaders remembered the events leading up to the moment Jesus died.

John 19:5 When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!” 6 As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!” But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.” 7 The Jews insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.” 8 When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, 9 and he went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. 10 “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”

It was the religious leaders who would initiate the cry to crucify Him.  It was the religious leaders who appealed to Roman law because they had no power to crucify (John 18:31-32), only to stone to death (Leviticus 24:16).

chain links colorrt.jpgWe see here a chain of command, just like in A Few Good Men.  Jesus tells Pilate that he has no power other than that given by God and therefore, the worse crime was done by those who handed Jesus over.  The religious leaders tried to wash the blood from their hands, figuratively speaking.  They tried to forget that this is what they had done!  And then here come these apostles.  Teaching about Jesus.  It’s like He never died!  It’s like He’s back!  It didn’t stop with His death, it only scattered the teaching authority over a wider group of disciples who find their courage in obeying God’s orders.  The ones Jesus gave them to take the Gospel to the very ends of the earth.

29 Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than men!  30 The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead—whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree.  31 God exalted him to his own right hand  as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.  32 We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”

The apostles state very clearly that their chain of command rests with God.  The guilt Jesus had paid to atone for was true guilt upon all the people of Israel and the people of the world.  It’s why it took both the religious leaders of the Jews and the legal system of the Gentile world to crucify Him.  There was plenty of guilt to go around.  And we’re all responsible.  In a sense, we were all there shouting “Crucify!”

Fortunately, the forgiveness of God is greater.  He commutes our sentence and pronounces us Not Guilty when we come to Him, when we come acknowledging our sins and asking His forgiveness.  When we make obeying God, obeying Christ, our first and only priority.  That’s when we go from being many sinful and guilty men and women to being a few good men and women who are good only because we are forgiven by the blood of Christ so that we might obey God in all we do.  Let’s pray.

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Undeniable #10-Glorifying God

We’ve reached the last of the Ten Undeniable Truths of Womanhood:  #10 The Lord’s maidservants bring glory to Christ by their obedience.

obedienceWomen don’t need to feel like they are glorifying God less by being women.  God is not surprised with how He made us and sometimes He is glorified uniquely by a woman’s obedience.  The extent to which the world’s population is female, that is the very degree to which He desires to receive glory by their obedience.

The number one thing any Christian woman can do is to seek God in order to obey Him.

Only by knowing and doing the will of God will we glorify Him in all we do.  So whether God has gifted you with the freedom of singleness, the joys of marriage, the responsibilities of motherhood, or seasons during which you experience a variety of these things in womanhood, do it well.  Obey God because the Lord’s maidservants bring glory to Christ by their obedience.

Research:

John 15:1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. 9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit– fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 17 This is my command: Love each other.

Reflect:

  • What does this Scripture say about bearing fruit?
  • How does any woman or man bear fruit?
  • How does bearing fruit look to God like glory and look to people like a litmus test for discipleship?
  • In what ways are love and obedience connected?

Respond:

Are you a man?  Find ways to encourage the women in your life in their God-given callings.  They glorify Christ when they are obedient to Him.  Pray about whether there are any ways you are standing between a woman in your life and her calling from God.  If there are ways you can coach or encourage her in Christ when the journey is hard, it would help her to remain obedient when doubts arise.  Your help to her glorifies Christ because it affirms that His glory is paramount.

Are you a woman?  Be obedient at all times.  To God, certainly!  To the men in your life, show them respect and honor.  Treat them as you would wish to be treated and as brothers in your family.  Are there men in your life who do not know Jesus?  Are there men who disagree with what you’re doing?  Be patient in winning them over.  Culture is stacked against them in many of the same ways it is stacked against you.  God wants you to bear fruit and therefore, ask God to remove any obstacles in the way of fruitful service to Him.  Don’t give in to the traps of the culture.  Obedience to Christ–in spite of opposition–brings Him greater glory.  It’s a greater sacrifice of love.  Keep focused on Him.

Are you a pastor?  Teach about obedience and model it.  If you’re a married pastor, have you openly talked with your wife about her calling from God and taught other married men to do likewise with their wives?  If her obedience to Christ would mean expanding your view of pastors’ wives and their roles; if it would mean pressing into the opposition against her in order to teach all of us how obedience perseveres through trials; if it would mean standing up to men and women in your church who would stand in the way of her obedience to Christ, then are you prepared to walk with her, loving her as Christ loved the Church, and giving yourself up so that she might bring glory to God by her obedience?

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Ten Undeniable Truths of Womanhood:

  1. A Christian woman is still a complete woman, even without marriage.
  2. No man can teach a woman what is the truth of womanhood, even Christian womanhood.
  3. The Bible clearly outlines what womanhood is…and it isn’t always synonymous with motherhood.
  4. Once a mother, always a mother.
  5. Superwomen don’t exist except in the comics.
  6. All women make choices of no return.
  7. Biology affirms what the Bible teaches.
  8. The Christian woman must learn to artfully balance following Christ while honoring the men in her life.
  9. Submission and sacrifice aren’t bad words for women.
  10. The Lord’s maidservants bring glory to Christ by their obedience.
Continue Reading

Undeniable #9- Submission & Sacrifice Aren’t Bad Words

Submission and sacrifice are tough topics for women.  A few years ago, I led a weekend retreat for an adult ministry and ended up using the word submission as it appeared in one of the Scriptures we were using for a different purpose.  Though it was totally off-point, a Q&A exploded upon the scene and the word submission expanded into a full-blown discussion.  Submission and Sacrifice are pressure-cooker words and I’d argue that it’s because we begin at the wrong starting point.

Of the Ten Undeniable Truths of Womanhood, Number 9 is ‘Submission and sacrifice aren’t bad words for women.'”

They aren’t bad words for any of us.
But Submission and Sacrifice are too often presented as words of authority and control, of one person’s will ruling over another.
In truth, however, Submission and Sacrifice are words of love. 
That’s what the Scriptures say.

submission and sacrifice cropIn evangelical Christian circles, a great debate has arisen about the “eternal subordination of the Son (Jesus) to the Father.”  (Translated for real human beings, these evangelical theologians posit that the Father is in control, the Son Jesus always submits, there is a hierarchy where the Father rules, this is the pattern from eternity past, and it will continue into eternity future.  Therefore women should get used to the fact that this pattern means women will be in submission and subordinate to authorities as men for all eternity.)

Personally, I think theirs is a human-derived and grave error, going wrong from a wrong starting point: power.  Subordination, like Submission and Sacrifice, is a word that makes Jesus appear to be in a station beneath that of the Father, and His position that of under the thumb of the Father when nothing could be farther from the Truth.

All of these (Submission, Sacrifice, and Subordination), as words of love, paint a picture of beauty in a relationship of love within the Godhead in which no one is exerting authority or control…as a tug of war…between conflicting wills. 

Instead, there is an excellence and perfection in unity of mind and purpose.  There is a common will and a shared goal.  These words, then, are ancient words of love that existed in the Godhead, words of love indicating a free will to shoulder more of the burden for the sake of the other.  Eternal Sacrifice.

If more of us earned submission by virtue of our love than demanded submission by means of our authority, we’d bear God’s image in far truer resemblance.

While I could write volumes on this and make everyone angry with me, I’d rather let God’s Word speak for itself on the issue of submission, sacrifice, and yes, even subordination.  Think of these words as ancient words of love as you Research, Reflect, and Respond.

Research:

  • Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
  • John 1:3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. …10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.
  • 1 Corinthians 8:6 yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.
  • Hebrews 2:10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings.
  • John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. 17 “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him.
  • John 10:17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life– only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”…29 “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 “I and the Father are one.”
  • John 15:9 “Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. 10 “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love. 11 “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. 12 “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. 13 “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. 14 “You are My friends, if you do what I command you. 15 “No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.

Reflect: 

  • In Creation, who made mankind: Father, Son, or both?  With equal authority?  Equally in practice and outcome?  Who responded to whose will?
  • When God sent Jesus to die for the sins of the human world, was the Father condemning Jesus to incarnation and to death apart from the will of the Son?  Whose will was done when Jesus came and when Jesus died?
  • Imagine for a moment that the Father sent an unwilling Son to die for us.  Is that a picture of love?  Or a picture of brutality?
  • Did the Father sacrifice anything to send Jesus to die?  Who submitted to the Father’s will?
  • What is the connection between love and sacrifice and submission?
  • Most of our views of subordination come from the world of work or from a power framework.  It’s no wonder we find the concept of subordination a difficult one. One notable exception we can relate to is that of a family.  In a loving family (acknowledging that some of you did not come from ones that fit that description) what kind of relationship would parents have to their children?  What kind of relationship would children have to their parents?  Does this confer an status of a child’s inferiority to one’s parents even into adulthood?  Or is the bond of love–in such a family–a bond that helps adult children to love and care for their parents because their parents loved and cared for them when they were little children?  What ought to make a parent’s treatment of a child adapt as children go from infancy to adulthood?  Did a child’s humanity change or simply mature?  How does a parent feel seeing a child mature into a kind, talented, diligent, considerate, and generous adult?
  • Another helpful picture to reframe subordination, submission and sacrifice in terms of love would be a doorway wide enough for only one.  You don’t know what is on the other side of the door.  What would love do?  Lead the way through the one-person opening to protect those behind or would love send the children and women first to see what happens to them?  Leadership doesn’t need to be a power play.  It can be a sacrifice of love.

Respond:

Are you a man?  Look at the way you treat those around you.  Does love characterize your actions?  Do you earn submission by your loving protection of those in your midst?  How do you wield power?  What is your attitude toward power and love?  Which one is a sign of genuine strength?

Are you a woman?  Look at the way you treat those around you.  Does love characterize your actions?  Do you submit to the loving protection of parents, your husband, or those who lead through the one-person opening in the wall for your safety?  If you have children, do you protect your children in that same loving way?  What types of things make you bristle at words like submission, sacrifice and subordination?  Write down your thoughts on: “Those words make me feel like womanhood is _(fill in the blank)_.”  Bring that to the Lord in prayer and ask Him to show you Jesus’ view, in love and truth.

Are you a pastor?  Look at the way you treat those around you.  Does love characterize your actions?  Do you earn submission by your loving protection of those in your midst?  Are you all about power and control?  Would those in positions of responsibility under your authority say that you are all about power and control?  What types of things keep you from pursuing submission, sacrifice and subordination as words of love?  If the Father treated you the way you treat others, would you know the fullness of joy, the freedom of worship as living sacrifice, and the happiness of fruitful service?  Do you lay down your life for the sake of others?

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Ten Undeniable Truths of Womanhood

  1. A Christian woman is still a complete woman, even without marriage.
  2. No man can teach a woman what is the truth of womanhood, even Christian womanhood.
  3. The Bible clearly outlines what womanhood is…and it isn’t always synonymous with motherhood.
  4. Once a mother, always a mother.
  5. Superwomen don’t exist except in the comics.
  6. All women make choices of no return.
  7. Biology affirms what the Bible teaches.
  8. The Christian woman must learn to artfully balance following Christ while honoring the men in her life.
  9. Submission and sacrifice aren’t bad words for women.
  10. The Lord’s maidservants bring glory to Christ by their obedience.
Continue Reading

Undeniable #8-Keeping Your Balance

Number 8 of the Ten Undeniable Truths of Womanhood is:

tightrope color w wordsThe Christian woman must learn to artfully balance following Christ while simultaneously honoring the men in her life.

Tightrope walking may also be called funambulism, but it’s easier said than done and sometimes not much fun in today’s Christian landscape.

Keeping your balance in the Christian life is perhaps more difficult for women than it is for men.  Arguably, womanhood requires keeping a Christian ministry balance in both horizontal (with men) and in vertical (with God) ways.

Every tightrope walker needs a few important things:

  1. Maintaining the center
  2. Staying focused
  3. Footing as friction
  4. Balancing tools

* * *

Maintaining the center:  What is our center, or rather, Who?  If you said “Jesus,”  you’re absolutely right.  He is our center.  Everything we do is centered around following Him, obeying Him, and doing His will.  When we’re centered, we’re less likely to be twisted and turned off our narrow way and we are able to walk it without falling.

Staying focused: This another key because distraction and discouragement are two of our adversary’s primary weapons against us.  If Satan cannot discourage us away from the centrality of God’s tasks, our adversary will try to convince us to pay attention to other things, too.  How is it possible to stay focused when so many things in church try to pull us off the tightrope?  Things like politics, other people’s expectations, selfish priorities, and for women (and men), feminism and the reaction against it–they all serve to twist our balance and throw us off kilter.  We spend so much energy fighting each other, we often have little stamina left to actually contend together for the sake of the Gospel.

Footing as friction: It may seem counterintuitive, but the friction we get also serves to give us traction.  It helps us to cling to what the Truth is.  When we have a toehold on the narrow way of Truth, we won’t slip so easily.  In fact, it’s the crags and crevices, the bumpy parts and jagged edges which serve to make it possible to climb.  I think about the two men who recently climbed the 3,000 foot granite cliff on El Capitan in Yosemite National Park using only their hands and feet and a safety rope.  One of the climbers’ mothers was reported to say that theirs is , “[A] deep, abiding, lifelong friendship, built over suffering on the wall together over six years.”  It’s not just folk wisdom that says if a mountain was smooth, you couldn’t climb it.  Without friction we could not walk and we could not run.  With reduced friction, like on sheets of ice, our steps must be smaller and our stride slower to avoid slipping.

Friction, though it makes the work harder in one sense, is the very force that also makes our walk and work possible.

Balancing tools:  For the Christian woman seeking to honor both Christ and the men in her life with their rules of Christian engagement, it’s important to have the necessary balancing tools of the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, and lots of prayer.  The Holy Spirit, close to our heart and our center of faith, uses the full Word of God and lots of prayer to prevent the rotational inertia and angular acceleration which could twist and turn the Christian woman off her walk.  When my husband honors Christ with respect to himself, he is also honoring Christ’s will for me.  Jesus wouldn’t tell my husband something different as my “one-flesh-husband” than what Jesus tells me.  So when we cling to one another in marriage, and we cling to Christ together, I can obey Jesus by obeying what Jesus told my husband.  It takes two feet to stand steady and to walk with purpose.  It’s how we work together in love, and do God’s will in total unity.

Research:

  • Proverbs 10:12 Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers over all wrongs.
  • Ephesians 4:29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. 5:1 Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God…21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
  • Colossians 3:18 Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.  19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be bitter toward them.
  • 1 Peter 4:8 Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.
  • John 17:18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. 20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23 I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. 25 “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

Reflect:

  • How does a focus on dividing the marriage on the issue of headship (between head and not-head) undermine the “one flesh” cause of unity in marriage?
  • Take an Oreo and put it under a napkin.  Which led the way, the cookie or the filling?  Or was it the hand that did the important action?  How might this apply to the calling on a woman’s life to submit in marriage and submit to Christ?  How is it possible to do both?
  • If my husband and I are of one mind in obeying God, does it really matter (in practice) which one is “the head” leading us both toward obedience?  Or by the hand of God and the headship of Christ, are we both working toward it, individually and together?
  • When is it helpful to have one person leading the way and another one willingly following?
  • How does a focus on dividing the Church between men and women, leaders and followers, pastors and congregations, authority and submission undermine our ability to work together?
  • When we are unified, all of us submitted to Christ, how does that keep us balanced and let all our energies result in balanced forward movement instead of the unsteady side-to-side of a balancing act?
  • Try balancing on one foot.  Now try two.  How is the human body designed?  What is the best way to achieve stability?
  • Try walking with two feet.  Now try walking with one.  What must happen to the one foot in order to make progress?  It must alter its contact with ….what?

Respond:

Are you a man?  How’s your center?  Is Jesus there?  How’s your balance and your footing?  What about friction: are there any potential stumbling blocks impeding the forward progress of the women in your life with respect to the Gospel and the Kingdom of God?  Or is the friction causing you to cling to the Word for wisdom?  Are you married?  What would it look like to encourage your wife in obedience to Christ and for you to sacrifice for her?

Are you a woman?  How’s your center?  Is Jesus there?  How’s your balance and your footing?  What about friction: are there any ways in which you are perpetuating division by your actions?  Are you married or working toward marriage in the future?  If so, would your spouse or intended say that you are honoring your relationship with him?  Would he say that you are doing God-honoring things and using God-honoring ways in your obedience to Christ?  Is it possible to do all the right things in all the wrong ways?  How might your balancing tool of the Word of God, the Holy Spirit, and prayer help you to maintain your center and watch your life and doctrine closely?

Are you a pastor?  How’s your center?  Is Jesus there?  How’s your balance and your footing?  Where is the friction in your church?  Are there any ways in which you are causing division by your policies, programs, or actions?  How might your views of authority be revised by thinking of your church as requiring both feet for proper balance and forward movement?  How might cutting one foot short be hampering your balance, limiting your stride, and preventing growth of your church?  How might you view friction positively and use it to help your whole congregation climb higher?

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Ten Undeniable Truths of Womanhood:

  1. A Christian woman is still a complete woman, even without marriage.
  2. No man can teach a woman what is the truth of womanhood, even Christian womanhood.
  3. The Bible clearly outlines what womanhood is…and it isn’t always synonymous with motherhood.
  4. Once a mother, always a mother.
  5. Superwomen don’t exist except in the comics.
  6. All women make choices of no return.
  7. Biology affirms what the Bible teaches.
  8. The Christian woman must learn to artfully balance following Christ while honoring the men in her life.
  9. Submission and sacrifice aren’t bad words for women.
  10. The Lord’s maidservants bring glory to Christ by their obedience.
Continue Reading

Undeniable #7-Biology Affirms What the Bible Teaches

Over 2 decades ago, Time Magazine featured a cover asking, “Why Are Men and Women Different?” The featured subtitle was, “It isn’t just upbringing.  New studies show they are born that way.”

For many of us, our immediate thought was, “Duh” or “Ya think?”  Because we know the Undeniable Truth of Womanhood #7: Biology Affirms What the Bible Teaches. Men and women are different because even though (together) we complete one species, we were two separate creative acts of God.  Adam was created first from the dust of the earth and then, Eve was built from him.  That’s what the Bible teaches.

Why?  Because it was important for redemptive history.

It’s why it took both Adam and Eve’s eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil for their eyes to be opened.  In the scope of redemptive history, if Eve hadn’t come from Adam, then Christ’s forgiveness wouldn’t extend to women, too.  I’m ok with Eve being made from Adam since I want to share in the grace of Christ for salvation like all Adam’s descendants do.

Yes, I’m a Creationist.  And I believe the rest of the Bible too.  Women and men are not exactly alike and a woman’s identity, her womanhood, flows from having been built from man.  She’s Adam’s perfect complement.  Together, we make a perfect pair.

wheres waldoI sometimes marvel at the level of coincidence one must acknowledge when adhering to the idea of man’s ORIGIN from evolution alone. 

Women know how hard it is to find a good man even knowing what to look for, in a confined space like earth.  Let’s say you had the whole universe to search for someone who was your suitable reproductive mate among all the primates, especially one to produce offspring.  It’d take even longer.

 It’d be like “Where’s Waldo?” on steroids and without a hat to help you find the guy.

For me, the hardest thing for evolutionists to overlook is the idea of male and female in both the Animal Kingdom and Plant Kingdom.  In this graphic (below) just imagine how miraculous it is that each of these life forms have male and female.  Did they start male and female, evolving lions and peacocks (for example) from both sex branches?  There is no third sex, fourth sex, or undeclared in the bunch.  Why would evolution settle in on only two sexes for reproduction?  To me, this is the biggest stumbling block evolutionists must answer before I would even think of questioning the simplest solution: God made them that way.  Biology affirms this.

Research:

BIOLOGYrtGenesis 1:20 And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.” 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” 23 And there was evening, and there was morning– the fifth day. 24 And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” (italics added)

Reflect:

  • When God created Adam and Eve, He made them to be image bearers and to rule.  When He blessed them, He said, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.  Rule over.”  (Genesis 1:27-28)  In the rest of the Animal Kingdom, does the male or female hunt and gather, or do both do it?
  • What about humanity causes us to desire to rule over each other?
  • How does biology affirm what the Bible teaches about “each according to their kinds” ?
  • How does biology affirm what the Bible teaches about men and women with respect to the rest of the created order (environment)?
  • In creating male and female, in what ways did God divide up the responsibilities for reproductive seasons?  Which one bears the offspring?  In which one does fertilization occur, even in the Plant Kingdom?  In the Animal Kingdom, which one sits on the nest, creates the den, lays the eggs, or births and nurses the offspring?
  • For those females not in reproductive seasons, such as celibate singles, girls, and women past child-bearing years, what parts of the blessing ought women to use in bearing God’s image?

Respond:

Are you a man?  In Genesis 3:20 we read, “Now the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.”  Adam named his wife after the fall of man and before she was pregnant with Cain, their firstborn.  In households of husbands and wives, it is perfectly appropriate for men to assume a greater share of the “rule and subdue” part of God’s blessing of the one-flesh-team while the mother of children focuses on the “be fruitful and multiply” part.  What might this indicate about God’s view of single motherhood, “baby mamas,” and the rise in America of the disappearing father?  How ought this change your behavior toward women?  How might biology affirm that families need fathers, too, in order to have children who bear God’s image to the fullest human extent possible?  How does an engaged father on earth prepare our hearts for seeing our Father in heaven?  If you need to change something, now’s the time.

Are you a woman?  Bearing offspring is a blessing not a curse.  Therefore, it’s perfectly appropriate for women to embrace their season as mothers, as singles, and as post-childbearing women.  It doesn’t mean “use it or lose it” when it comes to the ruling and subduing part of the blessing.  See your life as a series of seasons in which you multiply God’s image in different ways.

Are you a pastor?  Teach men to be men and to accept responsibility for their offspring.  Allow women to be women in all those varying seasons which our reproductive years present.  Herding women into the nursery or the women’s ministry for praying for husbands is not helpful to women who have neither children nor a husband.  See them as full image bearers of God, armed with the Word to be fruitful in other ways, to multiply God’s image through teaching, preaching, and evangelism… and encourage them to be fully functioning ministers of God in the Church and in their workplaces.  God never withdrew the blessing from women and we should not either.

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Ten Undeniable Truths of Womanhood:

  1. A Christian woman is still a complete woman, even without marriage.
  2. No man can teach a woman what is the truth of womanhood, even Christian womanhood.
  3. The Bible clearly outlines what womanhood is…and it isn’t always synonymous with motherhood.
  4. Once a mother, always a mother.
  5. Superwomen don’t exist except in the comics.
  6. All women make choices of no return.
  7. Biology affirms what the Bible teaches.
  8. The Christian woman must learn to artfully balance following Christ while honoring the men in her life.
  9. Submission and sacrifice aren’t bad words for women.
  10. The Lord’s maidservants bring glory to Christ by their obedience.
Continue Reading