Politics of the day have always created division, but the truth is Messiah had to come from somewhere. By simply existing as “The Chosen People” who had been given “The Promised Land” by none other than God, the Jews through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have gathered enemies against themselves like iron to a magnet.  Hint: It’s not the magnet’s fault.

.

Well, well, well!  What do we have here? Jesus may have thought. 
(He knew what He was doing).

When the Samaritan woman came to draw water, she was aware of the myriad of problems she presented just being herself.  She was an outcast, a Samaritan, immoral, a woman, and probably shunned by the rest of the town which is why she didn’t draw water with all the other women earlier in the day.

Jesus is sitting at the well and does the unthinkable.  He asks her to draw some water for Him.  John 4:9 “The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)“

She knew the rules.  So did Jesus.  When she tries to steer the conversation away from her sin life to discussing theological differences in worship, I imagine Jesus laughing inside Himself because theology was His wheelhouse.  He was the greatest living expert on it. 

Indeed, this exchange shows Jesus’ awareness of the earthly plane with all its problems, and His intentional call to a higher, spiritual plane. 

John 4:17 “I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” 21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.”

Well, well, well!  There you have it, in Jesus’ own words:
“Salvation is from the Jews.” 
More Christians need to take this to heart.

Questions for further thought:

Make no mistake: if getting rid of the Jews were to happen today, in the analogy above, the iron filings would find a different magnet (the Church) and persecution there will then become priority 1 of the enemies of God.  Why do you think they chant, “Death to Israel! Death to the Jews!  Death to America!”? Why “migrate” to Christian countries instead of nations with their own faith traditions?  They are truly missing the “From the Jews, for the World”…as if their actions could stop salvation.

We admire men like Bonhoeffer who stood against Hitler’s final solution regarding the Jews, but the truth is there were very few men like him.  He died standing for what he believed.  What about the rest of the church leaders then? Largely silent and afraid. What about now?

Is it any wonder so many Jews today might look at the Church and wonder about whether we believe in Jesus when our faith of our fathers is in the crosshairs and we are tightly bound together in Christ our Savior, a thoroughly Jewish Messiah?

Does anyone believe the Church will escape persecution by siding with God’s enemies against the Jews or remaining silent?

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, as we turn our thoughts to Your birth and the impact of Your life and death to our modern world, grant us courage and wisdom to do what is right.  It’s not enough for us to be brave.  We must be wise.  So, please, Lord, give us discerning hearts to stand with all people who are still in Your plan of salvation and against those who are Your enemies. Give us Kingdom vision for those people sharing Your heritage, yet to become followers of Christ.  May we distinguish genuine faith inside the Christian community from those who grieve Your heart by honoring You only with their lips while their hearts are firmly planted in the world’s ways with its hatred, antisemitism, and political expediency, and all the while denying that You came “From the Jews, for the World”.  Holy Spirit, please reveal to our hearts where we are as individuals so we may deal with our own sin and proceed to worship You in spirit and in truth.  Amen.

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 By signing up on the sidebar of my Home Page you can receive these daily “From the Jews for the World” devotionals. Or they will be reposted on SeminaryGal’s Facebook page as well.

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Acknowledging inquiries about an entire season’s devotionals for your study group’s planning purposes, Seminary Gal’s prior seasons’ Advent devotionals can be accessed via the archives to the right and are as follows:  

• “Awaken Remnant” was the devotional topic for 2022. It began November 27, 2022, and highlighted the remnant found throughout Scripture as evident in Jesus’ lineage.
• The multi-faceted Interlude between the promise of a Deliverer and the birth of our Messiah and King was the theme of 2021’s devotional series. It is archived beginning November 28, 2021.
• 2020’s Devotional Series Divine Intervention began on November 29, 2020 and explored God’s activity on behalf of a hurting world and nations in tumult– Intervention for you and for me when our status as sinners required nothing short of a miracle.
• God’s Christmas list explored what might be on God’s Christmas list, learning what He wants from us. It began December 1, 2019.
• Storyteller began December 2, 2018 and entered into the Christmas story through its telling.
• The 2017 series Still Christmas, began December 3, 2017 and was the Advent complement to the Lenten series, Be Still and Know that I AM God.
• The 2016 season devotionals were called “Timeless: The Message of Christmas for All Ages” and explored how the message of Christmas is timeless truth, for all ages of people, and for all ages at all times.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love as we looked into the Word, saw the face of our Lord Jesus, and experienced restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless. The 2016 devotionals began November 27, 2016.
• The 2015 season devotionals were titled Incarnation and involved digging deep–and yes, I mean deep– in this important mystery of Christian theology.  They began November 29, 2015.
• Carol Me, Christmas! remains one of my most popular offerings and tells the Christmas story through our most beloved Christmas hymns and carols.  You can access all of the numbered devotionals from 2014 via the archives.  They began November 30, 2014.
• The 2013 series was Emmanuel: When LOVE Showed Up in Person and examined the Prologue to the Gospel of John.  It began December 1, 2013.
• The 2012 series focused on Expecting the Unexpected…the unexpected, unlikely, and uniquely divine qualities of God’s perfect plan outlined in Luke’s account of the Christmas story.  It began December 1, 2012.

Advent will soon be upon us and in the more than 10 years I’ve been doing this, I never dreamed I would be burdened to address–again–why so many in the Church still have an odd spiritual connection to “the Jews” or why even today, Jesus belongs in a diverse world’s Christmas. 

Christians like me feel a deep historical tie to Jesus’ heritage as our brother, Son of God, and our Savior. But the rise of antisemitism within Western culture overall has influenced the Church. It is distressing indeed.  Jesus would not be pleased.

It’s personal to me. I think of the recent opinion piece in NZZ entitled, “God is pretty much dead to the Germans” (November 16, 2023) by Susanne Gaschke.  It hits home because a German friend with whom our family exchanged letters every Christmas one year finally replied, “I like family news, but I hate all that Jesus.  Do you have to do that?”  (Well, yes, I do have to include Jesus).  The sneer may have been bluntness in translation, but his attitude about Jesus wasn’t lost on us.  I hope his view changed. As a scientist, he was too smart to believe in God and stopped corresponding.  He died last year from cancer. 

“From the Jews for the World.” 

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Yes, that’s my devotional topic for this year because God’s plan for “the Jews” didn’t end with the World’s Crucifixion of Christ (and hear me clearly: it took both Jews and Romans to do it.)  True, not all modern Jews are so by faith, nor are all who call themselves Christian or go to a church.  We must understand the theology of Jesus’ Jewish root to fully appreciate what God did at Christmas.

Doesn’t sound super Christmassy?  Well, it is because it’s all about Him.  Please join me beginning Sunday, December 3, 2023. God’s Gift shipped more than 2000 years ago and with God’s order number in hand, we’ll begin tracking God’s Gift “From the Jews for the World” with guaranteed delivery by Christmas.

The world is on fire.

Christians are wondering if this is the end time to beat all end times, the final fulfillment of Biblical prophecy, ushering in the return of Christ our King.

The world is on fire.

People are subjected to many voices of war, anger, hate, and violence.  Yes, the world is on fire.  The heat is being ratcheted up, notch by notch.  All around the world, not just the Middle East.  The world is on fire.

I momentarily set aside the Prism of Manhood series because, like so many other people, I was trying to keep up with the context of where the world is going.  It seemed like I would be highlighting too much concern about the unimportant, like seating assignments while the Titanic was going down, instead of seeing the big picture. 

This morning it hit me.  Part of why this whole “women in ministry” issue bugs me is precisely that.  We’ve lost our way, our first love, and the entire point of ministry in the Name of Christ.  Arabs, Israelis, people all over the world …suddenly!  They are dying apart from Christ who is (or rather, was) their only hope of salvation.

The world is on fire and yet, the Church is preoccupied with the Pope possibly blessing LGBTQ+whatever unions and letting women be priests, Evangelicals are bickering about women in ministry as a gateway to the alphabet crowd, and Protestants are grousing about—and choosing sides regarding–Andy Stanley, etc. 

My goodness!  The world is on fire! 
And this is what you’re concerned about? 
Why can’t Christians just press “Pause”
and get back to first things, like, you know, the Gospel?? 

Doctrine is important. Absolutely!  But so are two issues: how we live and how we speak.  How many of us are taking this admonishment from James seriously?

“My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” (James 1:19-22)

Questions for further thought:

In a hurry of “doom scrolling” and lamenting the end times, each of us should press “Pause” and look at our life and doctrine.  How many of us decrying the true and terrible loss of life due to a terrorist attack have stopped to consider that around 2 million Arabs are citizens of Israel, and they, too, are counted among the innocent dead and missing in that attack upon the music festival?

Those Arabs were already in “the land,” living peacefully among the Jews, working alongside them. In what way is the broad brush a dangerous tool?

According to this NYT article a young Arab medic was dead and his cousin went missing.

“We eventually found his car. But he was gone,” Mr. Abu Sabeelah said, adding that the family wasn’t sure whether he was alive, dead, or had been captured.  

Back in Rahat, at least four members of the same family — Yousef Zayadneh, his daughter Aisha and his sons Hamza and Bilal — were missing.

“These people came and killed left and right,” said Suleiman Zayadneh, their relative and a local official.  He said he was “proud of being Palestinian” and expressed fury that Hamas had committed such acts supposedly in the name of Palestinian nationalism and Islam.  “What national pride? What religion?” he said of the gunmen. “The people who came to shoot and kill — they know nothing of religion.””

Ought not our hearts be grieved at all loss of innocent life? In what ways are none of us innocent before God?

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http://seminarygal.com/a-prism-of-manhood/
http://seminarygal.com/andrew-tate-dangerous-masquerade/
http://seminarygal.com/andrew-tate-positive-instruction-silent-conquest/
http://seminarygal.com/tim-ballard-sound-of-freedom/
http://seminarygal.com/misguided-manhood-and-the-church/
http://seminarygal.com/reviving-muscular-christianity/
http://seminarygal.com/biblical-chads/
http://seminarygal.com/riptide-and-a-line-in-the-sand/
http://seminarygal.com/plentiful-harvest-path-of-peace/
http://seminarygal.com/dividing-walls/
http://seminarygal.com/patient-practical-patriarchy/
http://seminarygal.com/a-tim-ballard-update/
http://seminarygal.com/manhood-mantra/

If there was a mantra of manhood in the conservative Church, it would be “That’s just the way things are.”  The Southern Baptist Convention’s recent vote limiting the title and office of any pastor to men only exemplifies that this is just the way things are. 

The Bible has instruction about women not teaching men that provide plenty of ammunition for men to write articles about how Only Men May be Pastors.

“This post will examine 1 Timothy 2:12-14, one of the key biblical texts on male-only pastoral leadership, and it will respond to some of the most popular Evangelical Feminist efforts to undermine the teaching of these verses.”

Evangelical Feminists Undermine.  
Hmmm. 
Well, if that’s your starting assumption regarding all women,
of course your mantra will be, “That’s just the way things are.”

The author (speaking for many of his ilk) writes, “Paul says that women are forbidden to teach or exercise authority over men in the church. It’s important to understand that Paul does not prohibit women from teaching in all contexts (Titus 2:3; Acts 18:25-26), only from teaching the Bible to men in the church.”

Never mind that Priscilla from the Acts 18 passage he cites had a church that met in her home according to the Apostle Paul in Romans 16.  She (yeah, including her because their is plural) could teach at her home, maybe on the front lawn or curbside delivery, but not in her house?  Do these men understand how ludicrous this sounds?  The Church is not a building.  It’s a body of people, a temple—a spiritual house—made of living stones, the Body of Christ. What is the distinction between the church that met at her house and Apollos being at her house? Her house was where she and her husband (both Christians) taught him “the Way of God” more adequately though the Bible even says Apollos was already quite learned in the Scriptures.

Let’s cut to the chase on this:
Tradition (that’s just the way things are) has its place. 
I know of no men who will object to male leadership. 
I know of no women who refuse to learn from a qualified man
who is a capable, gifted leader and teacher. 

Tradition is easy, familiar, and often effective.  But every tradition has its place, and Jesus Himself had traditions He observed and ones He corrected.

The Church exists where Christian women teach world history to two or more believers (men and women) because Jesus is in their midst.  It exists where Christian women teach English, math, Greek, science, and any number of other academic disciplines when the Church is viewed as 2 or more gathered “in Christ’s Name” which every single Christian carries wherever he or she goes.  It is the Church in the world–in it, but not of it.

“My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.” (John 17:15-18)

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Only in the organized, institutional, vocational Church
is the person teaching the Bible called a pastor.
The Church is SPIRITUAL, however, and much bigger than that.
Even something as simple as this blog, am I not “teaching the Bible?”

Questions for further thought:

Why is it OK for women to teach vacation Bible school and Bible stories in children’s ministries to those carrying XY chromosomes in the Church?  What makes a man different from a woman? Is it not the biological genetic code that one has from his creation and her womb?

Back in the early days of Sunday School, biological men taught Children’s Ministry (e.g., Edward Kimball for D.L. Moody).  Why did that stop? 

What was the Biblical justification for ignoring XY chromosomal makeup of half the classroom and letting women teach tomorrow’s men?

No offense intended, but at what point might it start to look like this is really about pastoral job security for insecure men who lack true leadership and genuine teaching gifts?  Look, we’ve all sat through sawdust sermons by uninspiring dime-a-dozen biological males with education.  Paper qualifications to the moon and back, but zero gift of the Holy Spirit. None of that Authority that is among the facets of the Prism of Manhood that the Evangelical Church needs.

Does that spread the Gospel as well as an engaging, authoritative, Bible-centered message by someone untraditional? 

Jesus was not educated in the way the Pharisees were.  Yet, when it came to teaching/preaching, “[The people] were amazed at His teaching, because His words had authority.” (Luke 4:32) 

What is a better light to the culture, the way things are with a biological male with education and little giftedness/Holy Spirit authority … or a person (male or female) with both education and giftedness by the Holy Spirit’s calling? And allowing men and women the freedom to gravitate toward the biblical teaching that inspires them–IMPORTANTLY–toward holiness in Christ?

What if the mantra became “As the Father delegated to the Son and Holy Spirit, men can delegate authority to women for the ministry tasks to which God calls them?”  Just as Jesus did not grasp but received authority from the Father, what if women did not grasp but could receive authority, even to teach or lead under a senior pastor’s authority?

Or is it just easier to avoid policing doctrine and keep women out as if only women have bad theology?

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http://seminarygal.com/a-prism-of-manhood/
http://seminarygal.com/andrew-tate-dangerous-masquerade/
http://seminarygal.com/andrew-tate-positive-instruction-silent-conquest/
http://seminarygal.com/tim-ballard-sound-of-freedom/
http://seminarygal.com/misguided-manhood-and-the-church/
http://seminarygal.com/reviving-muscular-christianity/
http://seminarygal.com/biblical-chads/
http://seminarygal.com/riptide-and-a-line-in-the-sand/
http://seminarygal.com/plentiful-harvest-path-of-peace/
http://seminarygal.com/dividing-walls/
http://seminarygal.com/patient-practical-patriarchy/
http://seminarygal.com/a-tim-ballard-update/

Remember how I described Tim Ballard’s Sound of Freedom as displaying manhood in action as one of 3 societal events in the Prism of Manhood?  I was surprised by how suddenly everything turned on Ballard, he was out of an organization he founded, every search was instantly negative, and I didn’t understand.  Now I know why.

Apparently, allegations arose (to a tabloid) from within the Mormon Church that he had been inappropriate.  Now that the charges have been dismissed, he issued a statement that you’ll find here:  https://thepostmillennial.com/breaking-tim-ballard-speaks-out-against-false-allegations-leveled-at-him-after-announcing-senate-run

In his statement, he repeatedly refers to being in good standing in the Latter-Day Saints (Mormon) church. He talks about believing in Jesus and I’ll leave discussion of Mormonism for another day and time.  Except, I will say that if Andrew Tate is a Muslim lifestyle evangelist to young men, Tim Ballard is a Mormon lifestyle evangelist.

It does not diminish my appreciation for what these men are doing, attempting to restore masculinity and manhood, but I look at the Evangelical Christian world and wonder, where are our lifestyle evangelists?  Oh yeah, debating about whether a woman can be called by the title of “pastor,” and we’ll look at that vote by the SBC again shortly in our Prism of Manhood.

Questions for further thought:

Evangelical world, what are you doing?

Have you lost your first love?

Revelation 2:1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. 2 I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false.  3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my Name, and have not grown weary.  4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.  5 Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.” (Revelation 2:1-5)

Lifestyle evangelists for many other groups are gaining an audience. Where are you?

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http://seminarygal.com/a-prism-of-manhood/
http://seminarygal.com/andrew-tate-dangerous-masquerade/
http://seminarygal.com/andrew-tate-positive-instruction-silent-conquest/
http://seminarygal.com/tim-ballard-sound-of-freedom/
http://seminarygal.com/misguided-manhood-and-the-church/
http://seminarygal.com/reviving-muscular-christianity/
http://seminarygal.com/biblical-chads/
http://seminarygal.com/riptide-and-a-line-in-the-sand/
http://seminarygal.com/plentiful-harvest-path-of-peace/
http://seminarygal.com/dividing-walls/
http://seminarygal.com/patient-practical-patriarchy/

Patient, Practical Patriarchy is not just an example of alliteration.
It’s what Jesus practiced.

Not all women or all people these days appreciate how practical Christianity has been throughout the ages, or how Jesus had genuine pragmatism in certain areas of His ministry. Importantly, pragmatism was not in His values, message, or beliefs, but in the implementation and communication.  He was countercultural but very practical as well.

So, why didn’t Jesus have any female disciples among the Twelve? 

Pragmatism.  Twelve female disciples would have looked like a harem.  It suggests something sexual and not fitting for the Son of God.  Two female and ten male disciples introduces a sexual element among sinners that distracts from the message.  Equality of 6 female and 6 males looks more like animals entering the ark than a group of disciples and again, introduces a sexual or reproductive element that Jesus could not have without compromising His message and mission.

Does that mean Jesus wanted to restrict evangelism and Bible teaching
to men only? 

I don’t believe so.  Here’s why: He spoke with the woman at a well who then told a whole town (not just women from whom she was estranged), affirmed Martha’s deep knowledge and faith, and in the ministry that followed His resurrection, He commissioned women to tell the male disciples. After His ascension, He blessed Priscilla’s teaching of a great teacher (Apollos), and had Paul entrust his theological masterpiece (The Letter to the Romans) to Phoebe while commending named women who worked hard in the Lord.

Not all women (or men) or adopt a patient approach, allowing pragmatics regarding culture to inform the women-in-ministry issue.  I don’t claim I’m right to be patient and others are wrong for bucking the system.  The truth is, I don’t know the perfect approach or if it’s one-size-fits-all.

Some women (and men) do not wait for a church to affirm their ministry through ordination and instead avail themselves of the online ordination route. Some women (and men) view ordination as the be-all-and-end-all.  Some churches like Fern Creek Baptist will hire a woman as a Senior Pastor or like Saddleback Mountain, hire women for a variety of ministry roles that are considered pastoral.  Thus, the SBC votes in our Prism of Manhood.

Questions for further thought:

How does affirming biblically minded women for leadership roles help communicate the Gospel in today’s age versus the cultural pragmatics of the Near East in Jesus’ lifetime? 

How does denying women of faith and intellect opportunity to freely use their giftedness result in a negative perception of misogyny? How does this become an obstacle to the Gospel’s light penetrating every corner of a culture that is slipping into dark degeneracy?

As I have said before, this is more of a manhood problem than a womanhood problem. Did Jesus fear women in His midst out of sexual concerns?  Does His lack of fear mean He was lacking discernment about the appearance of meeting alone, for example, with the woman at the well or Mary and Martha?  What was Jesus’ rubric for ministry?

Jesus knew no sin.  But He was practical because the same cannot be said for male pastors.  Is fear arising from a man’s or woman’s sin predisposition enough justification to limit the Gospel?  Is that what Jesus would do?

The Apostle Paul wrote, “I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them.” (Romans 16:17) What is the teaching and who is its audience? And moreover, what does free and forgiven in Christ look like? What does mercy look like?

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The “Prism of Manhood” series includes:

http://seminarygal.com/a-prism-of-manhood/
http://seminarygal.com/andrew-tate-dangerous-masquerade/
http://seminarygal.com/andrew-tate-positive-instruction-silent-conquest/
http://seminarygal.com/tim-ballard-sound-of-freedom/
http://seminarygal.com/misguided-manhood-and-the-church/
http://seminarygal.com/reviving-muscular-christianity/
http://seminarygal.com/biblical-chads/
http://seminarygal.com/riptide-and-a-line-in-the-sand/
http://seminarygal.com/plentiful-harvest-path-of-peace/
http://seminarygal.com/dividing-walls/

As we continue to look at the Prism of Manhood and the 3 societal events happening concurrently in our culture, we’re in the thick of the SBC’s vote regarding women in the pastorate. 

With a flood of yellow cards, a wall was built.

.

But was it a protective wall or a dividing wall? 
Protective walls are good. 
Dividing walls are not.

Sad to say, sometimes the function of such walls can be remarkably blurry, and the women-in-ministry issue gets clouded by assumptions regarding women. To some church fathers, Eve resembled the spawn of Satan, more like Satan’s henchwoman designed to take down the stoic perfect Adam instead of her being God’s specially-designed suitable helper and part of what was called “very good” by God Himself.

You think I’m joking?  Wish I was.  From early theologian Tertullian (c. 155 – c. 240 AD):
“And do you not know that you are (each) an Eve? The sentence of God on this sex of yours lives in this age: the guilt must of necessity live too. You are the devil’s gateway: you are the unsealer of that (forbidden) tree: you are the first deserter of the divine law: you are she who persuaded him whom the devil was not valiant enough to attack. You destroyed so easily God’s image, man. On account of your desert — that is, death — even the Son of God had to die.  (The Apparel of Women, Book I, Chapter 1)

Gotta hand it to those church fathers.  They sure know how to make a woman feel special.

“Then Jesus said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field.” Matthew 9:37-38

Casting women from their role as man’s most suitable helper, we risk forgetting the baby in the bathwater.  Forgetting Whose harvest it is and Who sent the workers, even ones that don’t look like what you expect or prefer.

Being a woman is not a sin.

Jesus never treated women that way, being so guarded against the sinner by her fallen nature that He lost the humanity of the woman or failed to see her love that worships with tears and pure nard. 

Nor did Jesus worship at the dividing wall, isolate one from another, and tell the Apostle Paul, “Yeah, I kinda thought it would be good to send you to the Gentiles, but then I remembered you’re a Jew and that’s not going to work.  Jews teach Jews.  Women teach women and children.” No, He destroyed the dividing walls of race (but also other dividing walls) by His blood. (Ephesians 2:13-22).

He commended a Canaanite woman’s great faith and healed her daughter as she pleaded in faith for crumbs under the table that provided food for the dogs. (Mark 7:25-30)

Women were the first evangelists, telling Jesus’ brothers that He was risen and would meet them in Galilee just has He had told them. Commissioned as evangelists by an angel, affirmed as teachers by the words of Jesus Himself.  Matthew 28:5-10.

I’d argue that the SBC needs to make room to discuss the biblical role women can play in furthering the Church in today’s world, not compromising the Gospel or reinterpreting it to suit an alphabet soup of ministry destroyers, but legitimate ways women can be suitable helpers in ministry settings beyond women and children. But first it requires seeing women without walls of division, apart from assumptions about Eve’s character or intellect, minus the arrogance in intentionally dismissing the Holy Spirit’s control over gifting, and beyond that aura of suspicion that male leaders seldom harbor with their male counterparts. There will be more to come on this topic because it’s important for the Church.

Questions for further thought:

Only one office per church is “Senior Pastor” in today’s institutional structure.  If the issue is truly authority, how will a “pastor” of evangelism, worship, outreach, or even a teaching pastor be under the authority of a Senior Pastor? Does it apply to both men and women under that authority?

If an angel and Jesus Himself commissioned women to share the Good News, remind the male disciples of what Jesus had taught them all, and commend women for their faith, how can the SBC better reflect what Jesus did?

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The “Prism of Manhood” series includes:

http://seminarygal.com/a-prism-of-manhood/
http://seminarygal.com/andrew-tate-dangerous-masquerade/
http://seminarygal.com/andrew-tate-positive-instruction-silent-conquest/
http://seminarygal.com/tim-ballard-sound-of-freedom/
http://seminarygal.com/misguided-manhood-and-the-church/
http://seminarygal.com/reviving-muscular-christianity/
http://seminarygal.com/biblical-chads/
http://seminarygal.com/riptide-and-a-line-in-the-sand/
http://seminarygal.com/plentiful-harvest-path-of-peace/

“Then Jesus said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field.” (Matthew 9:37-38)

That was my life verse, confirmed in many ways, when I made the choice to obey God and endure seminary though I really didn’t want to go.  As a woman, I was not entirely welcome by many men who questioned my motives and caused me to question my call.  It was painful and discouraging.

God sent me for a time out in Minnesota and then sent me right back, this time with a somewhat better attitude and far greater confidence that He was behind my studying there for reasons that are still unclear to me today.

Women go to seminary for a variety of reasons, just like men do.  Some are young, show up looking for a godly husband, though their odds are just as good (or bad) in a church.  Some show up secretly seeking redemption for a life that included events such as abortion, divorce, etc. for which they still carry a stain of unreconciled guilt.  Some are single and destined to remain that way, viewing seminary as the Protestant version of a Catholic’s Convent.  Some are more at home with the LGBTQ movement…and some are simply power-hungry or sinful disruptors, not unlike some men who go to seminary.

But some are Biblical Chads in the making and have that “faith seeking understanding” of the nature and character of God so we may love Him more completely. It’s important to have that Line in the Sand to foster Biblical Chads.

However, when a Line in the Sand becomes a wall of division,
do we risk denying the very workers
God has sent for the sake of His harvest? 

Back to the SBC vote regarding women in the pastorate (as one of 3 societal events happening concurrently in the Prism of Manhood), Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church was appealing the SBC’s decision to expel them.  They had ordained three women to be pastors in title, office, and/or function.

I think a lot about this issue because it’s personal to me, but I also respect The Line in the Sand.  Perhaps the SBC was rash to expel them (rather than suspend them), but sensible to hold the line because the truth is…

… there are godly and ungodly ways to do this. 

“Do what you know is against the rules and apologize later” isn’t in the Bible or answer the WWJD?  Neither is forcing your way based upon your power, size, or self-aggrandized influence.  Nor is to treat God’s Word as anything less than enduring for all times reflected in Fern Creek Baptist rainbow stole-clad pastor Linda Barnes Popham’s “we just interpret it differently.”  Yeah, that’s what they always say.

One question for today:

Read that last 2 paragraphs and these Scriptures and ask God to reveal Himself.  What would God’s approach be?

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” (Philippians 2:3-4)

“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” (Romans 12:18)

“Then Jesus said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field.” (Matthew 9:37-38)

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The “Prism of Manhood” series includes:

http://seminarygal.com/a-prism-of-manhood/
http://seminarygal.com/andrew-tate-dangerous-masquerade/
http://seminarygal.com/andrew-tate-positive-instruction-silent-conquest/
http://seminarygal.com/tim-ballard-sound-of-freedom/
http://seminarygal.com/misguided-manhood-and-the-church/
http://seminarygal.com/reviving-muscular-christianity/
http://seminarygal.com/biblical-chads/
http://seminarygal.com/riptide-and-a-line-in-the-sand/

In what might seem to be a case of FAFO or “play stupid games, win stupid prizes,” more than a few churches have neglected sound doctrine and inched a bit too close into the riptide of WOKE culture wars—only to get sucked under, destroying everything– their legacy, their present witness, and their future.  It does not escape my attention that many of the people leading those churches in various denominations are women.

Those women are the bane of my existence, the stumbling block to God’s call on my life.

I do not blame godly men for looking at churches being led astray by women and fearing the astray part.  The Line in the Sand says, “Don’t go there.” 

But there’s a discernment problem here and a true failure of men to be Biblical Chads.  Here’s why I believe we have more of a manhood problem than a womanhood problem.  Churches have been led astray by men far longer than led astray by women.  Astray can happen irrespective of the sex of the one titled “pastor”. 

Have male pastors abused their Authority by engaging in sin that destroys people and churches?  Sure, they have.  Often more criminally.

Read that question and answer again.

I respect the Line in the Sand, and like many of my male counterparts, desire to steer safely from the riptide of WOKE doctrine.

I’m going to get personal on you again. 

At one point, I was lamenting to a prominent evangelical leader with some familiarity to Trinity Evangelical Divinity School where I received my education that the institution was drifting toward socialism.  It disturbed me to see my beloved evangelicalism subsumed under the riptide of those (and predominantly women) whose love for WOKE causes…when distilled down… revealed that it superseded their love for the Gospel.  They would see themselves more as Social Justice Warriors than Contenders for the Faith.  Some acted more like a beast from the abyss, enraged to devour if someone were to say something like “All Lives Matter.”

You know what this prominent man’s reply was to me?
“Well, what do you want me to do about it?!”

In a sheer act of will, I choked back my full pantheon of angry replies, all of which could take the form of “Be the F-ing man and leader you won’t let me be!”  And instead, I repented of my rage and simply said, “I just thought that a person of your influence could maybe make a difference.” He said, “It’s always been socialist. I have bigger fish to fry.”  End of conversation, I guess.

Questions for further thought:

How is discernment imperative to the Line in the Sand?  “But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear– hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.” (Jude 1:20-23)?

Without a Line in the Sand, protecting God’s people from the riptide of WOKE culture, how does this Scripture apply?

“My people have been lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray and caused them to roam on the mountains. They wandered over mountain and hill and forgot their own resting place. Whoever found them devoured them; their enemies said, ‘We are not guilty, for they sinned against the LORD, their verdant pasture, the LORD, the hope of their ancestors.’ (Jeremiah 50:6-7)

Are there any “bigger fish to fry” than standing up as a Biblical Chad to preserve the teaching institutions training tomorrow’s pastors?

“When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.” (Mark 6:34)

How do WOKE shepherds result in lost sheep?  What is the response of a Biblical Chad?  What did Jesus do?

These are important questions for the Biblical Chad respecting the Line in the Sand.

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The “Prism of Manhood” series includes:

http://seminarygal.com/a-prism-of-manhood/
http://seminarygal.com/andrew-tate-dangerous-masquerade/
http://seminarygal.com/andrew-tate-positive-instruction-silent-conquest/
http://seminarygal.com/tim-ballard-sound-of-freedom/
http://seminarygal.com/misguided-manhood-and-the-church/
http://seminarygal.com/reviving-muscular-christianity/
 http://seminarygal.com/biblical-chads