Resurrection Women

Greetings to you all. It has been a while since I've written. After the series on the Guest List I experienced what I call, "blog fatigue." Thankfully I have three very capable writers who carried the blog in my silence. I hope you were as blessed as I was with their posts. These are real flesh and blood godly women in our church who have a deep love for Christ and for the women in our church. I appreciate so very much the time these gals give to serving the women of TFC by sharing what the Lord is teaching them. Thank you Brooke, Robin, and Jenny.

A lot has happened since I last wrote. This week I'd like to share some of that with you. But before I get into that (tomorrow and possibly another day or two) I want to keep to my pattern of blogging with a follow up from this morning's message.

The Resurrection text 1 Corinthians 15 was powerfully brought to us this week. If you missed it, please take the time to download it. You will be glad you did.

I want to follow up on Tim's encouragement to women in the last point of the message: because Christ was raised "everything matters." It matters how we live out our womanhood. Our labors, whether we are single, young moms, empty nesters, grandmothers, or very young, are in vain if Christ was not raised. If Christ was not raised, then God is a liar and we are fools. If Christ was not raised then we are to be pitied for living out biblical womanhood. If Christ is not raised why be married, stay married, have children, serve our families? Why not get out there in the world, forget about anyone else, and go for all the pleasure and power that is out there for today's woman?

But because Christ is raised we have all the reason we need to fulfill our calling. One day we will also have resurrected bodies and we will stand before the exalted Christ. He will look on us and say, "Well done. Because of my justifying work on the cross for you, enter into the joy of my Kingdom." I do not merit heaven by being a faithful wife, mother, grandmother, but I sure do want to be a faithful wife, mother, grandmother because Christ my Savior lives for me.

And so, when days get busy, and tiring, or when kids get sick, or finances are depleted or a husband is failing in his role, let us "be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord our labor is not in vain."

running well

I was in Shop-Rite last night and was supposed to be buying only water. But there, right at the entrance, stood a tower of Easter candy. Ten kinds of jelly beans, chocolate bunnies, Reese's, Snickers, and M&Ms in pastel shades... I mean, you know you can only get pastel M&Ms this time of year, right? And those bunnies are so cute! And the Reese's come shaped like eggs.... adorable! Only a couple more days, and then all the Easter candy will be gone for a whole year. Got to get it while I can! And hey, I exercised earlier in the day, so this stuff really was sort of allowed... at any rate, it wouldn't hurt me.

And I was reaching for the M&Ms when I realized--I did not spend an hour running on the treadmill so I could eat M&Ms! In fact, I spent an hour running because I have eaten too many M&Ms.

I have two big thoughts in here.
1. Jesus did not die on the cross so that I could indulge in sin, even cute little pastel-colored M&M-sized sins. He died because of sin. Therefore, because He has died to atone for my sin, I do not keep idly sinning by using Jesus' death and the resulting grace as some kind of excuse to make it okay. Romans 6 is how I'm seeing/understanding this.

2. We don't run (to use a Pauline expression) just enough to keep our bad habits/sins from really causing us harm. We are in a race, and we are running for the prize. (1 Cor. 9:24) This is a race that we must finish. And to do that, we can't be casual runners, running just to make an excuse for our appetites. That kind of runner will never win the race. Paul equates running the race with fighting the fight and keeping the faith; in other words, hard work and a disciplined lifestyle! The reward--a crown of righteousness awarded by the Lord Himself. (2 Tim. 4:7-8) What can compare?

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Heb. 12:1-2)

Feminine Appeal #1

In the midst of one series (Debunking Headship), I'm embarking on another, simply because at this point in my day-to-day life with our son, it's easier to pick up a book and read a chapter while underlining key points than it is to listen to a talk and take notes. (Of course, even as I attempt to do this, our son is climbing all over me trying to get at the book--not unlike a cat! He is a curious and determined little boy.)

If you couldn't tell by the title, I'll be going through Carolyn Mahaney's book Feminine Appeal. Today I'll begin with the foreword, written by Nancy Leigh DeMoss.

DeMoss begins by giving us the good news and the bad news about women and women's ministry in the church today. On the bleak side of things, DeMoss says "Christian women--no less than nonbelieving women--are in desperate need of the truth." Many women are frustrated, discouraged, and disappointed in their current circumstances because they don't measure up to the hopes and dreams they had for life. This feeling exists in Christian women because "we are profoundly disoriented about who God is and who we are, and about our calling and mission in life--as women." Many Christian women today have foregone the true biblical definition of womanhood in all of its manifestations (singleness, wifehood, motherhood, etc.) for one that is "culturally accepted and politically correct but fundamentally flawed."

On the promising side of things, DeMoss says that as she speaks to women about being real, godly women, she finds a "hunger and eagerness [in] many women to receive the Word and to act on it." Oddly enough, in close connection with TFC's recent teaching on hearing the Word, she describes these women as "hav[ing] ears to hear... resonat[ing] with the truth... willing to make tough, radical choices..." What a blessing that in the midst of all of this confusion about true womanhood, God has preserved a remnant of women who are "grounded in the Word and understand the biblical perspective of womanhood..." She goes on to tout Mahaney as one of these women: one worth listening to, learning from, and following after. This is not because of any high status or place, but simply because she has lived and faithfully continues to live a life of love and service to her husband and family, while applying herself to studying and living out the Word of God. (Oh that someone would speak these words of me in later years!) She is a true Titus 2 woman.

DeMoss then addresses the two types of women in Titus 2:

If you are a "younger woman," you hold in your hands a mentor, an excellent guide to spiritual maturity. This is your opportunity to sit at the feet of a woman who has been farther down the path than you and who is equipped to help you understand and embrace God's plan and purpose for your life.

Perhaps you qualify as an "older woman." You will find in this book a practical tool to help you fulfill your mandate to invest in the lives of younger women. According to Scripture, this is what you are to teach the women He puts in your life.

So there you have it--younger and older (and might I add, no matter what life circumstance you're in), this book is for you. We are called to play different women roles at different points in our lives, but we are always called to be women. Almost all of us are an "older woman" to someone. Are you setting the right example? Do you know what to teach? At the same time, many of us are also blessed with being "younger women." Are you sitting at the feet of women who have gone before you, learning from their wisdom and experience? Are you taking advantage of all that God has provided for your growth and sanctification?

As DeMoss says, may we women "recover the nearly lost treasure of God's way of thinking and living." Will you join me?

the God who overrules all things

I saw a miracle this morning. My friend Kimberly caught a flight that she had no business catching. I mean, I left her on a really, really long security line at 6:30am (long as in long-line-just-for-the-elevator-long. Her flight was supposed to depart at 7. I told her, "You're gonna need the waters to part for you to get on that flight." We laughed and said at the same time, "God is sovereign!"

At 6:48 she called. She was on the plane!

It's a small thing, maybe a silly thing in the grand schemes of God's universe. But we prayed (rather more like the woman who pestered the judge than like the psalmist who 'quieted his soul within him'), and He answered us by slipping her right through the line and onto her plane. He overrules broken alarm clocks, traffic, closed toll lanes, cranky security officers... and all for His glory! No scheme of ours could have gotten her on the plane, but the Lord did it without our efforts. Praise Him!

He is Worthy

This morning's message provided much fodder for meditation. As I re-listen to Pastor Steve's sermon and look through my notes, one thought continues to reverberate in my mind--the Gospel is WORTHY of our lives.

Why do unbelievers mock Christians for living piously? They don't see Christ as worthy. To them, a holy life is a wasted life. The very motto of our age is "get as much as you can, while you can."

The Gospel proclaims a different message: give all you can, while you can. Our blood-bought lives are not our own, but we joyfully call ourselves bondservants of Christ.

Even more than that. The Apostle Paul says, we are fellow heirs with Christ "if indeed we suffer with Him." We must suffer...we will suffer.

Is anyone else like me...does anyone sometimes feel guilty about their lack of suffering for the Gospel? You know, I have visions of martyrs and missionaries and persecuted Christians and I think, "Ah! That's suffering for Christ."

As Americans, we are blessed--we can worship as we please without the threat of physical violence. We often associate suffering with physical pain, don't we? But there is another kind of suffering--an intensely painful one, an internal one.

When we read about Lot in the Old Testament, we conclude that he had a pretty amazing life. He had property, money, family, political standing...everything a human could ask for. And yet, Peter gives us an internal viewpoint:

And if he rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men, (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment. 2 Peter 2:7-9

Lot suffered in the same way that I believe American Christians are called to suffer. And if our souls are not being tormented by the wickedness that surrounds us on a daily (even hourly!) basis, then I believe we have hardened our hearts and become comfortable with immorality.

It hurts to see God being referenced only as the object of mockery or anger. It's hard to hear our Savior's name abused. To be thought foolish by our peers, to be the object of ridicule, to be constantly harassed and pressured to partake in worldliness...these are all ways we can suffer--joyfully suffer--with Christ. And they cannot even be counted anything because of the promise of eternal life set before us!

Though our suffering is light in comparison to what others face, we must take care to be faithful now, in these things, so that we might be prepared for greater suffering should the Lord bring it.

And as Pastor Steve said, we must fight as good soldiers. Our Commander in Chief, Jesus, has already won the war. He is our example.

For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God. For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps. And while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness, for by His wounds you were healed. 1 Peter 2:20-21, 23-24

The Gospel is worthy of our lives.