Elisabeth Elliot on Womanhood

Tags

biblical womanhood, Elisabeth Elliot, God

“We are called to be women. The fact that I am a woman does not make me a different kind of Christian, but the fact that I am a Christian does make me a different kind of woman. For I have accepted God’s idea of me, and my whole life is an offering back to Him of all that I am and all that He wants me to be.” 

“God has set no traps for us. Quite the contrary. He has summoned us to the only true and full freedom. The woman who defines her liberation as doing what she wants…is, in the first place, evading responsibility. Evasion of responsibility is the mark of immaturity. The Women’s Liberation Movement is characterized, it appears, by this very immaturity. While telling themselves that they’ve come a long way, that they are actually coming of age, they have retreated to a partial humanity, one which refused to acknowledge the vast significance of the sexual differentiation. (I do not say that they always ignore sexual differentiation itself, but that they significance of it escapes them entirely.) And….by refusing to fulfill the whole vocation of womanhood she settles for a caricature, a pseudo-personhood.”

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Womanhood: A High and Holy Calling

Tags

Anna Grace Wood, biblical womanhood, God, godly womanhood, lie, women

There is such emptiness in many women’s lives, a barrenness that speaks of losing her place, of misunderstanding her calling.

Christianity is not a cultural thing, bending to societies rules and blending in. It is the Truth that sets people free. It is the Truth that sets women free. There is a distinctiveness to manhood and womanhood and, understood, it is a beautiful thing.

This is a Truth that has been misrepresented, misinterpreted, misapplied for so very long now.

Much more is black or white than we have been told; indeed, more than we want to believe. The Truth of our identity as women, as well as the truth of all that is godly, has been twisted beyond recognition and then painted over and sold on the open market: “truth–mine, yours, theirs, ours; it’s all good: cheap.”

Long ago women stepped on board the “American Success ride” and lost ourselves. Amid the clamour, the sights and sounds, we lost our understanding of Truth, of reality, of womanhood, of God. We invited our mothers, our daughters, our sisters to come join us. Spinning round and round on the dizzying ride, as kaleidoscope colors flash in our brains, our uneasy minds are, for a time, put to rest by the sheer beauty, the excitement, the fulfillment, the fun, of it all.

“It is so beautiful, it must be right.” Adam and Eve thought so, too.

Seduced by the idea that God (and our husbands, society, our families) have withheld what is good from us, American women have plunged headlong into a boiling cauldron of excess: having more, we must have more yet. More success, more money, more beauty, more clothes, more excitement, more fulfilment, more, more, more….

As the character Sabrina in the movie of the same name said, “More isn’t always better. Sometimes it’s just more.”

Yet we strive on, content in our discontent. Something is missing but we don’t know it. If we can only do more, be more, then, one day we’ll find the elusive ‘it” that will, at last, bring our lives fulfilment. Our lives are exhausting, our hearts aching, our spirits empty, our prayers barren. Taking everything and focusing it on us only leads to emptiness. We’ve been lied to. Women are gullible: refusing guidance, we’ve believed the lie.

“What do I want? need? deserve? What is good for me?”

No talk of duty to parents, husband, children, the church, the lost. All that matters is me.

What happens when, in pursuit of me and what I want, I throw away everything that could have brought me true joy?

What happens when the maddening music stops and the rollercoaster ride of our lives comes to a screeching halt? When we look around us and realize that what had appeared so bright and shiny from our brief stop at the ascent now appears as it truly is: dull, tired, in need of new paint in order to continually keep up the façade?

What happens when the façade fades? When we look around us and all are strangers? When our husbands and children are walking away from us, indifferent to our pleas to come back and be with us for one more ride? A ride, we promise, that will somehow end differently…this time.

What happens when the lights go up and the show of our lives is over and we have nothing of true value to offer to God–what then?

We’ve lived the lie long enough. We’ve listened to the world even as we were drowning in nothingness.

There is a Way and most of us have missed it. The terrible price is the destruction of our lives, our families, our souls, our churches. Husbands dishonored and disrespected. Children not had or tossed aside. Our own femininity dried up like a rose in the desert. And us women: once secure in our cultural identities, now with nothing, no one, alone at last, reaping bountifully what we’ve sown so very, very well.

What now? What can we do when we’ve done all that we’ve been told to do and the result is nothing but carnage?

For so long we’ve interpreted our lives, our womanhood, by culture rather than by God’s Word. We must repent of lies told and believed. We must rise up, one woman at a time, and reclaim our calling, our womanly heritage, as women of the Word.

It isn’t easy. Most of what is right is not easy. But right is right even if everyone believes it is wrong. Just because our mothers believed it doesn’t make it true. Just because our pastors teach it, our denomination supports it, our culture demands it, doesn’t mean we have to blindly accept it.

Proverbs 14: 12, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”

We can search out Truth.

A lie believed out of ignorance is still a lie believed. We must seek God’s Word in order to seek Truth–in this or anything else. What we want, if it differs from Truth, doesn’t matter. What our church, our pastor, our denomination “allows” or teaches about our place as women, if it isn’t centered in God’s Word, doesn’t matter. What our culture has to say about womanhood certainly doesn’t matter. Jesus is Lord and as such He is the supreme ruler of us–even if we ignore it or don’t know it. The Bible isn’t subject to our culture or to our whims. It doesn’t matter what we have always been taught, what has always been done, what anyone wants–if it’s wrong, it’s sin.

Men are called by God to be men and to fill the role that God Himself has laid out for them. Women, likewise, are called by Him to be women and to fill the role that God Himself has laid out for women.  A woman’s place is a high and glorious calling but we’ve forgotten that. We’ve bought the lies, swallowed the poison and forgotten our place. Our place was, once, much more beautiful and holy than it is now. Like Esau of old, we women have sold our birthright. There is joy in true womanhood, in being a woman under authority (both God and her husband’s). Women have been honored by God Almighty in so many, many ways. We prostitute ourselves when we demean ourselves and sell out our calling to fulfill that of a man’s. A man’s place is wondrous and full of glory but not when it is filled by a woman.

When we find Truth we have an obligation to embrace it, obey it, teach it so that others may know. To loudly proclaim part of God’s Word (the parts we like) while ignoring the parts that are uncomfortable, or that will get us laughed at, cause us pain, persecution or death, is to sin. We must honor God by seeking to understand the full counsel of God. Anything less is dishonesty. Anything less is disobedience and not Christianity at all.

A partial lie is still a lie. A partial truth propagated as the whole Truth is as good as a lie.

True biblical womanhood is beautiful. It is a privilege given to us by God Himself. It is a high and holy calling.

Keep the faith, sisters!

Until next time may God make His face to shine upon you!

In Him,

Anna

Soli Deo gloria!

 

 

 

Womanhood: A High and Holy Calling

Tags

adam and eve, biblical womanhood, Christian women, godly womanhood, seeking truth, worldliness

There is such emptiness in many women’s lives, a barrenness that speaks of losing their place, of misunderstanding their calling. Such barrenness is present even in many of our churches.

Christianity is not a cultural thing, bending to societies rules and blending in. It is the truth that sets people free. It is also the truth that sets women free. There is distinctiveness to manhood and womanhood and, understood, it is a beautiful thing.

Sadly this truth has been misrepresented, misinterpreted, misapplied for many decades.

Much more is black or white in Christianity than we have been led to believe; indeed, more than we want to believe. The truth of our identity as women, as well as the truth of all that is godly, has been twisted beyond recognition and then painted over and sold on the open market:“truth–mine, yours, theirs, ours; it’s all good: cheap.”

Long ago women stepped on board the “American Success ride”; because of that we lost ourselves. Amid the clamour, the sights and sounds, we lost our understanding of truth, of reality, of womanhood, of God. We invited our mothers, our daughters, our sisters to come join us. Spinning round and round on the dizzying ride, as kaleidoscope colors flash in our brains, our uneasy minds are, for a time, put to rest by the sheer beauty, the excitement, the fulfillment, the fun, of it all.

“It is so beautiful, it must be right.” Well, Adam and Eve thought so, too.

Seduced by the idea that God (and our husbands, society, our families) have withheld what is good from us, American women have plunged headlong into a boiling cauldron of excess: having more, we must have more yet. More success, more money, more beauty, more clothes, more excitement, more fulfilment, more, more, more….

As the character Sabrina in the movie of the same name said,“More isn’t always better. Sometimes it’s just more.”

Yet we strive on, content in our discontent. Something is missing but we don’t know it. If we can only do more, be more, then, one day we’ll find the elusive ‘it” that will, at last, bring our lives fulfilment. Our lives are exhausting, our hearts aching, our spirits empty, our prayers barren. Taking everything and focusing it on us only leads to emptiness. We’ve been lied to. Women have been gullible: refusing knowledge, we’ve believed the lie.

“What do I want? need? deserve? What is good for me?”

No talk of duty to parents, husband, children, the church, the lost. All that matters is me.

What happens when, in pursuit of me and what I want, I throw away everything that could have brought me true joy?

What happens when the maddening music stops and the rollercoaster ride of our lives comes to a screeching halt? When we look around us and realize that what had appeared so bright and shiny from our brief stop at the ascent now appears as it truly is: dull, tired, in need of new paint in order to continually keep up the façade?

What happens when the façade fades? When we look around us and all are strangers? When our husbands and children are walking away from us, indifferent to our pleas to come back and be with us for one more ride? A ride, we promise, that will somehow end differently…this time.

What happens when the lights go up and the show of our lives is over and we have nothing of true value to offer to God–what then?

We’ve lived the lie long enough. We’ve listened to the world even as we were drowning in nothingness.

There is a Way and most of us have missed it. The terrible price is the destruction of our lives, our families, our souls, our churches. Husbands dishonored and disrespected. Children not had or tossed aside. Our own femininity dried up like a rose in the desert. And us women: once secure in our cultural identities, now with nothing, no one, alone at last, reaping bountifully what we’ve sown so very, very well.

What now? What can we do when we’ve done all that we’ve been told to do and the result is nothing but carnage?

For so long we’ve interpreted our lives, our womanhood, by culture rather than by God’s Word. We must repent of lies told and believed. We must rise up, one woman at a time, and reclaim our calling, our womanly heritage, as women of the Word.

It isn’t easy. Most of what is right is not easy. But right is right even if everyone believes it is wrong. Just because our mothers believed it doesn’t make it true. Just because our pastors teach it, our denomination supports it, our culture demands it, doesn’t mean we have to blindly accept it.

Proverbs 14: 12, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”

We can search out Truth.

A lie believed out of ignorance is still a lie believed. We must seek God’s Word in order to seek Truth–in this or anything else. What we want, if it differs from Truth, doesn’t matter. What our church, our pastor, our denomination “allows” or teaches about our place as women, if it isn’t centered in God’s Word, doesn’t matter. What our culture has to say about womanhood certainly doesn’t matter. Jesus is Lord and as such He is the supreme ruler of us–even if we ignore it or don’t know it. The Bible isn’t subject to our culture or to our whims. It doesn’t matter what we have always been taught, what has always been done, what anyone wants–if it’s wrong, it’s sin.

Men are called by God to be men and to fill the role that God Himself has laid out for them. Women, likewise, are called by Him to be women and to fill the role that God Himself has laid out for women.  A woman’s place is a high and glorious calling but we’ve forgotten that. We’ve bought the lies, swallowed the poison and forgotten our place. Our place was, once, much more beautiful and holy than it is now. Like Esau of old, we women have sold our birthright. There is joy in true womanhood, in being a woman under authority (both God and her husband’s). Women have been honored by God Almighty in so many, many ways. We prostitute ourselves when we demean ourselves and sell out our calling to fulfill that of a man’s. A man’s place is wondrous and full of glory but not when it is filled by a woman.

When we find Truth we have an obligation to embrace it, obey it, teach it so that others may know. To loudly proclaim part of God’s Word (the parts we like) while ignoring the parts that are uncomfortable, or that will get us laughed at, cause us pain, persecution or death, is to sin. We must honor God by seeking to understand the full counsel of God. Anything less is dishonesty. Anything less is disobedience and not Christianity at all.

A partial lie is still a lie. A partial truth propagated as the whole Truth is as good as a lie.

True biblical womanhood is beautiful. It is a privilege given to us by God Himself. It is a high and holy calling.

On the Derth of Godly Womanhood

Tags

biblical womanhood, biblical women, Christ, christian womanhood, church, Complementarianism vs. egalitarianism, godly womanhood, Jesus, male leadership, Scripture, theology

A truly godly woman leaves off pursuit of the world’s definition of beauty and charm, casts aside the longing for wealth and fame, refuses to deal in self-comfort and pleasure, ignores the decay that this broken world offers and without waiver follows only Christ. It is His Word alone that matters. His glory alone that she seeks. It’s not a comfortable position, it’s one without personal honor and glory. One that will get her laughed at and ignored. That’s why there are so very few truly biblical women. And that’s why there are so few worthy teachers of biblical womanhood. Christian womanhood, as promoted by many churches today, is anything but truly Christian. We’ve so obviously lost our way. Of course, it isn’t just the women to blame but we’re more to blame than most of us want to acknowledge. “If only the men would lead…” we say, more than willing to pass the blame to our brothers, “then…”.

Then what? I’d like to ask. Then we think we’d follow? We’d listen? We’d be more than we are? Maybe. Certainly some Christ-exalting male leadership would be a welcomed change in most churches and in many of our homes. Still we can’t blame the situation entirely on our brothers. We’ve failed also.

We’ve failed to seek Christ as our all-in-all and only. So very few of us have been or are willing to lay aside worldly pursuits for the pursuit of the only One Who is truly worthy of our time and efforts. Blindly we pursue work, fame, fortune, comfort and acceptance thinking it will fulfill us, never realizing just how badly we are missing the mark. In our Christian lives (because we often separate the one from the other) we embrace any and every new supposedly Christian trend, every new teacher, that comes along and rarely do we take the time or make the effort to search the Scriptures for ourselves to see if what is being dished up is in accordance to the Word and will of God. That’s why there are so many teachers of the likes of Sarah Young, Ann Voskamp, Beth Moore or Rachel Held Evans. Publishers blindly print their teachings. Readers blindly read them. And believe them. Almost no one is willing take enough time in prayer and in God’s Holy Word, to determine “What does the Lord have to say? What does He desire? What honors Him?”

So how did this come to be? We lost our first love and, in the process, invited the world to come into our homes, our churches, and get comfortable. Because of that we now face a distressing situation where extremely few Christians are concerned only for the glory of Christ. Christianity then becomes what we make it, not what God says (for, as so many will say, who can really understand the Bible, anyway?; or, it’s just all so old-fashioned, you know?).Thus real biblical womanhood is more often than not a thing of the past. What is left of biblical womanhood often gets so confused with following rules and regulations that it gels into legalism. Or we throw it into a horrifying mix along with each and every new Christian trend that comes along until we have something more worthy of the devil than of God.

Thus I find only a smattering of women who are actually prepared to lead their sisters into a knowledge of  the Holy things of God. Only a few who actually care about Truth. Instead I see lists, plans, groups and goals. Books, articles and speeches on sex, egalitarianism (and why the term biblical woman is passe), organizing, money, setting goals, depression, happiness and everything else under the sun (and not all of these are wrong to write about…it’s just that they are pretty much all that’s getting written about and, without Christ, they are nothing). Teachings on almost everything, in fact, except Christ Himself. I see far too many women (one would be too many) who claim to write and teach about the things of God all the while admitting that they “don’t know the Bible very well” or “have trouble maintaining a consistent prayer life”. I see teachers, writers, speakers and bloggers who are more than willing to lay out what they “think”, “believe” or “hope for” for themselves and for their sisters in Christ all the while basing their teachings on popular trends or what they think their readers want to hear. Rarely are their teachings resting securely upon the foundation of the Bible itself. Truly the landscape for biblical womanhood, and its teachers, is bleak and depressing.

Sisters, if we aren’t pursuing God as the One pursuit worth our time, our devotion, our effort and our love, we’ve got nothing. We’re achieving nothing. Our lives are worth less-than-nothing. And we have nothing worthy of being taught. Nothing worthy of being listened to.

Titus 2 womanhood, biblical womanhood, Christian womanhood or whatever description we wish to use must be firmly grounded in a knowledge of our Savior, a steady unyielding faith built upon an ever deepening knowledge of the Word and a prayer life that is so much of a part of us that we pray as naturally as we breath. In other words, true Titus 2 woman is borne of complete, unyielding, devotion to Christ in each and every aspect of our lives. Without that we’ve got nothing.

Without that we are nothing.

With it, we’ve got everything worth having. If more women would spend their lives in the pursuit of the only One Who matters, we’d have more godly women. More Titus 2 women who are able to teach the next generation. Saner families and better churches. It takes one to start. Will that one be you?

Sola Scriptura…really?

Tags

Anna Grace Wood, biblical manhood, biblical womanhood, Reformed Faith, Sola Scriptura

All denomination’s doctrinal views differ somewhat. Since most churches base their views on the sayings of men rather than on the commands of God, we ought to expect this. Because of this, most times, on most issues, it is easy to say we  hold to this view or that view because our belief isn’t going to cost us and won’t cause us any real difficulty either in the church or out of the church.

The difficulty comes in when we say we believe what God has said, when we say we hold to Sola Scriptura, when we say we are going to apply God’s Word to the minute details of our lives and then we seek to live it out; this will turn our lives upside down. So it is with applying Scripture to our views of womanhood and manhood. What God says is so radically different than what our world, and most of our churches, believe that when we try to apply it and live it out we set ourselves up for attack and criticism…even among fellow believers. Sometimes even among our Reformed Brethren.

Many folks who claim that they believe in Sola Scriptura fail to give evidence of it when it comes to believing and applying truths that will radically change their lives at the personal level: it’s far easier to argue for Total Depravity than it is to argue for the headship of man, the home-centeredness of biblical womanhood, the blessing of  God’s gift of children.

The question is: do we really believe God? If we do, we of the Reformed Faith can’t cherry-pick what we believe in and be right with God; after all, that is what we have been accusing our “less enlightened” brethren of, isn’t it? If we believe God is really God then God’s say is all that matters. God and His Word must be honored, and obeyed, in all things, in all ways, at all times. If we love Him, if we honor His Word, we must take it upon ourselves to pick through the rubble of the past 150 years and get back to God’s Word, God’s Truth…as God Himself would have us believe it and live it. We must divorce our beliefs from our culture, we must stop looking at church and at family through the lens of modernity; after all, that’s part of the problem that got us from where we were to where we are.

Higher criticism. Darwin. Compulsory schooling. The industrial revolution. These were tools used by Satan, by the world, to attack biblical authority. We must get back beyond them to see what was before. We must understand them in order to understand how they have been used by the Evil One to attack the authority of God’s Word.

Either we believe in the sufficiency of Scripture to teach us, guide us, direct us…or we don’t. Let’s not be guilty of the very same thing that those who have gone before us were guilty of. If we are going to embrace Sola Scriptura, let us do it whole-heartedly…no matter what the cost to us. Then, believing it, let us live it out…to God’s glory, by His grace, for the good of our churches, for the good of our families.

Soli Deo gloria!

Titus 2:4-5 – Biblical Womanhood by Eric Schumacher

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biblical womanhood, Titus 2:4-5 – Biblical Womanhood by Eric Schumacher

This morning I found a simply wonderful sermon on Godly womanhood on the website of Northbrook Baptist Church, Cedar Rapids, IA. I was blessed by this and, hopefully, you will be, too:

You can listen here : Titus 2:4-5 – Biblical Womanhood

Or, read the transcipt below (note: not a word-for-word transcript but one that covers-the-bases):

I was sitting in a hospital waiting room a few months ago, where I came across a copy of Forbes magazine, which contained their 2007 list of the “100 Most Powerful Women.”

As I thumbed through that magazine, reading the summary of what made each woman “powerful,” I read about many women who were presidents, chairmen and CEO’s of large companies and many who held political offices.

None of these women, however, was noted for being a wife or a mother. Several of them likely were—but they were not noted as “powerful” or “influential” for that reason.

None of them was commended for possessing the qualities listed by Paul in Titus 2—their reverence, their love for their husbands and children, purity, working at home, kindness and submission.

The world’s picture of what makes a woman significant is much different than the picture painted by Scripture. Even though there is a “Mother’s Day,” our world does not truly honor womanhood or motherhood. And, if we are not careful as a church and as Christians, our minds will slowly be conformed to this world and not, as Paul writes in Romans 12:2,“transformed by the renewal of your mind” so that we may test by the Word of God to see what God approves of.

God is the one who created women, wives and mothers. And, therefore, he is the one who gets to define what they ought to be. And, therefore, his opinion is the one that ought to matter to us—even if it offends and confuses the world.

Train the Young Women

We are looking this morning at Titus 2:3-5. These verses call for the older Christian women to instruct the younger Christian women in how to live.

These verses are instructions for all Christian women, about Christian womanhood. We discuss them on Mother’s Day because biblical motherhood cannot be divorced from biblical womanhood. You cannot be a biblical mother without being a biblical woman.

Notice something from these verses: Being a biblical mother, wife, and woman is not a matter of evolutionary instinct. It requires biblical teaching and training. It is not something that you grow up “just knowing.” It is something that you are trained in by those who have gone before you. If this training is not provided, then it is likely we will fail to be what God calls us to be.

The Church

This responsibility here falls first on the church. These instructions are part of Paul’s letter to a man named Titus. Titus has been left in Creteby Paul to “put what remained into order,” as Paul writes in Titus 1:5. Several new churches have been formed in the towns on the island ofCrete. Titus’ task is to “put them in order,” beginning in chapter one with appointing elders in each town’s church.

In chapter two, Titus’ next task, as an elder, is teaching sound doctrine that calls the older men and the older women to live godly lives. They, in turn, are called to “teach what is good and so train the young women…” Mature, godly women are called on to teach and train the younger women to embrace biblical womanhood.

Notice that this begins with teaching in the church. Christian instruction does not begin with what you ought to do, but with what you ought to believe. Nevertheless, sound doctrine will always move into what our lives should look like. The Gospel trains us in how to live. A mind full of the gospel should result in a life that displays the gospel. And so, the church that does not value instruction in sound doctrine will not value sound living.

The training will come by way of spiritual mentoring. In our verses, the older women are to be intentionally encouraging, advising, and urging the younger women by setting an example in word and in deed of what it means to be a biblical woman. It will mean an older Christian woman investing herself in the life of younger Christian women with the intentional purpose of helping them to apply sound doctrine to their lives as women.

Before we move any further, let me ask you:

• As a mature Christian woman, are you intentionally teaching and training the younger women in what it means not only to be a Christian, but to be a Christian woman, wife and mother?
• As a younger Christian woman, are you intentionally seeking out teaching and training from a mature Christian woman in what it means not only to be Christian, but to be a Christian woman, wife and mother?

Biblical mothers and women are called…

Paul lists 6 things that Christian women are called to; they are…

1) …to Love Their Husbands and Children

Have you ever considered that it requires training and teaching to love your family—not just “instinct.” We assume that love just comes naturally and easy. If “loving” your husband and children were a matter of mere instinct, then Paul’s command for the older women to “train” the younger women to “love their husbands and children” would be senseless. It is something that is taught and worked at.

This love is something that goes beyond the realm of duty.Certainly, the laundry, the dishes, the dusting, the vacuuming, the playing taxi with the minivan, and the cooking are all included in love. But, we would be sadly mistaken if we concluded that was the sum-total of love.

The model for love in any relationship that we are called to is the love that God has for us in Jesus Christ. God’s love for us is seen in him working on our behalf—sending his Son to die on the cross for our sins, raising him for the dead, pouring his Spirit into our hearts and drawing us to himself. God’s love for us is seen in what he does for us—but it is not limited to that.

God’s love in action flows from the affections of his heart. Our Father God is a God of tender compassion, mercy, and grace. He is a God who works for the good of his people—a people over whom he sings andrejoices. Listen to this description of God’s affections for his people:

Zephaniah 3:17 The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.

The love of God that he shows to us in redemption through Jesus Christ is not the love of duty, but the love of delight.

Biblical love is not duty separated from the affections of the heart. That is not to say that we should not behave as we ought even if our affections are lacking. We should do what is right, and pray for the affections to come.

We should realize, however, that duty without any affections at all is not honoring; it is offensive. John Piper uses this classic illustration, which can hardly be improved upon. Imagine that your doorbell rings and you open the door to find your husband holding two dozen roses. He says, with a smile, “Dear, go put on your best dress. I’ve arranged a sitter, and I’m taking you to your favorite restaurant this evening.” You respond, “Oh, honey! Why did you!?” And he replies, “It’s my duty. Don’t worry about me being self-serving. I take no joy in being with you. I’m doing this because I’m supposed to.” Did he honor you? No! Absolutely not! His actions for you, void of any affections for you, are an insult to you.

Take two: Your husband replies to your question, “I did this because nothing makes me happier than spending time with you.” You do not respond, “You selfish pig! You want to spend time with me because ‘nothing would make you happier’!” No! His joy in you honors you.

God has never been pleased with people who go through outward forms of worship while their hearts are far from him. It does not honor him. And such duty, devoid of any affection, is not honoring to your husbands and children.

Mothers and wives, the love of God is the model of the love that you should have for your husbands and children. Does your heart rejoice and sing over the family that God has given you to love? Do your husband and children know of this affection?

If not, you should be driven back to the Scriptures to search out the sinfulness of your heart and pray to God to sanctify you and fill your heart with his love.

Family love.

I would have us note here that the command is for women to love “their husbands and children.” God has designed women to be directed toward family love. God redeems women to love their families.

You have love for something. Where is yours directed? To yourself? Your career? The world? Money? Physical beauty? Our sinful hearts are naturally inclined to pursue what God has not called us to pursue. Part of what it means to be sanctified is to have our affections redirected to those things that God has created us for.

No Contingency Clause

I would also have you notice that this command includes to no contingency clause, no qualifications. Paul does not say that women should love their husbands and children “only as much as they deserve to be loved” or “if they are doing their part in return.”

Paul says nothing about what your husband and children deserve.That is because, once again, our love for one another is based on God’s love for us in Jesus Christ.

Christian love in marriage and family is not based upon the Law. Law-based love is giving to one another what we deserve. It says, “If you do what I want and keep your end of the bargain, then I will love you.”

Christian love in marriage and family is based on the Gospel. In the Gospel, God shows us tender compassion, grace and mercy freely. God loves us even though that is the last things that we deserve. Gospel-driven love says, “Even though you are a sinner, who daily offends me—I will love you as God has loved me in Jesus Christ.”

2) …to be self-controlled

This refers to being “prudent and thoughtful” in respect to how you live. This means subduing our own lives and exercising dominion over them. This is an outworking of the Gospel. Paul says in verse 11 that “the grace of God has appeared…training us…to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in the present age, waiting for” the appearing of Christ.

The Christian life is lived in preparation for the return of Jesus Christ. This means applying his thoughts, which is biblical wisdom, to our speech, our eating, our sleep, our actions, and our relationships.

A woman who is self-controlled is one who has learned not to be loud, boisterous, domineering, manipulative, pouting, nagging and controlling. She does not blurt out her every opinion, thought and piece of advice without first stopping to think of how it may reflect on her Savior. She does not pout or nag when things do not go her way.

She is not a slave to sleep, television, food, the scale, the fashion magazines or the opinions of others. She has learned the liberating strength of submission to her master, Jesus Christ.

3) …to be pure

To be pure means to have moral sense. It means to know the difference between right and wrong and to live in a way that pleases God.

It is applying the Gospel to our lives, the fruit of believing the Gospel. This is what Paul will speak of later in the chapter, verses 11-14, where he says that the grace of God in the Gospel trains us to “renounce ungodliness and worldly passions.” Jesus Christ redeemed us “from all lawlessness” to purify us to be a people “zealous for good works.”

We live in an age when purity is not valued amongst men or women. It is a strange phenomenon: We live in the age when women have supposedly been “liberated” and “enlightened” from the old-fashioned views and purity scruples. They are encouraged to pursue their own pleasures and to do whatever makes them happy. Women are encouraged to use men sexually, to dress immodestly, and to be self-centered divas.

Such impurity is not an option for the Christian woman. She now belongs to her master, Jesus Christ. Her sex life is purified within the confines of marriage. She does not a flirt with or fantasize about other men. Her mind and body belong to her husband alone.

She does not adorn her body with suggestive and revealing clothing so that she might be the object of lust of men. She is purified by the Gospel so that her modesty and good works might adorn the Gospel and show the world its beauty.

Her mouth is not full of the filthy speech of gossip, slander, grumbling and complaint. It is full of the sweet words of edification, encouragement and grace.

• Content (c) Northbrook Baptist Church, Cedar Rapids, IA

To read in full, please go to http://www.northbrookbc.org/sermons/080511am.html

Biblical Womanhood Quotes To Ponder

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biblical womanhood, God, mothers, quotes, wives, womanhood, women

“(Mothers), our daughters will be products of their theology. Their knowledge – or lack of knowledge – of who God is and what He has done for them will show up in every attitude, action, and relationship. Their worldview will be determined by their belief system. We must teach our daughters that their value and identity lie in the fact that they are image-bearers of the God of glory. This will protect them from seeking significance in the inconsequential shallowness of self-fulfillment, personal happiness, materialism, or others’ approval. Our daughters must know the wondrous truth that their overarching purpose in life is God’s glory.”~Susan Hunt

“Motherhood is not disparaged in biblical teaching; contrary to many in modern society, it is held up as the woman’s highest calling and privilege.”~Andreas Kostenberger

“If you women continue to demand your choice to work, you will so upset the economy of this country that the time will come when you will not have a choice. You will have to work.”
~ Helen Andelin

“The woman who makes a sweet, beautiful home, filling it with love and prayer and purity, is doing something better than anything else her hands could find to do beneath the skies.  A true mother is one of the holiest secrets of home happiness. God sends many beautiful things to this world, many noble gifts; but no blessing is richer than that which He bestows in a mother who has learned love’s lessons well, and has realized something of the meaning of her sacred calling.”~J.R. Miller

“[I]t would not be hard to show, did space permit, that this movement [women’s suffrage] on the part of these women is as suicidal as it is mischievous. Its certain result will be the re-enslavement of women, not under the Scriptural bonds of marriage, but under the yoke of literal corporeal force. The woman who will calmly review the condition of her sex in other ages and countries will feel that her wisdom is to ‘let well enough alone…’. Under all other civilizations and all other religions than ours, woman has experienced this fate to the full; her condition has been that of a slave to the male-sometimes a petted slave, but yet a slave. In Christian and European society alone has she ever attained the place of man’s social equal and received the homage and honor due from magnanimity to her sex and her feebleness. And her enviable lot among us has resulted from two causes: the Christian religion and the legislation founded upon it by feudal chivalry. How insane then is it for her to spurn these two bulwarks of defense…? She is thus spurning the only protectors her sex has ever found, and provoking a contest in which she must inevitably be overwhelmed.”
~ Robert L. Dabney, “Women’s Rights Women”

“The Holiness of God is not evidenced in women when they are brash, brassy, boisterous, brazen, head-strong, strong-willed, loud-mouthed, overly-talkative, having to have the last  word, challenging, controlling, manipulative, critical, conceited, arrogant, aggressive, assertive, strident, interruptive, undisciplined, insubordinate, disruptive, dominating, domineering, or clamoring for power. Rather, women accept God’s holy order and character by being humbly and unobtrusively respectful and receptive in functional subordination to God, church leadership, and husbands.”~James Fowler

“Earth has nothing more tender than a woman’s heart when it is the abode of piety.”~Martin Luther

“Those who would defend anti-feminist traditionalism today are like heretics fighting a regnant Inquisition. To become a homemaker, a woman may need the courage of a heretic…. Feminists claimed a woman can find identity and fulfillment only in a career; they are wrong. They claimed a woman can, in that popular expression, ‘have it all’; they are wrong – she can have only some. The experience of being a mother at home is a different experience from being a full-time market producer who is also a mother. A woman can have one or the other experience, but not both at the same time. Combining a career with motherhood requires a woman to compromise by diminishing her commitment and exertions with respect to one role or the other, or usually, to both.”
~ F. Carolyn Graglia, A Brief Against Feminism, pages 369-370

“Many wives strive for physical beauty, but Scripture says that “beauty is vain” (Proverbs 31:30).  While it’s alright for her to adorn herself with outward beauty, a godly wife’s first concern is to adorn herself more with inward beauty.  You do this by being submissive to your husband with the attitude of a “meek and quiet spirit” (1 Peter 3:3).  You develop a “meek and quiet spirit” by humbly trusting God while being submissive to your husband.  Your motivation comes from placing your hope and trust in God just like the “holy women” in “former times” (1 Peter 3:5).”~Martha Peace

“A vital Christian, radiating that hidden beauty of the heart, is more attractive to the right sort of Christian man (the only kind you want) than the raving beauty who is hollow within.  A woman who is developing her domestic abilities, who is reasonably attractive, and who is a vital Christian in her own right is an irresistible person.”~Jay E. Adams

“In contrast to the wise woman, the foolish woman is not content to be a keeper at home. She is not satisfied with where God has put her. One of the things the feminist movement has done so successfully is to stir up discontent in women with being homemakers and to convince them that other pursuits can increase their sense of self-worth… Fueling discontent and pushing women out of their homes in search of greater meaning and satisfaction has resulted in off-the-chart stress levels for many women who can no longer survive without pills and therapists… The greatest spiritual, moral, and emotional protection a woman will ever experience is found when she is content to stay within her God-appointed sphere. This does not mean that she never leaves her house, but rather that her heart is rooted in her home and that she puts her family’s needs above all other interests and pursuits.”~Nancy Leigh DeMoss

A Woman’s World: Quotations on biblical womanhood

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biblical womanhood, godly womanhood, home, motherhood, wife, Woman, womanhood, women

“A woman’s heart should be so close to God that a man should have to chase Him to find her.”~C.S. Lewis

“The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined. We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith. We have enough greed; we need more goodness. We have enough vanity; we need more virtue. We have enough popularity; we need more purity.”~ Margaret D. Nadauld

“To be a mother is the grandest vocation in the world.
No one being has a position of such power and influence.
She holds in her hands the destiny of nations;
for to her is necessarily committed
the making of the nation’s citizens.”~Hannah Whitall Smith

“Do the women’s liberationists want to be liberated from being women? No, they would say, they want to be liberated from society’s stereotypes of what women are supposed to be…. Some very interesting facts have been uncovered by scientists which will feminists will have to treat very gingerly for they show that it is not merely society which determines how the sexes will behave…. The idea of matriarchy is mythical, I’ve learned, for not one that can be documented has ever existed. Doesn’t it seem strange that male dominance has been universal if it’s purely social conditioning? One would expect to see at least a few examples of societies where women rather than men held the positions of highest status…. Isn’t’ it really much easier to believe that the feelings of men and women throughout history bear a direct relationship to some innate prerequisite? … It was God who made us different, and He did it on purpose. Recent scientific research is illuminating, and as has happened before, corroborates ancient truth which mankind has always recognized. God created male and female, the male to call forth, to lead, initiate and rule, and the female to respond, follow adapt, submit.”
~ Elisabeth Elliot

“There is no spectacle on earth more appealing than that of a beautiful woman in the act of cooking dinner for someone she loves.”~ Thomas Wolfe

“Every generation has its defining challenge. Ours is the systematic annihilation of the biblical family.”~Doug Phillips

How can it be a large career to tell other people’s children about the Rule of Three, and a small career to tell one’s own children about the universe? How can it be broad to be the same thing to everyone, and narrow to be everything to someone? No; a woman’s function is laborious, but because it is gigantic, not because it is minute. I will pity Mrs. Jones for the hugeness of her task; I will never pity her for its smallness.”~ G.K. Chesterton

“Oh, Mothers of young children, I bow before you in reverence. Your work is most holy. You are fashioning the destinies of immortal souls. The powers folded up in the little ones that you hushed to sleep in your bosoms last night, are powers that shall exist forever. You are preparing them for their immortal destiny and influence. Be faithful. Take up your sacred burden reverently. Be sure that your life is sweet and clean.”~JR Miller

“Understand the beauty and blessing of God’s will for you. God is teaching us His will when He calls us to be homemakers. And I figure that, if God calls me to serve at home, to be on top of things, and to see that my housekeeping chores get done, then I want to do that. So I resolved (and you may want to do the same) to be at home more often.”~Elizabeth George

“Maybe our grandmothers weren’t as stupid as we thought. The family, volunteer work, religion, shaping the hearts and minds of the next generation-maybe all that can’t be reduced to just ’shining floors and wiping noses.’”
~ Myriam Miedzian

“I am most anxious to enlist everyone who can speak or write to join in checking this mad, wicked folly of ‘Women’s Rights,’ with all its attendant horrors, on which her poor feeble sex is bent, forgetting every sense of womanly feelings and propriety. Feminists ought to get a good whipping. Were woman to ‘unsex’ themselves by claiming equality with men, they would become the most hateful, heathen and disgusting of beings and would surely perish without male protection.”
~ Queen Victoria

“I am every day more convinced that we women, if we are to be good women, feminine and amiable and domestic, are not fitted to reign; at least it is contre gré that they drive themselves to the work which it entails.”
~ Queen Victoria

“I love peace and quiet, I hate politics and turmoil. We women are not made for governing, and if we are good women, we must dislike these masculine occupations.”
~ Queen Victoria

“The career of motherhood and homemaking is beyond value and needs no justification. Its importance is incalculable.”
~ Katherine Short

“Marriage and motherhood have their trials and tribulations, but what lifestyle doesn’t? If you look upon your home as a cage, you will find yourself just as imprisoned in an office or a factory. The flight from the home is a flight from self, from responsibility, from the nature of woman, in pursuit of false hopes and fading fantasies. If you complain about servitude to a husband, servitude to a boss will be more intolerable. Everyone in the world has a boss of some kind. It is easier for most women to achieve a harmonious working relationship with a husband than with a foreman, supervisor or office manager.”
~ “Choosing a Career” by Phyllis Schalfly