Write Like You Talk?

JT passes on a helpful resource on writing from InterVarsity Press editor Dave Zimmerman.

What Will You Tell Your Boys and Girls?

A great post by Pastor John Piper got me thinking - what will you and I tell our children about men and women? How will explain how God made us? How will we explain our differing roles? What will we tell them is important about a man being a man and a woman being a woman? What will we tell them that men should not do and that women should not do? What will all this say about the God who made us so?

Now some of my questions are obviously weighted and weighty, but the question remains for you - what will you teach your children? The way that you teach and display gender roles to your sons and daughters tells them a lot about how they should view not only the world, but most importantly, God.

As Piper points out, how we understand God as masculine - yes, the Bible does use exclusively masculine pronouns and exclusively masculine descriptions of God in all three persons - matters for how we understand His character, worship, missions, gender relationships, marriage, preaching, leadership, singleness, and the Christian life, just to name a few.

So I had to ask myself, and now ask you, what will we tell our children about the way God made men and women so beautifully different and yet complementary? Our words will speak volumes toward how they will understand God Himself.

Fasting, Mercy Ministry, and God's Glory

Isaiah 58:4-12

Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight
and to hit with a wicked fist.
Fasting like yours this day
will not make your voice to be heard on high.
Is such the fast that I choose,
a day for a person to humble himself?
Is it to bow down his head like a reed,
and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?
Will you call this a fast,
and a day acceptable to the LORD?

“Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up speedily;
your righteousness shall go before you;
the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.

Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer;
you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you take away the yoke from your midst,
the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
if you pour yourself out for the hungry
and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
then shall your light rise in the darkness
and your gloom be as the noonday.

And the LORD will guide you continually
and satisfy your desire in scorched places
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters do not fail.
And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of streets to dwell in.

One of My Favorite Verses in All of the Bible

. . . is Isaiah 35:10

And the ransomed of the LORD shall return
and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain gladness and joy,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

What a beautiful promise for God's elect! Return to Zion with singing! Neverending joy on our heads! Obtaining gladness AND joy! Nevermore again to be sad or sigh! All of the depressing feelings of this fallen life to forever flee from us! To enjoy God forever in His place with His own happiness! What costly, bountiful, incomprehensible blessings Jesus bought for us God-hating sinners on the cross!

Worshipping Man at the Mall

On some nights and weekends, I work at a local mall. This weekend, my mall is having a "model & talent search," so yesterday they decided to set the stage up five feet from my kiosk. Needless to say, I've gotten a good look at this modeling extravaganza.

What's sad is that everyone claps and claps and laughs and laughs whenever some little cutie struts the stage. It is ridicule-worthy. What is to applaud when a child simply wants attention? Why are we clapping for children who simply say a few lines and walk across a stage? What is the big deal?

Then I realized that this is the worship of man, plain and simple. The Bible says in Romans 1:21-23,

For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

We fail to honor God, even though we know Him, and fail to give Him thanks, so we become worthless in our thinking and our hearts become blind and wicked. We think we are wise and knowledgeable, but we actually have become fools. Then we trade in the infinite glory of God for worthless worship of mere man. We trade out gold for shrapnel, filet minion for rat poison, living water for sewage.

And we do it every day. We care more about what people think of us than what God thinks of us. We want to think about novels and poetry and romance books more than we want to think about God's own Word. We look for ways to make ourselves look better to others instead of trusting God to make us happy in Him. Our foolish hearts are very dark indeed. Come Lord Jesus, come change us by Your Spirit, that we would worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.

Male Leadership in the Family, Church, and Culture: Pt. 1

Last weekend, a well-loved family member brought up some thoughts about gender roles in the church, and it got me thinking all over again about the need for male leadership in the family, church, and culture. I say all three for several reasons: one, because they necessarily go together and one would be hypocrisy without the others; two, because they are generally the three spheres in which we operate; three, we men need reminders that our proper leadership is needed in all three.

It's often said that exclusively male leadership is a thing of the past, a relic of a bygone age, and a vestige of the oppression of women by the male majority. I've even heard it said, and staunchly defended, that commands in the Bible like 1 Timothy 2:12-15 apply not to every culture and age but mainly the one to whom Paul was writing. This could not be further from the truth.

When God the Holy Spirit, through His apostle Paul, wrote,

I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet she will be saved through childbearing - if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.

He neither framed it as a time-sensitive command nor intend it as such. The reasoning of the context simply does not permit it. It's more straightforward and universal than that.

So God says, "I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet," then what is the reason? Why does He say such a preposterously chauvinistic thing?

Because "Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor." In couching these commands in (1) creation and (2) fall, God makes them as universal and straightforward as possible. There is no pandering to that particular culture or ours. There is no yellow-bellied wimpery in God's decree. He says, "I made man first, therefore woman cannot, by My design, be the leader."

And all who disagree - men and women - are rebelling against God. God made the man to be the servant leader of his family, church, and culture; just look at the way Jesus live and led and spoke and died. He lived and breathed the servant leadership God placed upon Him; who are we to question God's call?

Letter to a New Father

I'm really not a very experienced father. But when my friend sent me an email asking for early fatherhood suggestions, particularly how to encourage his wife, I jumped at the chance to love and encourage him and his family. I reproduce it here (minus some details) for your encouragement as well:

Brother,

Good questions to ask. The other guys probably have more insight than me, through age, experience, and godliness; but mainly I would just try to let my wife rest as much as possible, do the night shift unless it impairs your work ability (in which case you have to figure something out), make sure I'm getting off early if at all possible, and generally just looking out and looking ahead for her. Offer to make dinner, rub her feet (or whatever hurts), rent a movie, go on a date whenever she's ready to leave the little one (she'll take longer to come to that point than you).

But most of all, she just needs encouragement that God has already given her the skills and is currently giving her the strength and the grace she needs to be a good mother. That's what my wife needed to know most. So encourage her with the gospel, and when she feels like she's messed up something, give her more gospel. She doesn't have to know everything - God will take care of every little thing and cover up our many mistakes as parents. Truly He is good to those who call on Him, to those who call on Him in truth.

And go ahead and start family worship if you haven't already, even with the little one - it will encourage her that you care about your son's body and his soul, and will help her press on in her own (probably somewhat strained) devotional time. Encourage her to take time to be with Jesus on her own as well.

We love you three and are available to baby-care whenever you need us, or just for dinner, or just to get out, or just for encouragement!

Britt