So, apparently I don't know how to link things in my post, so you can head down to my sidebar where Steve's name is and post your birthday greeting there.
Also, a sister in Christ has some concerns about protecting Marriage at her school which she wrote about two posts down. If you have any Bible texts or references to help her out with presenting God's view in a secular environment, please post and pray as she presents next friday.
Thank you to all those of you whom I have had discussions with over this issue, as well as all those of you who commented! I really appreciate your responses, and I would have posted sooner . . . but unfortunately my wonderful post which I labored over so long was lost in the web somewhere . . . (I'm sure by now you all know the grudge I have with technology . . . ), and I fear it will never regain the beauty it once posessed -- especially at 11 'o clock @ night. Anyways, here are my humble thoughts on the issue.
It is time.
And it's all about you,
It's all about you, Jesus . . .
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Picture this with me . . .
A sanctuary. The very first santuary of all time. Trees move gently in the breeze, scattering splinters of sunlight over the soft grass . . . and the perfect form of a man. A very lonely man, for although he had a sanctuary and a God, he had no community.
When Adam awoke from his sleep and came face-to-face with the woman that God had created for him, he was amazed, declaring in the first love song of all time:
"This is now bone of my bones
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called woman
Because she was taken out of man." (Gen. 2: 23)
Created to image and glorify God, the man and woman worked together perfectly. God created different bodies for each of them that melded together. He created different minds, able to sharpen and stimulate one another. Along with this, God created different tasks, working together in harmony. Together, they created a masterpeice of worship. Together they created community. Together they made a church.
Violation of that perfect masterpeice of worship occured as each person departed from the role that God had created them to be in, stopped imaging God, and instead began to try to manipulate God into their image. The fall meant death had to occur in all areas of life from that time forward. And yet, as C.S. Lewis pointed out in his Chronicles of Narnia: "Death itself began to work backward." God took the very thing that had to separate them from both God and each other for eternity and used it as an instrument of redemption!
Life requires death- not just the death of the perfect image-bearer - the son of God- but also the daily death of us as His imitators and image-bearers. Worship is all of life, and all of life is worship. True life only comes from accepting the gift of death by Jesus Christ, and then proceeding to live out that gift of death through Jesus Christ- sacrificing and laying down our lives for the sake of others! As we image God by imitating the perfect Image-bearer, we will recieve the true life and joy that can only come from him!
Picture this with me . . .
A sanctuary- or rather, many sanctuaries scattered all across the globe. All different, all diverse in culture, in ethnicity, even in convictions while studying the same word of God -- and yet, all working together, iron sharpening iron, mind stimulating mind, heart speaking into heart.
And picture this . . .
Men and Women being content in the roles that God has placed them! Both require a death to self, a servanthood, and above all, a worship of the true, living God! For men- God has definitely called them to leadership! Before you think that this means that all men get what they want, consider the example of the Image-bearer, Jesus Christ. Jesus showed what true leadership meant by kneeling down at his disciple's sweaty, dusty, sinful feet, and washing them. Jesus is concerned with presenting His bride "pure and spotless", even laying down his life for her in order to do so! Leadership is a hard task involving a constant laying down of a life in order that God may be worshipped and glorified. For women- God has called them to be helpers, an equally hard responsability. If you think that this means that all women must be the servants of the men, you are right! God has called every single person in the church to servanthood, and for women, this means a respect, a love, and a willing choice to give to the man that she calls her leader the gift of submission.
Ladies, those guys need you! If it wasn't for you, God would still be calling things in this world "Not good"! No man has ever gotten into this world or survived in it without the loving, caring influence of a woman, and no man ever will. God has called us to a life of strengthening and building up his church, laying down our lives and completing the picture of community, church, and worship.
In worship, there are two parts: God calls out to his people, and we respond back to him. In this never-ending dance between the Redeemer and His bride, He has chosen specific men to be the spokespersons in corporate worship, calling them to convey His words to the people until that day when we shall see Him face-to-face. He has chosen all His elect to respond to Him in love through tithes and offerings, works, faith, prayers, music, and many other ways. Woman and Men, pastors and members, children and the elderly -- all are called to response in His name, dying to themselves and offering themselves. All people are called to facilitate- whether it be through musical gifts, giving, serving, or any other task. Through Christ's death - through our death- we recieve life.
Picture this with me . . .
A Sactuary. The last santuary of all time. Face-to-face with our bridegroom, leader, and perfect Image-bearer, and presented without spot or wrinkle before Him in love, as "flesh of His flesh, and bone of His bones"! What a day, glorious day, that will be as we worship Him in perfect community, in perfect communion with the one who died in every way, that we may recieve life!
"Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife." And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, decending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone... clear as crystal ... But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city had no need of th sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. Th Lamb is its light. And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it . . . And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads." Rev. 21 & 22 (various verses)
Do you believe a woman going up to the front to read scripture during a worship service is wrong? She is not exegeting the text or doing a performance -- she is simply reading the scripture passage. What do you guys think?
I would love to get a good discussion going & just get your thoughts and scripture passages that come to mind. (Mom & Dad -- I would appreciate any wisdom from your lips as well!)
