Friday, March 7, 2008

biblical womanhood...why is it still a mystery?

So, I go to Cal Baptist University in Riverside and we just finished Seek Week. Seek Week is a week that is truly dedicated to giving opportunities all week long to spark a new fire in the students' lives to seek the Lord as a whole student body. We had 3 chapels this week instead of one, the prayer chapel was set up with specific issues to pray for, and there was a vesper service where students could pray for the campus.
Seek Week is always a big hit. We always have a chapel speaker that is really great. (I don't know where they get our other chapel speakers...but that is another story) Anyways, Voddie Baucham came to school this semester. He talked about Biblical Manhood and Womanhood(ironic). He did a great job with the men. He had 5 basic points in how men are to live out the Biblical Manhood that the Lord has called them to:
1. They are to lead in Love: Love is an act of the will accompanied by emotion(not led by emotion and not void of emotion!)that leads to action towards the subject of the given love. They are to be men that doesn't throw his love around to many different girls, but protects the girls emotions and hearts. His passage he went to was Ephesians 5:25(he hit on points I talked about in the previous blog I posted about dedicating her and to the Lord, just as Christ sanctified the Church)
2. He must lead in the Word(Ephesians 5:26): He is to be her mentor and is to disciple her in the scripture. He is responsible for sanctifying/washing/dedicating her to the Word. He also correlated this Eph. 6:4-'Fathers...bring up(your children)in the discipline and instruction of the Lord'. If Women are willing to compromise on this issue of men being their spiritual leaders, then they are willing to throw away their children's spiritual growth!
3. They Must Lead in Righteousness(Eph. 5:27): If he does not, he is not worthy. His character is what is going to last over everything else about him. He is the one who is to put the hedge around the relationship.
4. He is to lead in Selflessness(Eph. 5:28-29): He should cherish and nourish the woman. His goal is to bring out the best that God placed in the woman.
5. He must stand on his own feet and be able to support the woman(Eph. 5:31)-He is to prioritize his relationship with his wife above all others, even his family's.

His main point was that we are called, as men and women of God, to represent the relationship of Christ and the Church in our marriage. He is to act in the selfless, sacrificial, serving leader that Christ was to the Church, and the Women are to act in joyful submission to their husbands, just as the church is to act. This is a HIGH calling! How awesome, that we are to act as the paradigm of Jesus and His bride, the Church! What an honor!
He told the women that we are to keep our heads down until a man like this pursues us. If the women don't require this of the men, then they have no reason to try to live out Biblical Manhood.
So, His summary of what a husband should be to his wife is her priest, provider, and protector.

Then, on Wed. night, he talked to the women about submission. It was so great. Again, he hit a homerun!
He dismissed the argument that some make about mutual submission. He explained that the term 'submission' means someone under the authority of another. There has to be one over another for marriage to work. We looked at the beginning of creation in Genesis, before the fall. He explained that Man came first and then the Lord said that there weren't any suitable helpers for him. THEN, God commanded him to name all of the animals. THEN, he made eve out of his rib. She was then named after the man. "Bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh". Adam played the role as the leader. He worked and was taking care of the animals. Adam didn't need help working, he was doing that before Eve. He didn't need help naming the animals, he was doing that also, before Eve. He needed a suitable helper that could help bring out the best that was in him. That is why she came. She was not to take over his job...she was to help, to submit to his leadership.
He then went back to Ephesians 5:22:
  • Wives are to submit to their husbands AS UNTO THE LORD. A man is never going to be worthy of submission and a woman who is waiting for that man will never submit. So, submission is an act of obedience unto the Lord. 
He also took us to 1 Peter 3:1-3 "Likewise, wives, be submissive to your won husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives-when they see your respectful and pure conduct." Voddie told us that if wives tell the man, "You need to step up and be a man and lead", and the man does, he is obeying his wife and not being the leader he needs to be. He is submitting himself to the woman's authority. First and foremost we are to obey the Lord, and so women are to submit. He also told us that many people get servant-hood and submission mixed up(as I mentioned in a previous blog).

Those are just a few of the many different elements of submission that he spoke on. So, going into the last chapel, I was expecting him to talk about how women are to act. How we are to practice Biblical Womanhood now, just as the men are working on living their Biblical Manhood out. BUT I was very disappointed. He didn't talk to the women.
I DON'T GET IT! WHY???
Why doesn't anyone talk about it? So, I have decided that this is one of my life goals: not only to pursue Biblical Womanhood, but really define it. So I have been asking Godly men and women who are seeking after the Lord, and I need your input as well. What do you think Biblical Womanhood looks like, according to the text? Guys, what are you looking for in a Godly Woman as a future wife? This is so important. Voddie talked about the problem of men not mentoring younger men. Well, I think that less women are actually mentoring younger women. The Women
HAVE to be content in the Lord before a man can lead them spiritually....so what do we do now. We seriously need to think about the women in our lives. Are you, as a woman, being discipled by a Godly Woman and are you pouring your life into a younger woman? I truly think that this is a HUGE issue. No one is speaking to us women. We know the characteristics of a Godly man...now what are we to do? Who are we to become? What does the woman look like that the Lord wants to mold us into?  Young women have maturity issues, and there is a lack of older women mentors.  I want to be known as a woman that is solid.  I want to be unshakable because of the foundation I have in Christ.  I want to share this with the younger women in my life and become a mentor as I grow in wisdom and maturity.  If we are expecting a high standard of excellence and leadership in the men, then we need to expect a higher standard of Godliness and holiness in us as well.  A friend gave me a couple sites that are committed to Biblical Manhood and Womanhood:
Radical Womanhood and girl talk

I know that 'girl talk' sounds SO cliche, but this blog is actually by C.J. Mahaney's wife, Carolyn. I found it to be very helpful! May we yearn to become Women and Men seeking to be marked by holiness. May we be zealous for the Lord and desperate for His guidance in becoming more like Him. He is the one we are to be fulfilled in!

Matt 6:33 "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."

2 comments:

Cinders said...

(please forgive how cliché this may sound, b/c it is so sincere). i am so blessed to have you in my life! thank you for being open to God and His vision for "your" life; what an example this is to me!

brittany said...

There is so many great thoughts in this blog. I throughly enjoyed reading it. one part that really hit me is where you are talking about mentors. that is something i have really been praying about, that the Lord will give me a younger girl to just pour my heart into!
i love you so much holly anna.
God is going to, and has already started to do such great things through you.
your heart for Him is so evident, i honestly feel honored to be your longest friend!!