This morning begins our Christian Home Emphasis. We are taking the next six weeks to study what God has to say about living the Christian life in the Christian home.
Our beginning point is to investigate the Biblical perspective on feminism. For starters we read two texts; one makes the radical feminist beam, the other makes ¡¥em steam!
Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. Proverbs 31:10,
Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. Ephesians 5:22
The priceless woman ¡V nobody objects, and Hallmark carries the day. Then, there is, wives, submit¡KOh boy! If ever there was a Biblical statement that sets 21st century teeth on edge! (¡Kor any other century)! But, then there has always been a very decided contrast between God¡¦s Word and what the world thinks!
To the committed radical feminist who worships at the altar of Gloria Steinem, the very idea of submitting to anyone, much less a man¡Kis like saying you enjoy dropping bricks on your own toes.
The problem with attempting to match-up radical feminist doctrine with God¡¦s plan for marriage and the home is the same as tying two cats¡¦ tails together and expecting them to live in harmony ¡V it aint gonna happen!
Proverbs 31 presents the Virtuous Woman (i.e. Superwoman) who is perfect in every way ¡V able to balance professional career, husband, 2.6 children, dog, Sunday School teaching and still keep a cheerful countenance when the telemarketer calls in the middle of fixing a gourmet dinner. Paul says (Eph 5.22) that woman is also able to submit to her husband ¡V follow his leadership.
If you combine the two you have the poster-woman for Heaven¡¦s woman of the year. You also have a woman with a bullseye on her back for the world¡¦s feminists to mock. In a sermon one pastor put the feminist movement in perspective¡K
The struggle of the battle of the sexes, men versus women started at the beginning of history when, in the Garden of Eden, Adam blamed Eve for his disobedience to God.
But, in the last 20-25 years the conflict has certainly escalated. There seems to be quite a few women out there who, if they don¡¦t hate men, they certainly have a difficult time liking them. For example, there is a professor at Boston University who refuses to let men attend her classes. In fact, she is on leave right now because one of the male students she kicked out of a class took her to court.
Of course, there are also plenty of men who are misogynists, women haters. Like Professor Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady, they say, "I¡¦d face a new edition of the Spanish Inquisition than to ever let a woman in my life." In many circles, the lines are clearly drawn. Men on one side, and women on the other.
Listen to some of the bullets which have been fired in this battle of the sexes. Char Wittman said, Whatever women do they must do twice as well as men to be thought of as half as good. Luckily this is not difficult. Lady Nancy Astor once remarked, I married beneath my level. All women do.
On the other side, there is W. C. Fields who said, Women are like elephants to me. I like to look at them, but I don¡¦t want one of them in my house.
( Dan Erickson, SermonCentral.com.....
http://www.life.1stbaptist.org/SER062099-21.htm)
There are two kinds of thinking, or measuring sticks with which to approach the very different thinking of God versus the National Organization of Women.
Inductive Thinking is spiritual/Biblical in nature. It starts with the basic thesis that God is right, and moves outward, examining whatever evidence there is in the light of Biblical revelation. For instance, God said submission is right. We start by saying ¡§Amen¡¨, and then investigating to seek God¡¦s meaning and guidance to understand.
Deductive Thinking starts without any premise, simply examining available evidence and drawing conclusions. This methodology begins with the basic premise of humanism ¡V whatever I like is good; whatever I dislike can be discarded. Submitting is uncomfortable, so I can discard that notion.
Most feminists examine human interaction on a deductive basis. In so-doing they ignore God in the equation. And, most feminists, if they¡¦re somewhat sincere and honest wind up eating their words in the long run.
Do you remember the 60¡¦s and Gloria Steinem? She began trashing the whole idea of marriage more than 30 years ago. She was a militant activist in the women¡¦s liberation movement. She wrote an article which appeared in the Washington Post, about the outcome of the women¡¦s liberation movement, feminism¡¦s god¡K
"The family system that will emerge is a great subject of anxiety. Probably there will be a variety of choices. Colleague marriages, such as young people have now, with both partners going to law-school or the Peace Corps together, is one alternative. At least they share more than the kitchen and the bedroom. Communes; marriages that are valid for the child-rearing years only ¡V there are many possibilities. The point is that Women¡¦s Liberation is not destroying the American family. It is trying to build a human compassionate alternative out of its ruins."
(Gloria Steinem, Women¡¦s Liberation Aims to Free
Men, Too, Washington Post, June 7, 1970.)
Gloria Steinem looked at her own parents¡¦ rocky marriage and divorce, and arrived at the deduction that marriage doesn¡¦t work. That was 30 years ago. Guess what happened last September? After 66 years of living, Gloria discovered she could be wrong; the Associated Press release read¡K
"Gloria Steinem, the feminist icon who once dismissed marriage as an institution that destroys relationships, is a newlywed at the age of 66.
Steinem, the co-founder of Ms. magazine, married South African-born entrepreneur David Bale, 61, in rural Oklahoma on Sunday.
¡¦Though I¡¦ve worked many years to make marriage more equal, I never expected to take advantage of it myself,¡¦ "
(The Associated Press September 5, 2000
6:51 p.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com)
All her career Steinem could only examine the evidence available, because she has no faith in God. She was impeccably deductive ¡V and, predictably, arrived at a humanist deduction which can never be Biblical; humanism (a basic tenet of feminism) leaves no room for God.
The Christian walk has God at its center. So, this morning, let¡¦s look at three basic reasons why the feminist movement is unsound. We will hold up the Christian woman¡¦s walk in comparison to the feminist agenda.
Comparison #1
Feminism is self-assertive;
The Christian Walk is a Life of Surrender
The Christian life begins with a surrender to the claim that God has on our lives. We surrender to the reality that we are created, and therefore indebted to God. We admit our sinfulness and repent ¡V and the Spirit of God births us into the Kingdom.
A Spirit-led birth is to be followed by a Spirit-led growth. That means God is always at the helm.
Oswald Chambers wrote: "It is the continual assertion of individuality that hinders our spiritual development more than anything else; individuality must go in order that personality may emerge and be brought into fellowship with God."
(Oswald Chambers, Biblical Ethics.
Christianity Today, Vol. 33, no. 17.)
Feminism doesn¡¦t work in the Christian life because there is an impossibility that exists between self-assertive demanding of rights, and submitting one to another.
Do you know what is at the root of the problem? Trust! To submit to another human being involves trust; we don¡¦t do that easily. Understanding what trust, or submission, really means is also part of our problem in not being assertive, but Biblically-submissive.
Some men do not understand that the trust goes in both directions. And they have done immeasurable damage to their wives¡¦ ability to trust; to submit.
In an article entitled, Difference of interpretation exists about authority and submission in marriage, (Holman Bible Dictionary), "Both Paul and Peter¡¦s use of submission refers to voluntary submission in a loving relationship, not the forced subjection to authority in a military organization. The biblical references say submit yourself to one another, not subject the other person to yourself (Eph. 5:21-22, 24; Col. 3:18; 1 Pet. 3:1)."
In short, that means, gentlemen, demanding submission from your wife is like not looking carefully before entering an intersection in which the law says you have right of way. You may have the book on your side, but you just might leave that intersection with some major damage to your body! The same apostle who told your wife to submit to her own husband also told you to submit to her as well (Eph 5.21).
So how does Biblical submission actually work? Suppose the question comes up about next weekend. Elizabeth wants us to go for a nice visit with former President Clinton and Senator Hillary. I have a slight hesitation in view of the fact I¡¦d decided to spend the weekend watching our grass grow. (Priorities, you know).
I could insist we stay home ¡V I am, after all the MAN¡K. What will happen? There will be hurt feelings, bitterness and division that will carry on for a time, and carry-over into other areas of our lives.
I could bargain, complain, or just ignore my wife¡¦s feelings. But, is that the way to treat my wife? Paul only waited a few sentences to give us our direction:
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; Ephesians 5:25
So, it works like this ¡V if Elizabeth has just got to see the Clintons this weekend, my love for her is going to find some way to work out the details.
But, her love for me is going to pick up on my discomfort level, and in submission, she will find some way to meet my need as well. It doesn¡¦t come down to whether we actually go to New York and visit the happy couple. It comes down to both of us surrendering our self-assertive ways to the greater need of our spouse.
This sounds like a lifetime of misery, Preacher! It can be! That is why the marriage vow begins by advising how sacred the marriage partnership is, and therefore how it is not to be entered-into without considerable prayer and forethought.
Comparison #2
Feminism is economically motivated;
The Christian Aims at the Eternal
A few years ago my Aunt Mick sent me an email at Christmastime with this question:
You do know what would have happened if it had been
THREE WISE WOMEN instead of three wise men, don¡¦t you?
They would have
„« asked for directions,
„« arrived on time,
„« helped deliver the baby,
„« cleaned the stable,
„« made a casserole,
„« and brought practical gifts!!!
Aunt Mick¡¦s given name is Martha. I was reminded of Martha yelling from the kitchen¡K.Jesus, tell Mary to get off her blessed assurance and get in here to help with all this work. She¡¦s been sitting there flapping her gums with you all day.
Now, my Aunt Martha can see the eternal¡Kbut Lazarus¡¦ sister was shortsighted there. The eternal involves sitting at the feet of Jesus. The kitchen stuff is necessary, and important ¡V it is just secondary.
Feminism has made a god of equal pay, equal rights, equal access to the bathrooms. That stuff is important, but not the center of the problem. It¡¦s practical, moral and the right thing¡Kit¡¦s just secondary. The life of a Spirit-led woman is life-oriented, not stuff-oriented. The point here is what has broken many a family apart:
If you¡¦re stuff-centered, you can¡¦t be God-centered.
Many times in the counseling room the past twenty years I have heard the complaint from wives about a husband who was not the spiritual leader he was supposed to be. When we dug a little deeper we discovered in almost every instance that the wife¡¦s major concerns were more over stuff than spirit. She wanted God in their lives, but most of the time and energy in the relationship were focused on getting things to provide security and comfort. Spiritual things were just an addition to their lives.
The problem with that is once most men get the idea that more money, a bigger house, better cars and a bank account are what their wives really want, there¡¦s no stopping them.
Ladies, you do not have to go to rallies and write hate mail to Jerry Falwell to be a feminist. When you put the materialistic cart before the Spiritual horse, you build a household on sand ¡V feminist quicksand. It won¡¦t take much to sink it!
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness;And all these things shall be added unto you. Matthew 6.33
Comparison #3
Feminism demands personal rights;
The Christian Lives a life of Serving.
We have all seen how grossly ineffective the concept of entitlements is, when the government takes from one group in order to give to another. It creates a mentality of self-focus and indolence.
In feminism the methodology was to destroy marriage and the traditional home, so that the rights of women could be put on the front burner of society. Many women bought that concept, and have been paying ever since ¡V as well as their children and extended families.
The Christian life is focused on serving, not getting. To the multiplied millions of women who have been married to men who never understood the servant-nature of one who is head-of-the-house, on behalf of Christ Himself, and men everywhere, please accept our apology.
But to the Gloria Steinems, Molly Yards and Margaret Meads everywhere who have advocated becoming like the inconsiderate men who lorded over them¡Kget a life; two wrongs have never equaled a right.
Christianity is all about serving. That is why in the Upper Room, while the disciples (all men) were busy discussing and dividing up the power in the coming kingdom ¡V who was gonna sit on Jesus¡¦ right or left, calling the shots ¡V their Master took off his shirt and picked up a towel and basin. He washed 12 pairs of dirty fishermen¡¦s feet ¡V even Judas¡¦. They were busy demanding their due, Jesus got busy loving through serving.
Mother¡¦s Day is about serving. Feminism can¡¦t hold a candle to my Mom, or the Mom who raised my children. Erma Bombeck was one of those:
"For the first 4 or 5 years after I had children, I considered motherhood a temporary condition -- not a calling. It was a time of my life set aside for exhaustion and long hours. It would pass. Then one afternoon, with 3 kids in tow, I came out of a supermarket pushing a cart (with four wheels that went in opposite directions) when my toddler son got away from me. Just outside the door, he ran toward a machine holding bubble gum in a glass dome. In a voice that shattered glass he shouted, "Gimme! Gimme!" I told him I would give him what for if he didn¡¦t stop shouting and get in the car.
As I physically tried to pry his body from around the bubble gum machine, he pulled the entire thing over. Glass and balls of bubble gum went all over the parking lot. We had now attracted a sizable crowd.
I told him he would never see a cartoon as long as he lived, and if he didn¡¦t control his temper, he was going to be making license plates for the state.
He tried to stifle his sobs as he looked around at the staring crowd. Then he did something that I was to remember for the rest of my life. In his helpless quest for comfort, he turned to the only one he trusted his emotions with -- me. He threw his arms around my knees and held on for dear life.
I had humiliated him, chastised him, and berated him, but I was still all he had. That single incident defined my role. I was a major force in this child¡¦s life.
Sometimes we forget how important stability is to a child. I¡¦ve always told mine, ¡¦The easiest part of being a mother is giving birth.... the hardest part is showing up for it each day...¡¦ "
(Steve Malone, quoted in a sermon,
WOW What A Mom! SermonCentral.com)
There is a whole generation of confused people today who look at Christian women walking the Spirit-led life as if they¡¦re somehow missing the boat.
In the end they run to the ones like Jesus. The ones who have a surrendered spirit and a mind on the eternal; they run to the ones who show up every day and serve. They run to Moms, not feminism!
