WOMEN IN THE PULPIT? What does the Bible really say?

My husband, Steve, wrote the following letter to the elders of the church we were attending in the 1990’s. (We both signed, but the letter is primarily his scholarship.) It is a thorough examination of the recent trend to permit women to preach to the general congregation as announced in a letter to our church body.

While a bit longer than my usual posts, I promise it is well worth the read -

RE:  Women's Role in the Church

Dear Elders:

Grace and peace to you.

           

In the 2000 years since Christ’s appearance among us, the past 20 years have seen the most profound changes in the role of women, both inside and outside the church.  The world's attitude is clearly reflected by the bumper sticker that states, "The best man for the job is a woman." In Scripture, we find that men and women have perfect equality in Christ as heirs to the promise of salvation (Galatians 3:26-29). However, we also learn that men and women are different and have distinct, God-given functions in the church and home.

The pressures of the current worldview on gender roles have forced us all to examine our beliefs to assure that we are not clinging to an inaccurate theology.  The content of the September 1993 letter from the elders, the roles assigned to women at church, as well as our general observations, have caused us to re-examine Scripture to discern God's will in this difficult area.

First, we will present our understanding of Scripture on this matter, and then suggest how this might apply to our particular church body. Within this context, we will first address the elder's letter. We generally concur with the portion addressing women in marriage, but feel we must comment on the final paragraph which addresses women in church.

We offer these comments as ones who love Christ's church, as you do, and want to see its members strengthened and blessed.

Gifts

From our personal experience and through the revelation of the Word, we know that women and men may have pastoral and teaching gifts. Gifts are bestowed by the Holy Spirit without regard for gender (I Corinthians 12:4-6), and we are all compelled to use our gifts to build up the body (I Corinthians 12:7).

Pray and Prophesy

I Corinthians 11:4-5 tells us that both men and women pray and prophesy.  This observation is part of a larger discourse (I Corinthians 11:2-16) on headship. We are told that the head of Christ is God (v.3), the head of man is Christ (v.2), and further, the head of a woman is her husband (v.2). The text further advises that there are proper ways for a woman to pray and prophesy to recognize the headship of her husband (v. 5-15).

The prophesying referred to in I Corinthians 11:5 is for edifying, up-building, encouragement, and consolation (I Corinthians 14:3,4). Our church’s founding pastor, Ray Stedman, stated that prophesying is "basically preaching," ("Should a Woman Teach in Church", Nov. 21, 1976).  If I Corinthians 11:5 is interpreted to include prophesying in church pursuant to I Corinthians 14:4, it would follow that women can teach and preach in church.

"A Word from the Elders . . ." states, "Women should not be restricted from teaching men if they submit to evaluation by the elders.  We do well to note the practice of the New Testament church being led in worship (prayer and prophesy) by women (I Corinthians 11:5)."

From this excerpt, it appears your position is that women may lead the church worship and teach and edify men in spiritual matters.  It follows that it would be acceptable to do so from the pulpit in a preaching capacity, or in any other setting, if it is done under the authority of the elders.  Our understanding of your stance seems verified by the fact that our church now has a female pastor and several female ministers, and that they have previously taught from the pulpit during our Sunday night service.

To adopt this position, we must accept that (1) the Corinthian prophetess is an example of a later day female pastor or teacher, (2) prophesying is teaching, and (3) Scripture declaring that women should not teach men should for some reason be disregarded.

Is prophesying equivalent to teaching or preaching?  Prophesying is defined in I Corinthians 14:3, "But everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort."  This is true because the hearers are receiving a message from God. A. A. MacRae, in his discussion of prophesy (Zonderan Encyclopedia of the Bible), states the following:

            "No human individual or organization could enable a man to become a true

            prophet.  The NT speaks of prophets as one of God's gifts to His Church,

            along with evangelists and pastors (Ephesians 4:11). A church can ordain and

            install an evangelist or a pastor, but no one becomes a prophet in the full

            meaning of the word unless God chooses to give him a message with orders

            to pass it on."

Dan Thompson, a teacher at Valley Church, has observed, "that almost anyone could have the gift of tongues or prophesy and exercise those gifts with (it seems) little maturity.  But teaching (guiding the flock of God) demands rigorous examination (I Timothy 3:1ff; Titus 1:6ff)." Also, prophecy and teaching are mentioned as separate gifts in the same lists (I Corinthians 12:28; Romans 12:6-7).”

It seems that the case for women leading and teaching men is being built on a single verse in a discourse about headship and veiling and NT references to prophetesses.  This appears to disregard that teaching and prophesying are different gifts bestowed for different purposes, and that there may very well be no post-NT prophesying in the sense of new revelation from God. In addition, as discussed below, to accept the premise of women teaching men, we must disregard admonitions to the contrary.  The case being put forth is weak and is not consistent with the overall fabric of Scripture concerning woman's submissive role.  The only examples of actual NT prophetic utterance from women are those of Elizabeth (Luke 1:42-45) and Mary (Luke 1:46-55), occurring between themselves in an intimate home setting, and Anna, a prophetess, responding to Simeon's specific prophesy in the outer court of the temple, thanking God and speaking to all about the child.

Silence in Church

There are two key references that command women to be silent in church.  In

I Corinthians, Paul addresses speaking out in church, and in I Timothy, he deals with teaching.

At the end of the discussion in I Corinthians 14 concerning rules for men prophesying and speaking in tongues, Paul states three times that women are not to speak in church.  "As in all the churches of the saints, the women should keep silent in the churches.  For they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as even the law says," (v. 33, 34).  He also states that "it is shameful for a woman to speak in church," (v.35).  Paul interjects that if there is anything that a woman wants to know, she should ask her husband at home (v.35).

The point of interpretation is whether Paul is solely addressing orderly behavior, particularly the asking of questions in a gathering, or whether the directive for silence has wider application.  Given the content and nature of the problems in the Corinthian church, it is probable that these passages address orderliness as well as a submissive attitude.

The clearest view of these issues is offered in I Timothy 2:9-15, which, unlike the previous references, addresses the position and behavior of women directly, and not as part of a discussion of other topics.  Paul states, "Let a woman learn in silence with all submissiveness.  I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over men; she is to keep silent," (v. 12, 13).

Theologians have and undoubtedly will continue to argue whether this is a cultural admonition or whether it was meant for all ages.  There are two factors that persuade us that the latter view should prevail.

This admonition is not likely the result of disorderliness, as may have been the case in the church at Corinth, because the problem in the Ephesian church was unsound doctrine (I Tim. 1:3-11), not disorder.

Secondly, Paul follows this apparent restriction with an explanation of why women are not to teach or have authority over men.  "For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor," (I Timothy 2:13, 14).  The order of creation demonstrates man's priority.  Eve was created to be his helper (Genesis 2:18-25) and his glory (I Corinthians 11:7-9).  It was Eve that was deceived by Satan and who usurped the role of leadership as she chose to accept the forbidden fruit and lead her husband to join her. Adam, of course, yielded that leadership and thus, sinned knowingly.  He was not deceived; that is why it is called Adam's sin.  This shows us the weaknesses of men and women and the results of reversing the divinely established order.  These are eternal, not temporal, explanations of why women are not to teach or have authority.

The Roles of Women in the New Testament Church

If women are not to teach or have authority over men, why did God give them the gifts of teaching, discernment, and so forth?  How are these gifts to be used to the benefit of the body and the glory of God? Scripture provides us with many examples from which we can draw a practical paradigm for our church.

A prominent example is that of Priscilla, who with her husband, Aquilla, "took him [Apollos] and expounded to him the way of God more accurately," (Acts 18:26).  We know from Acts that Pricilla and Aquilla were involved in Paul's ministry, and that they must have been spiritually learned to have taught Apollos, who is described as "an eloquent man, well versed in the scriptures," (Acts 18:24).  We learn from this incident that the teaching was private, "they took him in" (presumably not before the gathering), and that the teaching was done by both Pricilla and Aquilla, with Priscilla presumably under the authority of her husband, who was present.

In the only passage that directs women to teach, the subject matter of the teaching and the people to be taught are restricted.  We are told that the older (presumably more spiritually mature) women "are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be sensible, chaste, domestic, kind and submissive to their husbands, that the word of God my not be discredited," (Titus 2:3-5).

The Bible contains several references to women who served in Paul's ministry and the church.  Women also served in the role of deaconess (a "helps" office described in Romans16:1), and served the church in temporal matters.

Conclusion

Based upon 1) the Scriptural admonition against women teaching or having authority over men, 2) the absence of examples where women exercised such roles in the New Testament church, 3) scriptural directives that limit what women should teach and who they should teach, and 4) the godly order of command set forth in Genesis, I Corinthians 11, and so forth, we must conclude that it is not God's intent that women have authority over men and that some teaching roles are not appropriate for women.

How should this apply to our church?  We believe that women should not be given titles and positions of authority in spiritual matters over men.  We also believe that the Word does not sanction women to teach from our pulpit.

Should women teach mixed Sunday school classes, or host and lead prayer in worship services?  We feel these areas are very questionable in light of I Timothy 2:11-12 and Titus 2:3-5.  However, if you feel that women do have liberty in this area, please consider the reasons cited below why it may be prudent to limit the role of women in these activities.

We have observed that there are many women at our church who consider submission to be the ugly "S" word.  We have heard the young women assert that if a woman can be a CEO of a company, she should be able to be an elder.  We have heard the girls in the high school class boo-and-hiss when the term "leadership" was associated with males (and we did not hear the teacher correct their thinking).  We have heard a recent women's meeting opened with five anti-male "one liners".  We have heard the speaker from last year's women's retreat admit that her husband did not want her there, but she came regardless of his wishes.  There is clearly a widespread lack of understanding of the godly role for women and the true meaning of submission to the heart of God.

In this environment, it becomes even more important to teach men and women about 1) their unique and complementary roles and to provide a true understanding of being subject to one another (Ephesians 5:21); 2) submission; and 3) all the other attributes described under Christian marriage in the elder's letter (Sept. '93).  It is equally important that these principles be modeled within the church, particularly as they pertain to teaching and authority.

Even if you hold that women may teach outside the pulpit, in the atmosphere of today’s church, you should consider this a "meat before idols" issue.  For the sake of the weaker brothers and sisters, we should emphasize God's order for men and women.  If a woman is allowed, for example, to teach in a mixed-gender adult Sunday school, her mate should be co-teaching with her.

Final Thoughts

As the church is called to submit to Christ, so a woman is to submit to her husband to display the relationship between Christ and His church to the world.  In this way, women model the submissive, obedient love the church is to express to her Lord.  The headship of the male is God-ordained in both the home and the church, and in turn, it models Christ's leadership of His bride.

Restricting godly and gifted women from particular teaching and leadership roles is not suppression, it is obeying God's order.  We should encourage the use of the gifts in appropriate settings and ministries. We should also be more aggressive in raising-up godly men who will be spiritual leaders at home and in church.

The absence of male leaders and teachers is a curse to our children as well as to the babes in Christ who need to see the model of God's order.  Should our young men be taught and led by women?  When men do not lead, women will fill the vacuum.  We do not want to become the object of Isaiah's lament, "My people ...women rule over them," (Isaiah 3:12).        

Because of these truths, we respectfully request that you:

(1) Revise the last two sentences of the September 1993 elder's letter to accurately reflect Scripture.

(2) Not permit women to teach from the pulpit.

(3) Not permit women to hold positions of authority over men in church.

(4) Identify specific activities in the church as they are appropriate to men and women.

(5) Seek to teach women the true meaning of submission in their roles within marriage and church, and model those in church.

(6) Seek to equip men to fulfill their God given duty to teach and lead.

Sincerely in the shared bonds of His love,

Steven & Carolyn

IS HOUSEWORK HOLY?

Recent question from one of my friends: 

“Did you ever address housework in the helpmeet study? I have some friends who seem to think spending time ministering to their friends and pouring their heart into others, but neglecting the home and angering their husbands, is ok because the ministering is "holy" and the housework is "physical" - the ministering is better, as if submission to the husband's desires is less holy.”

Response:

1. Any activity that fulfills a commandment of the Lord, irrespective of whether it's physical or spiritual in nature, is holy because obedience is the Christian’s true worship of God. In the case of your friends, their ministries are not holy because they are pursuing them against God’s specific commandment for wives to be subject to their husbands. (Reference: Genesis 3:16; Titus 2:5; I Peter 3:1; Ephesians 5:22; I Corinthians 11:3; Colossians 3:18)

2. From a human standpoint, I would also argue that these women are failing to understand the true nature of their home. In terms of crafting the life of the family, it is a woman’s most necessary tool. The home is essential to a wife in fulfilling God’s creation directive to be a suitable helpmeet to her husband. It also serves in training her children (including learning how to work through helping with housework), caring for the family in general (food/shelter/rest), practicing of hospitality, etc. Therefore, it is critical that her home (her “tool”) be sharp, clean, and as smooth-running as possible.

3. In scripture, there are no commandments (or even a passing mention) to men about keeping the home. It is simply not part of their role. On the other hand, there are plenty of verses for the women. (Reference: Proverbs 14:1; Proverbs 31:10-31; I Timothy 5:14; Titus 2:4)

A Few Additional Verses of Relevance:

•  I Timothy 5:9-10  No widow may be put on the list of widows unless she is over sixty, has been faithful to her husband, and is well known for her good deeds, such as bringing up children, showing hospitality, washing the feet of the saints, helping those in trouble, and devoting herself to all kinds of good deeds.

This is the gold standard for a Christian woman’s life and parallels the criteria for elders. It describes the life of a woman eligible for the financial support of the church so that she may devote her widowhood to prayer and petitions for the saints, rather than scrabbling for food and shelter. Note that housework can be considered a form of “footwashing” (i.e., an undesirable task) that we do for the others within our home, including both family and guests. Clearly there is also a call within these verses for women to minister to each other, but the following verse's citation cautions a limit to the more “verbal” types of ministry.

•  I Timothy 5:13-14  Besides, they get into the habit of being idle and going about from house to house. And not only do they become idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying things they ought not to. So I counsel younger widows to marry, to have children, to manage their homes and to give the enemy no opportunity for slander. Some have in fact already turned away to follow Satan.

This indicates that “ministering to their friends and pouring their heart into others” is not high on the list of proper expenditures of time for a woman, be she married or widowed. Notice, too, that being focused on her responsibilities at home serves as a protection from attack by the evil one.

•  Titus 2:3-5  Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.

I’m not sure you are physically old enough to qualify as an older woman, but spiritually, you are mature, my Sister. God is pleased with the things you are trying to teach your friends because they are consistent with His word, despite their nature running counter to the common culture. With kindness and without personal judgement, these are the Titus 2 things the mature Christian woman teaches less mature wives:

- “love husband and children” – Jesus showed us that real love bears a servant’s heart. A godly wife should love and desire to please her husband the way the Church seeks to love and please Christ.

- “be self-controlled” – Be sufficiently self-controlled to do the hard, not fun things first, like housework.

- “be busy at home” – This is considered best translated as "keepers at home," but translations of the verse are highly variable, e.g., "busy at home," "housekeepers," "workers at home," etc. It is sufficient, however it may be translated, that the first focus of woman’s responsibility lies within the home.

- “be subject to their husbands” – This is a command, not a suggestion.

- “so no one will malign the word of God” – Yikes! God says his daughter’s care of her house will also reflect on Him - for better or worse.

•  Proverbs 12:4  A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband; but she that maketh him ashamed is as rottenness in his bones.

A poorly managed home reflects badly on the husband because it does not reflect the wife’s loving interest in those that dwell within.

•  Judges 21:25 In those days Isreal had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.

    I Samuel 15

Concerning your friends’ insistence upon putting actions they view as ministry before their husband’s wishes, I am again reminded of Saul’s rebellion against the Lord’s commands regarding the loot and populace of the Amalekites. When confronted, Saul made a rather feeble excuse that he had saved the best cattle, etc. for a “future” sacrifice to God. In reality, he disobeyed because he wanted to do what suited himself best. In the same way, I believe your friends are best described as Isreal was in the last verse of Judges, i.e., they “live like they have no King.”

•  Proverbs 14:1 A wise woman builds her own house, but a foolish one with her own hands tears it down.

•  Proverbs 31:10-31 Paraphrased: A godly woman rises early to administer the home; works with willing hands; makes/manages family’s clothing and meals; keeps a garden; keeps her body strong; works late; maintains a home business for profit; cares for and rears her children; her work in the home is the source of praise for her.

TRUE WORSHIP AND THE WORD

(Transcripted from presentation at ALCF Mom's Time Out; April 25, 2013)

In today’s teaching, it’s my intention to narrow my focus to how essential a thorough knowledge of the Word is to being a “true worshipper” of God.

Jesus said: “Yet a time is coming, and has now come, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. God is a spirit, and His worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:23-24)

These words were spoken to a Samaritan woman Jesus had met while seated at a well in her village. The two of them got to talking, as people will, and Jesus was helpfully attempting to clear-up some misconceptions she had about the sort of worship God desires.

This woman’s people, the Samaritans, were a half-Jewish/half-Caananite community, who tried to worship God through a religious amalgam of the folk traditions of both cultures. Without much access to scripture, over time they had gotten way off-base in their practices and understanding of the Lord. They were worshipping on the wrong mountain, with the wrong priests, and the wrong offerings. As a result, their worship, though well-intentioned, was unacceptable to God.

In some ways, the Samaritan religion was rather like Islamic beliefs in that they featured pretty much the same cast of characters (e.g., God, Moses, Abraham, angels, etc.), but their vision of who God is and what He wants was completely torqued by their ignorance of scripture. The Samaritans were therefore doing what seemed right in their own eyes. They were worshipping not according to the revealed truth of scripture, but practicing their own brand of folk religion.

Unfortunately, there still remains a great deal of what I call “folk Christianity” related to what constitutes true worship. Anyone familiar with the whole Word of God will recognize this truth. The evil one is well aware of it, too. Since he knows scripture well, he realizes their importance in producing true worship. Therefore, he makes sure to keep Christians overly distracted and busy, busy, busy with volunteering, choir practices, serving, going to seminars, and reading Christian books, so that they don’t have time to spend reading their Bibles.

The goal of the evil one is to prevent Christians from knowing the heart of their King; but in truth, the Word is the very heart and mind of the Lord God.

I think we are all aware that we are in a daily spiritual battle. If you belong to God, you are a Soldier of the Cross. We are often under attack by the evil one, but even more frequently, our efforts at holiness are attacked by our own fallen flesh. To illustrate our predicament, and particularly that of a church-going Christian who does not read the Word of God for herself, I would like to offer you this metaphor:

Imagine yourself as a soldier on the battlefield who has just sustained a severe wound and been knocked-out. When you come to, you feel weak and cold. Shock is setting in. Several major arteries in your body have been severed and you are experiencing a tremendous loss of blood, yet by some miracle, you are still alive.

To your immense relief, you see your buddies racing toward you with a medic. They kneel beside you, tucking blankets around you snugly to counter the effects of shock. They bandage strategic places to bind your wounds. Unfortunately, they are not equipped to give you a much needed transfusion of strength-giving blood, so they offer you Gatoraide, help you to your feet, and send you to back to the battle.

You’ll manage, right?

And you do manage – just. You survive, but you remain very weak and pale, with your health undercut for years and years. Your condition is nowhere near the vibrant, effective warrior for which you had such potential.

In my metaphor, the buddies are the fellowship of believers in the church. The medic represents the good pastors and teachers who sacrificially give us the very best care they can. The strength-infusing transfusion the soldier needs is the Word of God, and therefore, the Gatoraide represents a sermon.

While the comfort and care of our brothers and sisters in Christ is very needful and a valid part of God’s master plan for Christian life, merely listening to teaching, even while it might be very pithy, is just a bandaid, not the cure for the blows sustained in our daily spiritual battles. By saying this, I am only attempting to point out that if we don’t get a direct infusion of the Word -- as opposed to just “interpretations” of the Word -- we are denied the thing that will give us the spiritual strength and clear-minded wisdom we need to go forth for the kingdom of heaven. 

Switching to the apostle Paul’s own analogy, the Word of God is the strong drink that nurtures growth to maturity. Only with spiritual maturity, we will become one of those “true worshippers” the Lord is seeking.

More to the point, the Kingdom of Heaven is our home country, so knowing your Bible will help you to actually feel "at home" there. Our earthly sanctification can be thought of as a process of repatriation into the Garden of Eden, where we once again walk and talk with the Lord face-to-face. And like the earthly process of becoming a citizen of a new country,  becoming a functioning citizen in the Kingdom of God requires study of that country’s ways and laws.

The Lord’s ways are meant to be our natural culture, yet in my personal experience, most of my earthly life has been a battle to overcome the selfish and ungodly urgings of my flesh. I have also struggled to overcome pressure to conform to the culture around me. I suspect this is quite a familiar state to most other Christians, too.

Surprisingly, this struggle against worldly pressure can even involve church culture when the church's practice strays from the Lord’s ways. Hence, the genesis of my phrase ‘folk Christianity’, wherein things are incorporated into the Christian life and worship that do not stem from His revealed Word. 

This situation occurs because, although the grace of God has transformed the natural will of His children to agree with His own through the process of being born again spiritually, we still have our fallen brains and fallen bodies dragging around with us. Until we receive our fully-sanctified bodies in resurrection, we struggle to be perfectly aligned with the will of God. You see, it just isn’t completely natural to us yet because we are not fully transformed.

This is why we need a guide book telling us how to be and to do in the Lord’s kingdom. Your Bible is that guidebook.  Without it, God’s people make gaffs, omissions, and worst of all, offer Him ‘strange worship’, as opposed to the true worship He seeks. And we are completely without excuse because all we need to know for a godly life is carefully revealed in scripture. Absolutely everything is covered in the Word: How to eat healthily -- what to wear -- who to marry -- how to get along with people -- how to spend your free time -- how to raise your kids -- what to think about global warming -- even what best to do with a dead body.

As the hymn, How Firm a Foundation, says, “What more can He say than to you He has said?” There is no new revelation because nothing more is needed. God's Word to us in the scriptures is complete and comprehensive for every thing in life.

The voice of the Holy Spirt will always and only whisper a reiteration of what the Lord has already said in the Bible. Therefore, you will only be able to know if those thoughts in your mind are His, or, God forbid, yours, by whether they match His Word. This also applies to those “prophesies” some people like to offer you. If anything does not match the Word, or purports to be new revelation, it’s not from God.

Basically, if you don’t spend time letting the Lord speak to you through scripture, you won’t be able to discern the source of those thoughts, and you will constantly be trying to figure out God’s will for you, instead living with the utter peace that comes from already knowing it.

So what is the best method for acquiring this kind of knowledge?

Just read your Bible! Every day reading is best. It is rather like the manna the Lord provided to the Israelites, whose freshness was good for the day only. Like them, you need to take your little bucket out daily and gather a new supply to live on.

At this point, I must confess that I’d been a Christian for about seven years before I read the Bible for myself. As a new believer, my brother and his wife had prayed that I would be given a hunger for scripture, so I was well past the gentle nudges of the Holy Spirit by this time. He was literally shouting at me, and I felt a huge burden of guilt for the neglect. I was more like a stick-figure sketch of a Christian, than a real portrait.

With that confession, I want to read my testimony to you about how I learned to be in the Word because I don’t want to misstate anything:

“In the late 1970’s, I was operating a little day care in my home, so I wasn’t able to attend any women’s Bible studies, or even listen to teaching on CD because the children in my care required my full attention. I believe now that God arranged these circumstances because He wanted me to spend time with Him alone. It was His intention that I listen to only His voice with no interference, speculation, or theorizing from others.

The Holy Spirit had me under considerable pressure, so I embarked on a plan to read through the Bible in one year by using one of the most common systems available at the time and reading its corresponding commentary.

I chose to do this during the children’s naptime.

Soon, however, I began to notice that what I was reading in the Word frequently did not match the teaching in the commentary. In response, I would re-read the passages even more closely just to be sure I wasn’t mistaken. It was confounding. This happened on a number of days during the first month resulting in my loss of faith - - in the commentator.

It seems the writer held a particular theological position into which he tried to ‘shoehorn’ each segment -- even when something didn’t fit his mold. I chucked the commentary at that point, but kept on with its very accommodating reading schedule.

Every day thereafter, I would start my Bible reading by confessing to the Lord that my dark mind wasn’t able to understand spiritual things. He tells us this truth in the Bible; but clueless me had to experience a seminary graduate’s failures to understand how truly disadvantaged I was. If the trained author of that commentary couldn’t get it right, how could I?

I asked God to teach me Himself and to protect me from error. I didn’t use any commentaries or other books going forward, I just read slowly, carefully, and attentively for about 30 minutes each day as the children slept.

It is from this first experience that I have remained convinced that the Holy Spirit alone is entirely sufficient to teach His people truth. To this day, I’m always suspicious that anything added by a human will probably be dross.

At the end of my first reading through the Bible, I knew something of God at last; and interestingly, He wasn’t much like the God about whom I had been taught in church. I don’t fault my teachers for this. The Lord is just too fierce and too immense for anyone to convey adequately. His love is too consuming, His anger too searing. His will is insistent and unalterable. And He’s not at all like us, (for instance, He can be intensely jealous and it’s a good thing); therefore, only He can express the fullness of His being.”

Among the many revelations new to me after my very first read through the Bible, I was most startled to learn that the Lord has a love language. (Could this is another way humanity is made in His image?) God's love language is obedience.

No one had ever pointed this out to me before, even though the Lord plainly and repeatedly says, “If you love Me, keep My Word.” (John 14:15). This desire is expressed all over the Bible, from Genesis through Revelations, phrased in many ways. I just hadn’t known it because I hadn’t been listening directly to Him.

All I had ever been taught in my previous church experience was a continual cautioning to avoid being like the Pharisees. The Pharisees were a Jewish sect who tried to live in stringent compliance with Biblical law with a goal of winning God's favor for themselves. This mindset is often referred to as Legalism. After reading the Bible for myself, I now understood that the obedience God seeks can superficially appear similar, but it stems from a very different motive. He longs for obedience that is founded solely on our love and trust for Him.

This is heart-obedience is the very particular worship the Lord seeks. It praises His wisdom. It expresses maximum trust in His sovereignty. It is the highest complement to His good will. And isn’t that the very definition of worship?

So, while it can include them, true worship is not the songs, or the tithing, or the good works, or even the sermon. True worship is our obedience to the Father, and we can’t offer it without knowing what He seeks. When we read our Bibles, we are preparing our hearts to worship the Lord.

So now I think I can hear some of you thinking, “Carolyn, what do you mean when you say true worship is obedience to the Word of God? Give us some examples.”

Though I can think of a myriad of examples, here are three quick ones for you:

1. Imagine anger flashing in your heart; but instead of  expressing it, you quash it because you know the verse that says God’s righteousness can’t be displayed in man’s anger. Any woman who quenches her anger for the Lord’s sake is offering Him true worship as she lays her anger aside because of her love for Him. OR -

 2. Picture a woman who conducts herself as a wife, not as the world recommends, but according to the plan laid out in scripture because she knows God intends her to be a picture for all to see of how the church responds to her husband Jesus. By demonstrating the willingness and love of the church toward the Lord in her relationship with her husband, she is offering God true worship. OR -

3. Imagine yourself sharing your home, time, provision and companionship with others -- even when you have no such inclination -- because you understand that the Lord wants His children to demonstrate His own graciousness through hospitality. This is offering God true worship.

What I am trying to express is that we worship the Lord with actions that not only demonstrate the honor expected in His worship, but actions that spring out of love for Him. Everything else is window dressing.

The Lord wants to be in a continual conversation with us. Prayer is simply us talking to Him. The Word is God speaking to us. While the Lord certainly does want us to talk to Him – we were created to fellowship with Him, afterall -- He decidedly wants to be the conversational leader.

Every wisdom and blessing you need for your family is in the Word! Our clever and mighty Lord has given His Word to us in a format understandable for the simplest person, yet deep and complex enough the greatest mind. 

I caution you now about spending your precious time reading books “about” the Bible. These are not necessarily bad, but they remind me of the old movie “Multiplicity” in the way they offer a copy of a copy of a copy. As modern mothers, I understand that your time is subject to many demands and, therefore, quite limited. Just as I would advise a physically ill friend not to eat junk, but go for quality food to restore their health, I counsel you to go for the "quality spiritual food" - the Bible alone - for your study time.

In the hope of encouraging you to go forward with your reading, I would like to offer you five simple suggestions to help get you into the Bible on a daily basis.

1. Pick a time for Bible reading and be rigid about it. Tell the children they may not interrupt when you are listening to the Lord. Explain that you need to listen to Him everyday, or you won’t be able to be a good mommy for them. Don’t let anything short of blood or a fire stop you.

2. Remember, you just need to show up on the page! Our Lord will be pleased to honor your commitment to hearing Him by opening His Word to your understanding. Count on the Holy Spirit to do all the heavy lifting.

It is extremely important that you read the whole Bible, so that you can hear and receive the whole counsel of our unchanging Lord. Even at a rate of one chapter per day, you can read through the entire Bible once every three years!

3. Be sure to read the Bible openly in front of the children. This is part of your ministry to them. It demonstrates the importance you place on the time you spend hearing from God and is a testimony that will speak louder and longer to your children than your words.

4. Don’t be presumptuous in your approach to the Word. Always thank God for speaking to you and ask Him for help to understand. Ask Father for the faith to believe His message. Faith is a gift, you know, and Father loves to give gifts!

5. Understand that it is absolutely okay not to “get it” when you read a passage.

When I read scripture that I don’t understand, I just place a question mark next to it with my pencil. It is one of the major joys of my life to be able to erase those marks as the years go by. It assures me that the Lord is sharing more and more of His heart with me.

Oddly, I’ve found that I’m even happier to add new question marks in places that I thought I had previously understood. Somewhat counter-intuitively, this tells me that I am making progress because you know you really don't get it when you don't even have any questions!

I’ll close with a simple message from the Lord found in Deuteronomy 6:6. He says, "These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart." His words are the core of His leadership for your life, and they will assuredly travel to your heart through the reading the Bible.