Will's Class' Aussie/Gospel Music Program

It's hard to see Will on these videos (he's in the second row) plus we had some Eli assistance when it came to holding steady :P but at least you'll get a taste of the K-2 music program we enjoyed last Friday.  Click on the links to view.

Kookaburra
Everlasting Arms

Call it...

"'Da Beast"...

"Bertie the Bus"...

"The Abominable Snow Monster"...

"The Great White"...

Call it what you will, we had maxed out our mini-van and needed a larger vehicle before Baby Six arrives.  This 12-passenger Chevy Express is it.  The kids love it, and, in spite of my trepidation, it's not too bad to drive...though my parking needs some help - just ask Marie, who has to hop out of the van and announce, "Yep, you're on the line again, Mom!" nearly every time we stop.  

Random Misc.

Nath typing a letter - letter-by-letter - to cousin Evan

How 'bout them Angry Bird rain boots?

Caleb came...and brought his train!

Yay!

Marie typing a letter - letter-by-letter - to cousin Kara.

Leah and friend Grace's Cherokee Indian longhouse and cradleboard.

What's Eli smilin' about?

Motorcycle rides, of course!
(And yes, our neighbor sometimes comes home towing a rock-climbing wall. :-)

Will always plays better for an audience...even if that audience is Eli.

Sporting his new specs.

Matching Will and Nath playing some sort of fishing game they invented on the trampoline.

Leah's fire pit.

Our neighbor across the street had his driveway re-poured...

...that made for two whole days worth of entertainment!

Caleb came, then left for four days before coming back...reason enough for a "Welcome Back" party...
(Leah's idea, and the planning/preparations kept the kids busy for the better part of a day.  Woo-hoo!  :-)

...complete with gifts...

...a "Welcome Back" banner...

....party hats...

...a fuzzy bunny with pink bows on its ears (just what Caleb needs, of course ;-)...

...ceiling streamers....

...doughnuts and ice water...

...and lots of smiles.

What a fun party!

Leah plays better for an audience, too.

Almost through the alphabet!

Two cuddly boys in the bed - 

what a cozy way to start the day!

Sanctification on Spring Break

Tim Challies, one of my favorite Christian bloggers, has tackled 1 Tim. 2:15.  He concedes that the text does not use the word “saved” to refer to the grounds on which a woman is justified.  Neither does he interpret the “she” in the text as Mary, nor does he treat the entire verse metaphorically, equating Adam with Christ, Eve with the Church, and childbearing with good works.  Rather, he suggests that Eve’s singular calling would save her and her daughters from the negative connotations of being the one that initiated the Fall.  But while it’s true that “the woman, being deceived, was in the transgression,” it’s still in Adam, the head of the human race, that all died (1 Cor. 15:20).  So is that all that the text means?

In understanding this verse, we must first remember whom Paul is addressing.  He’s writing to young pastor Timothy, and through him, to the church at Ephesus.  The women he addresses are believers.  This is affirmed in the latter half of the verse: not all women are saved in childbearing, only those who “continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.”

When I ponder what it means that women are “saved” in childbearing, Phil. 2:5-13 comes to mind.  In that passage Paul calls the Philippians to claim the humble mind of Christ.  He reminds them that even though Christ is God, He “made Himself of no reputation,” “humbled Himself, “and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him,” writes Paul, “and given Him a name that is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow…and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”  Then he commands each of them, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”  Paul is not implying that one needs to be terrified lest he lose his salvation.  In fact, he is not implying that salvation is dependent upon us at all, “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.”  Rather, he is encouraging the Philippians to live a life of holiness, to be active in their sanctification, the process by which God takes those who have been born again and makes them holy.  One who is separated to God reverences Him and fears doing anything that might displease Him.  God – through Paul – calls believers to live a life in which their every thought, word, and deed is held captive by this reality: Jesus Christ is Lord.  In that way, God is glorified in and through them.   

Now back to 1 Tim. 2:15.  When Paul writes that women will be saved in child-bearing, he means that ordinarily God sanctifies believing women through their calling to be child-bearers.  Yes, there are exceptions, but God prepares the majority of Christian women for their place in heaven – He makes them holy – by requiring them to humble themselves in the service of children.  This is the way in which I – and you, fellow Christian mother – am compelled to daily crucify the old man within me.  This is the way in which I am confronted moment-by-moment with this reality: Jesus Christ is Lord.  When He gives children, Jesus Christ is Lord.  When He withholds children, Jesus Christ is Lord.  When I am faced with the myriad of trials that accompany little ones – or, someday soon, teenagers – He is Lord.  When I am tempted to think that there must be something more important that I could be doing with all my time and energy, He is Lord.  He has called me to be a mother, and when I respond in joyful obedience to His will for my life, I confess that He is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

              As I write this, it’s the second day of spring break.  This means that I’m attempting just enough to keep everyone active and amused in our suddenly disrupted routine, but I have a 9-year-old competitor when it comes to “the plan for the day” and a 7-year old who readily runs out of things to do.  A few necessary errands are on the agenda, though they will entail all five kids in tow and (likely) sympathetic glances at my pregnant belly.  Spring break is a taste of summer…and at this point, that’s somewhat terrifying to me.

                A while back a young single friend posed me this question:  “What about motherhood has been most unexpected for you?”  I had my answer right away: I never expected motherhood to be so difficult.  As a child I aspired to be a mother.  When our oldest was born, I threw myself into motherhood, and I was sure that I was going to love every moment of it.  I was going to be that mom who never raised her voice, laughed and smiled all the time, took my well-behaved children on frequent outings, and served delicious, nutritious meals right on time every day, all while maintaining a clean, carefully-decorated home. 

                Now, 10+ years in and (almost) six children later, I can confess that I probably raise my voice every day, but I’m not sure how often I laugh.  Outings are exhausting.  Supper – even if on time – usually entails at least one or two parties who express displeasure with what’s been prepared (though not vocally, of course, at least in Dad’s presence).  My home is generally littered with all kinds of items that have been removed from their designated places and left lying in just the spot where I’m destined to step when I’m up in the middle of the night.

God’s Word has a response to these difficulties that I repeatedly find so unexpected: “My brethren,” writes Peter in 1 Pet.4:12, “think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you: but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings…”  James puts it this way: “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into diverse temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience…” (James 1:2-3).  We who are the Lord’s disciples must expect trials all our life long, whether we are mothers or not.  When we face those trials humbly, obediently, they result in godly patience, in our being made “perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”  The path of the just that is as a shining light, shining more and more to the perfect day, is a narrow, difficult climb.  For we who are mothers, the difficulties that we encounter along that way are usually related to child-bearing.  They come in the form of physical pain, lack of sleep, squabbles, the sorrow of seeing our own sins and sinfulness manifested in our children…and the list could go on and on.

But there is great blessedness in our calling, too, mothers, if only we are willing to see it.  We are blessed when we sit down with our children to read a Bible story, rehearse a memory verse, or explain why, as God’s children, we speak and act a certain way.  Admittedly, this blessing stings sometimes.  Try teaching your children about controlling their temper when just moments ago you were the one short on patience.  Or admonish your children to be content with the things that they have as you mope about the laundry pile or fume over the milk on the floor.  The blessing comes, too, in the daunting awareness that as Christian mothers we care for God’s children, the children to whom the promises are (Acts 2:39).  The blessing comes in the assurance that day by day God equips us for this calling – He gives us the gifts and the grace that we need.   The blessing comes in this life in the way of a home where God is praised, though always imperfectly, and where there is joy and love among the members.  And above all, the blessing continues into eternity, where we will live with our children in the presence of Him who is fullness of joy.

"Saved": What it Cannot Mean

I remember well a discussion of Proverbs 31 that took place in one of my college literature classes.  The professor, along with several of my classmates, used that well-known Scripture passage to attempt to demonstrate that traditionally-held, Biblical roles for male and female are, in fact, not Biblical at all.  They argued that the virtuous woman is a businesswoman, an entrepreneur, a farmer, a designer.  They were right, she is all those things.  What they failed to recognize was that all of her work – from her spinning to her buying a field – revolved around provision for her household.  As a result of her work, her husband, children, and servants were finely dressed, well-fed, and diligently nurtured.  The Proverbs 31 woman is an exemplary “child-bearer.”

                I explained in a previous column that the term “childbearing” as it used in 1 Tim. 2:15 includes not only carrying and giving birth to children, but rearing them as well.  I noted, too, that women who are not mothers can still be “child-bearers” through their hospitality and nurture of strangers and saints.  But what does the text mean when it says that this is the way in which women are saved?  

                Let’s consider first what it cannot mean.  The word “saved” in this context cannot refer to the grounds on which a woman is justified before the Almighty God.  Scripture is clear that our salvation is not founded on our works:  “For it is by grace ye are saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:8).  Acts 4:12 is one of many passages that clearly state that salvation is in Jesus Christ alone, “for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”  Jesus affirmed this: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me” (John 14:6).  This is true for male and female, bond and free (Gal. 3:28).  Additionally, we can be certain that Paul does not intend to imply that child-bearing merits salvation by looking back several verses in this very chapter.  There, in verse 5, he writes, “For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”

It is following this line of thought that some define the “she” in 1 Tim.  2:15 text typologically, understanding the pronoun to refer to Mary, the “second Eve” and the mother of Christ, through whose Child-bearing all of God’s people – including herself – are saved.  A variety of commentators suggest this position, reasoning that since Jesus had no human father, women acquire a special dignity by being the gender through which Christ came.[1]  It’s true that Christ is referred to as “her seed” in Genesis 3:15, but since Mary is not mentioned at all in the context, this interpretation seems a stretch.  It also looms dangerously close to making “child-bearing” the work which saves women.  It is not the mere fact that Christ was born that saves: His suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension earned eternal life for us. 

 Another popular Christian author interprets the passage also typologically, but differently: she suggests that the “Adam” in the text is Christ, “Eve” is the Church, and the “childbearing” in which the Church is saved is “fruit bearing in Christ” – i.e. good works.  According to her, this interpretation “solves the conundrum of thinking that Paul is saying that women are saved by giving birth to biological children.”[2]  It is also a view that, in her opinion, “reinforces the profound mutuality of men and women,” for “both are church. Both are saved by the type of union that results in spiritual children—the union with our husband, Christ. Both must continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.”  Essentially, she takes a text that refers directly to women and attempts to make it politically correct.  Granted, her perspective accounts for the reality that not all women are mothers.  But we’ve already established that Paul does not use the word “saved” in the sense which she implies, and the typological way in which she reads the passage seems forced.  Not to mention, even though fewer women are choosing to bear children in our day, more women are still mothers than are not. 

[1] Barnes, commentary on 1 Tim. 2:15

[2] http://www.girlsgonewise.com/women-typology-and-1-timothy-2-15/

"Notwithstanding..."

                The theme of the book of I Timothy is summarized in its third chapter, verses 14-15.  There Paul writes this to his spiritual son, Timothy: “These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly: but if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.”

This instruction for the church begins in chapter one with a warning not to give heed to false teachers.  It continues in the second chapter, first with an exhortation that God’s people pray for all kinds of men, especially for rulers and those in authority.  Then Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, addresses the conduct of men and women in the church.  He notes that we must be more concerned with the inward adorning of our hearts than the outward adorning of our bodies (see also I Pet. 3:3-6).   He points out that God created Adam to lead; therefore, women are called to learn in silence.  He draws attention to the fact that it was when Eve assumed the authority that was her husband’s, answering Satan instead of referring him to her God-given head, that she fell.

I know that this teaching of the Bible is not popular today, even in the church world.  It’s a view that’s politically incorrect and largely regarded as anti-feminist.  Nevertheless, it’s God’s Word.  It’s a truth that’s asserted from the first chapters of Genesis, where Eve is created to be Adam’s help, to the final chapters of Revelation, in which the marriage of Jesus Christ the Lamb and His bride, the Church, is finally and fully realized.  (For texts closely related to 1 Tim. 2, see I Cor. 11:3-12, I Cor. 14:34-35, and Eph. 5:22-33.)  It’s part of our sinful nature, dear sisters, that we desire the role given to men.  It’s not the fact that Adam would rule over Eve that was a part of her curse, it was the reality that now she would chafe under that rule. 

I’ve written this before, but it bears repeating: Christianity does not promote equality.  Certainly, “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).  And God calls His people from both genders and from all classes (Gal. 3:28).  He is our Father; we are sisters and brothers, heirs together of the grace of life (1 Peter 3:7).  And yet, though He views each of us in Christ as a beloved child, He calls us to occupy different places here on earth.  I Timothy 2 and 3 agree with all of Scripture in affirming that men are called to be the office bearers in the church – and that includes pastors, elders, and deacons. 

“Nothwithstanding,” begins verse 15 of chapter two, meaning, “but,” “nevertheless” or, “in spite of.”  The inspired apostle begins with that conjunction to emphasize that though women are not called to lead, God has given them a place, a place which they alone are able to occupy.  “Nothwithstanding,” he writes, “she shall be saved in childbearing.”

Already you can hear the snickers and the scoffs, can you not?  Perhaps objections rise up in your own heart – they certainly do in mine.  “Keep the woman barefoot and pregnant right?  Don’t allow her any time to socialize or to develop her own gifts.”  It’s our tendency to think that way, isn’t it?  But God has given us women a calling – a high calling – and He has equipped us for that task.

What is comprised in the term “childbearing”?  First, that expression does not refer simply to conceiving a child and carrying that child to term.  “Childbearing” includes the rearing of and caring for children as well.  This is evident later in I Timothy where the younger women are instructed to “marry, bear children, guide the house” and where the true widow is described as one who has “brought up children.”  What about single women?  What about the unmarried woman without children?  For them, “childbearing” includes the rest of those of those qualifications that define the true widow: “if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints’ feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work” (I Tim. 4:10).

…To be continued…

Saturday afternoon "jam" session

Caleb's here - he'll be attending Loveland's annual retreat this coming week.  Ray and Steve E. joined him and B.J. yesterday afternoon with their banjos and guitars.  Click on the links to watch the videos.

Amazing Grace
Are you Washed in the Blood?
Ray