Does It Really Mean That?

I was the substitute teacher for the oldest ladies Sunday School class.  When you are the pastor of a small church, you are also the substitute teacher for every class, as well as the part-time janitor, occasional soloist, and professional exterminator.

I was called in one Sunday when the regular teacher called in sick.  I think she was faking it.  Sure she was 92, it was winter, flu season, and there was two inches of snow in the ground, but she could have made it if she had wanted to.  With little notice, I walked into a class of six older women who had braved the cold and the flu to be in church. 

Any one of these ladies could have taught the class.   They had all grown up in that church, accepted Christ in that fellowship, and been baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.   They had heard countless sermons, Wednesday devotionals, and sat in Sunday School longer than I had been alive.

That church was near one of the finest seminaries in the world.  Through the years, seminary professors had served as part-time pastors.   Some of the finest preachers Baptists ever produced preached from the pulpit.  Starting after World War II, a procession of doctoral students served as pastors, living in the stone parsonage the church had constructed next door to the historic building.  One former pastor read the text from the original Greek each Sunday. Pastors were often measured not by how well they did as pastor, but what they went on to do afterwards.  These brilliant students became professors, missionaries, denominational executives, and pastors of prominent churches.  Somehow, I wound up in that long, distinguished line.

So, there I was, twenty-five years old, teaching eighty- and ninety-year-old women on a chilly Kentucky Sunday morning.  The lesson was on the Sermon on the Mount, the part in Matthew 5 where Jesus says, “Love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you.”  As I taught through the passage, I noticed the attention of the women was slipping.  One class member looked out the window, one seemed to be studying the picture of the Last Supper behind my head, and a third was asleep.  I knew this because her upper plate had slipped, and her false teeth hung precariously in her open mouth.

I knew these women had heard all this before, so I went to the tried and true tool of every teacher to re-engage the class.   I asked them to name their enemies. 

The two or three women who were hanging with me, looked puzzled.  One of them spoke up and said, “I don’t believe I have any enemies.”  Something about the word “enemies” woke up the one sleeping woman.  She clicked her teeth back into place, and said, “Well I have had several enemas and believe they are no fun.”  The woman next to her poked her in the side and shushed her, saying, “He said enemies, not enemas.”

Things they never taught me in seminary: how to help older women know the difference between enemies and enemas. 

Sometimes when I preach or teach, thoughts come into my head.  I’m not always sure if they are from the devil or from God.  At this moment, a thought crossed my mind, and before I could stop, my mouth started moving: “An enemy is anyone who means you harm.  Someone who gossips about you (I knew this crowd had a black belt in gossip).  Someone who steals what you own or steals your husband.  Someone who wants to harm your country.  Someone who wants to hurt you and doesn’t care that you hurt.  Jesus says to love them.  And Jesus said we ought to pray for them.  How much of your prayer time is praying for people you don’t like?”

This actually seemed pretty obvious to me. 

There was stunned silence for a moment.  Apparently, despite all the great preaching and teaching these women had heard through the years, this was a new thought.  After an uncomfortable few seconds, Mrs. Sue Flowers, the matriarch of the church, fixed me with a stern gaze and pronounced, “Well, it doesn’t mean that.”

Funny how you can sit in church for decades and still not hear the plain meaning of Jesus’ words: “Love your enemies.  Pray for those who persecute you.”  Funny how people want to simply deny the plain meaning of words when the words make them squirm.

Mark Twain supposedly said, “Some people are troubled by the things in the Bible they can't understand. The things that trouble me are the things I can understand…”

I think Jesus meant what he said.  Whether it troubles us or not.  So, think the people who really get on your nerves.  People who have hurt you.  People who disagree with you politically.  Your obnoxious neighbor.  Your ex.  People who want to attack our country.  Jesus said Love them.  Pray for them.  The only question left is what are you going to do?

Should Women Go Home?

John MacArthur, a well-known preacher, was recently asked what he would say to Beth Moore, a well-known Bible Teacher.  His response: “Go home.”

What MacArthur implied was Beth Moore has no business teaching the Bible.  She needs to stay home and do whatever woman are supposed to do at home.

 My Momma read me Bible stories when I was little.  Momma read with expression.  She made you feel the fear in Moses’ voice, “Who am I to lead such a people?”  When she came to the parts of the story where God said, “Go!” the way Momma read, you knew you had to go.  She sounded just like God. 

 My Aunt Faye would tell my Sunday School Class stories at church.  In fact, I’m pretty sure all my Sunday School teachers were women until fifth grade.

 When I went to college, our campus minister, Esther Burroughs, taught an eight-week series on Love, Sex, and Marriage.  Those eight weeks introduced me to things I’d never thought of before, like the whole idea that sex in marriage could be joyous. 

 Esther would re-enter my life when I was in my thirties.  I heard her speak to a group of pastors.  I’ll never forget these sentences: “Pastors, the church is the bride of Christ.  Your bride is at home.”  I was beyond convicted. 

 At the Global Leadership Summit this year, I heard Liz Bohannon speak about taking a risk.  After college she went to Uganda to empower young women, ended up founding a company, and changing the lives of thousands.  I thought about the times my fears kept me home instead of boldly going where the real needs are.

 I was in a church meeting once when two men got into an argument.  There were nine of us present.   Six of us watching these men nearly come to blows.  Then Pat Hobbs, one of the wisest women I know, spoke up, calmed the waters, and got us back on track.

I’m glad these women did not stay home.

 Sometimes people aren’t sure if the Bible is for or against women.

 For.

 Okay, that might not be enough of an explanation.  The Bible is not anti-women, not by a long shot.   The Bible often describes events without approving of them.  It tells us that Eve first succumbed to temptation.  There was punishment.  But it also makes clear that Adam succumbed, and he was punished also.  In 1 Timothy 2:13-15 it does tell us about the order of creation (Adam first, then Eve) and the order of temptation (Eve first, then Adam).  But Paul was relating this Christian conduct, especially in worship – women should learn in quietness and in full submission.  Apparently, women were being loud and disruptive.  It’s the next verse that gives people trouble: “I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent.”  Do you notice what’s missing from this verse?  The statement that a man must teach woman and a man must have authority over a woman. 

 Paul also wrote in Galatians 3:28: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”  The point in the New Testament is that all must first submit to the authority of Jesus – He is the head of the His church.  I believe the passages about women’s conduct in the New Testament are simple reminders for women not to abuse their new freedom in Christ.  The same would be true for men.

 Christian faith has done more than any world faith system to elevate the status of women.  Marriage was elevated from the idea of property and child-bearing to one of intimacy and love (see Song of Solomon).  In the Old Testament, women were accorded rights – for the first time in the ancient world.  If those rights are not what we would expect, we forget that all systems of liberty and rights begin with valuing the person – no matter the race, economic status, or gender.

 I think John MacArthur really missed it.  Beth Moore needs to use the gifts God gave her.  I don’t think the world needs fewer Bible teachers. 

 There is much more to say – but let’s be clear – the Bible teaches that man and woman need redemption – and it is offered to both.  That’s the greatest equality of all.