Biblical Femininity for Everyday Life

A couple of nights ago our MuMS group met for the first time in 2007. We are planning to study together Feminine Appeal by Carolyn Mahaney and by way of introduction, we listened to a talk given by her daughter Nicole Whitacre, entitled "Biblical Femininity for Everyday Life". She centres her talk around a helpful definition of biblical femininity written by Jeff Purswell:

Biblical Femininity suggest an inner disposition that is supportive, responsive and nurturing in its various roles, responsibilities and relationships.

We thought about how we can be supportive of our husbands, realising that we must think about how we can create an environment to enable them to fulfil their individual callings in the home, at church and the workplace. Nicole gave the example of Sarah Edwards who "studied to suit" her husband Jonathan.

We also thought about being responsive to our husband's leading. We must allow him to lead and not usurp his God-given authority by expressing our opinions in a forceful or overbearing manner. Someone mentioned how important tone of voice is here, as we may all too easily speak to our husband in a way that is nagging or undermines him.

Thirdly, Nicole emphasises that as wives, the primary focus of our nurturing efforts should be our husbands, before even our children. One of her descendants described Sarah Edwards as "a resting place for [Jonathan's] soul". This was a challenge to us all as we considered whether this is something our husbands could say of us.

I encourage you to listen to the talk in full here. Even if you're not married, this talk is also worth listening to, as Nicole spends a lot of time applying these truths to single women.

Raising Children who Hope in the Triumph of God

We met together for the third meeting of our MuMS - Making Mothering Significant - group this week and once again listened to a sermon by John Piper, this time entitled Raising Children who Hope in the Triumph of God. In it, Piper starts with Ephesians 6:4:

"Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord."

Piper states:

Anger comes from feeling that a parent's rules are petty and trivial—that they don't have anything to do with something really great or important. But a child who sees that the rules of the home and their consistent enforcement are connected to some great vision of life and some great cause to live for will not harbour resentment toward their parents...

So I think it is in the spirit and wording of our text today to say that the great challenge for parents is to give their children a vision of God's triumph in the world, and to instill in them the thrilling hope of fighting on the side of truth and righteousness and joy and victory.

We discussed what it means in practice to have this vision for our children above all others. Our aim when we discipline our children should be as a tool to enable to live lives that glorify God, not because they irritate us or to increase our comfort. Piper gives ten things parents must do to raise children who hope in the triumph of God; these can be found in the transcript of the talk here, where the audio can also be downloaded.

In particular, we discussed how we can effectively pray for and with our children, and how we can keep the Bible central to our family lives. We had a great time of sharing and encouragement and I would urge you to find time to listen to the talk. Have a pen handy to jot down Piper's ten points!

All of the talks we have listened to as well as seven others are available on a set of CDs which can be purchased from Desiring God Ministries.

Educating for Hope

We had the second meeting of our MuMS group on Tuesday night where we listened to the talk Education for Hope, the second talk in the series Raising children who hope in the triumph of God from Desiring God ministries. You can listen to the talk here.

Piper bases his talk around Psalm 78:1-8, where Asaph introduces his Psalm recounting the history of Israel and God's faithfulness to them. Piper splits the talk into three headings: God's work, Asaph's act and God's aim.

Piper explains that God has given us a testimony that we can look to in educating our children about him, namely his law. Yet how often do we as parents look everywhere else for advice on bringing up our children instead of examining what God says in his word or going to him in prayer?

Aspah acted on God's command to tell future generations about him by writing this psalm; in the psalm, he focuses on the deeds of God before the commands of God and Piper urges us to impart to our chidren a true and full picture of who God is so that they can understand who they are to obey.

Finally, the aims of this education that Asaph is continuing are to impart knowledge of God so that our children can love him, to encourage our children to put their hope in God and to result in our children obeying God's commands.

The need for us to help our children to obey God was brought home to me afresh yesterday morning as I read Spurgeon's commentary on 1 Samuel 15:22 in Morning and Evening. Here Samuel is reprimanding Saul who has disobeyed the express command of God. He says "Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to listen than the fat of rams."

Spurgeon states: "Be it ever in your remembrance, that to keep strictly in the path of your Saviour's command is better than any outward form of religion; and to hearken to his precept with an attentive ear is better than to bring the fat of rams, or any other precious thing to lay upon his altar. If you are failing to keep the least of Christ's commands to his disciples, I pray you be disobedient no longer. All the pretensions you make of attachment to your Master, and all the devout actions which you may perform, are no recompense for disobedience."

We must teach our children about God so that they can grasp the full glory of his character and understand who it is that demands their obedience.

Will the Next Generation Know?

Last night, Catriona and I had the privilege of hosting the first meeting of MuMS - Making Mothering Significant. This is a new discipleship intiative of the Women's Ministry of Charlotte Chapel where we meet to study together what the bible says about being a mum as God intended. For our first meeting we listened to a sermon by John Piper a pastor from Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis. We listened to a talk, 'Will the Next Generation Know?' from a series entitled "Raising Children who Hope in the Triumph of God." You can purchase this series from Desiring God Ministries or listen online here.

Piper's sermon was based on Judges 2:6-11 where we find that throughout the lifetime of Joshua and those who had witnessed the great things of the Lord, the people served the Lord. However, after Joshua's death and that whole generation, another generation grew up who did not know the Lord nor what he had done for Israel and did what was evil in God's sight. As a result God's anger burned against them. Piper brought out 3 lessons:

1. Wherever the knowledge of God, his greatness, his grace and his works are preserved especially by those who have experienced it, there is faith and obedience.
2. If we, as parents allow our children to grow up without this knowledge, we not only serve their ignorance, but their destruction.
3. Therefore, it is the solemn duty of all parents to instruct their children about God. Simple, but needful.

I was reminded about this again today in my devotions. Psalm 71:18 reads, "Even when I am old and grey, do not forsake me O God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come." Don Carson commented helpfully in For the Love of God: A Daily Companion for Discovering the Treasures of God's Word: "David's vision is more comprehensive than mere protection. He wants so to live in old age that he passes on his witness to the next generation. His aim is not to live comfortably in retirement, but to use his senior years to 'declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come.' That is a prayer eminently worth praying. Should not senior saints be praying for grace to pass on what they have learned to a new generation? Perhaps this will be one on one or in small groups. Perhaps one of them will take under his or her wing some young Christian."

And so the biblical reminder to 'pass on' what he have learned is not just for the parents of children but for all Christians, young and especially older. Will we 'pass on' what we have experienced and know of God to be true? Will we sit at the feet of another whom we have much to learn from?