MAMA BEARS, SEX, AND SERVANTHOOD

 

 

Serving is a glorious calling. Jesus came as a servant, not for His own benefit but for the benefit of others. Therefore, we must not disdain the role of a servant:

 

·       Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:5–8)

 

We are called to be like Jesus. However, servanthood requires humility, we seek roles that will bestow recognition upon us. Several of Jesus’ Apostles were craving rules of leadership in His Kingdom. However, Jesus saw fit to reset their priorities:

 

·       “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:25–28)

 

To be greatest is to be least in the eyes of society. However, this isn’t the way that the Lord regards us:

·       Thus says the LORD: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. (Isaiah 66:1–2)

 

Although Jesus is every bit God, He is content to take a subservient position to the Father:

 

·       But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. (1 Corinthians 11:3)

 

Even though in His essence (nature) Jesus is no less God than the Father, we get no indication whatsoever that He is dissatisfied with His subservient role. Instead, He delighted in giving the preeminence to the Father:

·       And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear. (Isaiah 11:2–3)

 

Nevertheless, Jesus had been essential to the Father’s plan moving forward:

·       And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, and I [John] began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.” (Revelation 5:3–5)

 

There was no other way for the Father to accomplish His plans apart from the Cross of Christ (Matthew 26:39).

 

Church leaders are also to be servants rather than masters:

·       So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. (1 Peter 5:1–3)

 

In God’s estimation – and this is the One that counts – the greater role is that of a servant. The Christian servant seeks to love before even being loved and adored. It requires us to look to the needs of others even before our own.

 

The man is the head of the woman, as the Father is the head of the Son (1 Corinthians 11:3; 1 Timothy 2:8-14; Ephesians 5:22-31), but the man is incomplete, apart for the woman, as the children are also deprived apart from their mother. The mother is the nourishment of humanity. However, we have sustained decades of the disparagement of the woman’s gifts and role and are told that her worth depends upon doing what the man does. This is nothing short robbery, depriving the woman of whom she is.

 

And now the disparagement of the family is nearly complete with the disparagement of the man, as if “toxic masculinity” is the rule for men. Therefore, the man is told that he must now be feminine to have any worth. He cannot play with guns. That’s the role of the State. Nor can he even defend his own household against intrusion on every level – against thugs and the system demeaning the parental authority in favor of various forms of sexualizing training. Instead, he is forced to watch as the schools fill their children with all forms of perversion.

 

This makes it easier for the schools and State to take hold of the children to impose upon them their own perverse secular religion, through which we are told that our children belong to the State, the community. The State uses various enticements to win the child, telling them that they can be anything and any sex they want to be.

 

Question: Which party loves and is more apt to better care for the children – the parents or the State? The wisdom of King Solomon had become so famous that people traveled great distances to hear him speak.

Two prostitutes had been brought before Solomon to hear his wisdom. They both gave birth at the same time, but the baby of one of them died. Therefore, both claimed the living baby as their own:

 

·       And the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So a sword was brought before the king. And the king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.” Then the woman whose son was alive said to the king, because her heart yearned for her son, “Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means put him to death.” But the other said, “He shall be neither mine nor yours; divide him.” Then the king answered and said, “Give the living child to the first woman, and by no means put him to death; she is his mother.” And all Israel heard of the judgment that the king had rendered, and they stood in awe of the king, because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice. (1 Kings 3:23–28)

 

Today’s society is bereft of such wisdom and have concluded that they can raise children better than their own mothers who love them so much that they are willing to sacrifice for them. I therefore think that we should all encourage and esteem the “Mama Bears” who have been going to school board meetings to protest in favor of the well-being of their children. May God bless their efforts to bring sanity to this sick and moribund society!

LEARNING TO LOVE YOURSELF?

There are numerous verses that seem to suggest that we should love ourselves:

·       “This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:38-39; ESV; also Matthew 19:19; Mark 12:31, 33;  Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14; James 2:8; Leviticus 19:18)

Some see in these verses a mandate for us to love ourselves. But instead, the mandate of these verses is to love others, without any command to love ourselves. Well then, how can we love others if we don’t love ourselves?

Well first we have to understand what self-love entails and what it doesn’t. Loving ourselves certainly doesn’t mean to think more highly of ourselves than we have reason to think. Instead, there is nothing in Scripture that would have us to inflate our self-image contrary to the truth. Instead, we are told to think accurately about ourselves:

·       For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. (Romans 12:3)

James tell us that we are as substantial as a mere vapor:

·       Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. (James 4:14)

Living in the light requires that we think about ourselves according to that light. This means that we need to see ourselves in a biblical way:

·       For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. (Galatians 6:3)

Without Christ, we told that we must regard ourselves as “nothing.” Even if we have lived a life of perfect obedience to the Lord, we must regard ourselves as “undeserving” of anything good from the Lord:

·       “So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’” (Luke 17:10)

We cannot earn anything good from the Lord (Romans 11:350. The only thing we deserve is death (Romans 6:23). Everything else is a matter of grace. Jesus even taught that without Him, we can do nothing (John 15:5).

How then can we love others if these are the ways we must think about ourselves? Instead of trying to establish our own worthiness or self-righteousness, we have to think in ways that have been prescribed for God’s children. Paul had prayed that we would:

·       Have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:18-19)

He assured us that:

·       If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:31-32)

·       For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)

·       But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. (Romans 5:8-10))

It is a rejection of these assurances to build up our self-esteem, worthiness, and self-righteousness before God. It would be equivalent to telling God, “What you are offering me in Christ is not sufficient for me.”

Clearly, when we are instructed to love our neighbor as ourselves, we are not being told to think more highly of ourselves than we ought. Ironically, if we love our neighbors in the same sense, we should be building their self-esteem. However, this cannot be the biblical intent! Well then, of what does loving ourselves consist?

Loving ourselves is something that we do naturally. Even though I had struggled for decades with self-loathing and depression, I still loved myself. How? I took care of myself. When I was hungry I ate. When I was tired, I slept. When I was lonely, I called a friend. In order to feel better about myself, I would take a walk or ride my bike. I would also build my self-esteem to compensate for my self-loathing. I would read self-help books and go to see a psychologist in hope of feeling better about myself. In short, I loved myself.

Loving ourselves is not something that we are commanded to do. It is something that we do naturally. Even the masochist loves himself and causes harm to himself as a form of self-atonement to feel better about himself.

How then are we to love others? By addressing their needs as we do our own! If anything, we are to regard their needs before our own:

·       Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant. (Philippians 2:3-7)

We are called to model our lives after our Savior, the ultimate servant who died for our sins. Rather than loving ourselves by inflating our self-esteem, we need to clothe ourselves with Christ and abide in His word and assurances. This can be a very tiring and frustrating calling. Therefore, we are encouraged:

·       Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. (Galatians 6:9-10)

What does love look like?

·       Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. (Romans 13:8-10)

Easy? No! It requires our daily divine bread.

SPIRITUAL PRIDE KILLS

Spiritual pride is deadly. One reason for this is that it disguises itself as virtue and deceives and blinds people to themselves and the saving truth about God. This is the judgment that Jesus brought against the religious leadership:

·       “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.” (Matthew 23:13; ESV)

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus charged:

·       “Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.” (Luke 11:52)

How did they take away this “key of knowledge” that would open the door to God? By giving the people a false portrait of what it means to please God! Most of the people, even Jesus’ disciples, had been convinced that the spiritual pride of the scribes and Pharisees represented the pinnacle of piety. However, Jesus saw through them:

·       “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” (Matthew 23:27-28)

According to Jesus, they were masters at image management, at presenting a false face, but they were no better than whitewashed tombs. However, on the outside, they looked faultless:

·       “They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others.” (Matthew 23:5-7)

Jesus’ condemnation was damning. It was not that they occasionally lapsed into deception. Instead, “all their deeds” are performed to deceive, perhaps even themselves. No wonder Jesus proclaimed:

·       “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.” (Matthew 23:25-26)

Jesus called them “blind” Pharisees, perhaps because they were barely conscious of their willful self-deception. But what could they do about it? They could submit to the light of the Savior. Therefore, Jesus instructed His disciples to not engage in Pharisaical practices:

·       “But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” (Matthew 23:8-12)

Why these severe restrictions? Because we are all Pharisees! We are all susceptible. We too all want the acclaim, the recognition, the honor, the influence, and the power. That’s why Paul had warned us:

·       Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. (1 Corinthians 10:12; 2 Cor. 3:5; Gal. 6:3)

None of us has what it takes to stand. If we think we do, then we are deluding ourselves. The Apostles all proclaimed that they would never abandon Jesus. However, their spiritual failure proved to be a painful lesson that we all need to learn. Jesus had warned them, “Without Me, you can do nothing” (John 15:5), but we need to experience painful reinforcements of this lesson.

Well, how do Jesus’ teachings against taking honorific titles prevent us from becoming like the Pharisees? These teachings are humbling. We find that it is very hard to resist pursuing the acclaim and honor, and we come to see the Pharisee prowling within. This should humble us and cause us to confess our sins.

Elsewhere, Jesus taught us to seek to serve as He had. In contrast, His disciples had been seeking their own honor. Two of them came to Jesus requesting that, once He had received His kingdom, they would be elevated to reign alongside of Him.

When the others heard about this, they became indignant. Jesus then corrected them all:

·       “But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant.” (Matthew 20:25-26)

This teaching continues to humble me, showing me how unworthy I am of anything good from the Lord. It continues to put to death the Pharisee within. Yes, this self-realization, that I do not want to be the servant, humbles me, but it also nurtures gratefulness that God loves this unworthy person.

When Jesus’ 72 disciples had returned from their evangelistic outreach, they boasted that the demons were subject to them. However human this celebration over their spiritual accomplishment might have been, they were celebrating the wrong thing. Accomplishments come and go. However, what we have of supreme value is an eternal relationship with our Savior. Therefore, Jesus corrected them:

·       “Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10:20)

My prayer is that He would always correct me.