The Opposite of A Wimpy Woman...

From John Piper's conference on "The Ultimate Meaning of True Womanhood":

My assumption is that wimpy theology makes wimpy women. And I don’t like wimpy women. ... The opposite of a wimpy woman is not a brash, pushy, loud, controlling, sassy, uppity, arrogant Amazon. The opposite of a wimpy woman is 14-year-old Marie Durant, a French Christian in the 17th century who was arrested for being a Protestant and told she could be released if she said one phrase: “I abjure.” Instead, she wrote on the wall of her cell, “Resist,” and stayed there 38 years until she died, doing just that (Karl Olsson, Passion, [New York: Harper and Row Publishers, 1963], 116-117)...

The opposite of a wimpy woman is Joni Eareckson Tada who has spent the last 41 years in a wheel chair, and prays, “Oh, thank you, thank you for this wheelchair! By tasting hell in this life, I’ve been driven to think seriously about what faces me in the next. This paralysis is my greatest mercy.” (Christianity Today, January, 2004, 50).

Wimpy theology makes wimpy women. ... Wimpy theology simply does not give a woman a God that is big enough, strong enough, wise enough, and good enough to handle the realities of life in a way that magnifies the infinite worth of Jesus Christ. Wimpy theology is plagued by woman-centeredness and man-centeredness. Wimpy theology doesn’t have the granite foundation of God’s sovereignty or the solid steel structure of a great God-centered purpose for all things.

So I turn to my main point, the ultimate meaning of true womanhood, and start by stating this great God-centered purpose of all things: God’s ultimate purpose for the universe and for all of history and for your life is to display the glory of Christ in its highest expression, namely, in his dying to make a rebellious people his everlasting and supremely happy bride. ...

Now where does this take us in regard to the ultimate meaning of true womanhood? It does not take us to wimpy theology or wimpy women. It is not wimpy to say that God created the universe and governs all things to magnify His own grace in the death of His Son for the salvation of His bride. That’s not wimpy. And it doesn’t lead to wimpy womanhood.

But it does lead to womanhood. True womanhood. In fact, it leads to the mind-boggling truth that womanhood and manhood — masculinity and femininity — belong at the center of God’s ultimate purpose. Womanhood and manhood were not an afterthought or a peripheral thought in God’s plan. God designed them precisely so that they would serve to display the glory of his Son dying to have his happy, admiring bride.


Genesis 1:27 says, “God created man in his own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” Sometimes we make the mistake of thinking God created us this way, and then later when Christ came to do his saving work, God looked around and said, “Well, that’s a good analogy, man and woman. I’ll describe my Son’s salvation with that. I’ll say it’s like a husband dying to save his bride.”

It didn’t happen like that. God did not look around and find manhood and womanhood to be a helpful comparison to his Son’s relation to the church. He created us as male and female precisely so that we could display the glory of his Son. Our sexuality is designed for the glory of the Son of God — especially the glory of His dying to have His admiring bride.

In Ephesians 5:31, Paul quotes Genesis 2:24, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” And then he adds this, “This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.” In other words, from the beginning, manhood and womanhood were designed to display the glory of Christ in his relationship to the church, His bride.

Princess Leah

This is the dress that Leah made under the kind tutelage of Eva. Long ago, when Leah was maybe 7, I took her in for her home school evaluation. The teacher was enchanted with her and showed me a wall hanging that she said reminded her of my Leah. It read: "You ask me if I'm a princess... I guess that's what you call it on this planet." God has given my daughter a lively imagination and an exuberance for life, so much so that sometimes we all wonder where she lives most of the time as she floats around the house, singing her soprano, operatic airs. I pray that her informed imagination will help her live with the hope of heaven and the promises of her Lord vivid in her mind, more real to her than anything else.

Generous Beggars

Today I heard this passage from John Piper's sermon on Romans 1:8-15 about how the grace of God makes us debtors to each other. I am so grateful for God's way of knitting his people together, by giving us gifts -- and shortcomings -- so that we need our brothers and sisters and they need us. This is a reminder to me that though I am a debtor to God, I detract from His name by trying to "pay back" the debt with my service. Trying to "pay back" actually nullifies Grace. To glorify and magnify His name, to show appreciation for the Grace He has extended, means becoming a debtor to everyone. When we serve others -- whoever comes along! -- with the whatever gifts He has chosen to give, always saying, "Look, look, what I have -- here, take some -- He gave it to me!" His Gospel is displayed and His grace at giving gifts to beggars is showcased.


Here is the sermon excerpt:
Peter put it like this in 1 Peter 4:10, "As each one has received a gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." The grace of God comes to the church in manifold forms and ways - as many forms as there are people. And the use of that grace to bring about the obedience of faith is what spiritual gifts are.

So it isn't surprising that at the very beginning of this greatest of all letters - this great theological masterpiece - Paul would call us to think and pray about spiritual gifts and how all of us are debtors to the wise and to the foolish because of God's grace, not just outside the church toward unbelievers, but inside the church to each other. "Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another" (Romans 13 :8).

So here is the sum of the matter: grace came to us absolutely free and unconditional from God when he called us to himself and loved us as his own (1:6-7). This grace makes us debtors to everyone who, like us, needs grace, because not to share the grace we received would imply that we qualified for it and they don't; and that would nullify grace. And what we share is the gospel of this great free grace. This is how we pay our debt to others: freely we received, freely we give. And one of the ways we share the good news of God's grace is through spiritual gifts. O, how important is the body life of the church in small groups where people understand that every member is a steward of grace to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of the Name.

Spirit of Goodwill Band

My husband works with a great encourager. John has told me many times of how this friend, Javier, has helped to lift his head during tough times at the office -- and has even been nicknamed "The Saint" by one of the cameraman. Well, last night we went to a band concert directed by this encourager, a concert performed by mentally and physically handicapped musicians. This talented group played songs like "La Bamba" and "For Once in My Life" -- songs full of life and spirit, delivered with professionalism and passion. Nearly all the songs played were secular, yet the performance filled my heart with worship for the God who created these individuals. While the world overlooks or mocks such people, the only One whose opinion matters obviously has a purpose for them. His Word is as true for them as for any of His people: "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (Eph. 2:9-11) Bless this kind teacher/conductor who has been patient and loving enough to help them find their unique place in God's story.


While the clip is not overtly Christian, my husband said that Javier has shared the Gospel with all 28 members of the band over the years and believes every member to be saved. His references on stage to the Lord and the excited response of the musicians is evidence of the spiritual training he is doing. Praise God for His work in and through this group.

Feeding on the Covenant Love of God

My battle lately has been against my own thoughts, foolish fleeting thoughts, thoughts so thinly conceived that analyzing them for even a moment reveals their absurdity -- but thoughts that somehow have been stirring up discontentment, insecurity, second-guessing and fear. Comfort came rushing in on waves from the preaching of John Piper. "When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul." (Psalm 94:19) The love of God is an overwhelming flood; the love of God is effective; the love of God is utterly sufficient.

"To all who are beloved of God in Rome..." (Romans 1:7)

Doesn't this sound like [Paul] is saying, "Among all the people who live in Rome, I am writing to the ones loved by God"? In other words, doesn't it sound like he is saying that those who are called by God to belong to Jesus Christ are loved by God in a special way, not that they are loved because everybody else in Rome is also loved by God? If I write a letter to Noel and say, "I write you, my beloved Noel, be strong and be encouraged by the grace of God," would anybody really say, the reason he calls her "beloved" is because he loves every woman the way a Christian should, and, since Noel is a woman, she too is loved by Pastor John, because he loves all women? No. Nobody would say that. Rather, if I write, "To my beloved Noel," everybody would assume there is a special love that I have for Noel.

I don't think Paul wants us to miss this in Romans 1:7. I don't think he wants you, Christian, to say, "God calls me 'beloved' because he loves everybody the same, and, since I am part of everybody, I am also beloved." That's not what verse 7 means. Paul says, I write "to all who are beloved of God in Rome." But he does not mean everybody in Rome. He is writing to those who are "the called of Jesus Christ." So the love that he has in mind here must be different from the love that God has for everybody in Rome – just like I would have in mind a different love when I say, "to my beloved Noel." I don't mean that there is no love in my heart for other people. I mean I have a special love for Noel. I have a covenant love for Noel. I chose Noel to be my wife. And I made a covenant with her. And we sealed it with sacred vows. And God sealed it in heaven (Matthew 19:6). And now the love between Noel and me is utterly different from the love I have for any other woman or man. Even though there are others I would die for. ...


In the Old Testament, God promised that someday he would make what he called a "new covenant" with his people (Jeremiah 31:31), an everlasting covenant. And the wonder of this covenant is that in it the love of God does not just offer safety to people, but promises to keep them safe from destruction. So, for example, in Jeremiah 32:40 God promises, "I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; and I will put the fear of Me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from Me."

Do you see what kind of love this is? This is more than the general love of invitation and offer. This is a love that "puts the fear of God in the heart" (similar to 2 Corinthians 4:6). This is the kind of love that works powerfully "so that [we] will not turn from God." This is not a general love for all. It is a special love that puts the fear of God in our hearts and keeps us from turning away. This is the new covenant.

Now when Jesus comes into the world, he comes to die and purchase the privileges of this new covenant for us with his blood. So in Luke 22:20, Jesus says, at the Last Supper, "This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood." So the blood of Jesus, in a very special way, was poured out to secure the promises of Jeremiah 32:40 – that God will put the fear of him in our hearts and keep us from turning away from him. This is a very special and precious love. This is what you should feed on daily. This is sweet and this is strong. To know that you are loved in this way is the very heart of Christian assurance. That God has called me, that he has shone in my heart to give the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, that he will work omnipotently to keep me, and bring me to everlasting glory – this is what it means to be "the beloved of God."