The Amazons were supposedly a race of very tall warrior women. They first appeared in Greek literature in Homer’s The Illiad in the 8th century B.C. Scholars can’t seem to agree as to whether the Amazons were strictly products of Greek mythology or whether they actually existed somewhere and the mythology was “based on a true story”. Interestingly, in the 1990’s archaeologists discovered the 2000 year old burial grounds of the Sarmatian tribe near the border of Kazakhstan, and think this tribe might be the origin of the Amazon legend. Unlike the mythological Amazons, a number of the women of this tribe appear to have been married with children, but many of them were buried with their weapons of war. The Sarmatian women’s average height was 5’6”, which was fairly tall for women at that point in history.
Maybe that description evokes images of some sort of “femi-nazi” overlaid with a pseudo-Christian veneer when you hear the phrase “mighty Amazon women of God.”
Not at all.
So what on earth does it mean?
I think we 21st century church ladies have, in some ways, a skewed perspective of what it means to be a Christian woman. You see, a lot of people seem to think that being a godly woman means you have to be shy and quiet, never confrontational, a doormat, nothing of substance to say, nicey-nice, always ready with a casserole for the church potluck. A caricature of feminine fluff.
But the longer I live as a woman of God, the farther from the truth that caricature becomes. Being a godly woman requires a kind of strength that a man will never know. Courage of a sort the most valiant warrior does not possess. Endurance and self control that the best trained athletes will never attain. Because we have to be strong and soft. Bold and restrained. Leaders and followers.
Being a godly woman is not for the faint of heart. And, yet, it’s the faint of heart God loves to turn into His heroines of the faith.
A mighty Amazon woman of God…
…studies and rightly handles God’s word (2 Timothy 2:15)
…loves her enemies (Matthew 5:43-45)
…refuses to have her ears tickled (2 Timothy 4:3-4)
…is a faithful and active church member (Hebrews 10:24-25)
…holds to a biblical view of women’s roles in the church (1 Timothy 2:12ff)
…forgives completely (Ephesians 4:32)
…submits to her husband (Ephesians 5:22-24)
…serves her family (Proverbs 31:10-31)
…is more concerned with God’s opinion than man’s (Acts 5:29)
…loves Christ more than her family (Luke 14:26)
…trains her children in godliness (Deuteronomy 6:6-7)
…shares the gospel with the lost (Matthew 28:18-20)
…helps her husband (Genesis 2:18)
…refutes false teaching instead of embracing it (2 Timothy 3:1-9)
…trains younger women in godliness (Titus 2:3-5)
…controls her tongue (James 1:26)
…works heartily as unto the Lord (Colossians 3:23-24)
…isn’t led by her emotions (Jeremiah 17:9)
…is merciful (Luke 6:36)
…repents when she sins (Matthew 3:8)
…is strong (Ephesians 6:10)
…is joyful (Philippians 4:4)
None of us are there yet, ladies, but as one of my favorite Bible teachers likes to say, “It’s not perfection; it’s direction.” Is this the direction you’re walking? Is God conforming you more to His image day by day? Are we settling for being little girls in the faith or anxious to grow up and be the mighty Amazon women of God He created us to be?
What kinds of things come to mind when you hear the phrase “mighty Amazon woman of God”?
Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. 2 For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. 3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, 5 not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6 that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. 7 For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. 8 Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.
9 Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, 10 for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, 11 and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, 12 so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.
13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
1. What is the purpose of the book of 1 Thessalonians? Which genre(s) of biblical literature (prophecy, epistle, narrative, wisdom, etc.) is the book of 1 Thessalonians? What is the historical backdrop for this book?
2. In your own words, what is Paul saying to the Believers in 1-2? Imagine you’re a member of the church at Thessalonica. How might hearing this encourage you?
3. A question many Christians ask at some point in their walk with the Lord is, “What is God’s will for my life?”. Read the first half of verse 3 (3a). What does it say God’s will for you is? What is “sanctification”? (Hints: a- Use your cross-references and footnotes. b- Look at the last word of verse 7. c- If you still aren’t sure, click here.)
Notice the colon (:) after the word “sanctification” in verse 3. This indicates that Paul is going to expound on what he means by “sanctification” in the case of the Thessalonian Believers. Examine verses 3b-6. What was the primary or most urgent issue in which the Thessalonians needed to grow in Christ and obey His Word? Examine your heart and life. What is the primary or most urgent issue in which you need to grow in Christ and obey His Word?
How do verses 7-8 help explain and clarify verse 3a?
4. In verses 3-6, Paul exhorts the Thessalonians in an area in which they need to improve. In verses 9-12, he encourages them in an area in which they are doing well. What are they doing well? What does Paul urge them to do? Why? Is this an area in which you’re doing pretty well, or in which you need a lot of improvement? Which area of your walk with the Lord can you look back on and see the most growth or improvement?
5. Explain, in your own words, the sequence of events laid out in verses 13-18. What does “fallen asleep” (14, 15) mean? According to verse 18, what is the purpose of verses 13-18? How would this passage have brought hope (13) to the Thessalonian Believers who were concerned about the eternities of fellow Believers who had died before the Lord’s return? How can this passage bring hope to Believers today?
These are my notes from my ladies’ Sunday School class this morning. I’ll be posting the notes from my class here each week. Click here for last week’s lesson.
Through the Bible in 2014 ~ Week 8 ~ Feb. 16-22 Leviticus 11-27 Why the Law?
Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day. I long for your salvation, O Lord, and your law is my delight. Psalm 119:18, 97,174
When David wrote those words, his Bible consisted mainly of the Pentateuch (Genesis – Deuteronomy), the majority of which is law. Did you “behold wondrous things out of,” “love,” and “delight in” your reading of Leviticus? Why do you think God gave Israel the Law? Are Christians supposed to be obeying all these laws? If not, why is the book of Leviticus in the Bible today? While Christians are no longer bound by many of the laws of the OT the Law does show us some pretty amazing things.
Primary Reasons for the Law
There are three types of law given in the OT:
Ceremonial (sacrifices, feasts, dietary, “daily living”, etc. laws) Civil(“eye for an eye”, inheritance, property, etc., laws, similar to our local, state, and federal laws) Moral (adultery, murder, lying, etc.)
Even though Christians are no longer required to keep the ceremonial and civil laws (we are still to obey the moral laws—we’ll get into the “why?” of that in another lesson), we can learn a great deal from them about the nature and character of God and His desires for His people.
For I am theLordyour God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, andbe holy, for I am holy… For I am theLordwho brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.” Leviticus 11:44a,45
The Law showed Israel they were a distinct people, set apart from other nations. (2 Corinthians 5:17, 1 Peter 2:9-10) They were to be separate and different in all their ways. They were not to be like idolatrous nations in any way, and the things they ate, wore, even the way they cut their hair reflected this. As Christians, God’s grace has saved us and made us into completely new creatures in Christ. We are “a chosen race,a royalpriesthood,a holy nation,a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called youout of darkness intohis marvelous light.Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people;” Do the places we go, the things we say, the things we post on Facebook, the way we act, reflect this?
The Law demonstrates that God is holy. (Isaiah 55:8-9) God is higher than and set apart from His people. God’s ways are not man’s ways, they are higher, which is why they are often confusing to us and hard to understand. God’s laws and His setting apart of Israel to follow His laws reflected His “otherness” and “set apart-ness.”
The Law shows that people must be holy in order to commune with a holy God (Psalm 24:3-4, Hebrews 9:22) The cleanliness/unclean laws show that no one can have a right relationship with God unless God first makes him clean. If an Israelite became unclean he could only be made clean and restored to God through the sacrifice or offering God provided for him. We cannot make ourselves clean. It can only be done by God through the shedding of the blood of the Lamb of God (Jesus). “Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins”.
The Law shows us it can’t save us. (Galatians 3:24, Isaiah 64:6, Romans 3:9-20, Hebrews 10:1-18) Perhaps the greatest thing the Law did for Israel (and for us) was to show them the futility of striving to keep the Law. Not that they should give up on obeying the Law (which is what they often did), but that they needed something greater than the Law to save them since they were utter failures at keeping it. The ease of breaking the laws -even unintentionally- every time they turned around shows the impossibility of keeping the Law perfectly, the extent to which sin taints every move we make, and our desperate need for God’s mercy and forgiveness, which came in the form of a Savior who would make the perfect sacrifice once for all. The Law pointed Israel and us to Jesus.
The Law showed God’s sovereignty over and care for every aspect of life (Matthew 10:29-31 1 Corinthians 10:31) The laws governed every aspect of life from eating and drinking to illness to “that time of the month,” showing that God was to have dominion over, and be remembered, glorified, and served in, even the smallest parts of an Israelite’s life, just as in the Christian’s life today. We are to do everything His way for His glory. It also shows His attention to detail and that He is concerned about everything about us. Nothing is too small for God, and nothing gets by Him.
The Law provided a way for people to express honor to God. (John 14:15, Colossians 3:16) While the “do/don’t do this or that” laws honor God by testifying to His holiness, righteousness, and judgment, the feasts testify to God’s provision, benevolence, mercy, forgiveness, salvation, goodness, grace, and rest. The laws allowed the people to show their honor for God through obedience. The feasts gave the people the opportunity to show their honor for God through worship, celebration, and thanksgiving. We have this same opportunity every Sunday!
The Law was a testimony to other nations about God (1 Kings 8:59-61). God’s ways were not the ways of the false gods of the nations surrounding Israel. His Law was to cleanse and protect the people so they could enjoy fellowship with Him. The worship of false gods was strictly to appease the idols themselves. The intrinsic nature of the laws themselves and Israel’s keeping of them were a testimony to the uniqueness, holiness and glory of God to all the surrounding pagan nations. “This God is different from all the others,” they said, “This is the one true God.” In the same way, our obedience to God shows how different He is from the world’s way of doing things.
Secondary Reasons for the Law
Most of the laws had secondary, practical reasons behind them, showing us that God doesn’t just care about our spiritual state, but our physical well being as well.
Law and Order Every society has to have a way of maintaining law and order, protecting people and their stuff, and carrying out justice. Property, inheritance, and other civil and criminal laws protected the personal rights of Israelite citizens. God’s laws about restitution and punishment of criminals show His wisdom and that He is just.
Health Rules about which animals to eat could have served to prevent food-borne diseases, such as trichinosis, which comes from pork. The multiple laws about quarantining those with leprosy helped stop its spread to others. Recently, scientists have discovered health benefits to circumcision. We know God is a healer, and sometimes He does this in the form of prevention.
Care and Safety Net God made sure that widows, orphans, and the disabled were cared for and not taken advantage of. His laws showed Israel how to care for the poor and make sure no one went without provision.
But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law,being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed.Therefore the Law has become ourtutorto lead usto Christ, so thatwe may be justified by faith.But now that faith has come, we are no longer under atutor.For you are allsons of God through faith inChrist Jesus. Galatians 3:23-26
These are the notes from my ladies’ Sunday School class this morning. I’ll be posting the notes from my class here each week. Click here for last week’s lesson.
What is salvation? What is the gospel? (Cont’d)
I. Recap of our three problems in having a relationship with God.
A. Problem 1: God is holy, and we can’t be in His presence because we’re not.
B. Problem 2: God demands that we be holy as He is holy, but we can’t, due to our sin.
C. Problem 3: Because of our sin, we deserve hell.
II. People without Christ don’t know or care that they have these problems, nor that they need a solution to them. (Ephesians 2:1-3) For all of these reasons, the only way the gap between us and God could be bridged is for God to bridge it Himself. (Genesis 22:1-13)
A. Even our good deeds are tainted with sin. (Isaiah 64:6)
B. God is merciful. He wants us to be reconciled to Himself. (2 Peter 3:9; Romans 5:6-8)
III. God’s solution: Jesus.
A. Jesus was the perfect, spotless sacrificial Lamb. (Hebrews 4:15, 1 John 3:5)
B. On the cross, Jesus absorbed all of God’s wrath towards our sin (propitiation). (1 John 4:9-10; 1 Peter 3:18)
C. If we trust in Christ’s payment for our sin, His righteousness is imputed to us just like our sin was imputed to Him on the cross. (2 Corinthians 5:21; Philippians 3:9)
IV. How does Jesus’ death bridge the gap between us and God and solve our three problems?
A. (Problem 1) Through Christ, we are made holy and can come into God’s presence to be in a relationship with Him. (Colossians 1:21-22; Ephesians 1:4)
B. (Problem 2) Because of Christ’s righteousness imputed to us, we are holy, and our sin is forgiven. (Hebrews 10:10, 1 Corinthians 6:11)
C. (Problem 3) Because Christ paid for our sin in full, hell is moot. (John 3:16, 36; John 5:24)
I recently started teaching a women’s Sunday School class at my church. Right now we are taking a look at some of the challenging questions and issues we face as Christians. I’ll be posting the notes from my class here each week. Click here for last week’s lesson.
What is salvation? What is the gospel? (Cont’d)
I. God is holy. (Isaiah 6:1-5)
A. What do we mean when we say God is holy?
1. God cannot tolerate sin in His presence (Deuteronomy 23:14)
2. Since we are sinful, we cannot be in His presence (Exodus 33:18-23, Psalm 24:3-4).
Problem 1: God is holy, and we can’t be in His presence because we’re not.
II. God demands that we be holy. (Leviticus 11:44-45, Matthew 5:48)
A. We can’t, because:
1. We’re born with a sin nature (Psalm 51:5)
2. Because we’re born with a sin nature, we begin sinning before we are capable of understanding what sin is. When we’ve sinned once, we’re guilty of breaking the whole law (James 2:10-11, Romans 3:10-18)
Problem 2: God demands that we be holy as He is holy, but we can’t, due to our sin.
III. Because God is holy, He must punish sin.
A. God doesn’t just forgive everybody when they die. (John 3:36, 2 Peter 3:9)
B. Good works do not “balance the scales” and make up for our sins (Galatians 2:15-16, Romans 3:20).
C. God’s punishment for sin is eternal death and suffering in Hell (Romans 6:23; 2 Peter 2:4, 9-10; Revelation 20:13-15).
…holds to a biblical view of women’s roles in the church (1 Timothy 2:12ff)
