I hate being told I can’t do something. Even more, I hate being told that there is something a man can do that I can’t do. I’ll pull a muscle or tear an ACL before I will put something down because its “too heavy” and come hell or highwater the answer will always be “no I do not need any help, thank you.”
No. I like to do things myself and engrained in me is this: I can do anything a man can do. In the world, in business, in culture, in the workforce I believe every battle for a woman is worth the fight. In this sense, there is nothing a man deserves to do or get that we do not.
So, when I saw the latest fiery battles online about what John MacArthur said about Beth Moore, you’d think it would rise up in me all the I-am-woman-hear-me-roar that I’ve got.
Oh, it infuriates me alright, but not for the reasons you might think. The anger that rises up in me so hot that my face turns red is at the response of the church. And by church, I mean us.
By us I mean anyone that reads through the Gospels and calls them true, anyone who soaks up the words of Christ, and anyone who seeks to live a life modeled after Jesus. As God’s Church, as His people, as His daughters and Sons in Christ, it is the bottom that we should be fighting over not the top.
As far as I’m concerned all of our words and roles like “pulpit” and “preacher” and “leader,” we put those roles in place. Not Jesus. I don’t once remember Jesus talking about any of these roles as being in high esteem or sought after. There is however one role that concerns me deeply, it’s the role that Jesus came to call us (His people) to fill. It’s the role of servant.
We think we are special, that we sit in a unique time of history facing things that have never been seen before and that we as women need to fight for our spot. Yet in the book of Matthew we see a different time, but the same issue: a fight over who gets to be at the top.
To this Jesus says, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in high positions act as tyrants over them. 26 It must not be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave; 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:25-28
When I hear John MacArthur’s ridiculous comment about Beth Moore going home because women are taking over a pulpit that should belong to men or then I hear women rising up, pissed off and in fury to take that pulpit back it sounds a lot like a fight Jesus would not want us to engage in. “It must not be like that among you.” On the contrary, fight over who gets to serve the hardest.
Women, do you want be a leader? Lead. Do you want to teach? Then do it! You need no man to allow you to or give you permission to be a servant to others in the ways you feel gifted or called. Do not give to a man the power over you that Jesus has already claimed. We report to Him and Him alone.
May we not get distracted by the allure of power or prestige, but instead be enthralled with leading as Jesus led, by washing feet, feeding the poor, healing hearts, praying for people, taking time to listen to their life story, and sharing with others God’s victory story.
Do we really think Jesus cares about the position we are (or are not) in?
Do I need a pulpit gripped into my hands to teach the Word of God?
Do I need a stage to stand on to share with people the Good News that Jesus came to set us free?
No! And trust me, if you feel so equipped and empowered to preach in this way lay down your desires at the foot of the Cross and the God who calls you will also hear your prayer for filled opportunities. Sisters, I know this tension well, I’m living it with you, and I believe obedience with what we have been given is our only hope to a fulfilled calling.
This is a hard truth, one that grates against ever fiber of my she-power being. But that is what Jesus came for, He came to set our humanity on its head and show us a better way. Jesus knows that no one fights over bring on the bottom of the barrel, so if we just spend our time focused on the feet we are washing, then we have little time (or concern) to disagree.
Historically, in these instances I would have kept my mouth utterly closed at the risk of hurting feelings. I take great aim at never being offensive, but this time I cannot shake the feeling that the enemy is rejoicing as the Christians are fighting.
Beth Moore is a woman who has changed my life. Her passion for the Word of God has ignited my soul and I hate that such a stupid comment was made about her. But this instance does not surprise me, we are warned over and over again in Scripture that as lovers of Christ and His Word that we are going to be attacked. And, if Jesus was led to the slaughter like a lamb then why should we not do the same?
If Jesus, in all His power and glory did not rise up to defend Himself at the many injustices He faced than why should we?
I don’t need a pulpit to know that I am amazingly called by God to use the gifts of teaching he has given to me. By Him, for Him, and with Him. “What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8).
Words on a screen will not alleviate this problem. We will face the fallenness of man until the day we meet Jesus. Johnny Mac is not the first one to make a dumbass and demeaning comment and he will not be the last. Beth Moore is not the first women to be ridiculed and she will not be the last.
May we press on in our mission, may we go and do whatever ministry God is calling us to, and may we fight for unity as the bride of Christ.
I leave us with this prayer, it is Jesus’ prayer for his disciples the night before he died and today I pray it over us:
“I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one” (John 17:9-11).