Weeks 9 & 11: New Testament Teaching

Our study this semester at Student Wives Fellowship has drawn to a close and the past couple of weeks have been amazing as our speakers have taught from the New Testament and given us a glimpse of what it is we have been building up to all along from our teachings in the Old Testament. 

 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord,
   “when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel

and with the people of Judah."

Jeremiah 31:31

Surprisingly, the above verse is the only place in Scripture where the explicit language of "new covenant" is used. However, a similar theme is expressed many placed elsewhere including both the Old Testament and the Gospels. (Isa. 55:3, Jer. 32:40, Ezek. 16:59-63, Luke 22:20, Matt. 26:27-28, Mark 14:23-24).

This new covenant is the one that along with the believing people of Israel and Judah mentioned above, we Gentiles are able to be included in. The inclusion of the Gentiles is indeed something new. Yet beyond this facet of the covenant, when the incarnate Christ comes to dwell among His creation, He is revealing something about the Father's heart, namely that He is a God who is relational and emotional in nature. He has come to tear down the dividing wall of hostility and this is fulfilled by Jesus giving the blood necessary for the covenant, the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost, and the relationship now shared between Jews and Gentiles. 

The New Covenant's fulfillment makes way for the birth of the Church. The Church is now the agent through which God is choosing to work. Before, he used Israel as a beacon for the nations to draw them to Himself and then that was passed on to the Church through Christ as the Great Commission commands all believers to now be people that makes disciples who make disciples. All those who belong to Christ are now one with another through Him. The Church is now the physical image of Christ in the Earth. What a beautiful image we have of oneness and blessed assurance of purpose as the missio dei of God continues to go forth in this present Church Age.

4 Keys to Great Communication from Dr. John Trent

Deuteronomy 30:19 

"I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live." 

The above verse is a foundational platform for great communication. 

Key terms defined: 

Life=Movement towards someone/something

Death=Stepping away into isolation

Blessing=To add to someone/something

Curse=To subtract

4 keys to great communication working from that foundation: 

1st key- Using a tool to "supercharge" communication that Solomon and his bride used such as word pictures. Find creative ways to bless your spouse with spoken word that will give them high value. (See Song of Solomon 2 for examples)  


2nd key- Keeping issues at the fox level. In Song of Solomon 2:15 the bride urges her beloved to catch the foxes that are ruining their vineyard while they are still small. In essence, deal with problems when they first begin and when dealing with them make sure to deal with the issue and not attack the person or the relationship.

3rd key- Quick listening as a tool for slowing down arguments. When working through an issue, be sure to be listening to the other person in order to best understand the situation. Ask questions like, "What's the small issue? How does this issue make you feel? What's one solution from your standpoint?" Questions like this can help in understanding what's really going on as well as deescalate the situation. However, if you still cannot reach an agreement, be okay with thinking and praying about it for a while before you reach a conclusion. 

4th key- You must deal with those moles that can block your ability to really see and value and communicate well with your loved ones. Many times when we are talking with our spouses we may be transferring to them feelings we have from our past. It's important to take time to consider events and people from your past that could be potentially hindering your relationship. It's helpful to pray about those events/people as well as discuss them with your spouse to seek forgiveness and reconciliation on all accounts. It also could be helpful to receive counseling for an issue you can't seem to overcome out of concern for your individual health, fairness to your spouse, and health for your marriage. 

With love,

Amy

*Note: The above words written in italics are direct quotations from Dr. Trent's handout given on 11/5/2015 at Student Wives Fellowship. All other writing is my own. 

An overview of things learned so far

As the first half of the semester and our study in the Old Testament closed two weeks ago, I wanted to write a review to bring back to mind all that we have learned and hopefully tie up loose ends as we start this week with Dr. Peterman in the New Testament! 

Just as a refresh, here's all we've talked about so far relating to our study "From the Beginning to the End. Seeing His hand in it all":
The Beginning in Genesis- Week 1
The Patriarch's Promise- Week 2 
Priesthood- Week 4
The Prophets- Week 5
Kingship- Week 6 

(For notes on the individual talks check out previous blog posts or ask us at SWF for a copy of the notes.)

As you can see even in just looking again at the topics of each week we have covered a lot and learned so much about God's plan for His people in Old Testament times. We started with the beginning of Creation in Genesis to the "Golden Age" of Israeli history with King David to the exile of the Jewish people, to their return, and discussed even their deep-seated hope of the coming Messiah. The Old Testament is the account of the grand story of the Jewish people as they learn to live with the consequences of their disobedience as well as with the lavish grace God bestows on them as He carries them along and sustains them even to the present day. 

I hope, however, as you've been learning about the above topics over the last few weeks that you've picked up on the sense of things not being quite right with the way things were through the use of prophets and priests...the sense of longing of the Jewish people...the sense of longing that God felt for them to commune with Him and to fulfill the promise made to Abraham that all nations would be blessed (Genesis 12:3). The Old Testament was a promise, a picture, intended to show us that greater things were to come. 

Galatians 3:24:26 says, "So then, the Law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith." 

As we jump into the New Testament this week and learn about Jesus and the New Covenant, keep in mind all that we have learned. The story of the New Testament relates directly and beautifully to that of the Old. Get ready this week to see how God's heart moved forward and how the Kingdom has come near in just the way God planned from the beginning: through faith in Christ, apart from the commandments of the Law. 

Week 5...Short note on Priesthood with Dr. Zuber

"And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation..." (Exodus 19:6) 

When God chose Israel, he intended that they would be an entire kingdom made of priests, an entire notion fully consecrated to Himself. In fact, the whole purpose of creation was for humanity to be a kingdom of priests, a people that would be about seeking God's presence. 

However, as we all must surely, however painstakingly, realize is that our world, even Israel, is not a kingdom of priests the way God intended. From the starting line running through human history into the present day, we so often completely miss the point. 

However, God in His forbearance and sovereign plan graciously called out from among the people of Israel a line, the descendants of Aaron that would be the priests, and the tribe of Levi, who would help the priests. The priests of the Old Testament had perhaps the hardest job as they had to follow exactly the letter of the Law doing the task of sacrifice, making sin offerings for the people and live the Law out in their own lives because God took His worship very seriously. (He still does, by the way.) 

To see more on the duties, qualifications, and history of the priests, follow the link at the bottom of this page for a handy guide. 

However, before concluding this post, I want to point out something that Dr. Zuber emphasized. He talked about what the point of knowing any of this was. If Christians are no longer under the Law of Moses, then what's the point? He taught us that when we  come to the point in our Bible study reading plan where we're in Leviticus we shouldn't be asking questions to the effect of "How does this apply to my life?" because for all general purposes, it doesn't. However, what is critical when reading the Old Testament and especially the Torah is to ask "What does this teach me about God?" By the very fact that these books are included in our Bible's today, there is something to be gained from it, but perhaps in not the way we expect.  

Theologian Millard Erickson writes, "The Law is a transcript of the heart and mind of God."

Read the Scriptures through this lens and be amazed as you learn about that God who is covenantally faithful through all generations.   

-A

http://www.biblecharts.org/oldtestament/oldtestamentpriestsandpriesthood.pdf

Expectation of the Messiah...Week 4 with Dr. Rydelnik

This week in our meeting Dr. Rydelink, one of MBI's Jewish studies professors, shared with us about "The King of Israel." Much was to be learned from him about the concept of kingship throughout the history of Israel (as well as many of us probably realizing we should brush up on our Old Testament history). 

He gave us a really helpful outline (and all the "Type A's" cheered inside) defining the three leadership offices in Israel: prophet, priest and king (more to come on the other two later in the semester).  The prophets received messages from the Lord, and the priests instruct the people about God and mediate the people to God. It was possible for someone to be both priest and prophet but history will tell us through King Saul, it is not possible for a man to be both priest and king (see the disastrous results of this in 1 Samuel 13).  

This lesson was rich in so many other respects as he discussed the beauty of the covenant God made with David and the "perfect king" notion that came to be the standard by which all future kings were compared. 

However, as Dr. Rydelnik was going along, he wove a theme throughout--the rightful kingship and priesthood of Jesus. 

--Zechariah 6:14 says: "Thus, He will be a priest on His throne, and the counsel of peace will be between the two offices."--

Although the Old Testament closes with the people in exile, there is still hope that the promised Son of David will come, one that will be a priest while sitting on His throne. And come He does with the proclamation "I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star" (Revelation 22:16). 

Prayer is the Greatest Work...Week 3 with Paul and Becky Santhouse

This past Thursday at SWF we were honored to hear from our very own beloved mentor Becky Santhouse and her Moody publisher-extraordinaire husband, Paul.  They spoke to us about their journey as a couple with prayer and all they’ve learned along the way.  Both shared vulnerable moments detailing how God has brought them from places of autonomy from God up to moments of deep connectedness and dependence on God and one another.

Perhaps as you sat in the room you thought to yourself all the ways in which your prayer life is boring, forced, or even nonexistent (maybe this is on your mind right now).  Becky shared how in the early years of their marriage she didn’t pray with or for her husband nearly as much as she does now, because she didn’t know how much they really needed God and how much God works through prayer. 

They then gave us a quote by Hudson Taylor that profoundly shaped the way they view prayer.  Taylor writes, “Move men, by God, through prayer.” 

Becky encouraged us to pray for our spouses because God works in our spouse’s life in ways that we as their mate, in our finiteness, simply cannot.  By praying we are inviting God, our Creator who knows every intimate detail of our life, into our marriage.  We also pray for our spouses because we want the very best for them.  To love is to have the highest good of the other in our heart.  Only God can supply them with that.  And so as they beautifully taught us tonight, “Prayer is the work, marriage is the fruit.” 

In closing, they left us with some practical ways that we can effectively pray for and with our spouses.  They mentioned things such as being intentional with time set apart for prayer, praying as you are in conversation about things that are burdening you, and don’t feel the need to present verbose, flowery prayers to the Lord. He is closer then our next breath, knowing our prayers before we even utter them.  Use determination in your prayer life, seasons of life are trying and prayer will be a constant friend. 

And finally, rely on the beauty of what’s in Scripture to make your requests known before God.  Substitute your spouses name in places of Scripture (David is patient, David is kind…) and press into the fullness of God on their behalf.  By praying together with and for your spouse God will “move men.” 

You are an indispensable companion... Week 1 with Dr. Schmutzer

Genesis.

A word that brings to mind any number of potential thoughts or questions.  There’s many ways our speaker this week, Dr. Andrew Schmutzer, could have approached this topic.  Yet, one thing is clear after reading this narrative and listening to his talk on it: God created us for relationship.

Dr. Schmutzer talked to us this week about “being made in dialogue for dialogue.”  The first layer of this is the awe-inspiring method God used for the creation of the world. 

            “And God said, ‘Let there be light..’ and there was light.”

Amazingly, God not only created the world exnihilo or out of nothing, but also through an even more extraordinary way, through simply speaking every created thing into existence.  In Genesis 1:26 God speaks humanity into existence, His crowning jewel. His magnum opus. His image-bearer.  The magnitude of God’s power and flare for the beautiful cannot be overstated. However, it did not end with the creation of an individual, but expanded into God’s plan for community. 

Next, Dr. Schmutzer said this about community: “A person is someone who is in community; and an individual is someone in isolation.”  And although this creation of Adam is good and complete in every possible way, God wants Adam to live in relationship, to be connected intimately with one like him.  So as the second layer of the dialogue concept unfolds God then creates Adam’s helper, Eve. God could see Adam would need another to usher in the communal vision God had for humanity. 

Perhaps, though, when you hear the word “helper” you cringe because you think it may mean that Eve was created to be subservient.  Many people have a narrow view of this word. Yet, through a word study of helper we see it’s actually used other places that give it quite a profound meaning such as in Deuteronomy 33:7 and Psalm33:20 when God is called Israel’s helper.  In every way God sustained Israel.  In order to help us understand this concept even more Dr. Schmutzer described wives as being an “indispensable companion.” 

Not until Adam’s indispensable companion is created does Adam talk.  Eve was the final paint stroke on a grand canvas God was designing.  At the completion of this picture we see a God who desires complete relationship with us and desires for us to be fully known by another, as well. 

Join us next week as we will continue learning from Dr. Sigler at 5:30 PM in the Kimball Room. We would love to see you there. 

Love,

Amy 

Wonder Woman or Daughter of the King?

This past week at SWF we had professor and author Dr. Bryan Litfin come and speak to us on the topic of "warrior maidens." It certainly was an interesting and informative topic as he looked at all the various ways in which pop culture has been indicative of the culture. He began the pop culture journey during the early 20th century when women were viewed as frail and used as objects of beauty. As ideas in the culture have shifted to try and place women on level playing ground with men we have also seen a shift in pop culture to display women through media as strong and independent. However, what are we sacrificing for "gender equality?" Watch this first clip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53q-3PuVC90

This is the 1933 version of King Kong which is a prime example portraying the woman as poor and defenseless and in need of a man to come to her rescue. She is a damsel in distress. This idea is clearly so far from our 21st century frame of reference and as Dr. Litfin would say and most of us agree for good reason. Women are not defenseless and left to flail in the arms of a superior waiting for men to come to her rescue. This is not who we want to be and who we believe women to be. Now, take a look at this clip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5V1CYpdpjc

At first glance, Wonder Woman may seem to be a large improvement from the old and severely outdated portrayal of women in King Kong.  However, the issues with this go far beyond what meets the eye.  In an effort to portray women as being able to do everything that men can do (and perhaps even better) we have successfully stripped men from their role as God created him.  Man is no longer the one who is strong with life force but instead is now weak and inferior. Notice in the clip when Wonder Woman stops the man's gun.  She doesn't simply block the bullet, but she must "bend" the "barrel."  This is clearly sexual innuendo making the statement that not only can women do everything a man can, actually we no longer even need men.

For us as growing as Christian women and many of us in the future teaching our daughters how to live as Christian women, this is particularly dangerous ground.  The reality is that when we strip the man of everything that makes him what he is, we are left with a family model that does not match up to Scripture. In an effort to make women seem strong we have sacrificed the very nature of the man.  What if instead of demeaning men in our lives and belittling what God has made them to be, we celebrated the men in our lives who lead us with strength and courage and pray for them to be that?

However, that leaves us asking then, what is the place of women? If Wonder Woman is off base then maybe we are just damsels in distress waiting and needing men to save us. To answer that, here's one last clip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-ysr5AZrDc

In this video, Eowyn from the "Lord of the Rings" series gives a great example of what a strong woman is and the male lead in this scene, Aragorn, also says some beautiful words that can teach us something. The biggest thing to learn from this video is how much Aragorn supports and encourages Eowyn.  He reminds her who she is and what she is capable of. "You are the daughter of kings...a shield-maiden of Rohan!"
He doesn't command her to stay home because she is a woman but says to come along side of him and they will fight together. This is a lesson for all of the husbands that we women represent at SWF.  Men should be for us. They should encourage us, reminds us who we are, and tell us to come along side of him.  We as men and women of the faith are Sons and Daughters of the King, each with wonderful things to gift each other with. Men, lead your wives with courage, give them dignity and respect, and remind them of who they are.  Women, don't allow our culture to convince us we no longer need men. Pray that God would allow your husband to be the type of man you want to follow and celebrate all that makes him who he is. Pray that men everywhere in churches would rise to that Scriptural call.

In the end Eowyn states in the face of her adversary, that "she is no man." When watching this as a woman we feel a certain level of joy when she says this statement. That's right, ladies, we are no man. We are strong and capable of great things. We can kick butt! Yet to be this doesn't mean we need to emasculate the men in our lives and world. We can honor both genders.

For some more resources on the idea of "warrior-maidens" and good examples of strong women, check out:

-Judges 4-5, the story of Jael

-Dr. Litfin's fiction series that includes a female character, Anastasia, which he created to reflect the values of a godly and strong woman
http://www.amazon.com/Chiveis-Trilogy-3-Book-Set/dp/1433533731/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1431005852&sr=8-3&keywords=bryan+litfin+chiveis

Love,
Amy

Intimacy in Marriage

Intimacy In Marriage 

Mrs. Smith, one part of Moody's beloved team-teaching duo who is always lively (and occasionally sassy) began her talk by asking us what we thought when we heard that the topic for this week SWF's meeting was going to be intimacy. If you weren't there, you can only imagine all of the varied responses to a question like that. While the evening began with giggles and the occasional blush, by the end we were left with only the sacrificial, vulnerable, and honesty beauty that is intimacy. Here's what that looks like.

To begin, Mrs. Smith read from 1 Corinthians 7.  

"Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: 'It is good for a man not to have sexual relationships with a woman.' But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another, expect perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control." 

What she taught us from this passage can be described as countercultural. Our western individualized society often embraces the pervasive message that our bodies are our own and we may do with them as we see fit. However, even a surface level reading of this passage reveals that is simply not the case. But rather, our husbands have authorities over our bodies just as we do theirs.  Both husband and wives are to submit to the other and yield their bodies. Mrs. Smith says, "It is impossible to live for yourself and have a good marriage." 

A second point needing attention from this passage is verse 5. "...So that Satan may not tempt you..." Satan will try to attack the marriage bed because of how vital it is to a strong marriage demonstrating the holy metaphor of Christ and the Church. If he is unable to win you over through the everyday annoyances and troubles of life he will attack the intimacy in your marriage. Cultivating a healthy and sacrificial intimacy is crucial for the safeguarding of your marriage. Deprivation is an invitation to attack. 

Although all of us may know these principles it can be difficult to pursue them, especially when the going gets tough. Mrs. Smith reminded us from a counseling perspective that we as humans have control over our emotions. We get to choose how we respond to waves of our emotions as opposed to being ruled by them. This is particularly helpful when we may be angry before going to bed and are perfectly content to roll over and face the opposite direction despondently getting our points across. However, Scripture again writes to us to not let the sun go down on our anger (Eph. 4:26). So what can we do? We can choose to put our anger on the shelf for the night. Even if the day has been horrible and perhaps there is or was an argument, it is our choice to let the walls come down between us and come together at the end of the day. This could mean either dropping the issue entirely and waking in the morning with a fresh perspective to realize just how petty it was, or bringing it up at a later time to be discussed. She asked this insightful question to us, "Are you willing to risk being misunderstood in order to follow the commands of Scripture?" Again, this goes against our way of thinking but ultimately as followers of Christ a paradigm shift is in order. Christ is constantly challenging our ways of thinking. 

In closing, she offered a handout with an acronym of how to have a G.R.E.A.T. sex life. 

G- gratitude 
Everyday we thank God. God always know where we're at in the life and knows the       challenges we may be facing in our marriages regarding intimacy and any other things. 

R- rest
"Our rest in Christ is a barometer for our human relationships." Are you resting in the Lord?
Also, get some sleep!

E- exercise
Exercise your minds and have intellectual conversations and pursuits individually and with your husband. 
Exercise your bodies and work hard to make your husband feel like you care about your appearance because you love him. (Your husband doesn't care what size, height, etc. you are necessarily but just that he is worth the effort of looking nice for.) 

A- attitude
Think about your attitude towards the bedroom. How is it? Why might it be that way? Consider how that can be fine-tuned.    

T- time
See time spent with your husband as time spent with your best friend who loves you and wants to get to know you. 

As you can see intimacy in marriage is so, so important. Without that element we risk allowing Satan a foothold in our marriage and with it we grow more deeply in love with our best friend. Admittedly this is a tough area. There are many wonderful books and resources out there to offer words of wisdom. At the bottom of this page are a book and also a website you can check out to help with this area. Also, when able come to student wives and grow along with us as we learn what it is to live in such a way that when people see our marriages they want to know Christ.  

Until then,
Amy 

Resources:
Book: "Sheet Music" by Kevin Leman
Website: authenticintimacy.com