2015 Women's Christmas Luncheon Part 1
First B Jackson
2016-04-29

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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I am here again to have the honor of introducing our speaker for this afternoon. Deborah Buckingham will be sharing with us today. She lives here in Jackson. We didn't have to fly in a special speaker. She lives here in Jackson and has been leading Bible studies for the past twenty years.

She's even taught internationally. Most recently, she was invited to co teach pastors and Christian leaders in Burma. After publishing Nourishments, a daily devotional, she did a ten week national book tour including interviews with Moody Radio, the International Praise the Lord Show, and she was asked to open with a nourishments devotional at the Family Research Council Summit in DC. Whatever the venue, as an enthusiastic student of God's word, Deborah is always eager to learn and share his amazing, timeless words of truth, his grace, and his love. So if you would, please welcome Deborah Buckingham.

Well, Merry Christmas, everyone. I have to confess right up front, I'm not used to holding microphone, and I'm like an Italian. So I just hope it stays here and doesn't go anywhere else. Why? I thought there's no better way to start Christmas sharing than with the beautiful Christmas passage from Luke chapter two beginning in verse eight.

Now in the same country, there were some shepherds living out in the field tending to their flock at night. And the glory of the Lord came before them and shone before them. And an angel said, because they were greatly afraid, do not be afraid, for I bring you good tidings of great joy for all people. For unto you this day in the city of David is born a savior. He is Christ the Lord.

And there will be a sign for you. You will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger. Will you pray with me? Lord, we love your word, and we thank you for your encouragement. I ask that you just bless the sharing today.

May your words penetrate every heart here. Thank you for bringing these beautiful souls to hear how much you love them. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, I love that passage that says good tidings of great joy for all people. Because today, what I want to share with you is the good news that Jesus brought specifically for us women.

And this message started ruminating in my mind earlier this year when my 22 year old daughter, ready to graduate from college, asked me this question. She said, mom, I know you're a conservative Christian, but are you a feminist? And can I just tell you, I thought, okay, this isn't as much a question as this is a statement? And it led her and I into this great discussion about the role of women. And we pretty much landed in the same place.

But since that discussion, I had just been so in tuned to how Jesus came to Earth and very specifically impacted women. Did you know this? More than any other man in the history of mankind, he elevated the status and worth of women. I mean, when you consider the culture that he came into, the Greek Roman culture, and specifically in The Middle East, women had no voice. In fact, by Roman law, women were the property of their husbands, and their husbands had the right of life or death over them.

And Jesus came in, and he completely changed everything. And as we see Christianity spreading through the Western world, as Christianity spread, guess what else spread? Women's rights. Because he changed everything for them. What I want to share with you is three general ways that he changed things for women.

And then I'm so excited to pull out five women that he personally touched and changed their life forever. The first general way is that He taught in God's eyes, men and women have equal value. In fact, we're told in Matthew 19, he has all these teachers and Pharisees around him. And he says to them, haven't you read? Don't you remember going back to Genesis one that God created them in His image.

Male and female, He created them in His image. He didn't create one a little more in His image and one a little less. Equal value. And from there, we are told throughout the gospels that Christ died on that cross, that blood that he shed was as equally for a woman as it was for a man. In fact, Galatians three twenty eight says, male and female, you are one in Christ.

And first Peter says, God paid a ransom to save you. And the you there is you, human being. Isn't that incredible? And Ephesians one says, if you believe in Him, you get a portion of His very own spirit deposited in you. Doesn't make any distinction between a man and a woman.

Secondly, Jesus was very instrumental in elevating women within the status, starting within the family. Now, you've heard it said that a country or a society is only as strong as the family unit. So you know what Jesus did? He went into the family unit, and he taught through Paul. He said, husbands he called out the husbands.

And he said, husbands, love your wife as Christ loves you. Wow. Do you know what that one statement meant? It meant, husbands protect your wife, provide for your wife, respect your wife. She is not your property.

Wow. And then Jesus himself called out men in Matthew chapter five. And I love this because he just shattered a massive double standard at that time. He said, men, if you even think about having sex with another woman, you are committing adultery against your wife. Because you see in that time period, and still today where Christianity is not lived out, in that time period, it was Okay for men to do whatever they wanted.

But if a woman had an affair, she suffered a great consequence, oftentimes death. And Jesus said, men, I'm holding you as accountable as I'm holding the women. Don't do that anymore, shattering that double standard. The third thing that Jesus did for women, women in this time period had no voice. In fact, within the churches, within the synagogues and temples where they worshipped the one true God, women were separated out from the men.

And guess what the women's roles were in the pagan temples? They were prostitutes to serve at the pleasure of men. The Christian church completely changed that. And Jesus started by leading with an example. I think it's so fascinating how unconventional he was.

You know, they referred to him as a rabbi. And where did rabbis teach? In the temple, in the synagogue. Where do we find Jesus teaching? We find him in the marketplace.

Who was in the marketplace, ladies? The women. We find him teaching on hillsides. Do you know why? Because the women could have a front row seat.

And then from there, he used examples that women would connect with. He reminded the women. He said, remember the Queen of Sheba and how she traveled many 100 miles to find the truth? The women would have resonated with that. And he stood before them and he said, I am the truth.

I am the way. I am the life. And I'm teaching you because you're going to have an important role in advancing my belief system, Christianity. And he even used the example comparing the kingdom of heaven to a little dot of yeast that women would work through a lump of dough. Wow.

I mean, it's no wonder many women followed him. You know, when we think of Jesus, we think of the big miracles that he did. I mean, it would be amazing to see a man who was paralyzed forever get up and walk, or a blind person to see, or the dead to be raised. But that really wasn't the heart of his ministry. The heart of his ministry was reaching out to individuals and changing them forever.

The heart of his ministry was saying to individual people, you matter to me. You matter enough that I would come as a baby in a manger and die on a rugged cross for you. You matter enough that I have purposes and plans for you. You know, he was the embodiment of those 7,000 promises we find in his word. Promises like Isaiah 20 six:three, you will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you.

Or Deuteronomy four:seven, our God is near when we call unto him. And the first lady I want to share with you was the lady that we read about in Mark chapter five. Now, this lady had some kind of bleeding issue. And in her culture, at that time, that made her unclean. And so any person that she came in contact with would also be considered unclean.

So this poor soul was ostracized and isolated for twelve years. No fellowship like this, no going to temple. We know that she eventually was divorced. We know that she went to many doctors. Instead of getting better, she only got worse, and then she suffered financially.

But this lady said, if I can get near Jesus, I'm going to reach out to him, and he will heal me. And in Mark five, he's walking down the street with this huge crowd following him. And at great risk, she went against the cultural standards. And she went in that crowd, and she reached out and touched the hem of his robe. And immediately she was healed.

And Jesus stopped and he said to his disciples, who reached out and touched me? And the disciples said, are you kidding? I mean, look at this crowd. People are bumping into you everywhere, Jesus. Jesus was not asking who bumped into him.

You can bump into him every Sunday at church. We can bump into him at Christmas. Hear a Christmas song, get a warm feeling. No. That's not what he was asking because bumping into him will not change your life.

He said, who, by faith reached out and touched me? Okay, Jesus knows everything. He wasn't asking for his benefit. He was asking for the crowd and her benefit. And we're told in Mark five that she was so afraid of what might happen to her for doing that, that she was trembling all over.

And she fell on her knees before Jesus and she said, it was me. And instead of getting a rebuke, only time in scripture he said this, do you know what he said to her? He said the most tender thing he could say. He said, daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.

Your suffering is over. There was so much he was saying in that one sentence. There was a common term for men in that time who worshipped Yahweh. And the term was sons of God. And Jesus elevating women right up to that called her daughter.

It was like he took her hand and he said, baby girl, you reached out to me and guess what? I was here for you. I don't know today if you have peace with God or if you have the peace of God, but He is right there extending it to you. You just need to reach out to Him. He will give you that peace, one of the greatest gifts of Christmas.

In fact, Billy Graham says, the war that exists between you and God can be over like that. And the peace treaty is signed in the blood of Jesus Christ. The next lady I want to share with you, well, I love this story so much. Her name is Mary, and she's the sister of Martha and Lazarus. And we're told that often Jesus and all his disciples, he'd bring this crew into their home, and they would serve him dinner.

What's astonishing about this story is that this time in history, women could not read, women did not have an education. And you know what, ladies? Two thousand years later, all of us in this room as women, we have some level of education because of Christianity. In countries where Christianity is not practiced, women still struggle with basic rights like education. And Jesus went into their home and three times, three times we're told in scripture that he sat there and personally tutored and taught Mary.

And Mary sat at his feet as a disciple. And you know what? He did that in front of the disciples. Because who was gonna spread his Christianity through the known world? The disciples.

And he was teaching them, you include the women, educate the women, they're gonna be part of this. I love that. But I also love Martha only because I'm beginning to have company roll in for the holidays, and I will have company for about a month like I do every year during this time. And like Martha, I get a little fussy after a few days of spending hours in the kitchen. And so Martha's like, Jesus, could you tell Mary to get in here and help me?

And I was like, oh, I just love that. But you know what Jesus says to Martha? Laying down a basic principle for us, he says, Martha, Mary has chosen what is better. Woah. Was Jesus saying to neglect our responsibilities?

No. You know what he was saying? He was saying, I am giving her spiritual food because every one of you, the Lord God made. And he made you in such a way that you have a hunger and you have an emptiness that only He can fulfill. And He was saying, Martha, Mary is fulfilling her deepest needs.

And you know what else He was saying? If you make time for me and you connect with me, the details of your life are going to work out. That food will get served eventually. Love how he educated love how he raised the level of education for women. My next lady is one that you may not be too familiar with.

Her name is Joanna. And she comes from Luke chapter eight. And I love this story too because Joanna was the wife of Coosa, who was the manager for the entire household of Herod. And she was a part of a group of women that we're told in Luke chapter eight followed Jesus with the disciples. We know that Joanna and all the other women had some kind of miraculous healing.

And we also know that being in Herod's household, Joanna would have followed Jesus at great risk. But you

know