In Sunday’s sermon, “A Word to the Wives,” Ryan preached from 1 Peter 3:1-6, a passage with important instructions concerning the privileges and responsibilities that God has invested in wives.

Some sermons raise questions and issues that can’t be unpacked in full in the course of the sermon. Well, that’s most sermons, but some sermons are especially dense with issues that could be clarified and explored further, given more time. Sunday’s sermon was one of those.

So, here are some great resources in follow up to Sunday:

• “Sarah and Her Daughters,” a sermon by Charles Spurgeon
• “Saturday Seminar: Modesty,” a three hour seminar by Ryan Kelly
• “In Search of a Spouse, as a Potential Spouse,” A sermon from Proverbs 31 by Ryan Kelly
• “Don’t Take It from Me: Reasons You Should Not Marry an Unbeliever,” an article by Kathy Keller
• Feminine Appeal, a great book by Carolyn Mahaney available at the Book Nook

Update: At least for now, The Masculine Mandate is available for free as an Amazon Kindle download.

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Here’s a book to keep in mind for Father’s Day: The Masculine Mandate: God’s Calling to Men, by Rick Phillips. Phillips, a former tank commander and a careful student of God’s Word, has written a very fine book for men.

Here’s the publisher’s description:

There is a crying need in the church today for men to be men. But competing visions for what a man is to be some growing out of popular culture and others arising from flawed teaching in the church are exacerbating the problem. Richard Phillips believes it is possible to cut through all of this confusion by consulting the Bible. Only in the pages of Scripture, he asserts, can men find a clear explanation of their God-given roles as leaders, husbands, fathers, and churchmen.

Beginning in Genesis, Phillips shows that God commissioned Adam to work and tend the Garden of Eden. In these twin tasks, he perceives a template for manhood, one that, when carried out with diligence, provides dignity to men, service to mankind, and glory to God. He then goes on to show that men are called to lead, to love their wives, to discipline their children, and to serve the church of Jesus Christ. Here is biblical exposition of the most practical sort teaching that reveals not only what men are to think but what they are to be.

Jonathan Leeman offers this comment and brief description in his review of Phillips’ book:

At the risk of undermining the reader’s confidence in my objectivity, I have to admit that I have nothing negative to say about the book. I believe that it provides a compelling, balanced, and pastorally-wise picture of biblical manhood.

• He captures why a biblical theology of work—a hot topic these days—should make distinctions between men and women.
• He explains how a father should conceive of his parental role differently than a mother, and what it means to give your heart to your children before asking them to give theirs to you.
• He discusses how a husband should labor to understand his wife before he can lead her well.
• He tells men to befriend one another, not just over beer and football, but like Jonathan did when giving his royal robe to David.

Here are some pastoral plans I have for Phillips’ book:

• Read it with a couple of men I’m discipling.
• Request that it be placed on our church’s bookstall.
• Recommend that it be added to the four or five books we ask couples to read in our newly-married small groups, which couples join for the first two years of marriage.
• Apply some of his lessons in my own life, particularly his advice to be more deliberate about what kind of time I’m spending with my children (he advises four things: read, pray, work, and play).

This book, along with other books for men, is available at the Book Nook and on Amazon.

For many years we’ve made audio available online each week from Sunday’s sermon on the Messages page. Now, you will see a link to video from Sunday’s sermon as well. If you are a sermon junkie, go ahead and bookmark the DSC YouTube Channel in your browser.

Here’s the video from Sunday’s sermon, “Plain Old, Everyday, Hard (Transcendent) Work,” from 1 Peter 2:13-25.

[RSS and email readers, click here to view this video]

Blood drives are one of the ways that DSC is invested in our community. With DSC’s next blood drive around the corner (June 8), we asked Ian Byrd, DSC’s Facilities Supervisor, to share the story of how donated blood was used to save the life if his wife, Alyssa.

If you think that giving blood won’t make a difference, think again.

In November 2007, we lost our daughter Sydney to stillbirth at 31 weeks gestation. As we waited for my wife to go into natural labor we learned that the cause of the stillbirth was a concealed full placental abruption, meaning that the onset of preeclampsia and spike in blood pressure caused the placenta to tear away from the uterine wall effectively cutting off blood flow and oxygen to the baby. Because it was concealed there were no tell tale signs that there was a problem. Complicating matters was a genetic blood clotting disorder called Factor Five Liden, that we found out she had a month prior.

So as we waited all day for delivery, my wife was bleeding internally and not clotting as efficiently as the rest of us. At this time the doctors decided to perform an emergency C-section, not to save the baby as that was too late, but to save my wife. During surgery she required 14 bags of blood and we nearly lost her.

The average human body contains around 5.5 liters of blood. In terms of a bag or unit of blood given that would equal around 11-13 bags/units. My wife had her blood effectively replaced once over and then some with blood given by donors like you. So If you think that thirty minutes sitting comfortably while a liter of blood is exiting your body isn’t worth it or won’t make a difference, think again.

I give blood every chance I get because it will save someone. We may have lost a child that day, but my wife was spared because people gave. I give blood to honor my wife, and I give in memory of our little girl.

Our next drive will be held on Saturday, June 8 from 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM. Sign up at the Information Center or online by clicking here.

Like Peter in 1 Peter 2:13-18, Paul in Romans 13 writes in rather absolute and seemingly unqualified ways about civil authorities and the Christian response to them: “Be subject to the governing authorities. …whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed. …he is God’s servant for good.” But why write in these such absolute and seemingly unqualified ways? Why emphasize the right of government and the need for submission, and leave out any and all exceptions? Perhaps we can query a couple of sermons from John Piper for answers to these and similar questions.

In a sermon on Romans 13, Piper explains why Paul wrote Romans 13 as he did:

He is more concerned with our humility and self-denial and trust in Christ, than he is about our civil liberties. In other words, Paul risked being misunderstood on the side of submission because he saw pride as a greater danger to Christians than government injustice. I cannot imagine Paul writing this way if Paul thought that the ultimate thing was being treated fairly by the government. But I can imagine him writing this way if faith and humility and self-denial and readiness to suffer for Christ is the main thing.

Or, in other words:

[Paul] wants us to know that the danger to our soul from unjust governments is nowhere near as great as the danger to our soul from the pride that kicks against submission. No mistreatment or unjust law has ever sent anyone to hell. But pride and rebellion is what sends everyone to hell who doesn’t have a Savior.

But is there ever a proper place for civil disobedience? From the same sermon, Piper answers:

…some Christians have come to the point in history where they believed laws were so unjust and so evil, and political means of change had been frustrated so long, that peaceful, non-violent, civil disobedience seemed right.

What factors would be involved in consideration of civil disobedience? Piper suggests that “it would be a combination of at least these four things.”

1. The grievousness of the action sanctioned by law. How atrocious is it? Is it a traffic pattern that you think is dumb? Or is the law sanctioning killing?
2. The extent of the unjust law’s effect. Is it a person affected here or there? Or is it millions? Does the law have an incidental inconsistency? Or is it putting a whole group of people into bondage because of their ethnic origin?
3. The potential of civil disobedience for clear and effective witness to the truth. This is the question of strategy, and there will certainly be room here for differing judgments about whether a particular act of civil disobedience will be a clear and effective statement of what is just.
4. The movement of the spirit of courage and conviction in God in people’s lives that indicates the time is right. Historically, there appears to be a flash point of moral indignation. An evil exists for years, or perhaps generations, and then something strange happens. One person, and then tens of thousands of people, can no longer just get up and go to work and say, “I wish it weren’t this way.” A flash point is reached, and what had hung in the air for years as tolerable evil explodes with an overwhelming sense that this state of affairs simply can no longer be!

So, if and when that time comes, what should civil disobedience look like? What is its tenor and heartbeat? Piper looks to the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:38-48), which contrasts retaliation and love in response to enemies. Then he concludes with these guidelines:

The words of Jesus rule out all vindictiveness and all action based on the mere expediency of personal safety. The Lord cuts away our love for possessions, and our love for convenience. That’s the point of Matthew 5:38-42. Don’t act merely out of concern for your own private benefit, your clothes, your convenience, your possessions, your safety.

Instead, by trusting Christ, become the kind of person who is utterly free from these things to live for others (both the oppressed and the oppressors; both the persecuted and the persecutors; both the dying children and the killing abortionists). The tone and demeanor of this Christian civil disobedience will be the opposite of strident, belligerent, rock-throwing, screaming, swearing, violent demonstrations.

We are people of the cross. Our Lord submitted to crucifixion willingly to save his enemies. We owe our eternal life to him. We are forgiven sinners. This takes the swagger out of our protest. It takes the arrogance out of our resistance. And if, after every other means has failed, we must disobey for the sake of love and justice, we will first remove the log from our own eye, which will cause enough pain and tears to soften our indignation into a humble, quiet, but unshakeable, NO. The greatest battle we face is not overcoming unjust laws, but becoming this kind of people.

Church, let’s pray to that end!