Good morning and welcome to Walking with Jesus in the Gospels, where we are getting to know our Savior better. I am Pastor Jason Van Bemmel from Forest Hill Presbyterian Church. It is good to be with you. It's our 24th week together in the Gospels, and we are in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 8, looking at verses 1 to 25. And we're going to ask this question today. What did Jesus do for women? What did Jesus do for women? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for sending your Son to be the Savior, the Savior of the world, the Savior of all those who put their trust in you. Thank you for showing us more and more of our Savior as we spend time day by day in your Word. Bless our time together today, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. Luke 8, 1 to 25, soon afterward, he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the 12 were with him, and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities. Mary called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Chusa, Herod's household manager, and Susanna, and many others who provided for them out of their means. And when a great crowd was gathering, and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable, a sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock, and it grew up. It withered away because it had no moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. And some fell into good soil, and grew and yielded a hundredfold. As he said these things, he called out, He who has ears to hear, let him hear. And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, he said, Now, the parable is this. The seed is the word of God. The ones along the path are those who have heard. Then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts so that they might not believe and be saved. And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. but they have no root. They believe for a while, and at time of testing they fall away. And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way, they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience. No one, after lighting a lamp, covers it with a jar and puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand so that those who enter may see the light. For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be made known and come to light. Take care, then, how you hear. For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks he has will be taken away. Then his mother and his brothers came to him, and they could not reach him because of the crowd. And he was told, Your mother and your brothers are standing outside desiring to see you. But he answered them, My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it. One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, Let us go across to the other side of the lake. So they set out. And as they sailed away, he fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water. and were in danger. And they went and woke him, saying, Master, Master, we are perishing. And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. He said to them, Where is your faith? And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water? And they obey him. So the opening of our passage today mentions the women who traveled with Jesus. Mary called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, Joanna, the wife of Chusa, Harold's household manager, and Susanna, and many others who provided for them out of their means. Contemporary feminists often blame Christianity for being anti-women. And they will talk about how Christianity has basically oppressed women and the church has been bad for women. There are some neo-pagan minded feminists who put goddess bumper stickers on their cars, imagining that if only we could return to the days of goddess worship, that would liberate them from the male dominated oppression of the church. A close reading of the New Testament against the cultural background of first century Roman Empire tells a different story. Jesus elevated the status of women from property to persons, from objects to possess to vital members of his church and partners in his ministry. From the opening lines of Matthew's Gospel, which record four women in Jesus' genealogy, to the naming of women as his prominent supporters here in Luke 8, to the repeated mention of key women in the early church in Paul's letters, the New Testament shows us repeatedly how Jesus respected women, elevating them and granting them the dignity of intelligent spiritual persons. Consider these facts. First, women were the first eyewitnesses of the resurrection, even though their testimony would be ridiculed and dismissed in court in the Roman Empire and wasn't even accepted by the male disciples. Secondly, Jesus commended Mary for sitting at his feet and learning, something women were forbidden from doing in Jewish synagogues and in almost all religious groups. Any other rabbi would have sent Mary to the kitchen to help Martha, which is exactly what Martha expected Jesus to do. Third, the Gospels make it clear that women were the ones who stuck close to Jesus during his crucifixion and afterward. John was the only male disciple at the cross, but the women stayed close to their Lord through his suffering, death, and burial. Fourth, the Gospels highlight the remarkable faith of several women, including the Syrophoenician woman and the woman who suffered from an issue of blood. Their faith has inspired millions of people for thousands of years. Fifth, several early churches met in the homes of wealthy or prominent women. There's Nympha, mentioned in Colossians 4, and Apphia, mentioned in Philemon 2. Several of the key converts in strategic cities in the Book of Acts were women, including Lydia in Philippi. Sixth, Paul saw women and their relationships as key to the peace and harmony of the church, which is why he pleaded with Euodia and Syntyche to agree in the Lord in Philippians 4. And seventh, men in the church are commanded to love their wives sacrificially and to live with their wives in an understanding manner. They are told that their love is to reflect Jesus' love for the church and that a lack of love for their wives would hinder their prayer life. This is in Ephesians 5, 26 to 30, and in 1 Peter 3, 7. So in a world where women had little or no legal rights and got little or no respect as intellectuals or spiritual people, Jesus came along and turned the worldview of women upside down. I chuckle when I see women who think we'd be better off with goddesses and priestesses. I want to go up to them and ask them if they realize what they're desiring. Temples to goddesses in the ancient world were just houses of prostitution, and the priestesses were the prostitutes. They were used by men to serve their pleasure and left to deal with the consequences, which were often ugly when they got pregnant. It is not an overstatement to say that Christianity is the best thing that has happened for women in the history of the world. It brought real liberation and true humanization to millions, spreading women's rights as it advanced the gospel. Two key examples can be seen in India and China, where missionaries led the fight to bring an end to widow burning and to foot binding. Have some Christian men abused women and misunderstood concepts like male leadership in the home and in the church? Absolutely. People have always distorted the truth and manipulated it to serve their self-interests. But that does not negate the incredible good that Jesus did for women during his life or that his church has done for women ever since. And that is the good that Jesus does for women. Let's go to Psalm 116. I love the Lord because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live. The snares of death encompassed me. The pangs of Sheol laid hold on me. I suffered distress and anguish. Then I called on the name of the Lord. O Lord, I pray, deliver my soul. Gracious is the Lord and righteous. Our God is merciful. The Lord preserves the simple. When I was brought low, He saved me. Return, O my soul, to your rest, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living." I believed. Even when I spoke, I am greatly afflicted. I said in my alarm, all mankind are liars. What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. O Lord, I am your servant. I am your servant, the son of your maidservant. You have loosed my bonds. I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people, in the courts of the house of the Lord, in your midst, O Jerusalem. Praise the Lord. Let's pray. O Heavenly Father, you have been so good to us. We have every reason to praise you. You've loosed our bonds. You've set us free. Some of that bondage that you have loosed is the way that men treated women for centuries, for millennia, after the fall and before the coming of Christ, demeaning and degrading women. And Jesus, you came into the world and you made it clear that women bear your image and women have a seat in your church and a place in the ministry of your kingdom. And that is good news. But we've been set free from a deeper bondage to corruption, to sin, to death, to hopelessness. You have set us free. We praise you and we thank you. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Well, thanks so much for joining me again for Walking with Jesus and the Gospels. I hope it was a blessed time for you. I hope you can join us again tomorrow. Have a blessed day in the Lord.