Episode Transcript
[00:00:09] If your mind were a pie chart, what would it look like this morning?
[00:00:18] That's an interesting question, isn't it? You got worship guides? I don't mind you doing a little sketching or drawing if you so choose.
[00:00:26] If your mind were a pie chart this morning, let's do a little self reflective exercise to see what those percentages would look like.
[00:00:37] What percentage of your thoughts are being attributed to things like what other people think of you, how someone annoys you, business or project or hobby. You're consumed in what your clothing looks like, what you're going to eat for lunch, what you're going to watch on television this afternoon, being worried about your baby or the children or the grandchildren, whether your spouse respects you or loves you, wishing you were somewhere else right now, I'd be curious on what that pie chart would look like this morning for each one of us.
[00:01:28] It's also worth asking within that pie chart, what percentage of your mind and mind this morning is consumed with what our Heavenly Father thinks of us, with what Jesus sacrifice on the cross means for us, and how the Holy Spirit is working in you and I right now to free us from our sin and to walk in freedom following the Savior.
[00:01:56] Brothers and sisters, the percentages of our minds should be occupied with worshiping and loving God.
[00:02:05] And the vast portion of the pie that's not geared towards that end is revealing a lot about you and I and what is steering our life today.
[00:02:16] And friends, whether we can accurately parse out the pie chart or not. The Lord sees, the Lord knows. And friends, here's the good news. He knows how to take that pie chart and form the percentages like they should by hearing His Word and renewing our mind to be the men and women and boys and girls that we were made to be, to worship him and enjoy him forever.
[00:02:42] Which brings us to our sermon text this morning. If you have a copy of God's Word, please open your Bibles to first Timothy Chapter two. We've been in First Timothy now for, I don't know, five or six weeks. I've lost count.
[00:02:58] But if you haven't been here with us, we have our sermons on the Internet, on the podcast. You can catch those up to speed if you want to know what you've missed so far.
[00:03:06] But I pray this morning, whether you are the first time with us or you've been with us through this whole series, that 1 Timothy 2 would be a fresh reminder that God is creating us and recreating us to be worshipers and lovers of him.
[00:03:22] First Timothy, chapter two. Starting in verse eight, I'll be reading to verse 15.
[00:03:27] Please follow with me.
[00:03:31] I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands, without anger or quarreling.
[00:03:45] Likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self control, not with braided hair, gold or pearls, or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness with good works.
[00:04:03] Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness.
[00:04:07] I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man.
[00:04:13] Rather she is to remain quiet.
[00:04:16] For Adam was formed first, then Eve, and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.
[00:04:27] Yet she will be saved through childbearing if they continue in faith and love and holiness with self control.
[00:04:37] This is God's word.
[00:04:40] Now, after reading these verses, especially if you haven't been with us, you should be asking this question.
[00:04:48] Why are these verses here?
[00:04:50] Did you be patient.
[00:04:54] Be patient.
[00:04:56] Why is this next section of Scripture here? Here's a simple answer.
[00:05:02] Orderly worship matters to God.
[00:05:08] Orderly worship matters to God.
[00:05:15] Who we worship, how we worship, and why we worship matters.
[00:05:21] And we know that it matters because God has revealed his will on these matters. And this morning, these are one of the clearest passages that shows that he does.
[00:05:30] As you may recall from last week, in verses one to seven, we discovered that a local church's witness is pleasing to God as we give ourselves to two ministries, the ministry of prayer and the ministry of reconciliation. Some might even say the ministry of the word. They're really synonymous. As Paul exhorted Timothy to have the congregation give themselves to supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving for all people. They would be a bright witness in a dark city. There in Ephesus for King Jesus, as they prayed for the welfare of the city, they would find that their peace and welfare would be upheld.
[00:06:05] As they prayed for those in authority over them, and they prayed for all kinds of people around them, the Lord would empower them to live peaceful and quiet lives in every way, friends. This was and continues to be the church's marching orders, the church's noble calling from God. We are called to fulfill the ministry of prayer.
[00:06:26] Then, in verses three to seven, Paul reminds Timothy of the church's job to be ambassadors for Jesus, those who have been sent out to represent the King as God makes his appeal through us, to reconcile sinners to himself through Jesus Christ.
[00:06:43] To Jesus Christ, for eternal life as Christians and thus local churches, as we preach Christ and him crucified and risen from the dead only promise to return to redeem all those who belong to Him. The Scriptures tell us very clear there is only one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Friend, if you don't get anything else out of this morning's service, if you're new to Christianity or you're not sure if you're a Christian, there's only one way to God. There's only one way to know the Father. There is only one way to be reconciled to this wonderful holy and good God, and that is through Jesus Christ our Lord. If you have more questions about that, keep listening to the sermon. Come speak with me after the service to learn more about that.
[00:07:23] The ministry of prayer and the ministry of reconciliation. These ministries are vital for the life of every church.
[00:07:31] Then in verses 8 to 15, where we'll be at this morning, Paul now turns our attention to another principle about worship, specifically the ministry of orderly gender, distinct God honoring Christian core disposition, the spiritual preparedness and the decorum or modesty of the worshipers when they gather.
[00:07:59] The entire context began in chapter two, verse one, and really ends in chapter three, verse 16, which is speaking about when the church gathers, when the church, churches it is. What should be shaping are Monday through Saturday, what we do here on the Lord's day together. And we know that that's the primary application because in the next few weeks we're going to be talking about the officers of the church, pastors and deacons, so much so that Paul says in First Timothy 3, 14 and 15, I hope to come to you soon, but I'm writing these things to you so that if I delay. Here's the point of what he's been writing for. You may know how one ought to behave. Conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.
[00:08:48] So, beloved, what does the local church, the worshiping community of Christians, need to see in the men and women in that church?
[00:09:03] What does orderly and acceptable worship to God look like according to God's design for men and women in the church?
[00:09:13] If you're taking notes, my outline comes in the form of two points.
[00:09:18] Two points.
[00:09:21] Point number one.
[00:09:23] Christian men should be known as praying men, not angry men.
[00:09:32] Christian men should be known as praying men, not angry men.
[00:09:40] That's verse eight.
[00:09:43] And then we'll spend the bulk of the time looking at verses nine to 15, which is point number two.
[00:09:49] Christian women should be known for their spiritual beauty, not fleeting beauty.
[00:09:57] Christian women should be known for their Spiritual beauty, not fleeting beauty.
[00:10:03] That's verses 9 to 15.
[00:10:05] Let's look at that first point together. Point number one. Christian men should be known as praying men, not angry men. Look with me at verse 8.
[00:10:12] Paul says I desire then.
[00:10:16] That's basically Paul's way of saying, as an apostle of Jesus Christ representing the King, it is Jesus will for you and therefore it's my desire for you.
[00:10:29] He says that in every place, every location, every spot a local church gathers for corporate worship, the men should pray lifting holy hands, which is a body posture of worship throughout the Old Testament. Aaron did that, Solomon did that, David did that, praying like this. Jesus did this a few times in the Gospels.
[00:10:57] He says, though, to pray with holy hands lifted high, without anger or quarreling.
[00:11:04] Now, I like straightforward text.
[00:11:07] I like put it to you kind of Bible verses I like. I don't need 55,000 nuances to understand it. Do you like those kind of verses?
[00:11:17] But get ready, those kind of verses sometimes hurt the most.
[00:11:23] Here's the point of the text.
[00:11:25] Men in the church should lead by example in the church.
[00:11:31] Men in the church should lead by example in the church. And one of the most important ways men lead by example is by leading the congregational prayer life of the church.
[00:11:44] Now this certainly does not mean that women should never pray at any time when. Yes, absolutely, women, women should pray.
[00:11:53] Here at ccbc, here's how we've sought to apply verse eight in verses that we'll cover today. We have men lead the service. We have a service leader, one who is setting the table, showing the connection between the elements, shepherding the church in the liturgy of the service.
[00:12:11] We have men lead in scripture reading, public scripture reading, prayer of praise, prayer of confession, and then we have an elder lead in the pastoral prayer right before we preach. Why are we doing this?
[00:12:23] This is our attempt to obey verse 8. It's demonstrably clear when unbelievers and visitors come into the doors of this church, they know that the men are doing their best to lead by example of going to the throne of grace.
[00:12:38] Now on Sunday nights, we also have others pray too.
[00:12:43] This is our ability to apply all of scripture. Various contexts.
[00:12:48] We have ladies who pray. I typically lead out what the prayer petitions are. And a lady from the pew, just like a teenager from the pew or another brother in the church from the pew, is leading us in prayer.
[00:13:03] I'm thankful for the ladies in our church who give themselves to prayer all throughout the week. And there's even a body of ladies that meet here in the church to Pray before the Lord's Day gatherings. Friends, I would say our ladies praying should stir up and challenge us as men to be more active in prayer ourselves.
[00:13:25] Now, it's interesting to know that Paul labors in the first verses in first Timothy verses 1 and 2, and he talks about prayer.
[00:13:33] But then in verse 8, he singles out the men. He didn't have to do that. He could have just said the church. Figure it out.
[00:13:41] See who's willing to do it.
[00:13:44] Close your eyes, hope for the best, flip a coin.
[00:13:47] No, but he says men are to lead out in prayer in the church.
[00:13:53] Friends, this shouldn't really surprise us if we know our Bibles well, as we'll see in verses 11 to 13, which are connected to verse 8. In other passages of Scripture, men have been called by God to lead and shepherd their families.
[00:14:06] Ephesians 5, 25, 33. And men qualified according to Scripture, called by God to lead as pastors, elders, overseers in the local church. First Timothy 3:1:7 Titus 1:6:9.
[00:14:19] But why did Paul feel the need to say this?
[00:14:22] I mean, isn't it assumed? Weren't they taught well enough in those early church plant days?
[00:14:29] Why did Paul feel the need to get personal to the men, to speak directly to Timothy to the men?
[00:14:38] Well, you've only got a few possibilities.
[00:14:41] Either he's offering a correction.
[00:14:45] The men aren't praying.
[00:14:47] They're passive, they're abdicating.
[00:14:51] They're letting the women basically lead out in the congregation. They just become prayerless, kind of going through the motions, just kind of show up and take up space in the room, but not be engaged in prayer at all.
[00:15:05] Or men were engaged in prayer, but it was becoming out of control and chaotic, just flat out hypocritical, as we're going to find out. Why he had to talk about anger and quarreling.
[00:15:18] I'm not sure that you would ever come back to a church if all of a sudden when the men were praying, they looked like they were about to fight.
[00:15:25] Apparently in Ephesus, somewhere along the way, Paul got word Timothy was seeing it in real living color that in their corporate worship gatherings, in their leadership meetings, in their small groups, in their conversations over coffee in the lobby, it started to feel like a WWE wrestling match instead of place of peace and joy in the church.
[00:15:48] If you recall some of the problems occurring in chapter one, it stemmed from men in the church. There were some men in the congregation grossly mishandling God's word and diverting people away from the Gospel, diverting people away from sound teaching. And it stirred up anger, it stirred up angst, it stirred up confusion and commotion, and it left the members of the church on edge.
[00:16:11] So the way Paul instructs Timothy to both course correct the problem and then prevent it from happening anymore.
[00:16:21] The men needed to give themselves to prayer, but they needed to give themselves to prayer with a humble heart, not a prideful one.
[00:16:35] What did James say in James 4:1 3?
[00:16:40] What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder.
[00:16:50] You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask.
[00:16:56] You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly to spend it on your own passions.
[00:17:03] Friends, instead of fighting, bickering and arguing with one another, these men in Ephesus needed to re channel their energy.
[00:17:11] They needed to recognize their hot headed emotions.
[00:17:15] Their heated arguments were hurting the church, harming their prayer life.
[00:17:25] Brothers and sisters, sometimes our greatest hindrance to our prayer life is our pride.
[00:17:34] It's not time.
[00:17:36] It's not. This other person made me feel fill in the blank.
[00:17:41] What hurts our prayer life is our pride.
[00:17:47] If we make prayer sound like a fast food drive through telling God, I want this, I want it on my time and I want it my way. Kind of a little Burger King theology, right? Have it your way.
[00:18:02] Nancy Guthrie has a word on that.
[00:18:06] She says the point of prayer is not to get what we want.
[00:18:10] The point of prayer is to submit to what he wants and welcome what he wants, and invite him to work in us as we wait for him to work out his plans for us and for the whole world.
[00:18:24] Men in our sinful flesh. When we are not walking in step with the Spirit, we tend to express our displeasure in life.
[00:18:34] Displeasure at work, displeasure at our wives and our children, the residents around which we live, even fellow church members.
[00:18:45] We tend to express it with harshness, fighting, one upping period.
[00:18:57] We are to be known as praying men, not angry men.
[00:19:05] Our children's lasting impression on their upbringing should not be the veins in our necks or the tone of voice that we gave them.
[00:19:15] But how quick dad was to confess where he dropped the ball, how clear his repentance was before his family, and how obvious his need for Jesus Christ is every day.
[00:19:29] Fathers, you want to make an impact for your children and grandchildren.
[00:19:33] Make a big deal about Jesus and make a big deal that he's the only one who can wrestle down your pride and my pride.
[00:19:42] You see, Christian men are to be known as praying men, holy men set apart men. Men that sing of unashamedly because they've been touched by the power of God.
[00:19:55] Men who read the scriptures not perfectly, not consistently, but they actually try because they've been deeply wounded by God's holy discipline and yet deeply humbled and made happy by the grace of God in Jesus Christ.
[00:20:11] Which in turn makes us what men.
[00:20:14] When we've been deeply wounded, when we've been greatly humbled and supremely happy in Jesus, that turns us to God fearing.
[00:20:22] And that's the kind of men the church needs.
[00:20:26] Men that actually put off the anger and quarreling, put off the resentment in fighting, put off the blame shifting and excuse making factory in our hearts and own it, take responsibility for it and make a beeline to Jesus.
[00:20:39] That's what the church needs, friends. Men and women both struggle with anger. Men and women both struggle with wrath and quarreling. That is true. But it is a particular Achilles heel sin that can grab ahold of any man ever since the Garden of Eden.
[00:20:58] So men, let's have a little chat, shall we?
[00:21:01] You don't need to raise your hand. The Lord knows.
[00:21:05] Do you have a hard time restraining your anger?
[00:21:11] Are you easily set off by other people?
[00:21:18] Are you a ticking time bomb that others have to tiptoe around?
[00:21:25] Here's a more convicting one.
[00:21:28] Are you known as a chronically moody, unpredictable roller coaster of grumpiness and cynicism?
[00:21:38] Ask your wife.
[00:21:40] She'll tell you the truth.
[00:21:42] Ask your children. They will definitely tell you the truth.
[00:21:46] Ask your elders, Ask your friends. Ask anyone who is not afraid to tell you the truth because they love you. Those are the kind of men we need in the life of our church.
[00:21:57] Friends, this is a battle that begins right here. It's not fists, it's not guns. It's right here. The battle over anger and wrath and quarreling is right here. And what has to die is me, myself and I. Pride, my pride, pride, surrender it. Give it all to Jesus and ask him to sanctify that brewing set fuse that is in all of us so that he can make us into men of love and dependence on him in prayer.
[00:22:28] Men, just as a word here, if you know this is a struggle for you, approach God in prayer about what it would look like to reconcile with those that you were at odds with.
[00:22:39] Jesus tells us in Matthew 5, leave your gift at the altar and do your best to go reconcile with someone if you can.
[00:22:46] We should pinpoint whatever that pattern looks like I have found in my own life. Maybe you do too if you're not getting what you want when you want it, maybe a good thing became an ultimate thing and that means it became an idolatrous thing. Maybe our anger is that we've got an idol in our life. The Lord is ripping from our hands.
[00:23:05] Friends, at the end of the day, we should all be men and women, boys and girls who are slow to anger, quick to listen to receive God's word. And may his word put a healing balm on our angry and fretful hearts to make us men and women of love and prayer.
[00:23:22] Christian men should be known as praying men, not angry men.
[00:23:27] Which leads to point number two. Christian women should be known for their spiritual beauty, not fleeting beauty.
[00:23:34] Now, as we dive into these next set of verses, let's gather our minds around the immediate context of the letter. The church in Ephesus, which Timothy has really been the de facto pastor, have been under attack by false teachers. We see that in chapter one.
[00:23:50] We see it again in chapter four and chapter six, as we'll see in other passages like 1 Timothy 5, 14, 2 Timothy 3. Apparently these were. These were weak women, Paul says, not like physically weak, but vulnerable women, many of them young widows.
[00:24:06] Scriptures tell us that women who were in vulnerable positions, women who were divorced, women who are single, women who are widowed, women who have never been pastored or shepherded, have no men in their life to protect them. They're uniquely more vulnerable because they have no covering, no guidance, no care.
[00:24:29] Here in Scripture, apparently there were also not only ungodly men, but it may have been ungodly women infiltrating the church, affecting how these women dressed.
[00:24:39] In other words, the fashion statements of the world, the Carnal, Sensual, Average, YouTube, AB or Billboard or whatever, started being the fashion statement of the ladies in the church.
[00:24:54] And so what does Paul do? Paul addresses the men first on their temptation with anger, and now he's going to address the women towards unique temptations they have, which is attention grabbing and control, attention grabbing and control.
[00:25:12] And here he's going to do. He's going to focus on the spiritual beauty of the women and men. Don't tune me out because I'll be speaking to the ladies for the rest of the sermon. This is for everybody in principle, ladies, in order to be known by your spiritual beauty.
[00:25:27] Five sub points. Oh, yeah, it's coming.
[00:25:30] Five sub points. What does spiritual beauty look like? How do you cultivate it? What is spiritual beauty to be characterized amongst the ladies, the sisters in any given church.
[00:25:43] Number one, let your outward appearance be synced up with A worshipful heart.
[00:25:53] Let your outward appearance be synced up with a worshipful heart and a worshipful heart before God. That is. That's verses 9 and 10.
[00:26:05] Second characteristic of spiritual beauty, Be active learners of God's word.
[00:26:11] Be active learners of God's word. That's verse 11.
[00:26:16] Number three, which is very similar.
[00:26:18] Staying on verse 11.
[00:26:19] Evaluate carefully what you are taught from God's word.
[00:26:24] Evaluate carefully what you are taught from God's word. That's verse 11 as well.
[00:26:30] Number four. Champion biblical authority.
[00:26:34] Champion biblical authority. Biblical authority God has placed over your life. That's verses 12 to 14. Champion biblical authority.
[00:26:43] Number five, embrace your femininity.
[00:26:47] Embrace your femininity, but find your ultimate identity in Jesus Christ.
[00:26:54] That's verse 15.
[00:26:56] See that first characteristic of spiritual beauty that Paul highlights? Number one, Let your outward appearance be synced up with a worshipful heart before God. Look at me at verses 9 and 10. Again he says likewise. Or that means in the same way, with the same urgency, with the same importance. Ladies, women should adorn themselves. That means prepare themselves, dress themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self control.
[00:27:25] Not with braided hair, gold and pearls, or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness with good works.
[00:27:34] In verse nine, he encourages women. It's another straightforward verse.
[00:27:39] He says women dress modestly.
[00:27:45] Now why is that?
[00:27:47] I mean, is. Is Paul up to snuff on the latest fashion trends of women for the fall can distract people from worshiping God.
[00:27:58] Immodest dress in church can draw undue attention to yourself rather than pointing to the Savior. We've all come to worship.
[00:28:09] And he uses words like respectable.
[00:28:11] It means well ordered. It's the same qualification given to an elder in first Timothy three. Two, he's to be respectable.
[00:28:20] Second, it's to be modest.
[00:28:22] The word means to have regard for others.
[00:28:26] Ladies, I know this might sound like sanctified common sense, but maybe you didn't grow up in a home where you were taught some of these things.
[00:28:32] When you are picking out clothes in your closet or grabbing something out of the drawer, it's not just does this look good to me?
[00:28:40] Am I going to look pretty?
[00:28:42] I think this is cute. No, no, no. It says right there, modesty is also having regard for others.
[00:28:50] How is this going to help or hinder people's interaction with me? Especially in corporate worship?
[00:28:58] He also mentioned self control. It should be self explanatory, self restraint.
[00:29:04] So ladies, when you're shopping, right, it's like discipling 101.
[00:29:08] There are going to be things that pull on your heartstrings and your flesh strings. Buy this, get this, you'll look gorgeous. Drop dead when you walk in the room. This will keep your husband's attention. This, this will work. This will solve it all. That kind of stuff.
[00:29:24] Friends, our world is designed especially with women to appeal to you to want attention for the wrong reasons.
[00:29:33] It is good to want your husband's attention.
[00:29:36] But if outward and physical beauty is the main tool you're grabbing, that's going to be a short lived endeavor.
[00:29:45] So what do these words imply?
[00:29:49] Women were obviously not prepared spiritually to worship.
[00:29:55] They didn't get their heart right. Just like the men who are angry and quarreling. There are women coming to church to make a fashion statement.
[00:30:02] Their pie chart is more look at me, look at me, look at me. Comparing to the next woman rather than focusing on faithfulness to Jesus.
[00:30:14] Friends, it wasn't the glory of God these women came to behold. It was wanting to have others behold them by their clothes.
[00:30:24] Whereas clothing should have been a covering for their bodies and draw attention to their face, their clothing had become eye candy, a seductive invitation to catch another eye. To maybe be gawked at by other men or maybe to compare yourself to another woman to show that you've arrived and you're some kind of woman by the way you're dressed in this elaborate way. Friends, it's the love of distinction. It's the love to want to stand out. Guess what that is? It's still called pride.
[00:30:53] Just like men with anger and quarreling, dressing to impress can have underneath it the same sin.
[00:31:01] It's still all about me, myself and I just choosing a different way to do it.
[00:31:08] Sisters, if you come to church or go out in public, most of the time I say this in love with the top motivation to cause people to rubberneck at you. You know what I'm talking about.
[00:31:20] And look at you.
[00:31:23] Your heart's not in a good place.
[00:31:27] This is not becoming of a Christian woman.
[00:31:31] Now, Christian women aren't called to dress ugly.
[00:31:36] I am not advocating, nor is scripture advocating wearing a bed sheet in a.
[00:31:42] Anyway, I could go off and all my humor on this, but you get the point.
[00:31:47] Waking up and going out to the world and looks like you never looked in the mirror is not a good thing.
[00:31:54] Praise God for mirrors. Amen.
[00:31:57] As one preacher once said of his wife, saying back to him, tell the ladies a little pain on the barn doesn't hurt every once in a while.
[00:32:06] I'm just making the point.
[00:32:08] What I think should Be sanctifyingly clear, we're not talking, look ugly, awkwardly make a fashion statement that, like, whoa, what is this, Halloween? Like, what are we doing?
[00:32:19] No, he is basically saying, when you're shopping, when you're thinking about the clothes you're going to put on, be careful about the images you're looking at in your phone or looking at it on the billboard or looking at it in the commercials. They're trying to sell you an image of a woman that doesn't fit this woman.
[00:32:36] In fact, in verse 10, he says, women have a wonderful opportunity when they're not making their entire day about how they physically look. Their main focus they're focused on inner beauty. They are women devoted to good deeds, women who profess godliness. 31 woman I get worn out just reading it. But the main point is this woman fears God and her life is overflowing with good deeds to her husband and children and the poor and business and everything around her.
[00:33:04] I think of phoebe in Romans 16, the servant at the church of Cenchre, or deaconess, perhaps.
[00:33:11] She's commended as the front of many people in Romans 16. Who was a woman, was a patron to many, a blessing to many. Use her finances well to bless the apostle Paul and others.
[00:33:22] Ladies, be known less by your jewelry taste and more by your faithfulness to Jesus.
[00:33:29] Be less known by the latest fashion statement you're trying to make with your shoes or your hair.
[00:33:36] And more about how Romans 8 has transformed your life.
[00:33:41] Friends, we all have a unique temptation to want to be seen and known by others. Men modesty is something we should apply to if we're coming to church flexing biceps for Jesus, we're in the wrong gym.
[00:33:54] We want to clothe ourselves in ways that are appropriate so that we're not drawing undue attention to ourselves.
[00:34:00] You know, it's interesting. One of the things that characterizes the immoral woman in Proverbs 7 is how she dresses.
[00:34:08] Proverbs 7:10 and behold, the woman meets him dressed as a prostitute. Wily of heart.
[00:34:15] Here's a few principles on clothing. I could have done a whole sermon on it, maybe risking going too long on this, but I hope it's helpful. Let me give you just a few things to think about with clothing.
[00:34:25] First, nakedness before the fall was a good thing.
[00:34:30] Nakedness before the fall was a good thing. Adam and Eve were what? Naked and not ashamed.
[00:34:37] But when sin entered the world, nakedness became an occasion for shame, an occasion for sin.
[00:34:45] It was a sober reminder that man had rebelled against God all throughout Grew up in different traditions. Wearing your Sunday best.
[00:34:54] I want to say that Sunday best clothing is less about being formal or fancy and more about the attitude of our hearts.
[00:35:03] On the one hand, an overly casual dress.
[00:35:06] It looks like we woke up out of bed or hanging out in the living room. That would be a little too casual for church. We need to reconsider. Are we really serious about worshiping the Triune God or not?
[00:35:17] And yet on the other hand, wearing a three piece suit or some elaborate dress, overspending and overdressing, that's not where Paul wants to go.
[00:35:27] So a couple of questions you might want to ask yourself. What statement do my clothes make about my heart?
[00:35:33] Am I trying to impress God or others?
[00:35:36] Ladies, if you want to look for a resource to talk about with your daughters or each other, we've got a handout out in the lobby called Modesty Heart Check. It's a little resource. You can take that, read it. Consider what those principles could look like for you, especially even as friends, if you didn't grow up in a home that thought through these things. Well, I'll give you Pastor Blake's just blunt, honest advice.
[00:35:58] If you can see under it or see through it, it's not appropriate. If it's too tight, too short or too revealing, it's not appropriate. Fathers, you have an obligation to help teach your daughters how to dress.
[00:36:10] We going back inside, honey, you have a husband responsibility to some degree to sit down with your wife and talk through these things as the shepherd and leader of your home. Do it sensitively, do it kindly, do it with a humble heart. But these are commands of scripture that husbands and fathers should even consider. And as they care for their loved ones.
[00:36:29] In our home we like to say modest is the hottest.
[00:36:34] Moving on.
[00:36:35] Second, third characteristics. I'll bundle them together. Be active learners of God's word. Evaluate carefully what you were taught. Look out. In verse 11, he says he exhorts women to learn quietly, with all submissiveness. This means he's telling them to demonstrate a trustful posture, humble and peaceful, desiring to hear from him.
[00:36:55] By submitting to the word ladies, as it is taught correctly, you are submitting to God in acceptable worship.
[00:37:02] Also, we shouldn't focus only on the words quietly and submissiveness.
[00:37:06] We should also note what Paul says about the women learning in the ancient world. Often women were not encouraged or given the opportunity to learn.
[00:37:14] So Paul says, contrary to that, contrary to that chauvinistic understanding, no women are called to learn.
[00:37:21] What is a learner? It's a Disciple. And guess what? All Christians are disciples of Jesus.
[00:37:26] A learner is one who is attentively silent so they can hear and evaluate what they learn.
[00:37:33] You cannot learn if you're always talking and you cannot teach what you don't know.
[00:37:39] Ignorance is not always bliss.
[00:37:42] So a woman to be spiritually attractive in the way she presents herself in corporate worship, she is to see herself as an attentive learner.
[00:37:53] All women should be like Bereans Bibles. Open notepad if you need it. Examining what Pastor Blake or anyone else is teaching with the Word of God. If you hear something you disagree with or you want to work through. I've never heard that before. Can you help me? There's a disrespectful and respectful way of how to approach your elders and pastors. I invite your questions. I I'm fine with disagreements, but come to it not with skepticism, but with a humble posture. Hey, I'm not seeing eye to eye. Would you teach me this? That's a humble posture of coming under biblical authority.
[00:38:27] Fourth characteristic of spiritual beauty.
[00:38:30] Champion biblical authority.
[00:38:33] Champion not tolerate, not eye roll, not white knuckle.
[00:38:39] Champion biblical authority that God places over your life.
[00:38:45] In verse 12, Paul restates in verse 11 in the negative he says women are not permitted to teach or exercise authority over a man.
[00:38:55] So from this text or this verse, we see two basic restrictions for women in the church. The first restriction is that women are not permitted to teach men. It's very clear in verse eight he started with the men on purpose, leading out in prayer.
[00:39:09] The ministry of prayer and the ministry of the Word are often going hand in hand in times of corporate worship.
[00:39:16] There in verse eight, he says, when the church gathers, the men should in every place, every church be leading the congregation out in prayer.
[00:39:25] Now, this word teach here is often connected in the New Testament to give instruction in sound doctrine. In other words, to bring authoritative instruction in doctrine to an assembled congregation.
[00:39:41] The more form a teaching resembles the Sunday morning sermon, the more we should restrict that teaching to men, the more a context for teaching resembles the church gathering a mixed audience of men and women. The more we should restrict it to men.
[00:39:58] Some may ask, does this mean that the Bible prohibits women from teaching at all?
[00:40:02] Well, no. This the Bible does have other texts we can look at.
[00:40:06] The Scriptures don't teach that a woman should never teach. That's the whole purpose of learning that she can learn, apply it, and then encourage and teach others to do the same.
[00:40:17] Paul encourages women in Titus chapter 2 specifically to teach women how to love their Husbands and children and to be hard working and good stewards in their home. It's an application focus. It's not exegeting an entire sermon per se, but. But it's application focused. Paul later commends Timothy's mother and grandmother in second Timothy chapter one of the way they raised him and taught him the Scriptures.
[00:40:39] Paul encourages all Christians to sing to one another. Did you know that singing is a form of instruction? Sometimes you don't even realize it, but we are speaking sound doctrine to each other, set to music and women accompany in the singing.
[00:40:54] Personally, women informally teach me all the time.
[00:40:58] I said informally. I don't mean give me sermons. I mean giving me a word of exhortation. Share with me what they're learning in Scripture. Challenge me, ask me good questions that made me rethink my position.
[00:41:09] Pray for me knowing that I'm a sinner just like they are. I have pride in my heart just like they do, encouraging me to continue being the man God called me to be as a pastor and a husband and a father.
[00:41:21] Friends, anytime we receive teaching that smells like and looks like the gathered assembly, that mixed congregation, when Scripture is being exposited, it should be reserved exclusively for men.
[00:41:35] To make it more specific, this looks like Sunday morning teaching, Sunday night teaching, Wednesday night Bible study to mixed audiences. To adults.
[00:41:43] The second restriction is that a woman is not permitted to have authority over a man.
[00:41:48] The word translated have authority over his home. First Timothy 5 also speaks about elders ruling the church.
[00:41:56] This idea of managing or ruling is what's going on here.
[00:42:01] It's teaching, but it's also shepherding.
[00:42:06] They are related, but they are distinct.
[00:42:09] Some Christians have thought this verse means that Paul only prohibits authoritative teaching as the teaching the male elders do. So long as the woman is quote unquote underneath the elder's authority, she can even preach on Sunday morning.
[00:42:23] That is becoming a more popular fad in Southern Baptist churches. And boy, it is very popular in other denominational circles. Let me just be really clear. I'm not trying to be mean or offensive or not kind. Women are not qualified to be pastors. It's not because they're not smart. It's not because they don't know the word. It's not because they can't take the Bible and teach it. It's because God forbids it.
[00:42:44] God forbids it. The woman should not have the word pastor next to her name.
[00:42:49] I don't care how you want to massage it. That's forbidden in Scripture.
[00:42:54] Women are gifted by the spirit, but those gifts Never contradict God's order in the church.
[00:43:03] In verse 12 he repeats himself if he wasn't clear the first time.
[00:43:07] She is to remain quiet.
[00:43:09] What does that mean? She's not a doormat. She's not a mute button.
[00:43:13] It doesn't mean she can't formulate thoughts or raise her hand or ask a question or speak. That's not what the text is saying. What the text is saying when authoritative teaching is present, when shepherding and pastoring is present, she is first coming to that teaching as a learner, as a listener, to evaluate and to benefit from the teaching. If she has a question, First Corinthians 14 says she should first go to her husband.
[00:43:40] Verses 34 and 35, First Corinthians 14 don't speak, go to your husband. Go through the channels of authority. If your husband's not a believer, your husband has no idea what the Bible.
[00:43:50] I love me some Priscilla. Priscilla's awesome. She opens her home to a church to meet there. She's even with her husband. And they explain to Apollos an error in Paulos a theology that needed to grow. In other words, there's a woman exhorting, encouraging, and we might even say somewhat admonishing a powerful preacher.
[00:44:16] Well, that's a wonderful passage, but they're not in a church service.
[00:44:23] It was a one time event and her husband was mutually right there with her.
[00:44:28] Co teaching, co helping this faithful brother to understand the scriptures even better.
[00:44:35] So that's not what God's forbidding there. That's an informal one off moment, not a Lord's Day gathering.
[00:44:43] What is the basis for this instruction?
[00:44:46] This kind of rhetoric would get you kicked out of a major university classroom.
[00:44:50] This would cause a lot of family fights over Thanksgiving and Christmas. If you quote this way out of context and just put it in a blanket statement on all men and all women, you're going to find in some weird applications.
[00:45:02] So where does this come from? Is Paul chauvinistic? Is he just not with the times?
[00:45:08] Is this just a centralized local issue in Ephesus? Well, he gives us the reason. Look there in reason number one, verse 13. For Adam was formed first, then Eve.
[00:45:21] Adam?
[00:45:22] Why are we talking about Adam? Thought we were talking about order in the church.
[00:45:26] You're going all the way back to the beginning of the Bible. What Tony read earlier from Genesis 3. Something that's happened thousands of years ago.
[00:45:34] Paul is grounding his argument on orderly gender, distinct God honoring worship.
[00:45:41] Not in his limited context, but as a creation principle for all time.
[00:45:49] He says, for in Every way?
[00:45:51] Yes. Biologically different? Absolutely, yes. Distinct in our reproductive abilities. Absolutely. But those innate God given DNA and chromosomes are actually to spill over in our dispositions of how we relate to one another.
[00:46:07] Paul is not saying that because Adam was formed first, he is therefore more important, smarter or more valuable than Eve. No. Men and women have equality before God in their value, their essence, their dignity, their humanness.
[00:46:20] But men are not women, women are not men. And we are not to play around with the genders. There's one male and and one female. We don't need the LGBTQIA Alphabet to help us out. It's all false. One man, one woman. Maleness and female is God's good idea. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah.
[00:46:46] Adam was formed first and he exercised authority over his wife by naming her as he was given the responsibility to name the animals. God gave him the garden to work and protect and to keep it. God gave him the law through the tree eat of every tree of the garden except this one. He gave him work to do. He gave him authority to watch over. He gave him a law to obey. What does that sound like in the New Testament?
[00:47:13] It sounds like biblical male headship in the home and in the church. Friends, what we're talking about is not a context thing or a temporary fad. It's a creation ordinance. It means it's binding on mankind until we are in the eschaton and we will still be eternally men and eternally women. Jesus got up not as a genderless person, but as a man.
[00:47:35] Oh, it's good to be a man. Man. Can I give a grunt or an amen, ladies? Is it good to be a woman?
[00:47:42] Okay, that might feel uncomfortable. That might be hard at times. That's because of the he gives another reason, verse 14. Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.
[00:47:56] There are some chauvinistic, patriarchal types that say stuff like this, that women are dumber than men or more gullible than men.
[00:48:06] That's wrong.
[00:48:08] That's not what that text is teaching.
[00:48:11] Women are not more gullible.
[00:48:13] They might be more vulnerable, but not gullible, not inferior.
[00:48:20] What's going on here, brothers and sisters? The human heart, men and women, is deceitfully wicked. Jeremiah 17:9.
[00:48:29] But notice the first temptation.
[00:48:33] Satan did not go after the head of the home.
[00:48:35] He didn't go after the pastor of the church. He went after the helper that was called to a particular calling as a woman. What is Satan doing? He's doing exactly what has happened to every failed marriage, every failed church. He was put in the place of leadership and the man was abdicating his leadership.
[00:48:55] And it opened her up to a temptation she could not handle.
[00:49:01] Attention grabbing and control the forbidden fruit. The envy of Eve still raises its nasty heads.
[00:49:13] And all of you sisters and all of us brothers, you see, one of the judgments on a nation, one of the judgments on a home or a church is when men and women say, this is outdated, this is outlandish.
[00:49:33] In Isaiah, chapter three, one of the signs of judgment is that the true men will be absent and little boys will lead the country.
[00:49:42] Isaiah 3, verse 1. For behold the Lord God of hosts is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah support and supply all support of bread and all support of water. The mighty man and the soldier, the judge and the prophet, the diviner and the elder, the captain of 50 and the man of rank, the counselor and the skillful magician and the expert in charms and and I will make boys their princes and infants shall rule over them.
[00:50:10] What did God say to man in the garden? Adam, where are you?
[00:50:20] And God is still saying that to men like you and me.
[00:50:26] Where are you?
[00:50:31] Second, Satan wants women to come out from under the protection of male leaders in the church and in their marriages, so they too can be deceived.
[00:50:44] Running too fast ahead of your husband, trying to wear. Robert Yarborough said Adam was guilty of succumbing to the serpent's wiles along with Eve. Both were deceived. But in Eden, Eve took the lead.
[00:50:59] Eve was deceived by Satan.
[00:51:02] Then Eve led her husband astray.
[00:51:05] Both were deceived.
[00:51:07] It says that Eve became a transgressor. She broke the commandment God gave Adam to lead and shepherd her with and held her accountable.
[00:51:19] Friends, what does that look like for us as a church?
[00:51:24] What happens when we start toying with gender distinctions and roles?
[00:51:31] Why is it that Christian women should be the model example of learners who are discerning and evaluating what they learn, who champion biblical authority?
[00:51:42] Rebecca Merkel says this. Why should she learn? Why does it matter that she be educated in the faith? If we can just get past our indignation about how she should learn? It might behoove us to ask why Paul thinks it's important that she learn it all. And I do think he answers that question. It's because when Eve was deceived and believed the wrong thing, look at the incredible destruction it caused. Eve was deceived. Her intellect fell into error. But that was Adam's problem in that moment that wasn't Adam's problem. In that moment, he wasn't deceived at all, but he went with Eve anyway. His brain wasn't confused. But Eve, even in error, is powerful and compelling. A woman who has gotten a hold of an incorrect belief is still dangerously persuasive. She still wields enormous influence. Even if the man knows perfectly well better. It is absolutely vital that women be well versed in the faith, because if the women are not, I'm afraid the men are in trouble as well, even if all their theological ducks are, for the moment in a row. So it is utterly vital that women be superbly educated. An ignorant woman may just be one of the most lethal dangers the planet.
[00:52:46] Brothers and sisters, we are called to be countercultural, and in fact it gives us a word of hope even when these things are difficult to receive. Look at verse 15. Embrace your femininity.
[00:52:57] Embrace your femininity, he says. Yet she will be saved through childbearing if they continue in faith and love and holiness with self control.
[00:53:08] It's a difficult text to interpret. Let's start with what is clear before what is unclear.
[00:53:14] What about that phrase there says if they continue in faith and love and holiness with self control.
[00:53:21] Friends, if women have been guilty of overstepping boundaries, they have been committing what Paul says is forbidden.
[00:53:30] These sisters should not leave in despair, but continue looking to Jesus to help them repent, to ask for forgiveness, to walk in step with the Spirit and continue walking with Him.
[00:53:44] When you abide in Jesus, ladies, you will bear the fruit of the no.
[00:53:50] Is it saying that you have to adopt children to be a Christian?
[00:53:58] No, he's not saying that.
[00:54:00] But what he is saying is that is a natural, good, God given desire to want to have children.
[00:54:08] And many women who are given the gift of marriage and the privilege to have children will walk and follow Jesus through the challenges and pain of childbearing that Paul talked or Moses talked about in Genesis 3.
[00:54:24] He says that in the natural course of things, bearing and raising children is something that women should embrace and enjoy and follow Jesus in that calling.
[00:54:37] But we also know from other places in Scripture that not only are women sometimes not able to have children, but even women with children doesn't make you a Christian.
[00:54:50] Our hearts are deceived.
[00:54:53] We are all sinners by nature.
[00:54:56] And there's only been one that was born of a woman who kept the law.
[00:55:02] One who has the righteousness of God on his life.
[00:55:07] A man who gave himself to prayer and not anger, yielding a submission, humble submission to His Heavenly Father receiving the teaching from his Father. And as he submitted to the will of his Father, as he gave himself to prayer, as he obeyed his Heavenly Father under earthly authorities. The Bible says that Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, demonstrated on earth what every man and every woman has failed to do.
[00:55:38] And that is obedience to God. A life of worship that is pleasing to God and friends. We are naked, we are exposed, we are condemned if we are left in our sin. And yet we are clothed in in the righteousness and the washed white linens of Jesus Christ for all of us who repent of our sins and trust in Him.
[00:56:01] Friends, that's the only kind of clothing that will matter on the Day of Judgment. Not what you got at Gap or Walmart or some kind of really nice store.
[00:56:12] Yes, outward appearance matters, but it doesn't ultimately matters. Man looks on the appearance, but God sees what's in the heart.
[00:56:22] So, brothers and sisters, more than a new wardrobe or more than angered management classes, we need a new heart. And friends, that new heart is only something that Jesus Christ can give us.
[00:56:33] Friends, today, if you have never seen yourself as a sinner in need of a savior, that's the hope of this passage. Christ is the true shepherd who pastors women and men beautifully and perfectly. Christ is the perfect example of the God man who humbled himself to the will of his Father, receiving his teaching, actively listening, actively learning discerning truth from error and teaching others to do the same. Ladies, that's your example.
[00:57:01] Men, that's your example.
[00:57:03] Church, Christ is our example. And he's our Savior, our Lord and our friend.
[00:57:11] Oh, brothers and sisters, what is God doing in the lives of Chaffee Crossing Baptist Church?
[00:57:19] What is the Lord Jesus Christ telling us this morning? Through this passage, God made men and women equal in his image, and yet he made them different to complement one another, to display various characteristics of the beauty and the goodness and the love of Jesus Christ.
[00:57:43] And on that final day when you and I take our last and woman in Christ, we have received the righteousness of his son. The whitewashed linens covering our nakedness in Christ there is no more condemnation.
[00:58:02] In Christ, the victory is ours. In Christ, you are welcome to his table.
[00:58:07] In Christ, you belong to his family.
[00:58:10] Sisters, keep near the cross and you will be the woman. God has called you to be.
[00:58:22] Brothers, keep near the cross and you will become the man. I will become the man.
[00:58:30] God calls us to be. Children, keep near the cross.
[00:58:35] Keep near the cross.
[00:58:37] For in the cross is our glory forever. Till our ransomed souls shall find rest beyond the river.
[00:58:46] Let's pray as women. Father, we pray you give us wisdom as we apply these creation principles applied to our life in the home and in the church.
[00:58:56] Father, help us speak the truth in love to one another as we seek to dress modestly, not to draw attention to ourself, but to put attention back on our Savior. And Lord, in the difficulties that some of us might have with various aspects of these verses. Lord, we pray it would be a great opportunity to learn and to listen. That we would be more faithful and happy to receive the goodness of orderly worship. Lord, we pray you direct our hearts to the Lord Jesus and keep us near the cross. It's in his name we pray.
[00:59:27] Amen.
[00:59:28] Friends, turn to page 14.
