Our sermon text will be continuing our sermon series in the book of First Timothy. First Timothy two verses eight through 10. Hear now the reading of God's word from 1 Peter 3. Likewise, you wives be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives, when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear. Do not let your beauty be that outward adorning of arranging the hair wearing gold or of putting on fine apparel, but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible ornament of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. For in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves, being submissive to their own husbands as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, whose daughters you are if you do good, and are not afraid of any terror. And then we turn to 1 Timothy 2, at 1 Timothy 2, verses eight through 10. Therefore, I desire that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting. In like manner also that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, but which is proper for women professing godliness with good works. Amen. May God bless the reading and hearing of his gospel for us today. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your Holy Scripture. We thank you for how you tell us in places like 2 Timothy 3 that all Scripture is given by you, inspired by you, and is profitable for us, for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, so that man and woman of God, the child of God, might be thoroughly equipped for every good work. And we pray, Lord, that as we look at the scriptures which are challenging to understand and to apply, give us patience of mind and heart, give us insight through your spirit that we might know why these verses are here and what you, through your spirit, are saying to us as your church today. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Well, Congregation, you'll see on the last page of the bulletin, a sermon outline to help you follow along a little bit, to have a few more details on that outline, even the normal also to help you remember and understand a little more clearly as we look at 1 Timothy 2, verses 8 through 10. Congregation, the main theme of this book in the Bible, 1 Timothy, the Apostle Paul is writing it to a pastor. named Timothy, and it's the first time he wrote this letter. He wrote another letter we call Second Timothy, but the main theme of this book is found, or not quite there yet, in chapter three, towards the end, in chapter three at verse 15. He says, this is why I'm writing all of these things, so that you know how to behave in the church of the living gods. You know how to conduct yourself. That's very practical. How should I live? How should I behave? It's a very practical thing. That's the point of the whole book, ultimately. But the problem always is that when the Bible gets very practical and what we might call very relevant, it also tends to offend people even more. It's offensive enough, the gospel, where it tells us that the only way to heaven is through Jesus Christ. We have to trust in him. We can't do anything on ourselves to help earn our way into heaven. That's offensive enough, but then these other areas that tell us even more particulars of how to live, when it gets into habits of our life, that can be challenging because all of us get into habits and ruts sometimes that aren't biblical, and we don't even really realize it. Sometimes we copy the trends of our culture without realizing it. And this section of 1 Timothy 2 is one of those touchy areas. Touchy, because we're not likely here to want God to be very practical, to tell it like it is. We say we want him to be practical, but sometimes not when we hear what he says. We really don't want God to show us what his will is sometimes. We'd rather live in ignorance if it means we have to change something or other about our life or our habits. But God always knows what's best for us. And so he calls us to pay attention to his word today. And in any passage, we could say the same about any chapter or any verse, but I think it's especially good for us to just review that today. Another thing I want to say by way of introduction into this chapter, this section of this chapter, is nothing new to us. If you've had your eyes and ears open at all the last few years, you know that we live as Americans at this point, the 21st century, in a culture that likes to erase all differences between men and women. We're told that, for example, a woman can do anything a man can do. She can have any job. She can serve in any post in the military. She can play any sport and on and on. When that's not true, it's not even true of men. I would never be a professional basketball player. I'm too short and I'm not good enough. There's all sorts of things that we can't do and that doesn't make it unfair. Depends on who we are and our certain abilities. But we are told when it comes to men and women that we are finally getting close in American culture to women having equal rights. Of course, it is true that in our culture and in all cultures around the world, men have often abused women verbally, psychologically, much less physically. And that is always evil and never excused and not biblical. It is also evil to ignore that God made all humans in his image. You don't have to get very far in the Bible, in Genesis, to see that. Men and women are all equal in God's eyes as human beings, and they can have full and equal access full and equal salvation as long as they have true faith in Jesus. It doesn't matter if you're a woman or a man, you're one in Christ Jesus, the Bible says. But what else does the Bible say? Where it says God created all humans in his image, it doesn't only say he created humans. It says he created a difference in humans. Two categories of humans, male humans and female humans. Male and female, he created them, it says in Genesis. And each of those categories has unique abilities, special privileges, special responsibilities. And we live in a culture that has gone so far that now men want to become women and women want to become men. and they'll go into a different bathroom, and sometimes they'll even have surgeries. They want to talk about being transgender, or that's even old-fashioned now of like a couple years, so it's old-fashioned, and they talk about wanting to be what's called gender fluid, which means you can kind of see how you feel that day, or being non-binary, which means Binary means it's an either-or thing. There's only two options. You're either male or female. But we're being told the whole idea of gender is just a man-made idea that we made up to put on people, to oppress them, and we have to overthrow that. So that people pride themselves that I'm not going to raise little Johnny as a boy or a girl. I'm gonna let Johnny decide what toys he or she or it wants to play with today. And when Johnny grows up, we'll find out whether Johnny is a he or a she or something else. We think. This is the wisdom of our culture. Well, God's word today cuts through all of that. We have to acknowledge that because some of the particulars in this scripture make no sense in a culture which says there is no such thing as gender. But if there's no such thing as gender, then why does the God who made humans talk to certain categories of humans in verse 8 called male humans and give them particular instructions? And then in verse nine through verse 15 of this chapter, talk to another category of humans called female humans. It's a specific word used in the Greek that speaks male human and female human. Because those genders exist, that's why. In the beginning of this chapter, God spoke to all people. In chapter two, verse one and two and three, it says all of his humans, male and female, are supposed to pray for everyone, especially politicians and kings, that they would come to salvation, because there's only one way, through faith in Jesus Christ. But now he turns to male humans and then to female humans. So brothers and sisters, don't ever be afraid or embarrassed that you are a woman or that you are a man. God made you that way, it's a biological reality, it's also a spiritual reality. So we're going to learn today about some of the many roles that come along with being a Christian man or a Christian woman. And the theme of this passage is this, that Paul reveals God's desire for the roles of men and women in his church. Paul reveals God's desire for the roles of men and women in his church. And first, as you see on your sermon outline, we're gonna look at part of the role of Christian men, and then part of the role of Christian women. Now you might say, where is that in this passage, part of the role? Well, it's not directly in this passage, but there's lots of other scriptures that tell us about the roles of Christian men and the roles of Christian women, and they talk about other things. So it's helpful for us to realize that there's more to the story. We're just focusing on what's here, okay? If a man is married, he has a certain role as a husband. That's not talked about here. And so this is only part of what it means to be a Christian man. And if a woman is married, then obviously she has a certain role as a wife in the same thing. It's another reason why we talk about part of the role. Because these verses talk about specific things that male humans and specific things that female humans have responsibilities to do in God's eyes. But there are other places in the Bible that talk about the role of all. Christian humans are supposed to do, like we're all supposed to have true faith in Jesus Christ. We all share the general office of believer, prophets, priests, and kings. Underneath Jesus, the chief prophet, and the high priest, and the great and eternal king. And so this is just a part of what it means to be a Christian man in a Christian home. And one more thing, for all the little men and little women in the room, all right, the children, This is passages for you too, because one day you'll grow up to be a big man, right? An older person who's also a man or a woman. So this is for you as well. What is part of the role of the Christian man? Verse eight says, I desire therefore that all the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting. The one particular portion of a Christian man's role that's singled out here is to be prayer leaders, prayer leaders, desires that we pray. Of course, women are supposed to pray too. There are instructions to women in 1 Corinthians 11 about even how to pray, even during church. But when it comes to leading in a public worship gathering, The Bible says here is to be men. In regards to in the home, or maybe an informal gathering, a Bible study, or some Christians gathered for some or another gathering, whether or not, perhaps on some of those occasions, a woman might pray, the spiritual leaders of those events, according to the scripture, are to be the Christian men. Christian men are called to be prayer leaders, not because they're better at praying, not because they say just the right words in the right way, or because they're the ones who are most sympathetic after everybody shares their prayer request to know how to say it and really understand, though they can be all of those things. But the reason men are to be prayer leaders is because God says so. God says so. And so right away, there's an important application for those of us who are Christian men. Are you a prayer leader? God says you are. Are you? One of the most common complaints of Christian women is that women do everything in the church and men don't. And women are the spiritual leaders of the home and the family and men aren't. Little surprise then that God specifically singles out this particular duty so that men can remember to get with it and also to remember our calling and responsibility before the Lord and how he's organized it. Do you want to be a real man? We've got to fulfill our role of being prayer leaders. How is it that we are To pray, well, there's lots that could be said there, but let's just look a little bit at what this verse hints at. It speaks of praying everywhere, everywhere. Now, in the context here, it doesn't mean, of course, you can pray in your car on your way to work, and you can pray here and there. Yes, that's true, but this is talking about public gatherings of God's people. In the Old Testament days, There was only one place you could go to pray, and that was the temple in Jerusalem. And if you couldn't travel there, you're supposed to pray to that temple. But you remember Jesus's conversation with the woman at the well in John 4, about the time that was coming and now is, or was then, and now is even more, and the kingdom has come in the New Testament era, where now you don't have to go to a certain mountain in Israel in a geographical spot. to pray, but now everywhere across the world, there are people gathered in Christ's name, even if it's only two or three, a small church, you can pray. And in all of those everywheres, the men are to lead and to pray. Notice also something about how they are to pray. It says to lift up holy hands. Boy, there's a lot of interesting things in these verses, aren't there? lifting up holy hands. It's not a new concept since the rise of what is called Pentecostal or charismatic theology in America in the early 20th century. Our Reformed forefathers discussed this scripture and many others about how to honor these scriptures and the sorts of gestures that accompany our prayer. There's an entire section in one of the creeds in Germany the Nassau-Dillenberger Synod. I know you haven't heard of that. I didn't hear of it before either, but it was not that long after our catechism was written in 1578. It has an entire section discussing this topic. And they concluded this, it should be a matter of Christian freedom as to whether when in the public assembly or at home, A person says his prayer, he does it by standing or sitting or kneeling. Where the heart is in a right posture towards God, the Holy Spirit himself will direct the appropriate outward gestures. And so we shouldn't take offense when we see another Christian, it goes on to say, who doesn't outwardly pray the same way as us by bowing or standing or humbling themselves in the same way that we would. In fact, Look in the Bible, there are more than six different ways, different postures for prayer. Jesus is seen doing several of these. Sometimes people bow, sometimes people kneel, sometimes they stand, sometimes they lift their hands. And so men, as we pray, instead of thinking it is wrong, automatically wrong or evil or of some strange cult or other kind of church that we're not like to ever lift holy hands, or it's wrong to bow our heads and close our eyes, it's better for us to make sure that we're actually using some sort of gesture when we pray, that when we are praying, we're not just mindlessly repeating the Lord's Prayer, for example, with no gesture at all, with no meaning or understanding, but that what we are saying, we mean it, we understand it, and the Holy Spirit will guide the appropriate gesture. There are certain songs, all of the songs we sing in worship are also really prayers. There's some songs we could never sing sitting, Stand up, stand up for Jesus. It's not appropriate to sing it sitting. Even if it was the time of the service, remind me if I forget. We gotta stand up, pastor, you said that on such and such a date. Remind me, so we do that if that happens sometime. All right, it's the same way. Certain gestures that fit certain types of prayer. But what is it that we are to say? The end of verse eight, it says, without wrath and doubting. This is the other part of the role of Christian men is to be a holy believer. Most Bible commentators think that this is why of all the six or seven different types of postures for prayer in the Bible, the one singled out here is the one for lifting up holy hands. Because it's talking about it coming into worship And the Bible says if you come into worship with unclean hands, your worship won't be received. So it picks that kind to highlight the fact that when you're in worship, you're to have a holiness that has a true faith in the Lord, that you're not coming with something unresolved with anger, wrath, and doubting. The word for doubting here, some of our Bible versions might even have a different translation there. The word for doubting means a certain kind of doubting that happens in arguments and disputes. I don't really believe what that person's saying or something else, that kind of argument, disunity. The idea is that when a pastor or an elder or a Christian father is to pray, he's not to pray harboring anger in his heart against someone, anyone, much less someone in the room who's supposedly praying with him. or not to pray with an argument that's unresolved, that they haven't tried to resolve to the best of their ability by God's grace. Verse eight teaches us, doesn't it? It does. Just read it, look at it carefully. It teaches us there's a connection between the person and your relationship with God and your ability to actually worship Him in public. There's a connection between your personal piety. Do you have anger? Do you have doubt and disunity with someone else? And your ability to actually lift up holy hands and even know God's gonna listen to your worship that day. It's connected. The Bible says that for every believer, not just men, Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, For every believer, if you come to worship and you've got something against someone, stop, go home, go out in the lobby, go where you need to go, deal with that problem first, and then come back and worship. Yeah, but the Bible says you must worship, there's a whole commandment about it, yeah, but Jesus said you have to worship with the right heart. You gotta deal with that first before you can even come. That's how important it is. Well, every week I gotta worship, yeah, so every week you gotta make sure you're dealing with things and have short accounts. And the Bible says similarly, we left off in 1 Peter 3, we just read a certain section, but if we were to read the next verse, 1 Peter 3, verse 7, there men are told, if you're not living in a proper and understanding way towards your wife, your prayers will be hindered. And so there's this important connection between our ability to worship and serve God rightly and our ability, in other words, our love for God is always connected with how we're loving our neighbor as ourself. And so Christian men, I want us to think about this. I want us to think from God's word how we often view ourselves and what our role is. We often think that as a man, we're more able, more likely to handle disagreement with others. We can respect our enemies. It's often said that a woman, if she walks into a room and there's been conflict or it's going to be a conflict or a difficult situation, she can't shrug it off. It's really difficult. She feels that emotionally in a way that a man normally doesn't. And that's certainly true in general. But the Bible here tells us that as men, we must lead ourselves and the congregation not to ignore things or to shrug them off, but to pursue peace and unity, to pray without wrath, without disagreements happening within even the congregation, and allowing them to go unaddressed. It is not just soft-spoken women but men who are to be peacemakers. Otherwise, the whole congregation can't even pray that week. That's how important it is. God puts the ability for the congregation to function and worship him in the hands of men who are leaders, who are making sure that peace is happening as much as possible within Christ Church. So let's be sure we're fulfilling our role. And then let's talk, secondly, in verses nine and 10, about the role, part of the role, of Christian women. And part of the role of Christian women, as is found here, and I have it summarized in our outline as well, just right from verse nine and verse 10, is to be adorned, you know what adorned means, a certain kind of decoration, in a good sense, to be adorned in modest dress, and to be adorned in good works. Let's look at the first one in verse nine, in like manner also, falling back with the main beginning of verse eight, which is, therefore, I desire, this is the desire of God through the words of the Apostle Paul, I desire for the Christian women, here's their role, part of their role, to adorn themselves in modest apparel with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing. Now, I'll get to it in a minute. Everybody's probably thinking, oh no, how did I do my hair? What am I wearing? And all of that. You don't need to necessarily be too nervous, okay? But first, why is it that God is giving fashion advice to women? If you didn't ask this question, there are people in this world who will ask that question. And along with that question, we'll also say, well, this isn't fair. It doesn't say anything about men having to be modest. You're right. It doesn't say that here. It says it in the seventh commandment. It's covered there. Men also have to be modest. There's ways that they can be immodest. But the biggest concern, and we know it, of course, throughout history and still always, is not on the side of what men wear, but on the side of what women wear. The most common problem is for women who might dress immodestly or be tempted to dress immodestly. Why? Both because of something in them and often because of something on the side of a man and what he is wanting or expecting wrongly. A woman might be tempted to dress immodestly because she wants to be noticed. She wants to be noticed by men because she wants to be noticed by other women who will approve of her outfit and say all sorts of nice things and she wants to hear that. And that's not a problem necessarily with the seventh commandment in terms of sexually wrong, but it can be a problem with the first commandment in terms of idolizing ourselves and wanting the praise and adoration of others. It can be a problem. It's a challenge. Men, of course, many times we are no help in this area because we can make women think that what matters most is what we see on the outside. Instead of what matters most is what God looks at, which is the heart, and what we can see, which is the life of good works and godliness that flow out of the heart of a godly woman. And that's the point here of this passage. Well, let's look at verse nine a little more closely then, and realize it's not fashion advice. It's God's will. It's not optional. It's not something that's going to change in the fall. Or next year's fashion advice can be different than this year's. However, it is coming to a certain people, living in a certain address, at a certain time in history, with a certain cultural background, that when we keep that in mind, that makes a big difference for us to understand. As I hinted at earlier, but in case you're wondering, If you have gold or pearls or braided hair today, you are not necessarily disobeying this Bible verse, okay? If you have clothing which cost a little bit above whatever the average price is, you are not necessarily disobeying this Bible verse so long as you can afford the rest of the things you need to afford in your life. But the Bible is forbidding the sort of behavior that was happening in this ancient city of Ephesus that's being described here. The city where Timothy ministered was a very wealthy city. And there was a temple in that city to a goddess, not to a god, to a goddess named Artemis. The women dressed in very elaborate and fancy ways as they went to worship at that temple. All of the women who went to worship there dressed in these very fancy and elaborate ways. And then there were also some women hanging out around that temple, as was the custom in many of these cultures or many of these different places, who were called temple prostitutes. They would dress with the sorts of fashion and attention-getting styles of hair and jewelry and clothes that would identify a person as someone who's unfaithful to her husband, someone who wants to show off, and so on. Remember, most of the members of this church didn't grow up in the church. They grew up going to that temple. And so when these Christian women got up on a Sunday morning to worship God, they were used to dressing a certain way. And this letter is written to show them and all of them how to behave now in a way that's honorable to God. They're not to dress as if they are going to the goddess's temple. They're not to dress immodestly on that day, or of course, any other day of the week either. That is the meaning and the context there. And you can look, there's a lot of description. We have a lot of archaeological artifacts of what it was like in Ephesus to demonstrate those things I just mentioned. So women, when you go to the mall or to the store, you know And I know a little, I've gone sometimes with my family. You know, it's hard work to find an appropriate, modest, something that's appropriate in moderation sort of clothing and shoes, something that has fashion sense and it doesn't have to be ugly or something that you would be ashamed of wearing. But you need to also make sure that you don't need to look like the latest celebrity and follow along with whatever styles everybody else is doing without thinking about it. And putting on a Christian filter as you examine those things. Certain stores you may never be able to shop at again because of the sorts of ways they design things. There aren't Christians who are designing clothes for the most part. And that's obvious and it's challenging. So you need to ask a fellow Christian for the input, a Christian whose opinion you trust. Ask as well the input of your husband or father. You might find that funny, but if you're wondering whether something is modest, then you know. In any case, the guidelines God provides for us here to help us remember that Sunday morning is not a fashion show, are modest apparel, propriety, and moderation. The word moderation is the same word, I don't know why it's translated moderation here, it's the same word as the one in the last word of this chapter. In verse 15, if you look down and you see that last word, it says self-control, it's the same word. And that's the idea, self-control, restraint. A Christian woman is to be careful about her appearance, Especially when she's in public and in worship, obviously there are different sorts of things that are legitimate for her to wear in the privacy of her home with her husband. What is it that she used to be adorned in? Adorned in modest dress. There's another part, focusing especially, it's important that this both be put in the same context, and it is. In verse 10 it says, she used to be adorned in good works. But this is what she is to wear, that which is proper for women professing godliness with good works. You don't find that at the mall, or hanging in which section of the store you go in to find good works. Where do I go? You can find it anywhere, good works, as you go through the store and make decisions, you see. The main point of the Bible's concern over how women dress is, first of all, of course, that Christians shouldn't behave like non-Christian women. Don't be tempted to view yourself as a sex object or present yourself that way to the world as some object simply to be desired or be a temptation. Rather, as important as those concerns for biblical modesty are, remember, outward modesty is a reflection of an inner attitude described here as godliness and good works. There's a connection here between the spiritual motivation that we see in verse 10, but it's even more clearly seen in that other Bible verse that we've read by Peter. I think it's fascinating because some people will say, well, the apostle Paul doesn't really know what he's talking about. He was single. Well, first of all, it's God's words, so that doesn't matter. But guess what? The apostle Peter wasn't single. He had a mother-in-law. And he says the same thing. And we read that in 1 Peter 3. But he fills it out a little more, this spiritual aspect. He said in 1 Peter 3, verse 3, don't let your beauty be the outward stuff you did before you left the house this morning. Don't make that what it means to be a beautiful woman, ultimately. The arranging of the hair, wearing gold, putting on fine apparel. But let it be the hidden person of the heart. the incorruptible, gentle, and quiet spirit which is very precious in the sight of God. You see the connection there? You see the connection between the role of men and the role of women in the church? It's the same thing, really. God wants our outward behavior and our words and our appearance to be motivated by an inward godliness holiness, and good works. Men are to lead in the church, not out of selfishness and anger and a spirit of disunity with everybody else in the world, because everything, I'm not in control of everything in the world, nothing's working right in work, and this politics and this country's going crazy, but here, at least in the church, I can have my way, and I'm gonna make it this way. They're not to lead the church that way. And women are not to allow the culture and the advertisements and the celebrity status and the quest for constant pics to share and get likes and followers to drive your life, but rather be on a quest for good works. People, Jesus said, will glorify our Father in heaven when they see your good works, not your new shoes. People will glorify our Father in heaven when they see our good works, not our new shoes. In fact, as you shop for shoes, you can tell the store clerk why, what you intend to use those shoes for, the freedom you have to walk in those new shoes in God's world for his glory, and tell them of the love of Christ. You see, the honor of Christ, the reputation of Jesus is on the line when we do what we do, whether we are a Christian man or a Christian woman. May God bless each of us with an appreciation of his wisdom as he has created the unity of humans and also the diversity of two genders, each with our own roles. God's desires have been declared. Let us seek his forgiveness where we have failed, either as a Christian man or as a Christian woman, outwardly or inwardly or both. And let's pray for one another. Ladies, pray for the men. that they would be prayer leaders and holy believers. Men, pray for our women, that they would be adorned in modest dress and good works. Amen. Let's stand and pray. Well, Father, we praise and thank you for your word. We thank you for the directness, the practicality of it, And we know there are thousands of more questions of applications that might be rolling in some of our heads, but we thank you that you have started this through your scriptures. Help us to be led by you today. Thank you for who you have made us to be and calling us to understand the holiness of even what seems like the most simplest of things in life, in what we dress and what we grab out of our closet in the morning. We pray together as Jesus taught us saying, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen. Please be seated.