How Men and Women Build the Church - Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Can you meet me in the book of 1st?

Timothy, please this morning. And we will be taking off where

we left off in chapter 2. Put your finger on verse 8 for

now. in a letter that is, Written for the purpose of

giving God's blueprint for the church for the local body.

What you are part of right here, right now.

And throughout the week and throughout your lives.

It helps us to understand that the Church of Jesus Christ is

made up of men. And woman.

That's not deep Revelation, is it?

And you might be think that's pretty obvious.

But what may not seem so obvious.

Is that though, the church is made up of men and women.

God has assigned unique specific roles to a man and to a woman in

the context of the church and in the context of the family.

And though there are many responsibilities that overlap

between the two Sexes. One thing is for certain that

God in his wisdom. has ascribe certain tasks to the man and to

the woman that must be honored and submitted to And if honored

and trusted know this, God will be glorified.

God will be glorified through our obedience and we will

experience as a church and as families are starting and

couples are coming together. And as a family, you will know a

joy. You will know Harmony, you will

know fruitfulness. You will know the fullness of

God's blessing when you and I choose to comply to his design.

of what he has in mind for a man and a woman and though equal in

dignity and though equal in value, we must understand that

they complement each other with their respective

responsibilities that are attributed to their genders.

It all begins here in this letter where we see now is split

and Paul's thought where he wants to now describe those

roles and he wants to speak to men separately, and he wants to

speak to women separately. And he speaking to a pastor

named Timothy to instruct men and women separately, and we're

not going to discuss all those roles and this letter doesn't

contain All of that but there is a concern that Paul has and he

wants to hit on those points. And there are unique temptations

that face a man in their roles and their unique temptations,

that a woman faces in her roles. And sometimes the temptation of

either one is to switch roles And to pursue the other person's

god-ordained task. But look at two words in verse

8, with me this morning, see what Paul says.

He says, I desire. You have a different

translation. Probably says, I will, I desire,

that's how this all begins as he begins to instruct.

Now, the different genders. Why is that important?

Why is Paul saying I desire important?

Here's why it's important because Paul's not speaking in

subjective impulse. He is declaring a message with

Apostolic Authority. When Paul says I desire, we have

to understand that he is laying down The rules as a mouthpiece

mouthpiece of the Holy Spirit. He's not an opinionated

self-govern leader that saying, you know, I kind of think this

is how it should happen. Paul is an ambassador of Christ

speaking on behalf of headquarters in heaven.

He is an apostle. He is a man amongst other

Apostles that were given the role.

The Holy Spirit, Divine role of what laying down, the Bedrock of

the church, establishing the foundation of the church for all

ages. So we have to get this clear

from the beginning. Paul is not speaking primarily

to a culture and just to a culture.

Paul is not even speaking these rules that pertain merely to a

specific time in history. What Paul's about to say is for

all ages and for all churches of all, cultures of all, nations of

all time. So when pauses I desire, we have

to filter that by understanding, he's a representative.

So it's not Paul's desire. It's God's desire through Paul.

No this this morning. If you haven't known it already,

you will know it. Soon enough that Paul's desire

which is God's desire has been and will continue to increase

and being challenged by other people's desires and their ideas

of what a man should be in terms of responsibility and tax within

the church and within the family.

What a woman should be in terms of biblical Womanhood in terms

of responsibilities within the church.

And her primary role in the family, it's going to be

attacked more and more just give it a few years and you're going

to see well. We're going to describe the next

couple of weeks, be assaulted like a tsunami.

But that's not our concern, is it?

Because we want to know what God's desire is and we want to

trust that God is all-wise. God is all-knowing.

God is love. And God is in charge of his

church. Not man, not a charismatic,

pastor. Not what the general Community

believes or the popular vote. Is when Paul says I desire, he's

setting the tone. This is what the Lord desires,

this is what God has in mind and trust that it is for His glory

and for your good. So Paul Begins by saying I

desire. And what he's about to do now is

address the men he's about to speak to the men of the

congregation. So I will do that this morning.

I'm going to look in the eyes of men this morning.

I'm going to address the men. What does Paul say to the men?

I desired then that in every place the men should pray.

Lifting. Holy hands without anger or

quarreling. Now we got to understand this

carefully or else we're going to fall into some confusion.

If you were here a couple weeks ago we understood that we

discussed a whole message on the church's needs to pray.

That the church, the local body needs to prioritize the ministry

of prayer, that we can't afford to neglect, such a privilege

that God has given us and the power source of all other

Ministries and all other longevity in the church.

And so for Paul to say something such as I desire meant to pray

This word man is not a neutral term.

This is not equivalent to. I desire mankind to pray or

Humanity to pray. We know that to be true because

in verse 9 is going to address the woman separately.

So he's not saying men, meaning a term for all people to pray,

he speaking specifically to males and then he's going to

address the woman and the next verse.

And so this is focused on the boys. and we think to ourselves,

Why? Why is he telling men to pray?

We just spent a whole week discussing how the church needs

to pray. Wasn't that enough Paul?

Let's understand what he's not saying number one.

What Paul is not saying in this verse as that men should pray

and woman shouldn't. This isn't this isn't a way for

Paul to narrow the command of prayer within the church to say

it is the spiritual responsibility of men to pray

and woman should be caught up in other spiritual disciplines.

This isn't? This is a thing that woman can't

touch. This is something that is not

necessarily a call for the ladies.

If that was the interpretation Paul would be severely

contradicting himself because there are many scriptures that a

test otherwise and so you know this one we discussed that when

we talked about prophecy First Corinthians 11 verse 4.

1 Corinthians 11:4

What does Paul say every man who prays or prophesies with his

head covered, dishonors his head but every wife who prays or

prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head

since it is the same as her head were shaven.

I know that just reading that verse, so many people like just

tell us what that means. Please, when we talked about

this last time, people just want to know what Paul meant by

covering. We'll get to that one day.

But let's focus on the fact that they were praying here, that in

the public sphere, the woman were praying just as much as the

men were in the public gathering of the church, when Jesus

Promised the coming of the Holy Spirit.

And before he ascended into heaven, he looked at a number of

disciples as you wait in Jerusalem to receive this

promise before you go and do anything else.

And so, they all stuff themselves in the upper room,

120 of them. And we have to understand that

it wasn't 120 disciple males. What does acts 1:14 tell us all

Acts 1:14

these with one Accord were devoting themselves to prayer

together with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus and

his brothers. So here's a mixture of mingling

of both male and female praying and seeking the face of God

together. So this morning, we're one step

closer to understanding what Paul is saying here.

When he says I desire, that men should pray in every place.

What does he mean by this? Remember we dealt with the first

few verses of this chapter about how the church should pray.

That's clear. That's understandable.

So this verse following tells us that it is very likely that Paul

had in mind to bring order to that public gathering of prayer.

That when the church has an official meeting to seek the

face of God, what Paul is saying with this versus that men should

be the one officiating and leading and guiding in that

meeting. That's exactly what he's saying.

It's a very simple as that that the men should assume the role

of leadership in such a way. Way that he would guide and

steer the meeting and officiate that expression of worship on

the public sphere. And that is consistent with

Paul's understanding of the role of a man within the church.

And within the home that he is, the initiator that he is, the

leader that he's the head. And that is something that we

experience on a weekly basis. If you come here on a Wednesday

night when we pray, you see that you see male leadership starting

and navigating and closing the meeting and everything in

between that is men and sometimes woman, praying more.

And so, this is not to say men are better prayer warriors than

woman. Hannah is a woman in the Old

Testament that would attest. Otherwise, And different woman

in scripture. This is not even saying that

woman when they come together, just as woman, can't pray,

unless a man is present, that's absurd.

All this is saying is that when there is an official Gathering

of the saints that the man should assume the role of

leading, that public expression of worship and conduct the

exercise of a leader. Very simple.

But we have to understand this command and a broader scope.

That's the narrow understanding in terms of the context of the

church. But I think there's another

heartbeat behind this. We can understand it to say that

since men are called to be leaders.

In the home. In the church, you better

believe that that comes with a load of responsibility.

You better believe that in the general sense, you are now

called my brother's to be the provider and the protector.

Of your communities and your respective families, to provide,

not just physical bread, but spiritual bread to protect, not

just in the physical sense. But in the spiritual sense, what

you allow in your home, will you allow your children?

Your wife should be exposed to you are the priest of your home.

and knowing that and teaching on that and Paul as a man, though,

not a husband understanding that Makes an interesting command

here with that significant role assigned to a man.

No matter what you do and no matter how much you pursue

biblical manhood, do not forget to rely on God.

In your pursuit of being a true man of God.

It's an encouraging thing. It's as though this command is a

nudge to men to saying, listen, don't forget to draw from the

grace of God. As you desire, to be a better,

father, a better husband even as a single man, just a better

disciple. Don't forget to know how to

receive his help. Don't forget to receive his

imparting. Mercies don't think that you can

just live this life independently from him as manly

as you are or as manly as you think you might be.

You know the pursuit of biblical man has its own Temptations.

And here's one of The Temptations.

The goal of that is to be a leader and to be a leader

doesn't mean you just tell people what to do.

That's not the biblical description of a man being a

leader. The better term is a servant

leader sacrificial, love being expressed through practical

means of Grace and love. You are now laying down your

life in every way possible and that includes Great Lengths of

Suffice. That includes days where you

don't eat, as much as you want, or you want to sleep as much as

you wanted, that includes you just carrying your cross.

Because you are carrying your family.

On your shoulders, you are serving your community as a man.

You're not flimsy and your commitment.

You're a man of your word. You get your hands dirty, you

serve, you set an example for others, including women.

Young children as it comes. And here's the temptation as you

pursue that. And as your mind is fixed like I

want to be a man of God. I want to be that kind of a

person. You can build up, such a

understanding of being a person to be relied on Right.

You want your shoulder to be something that your wife can

rely on and lean on and your children to come to, and you

build up, such an understanding and such a mindset of being

relied on that. You forget to rely on God

yourself, that almost this idea of being strong means that in

some sense though, you wouldn't admit it, I don't really need to

pray. I don't really need to pray.

And that's a dangerous thing. Because before anything else.

My brother. Before a father, before a

husband, before a disciple, a brother to sisters or brother to

her brother as your single at this point before anything else?

No, this you're a man of God. You walk with God.

You commune with God? You studied the word of God.

You discipline yourself to fellowship with God, to

represent God. You like Enoch walk with him.

That's your primary identity. And God desires you to be a

leader, not in the sense that you live independently from any

source of help. That you would know something of

his molding and is melting, as you rely on him in that place.

And so here's the understanding that you and I as men Desiring

to be a provider and protector for others, have to understand

that God wants to provide and protect you.

God wants to impart something and you deposit, something and

you so that you can be a vessel that will overflow into others.

That is not possible. Unless prayer is a reality in

your life. And there's so many examples to

think of in the scriptures and I think of one, I think of a

husband who had a wife that was Barren and she couldn't produce

children year after year, after year and all that added was more

sorrow, more sorrow and more sorrow upon our heart because

she's looking around and she sees another wife having babies

at your she is empty. Fruitless James Hannah.

Her husband's name is elkanah. The Bible tells us very clear

that elkanah loved his wife, he cared for her and you almost get

a snippet of his attempt to meet her emotional needs.

When he sees that she's clearly distressed of the fact that

here's another year that I can't, I can't have my own

offspring. So, what does it tell us?

In 1st Samuel. 18 and I'll Kana her husband set there.

Hannah. Why do You Weep?

Why do you not eat? And why is your heart sad?

Am I not more to you than ten Sons?

You see what he's trying to do here.

He's taking his wife by the shoulders gently saying, honey,

listen, Stop looking at the negative in life.

Look at the positive. Look, you have me.

Am I not worthy more than ten Sons is that?

You can tell this is a man, right?

And he's trying to he's trying to console her and we can praise

him for that and we can applaud that some say the elkanah was

insensitive I don't see it that way.

I think he's trying his best to really redirect her and to focus

on the brighter side of things. But I can't help but think that,

as much as elkanah was trying to do his best, he could have done

more. And you might be thinking how

can you say such a thing? This is literally outside of elk

on his hands. He can't give life.

It's only God who can do that. So how can you, how can you say

that all kind of could have done more?

Because I backtracked in my Bible and I realized that there

was another man and the same predicament as elkanah and

Hannah, another woman who is Barren, in fact who didn't have

a child for the first 20 years of her marriage.

She was empty and void of children.

But she had a husband. And his name was Isaac.

And in Genesis 25, verse 20 we read and Isaac was 40 years old

Genesis 25:20

when he took Rebecca. and in verse 21, it says, and Isaac

prayed the Lord for his wife because she was barren.

And the Lord, granted his prayer and Rebecca.

His wife conceived. I see a man who saw a need

something that was outside of his hands, and we don't know if

he consoled her on a verbal level, like elkanah that.

I'm sure he did. But he took it to the next

level. he looked at his wife and he looked at his inability, he

gets on his knees in his room, he gets before God He says, oh

God. Give my wife a child.

Oh God, I pray for her. And I intercede for her.

And he's doing what men should do.

And that's know how to take the needs.

Whether he is able to perform that need or not.

And come before the Lord and say, Lord, I pray for her, I

pray for my children. I pray for my church.

And God tells us in this verse that the basis of the answer

came from a man's cry. And I look at elkanah L kind of

story and I wish almost that he would have prayed that he would

have got before God. But what do you see?

You see what many women are experiencing in their day?

There's a void in a relationship.

Between them in their husbands of knowing how to come together

before God or the man coming before God for herself or even

for himself. And you know what she does is

says in the very next verse there in first Samuel chapter

one that she gets before God. And she weeps bitterly before

God. And God answers her prayer.

I find that many wives are in that predicament.

That they can't find the grace to grab ahold of their husband.

And the husband can't initiate that knowing how to bring things

before the Lord. And so, she finds herself alone

and know this. If that is your situation, God

will hear your prayers just as much as his He's no respecter of

persons but men miss out on the privilege and the honor of

operating in that role as a priest and seeing the blessings

of God flow in and through his life into his family's life Men,

You're called to be prayer warriors, as much as anything

else. And we see that this is Paul's

desire for men. You know what, the desire for

this church is, here's the desire that husbands would know

how to get together within the church and pray together as

husband's to be better husband's better fathers in their

families. That current and future

business. Men of this church, we know how

to get together and seek the face of God, that they may be

honorable in their workplace and that they may be profitable, not

just in the financial sense but with their influence to be a

testimony to those around them that men would know how to get

together and seek God. And I can tell you this, there

is nothing more beautiful than seeing that.

I was reminded of a testimony of a man who was speaking at his

father's funeral. I was watching it live stream

because I was familiar with the family, to some degree, big

funeral, and the son got out there to testify about his

relationship with his dad, and he had set up one part and it

warm my heart so much that when he was in high school as a 16

year old boy, he would wake up very early to get to practice on

a daily basis and he remembers one particular morning where it

was still dark outside. Like it was this morning when

you woke up early, hopefully, when you woke up early, And as

he tips toes through his hallway and he comes down the stairs in

the discreet Silence of that early morning, before the sun

would even come up. He heard something behind the

walls of one of the rooms on the main floor and it was always

muttering but you couldn't make make it clear.

So here he is with his gym bag ready to leave and as he comes

closer to the door, he hears his father on his knees weeping.

For specific people that he knew needed to be saved.

And here's a 16 year old boy. Now in his 50s testifying before

a Congregation of the godliness of his dad.

Now, he was a man who knew how to come before God on behalf of

his family and behalf of his ministry and seek the Lord.

Do you think he would have forgot that when he went to

basketball practice? He didn't forget it years later

when he was at his funeral. I believe a lot of problems

within the home within the church can be solved when men

begin to pray. The problem is many either don't

see the need to pray. or men have convinced themselves that

Energy should be given to otherwise and that's fine.

We need spread ourselves in all practical means.

But Paul saying, you don't understand what's ahead of you

as a leader, it's time to get on your face before.

God, And we talked about the priority of prayer and we talked

about how God desires men to pray and the church to pray, but

he wants him to pray in a specific way and we talked about

how important it is and why people don't prioritize it.

But here at this point, if you're convinced as a man and as

a woman that you want to pray, you really want to be a woman of

prayer, man of prayer because this is principal for both Paws.

Now going to describe the effective way to pray and how

even though you want to pray you cannot experience answers to

your prayer based on a certain On premise.

And so here's what he says, I desire that in every place.

The men should pray lifting, holy hands.

Lifting. Holy hands is Paul saying that

every time you praise you have your hands up.

And the moment you bring them down you're not really praying.

This posture of worship was a very known custom in the Old

Testament. You see that even described in

certain acts of prayer through those pages.

You see that there was a lifting of hands to express something of

neediness and desire, In a receiving and a surrender before

God. And so we have every right to

express that kind of physical manifestation of a heart Posh

that says, I need you. God, and you lift your palms

towards having you say I'm empty.

I need you to fill these hands with Grace.

Provision need help wisdom. But it's not saying that that's

the only way to pray because here's how you.

And I have to understand what Paul is saying here, Paul is not

concerned as much with the posture of hands and prayer.

Paul is much more concerned about the Holiness of those

hands. Concerning how it affects

prayer. Hens in the Bible, often

symbolize our daily Affairs. The things we touch the things

that we do. What Paul is saying here is that

Holiness in your hands are the keys to answered prayers from

heaven. I want you to turn to a certain

scripture in the Old Testament to help clarify that go to the

book of Zechariah Zechariah is the book before, Malachi and

Malachi's. The book before that page that

says New Testament. So it's a second last book of

the Old Testament and go to chapter 7, I want you to read

something with me that is emphasizing this point.

Go to chapter 7 and then go to verse 9 and see a prophecy that

was made rather prophetic Declaration of judgment.

Let's see what the Bible says. Zechariah 7, verse 9 says, thus

Zechariah 7:9

says, the Lord of hosts rendered.

True. Judgments show, kindness and

mercy to one another. Do not oppress the Widow, the

fatherless, the soldier nor the poor and let none of you devise

evil against another in your heart.

Do you see what he's saying? He's calling for righteousness.

He's calling for practical righteousness.

But look at the indictment verse 11, but they refuse to pay

attention and turn a stubborn shoulder and stop the ears that

they may not hear what descriptive language.

It's almost like somebody's tapping on your shoulder to get

your attention. This is what you're doing.

That's what he's saying about. The people topping your

shoulder, you're going. Don't touch me.

I'm busy here. They turned a stubborn shoulder.

And what is he saying? Here verse 12.

They made their hearts. I like this translation.

Diamond hard. Diamond hard, who made their

hearts diamond-hard. The people made their hearts

diamond-hard less. They should hear the law.

And the words that the Lord of hosts had sent by his Spirit,

through the former prophets. So he's saying they plug their

ears and saying, I don't want to listen to God's word on this

particular issue. So what is the indictment?

What is the Judgment there for great anger came from the Lord.

You want to know how God manifests his anger and one way,

here's one way. Great anger came from The Lord

of hosts and he says, in verse 13, as I called meaning, as I

gave my word. And they would not hear so they

called, and I would not here. Says the Lord of hosts.

That's the judgment. I gave my word.

I gave my standard. I gave my commands and that is

God's way of speaking that Bible in your hands is how God speaks

to you and me. And God says, I've given my

words through the spirit through the prophets and they willfully

disobeyed. Here's my judgment.

I call you don't answer. Call me all you want.

I'm not going to answer. Wow.

Now if we know the value of prayer, we realize that this is

a great great cost that this is not a light thing.

Now, this doesn't strike your heart or mind if we have not

experienced the glories in prayer, if you have not come to

the place where you have commune with god with such intensity as

he's revealed himself, this isn't mean much to you.

If you haven't seen God, miraculously answer prayers as

you've got on your face before him.

This doesn't mean much to you. So it's not much of a threat to

say, okay, I call he doesn't answer.

What's the big deal? Let me move on with my life.

That's a sad way of living. That's a very sad way of living

to not know the blessings from prayer but if you know the

blessings of prayer, if you know the power and prayer, you read a

verse like that and it takes your breath away.

And you go. If I don't answer he won't

answer if he calls my phone over and over as I get to this word

as he preaches it from the pulpit and I don't obey then if

I call he's not gonna answer. That's right. and so, when Paul

says lifting holy hands, you know what he has in mind that if

a person lives in conscience willful unrepentant sin, You can

stretch your hands 24/7. Tilt, your elbows are sore.

You can shout till the veins in your neck are about to burst in

your blue in the face. There is a brass above your head

and heaven will be sealed from your voice.

That makes a lot of sense in light of the context of First

Timothy, why? Because he's dealing with the

public sphere of worship. He's dealing with the church

Gathering and prayer in that environment.

So he says he has something in mind when he talks about holy

hands. There's a lot of things that we

can come to when we understand how hands being holy are dealing

with people money ourselves. But this is what he has in mind.

He says lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling with

who With the people that you're sitting beside this morning.

What's the idea picture this for a moment that on a Wednesday

night we come together to pray and hear.

You have one man against another that just argued 10 minutes

before the meeting and did not reconcile.

And then another part of the room, you have one sister

against two, three other sisters because those sister spoke

behind her back, and she found out and they haven't talked for

the past two weeks. And here, we are now conducting

a prayer meeting. Say o, God, give us Grace.

And, oh God, forgive us for our sins, and O, God answers, and oh

God reconcile, the Lost. To you.

You know what God is saying? I'm not going to do anything

until your first reconciled to one another.

That's what he's saying. And so again it's another part

in the Bible that emphasizes a Biblical truth, from cover to

cover horizontal relationships affect the vertical one.

And so we better understand our, my hands clean in my dealings

with one another. It's going to affect how your

hands are lifted up before God. And this is another way of

understanding it to do. You understand that there's

another danger when you come into a public prayer meeting

with anger in your heart. I'm taking my anger, I'm not

talking about mere emotion. I'm talking about a resentment.

I'm talking about even hatred. Almost a bitterness because

there has been an issue that has not been solved or at least

communicated that kind of a thing unresolved issues.

You know, what happens in a prayer mean that that's a

potential risk. At least the prayer meeting

isn't a prayer meeting. It becomes a preaching meeting.

Saying what do you mean? I'm saying that people take

advantage of the fact that they are praying out loud to not.

Pray to God, a preacher of the person that is in the room that

they want to hear what they want to say.

Oh God, forgive us for being Liars. and for being gossips

Lord you see it all, you hear it, all you're aware of it all

Give us the fear of God, especially if he done it this

past week. And we begin to what?

Preach to each other. Rather than pray to God.

You know people pray like that, right?

It's not prayer. It's actually preaching.

They're giving a sermon and they're really talking to people

not talking to God and doesn't, what are you doing?

We minimize that risk. When we come with hearts that

are clean and hands that are clean knowing that horizontally

on a human to human level, there isn't anything there.

I'm I'm a clean slate. So I'm going to come before God

with that Purity in that innocence and just I'm able now

to focus on him. Clean hands, holding hands,

lifted up before God. Listen, your hands.

Have to be clean before yourself before.

Man before they can ever be considered as a site before God.

Very simple truth. And now after Paul deals with

men, being men of prayer, men, assuming the role of leadership

within the church and conducting the service of worship and

prayer. He now turns his attention to

the woman so now guys, you're off the hook.

It's time for the ladies. Let's read verse 9 together.

Likewise also that women should Adorn themselves in respectable

apparel with modesty and self-control.

Not with braided hair and gold, or pearls or costly attire.

So, we just went from prayer to outfits.

And after reading a verse like that you and I might think that

Paul's main point here deals with your dress and nothing

less. Is that what Paul is concerned

about? Here's Paul's case not

concerning the rules of how a Christian woman should Adorn

herself. Well Paul is about to get at

though it includes that to some measure is what a woman's true

focus and life must be. We're her attention and her

priorities, and our purpose should be in life.

And here's here's the Temptation, right?

Men face. Their own Temptations as leaders

in the place of prayer, not being dependent, upon God or

Walking with God thinking like, Macho, I can do this myself,

that's a Temptation, they face. Here's a Temptation, a woman

faces, the pressures of this world, To conform in a certain

way to look in a certain way to expose yourselves in a certain

way. And to blend in, with what the

culture says true beauty, is when God himself has a

description of what true beauty is.

And so he's about to break this down and very practical terms.

He wants to address his sisters. And some have abused the verse

that I just read to mean, that woman should not properly take

care of themselves or that in the physical sense.

They should not attempt to be attractive in their apparel or

in their address, that is nonsense.

There's no biblical ground for that.

In fact, if you want a verse, here's one in Proverbs 31, we

left proverbs 31, don't we? A virtuous woman, a wise woman,

an excellent wife, who can find. And here's a description that

many Passover or many have interpreted in a different way

but I think it's planning. Clear.

It's in Proverbs 31 verse 22. What does it say?

Proverbs 31:22

She makes bed coverings for herself and look what it says

about herself. Her clothing is fine, linen and

purple. Before you pull out the credit

card. Let's understand this in

context. This is an insight to show that

a woman has a right to give attention to an outward

appearance. They should take care of

themselves, especially in light of a relationship with a

husband. You should, you should pursue to

be attractive for your mate. That's okay.

And you should pursue to be in dignity and respect a person

that's put together in the public sphere of life.

So let's just, let's just dismiss and shoo away.

The concept that Holiness and godliness is equivalent to

somehow being shabby and being disfigured to prove that you

focus on spiritual things. That's just not the case at all.

But as a father who has daughters God wants to speak to

his own daughters and provide a framework for this area of their

lives. Let me think.

Are we really going to talk about this on a Sunday morning?

Listen, it's important to God. This isn't a man coming up here,

giving his opinion. This is a verse in the Bible.

So it's important to God. And here are two dangers that

Paul sees concerning dress, particularly for a woman, ready.

Number one is immodesty. And number two is extravagance.

It is not rocket science. ladies and gentlemen, to understand

that a woman, can use her body, or can arrange her outward

appearance in a way that lures men not to be attracted, but to

lust after them, there's a big difference there.

It's not rocket science and I can almost hear the objections

because I've even heard them and different different places.

Not in conversation, just in Dialogue on a group level, not

here, but in different places where the objection tends to, go

something like this from a woman.

Well, This whole thing about modesty and stuff.

That's not a woman's problem. That's a man's problem.

He just needs to stop lusting. Let him fix his brain before I

fix my outfit, I have the right to dress however I want.

And if man has a problem with lust the let him figure that out

between him and God I ain't changing for nobody, something

like that. and here's the thing, you ready for this woman ladies

even you know, even you know, when another lady is dressing in

a way where she's trying to draw attention to herself

inappropriately, even, you know, so it's not time to blame men.

You even know when somebody walks in the room and they have

done something to themselves for eyes to be drawn to other places

other than her face even, you know, So, with that being said,

here's what God is concerned about modesty, and here's a

wonderful truth, you can be attractive and modest at the

same time. In fact, if you want to draw a

godly man, talking about a real, not a guy that goes to church.

Guys, go to church, not for God, by the way.

You want to track the man who loves God knows.

God, do you realize proverbs 31 was written by a mother to her

son? No, that a Godly Man will

consider. How you carry yourself with

dignity? And know that a Godly Man will

have a level of respect and you will win his attention towards

you. That is affected in direct

proportion with the honour that you give to yourself.

That as you pursue character and classiness.

As much as you might think that men might not have it all

together here. They are aware of how to read

that kind of language. And that's not limited to how

you walk into church. That goes into every sphere of

life outside of these walls, including your social media.

And know that modesty is not limited to what you wear, it's

how you carry yourself. The body language that you give

Men can read that too. Be assured that a woman who

fears God. Who fears God in this area.

No, this she carries a confidence.

And she carries a gentleness, a wisdom, a self esteem.

That will glow with the purified.

Beauty that will outshine any other fleshly goal.

And trying to lure men with your skin.

Modesty, you might be wondering, give me some rules.

Give me some guidelines. Come on, I'm not going to do

that because the Bible doesn't do that.

You just know. We all know we all have a

measure of understanding. You know.

And God will guide you into this as you seek Him for wisdom and

no this again, let me reinforce his Truth for a Godly Man.

Modesty is beautiful. And let me say this again,

modesty does not equal not being beautiful.

I just have to reinforce that modesty is not you not caring

about how you look. This is what clothing is all

about. Whether for male or females, you

know, clothing is not about what you can reveal clothing is about

what you conceal. Right, we clothe ourselves to

conceal not to reveal. and in that very practical measure, God

gives you full license to be able to display yourself.

Beautifully. But in modesty, And Paul second

concern is extravagance, so we see a mini list here.

Do me. What is this?

A with modesty and self-control? Self-control deals with

behavior. Not with braided hair.

Oh, did you braid your hair this morning?

And gold. Oh if it breaks along this

morning, Or pearls or costly attire.

So again, we might think that this is somehow God canceling.

Another layer of how I should pursue some kind of Elegance and

that I should be simple. And simple is good, there's a

beauty and simplicity but not simple in the sense that it

cancels out accessories and it cancels out the desire to match.

That's okay. That's not what Paul is saying

at all. Paul saying is that it's

possible for a woman to get so caught up in this area of her

life. That all becomes about her

fashion, that's her purpose in life.

And what happens is the church now becomes a model Runway

Because we're dealing with a context of the local church

where now a person can walk in. And all, she's really looking

for is praised for her looks and the attention on what she has in

the brands that she cares and what she bought and what's in

her closet and all these different things.

And Paul is trying to shift the focus from that place because

now it's possible for a woman's main motivation and coming to

the Gathering of the Saints. Not to come and worship God not

to serve the people of God. But to draw, Attention to

herself. And that her day is not made in

the context of the church. Unless she leaves there with, at

least three, approvals of how she looked that day.

Is it wrong to receive encouragement?

Is it wrong to be deemed as Butte?

No, that's not the focus. The motivation of a Christian

woman coming down to this point even to the point where she

loses. This is what Paul is concerned

about losing a self-restraint. In expenditures, even at the

expense of you dismissing, all other Godly Pursuit so that you

can, you can find your joy in that, I'll say hold on, you're a

Christian woman. Your identity is much greater

than that, it goes beyond that. You have great purpose in life,

and life is more than fashion. That's possible.

It's possible for a professing Christian to find more joy and

when she gets in her closet next week, after a shopping spree,

then coming closer to God and representing him rightly and

being a witness for the gospel. It's possible passing.

Your life is much more than Gucci in this or that.

I'm not start naming Brands. It's more than that.

All those Brands evil in itself. No, but when you live for them,

you've created a golden calf. That's what Paul is saying.

That's all he's saying. And so he says in the positive

sense, listen, if you're going to focus on anything, if you're

going to display yourself in any way, let it be with good works.

That's what he says right in verse 10.

But with what is proper for women who profess godliness with

good works, Because you adorning yourself with good works, is

more precious than jewels and you displaying the character of

Christ is more valuable than gold.

And listen to this. As a Christian lady, your golden

life is for people to see Christ in you.

Not what's on you. And so Paul saying, just

prioritize this area of your life and consider that as you

come to the house of God, you're coming to a house of not just

sisters but Brothers Take that into consideration.

Take that into consideration whenever you come into the

household of God. And this is part of denial of

self. Is it not to put others before

you and not just in cleaning up and doing different things even

in the place of dress? So woman who professes

godliness, you know what a preoccupation is with good.

Works her ambition, her purpose, her drive, her fulfillment will

be in the service to the body of Christ.

That's what she's caught up with.

And let's conclude with this point. as much as men are called

to lead within the church, if you don't know it now, You will

know it. Now the church apart from the

participation of women, cannot know.

Fullness of blessing and effectiveness.

I want to say in an encouragement.

That this church has been tremendously blessed by the good

works of our Sisters in Christ. and I want you to understand

that Paul writing this, As he saying about dress, don't make

the mistake that Paul is a man that thinks that women don't

have anything to offer the church except for babies and

good meals. The same Paul who wrote these

instructions and our culture that might seem extreme Also

said, in many places. Including this one.

I'm about to read from Romans 16.

Paul knew the value that woman had.

For the church and for his own Ministry.

Romans 16 verse 1, he says I commend to you our sister

Romans 16:1

Phoebe. A servant of the church.

That's an cry. That you may, welcome her in the

Lord, in a way worthy of the Saints and help her and whatever

she may need from you. Now, look what he says for.

She has been a patron of many out of myself as well.

That's a wonderful thing for Paul to say Paul is not only

recommending Phoebe as she's being sent to the churches in

Rome. Paul himself is testifying this

woman has been a blessing to my ministry as well and let me let

me reinforce that in this church are Sisters in Christ have been

a tremendous blessing and we pray that they will continue to

be and we have our own Phoebe in the house, by the way, And this

is what I want to say and I want to say loud and clear.

The professionalism, the consistency, the dedication, the

attention to detail. And the overall effectiveness of

the many Ministries that represent United, Evangelical

Church can be stemmed from the compassionate hands of dedicated

woman. And so I can say confidently

from this Pulpit that we are grateful for our Sisters in

Christ. That continually take a verse

like this seriously in their lives and I can speak on behalf

of the brothers and say, thank you.

So, thank you so much. So Paul, now, with these brief

instructions is not finished with his instructions concerning

the roles of men and women in the church.

Next week, we're going to get into something that's a little

bit more debated. Amongst people even within the

church and that deals with the authority figures within the

home and within the local body. But I think this suffice is for

now. Let's seek the Lord as men and

women of the church. Lord, we come before you and we

humbly receive your instructions as men and women.

And father, we are thankful for your wisdom to know what exactly

we need to be more effective in our christ-like Ambitions.

And so, as Menlo, we pray for a Grace to be men of Prayer.

To know how to rely on you as people rely on us.

And Lord. As woman.

May you give every lady the wisdom to know.

How even in the the fabric and even in the physical sense, they

can honor and glorify. You may you be considered even

in their planning of dress. And may they be more preoccupied

in this life with things that thieves cannot steal and moth

cannot destroy. Me the adornment made the beauty

of every young lady in this place.

Be glistened by a christ-like conviction and a desire to serve

the body of Christ. And Lord May the harmony of.

The blend of men and women. In this church continue to be

experienced. As we honor our roles and

respect one another God, we worship you in the very

practical sense of how you give these instructions, because you

care about how your church is displayed before the world solo,

we give you thanks. As we sing to you in Jesus name

we pray. Amen.

The blend of men and women. In this church continue to be

experienced. As we honor our roles and

respect one another God, we worship you in the very

practical sense of how you give these instructions, because you

care about how your church is displayed before the world solo,

we give you thanks. As we sing to you in Jesus name

we pray. Amen.