1 Timothy 2.8-10 Undistracted Prayer

[0:00] As we were working through chapter 1 of 1 Timothy, I made a recommendation that we memorize 1 Timothy 1.15.! And as we transitioned into chapter 2, and the focus of 1 Timothy transitions into the conduct within the church, I made a recommendation that we memorize 1 Timothy 3.15, which really helps keep our perspective of what this greater section is about, namely of a picture of the church submitted to authority and united in prayer for the salvation of all manner of men.

[0:38] Now, if you recall, last week at the beginning of the sermon, I asked a question, and I said, when you come to church, do you come with the intention of praying? And that when the minister prays, we all pray together in unity as one.

[0:50] So, from that question, as we move on into today's text, it speaks to how, more of how we pray as one in harmony and barriers, which may affect that harmony of prayer.

[1:08] So, let's take a look. We will read 1 Timothy chapter 2, verses 1 to 10. Therefore, I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.

[1:33] For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time, for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle.

[1:57] I am speaking the truth in Christ and not lying, a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. I desire, therefore, 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.

[2:27] Our great God, we thank you again for your word. We thank you for this day, for this Lord's Day, and for this time which we have to look to your word. And we just pray for your blessing, that by your Spirit you would illuminate your word to us, enlighten our minds, and lead us into truth.

[2:43] And I pray that you would help us according to our needs for salvation and godly living. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Now in these verses, verses 8 to 10, what's going on here is that it speaks to proper order and conduct in public prayer, and that it will remove barriers for undistracted, harmonious prayer.

[3:08] So again, that's proper order and conduct in public prayer will remove barriers for undistracted prayer. It speaks to men, and it speaks to women.

[3:20] So we will divide it into two. Looking first at men, and second at women. Now notice in verse 8, it starts off by saying, I desire therefore.

[3:30] Now the therefore signals to us what preceded it. So what's to follow is a summary exhortation of the preceding argument. So remember the preceding argument pertains to prayer, to public prayer for the purpose of gospel advancement for the salvation of all manner of men.

[3:50] So it's corporate prayer with the reason of the advancement of the kingdom of Christ. And so therefore, because of the preceding argument, he then moves on for the removal of barriers for unity and order in corporate worship for undistracted prayer.

[4:11] That's undistracted public corporate prayer. He says, I desire. I desire therefore. How do we understand the saying of I desire? Is what it's not, it's not a suggestion that's based on wishful thinking.

[4:27] As we might say, oh, I desire to have pie for dessert. Rather, when the apostle Paul, in the word of God written, says, I desire, what it is, is it's a precept.

[4:41] It's a command mandated by apostolic authority. So, I desire therefore. And first, we will address men. Men in public prayer.

[4:53] Now, if you recall last week, we looked at the word men that's used in verses 1 to 7. And it's the same word used in the same way in verses 1 to 7.

[5:04] Now, in English, it's all the same word, men. But in Greek, the first three uses of men in verses 1, 4, and 6 is all manner of men.

[5:15] That is, every tribe, every tongue, every nation, man and woman. But when we get to verse 8, where it says, I desire therefore that men, it's a different word from the Greek.

[5:28] So, he's not saying, I desire that all manner of men pray everywhere. Rather, the Greek word that's translated to men in English here means male. Male in contrast to female.

[5:41] So, at this point, I want to briefly take a look at creation. And we will look back there a couple times throughout this sermon. And then next week as well, it's important for understanding what's happening here and why he's saying men or male headship in the church.

[6:01] Now, when we look at the creation account, God created Adam. Adam and God put Adam into the Garden of Eden. And Adam was to keep the garden.

[6:14] He was to protect the garden, which was a temple sanctuary of God's dwelling presence with his people. And we could spend a lot more time going into what that keeping of the garden or the protecting of the garden is.

[6:31] But it was acting as a priest would in a temple sanctuary, not to protect it from anything unclean. So, Adam was to obey God. Adam was to keep the garden. And we also know that God gave Adam and Eve as his helper.

[6:48] And there's an order that we see there. And Adam and Eve were both made equal in the image of God. And we understand what the image of God is, as that it is in knowledge, righteousness, holiness, and dominion over the creatures.

[7:03] So, men and women, first of all, they are made distinct. God made men male. God made women female. And God also gave them the commission to spread the glory of God throughout the earth, to be fruitful and multiply.

[7:19] And Adam did not have a helper. And it wasn't good. So, God gave Adam a helper, which was required for being fruitful and multiplying, for which there are distinct sexes of male and female, which are necessary.

[7:33] So, all that to say, they are distinct. Male and female are distinct. They are equal in the image of God in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, with dominion over the creatures. But yet, they are different, and there are different roles.

[7:46] Now, there's an order from creation before the fall. So, for all of creation, for all of the kingdom of creation for all time, there's male, there's female.

[7:58] They're equal in the image of God. But there is an order. And that order is, we see God. God made Adam. Adam was to obey God as a type of priest. And then God gave Adam a helper, who was to help and follow Adam.

[8:13] And they, as image bearers of God, had dominion over the creatures. So, you see that order? It's not of value. It's an order of, really, of what God is, definitely.

[8:25] But between man and woman, it's in role. And then, because of the fall, it flips the order on its head. So, instead of God, Adam obeying and following God as a head, Eve as a helper following Adam, and then having dominion over the creatures, it's flipped.

[8:44] The order is flipped. So, we have the serpent, whom Adam should have kicked out of the garden, temple sanctuary. But he didn't.

[8:55] So, there's the serpent, who deceives and seduces Eve. Eve follows the serpent. Adam follows Eve. And God, or God's commands, are essentially driven out.

[9:06] So, the order is flipped. And then, the curse that followed, actually, we'll come back to that. But that flipped order, we see in culture.

[9:18] And the sinful desire within man, because all man is born with sinful desire, is autonomy, and to follow that reversed order, which is following the course of the world, according to the prince of the power of the air, if you remember Ephesians 2.

[9:34] So, that's the norm of culture. That's the norm of the world. But it's God's order from creation flipped upside down, flipped on its head. But God's order from creation before the fall includes male headship.

[9:51] So, first of all, it's divine command. Second of all, it's a picture, which, if you recall from Ephesians 5, male headship, particularly in the home, is a picture of Christ and the church.

[10:09] And Ephesians 5 makes it very vivid that it's a picture of Christ lovingly leading his bride, the church. So, it's God's order from creation for marriage, for the homes, and for the church.

[10:26] And that's the basis of what we're working on here. So, if you notice, at creation, it's not that God made Adam and Eve, and then they rochambeau'd to see who would be the male and who would be the female.

[10:42] They didn't rochambeau to see who would be head of all of their posterity. Rather, it was God's order. So, I desire, therefore, that men, that male, pray everywhere.

[10:59] So, what this is getting at is a particular responsibility for males to lead the church and its worship service. God's order is male headship from creation because it's divine command.

[11:16] So, the egalitarians, which would be churches who put women as pastors in the pulpit, they have a number of arguments, but one of them, which they might say, which is actually a pretty common argument, they might say that, but she academically excels in the Bible.

[11:37] And there's no men who are as academically excellent as she is. And that's great. And that's not true that a woman is not academically excellent in the things of the Bible because man and woman are made equal in the image of God, equal in knowledge and righteousness and in holiness.

[11:56] So, it's not that one sex has a capacity to be more excellent academically than the other, but it's not a matter of academic excellence that the church is structured its order on.

[12:13] Male and female are equal, but they are distinct and call to different roles. In the church, if you've been memorizing 1 Timothy 3.15, the church is the house of God.

[12:25] And what makes the church the house of God? Is it the house of God based on human academic excellence? No, it's not. What makes the church the house of God is the spiritual presence of Christ in the midst of the church by the word and spirit through the means.

[12:42] So, what are the means? The means are exclusively those whom he equips and calls to that role. So, male headship in the church is not because one is more academically excellent than the other.

[12:59] Male headship is because it's God's command as God's means for God's work in God's house. So, rejecting the authority of the word of Christ, a church that rejects the authority of the word of Christ, is rejecting Christ as the head of the church.

[13:21] Therefore, not conducting how the church ought to, which is required to be the house of God, the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. And what makes a church a church is the spiritual presence of Christ in their midst.

[13:37] And that is not something that you want to compromise on as a church for the sake of human academic excellence. So, our text speaks to men, namely order and holiness in corporate prayer.

[13:55] It speaks to the person, the persons, the places, and the posture. So, the persons is the who, which is men, male, for order and corporate prayer.

[14:06] Second, the places is the where, where it's to take place for public prayer. And the posture, or how, in corporate prayer. So, we looked at the who, the men, the persons.

[14:18] Next, we'll look at the places, or the where. I desire, therefore, that the men pray everywhere. Now, for us, we might overlook a detail that would be very significant in the time of reading this, and that for Old Testament Israel, the place of public worship was a central geographic location in Jerusalem where the temple was.

[14:42] That was the place. That is no longer the case, but everywhere, in all of the churches. In all the various meeting places, not just one.

[14:53] So, this is the universal scope of public prayer and corporate worship. That is, all the churches of the saints. Not just in this time, when it was written.

[15:04] But, all, for the churches of all the saints, for all time, and in every culture. Another egalitarian argument will say that Paul just wrote this to that church in that time, based on what they were dealing with, and that no longer applies today.

[15:22] That is wrong. And the authority of scripture is that it applies, the pastoral epistles apply to every church, in every age, in every culture, in every area, at every time.

[15:35] Which means it applies to us, in every other church in town today. Okay. So, the who, the where, and next, the how. Men, with order and holiness in corporate worship.

[15:49] The how speaks to practical holiness for men in public prayer. I desire, therefore, that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.

[16:03] Without wrath and doubting, or some translations might say disputing. Without wrath and disputing. Without arguing. But essentially, a grieved mind, or an offended mind, because of wrath, because of, whatever, retribution, because of anger, because of quarreling, because of disputing, because of arguing.

[16:24] A grieved and offended mind would be hindered in prayer. And contrary to keeping a good conscience. Particularly in coming in corporate prayer, where we are to pray in harmony for the salvation of man.

[16:41] But if we're distracted, because of all the quarreling that goes on, and having to sit next to, or behind, or in front of, somebody that there's just, there's just wrath and anger.

[16:52] This is a barrier. This is a distraction for harmony in public prayer. So, without wrath and doubting, or without wrath and disputing. Or also, what if somebody walks in for the first time, they're completely unchurched, and they've been convicted of their misery of sin, and seek to, are hoping to find hope.

[17:18] Hoping to find forgiveness. Hoping to find what God's word says. And they come in, and they see the person that's leading a prayer, and they think, really? That guy is here leading a prayer?

[17:29] Isn't that the guy that flipped me off in traffic yesterday? Wrath is a barrier, or a distraction, in public prayer.

[17:42] So, without wrath and doubting. Lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting. Uplifted hands.

[17:53] Uplifted hands refers to the posture. A posture of seriousness and urgency in prayer, is what it's getting at. Without iniquity in heart.

[18:03] So, I'm going to give you a summary, and then we're going to see how that means that. But, seriousness, urgency, without iniquity in heart. With uplifted hands. For example, not clenched hands.

[18:16] Wrath, disputing, would be represented with clenched fists. Uplifted hands is not demonstration of wrath and disputing.

[18:27] But of seriousness, urgency, and without iniquity of heart. Another thing about uplifted hands is, it shows being in need of help. Uplifted hands needing help.

[18:41] Hands are the primary agent for human activity. The activities that we do, we use our hands to do so. So, if we get our hands dirty by doing something, working mechanically on an engine, we're going to get grease on our hands.

[18:54] And by uplifted hands, you would see grease. We would see dirty hands. So, as the prime agent for human activities, the hands, it shows whether they're clean or not.

[19:06] It shows that they have, the uplifted, clean, holy hands, shows that they have not been practicing wrath. And they understood this metaphorically, as also washing the disciples' feet.

[19:19] They understood metaphorically, similarly, the same way. But understand that the proxemics of your hands does not get better results of your prayers.

[19:30] It's not that the higher your hands are, it's that the higher they'll lift up your prayers and the better results they'll get. It's metaphorical. So, metaphorically uplifted means uplifted, reflecting the inner dimension of the heart and mind, being clean, pure, and in unity.

[19:48] If you recall from our call to worship in Psalm 24, of clean hands. Now, there's Old Testament imagery of having washed hands before worship to indicate or to demonstrate, to metaphorically show clean hands washed of iniquity.

[20:13] The iniquity is washed off, which is required to come to worship, is to have our iniquity, our sin, washed off. Also, uplifted, holy hands shows that our hands are without wrath in the sense that they're not full of blood.

[20:30] If somebody was to commit murder, they would have blood on their hands. So, it metaphorically shows that we're saying our hands are washed. They're not full of blood.

[20:41] Isaiah 115, for example, it says, When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.

[20:53] So, what it's getting at is, men, elevation of heart, being liberated, and cleansed by Christ. Isaiah 118 says, Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.

[21:09] So, this imagery of having the iniquity washed off of our hands, washing our hands isn't going to save us, but what it points to is being washed in Christ.

[21:20] By the blood of Christ, by Christ's payment of our debt, we are made pure. We are washed of our iniquities and sin. And that is only the only way in which we can approach God in worship.

[21:33] That's the only way which we can approach God in prayer. And this is why the gospel is necessary for prayer. This is why the gospel is necessary for the church.

[21:44] This is why the gospel is necessary for worship. Because, because of the fall from creation, which we looked at, we're all born in sin. We all have sin. And because we are sinners, we continue to sin.

[21:56] And because of our sin, we can't approach and come before a holy, righteous, and just God. He will not clear the guilty. So, we have that two-fold problem.

[22:07] We didn't obey. We weren't righteous. We are not. And what we ended up doing is sinning. And that is a sin problem, a debt that needs to be paid. So, there's a two-fold debt.

[22:18] And that's what the gospel answers. The Son of God came and in our nature, in human nature, he satisfied the debt of righteousness that is owed to God.

[22:36] And he also satisfied the debt which we owed because of our sin and his suffering and dying. And then he was raised from the dead. He ascended on high and he is seated with all power and authority as the head of his people and as our mediator.

[22:51] So, we do not represent ourselves before God, but Christ, who is resurrected, who is ascended, and who does have all power and authority, is our mediator that we can come before a holy, righteous, and just God.

[23:04] And the only way to approach God is in Christ by receiving him. It is not our work that we do in any way, but it is by receiving Christ alone, by resting on Christ as our only hope, as our only righteousness.

[23:21] So, that brings us to our second point. Just as men are to seek to remove barriers in public prayer, so are women called to action. So, second of all, women. What, in sum, what it's getting at for women is self-control in corporate prayer.

[23:37] So, starting in verse 9, it says, in like manner. What does he mean by saying in like manner? Again, we're talking about the context of corporate prayer and orderliness or order in public prayer in the house of God.

[23:52] So, in like manner in corporate prayer. In the church. Order in church. Conduct in public prayer. So, women, we notice, are to be present in public worship.

[24:07] In like manner also, so that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel with propriety and moderation. This implies that women are to be present in public worship.

[24:18] The egalitarian will try to argue texts like this by saying he was just addressing culture and that culture. Women were uneducated and they weren't to be included.

[24:29] But that's completely wrong because Christians have always advocated for women as being equal in the image of God and knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. And that women are to be in corporate worship.

[24:41] So, it's very much implied in the text that women are to be present. Now, at the time there was Greek customs and Roman customs which are, there's kind of a conflict and a revolution that's occurring of what's entering the church which is why this was written.

[24:58] But in an attempt to not overcomplicate it, the Greeks, it was the men who held positions in politics and in society and women were to not be involved in it.

[25:12] And that's not the way the church functions, that the women are to be involved in the church. And this revolution that was occurring was that the Romans, there was a type of feminist movement, I suppose you'd call it, where the Roman women were now taking leadership roles in politics and in society and they were dressing very immodestly with not enough fabric and very elaborate and glamorous hairstyles.

[25:46] And so, that was being imitated in the church. Anyways, contrary to culture of regardless of the era, women are to be present in public worship and they are to learn because they are equal as image bearers of God in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness.

[26:07] Both men and women are to learn from the word of God to grow in knowledge, to grow in righteousness, to grow in holiness. What it's getting at is self-control with women being present in the church with self-control.

[26:22] So, to demonstrate this and help find categories, we'll refer to Goldilocks in church with too little, too much, and just right.

[26:36] So, first of all, Goldilocks and too little. In like manner also that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel with propriety! and moderation.

[26:48] So, with too little, what it's getting at is seductive and enticing clothing or a lack of clothing which would be a barrier, which would be a distraction in public worship.

[27:01] Now, I want to direct your attention again back to the creation account. I'm not going to repeat everything about the creation account, but God's order in creation was flipped on its head.

[27:14] It was flipped upside down and after the fall, so before the fall actually, God commissioned them to be fruitful and multiply.

[27:25] In Genesis 128, God gave Adam a suitable helper to be fruitful and multiply and it was very good. And we see in Genesis 225 that they were both naked, the man and his wife and were not ashamed.

[27:40] Then we have the fall and consequent to the fall what happens is that they realized the shame of their nakedness. Because of sin, there is shame and nakedness.

[27:53] So because of the entrance of sin, there was shame and nakedness and they hid themselves. They tried to hide themselves with leaves but their attempts to cover their shame did not work.

[28:04] It was insignificant. So God clothed them in Genesis 321, God clothed them with animal skins. I'll just be quick and brief with this but it was to cover their shame.

[28:21] Because of sin, there was shame and nakedness and God gave them clothing to cover their shame because sin needs to be covered. And this is going back to creation.

[28:33] This isn't a cultural thing of when this was written. This is not creation but the fall. Sorry, this goes back to the fall. For all of creation is that there is shame and sin there is shame and nakedness because of sin and that shame needs to be covered just as sin needs to be covered.

[28:51] So with all of us our shame and sin needs to be covered with Christ and clothed in Christ's righteousness. So there's a connection there that needs to be kept in mind as we understand the importance of modesty and just as God's order was flipped upside down then that's the way the culture goes.

[29:14] Our culture in this world doesn't follow God. Our culture in this world follows after the course of the world after the prince of the power of the air who is the devil, the serpent of old.

[29:26] So what our culture does is the flipped upside down order or model instead of God's order. And culture has a way of influencing the church and at this time culture was affecting the church.

[29:41] The way in which these Romans were dressing with very little clothing and very elaborate hairstyles was influencing the way in which they were in church which was a barrier a distraction in corporate prayer.

[29:55] So culture follows the order of Eve not the order of God and Satan throughout all time is still using the same tactic that he used to seduce Eve.

[30:06] did God really say? Which is at the root of the egalitarian argument in churches today.

[30:17] Sure there's clear didactic teaching in scripture for the churches but did God really say or does that really apply to us and not just them? So the culture that flips the order worships autonomy and that's the desire of sin is to be autonomous from God's command.

[30:38] So there's a worshipping of autonomy instead of worshipping God according to his order it's the flipped order and worshipping autonomy. So back to the text of Goldilocks with too little there is a seventh commandment issue here a seventh commandment being not committing adultery but we understand from the New Testament that the seventh commandment also speaks to the heart and that to look lustfully at a woman is to commit adultery in the heart.

[31:10] So the seventh commandment moral principle includes chastity of mind to not lust and it's also a matter of loyalty to one's husband in which how a woman dresses in church to not be an object of another man's internal lust.

[31:29] Which also falls under the household code of showing respect and submission to the husband which is very reverse to the culture's order.

[31:40] We won't see this in our culture so we shouldn't be looking to our culture to understand how we are to conduct ourselves in the house of God but to scripture. Now men to I don't think it's necessary to go into explicit detail but to help understand irrespective of era or of culture we'll go back to creation is that there was no suitable helper for the man to be fruitful and multiply so he gave Adam a suitable helper to be fruitful and multiply so you understand the marital conjugal intimacy that's required for this to occur so irrespective of culture or era men have been designed to be stimulated visually this isn't a matter of choice or this is not a requirement to be have an emotional connection and that's why pornography is so rampant because it's all it merely requires is the visual stimulation for lust so understand that men irrespective of culture or era are visually stimulated and that's why it's a seventh commandment stumbling or barrier or distraction in corporate worship

[32:58] Paul well immodest or indecent clothing a seventh commandment cause of stumbling what are some practical ways which we can understand how because of how men are designed what are some practical things which we can do to not put a barrier or a distraction in public worship so immodest clothing that would be a seventh commandment cause of stumbling it would include tight clothing that emphasizes form or insufficient clothing that doesn't cover the sensual areas or see-through fabric for example now Paul if you notice in the text Paul doesn't go into specific detail about exactly how loose clothing has to be or how many inches below the neckline is acceptable I think a part of that is because understanding how we operate is when when a line is drawn what do we do we think how close can I get to that line and I'll camp out there how much can I get away with and then I'm actually still okay for example speeding limits if it's snowing outside and there's signs everywhere that says slippery conditions drive carefully speed limits 80 what do we do we go 80 that's that's my limit that's what I can get to or if we're honest we're probably going to do 90 so we want that line so we can camp out right on that line so we can know how much can I actually get away with but I'm still you know

[34:32] I haven't crossed the line or how far can I cross the line before anyone says anything so all that to say Paul doesn't specify these details rather instead of trying to find a line to camp out on seek to adorn and seek to be adorned in all modesty propriety dignity and godliness and modesty isn't frumpiness being modest doesn't mean having to wear a bag or a burlap sack modesty isn't frumpiness it's classy and it's godly and as we move on in the text we'll see that adornment is good so to sum it all up don't be a distraction or a barrier in prayer that causes unresolved men to lust and resolved men to have to stare at the floor in public prayer so goldilocks in church with too little next we'll look at goldilocks in church with too much so maybe when we read this you might be thinking hold on is this saying that

[35:40] I have to be frumpy when I come to church and the answer is no the Bible actually commends adornment the Bible in numerous places commends jewelry so what it is getting at is flaunting wealth flaunting wealth or drawing attention to oneself rather than to God if you recall what I explained about the Roman culture about coming women wearing not nearly enough but then being very excessive and extravagant in their hairstyles with gold and jewelry and just a flaunting demonstration of their wealth which would be a stumbling block to those who do not have such wealth so what it is getting at is ostentatious hairstyles and fashion statements that are excessive extravagant and elaborate in other words fashion statements that say roll out the red carpet I've arrived and so rolling out the red carpet for

[36:42] Gloria Glamour Show who spends more time glorifying herself on the Lord's day than she does in glorifying God in worship you know what a bathroom vanity is do you know why it's called a vanity what is a bathroom vanity it's a station with a mirror and bright lights and counter and the drawers and it's used to fuss over one's appearance and to admire oneself in the mirror so that's what it is but why is it called a vanity it's a station for vainglory it's a station for vanity vanity means emptiness so vanity is a station for emptiness and proverbs 31 30 says charm is deceitful and beauty is passing but a woman who fears the lord she shall be praised and as the sabbath day is not for self glorification but for humble and earnest worship of god and the second london confession of faith it states that the whole day the whole sabbath day is the whole day is the sabbath that on the sabbath the whole time is to be taken up public and private exercises of god's worship so there are things which are necessary for the!

[38:12] so for example having a shower getting dressed brushing your teeth these are necessity of the day and not wrong to do on the sabbath but that being said if more time is spent in adornment than is in worship and communion with god then something is wrong something is wrong with the approach towards the day now dressing in a way that reveals form or shows skin and sensual areas could cause and dressing ostentatiously to flaunt one's wealth can cause a sister to stumble in the tenth commandment the tenth commandment being of discontentment of coveting so goldilocks with too little with too much and next with just right there's a double principle in our text the first principle is what not to do and then there's also positive direction giving not just what is wrong but also what is right that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel with propriety and moderation which is proper for women professing godliness with good works now we have another peter 3 3 to 4 that speaks further which

[39:29] I think is helpful it says do not let your adornment be merely outward now again notice what's implied in the text adornment is implied it is not wrong to be adorned but do not let your adornment be merely outward arranging the hair wearing gold or putting on fine apparel rather let it be the hidden person of the heart beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit which is very precious in the sight of God in other words the focus of what is true beauty is on the inward character instead of following the cultural trends of what culture sees as being beautiful or empowering or what the celebrities are doing the culture trends which are ungodly and the reversed order of creation which was instead of obeying God following the course of this world according to the prince of the power of the air who is

[40:31] Satan the serpent of old who seduced Eve now in first Timothy in chapter 5 10 it speaks about widows widows who are to be taken into the church to be to be provided for and there's criteria laid out for those women for the widows and in that criteria one of that they are well reported for good works okay so in our text which is proper for women professing godliness with good works so how do we understand what this good works are that women are to aspire towards so at first of first we want to understand that when we define good works it's according to scripture with that scripture tell us what good works are and in 1 Timothy 5 speaking of widows it says well reported of for good works and here we're given more information to understand what good works are which refer to the inner beauty of a woman so it lists some of these good works if she has brought up children now none of these things save a person good works do not save us but rather being saved there is the fruit of good works and somebody who's

[41:50] I've got a bunch of kids I don't have time to go run an orphanage in Kenya or whatever they think this good work is supposed to be that they're clear not doing but we see here is that bringing up children is a good thing mothers who are committed to bringing up their children is a good work which is a fruit of godliness so if she has brought up children if she has washed the saints feet again this is to be understood metaphorically not that you need to be going around a church with a basin and washing everyone's feet rather to be humble and willing to serve if she has relieved the afflicted if she has diligently followed every good work and then Titus 2 3 we also have some more details given of good works and Titus 2 3 says the older women likewise that they be reverent to behavior not slanderers not given to much wine teachers of good things and then it goes on to give examples of these good things for women that they admonish the young women to love their husbands to love their children to be discreet chaste homemakers good obedient to their own husbands!

[43:17] that the word of God may so these things which are listed are good things which are of an inner beauty for women and then it goes on but it's in the context to men but good works are spoken in exhortation to men but what's listed applies it's not exclusively to men but it applies to either or it says likewise exhort the young men to be sober minded in all things showing yourself to be a integrity reverence incorruptibility sound speech that cannot be condemned that one who is an opponent may be ashamed having nothing evil to say of you so again understand that good works do not save a person but being saved salvation bears fruit and that fruit is good works so some concluding uses as we finish here it's it's about the internals of if you've gathered the posture a lot of the posture which it speaks to it's getting at the internals the posture of our heart in prayer we can put on an external front but what's important is the internals which will be expressed in the externals and that's men with holy hands and harmonious hearts women with self control and good works second of all with barriers and distractions removed in church the church is then to pray the context of all of this is public prayer that we are to be a praying church and praying in harmony with the removal of distractions and barriers so we are to pray we are to pray in earnestness and harmony third we are we are conformed to the things that we worship as

[45:15] Greg Beale says we resemble what we revere in church in this time if the women were coming to church with very little fabric following these Roman customs and elaborate hairstyles it shows what they revere the culture as opposed to the word of God we are conformed to what we worship so I ask the question for you is that the culture that walks according to the course of the world according to the prince of the power of the air or is it God's word what do you conform to and what do you resemble in essence what do you worship and what do you revere so in so in so in summary let your hearts your conduct your adornment and your posture point not to the reversed order of of culture which follows the reversed order of a godless world and its culture but rather let it point to

[46:16] God to God's order and to God's word so all this being said if something in which was covered in this in this sermon in this text is something that is a struggle for you that you do struggle with or have at some point struggled with know and remember that there is forgiveness and there is mercy in Jesus Christ let's pray our great God we thank you for your word we thank you for the Lord's day and the time which we have to come together in corporate worship in public prayer and to look to your word and we thank you for the promise in scripture that where there is a true church there is a spiritual presence of Christ at work by the word and spirit and Lord we pray that you would indeed help us to truly understand your word and that you would be renewing our minds by your word helping us to not be transformed by sinful nature or the culture or the course of this world or the reversed order which is essentially a part of the curse from

[47:22] Eve that her desire would be to rule over her husband but her husband he would rule over her and we see that throughout all of time but we praise you that you are a god of order that you are not a god of chaos we pray for a godly order in our church in our homes in our pray undistracted harmonious unified prayers as one and as such lord we do pray for the advancement of the gospel we do pray for the salvation of sinners we do pray for the spread of the kingdom of christ the advancement of the kingdom of christ and we pray for our governing authorities that there would be a high view of righteousness and justice that wickedness would be punished that good would be praised that we may without persecution as a church spread the gospel and seek to spread the glory of

[48:24] God to the ends of the world pray these things in Jesus name amen