Daughters of Eve, Children of the King pt 1

Introduction

Let me begin with a question: did you seek the will of God as you decided what to wear this morning? Ladies, did you seek the will of God as you did your makeup and picked out your jewelry?

Turn to 1 Tim 2

We’re only going to cover 2 verses this morning, 9 & 10, so let me just read them to you as we begin. I’ll start in v. 8 for context:

1 Timothy 2:8–10 ESV

I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling; 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, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works.

Men, pro tip: Ladies swoon? Just start lecturing them about what they wear

Ladies say Pastor hasn’t even started the sermon and he’s already quit preaching and gone to meddling—one reason I love expository through books: no, apostle did

This is something I love about the Bible: it is not concerned that you believe something to save your eternal soul, and then turns you loose to live however you want. The Christian faith has implications for all of life, and the Christian doesn’t just want heaven, he or she wants to please God here and now, amen?

I covered v. 8 last week. Why read today? v. 9 begins “likewise”—what?

“I desire” — not a suggestion. In case you forgot, he just reminded you that he was a divinely-appointed apostle in v 7. This a politely-stated command: men should pray without causing disruption, women should adorn themselves without causing disruption

Remember, the men were causing disruption by the prayers that, however they communicated it, involved wrath and arguing

There was apparently another disruption in their services: what the women were wearing

Adorn: Where we get the word “cosmetics”. To cause something to have an attractive appearance through decoration, adorn, decorate

Not just wives, women in general (like men, not just husbands, should pray w/o anger and arguing)

Why call out wrath and arguing for men? Not that women free to be wrathful and argue, but more of a problem w/ men

Why call out excesses w/ adornment for women? Not that men are free to dress immodestly, but more of a problem w/ women

So yes, gonna meddle. Ladies, think about what Paul just said to the men in v. 8. He’s basically echoing what Jesus said:

Matthew 5:23–24 ESV

So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

If I can tell a guy not to bother offering prayer here, or even to give his offering here, if he’s got beef with another man in the congregation

Surely I can say something about what you wear

Wrong Adornment

Modesty: This term expresses the opposite of considering or treating something in a common or ordinary manner

Word translated “modesty” describes an attitude that one Greek scholar says

Synonyms of the New Testament § xx. αἰδώς, σωφροσύνη

shrinks from overpassing the limits of womanly reserve and modesty, as well as from the dishonour which would justly attach thereto

Not simply a matter of not drawing attention to yourself; more what are you drawing attention to, and why

Word “self-control” describing here feminine virtue of decency, chastity

Immodest re: resources

Timothy had another issue to deal with. He didn’t just have to address how women dressed; he had to address how rich women dressed

There were some wealthy women in the church in Ephesus, we know from the story of Paul’s founding that church in Acts 16 & 17

And so he has to to instruct them to adorn themselves,

“not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire”

Costly attire = word for clothing, or attire, modified by a word meaning “very expensive” (same word used to describe jar of ointment). “Expensive” isn’t strong enough—maybe “extravagant” would be better

I hope not woman here with her hair in a braid; have to start church discipline

Braided hair: not a prohibition on braiding your hair, referring to a fashion in high society at the time

Hair would go through an elaborate ritual of trussing and plaiting, often interwoven with gold, jewels, or something especially expensive at the time: pearls. Again: very time-consuming, expensive

Two groups of women who put this kind of time into their hair: harlots and women of the upper nobility

So it’s not so much about the items themselves: it’s the flaunting of wealth and sensuality that’s the problem

Pretty simple: don’t shop up to church flaunting your wealth and status

You’ve got a relatively poor man up there, doing the work of elder, trying to exercise spiritual leadership and oversight, and what you’re wearing does nothing but shout, “I’m of a higher social strata than you”

But that’s not the only problem being addressed here. By the same token: don’t show up to church flaunting your sexual availability

Immodest re: sexual attraction

You’ve heard the expression, dressed to the 9s. As said, two kinds of women who did that in ancient Rome: noblewomen, and harlots

You don’t want to flaunt your wealth and status by what you wear. Likewise, you don’t want to flaunt your beauty to catch the eyes of men who aren’t your husband

Respectable: pertaining to being appropriate for winning approval, appropriate

Ladies, you know what our lord told us men?

Matthew 5:28 ESV

But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

He continues

Matthew 5:29 ESV

If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.

Have you any christian love for your brothers in Christ? Then you’ll never tempt them to violate our Lord’s instructions in this

You: “I can’t control what some man thinks when he looks at me.”

Me: “You’re right, you can’t—but

Do you think it is possible for a woman to adorn herself in a way that is provocative to men? Then by implication you think it’s possible to do the opposite

Some Christian women defending more provocative dress say, If a man can’t control his lust, he’s just weak

Okay, what do we do with our weaker brothers? We accommodate them, doing whatever we need to do not to violate their consciences

“Okay, I know what you’re after”:

"You just want us to wear a burqa or a niqab like the strict Muslim countries”

Let me ask you: Is that what this text says? No, it says adorn yourself in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with the latest and greatest in high-society, bold fashion

Dress in a way that comes from an attitude of modesty and self-control

Are some elements of style that are culturally-based? Of course. I’m not going to raise an issue around women wearing pants. As scholar William Mounce put it,

Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 46: Pastoral Epistles Comment

While certain aspects of this are somewhat culturally bound (e.g., braided hair with gold), the basic principles are timeless; priorities should not be based on the external, and the external must be an accurate representation of the internal.

And I will suggest: Christian women are probably never going to set the curve, be on the vanguard of fashion

Why would I say that? B/c you live in a world that hates God and all His ways

The whole bent of your culture is rebellion toward God. Your goal isn’t to keep up with them; it’s to please the Lord

You’re to adorn yourself, v. 10, with what is proper for women who profess godliness. That’s not the heart of our culture, and that’s going to show up in how the people of this world dress

Reasons behind immodesty

So important to put the emphasis where the apostle does. This all starts in your mind and heart, not in your wardrobe

v. 9 doesn’t say “that women should adorn themselves modestly,” says “with modesty and self-control” = prepositional phrase telling you this is about the attitude necessary for you to be worried about modesty. Doesn’t start with what you wear; starts with mindset behind why you wear what you wear. Commentator:

The Pastoral Epistles Adornment and Good Works: 2:9–10

In effect, Paul is saying that when such attitudes self-consciously control a woman’s mind, the result is evident in her modest apparel.

Their dress is the outward issue: Paul’s real concern is the heart attitudes behind that issue

I don’t know every possible motivation that might lead a woman to violate these commands, but I’ll just mention 3 obvious ones

Desire for men to desire

Know first occurrence of poetry in Bible? Gen 2, when God presents the first woman to the first man

Adam doesn’t see the woman and say, gee, that’s nice—he breaks out in poetry

It is an immutable fact of the created order: men find women attractive. Visually attractive

That’s why this instruction is addressed to women, not men

You could put an ordinary, decent-looking man up here naked, and most all the women would be repulsed

If you put an ordinary, decent-looking woman up here naked, most all the men would… not be repulsed

That’s just how we’re wired from creation. We cannot escape that reality. But we can use it rightly, or we can misuse it

Read SoS? Does the bride do anything to make herself attractive for her husband? Is it appropriate to do those things for every man she sees?

There is a built-in drive for a woman to have a man find her attractive and desirable. There’s a right place for that built-in desire to find expression: with her husband, not with men generally, and certainly not with brothers in church

The Lord gives hearty approval to Solomon’s bride making herself beautiful for him. But contrast w/ what he says in Isa:

Isaiah 3:16 ESV

The Lord said: Because the daughters of Zion are haughty and walk with outstretched necks, glancing wantonly with their eyes, mincing along as they go, tinkling with their feet,

All describing enhancements to women’s beauty and sensuality, in public

They’re dressing sexy to get the attention of men who aren’t their husbands

You might say,

God continues to Isaiah,

Isaiah 3:17 ESV

therefore the Lord will strike with a scab the heads of the daughters of Zion, and the Lord will lay bare their secret parts.

Throughout scripture, having your modesty uncovered and exposed in front of strangers was the depth of shame and reproach—and our culture calls it female empowerment

But I know good and well it’s not always about what men think when they look at you. It’s also about what women think

Desire to compete against other women

Think of the noblewoman with the trussed-up hair. Her first though may not have been, won’t the men at the party melt when they see me? She may not have thought that at all. She may have been thinking:

I’m going to look better than Junia and Octavia and Antonia

Look, men don’t really work this way, but I know that it’s very real among women

I know that the pressure to keep up in the looks department is way more intense for women than it is for men

And I also know that a desire to out-dress the girls is no more righteous than a desire to visually seduce the boys

And I have to mention one more that one of my daughters pointed out to me when we were discussing this passage:

Some girls just don’t know how men work

Ignorance of how men “work”

This is no doubt especially true of younger women. Surely grown women have this figured out

But for any woman here under 30, let me just spell it out for you:

Obv. cover my “sexy” parts. Know what parts of a woman men find sexy? All of them

Again, doesn’t mean you need to wear the burqa. It does mean you need to pursue modesty and appropriate dress

And dads: teach your daughters! Correct your daughters when you need to. When I’m in a public place and there’s a teen or tween girl dressed in skimpy clothes—which happens a lot in our culture—I don’t think, why that little tramp. I think, why that lazy, cowardly father

Dads, teach your daughters. Ladies, listen to your elders, including your fathers

So that’s the negative side of this instruction: avoid wrong adornment, for the wrong reasons. I really like this summary from comm. George Knight:

The Pastoral Epistles Adornment and Good Works: 2:9–10

Just as Christian men needed to be warned that their interest in vigor and discussion should not produce strife and dissension (v. 8), so Christian women needed to be warned that their interest in beauty and adornment should not produce immodesty and indiscretion.

Now let’s talk about:

Right Adornment

Need to begin w/ obvious, because to Christian’s it’s not always obvious

In a relate passage Peter says,

1 Peter 3:3–4 ESV

Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.

Sometimes Christians have read that and thought, I’m not supposed to do anything about my external appearance

That’s not what Peter meant, and it’s not what Paul commands here. Look again at v. 9—Paul instructs women,

Do adorn!

“I desire” “that the women adorn themselves”

That means at least 2 things: don’t wear nothing, and do dress decently

Remember, “adorn” = To cause something to have an attractive appearance through decoration, adorn, decorate

I think Paul would not like the burqa

This text doesn’t say all the women here have to wear the same floor-length denim skirt and the same frumpy blouses

It is almost against a man’s nature to dress up and look decent. I mean, have you looked at us?

On the other hand, it is against a woman’s nature not to fix herself up. Ladies: you don’t have to fight against your nature

Wives, your husbands want you to look good! You don’t honor them by dressing frumpy when you’re out in public with him

Just think about what you’re trying to communicate and accomplish as you do

But notice, he’s not just talking about adorning the hidden person. He says to adorn

With proper clothing, modesty, and self-control

Respectable apparel

2 senses: modesty, context

Modesty: all that we discussed before about wrong adornment

But also to acknowledge: it’s also matters where you’re wearing what you’re wearing

I think you already have a sense of this: no matter how modest your swimsuit is, would you wear it to a wedding? (I pray nobody said yes)

Well, think about the setting here: You’re not going to the gym, and you’re not going to a concert

You’re gathering with the children of the living God, the bride of the Lord Jesus Christ, to seek forgiveness of sins and hear His pardon and approach Him in worship

What you wear for this gathering is appropriately going to look different than what you wear in other contexts

And let me just add, in case this thought popped into your head:

The call here for respectability and modesty in dress is not limited only to the church gathering, any more than men not being angry is only a matter of the church gathering. Elders have to have respect outside the church, because their conduct reflects on the bride of Christ. So does yours

You are a daughter of God wherever you go, and you should dress like it

To summarize right adornment when it comes to clothes and hair and makeup, let me quote JMac:

1 Timothy: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary The Appearance of Women

How does a woman discern the sometimes fine line between proper dress and dressing to be the center of attention? The answer starts in the intent of the heart. A woman should examine her motives and goals for the way she dresses. Is her intent to show the grace and beauty of womanhood? Is it to show her love and devotion to her husband and his goodness to her? Is it to reveal a humble heart devoted to worshiping God? Or is it to call attention to herself, and flaunt her wealth and beauty? Or worse, to attempt to allure men sexually? A woman who focuses on worshiping God will consider carefully how she is dressed, because her heart will dictate her wardrobe and appearance.

And finally, and most importantly, she is to adorn herself

With good works

This is the climax of this instruction. This is the main thing. This is the point

Don’t focus on all that external stuff. Paul says, v 8 I desire that, v 9 women should adorn themselves, v10 with what is proper for women who profess godliness: with good works

Notice also the “but” — not immodest attire, but good works

Ladies, if you profess godliness—if you have made the solemn promise and confession of faith in Christ—you must adorn yourself with good works

How much time and money and effort do you put into how you look, in comparison with your time and money and effort spent pursuing good works?

Because that’s a good way to think about the point he’s making: you should concentrate much more time and effort on good works, on adorning yourself spiritually, than you do on your hair and your makeup and on picking out clothing

What kind of good works does he expect of Christian women?

He doesn’t say here, just “good works”

Ladies, if you’ve spent any years in the word of God, you probably already have a good idea what that means

But if you don’t, never fear: we’re going to see something about a woman’s good works next week, Lord willing, and ch 3, and ch 4, and ch 5, and ch 6

Pray

Invitation

If you would be right with God, you must know:

You are a sinner (Rom 3:23), and the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23)

But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom 6:23)

Today is the day of salvation (Heb 4:6–7)

If you don't know Jesus as your Savior, don't leave today without talking to one of us about how you can be made right with God through Christ