A Woman's Adorning
Notes
Transcript
Open your bibles to 1 Timothy chapter 2.
This week in my studies I came across a quote that I thought would be fitting for this morning.
“In countries to which Christian civilization has spread, large numbers of people have covered themselves with a decent, but thin, veneer of Christianity. They have allowed themselves to become a little bit involved; enough to be respectable but not enough to be uncomfortable. Their religion is a great, soft cushion. It protects them from the hard unpleasantness of life, while changing its place and shape to suit their convenience. No wonder cynics complain of hypocrites in the church and dismiss religion as escapism.” John Stott (1921-2011)
The passage that we will be covering in the next two weeks is one that will challenge and test your faith in the scriptures. That is because we are going to be looking at what a rightly orderd christian woman is.
When the scriptures are read that we are going to look at many men automatically become apathetic. And on the flipside many women become defensive. Why? Because feminist culture has told you, for the last 60 years that the bible is wrong when it comes to describing strong biblical women. And instead of fighting against the current of the culture with our bright light of truth and godly salt of virtue, the church has been kicking back and treating the ideals of modernity like a lazy river.
So, this morning shallow, decent, thin, veneered Christianity will be extremly challenged. And I pray that you and I will trust God and pay close attention to the attributes of a rightly ordered Christian woman.
So Lets stand together for the reading of God’s word… 1 Timothy 2:8-10
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.
Paul moves from a general sense of speaking to the church and calling them to pray in verse 1-7, to a specific call to men to pray in verse 8. He will return to the over arching character of men in the church when he approaches Elders and speaks of the role models in the Church and how they are to be ordered. But before he addresses the office of Elder and Deacon he addresses women.
Recall that Paul is writing about the worship of the church and the way the people are to be ordered in their worship. From leadership, to supporting roles, to doctrine, and pastoral job descriptions. Paul is addressing the church as a whole and how we are to conduct ourselves.
Verse 9, Paul says likewise. He is playing off of verse 8 where he says, I want men men in every place to pray. Likewise, I want women to do something too.
The verb he uses is “adorn”. I love this word because it reminds me of my bride on our wedding day. She wanted me to cry on our wedding day, she was expecting me to cry. But all the photos and videos capture the smile on my face which reflected the gladness of my heart when I saw my wife “adorned” in beauty on our wedding day.
Adorn speaks to the theme of first Timothy because adorned means more than to beautify in a special way… which it can mean that. But it carries more weight than that. It means to order on the outside, to arrange and prepare oneself visibly. Adorn is actually the greek word where we get the word for cosmetics…
I want women in the churches to adorn themselves. Adorn themselves how, Paul? He focuses on two things. First the apparel, and secondly the character or attitude of a woman.
This is important, and please note this that he can tell men to pray and women to adorn themselves respectably, and yet it won’t effect the heart. Much like a father who barks a command at his teenage daughter as to what to wear. And then that teenage girl wears clothes that she wants to wear to school under neath the clothes her father wants her to wear to school.
Behavior needs to change but true and lasting change comes from addressing the heart.
He does a similar thing for men. He can tell them to knock off their quarreling and anger and pray. But instead, he appeals to the doctrine, to the motivation to pray of Christ our intercessor.
So, first, lets address the apparel.
I. The Apparel of a Christian Woman Should:
A. Should be respectable: This is the general principle that Paul will expound on. The word used is a derivitive of the verb that is used. A woman should rightly put in order and display herself in a resepcted or rightly ordered way. The idea of “Resepctable” encompasses the whole look of a woman, her whole demenor. A woman who is wrongly ordered in the wholeness of her outward appearance is distracting. You will see that he addresses, that yes a woman can wear the most modest and respectable apparel and still be distracting to the worship of the gathering....
He says though that she,
B. Should not be flashy: It was a common practice for women in the ancient times to lace their hair with gold and pearls as a way of “adorning” themselves. But I say, what needs to be focused on is the principle here. Paul is getting at the truth that flashy apparel tells of the posture of the heart. Paul brings this up because admittedly the culture used the flashiness of the braided hair, the gold lace, the pearls and the costly attire were used to bring attention to the woman… To Turn heads… To cause eyes to look and focus on her and what is making her up.
My friends, we must come to understand that The outwatrd appearance tells of what the heart is doing on the inside. The heart will dictate what the hands do.
Jewlery and costly attire still do the same today, they can be used in a way to flaunt wealth, or health, or beauty etc. Today it doesn’t even have to be costly because we can buy things which convey the same message. A woman wears a low plunging shirt for what reason? To show her body off. What is the purpose of shorts that don’t cover all of the posterier? To show it off. What is the pupose of skin tight clothing, some might say comfort, but my friends, even in the innocence of “they are comfotable” you are turning a blind eye to the truth, that the outward appearance tells of what the heart is doing on the inside.
I could make this case for our homes and how they look, for our vehicles and how they look, etc. Details tell a story… But we must stay focused, the purpose here is to call the church to help each other worship in spirit and truth, to focus on and give glory to God rather than be led astray in false teaching or worldly distraction.
Now, what Paul is not doing here is calling for church uniforms. This is a mistake I believe the Amish, and the Pentecostal church make. I think them and I would agree that what we wear communicates something, but the bible does not say that all women must wear the same thing, or even one type of clothing, or do their hair in one way. In his prohibitions, Paul is laying down a biblical principle.
There is a place for lovely clothes that reflect the grace and inward beauty of a woman, The proverbial goldy woman in proverbs 31 is defined in such a way... Proverbs 31: 22
Proverbs 31:22 (ESV)
her clothing is fine linen and purple.
Rebekah is marked in Genesis in the same way…
And the servant brought out jewelry of silver and of gold, and garments, and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave to her brother and to her mother costly ornaments.
The bride describe in the song of Solomon likewise... Song 1:10-11
Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments,
your neck with strings of jewels.
We will make for you ornaments of gold,
studded with silver.
However, these things can be used in a wrong way. The first century pagan greek poet captures the issue when he says,
“when she encircles her neck with green emeralds and fastens huge pearls to her elonhated ears, so important is the business of beautification: so numerous are the tiers and stories piled one another on her head! In the meantime she pays no attention to her husband!” - Juvenal, Roman Poet (55AD - 127AD)
In a work titled, “the sacrifices of Cain and Abel”, the first century jewish philosopher Philo described a prostitute. He portrayed her as wearing many gold chains and bracelets, with her hair done up in elaborate and gaudy braids. Her eyes were marked with pencil lines, her eyebrows smothered in paint. She wore expensive clothes embroidered lavishly with flowers.
How then does a woman discern the sometimes fine line between proper respectable dress and dressing to be the center of attention? The answer is in the characher of a Christian woman.
II. The Character of the Woman Should Be:
A. Modest: the word used for modest is derived from the idea of shame. As one commentator put it a Chrisitan woman should be and would be ashamed if she were to distract another from worship through steealing glory from the Lord in being the attarction everyone can’t seem to stop talking about… Or provoking envy of her costly attire in other women or men... Or to provoke lustful thoughts in a man.
For this last one, in our day and age I hear the argument, well a man needs to learn to control his eyes. I agree. But that argument comes from a place of ignorace about the sin natures of men and women. Women want to be looked at rather than turn attention to God. Which works in tandem with men who want to look at women rather than look to God.
It works together for some of the fruits of marriage which are child bearing, joy and satisfation between man and wife, and attraction and devotion in your covenental relationship.
We saw this work out in the garden. Both adam and eve were without sin and were naked and unashamed. After sin entered into the garden they were both naked and ashamed. Why? It is not because they had something anatomically wrong or displeasing to one another. But instead, there was sin between them. There was distrust and a broken covenental love between them and God.
Thus, this signifies the sacredness of the human body in the realtionship between man and wife. Our flesh, in its sinful desires seeks to be out of order. But it must be put into order. And put in order a marriage flurishes.
So, the wise Christian understands this, that men naturally want to give their eyes to anything outside of their marriage that is beautiful and use it for their pleasure. On the other side, Women seek to get the eyes of others and use it for their pleasure. What was created to be good and beautiful was corrupted by our first parents in their sin.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians that the husbands body is not his own but his wifes, and the wifes is not her own but her husbands… Wives, it is true, you should be the delight of her husband, this is why Solomon warns his son to forsake looking at other women for pleasure and Proverbs 5:18-19 says
Proverbs 5:18–19 (ESV)
Let your fountain be blessed,
and rejoice in the wife of your youth,
a lovely deer, a graceful doe.
Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight;
be intoxicated always in her love.
Men, it is wise to be intoxicated with your wife and your wife alone. Women, it is ok to desire the attention of your husband and in your private lives be flashy for him…
But when Chrisitans go out in the world seeking to bring glory to God in all of their life, and particualrly in the church gathering, where Christians live in close realtionship and friendship with each other, we must humble ourselves remebering the sin nature we possess… And the motivation is the glory of God and the love of other people… Remeber Christs words… We do this out of love for each other remember that Christ said,
but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.
“Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes!
My friends, the sinful desires of lust and glory grabbing are the very sins the Lord Jesus has died for. He was crucified that you could be free, and bring your sin under control to His glory and for your own good. To blantently, knowingly, live in those sin natures, spits on His very sacrifice. Christ died for your holiness. He died so that you could be a holy man and a holy woman seeking the pleasure of your father in heaven. He died to sanctify your sinful nature, that you may have forgivness from your sin but conquer it too.
Secondly a woman’s character should be
B. Controled - A more literal translation would be moderated or self-restrained. The Christian idea behind self restraint is the motivation of whom you are trying to please. verse 10 drives Paul’s point home. A Christian woman - one who professes godliness - should be adorned with good works.
Meaning, what should be the motivation of coming to worship Jesus in respectable apparel should not be because some man told me so, so I guess I just do it… Or trying to make a statment or whatever. How one dresses, at all times, and specially in the church gathering, should be governed by trying to please the Lord. Good works speaks to TRUE goodness, and not in appearance alone. Many women do good things, but how many of those good things are genuinly good?
As we wrap up come with me to 1 Peter chapter 3… Paul didn’t have a wife, and some women use that against him. Well what does he know, he doesn’t know how women actually are… What about Peter? Peter had a wife before he met Christ and when he began to follow Jesus and most certainly she was a part of this journey when he wrote his 1st letter… . So peter writes his version of the same instruction to the women of the church…
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. For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.
to give you another picture of contrast, consider Proverbs 9:13-18
The woman Folly is loud;
she is seductive and knows nothing.
She sits at the door of her house;
she takes a seat on the highest places of the town,
calling to those who pass by,
who are going straight on their way,
“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!”
And to him who lacks sense she says,
“Stolen water is sweet,
and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”
But he does not know that the dead are there,
that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.
A loud woman is foolish, versus a quiet and gentle woman.
A seductive woman is manipulative and corosive, while a content woman is fruitful.
A woman who adorns herself for the sake of being seen and known by other men forsakes her husband and tears her family apart.
A wise Christian woman is one who lives for the glory of God. That means protecting her house through the self restraint of what she chooses to go out and do and even wear. Paul says in 1 Corinthains that woman is the glory of man. But a woman who dedicates her life in humility to quietly devoting herself to loving her husband, discipling her children, rightly ordering her house for hospitality, and walking in the Spirit of the Lord through her natural talents is a woman who is a most holy instrument for the glory of God to be revealed on earth in the Body of Christ.