A clash of cultures: God’s desire and design for men, women, authority, and sexuality.

A clash of cultures: God’s desire and design for men, women, authority, and sexuality.

1 Timothy 2:8-15

1 Timothy 2:8–15 (ESV)

8 I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling; 9 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, 10 but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works. 11 Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve; 14 and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. 15 Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.

Last week: 1 Timothy 2:1-7, Proclaim & Protect Priority #1: Pray for every kind of person.

In our sermon we identified that God desires for all kinds of people to be saved. For Paul writes in 1 Timothy 2:3-4, 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

As we begin to look at a passage that has caused many debates and resulted in many disagreements between Christians, I think it best to back up a little and consider again the truth that God has desires, and in addition to His desires God has designs.

God clearly has desires and wants, and according to His will he has set eternity in the heart of man and sent Christ to redeem mankind.

God’s desire and His design meet in Jesus Christ.

What I mean by this is that we can see that God’s desire is that all men would be saved… and His design and plan is that all men who are saved would be saved through Jesus Christ.

Now, track with me here… I just read a passage in which Paul addresses, men and women and their behavior in the church. Remember 1 Timothy 3:14–15 (ESV), 14 I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, 15 if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.

Paul wrote the letter so that Timothy and the church at Ephesus would now how God’s family- the church- is supposed to be.

The first thing that he tells them is that they should pray… and that they should pray because God has a desire for all men to be saved, and that God has set out his design or plan for salvation and redemption.

If you hang in here with me… you will see that

Understanding the instruction that Paul gives in 1 Timothy 2:8-15 depends on your understanding of God’s desires and design.

God’s desire and design predates sin. God’s desire and design is that through Christ we would recover His desire and design. Paul’s instructions to Timothy and the church in Ephesus are grounded in God’s design and desire before sin came into the world.

So, when Paul writes and says things like 1 Timothy 2:8-15, we must read these instructions as Christ centered and gospel driven as the call to pray for the salvation of all peoples.

God doesn’t call us to redeem the cultural norms of the day. God calls us to let go of all cultures and pursue His desires and designs.

Too many people today teach that the instructions from God in the Bible are the product of the culture or context of the day… But, this is problematic in almost every way. Why? Because God’s instructions to his people in the OT don’t align with any of the cultures around God’s people.

God called Abraham out of Ur- the center city of the day, and told him to go wherever he led him… and the way that God told him to live was unlike the pagan world of Babel- or Ur.

Through the OT God’s instructions to His people are that they would be distinct, different, unlike any of the other nations and people on the earth… and why? Because God’s people were called to bear His image to the world.

And this holds true in the NT. The way of Jesus doesn’t fit with the culture of the day… and not just the culture of the Gentiles… the instructions of the NT go against many of the ways the Jews has interpreted the OT… Jesus is constantly correcting them and teaching the truth.

And this is especially true when it comes to roles and relationships between men and women.

The NT presents an ethic, or defines what is good, between men and women in ways that go against the corrupted teachings of the Jews and the pagan way of the Gentiles.

Neither the wayward Jews or the ungodly Gentiles of the 1st Century were fulfilling God’s desires and designs.

In Christ, God corrects and instructs us to live counter-cultural in gospel centered relationships.

An example from Scripture that directly relates this truth to our passage would be Ephesians 4-5.

In Ephesians 4:1-5:21 we have counter cultural instructions for the 1st and 21st Century.

God’s design for relationships between men and women, and between members in the church, is according to the calling of Christ; not culture.

Ephesians 4:1–5 (ESV)

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism,

Ephesians 4:15–16 (ESV)

15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

Ephesians 4:25–32 (ESV)

25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. 26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil. 28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. 29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Ephesians 5:1–5 (ESV)

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. 3 But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. 4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. 5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

Ephesians 5:15–21 (ESV)

15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

The way that God calls us to live is unlike any culture or context in the world. And why is that? Because the way God calls us to live is the way He desires and designed for us to live before Genesis 3.

And why Genesis 3? Genesis 3 provides the context for the way of the world in which we live.

Genesis 3:1–24 (ESV)

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” 14 The Lord God said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

16 To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.”

17 And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

20 The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. 21 And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

Sin has impacted the way the world views roles, responsibilities, and relationships between men and women.

As God sets for his judgment on Adam, Eve, and Satan he makes it clear that a consequence of sin is tension and the inverse of his desire and design.

This means that in Christ God redeems, restores, and commissions us to live according to His pre-fall desires and designs.

Until you and I understand and accept the teachings of the Bible as God’s way of showing us how He wants us to live in every era and every context… then there will be problems with interpreting and applying them at every level in our walk with the Lord.

But, when we accept that God is giving us a timeless alternative to all the ways of the world, it is then we can embrace the truth and begin to put into practice in our homes and in our church.

But, because we don’t have time today to establish a framework, and apply it fully… I want to point out the following:

Telling what happened is not the same thing as affirming what happened.

Just because something is recorded in the Bible doesn’t mean that God is saying it’s ok… the fact that Jesus came to save us is proof that things are not ok… but, the fact that it is in the Bible does mean that it is true.

God’s desire and design determine a new culture known as the church.

God is creating a people for His own possession… a holy people, a set apart people. And, as such His people are to be unlike anyone else… because He is unlike anyone else.

A great deal of damage has been done by many teachers on the subject of roles, responsibilities, and relationships between men and women.

If the Lord allows, we will take time next week and look at many of the things that have been said or taught about men and women that just aren’t true. My hope is that God will allow to preach through what the Bible doesn’t say to men and women, and also what it does say about men and women… and that as we go through these sermons we will be better equipped to live according to God’s desires and designs.

As we close I’d like to finish considering how this passage and this process can point us to Christ:

Jesus came to redeem us from the curse of sin.

Without Jesus we can’t lift holy hands, and true beauty cannot be had…

Jesus came to restore us to the desires and designs of God.

Paul’s corrections and instructions are so that Timothy and the church in Ephesus would be able to live in a way that pleases the Lord. We know that we cannot do that without Jesus. And, in Jesus we are made righteous, and at the same time we are adopted and called to live as the family of God.

The brokenness of sin has corrupted our hearts, our relationships, and the world… and the only way to live the way God designs in through Christ.

Anyone who teaches or preaches a gospel that builds families and churches that go against God’s desires and designs is not from the Lord.

This is why Paul says, I do not permit… He is building on his apostleship and making it clear that what he has taught is what is gospel centered. Paul is not trying to say that He has some personal opinion that he thinks everyone should follow. No, Paul is saying that what he has taught, what he has said no too, and what he has said Yes too is what fits with the gospel.

Any gospel that teaches differently about Jesus and how to live for Jesus isn’t the gospel at all.

Following Christ requires that we have faith and that we surrender our will to follow His. Literally we are told to pray, not my will by yours be done.

Have you surrendered your will to His?

Have you considered the truth that the Bible isn’t as much the product of a culture as it is God’s response to show us how those who are redeemed should live?

Have you considered how shaped by the culture you are? And that you may need God to show you and lead you in more ways than simply the roles and relationships between men and women?