What God Wants from the Women Part 2

Pastor at 1363 Linden Street, Milton Vincent. I'm the best pastor at Cornerstone who has an office downstairs. So, anyway, good to see all of you, here, this morning. And, for a time of studying the word this morning, let me have you turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy chapter 2.

1 Timothy chapter 2, for those of you that are visiting with us. By the way, for those of you that don't know, I'm the only pastor who has an office downstairs. But we're doing a verse by verse study through the book of First Timothy, and as we continue in our study of this book, we come this morning to 1 Timothy chapter 2, verse 11. And my goal this morning is to cover verse 11.

And the title of the message is what God Still wants from the women. part two, what God wants from the women, part two, ladies, I honestly wanted to get through verse 15 today. but I always go through my sermons, a couple of times out loud before I preach them. And when I went through the message out loud, and went all the way through verse 15, it was an hour and 20 minutes.

So, and that was rushing, and I knew you didn't want that. So we're going to go at a slower pace. and just focus on verse 11 today. And if I can encourage you, ladies, when we were in verse 8, looking at what God says to the men, I spent the whole sermon on just that one verse.

Last week talking to the women, we covered verse 9 and 10. We went at twice the speed. Talking to women as we did and speaking to the men. So, just know that, we're trying to do justice to what God says to the women.

And it just so happens that there's more ink that is spilled as God speaks to the women here in chapter 2. And if that distresses you, wait till we get to chapter 3. Because in chapter 3, verses 1 through 13, it's basically 12 verses to the guys, and 1 verse to the ladies. So make sure you come back during our study of chapter 3.

But what God wants from the women, we're going to focus on verse 11, but there's some loose ends I want to tie up, by way of review from what we looked at last week. I do want to tell you guys something that most of you already know, and that is that this text, verses 9 through 15 is very much out of step with our culture today. It is politically incorrect. Not only do people disagree with it, but it makes them angry.

it makes them mad. It is offensive to the sensibilities of our modern Western culture, and as a result of the scorn. That a passage like this is treated with by the world, there are Christians who get very squeamish when they come to a passage like this. And there are many, many churches whose leaders have compromised, we believe, in their handling of this text so as not to offend the culture.

But guys, let me ask you up front, whenever you're reading your Bible, and God happens to say something that contradicts the culture, What do you follow? A, God, or B, the culture? Very good. In fact, many times in the Bible, God says things that are blatantly offensive to our culture, and contradict our modern cultural sensibilities.

But we do not make a go of our culture, we follow the true and the living God, and submit to Him, even if that means that we contradict our culture. And so this is one of those passages where that is especially glaring. but what I love about the people of this church is their attitude is just tell us what the Bible says, We will believe it, we will do it without regard to whatever our culture might think. And that makes my task as a pastor preaching through this passage much easier than the task of some pastors who are not blessed with the congregation that we have here.

Let me read, beginning in verse 9, we'll go all the way through verse 15. But again, we're only going to get through verse 11. Today, verse 9, Paul says, likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments, but rather by means of good works as is proper for women making a claim to godliness. A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness.

But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet, for it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve, and it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman, being deceived, fell into transgression. But the woman will be saved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint. Well, there's much in this passage. we know, as we've seen over the past two weeks that Paul's agenda in this section is transparently revealed in chapter 3, verse 15, where he says, I write so that You will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church.

So he's saying, I want you to know as men and women, how to behave as members of the family of God. When you got saved, you didn't just come into relationship with God, you became a part of A body of believers, you became a part of a family of brothers and sisters. And here you are in a particular household of God, a local church. How do we behave?

How do we relate to one another? How do we operate in a local church? That's what Paul is teaching us here. And we've seen how in verse 8, he says, I want the men.

Let me talk to the men first. And he talks to the men and tells them, What it is that he expects from them. And then in verse 9, Paul says, I want to talk to the women and explain to you what it is that God wants from you in the local church. So in verse 9, verse 10, verse 11, verse 12, verse 13, verse 14 and 15, God speaks to women at length, giving them His heart.

Regarding the matters that are discussed. What can women infer from the amount of space given to them? Here in chapter 2, you can infer, ladies, that you are very important to the life and the well-being of the church. If you weren't, God would not have spent so much time speaking to you.

You can also infer that you must be very powerful. In fact, this whole passage, we'll see this more as we go through the entirety of the text is a nod to the power of women. It really is. And God is teaching you how to rightly use that power and to make sure that you do not misapply that power that he has given to you.

We can also infer something about God. And that is that God could not imagine it must be. That God could not imagine women operating in the church without this body of instruction that he gives to them in verses 9 through 15. So God believes this is important.

And if you are a lover of God, then you will want to hang on every word that falls from his lips in this passage, and view this text with the same amount of importance that God Himself attaches to, to it. So, what we're seeing basically in verses 9 through 15, is, I think we can categorize it this way, there's a total of 9 things that God wants from, from women. And we have already seen 5 of those things just in verses 9 and 10. In verses 9 and 10, God speaks to women about their adornment, about how they dress, how they go about beautifying themselves, both physically as well as spiritually speaking.

He says that he wants women to adorn themselves. God affirms. Your desire to be beautiful. And he says, I, I'm actually commanding you ladies to adorn or beautify yourselves.

Number 2, God wants you to adorn yourself in a way that is motivated and shaped by gospel truth. Number 3, God wants you specifically with regard to adorning your physical body with clothing. God wants women to adorn themselves with modesty. With a shame consciousness, where you are careful, you realize that I can sin and the choices that I make, regarding what to wear, I want to make sure that I don't sin and the choices I make.

And I want to make sure that I dress in a way that does not cause anybody else, such as my brothers, whom I love to think or behave in a sinful or shameful way. Number 4, God wants women to beautify themselves with clothing. In a spirit of self restraint. In other words, you realize as a woman, I have power.

I have the power of beauty at my disposal, and I could dress in a way that would enable me to wield inappropriate power over men, but I don't want to do that. I don't want to cause men to stumble. So this again, this is a recognition of the power of women, and Paul is saying, listen, ladies, be selfless rather than selfish. And dress with modesty and with self restraint.

Now, we talked about this last week. I have a few other comments that I'd like to make on the subject of modesty. because it is. So absolutely vital to the well-being of the church.

In fact, the health of a church is influenced in part by the modesty of its ladies. Realize the way that you dress is extremely significant. And I think when we look at verses 9 and 10, this is not just a passage that ladies should look at and say, OK, I guess I need to be modest and have self-restraint in the way that I dress. This is a passage that men should read, and men should then, exercise influence and leadership, and, towards their wife in this area and towards their daughters in this area as well.

And I want to challenge you men to be a leader of your wife and This area, talk about the subject of modest, dress. And if your wife ever asks you, is this appropriate or not, give her an honest reply. That's a way to love your wife. That's also a way to love your other brothers.

You don't want your wife to be dressed in an immodest fashion that causes your brothers for whom Christ died to stumble, in, and their thoughts. And, I would also suggest, men, that even if your wife does not seek out your counsel, give your counsel, to her. Ladies, I would encourage you to ask your husband for his input into your dress, but I would also ask you that even if your husband offers uninvited counsel regarding, your attire and the modesty or the immodesty of it, that you give serious heed to what he is saying.

Your husband is a man.

He knows the way men think, and it's not an attack on you. This is your husband looking out, not only for you, but for your brothers, in the Lord. So, really depend upon that, ladies, and be willing to receive that into your life. I would also challenge you young ladies to to look to your dads for help in this area, and I would challenge the dads to be a leader in their home when it comes to the subject of modest dress.

Often, not always, but when a gal is dressed immodestly, she's revealing more than simply her skin. She can be revealing a careless heart. maybe an uneducated heart regarding the truth of scripture on this subject. She possibly could be revealing a selfish, uncaring heart towards her brothers, or possibly even a downright sinful heart.

where she is being deliberate and intentional, and it's different in every case, but often, what, in the church, when a gal is dressed immodestly, often, not always, but often she is also revealing a dad who has failed to lead. And failed to teach his daughter and provide leadership for her in this important area. So, dads, be a leader in the area of modest dress. I want to read to you from CJ Mahaney in the book entitled worldliness.

We've got a stack of them in the information booth. And we're making available, them available to you for our cost, which is $10 apiece. And in that book, there's a chapter on the subject of modesty and listen to what CJ Mahaney says to the dads. He says, Dads, I want to urge you to take responsibility for your daughter's dress.

Father, are absolutely essential to the cultivation of modesty. When a young lady dresses immodestly, it usually means her father has failed to lead, care for, and protect her. Without a father's care and protection, she may be daily exposed to the lustful minds of men. My 3 daughters, CJ says, are grown and married now, but from an early age, I sought to impress upon them the importance of modesty.

Notice the leadership that he's exerting from their earliest days before an article of clothing became a permanent part of their. Wardrobe. My girls had to get my approval. This wasn't always easy for them or for me.

Modest clothing is hard to find. Sometimes they would arrive home after an all day shopping trip, only to hear me say, that's not going to work, my love. I'm sorry, but exhaustion from shopping doesn't excuse immodesty. We're not going to compromise.

That's leadership. And all of us should be willing to help our daughters and our wives. CJ goes on to say this, he says, here's what my daughter Nicole, who's now out of the home, and she's married. Here's what my daughter Nicole wrote about how my wife and I led her and her sisters.

Nicole says my parents were committed to raising modest daughters. They educated us about how men are stimulated visually. They examined any article of clothing that came into the house, giving it a thumbs up or sending us straight back to the store with the receipt. I'll admit it was frustrating to spend hours at the mall and have nothing to show for it.

There were moments when that frivolous, selfish desire for cool, tight jeans overtook overtook my desire to serve others. That's when Mom and Dad would remind me of the young men who were trying to glorify God. My clothes could either help or hinder them. When my parents put it like that, I was quickly saddened by my selfishness.

So I'm not just asking you as dads to, tell your daughter you can't wear that, you can't go out of the house wearing this, but even prior to those moments that you are teaching her to walk a path of service to other people and mindfulness and love for her brothers and the Lord, so that you give her a context in which you can then provide leadership for her regarding the clothes that she wears and how she goes about wearing them. I would also suggest, dads, we were talking about this in our staff meeting and in our care group last week, you as dads help your daughters when it comes to modesty, not just by what you tell them that they can or cannot wear, but you also wield great influence by the things you as a man choose to look at yourself.

And your daughters see that. And I was telling the people in our care group that I have been in situations where I've been out in public with my oldest daughter Brooke or we've been at home watching something on television and someone who's provocatively dressed comes walking by or walking in front of us and I will see my daughter looking at me and I see it out of the corner of my eye.

And my mind starts racing and I'm, I'm realizing in that moment that my daughter is trying to figure out what man I am, number one. Number 2, if I look at that immodestly dressed woman. And show my daughter that I am attracted to that. I will teach her something.

Inappropriate about how to catch a man's eye. So we're we're teaching our daughters about modesty. even in situations where we're not sitting down and instructing them, and so we need to be aware that we're always teaching by the choices that we make. Young ladies, I just want to deliver an appeal to you that, there might be something selfishly cool, that feeds the flesh about dressing provocatively in a way that catches a man's eye.

It might make you feel good about yourself, but I love what, Alex and Marnie Chediak, say in their book, I believe with One Voice. Is that the name of the book? they're a new couple to our church, but they've authored a book together where they address in part this issue, but If I remember right, what they say in the book is that you can dress that way as a girl, provocatively and immodestly to attract the attention of another man. But think about the man you're attracting.

you will be attracting either unsaved men, or extremely weak and lustful, professing Christians. Is that the man you want to attract? Because if that's the man you attract by dressing immodestly and behaving immodestly. Guess what?

That's what he's attracted to. And after the thrill of the conquest is over for him, and he's had you for a while, there are plenty of other women willing to dress just as provocatively. And he is going to have an eye that wands towards them. And you're going to bring a lot of heartache and pain and disappointment into your life.

At the end of the day, I believe all of you as gals want to attract a godly man. who's going to be faithful and devoted to God, and to you. And so, even by the way you carry yourself and the clothes that you wear, all of that is useful to God, and even bringing the right faithful man into your life. I would challenge you, young ladies and, and older ladies, dress modestly.

You never want to dress in such a fashion that a godly man has to avert his eyes from you. And that happens. That happens even here at Cornerstone. I, I have one vivid memory that just stands with me to this day.

We had a, a guest speaker preaching at Cornerstone, and I'll just say within the last few years this happened, just to keep it generic. And after one of the services, he and I were standing in the lobby. We were shaking hands with people as they were coming out and And I, I noticed a woman who was attending that Sunday, she was coming from the auditorium into the lobby and she was wearing a free flowing, skirt that was way shorter than it should have been. And I noticed that this guest speaker, he was shaking someone's hand and talking to them.

And then he turned, and it was so quick. he turns, he sees this, this gal immediately turns the other way. He does 180 and he's looking at the wall. And then he pulls out his cell phone, and he dials a number.

And I'm watching him as he, he, he waits a minute, and then he says, Hey, honey, this is, your husband, just checking in. How are you doing? Everything OK? Great.

Listen, I just wanted to call and tell you that I love you, and I'll see you when I get home. Hangs up the phone, puts it in his pocket, turns around, and by the time he had turned around, that lady was out of the lobby. And when I watched that transpire, my first thought is, wow, that's a great way to handle a situation like that. Your mind immediately goes to your wife.

And I imagine that he and his wife probably had that agreement that if ever anything like that happens, you just give me a call. And that's just his way of keeping himself accountable and thinking of his wife, when provoked in that way. But I also felt bad for the lady. She didn't get her hand shaken.

And I would imagine. That she would be horrified at the thought. That a godly man had to do a 180. When she walked into the lobby.

Ladies, we don't want to play police and go up to every woman and say, there's, there's a problem here. we, we just implore you from the pulpit, just, if, don't, don't listen to what I'm saying and say, man, I'm so glad Pastor Milton's preaching on this because so and so really needs to hear this. the way their family dresses, I cannot believe it. And that bugs me and don't think about anybody else.

Think about what this passage demands from you, please do that. And then just before God, choose to be unselfish, and to love your brothers, and the Lord, and even your sisters in the Lord by dressing in a way that reflects the spirit of modesty and self restraint. There's a 5th thing that Paul wants from women when it comes to modesty or adorning themselves, and that is he wants women to adorn themselves with good works, and with godliness, rather than being absorbed with yourself.

Think about other people and just beautify yourself by serving others and living a life of godliness that is pleasing to him.

You will be a knockout in the eyes of God and in the eyes of godly men. Well, as we come this morning to verse 11, there is a 6th thing that we can observe that God wants from women. And let's go ahead and word it this way. God wants Christian women.

Not only to do the 1st 5 things that we've looked at, but God wants Christian women to receive instruction. we can word it a different way. God wants Christian women to learn. Look at what he says in verse 11, a woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness.

For a moment, let's take out the word quietly. and let's remove the phrase with entire submissiveness. And let us look only at the kernel of verse 11. A woman must or should receive instruction.

All right, that's grammatically speaking, the mountain peak of the text. that is the most important. Amongst other things that we'll get into, God is saying here, that a woman, a Christian woman should receive instruction. A Christian woman should learn this verb that is translated receive instruction is present tense, meaning this is to be the characteristic pattern of your life.

You are to be a woman who is in pursuit of being in Instructed and learning what it is that God wants you to learn. This passage is amongst other things, a divine affirmation of women's right to instruction of a woman's right to learn in the church. Now, you might say, what's the big deal about that? Well, actually, this right was not just a given.

And the culture in which Paul found himself. In Roman society, on most occasions, women simply did not attend public assemblies. It was primarily reserved for the men, even in pagan secular society. And in Jewish society of Paul's day, everything was focused more upon the men and the women.

ended up getting cheated out of the instruction that men were privileged to receive. In fact, listen to what one writer says about this issue. He says to instruct a woman, this is, this is the mentality of some of the Jews of Paul's day, to instruct a woman in the law was to cast pearls before swine, and a rabbi just told himself, I won't waste my effort on instructing women. Women had no part in the synagogue service.

They were shut apart in a section of the synagogue or in a gallery where they could not even be seen. So in a normal Jewish worship service, basically the men gathered in the main room. Whoever was speaking or reading the scripture spoke to the men, instructed the men, addressed the men directly. The women were never addressed, but they were allowed to sit in a separate room, not seen by the men, and they were allowed to listen in and hear what was being said to the men.

And so as the Babylonian Jewish Talmud said, the men, when they gather at the synagogue, the men came to learn, the women to hear, so men could come, they would be addressed directly, they would receive instruction. Women would not be addressed directly, but they're allowed invisibly to sit in another room and listen carefully to what God is saying by way of instruction to the men. Women were not given the honor that was due them in the Jewish Society of Paul's day. In fact, a typical prayer, a Jewish morning prayer went like this, God, I thank you that you did not make me a Gentile, a slave, or a woman.

Imagine hearing that prayer. Ladies, imagine your husband praying with you each morning. And in his prayer, he expressed this thanksgiving to God, Lord, thank you for not making me a woman. But this was the mentality of this culture towards women.

Men would be instructed. Men had the right to learn. Women were not accorded that right the same as men. But what?

In the church, God says, a woman must receive instruction. Think about it. Jesus in Luke 10. He let Mary sit at his feet, and he spoke to her directly.

He didn't just say, you sit in the corner, I'm going to talk to the man, you can listen in. No, he taught her directly. That is the heart of Jesus towards women. And this heart is being reflected here in the church.

A woman has full entitlement to instruction and learning, just as the men do. And so ladies, I would say that if you have a burning desire to learn and to grow in Your knowledge of God and His word. if you want to know the Greek, or the, the Hebrew, if you want to understand how to open up the text of the Bible, if you want to understand sound doctrine and good theology, and you want to learn and grow and all of these areas so that you can be the woman that God wants you to be.

If that is your burning desire, God affirms that desire.

And God even says to the church that the church is to be a place where women are instructed, where women can learn right alongside of the men. The church, according to this passage, is to be a place of learning and instruction for women. God wants Cornerstone to be a church full of learned women. He doesn't just want this church to be a place of fantastic feminine beauty, as we saw last week.

He wants this church to be a place that is full of learned and fully instructed women. Verse 11 is not just something that a woman should read and be encouraged by, but this verse 11 is a message to the church leadership. The message to the church from God is that God wants our energies at Cornerstone, amongst other things to be devoted to the education, to the learning, to the instruction of women, just as much as to the men. So ladies, this Statement in verse 10 affirms your right to learn.

Your right to learn, but if I could also just throw this in, it is also an affirmation of your need to learn. You, you've got some learning to do, ladies. You don't know everything. I know you got women's tuition.

And a guy does not have women's tuition. And I know that women's tuition gives you some advantages. But you don't know everything. I know you can walk into a situation, and you think in a matter of a second or two, you can assess it and know everything you need to know, to where now you can begin to speak and wax passionate about what you are beholding.

Listen, your, your posture should be, I've got a lot of learning to do. And before I speak, I will seek to learn what it is that God has for me. And again, this is present tense. No matter how much, you should always be on the quest to learn more of what God has for you, of His ways that is revealed for your instruction in His word.

So don't have such a high estimation of your own wisdom that you don't have that daily burning desire to grow in knowledge. Realize the inadequacy. In fact, what I like to tell myself is I'm not just ignorant, I am, I am a danger. My own wisdom makes me a danger to myself and a danger to other people.

I'm not just ignorant, I'm dangerously ignorant. Based on my own wisdom, the wisdom I wake up with in the morning is bad stuff. And I need to cry out for God's wisdom and then replace that wisdom with my own. And all women, and all men should have this desire.

So you have much to learn, much knowledge to gain. Now, if Paul in verse 11 is telling women that he wants them to learn and to be instructed in the church, then that raises the question that any woman would rightly ask, and that is, well, where do I get this instruction from? And let me give you three biblical answers to this question. One of the sources of instruction, ladies, is your husband, especially if he is a believer.

In 1 Corinthians 14:35, Paul says, speaking of women, if they desire to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home. This statement by Paul is an affirmation of the home as a place of learning. and development, and that that can occur inside of the marriage relationship. In fact, it should occur.

And he's affirming the, the fact that the man, the husband that he's given to you, if he knows the Lord is to be a source of instruction and learning for you. In fact, I dare you ladies, I dare you go up to your husband this week. And say, honey, is there an area where you feel that I would do well to learn in? An area of instruction that, and maybe you can pray about it, husband, and, and if there's resources that you would like to put in my hands so that I can pursue this or anything you would want to share with me, would you pray about doing that?

I dare you to do that. Many women are terrified at the thought of doing that for fear of what their husband might say, But God affirms the place of the husband to be someone who provides instruction. And helps you as a wife in the learning process. Also, another source of learning for women in the church is godly men whom God has given to oversee the church.

In chapter 3, we're going to be learning about elders who are called to be overseers and shepherds and leaders in the church body. And one of the qualifications of these elders is that they be able to teach. So, they have a teaching ministry, in the church, and you want to position yourself in such a way that you can receive that teaching and be instructed by it. In 1 Timothy 5:17, Paul speaks of elders who rule.

in other words, they govern in the church, and they do so by preaching and by teaching. And so if you're a woman that desires to learn what God wants you to know, then yes, you, you wanna make use of your husband in this way, but you also want to place yourself underneath the shepherding ministry, the teaching and the preaching ministry. Of men, in the church who I know at Cornerstone, all we're gonna do is point you to the Bible and what the Bible says. And that's another thing you want to do to receive learning, and that is to sit at the feet of the apostles, as it, as it is recorded in God's written word, be a reader of the Bible, a student of the Bible, and read books, for example, written by those that point you to the text of the Bible, and the counsel of God that is recorded there.

However, another place of instruction for women desiring to learn is other women. God has put sisters in your life that are designed to be a help to you in the learning process. In Titus 2:3, Paul says older women are to be teaching what is good so that they may encourage the young women to love their. Husbands to love their children, to be sensible, pure workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the Word of God will not be dishonored.

you're ladies, as you look at that list, so I got to love my messed up husband. I got to love my children. I have to be sensible. I have to be pure, I have to be an effective skilled worker at home.

I have to be kind, even though I'm provoked by those that maybe are not being kind, I have to be subject to my imperfect husband. Any woman who looks at that list, honestly, would say, I got a lot of learning to do. I need much instruction. And God says, ladies, especially younger ladies, that's why I brought you together as a family, so that there are older sisters in the Lord who have known me longer than you have and who have are in a different stage of life past beyond where you are.

And I've given you those older sisters so that they can teach you and you can learn from their example and learn from whatever instruction that they might give you. So this is something that young women should listen to, but I would also challenge those of you ladies that are older to be willing to make yourself available to other women in the church, especially those that are younger, to be a help to them in this area, Susan Hunt. makes a comment about this. we, we as a church, we've, we're a lot better at doing this than we were a few years ago.

Our ladies have put a lot of time and energy into looking at Titus chapter 2 and, just thinking through how can we provide instruction and learning for the ladies of Cornerstone and, they're offering, biblical womanhood seminars and there's another one that's coming up here in March. And, these seminars are designed to provide practical instruction for the ladies of this church and being the wives and the mothers and the women of God that God has called them to to be. There's ladies' retreats.

There's also a discipleship system set up and there's a lot of training that's even going into that to try to get women properly trained so that they can then provide training and help.

and learning for those other gals that they are seeking to disciple. And so we would encourage you as ladies to avail yourself of this resource. And those of you ladies that are older and further along, don't just chill and say, I've done my work. I am through, no, you need to make yourself available to younger ladies who are desperate for, a person in their life that can provide help and a model for them.

Susan Hunt says this. In recent years, I have observed a troubling phenomenon. Many women of my generation, speaking of the older generation, have relinquished this high calling of nurturing younger women. My generation has abandoned this calling for many reasons.

Some simply do not know this biblical mandate. The church has not sounded this call for many decades. Some think they have nothing to offer. Some are intimidated by the intelligence and giftedness of younger women.

Some have decided that this is the season to indulge themselves. Some want to share their life experiences, but they feel isolated from the younger women and don't know how to bridge the gap. So there's a lot of obstacles there, but it's worth the effort. as ladies, both young and old, to do the hard work of figuring out how that gap can be closed.

And you as ladies can be a help and a source of encouragement and instruction to each other. But all of that said, we can at least take away from verse 11 that God wants the women to be learning. He wants the women to receive instruction. but there's a 7th thing in verse 11 that we can observe that God wants from women.

And this might be the more difficult part, and that is that God wants women to receive instruction with quietness and with submissiveness. God wants Christian women, not just to learn and to receive instruction, but he wants them to, to go about it in a particular manner. He wants ladies, for you to be a learner, and to receive instruction with quietness, and with submissiveness. I'm not making this up.

This is what God's word says. Amen. And so if you cherish God, and you understand His love for you, this is the path of blessing and fullness for you. You say, well, I don't like this, Pastor Milton.

Good night. I got to receive instruction with quietness and a submissive spirit. What in the world does that mean? Well, for starters, it means you don't ask questions with that tone of voice.

but let's look at what it means, quietness. By the way, men, don't sit there with a smug look on your face. We're supposed to be quiet too. In chapter 2, verse 2, Paul says, we're to pray for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life.

So all believers are to be characterized by this quality of quietness. But nonetheless, Paul is addressing women and says, I want you to receive instruction with quietness. What is that? It means the absence of anger, the absence of strife.

The absence of disrespectful expressions of disagreement. It means to have a peaceful and a humble spirit recognizing I have much to learn. I might think in my own perspective that I know everything that I need to know, and it may seem to me like everyone else is lacking in what they. No, but nonetheless, I'm going to, I'm going to allow for the fact that I probably have much to learn here, and I will posture myself with quietness.

I will not respond with anger, with strife, with disrespectful expressions of disagreement, or even with pride. In fact, Paul, look at what he says in verse 12. We'll look at what this means later. on another day, but he says, I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet.

Paul views a woman being quiet in part as meaning that she does not seek to exert authority over a man in the church and to instruct a man in doctrine and in practice. So, A woman is to receive instruction. Without anger, without strife, without disrespect, and without pride. In other words, she receives it with peace and in a spirit of humility.

Now, does the word quietness mean that women are not allowed to speak at all? Is that what it means? No. If it means that women cannot speak, then chapter 2, verse 2 means that men are not allowed to speak either, because we're supposed to lead quiet lives also, right?

So it can't mean that. Again, what it does mean is that even in one speech there is an absence of anger, strife, disrespectful expressions of disagreement. In fact, you guys know in Acts 11 where Peter In Acts 10, he goes to Cornelius' household, a Gentile preaches the gospel to Cornelius. He gets saved along with his household.

Peter then goes back to Jerusalem and immediately people get in his face and start attacking him, saying, You went into uncircumcised Gentiles into their home, and And you should have never done that. So they're attacking him. They're protesting against what Peter has done. Peter says in Acts 11, Wait just a minute.

And he tells them the story of how God clearly led him to do that, and how that Cornelius and his household ended up responding by believing and then receiving the Holy Spirit. And then look at what it says in Acts 11:18. Look on the screen. When they, those that have been protesting when they heard this, They quieted down.

This is the verb form of this word quietly. They quieted down. Saying Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles repentance that leads to life. They quieted down.

And they spoke. You see, quieting down doesn't mean you don't speak. What it means is you don't speak anger. You don't speak strife.

You don't speak inappropriate and disrespectful expressions of disagreement. You are to receive instruction in a spirit of quietness. I commend this not only to the ladies of this church, but also to the men. That we are to posture ourselves in this way as learners learning with a quiet spirit.

There is something else though that God says that he expects of women in terms of how they receive instruction. They are to receive instruction with entire submissiveness. What does submissiveness mean? It speaks of arranging oneself underneath.

It means letting someone else take the authority and then placing Oneself under that authority. This word implies equality. It implies that women are equal to men. And it is asking women to step down and arrange themselves underneath the authority of others.

I challenge you ladies to be authority conscious in your walk with the Lord. In God's economy, God is the head of Jesus Christ in the home, Jesus Christ, is the head of the man, the man in the home is the head of the wife. That's what it teaches in 1 Corinthians chapter 11. And you might say, I don't like that at all.

I disagree with that. I don't like it. was one writer said that I was reading recently, when you get your own universe, you can set things up the way you like. But in the meantime, you're living in God's universe, and you need to acknowledge that he is the creator of this structure.

You need to acknowledge that and submit. To that, you should be authority conscious, even in the church, we're going to learn in chapter 3 that God has put men in positions of eldering of oversight, and they are to, to govern the church, they are to exercise. The authority through preaching and teaching. And, and as a woman, you, you want to be authority conscious and make sure that you're posturing yourself in a submissive way.

This is, this is what God is saying. And notice Notice one word here. He says a woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. You're thinking, oh great.

Why did he have to use that word with literally all submissiveness. What is he saying by that? What he's saying is that submissive submission should not just be a token thing. God wants more from you than just a token act of submission to those in authority over you in the church or in the home.

Unfortunately, there are many women who operate on this definition of submission. They would never say this, but their actions indicate that submission means that If I don't like something my husband's doing, or a decision he's making, I'm going to fuss and fume, be disrespectful. I'll make life miserable for him, for the children, for everyone in the home. But what, if my husband sticks to his guns and sticks to that decision, and he won't change his mind, then at the end of the day, I will obey God's word and be a submissive wife, and I'll submit to his final decision.

That is not biblical submission. God does not want just a token act of submission from you ladies. Submission is not just something you do when push comes to shove at the end of a path. Submission is to be a daily way of life in the home.

And also in the church. Also in saying with entire submission or all submission, Paul is saying that the spirit of submission should affect everything. It should affect everything. About you in the home and in the church, it should affect your words.

It should affect your attitudes. It should affect your body language. It should affect your countenance, ladies. It should affect and govern your actions.

You're not just going for partial token submission, but entire submission. And what, I'll tell you something. Any woman that looks at verse 11 and says, Alright, God, thank you for giving me the privilege of learning just like the men have that privilege and, and elevating me to that position in the church, and thank you for calling me to receive instruction and for providing that from not only my sisters in the Lord, but also from, the elders in the church and whatever teaching that They both provide and oversee in the church and also from my husband in the home.

Thank you for providing that.

God, I want to, I want to be about the task of receiving that instruction and learning with a quiet spirit, rather than a protesting spirit, and with entire submission. Any woman who looks at that text and says, I'm going to do that. I'm telling you, ladies, God has your back. He has your back.

God will never fail to take care of a woman. And provide abundant learning and instruction for her if she chooses to live in obedience to this passage. Just real quickly, let me ask you ladies something. Does this mean that the men in your life are perfect?

It's the most vocal you've been. No, it doesn't mean that the men are perfect, but even in their imperfections, that provides you the opportunity to have a submissive disposition. In fact, Nancy Lee Demas says in the book, Becoming God's True Woman, just look at this real quickly. this is the last thing I'll read to you.

She says mistakes on the part of those in authority are our opportunity to say, because I am a Christian, I submit to your decision. I believe God can lead you in the way you should go. I also believe that if you make a mistake, God can fix it. Now what can I do to help?

That is an attitude of submission, even towards your imperfect husband and your imperfect, leaders in the church. Let me ask you to bow your heads. We're going to be picking up an offering in just a moment and returning to the Lord a portion of what he has blessed us with. There's much in this text for women, and I, I found myself very challenged as a man.

Verse 11 works best in a church where men are doing what they're supposed to do. And may we all feel the weight of the challenge that's given to us as both men and women. But you're welcome to fill out the comment card, that's in your bulletin and, Any prayer requests, you can put that on the back and put that in the offering bags as they come by in just a moment. Let's look to the Lord in prayer.

Father, we thank you for the immense practicality of your word. We don't make this stuff up, Lord, I'm not creative enough to make this stuff up, but you and your word give to us, both men and women. Very specific counsel. And I just feel, Lord, so strongly in this text, how much you love and care for and are seeking to elevate women to their rightful place, even in a culture Back 2000 years ago that had them in a lower place.

You, you want women to learn to be instructed and And you provide them resources for that. And I ask that you would give the ladies of this church the grace to do so with quietness, with submission. Give us as men the grace to lead them in a way that makes this easy for them rather than difficult. And continue, Lord, to keep our hearts open to your word as we continue through this book, and we ask this in the name of Jesus.