Our text this morning will be in 1 Timothy chapter 2. 1 Timothy chapter 2. Shortly after coming to Grand Rapids for my seminary training, I worked an early morning shift at UPS. It was generally my responsibility to load packages onto the large semi-truck bound for Muskegon. It's the preload shift. The year was 1996, and they had just implemented package scanning. So in addition to loading now all of the boxes onto the truck, I also had this newfangled little finger scanner with a cord running up to an arm pad there. And I was to locate the barcode on the box, scan it, and then stack it away and stow it securely. Periodically, I would encounter a box that was damaged in some way. And there was a certain protocol as to how we were to handle those boxes. We were to set them aside just outside the truck so they wouldn't get inadvertently kicked back in. We were to keep it outside of the truck. And then someone else's job was to come along and make an assessment and repackage it or send it back for repair or whatever needed to happen. Now, I kind of knew the after I'd been there for a while, I knew the ins and outs of how things worked, I could have gone and taken that package myself over to a different area, gotten the necessary supplies, ensure that it was repackaged securely. But of course, that would have been a disaster. Because while I was doing all of that, boxes would have been piling up at my station, spilling out of the various conveyors down onto the floor, creating more broken boxes. So it was important that I did my job and that I let someone else do theirs. It's important to know what your job is. And it is equally important to know what it is not. Paul, in this section of his letter to Timothy, addresses some gender-based instructions. Last week we considered specifically verses 1-8 and the instructions to men. And this week we will consider verses 9-15 and the instructions to women. And I would suggest to you again that we can certainly benefit by learning what our job is. But we can also benefit from learning what our job is not. So it's important for men to hear the instruction that God has issued to men. It's important for women to know what men have been assigned to do by God. It's important today for women to hear what God has instructed them to do in relationship to the church. It's also important for men to realize what God has instructed women to do in the context of the church. It's important to know our job, and it's important to know what is not our job, okay? There's a great deal of discussion within the evangelical church regarding this very topic that's not news to you and perhaps has played into my heaviness this morning and a sense of feeling a bit overwhelmed with life and maybe even just the ability to deal with this passage in a way that's going to be profitable and true to the text. And so you pray with me as we move through this morning. I do want to give you a couple of vocabulary words. I realize this isn't an academic setting. You might not care much about theological language, but these two words are words that are used quite often in this discussion as people try to understand the pertinent biblical texts related to gender. And so I think they're good words for us to be aware of and be able to talk cogently about this topic. The first word is egalitarian. Egalitarian, this particular vantage point would teach that men and women are equal and deserve the same rights and opportunities. Men and women are equal and deserve the same rights and opportunities. Another vantage point, another word, is complementarian. This particular position teaches that men and women are equal and have distinct complementary roles. So both of these vantage points would want to reaffirm the very clear biblical teaching that men and women are created equally in the image of God. We need look no further than Genesis 1, although there are numerous passages that address that very overtly. Men and women are equal. The question remains, do men and women have the same opportunities? Are they the same? Are they to be treated the same? Are they supposed to do the same things? We could agree on many levels that women should be given the same opportunities, the same opportunities to vote, the same opportunities to earn a fair wage, a wage that is comparable to that of men in the same vocation. But at a certain level, we would have to understand and recognize that men and women do not always have the same opportunities. Even if we think just in terms of biology, Women have been created with a capacity to bear children. Men have not. That doesn't make women superior or inferior. They're equal, but different, but distinct, right, in their roles, even biologically speaking. We might think of it even in the context of this job analogy. We think about my job at UPS and the different things that were going on in that particular factory and that distribution hub. Everybody had jobs. Everybody's jobs were important. You could contend that everyone's jobs were equally important, but everyone's jobs were different. People didn't do the same thing. They did different things, all so that the company could flourish and do its work effectively. So certainly my understanding of Scripture is more in this realm of complementarianism, that men and women are equal and yet have distinct complementary roles. There's a great movement, a great push in our culture to flatten gender distinctions. to sort of remove the things that make us so different and sort of neuter things. And in my mind, that's a great travesty. God has made such wondrous diversity in His creation. He's not made every flower to look the same. He's not made every fruit to be the same flavor or the same color or the same texture. God has wrought such wonderful beauty and diversity into His creation, and that is to be celebrated, not neutered, not flattened. And so I would understand, I'll just tell you up front, I would understand the Bible to teach a complementarian view of gender. One of the ways I think we can see this most clearly, equality in the context of distinction, in the context of difference, would be the triune God. We have Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and the Son is co-equal and co-eternal with the Father. And yet we find the Son in the Garden of Gethsemane praying, submitting Himself to the Father, not my will, but Your will be done. Not because the Son was inferior to the Father, but because he embraced his role within the triune Godhead. And we get a great picture there again of equality in the midst of distinction. That leads us to our text here this morning of 1 Timothy 2, beginning in verse 9. Hear the word of the Lord. 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. Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man. Rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet she will be saved through childbearing if they continue in faith and love and holiness with self-control. May God add his blessing to the reading of his word. This text addresses three very significant questions in this realm of gender, and that will be sort of our outline here this morning. Each question builds on the other. The first question is this, how should women conduct themselves in the church? How should women conduct themselves in the church? And we have to remember that that's what Paul is talking about here. He's not talking about simply the culture, the marketplace, the workplace, the political arena. He's talking specifically about the church. He's already talked about men and calling them to spiritual leadership, particularly in this area of prayer. He's going to go on and talk about leadership qualifications for formal leadership within the church. And he gives a summary statement here a little ways along, further in the letter. He says, I want you to know how you are to conduct yourself in the household of God. I want you to know how you're to conduct yourselves as Christ's church, as God's family. So he's thinking specifically in the context of the church. He's not saying this is how women ought to function or this is their role in society or in every arena, but talking specifically about the church. That's the question that this text answers. How should women conduct themselves in the church? Paul again in verse 8 had talked about his desire or his aspiration for men in the church. He had this scene in his mind. That he wanted to see this strong desire to see this take place. Men taking leadership in the church, engaged in prayer. And then verse 9, likewise, in a similar way, I have a desire for women in terms of how they should be functioning in the context of the church. And so he addresses that here. Two things in particular that he wants to see take place. First is that women should dress to honor God. Women should dress to honor God. He goes into this area, this arena of appearances. Women should dress to honor God. And a number of implications that sort of flow out of this, perhaps the most Straightforward being that clothing matters. Seems like a relatively small, insignificant, menial, day-to-day sort of thing, and yet we find that it matters to God. Mark Twain once said, clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence in society. Christopher Morley remarked, high heels were invented by a woman who had been kissed on the forehead. Think about it. Quentin Crisp said, fashion is what you adopt when you don't know who you are. How we dress, it communicates something, doesn't it? We might not see it as a real spiritual issue, You learn that God is concerned about matters of daily life, and this issue of clothing is very closely aligned with even our character. When the Bible wants to talk about something that is just part of who you are or something that you are to embrace or incorporate into your life, it uses this imagery. Put on, then, love, kindness, whatever that characteristic happens to be. Envelop yourself with it. And so there's a bit of a theology that's built upon the idea of clothing. But here he's talking very straightforward about actual clothing and what they wear. Clothing matters. We also see here that beauty is good. Paul says likewise that women should adorn themselves. God expects, it's very appropriate for women to give attention to their appearances. It's not a negative command. Matter of fact, it's an overtly positive command for women to order or arrange themselves. God made women beautiful, part of their distinct calling and their identity. It's a good thing. So beauty is good. A woman should do nothing to detract from the worship of God. This is where Paul is going with this. Again, particularly when he thinks about the church gathered for worship. He wants women to dress in such a way that they will not detract from the worship of God. Part of this would be what we generally think of with modesty, right? And there's the word. Verse 9, likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel with modesty. So that's certainly a good starting point. Nancy Lee DeMoss has written a lot of great materials. She's addressed this area even of modesty and suggesting some sample criteria. which I think are pretty good. I'm quoting her now, women should avoid exposing intimate parts of the body or emphasizing private or alluring parts of the body. So we could think through implications in terms of a short hemline on a skirt or a plunging neckline on a blouse or low ride pants. or a blouse that is you know somewhat translucent or big rage now I'm having to work this my own girls bra straps showing based on the style of the clothes or whatever you know so just trying to think of anything to not highlight things that are not meant to be highlighted in the general public. That's certainly an issue here for Paul, but Paul has something even more significant in mind. He has actually a higher standard than that. It's not just about what we would normally think of modesty. He again doesn't want them to draw attention to themselves in any inordinate way. So he goes in talking about things like like braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire. Certainly within a cultural context, things that would have been a little bit over the top in that culture. And Paul says, I don't want you to do anything that would kind of draw attention to yourself in an inordinate, inappropriate way. Chrysostom, back in the fourth century, one of the church fathers, Ask the question about modesty. What does it really mean to be modest? He says, what then is modest apparel such as covers them completely and decently and not with superfluous ornaments for the one is decent and the other is not? What? Do you approach God to pray with broidered hair and ornaments of gold? Are you come to a ball, to a marriage feast, to a carnival? There such costly things might have been seasonable, here not one of them is wanted. You are come to pray, to ask pardon for your sins, to plead for your offenses." So Chrysostom identified more of a root element of modesty, which is a sense of humility. As a matter of fact, if you read the King James Version, the King James Translation, Here's your vocabulary word for the day, shame-facedness. Try to say that 10 times fast, right? But it has this idea of having an appropriate degree of humility, that I'm not trying to garner attention to myself, particularly when we've gathered to worship God, I don't want to do anything that would make people give inordinate attention to me, okay? So that's kind of the root issue. A godly woman would be appropriately ashamed if she distracted someone from worshiping God. Matter of fact, Paul gets into, talks a little bit about women dressing ways that are proper for women who profess godliness. In other words, if you claim that you're a God worshiper, one who wants to honor God, then dress like it. Don't dress like you're trying to get attention for yourself. Dress like someone who wants to give attention to God. That's kind of Paul's baseline here. It's what he wants to see characterized, even the dress styles within the church. The other interesting thing that's addressed here, and I'm not sure I have a great handle on this, but he talks about modesty and also self-control there in verse 9. It's interesting to think about, what are the elements of self-control that are required for a woman? In other words, what are the temptation areas? What's going on in the heart and mind of a woman when they figure out what they're going to wear that day, right? What are the types of things? And what are some of the dangerous tendencies or the inappropriate tendencies? Well, what is he really getting at here when he says that a woman should have self-control in how she dresses? John Calvin kind of delved into this to think through this, what's going on here in a woman's heart. He says, what moveth women to desire to be thus pranked and trimmed up and to have all shining and glistening about them? There are two causes. The one is ambition, that is to say, vain glory and pride. And the other is vanity and that they love to be seen and will always be fair And therefore, when men and women do so superfluously and excessively prank themselves and stretch out their wings as peacocks, do they not, I pray you, fight against the order of nature? Mean they not to despise God and show that they be not ashamed of their sin? though we don't understand half of what Calvin's saying right there, but we do know the word peacock, right? That's kind of the thing that jumps off the page at us a couple of hundred years later, is the temptation to dress in order to be noticed, okay? To make an impression, to catch attention. And that seems to be what Paul is getting at, that we ought to dress with a sense of humility, modesty, humility, and a sense of self-control. So all these things flow to the surface and the other implication here that's developed right at the end of this section is that lasting beauty is an issue of character. Lasting beauty is an issue of character. It is better to be known for good works than for good looks. It's better to be known for doing good than for accessorizing well. Peter says there in 1 Peter 3 that the holy women of old made themselves beautiful by responding graciously to their husbands. Phoebe in the early church was known as a servant in the church, known as one who would serve other people. She became synonymous with that. When Paul wrote his letter and he listed off the people at the end of Romans, there was this designation of Phoebe. I mean, that was her reputation. Lydia showed hospitality to the believers in the city of Philippi, using her resources to provide for them and host them. Tabitha dedicated her sewing talents to relieve the needy. And we should ask ourselves, what do people think of when they think of you? Particularly women. What do they come away from? What is their impression as they get to know you? Does it have to do with outward appearances or externals? Or does it have to do with a reputation for godliness? Is that what you're clothing yourself in? Is that what you're becoming known for? Is your service for and toward others? So that's one of Paul's concerns. It's one of the things that he lays out here. Women should dress to honor God. Secondly, women should learn in the context of God-ordained authority. Women should learn in the context of God-ordained authority. So Paul has a vision that women would be learning and growing in their faith. Not necessarily a given in first century culture. Many women at that time would not have had the opportunity for education. It was not something that was necessarily encouraged. Paul has a sense in which he wants women to have a growing understanding of their faith and of the Scriptures. They are to function under the leadership of the church. So they are to learn not in a role of teachers within the context of the gathered church, but to learn in quietness and submission, with an appropriate sense of authority in how God has structured the church to operate It doesn't mean silence here, but it does point toward a respectful, receptive posture of learning. And then finally, that they are not to usurp the role of spiritual leadership that God intended for godly men. Not to teach, he's pretty overt here, verse 11, Verse 12, rather, I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man. These are responsibilities that God has intended for men. Matter of fact, he's going to go right into chapter three, which are the criteria and the qualifications for leadership in the church. And so he has very much in mind these qualities that mark spiritual leadership in the church, teaching and authority. I think when you study the various passages, it's not simply that God is trying to suppress women in their giftedness, If anything, God is trying to prod men to lead. Peter kind of takes that tack in 1 Peter 3, where he addresses women, specifically women whose husbands are disobedient to the Word, whose husbands are out to lunch. Either they're not believers, or they're not leading properly. And Peter lays out this criteria through the gracious response of a godly wife, how she can win her husband over. help urge him towards embracing his role as the leader in the family. And I've talked to a lot of guys and done a lot of counseling with couples and sometimes see that many men are more than willing to let go of the ball if the wife will pick it up. And I think part of God's design here is that women should continue to gently and graciously look to their husbands for leadership, should continue to push that ball back across to them and affirm them and allow them to feel the weight. I know at different times when Sherry has come to me, sometimes she's more than capable of making a given decision, but she'll come and say, you know, we're having to work through this, here are the dynamics, what do you think? And it's I kind of swallow hard and I kind of feel the weight of that, you know, that at some level, I'm the one that's having to to make this ultimate decision. And yeah, and that pushes me, that prods me to be more of the husband and father that I need to be. So it's not just that this is somehow set up because the woman's not capable or because God is somehow suppressing her gifts, but that this is part of God's design to help encourage men to embrace spiritual leadership. So that's the one question that is addressed here. How should women conduct themselves in the church? And Paul answers it in two basic ways. Women should dress to honor God, and women should learn in the context of God-ordained authority. There's the bulk of our time. Briefly, the final two questions. Question two, why is a woman not permitted to teach or have authority over a man in the church? What's going on here? What's really at the root of this? Now, we could speculate that perhaps there was a cultural issue at play here. Maybe there was a particularly problematic woman or group of women in the church in Ephesus. And so Paul says, okay, new rules. We've got to address this. And here's going to be the way it's going to be now. So there's some cultural element that Paul's addressing or reacting to something that was going on there in that culture. Maybe not just in Ephesus, maybe just in the culture of the first century. You know, it was a very male-oriented culture. Maybe Paul's saying, you know, I realize that men and women are equal and should have the same roles, but the reality is it's just not the way it is right now in first century culture. And so I want to help you to kind of navigate and be gracious in all of that. Or perhaps some would say, well, maybe it's because of sin, that this is like peanut allergies and Down syndrome and cancer. It's unfortunate, but it's just kind of the way it is in a broken and fallen world. Paul doesn't take any of those tacks. Instead, he points to God's creation pattern, God's creation design. Adam was formed first. and then Eve. And it's really more than even just chronology. Adam was given the creation mandate. God had given His instructions to Adam about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And after that, Eve was formed. And Adam was the one responsible to convey that teaching to Eve. And when they fell into sin, God came to Adam because Adam was the one that had been given responsibility for the direction of their family. Even in the perfection of the Garden of Eden, This pattern was in play, and Paul draws attention to it. This is not simply a cultural issue. It's not an unfortunate result of sin. It's the way God designed men and women to function from the very beginning. And he goes on to illustrate it, points out that Eve was the one that was was deceived and became a transgressor. Paul's not saying, you know, women are more gullible, more prone to temptation, they're weaker in some way spiritually or emotionally. I think all Paul's saying is that God created Adam and then Eve. He created this ordering and this pattern. And when we step out from those particular roles, when a woman steps out from the established roles of leadership within the family or within the church, it's not good. And Eve is a case study of that. She came out from underneath Adam's authority and leadership. And Paul wants to sort of provide illustration for why this is so important, this ordering that God has established. So why? Why has God established these roles? It's because of His creation design. The third question that this text answers, what are the unique opportunities reserved for women? If I use my time better, actually, if I used it worse, I could say, I'm sorry, we're out of time. We can't address this final question. Verse 15 is probably one of the most controversial texts. It says, yet she will be saved through childbearing if they continue in faith and love and holiness with self-control. And the questions here are numerous. What is meant by she will be saved? It's pretty strong terminology, isn't it? And what about the pronouns? Now the ESV brings this across a little more clearly, but there's a shift in pronouns. Yet she will be saved through childbearing if they continue in faith and love and holiness with self-control. Who is the she? Who are the they? So there's just a lot of different issues here. And certainly what is meant by childbearing Is the actual technical specific act of bearing a child or does it refer to something broader? So all of those questions sort of come into play. I want to give you my understanding of this. I believe that the she here in verse 15 refers back to the singular woman of verse 12. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man. Rather, she is to remain quiet." Verse 15, "'Yet she will be saved through childbearing.'" So this proverbial woman is not to exercise authority within the church. She's not to have a teaching ministry over men. But she, this woman, be saved or preserved through childbearing. There's a semantic range to that word saved. I think that in some sense, the role of women is preserved, is safeguarded, the significance of the woman's role and influence is wrapped up in this whole realm of childbearing. I don't think I'd have to convince you of the role of a godly mom, right? We could go back. It's very interesting to look at the kings back in 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles, the kings of Israel and Judah, and the good kings and the bad kings, and there's a remarkable correlation that the good kings were generally the ones with the godly mothers who were from Jerusalem. And the ones who had foreign mothers, shocker, they were generally evil kings. It's very interesting to kind of do the study, and we don't really need to do the study, do we? We know of the influence of a godly mom. And I think what Paul is saying here is, yes, there's certain areas and certain designated roles for how women are to function within the context of the church, but there's a whole realm of influence here that is tremendously significant. in the bearing and raising of children in the heritage of the Lord. And I think that's the shift in pronoun here. Yet she, the woman, will be saved through childbearing if they, the children, continue in faith and love and holiness with self-control. That here's this tremendous opportunity to raise up a godly heritage, to have tremendous influence, maybe not in the context of the church gathered, but in numerous ways behind the scenes. This is not to say that all women will marry or that all married women will have children. And we have some great examples in our own congregation of women who do not have biological children, but have left a rich heritage in their care of little ones and their mentoring of other ladies and their teaching responsibilities and their faithful service to others. So Paul doesn't want women to underestimate the opportunities for influence that they have been granted. So women, here is God's vision for you. We can say, well, this is Paul's vision. We know that all Scripture was written by holy men as they were moved along by the Holy Spirit, right? This is God's Word. He's the one that inspired these words. gave them to us. Here's God's vision for how you should conduct yourself in the church. And how are you doing walking in that pattern? Embracing the beauty and the purpose in God's creative design, embracing the unique opportunities that God has given you in your particular realms of influence. And men, If you're paying attention, this once again reinforces the responsibilities that God has given to us. Again, there's many that might be inclined to defer. But Scripture is clear that God is calling men to take leadership in the home and in the church. And we need to be reminded of our responsibility in that.