Well, last week we did look and we kind of began looking at the importance of biblical femininity. Let me just say as we begin how important it is that we as men and as women not only embrace the Bible's teaching on manhood and womanhood, but that we also live it out. So it's not just an understanding, it's not just giving an assent to, but it's actively living it out by the grace of the Holy Spirit. You know, we live in a culture that does not talk about differences between men and women. The thinking is men can do what women can do and women can do what men can do. I've been to a few weddings recently outside of this church And the ceremony went something like this. It was love each other. It was forgive each other when you've wronged one another. And those are good things, right? However, in some of these weddings, there was not a distinction made. There was not a, you could say, a charge given to the man based on his distinctive calling in God's word. There was not a distinctive calling or charge to the woman based on her distinctive role in the marriage based on God's Word. And if you're joining, two Christians are coming to be joined, let's read God's Word in a marital ceremony as they come together. And let's talk about even those distinctive callings that a man and woman might be encouraged in what they should be by God's grace and through the power of the Holy Spirit in their homes. It's important for all of us, no matter the age or the stage, to live out biblical femininity and masculinity. To the singles, it means that they're living it out in a way that would honor the Lord, knowing what to look for in a future spouse if the Lord wills it. For the newly married, it's living it out to set a strong foundation for the future. for the parents, for the grandparents in the room. It is praying for this in the next generation, but it's also modeling it and exhorting the next generation. Well, last week we looked at kind of part one of biblical femininity by looking at just a working definition. I just want to highlight that for a moment by way of review, and then we'll go more into it today. We said that biblical femininity could be defined as follows. It's displayed in a gracious, disposition to cultivate life, to help others flourish, and to affirm, receive, and nurture strength and leadership from worthy men in particular contexts prescribed by God's Word. We kind of broke that down to different sections, but we said that women are to cultivate life. That means they are to embrace life in their own families, but also be encouraging life in others. We said that biblical femininity involved a disposition to help others flourish. And finally, we looked at the importance of women receiving leadership from men prescribed by God's word. Let me say that, as we said last week, but it's important to note this, men, that women are going to be more apt to live godly lives prescribed by God's word if you are, and if I am. So if we're leading biblically according to God's word in our homes and we're setting a godly example before them, It's going to be more apt for the woman to follow and also to lead a biblical, godly life. Well, today we're going to go further in our study of biblical femininity. There's so much I could say about biblical womanhood and manhood for that matter. Last week, we just kind of scratched the surface, but we're going to go deeper with it today. And Lord willing, in the next few weeks, what we're going to look at is specifically biblical manhood and womanhood in the context of the home, in the context of the church, and the context of society. But for today, let's go to Scripture, where we'll find more about biblical womanhood described. We'll be looking at Proverbs 31, and then we'll jump into Titus 2. So turn with me if you have your Bibles. Proverbs 31. verses 10 through 31. Proverbs 31, beginning in verse 10. An excellent wife, who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not harm all the days of her life. She seeks wool and flax and works with willing hands. She is like the ships of the merchant. She brings her food from afar. She rises wild as yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens. She considers a field and buys it with the fruit of her hands. She plants a vineyard. She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong. She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp does not go out at night. She puts her hands to the distaff and her hands hold the spindle. She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy. She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household are clothed in scarlet. She makes bed coverings for herself. Her clothing is fine linen and purple. Her husband is known in the gates where he sits among the elders of the land. She makes linen garments and sells them. She delivers sashes to the merchants. Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come. She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Well, there's many things that we can learn from this passage today, but we're going to look at kind of a bird's eye view of it by looking at specifically four things to consider in our time today. These are on your handout. The first is a biblical woman is strong. She is strong and she uses her strength selflessly and wisely. So we see in verse 17 that we just read in Proverbs 31, that she dresses herself with strength. And in verse 25, strength and dignity are her clothing. This strength and perseverance we could say are exhibited in how busy she is caring, caring specifically for others. In verse 12, she does her husband good. In verses 13 through 19, she works hard. In verse 20, she reaches out her hand to the poor. She's industrious, hardworking, persevering, and strong. But she uses these characteristics not just to benefit her, but to benefit others. She also uses her strength wisely as we see in verse 26 when she opens her mouth and pours forth wisdom. She not only cares for others physically but spiritually in providing that wisdom and counsel to those in need. The biblical woman uses her words to bless others and ultimately point them to God. Women, does this describe Your speech toward others. Are you working hard? Are you staying busy with eternal things? Where is your energy spent? Are you nurturing your home? Are you nurturing Christian relationships? Are you being busy for Christ? Are you industrious? This is your calling as women. Well, secondly, we see in Proverbs 31 that her endeavors are a blessing to her family and her community. She nurtures life by providing clothes for her children and generously feeding the poor. Matt Merker of Capitol Hill Baptist notes, even though she can do many things, notice how devoted she is to being a helper to her husband and her children. You know, we saw that several weeks ago in looking at the account of Genesis. It was not good for man to be alone, so I will make a helper fit for him, right? And the word for helper there is azer, E-Z-E-R, which literally means a help meet for the husband because we need it as men. But he goes on to say, she has business endeavors outside the home, but not primarily for the sake of her own reputation or fulfillment. Her work benefits her family and her neighbors. What about those women that are single? They may not have a husband or children to show goodness toward, but they should still be showing goodness and kindness and giving wisdom to others as well. Consider Tabitha in Acts 9, 36, who was full of good works and charity. So this chapter in Proverbs applies to every woman, single, married, and at all different stages of life. Well, thirdly, and certainly the most important characteristic of biblical femininity is found in verse 30. She fears the Lord. She fears the Lord. It's written, charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. You know, we live in a day and time where the outward is celebrated. I mean, just look at Hollywood. The outward is celebrated and the inward is not to be praised. It's even looked down upon or at the very least is seen as secondary. But we know that God looks where? God looks into the heart, right? We read in first Samuel 16, seven for the Lord sees not as man sees man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord, the Lord looks on the heart. Now this doesn't mean that a woman won't take care of herself outwardly. She will take care of herself outwardly, giving proper attention to grooming, but it means that a true biblical woman will give more attention to the inner rather than the outward. We could say to the spiritual rather than the physical, to the eternal rather than the temporal. She will concern herself more with pleasing the Lord whom she fears rather than men whom she should not fear. It means above all else, she would choose Christ above worldly accolades or allegiances. Well, a story is told from the late 1600s. Two women of the covenant in Scotland, they lived during this period of time called the killing time. How would y'all like to live during that time? It was 1660 to about 1668 in Scotland. And it was called the killing time because Christians were killed by not swearing allegiance to the man-made king. Instead, they were swearing allegiance to the almighty king, as we do today, the king of kings. Well, one woman was Margaret Lotselson, who was discipling a younger woman named Margaret Wilson. We could think of this as a Titus II type relationship, right? The older mentoring and discipling the younger. But their death in the Solway River is widely considered to be one of the most terrible acts of persecution. The older Margaret was tied to a stake in the river far out from the beach. The younger Margaret, who was only 18 years old, was tied to a stake closer into the beach. Of course, you can imagine what would have happened. The older Margaret died more quickly, and the water had risen up around the younger Margaret's body. They brought her, the younger Margaret, closer in and brought her actually onto the shores of the beach, untying her and trying to get her to recant. They told her they would save her life if she would just simply say, God save the king. But she replied instead, God save him if he will, for it is his salvation that I desire. What a testimony. When the soldiers and even her unbelieving parents could not convince her to recant, she was put back out in the river, tied to the stake. As the waters began rising around her, they gave her another chance and they said, will you recant? To which she replied, no. because I love the Lord. As the waters of the river continued to rise, she held her Bible close and she continued reciting scripture until the waters totally engulfed her. There's a lot we could learn from this story. I was telling my children this story just the other day and I applied it in this way that it's important that we learn scripture. This woman was at 18 years old, reciting scripture, recounting the promises from God's word as she was drowning. She had hidden God's word in her heart, as we should as well. But we could also apply it in this way, that these women were amazing, remarkable women of courage and strength, as they sought to please the Lord rather than man. So you women here today, I'm assuming that you're not facing this type of persecution and yet you are targeted by the liberal media, by the unbelieving neighbor, by the unbelieving relative or coworker to be a version of womanhood that is popular today, but not biblical. And nevermind that this idea of womanhood changes, right, as culture changes, it continues to change. So think about, we don't have time for discussion around the table right now, but just think about in the context of persecution throughout your week this week, and talk to your husband about it, talk to someone else about it. How are you persecuted? Perhaps persecution shows up more harshly from within, from your own insecurities, or perhaps within your own peer group of other women. A man may struggle with desiring accolades from other men, but women often struggle with comparison. Proverbs 31 can become really depressing as you constantly compare, forgetting that it's the heart. It's not just the actions that we see in Proverbs 31, but it's more about the heart that considers the field and buys it. It's the heart behind her lamp not going out at night. From a beauty within, she puts her hands to the spindle. Working from a gentle spirit, she opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy. Because of her diligence, she makes bed coverings for herself, and her clothing is fine linen and purple. It's not about the greater buying of the field or sewing clothing. It's more about the motivation behind it that she would desire to care for her family. It's more about the character, we could say, the character within. that she wants to do good and opens her mouth with wisdom, speaking with kindness. It's quite the calling for women to live up to these characteristics found in Proverbs 31. Raise your hand if this seems like it's exhausting. It may, but here's the idea here. Yeah, here's the idea. We must remember that God doesn't call you to do something without giving you the grace to do it. So if you're a woman and you're a Christian, he's called you to be a Christian woman. If you're a man and you're a Christian, he's called you to be a Christian man in all contexts of life. And he will give you the grace to do it. God must be the one working in and through you. We fail when we rely upon ourselves. Just like Peter walking across the water, right? When he took his eyes off Jesus, what happened? started thinking, right? We've got to keep our eyes fixed upon the one who has given us grace and is sustaining us. and husbands, how much easier is it for our wives and women in general to emulate biblical womanhood, striving to exhibit the godly character traits mentioned in Proverbs 31, when we as men are doing our job of living out biblical manhood. Our roles and God-given qualities were designed to be complimentary. Men, are you being the man that your wife needs you to be so that she will be encouraged in her biblical femininity? And women, does your godly femininity encourage your husband toward biblical manhood? I've never seen a married couple in a counseling situation struggle when they get these two areas right. Men, love your wives. Be prophet, priest, and king in your home. Did I say love your wife? Love her as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. Women, respect your husband. Respect your husband, respect your husband. It's important to do so by desiring to work towards using your strength selflessly, blessing others in your care, being very careful of your speech, and above all, fearing the Lord. As women, you can't get away with comparison or rule-based teaching. Even when scripture addresses the specifics of godly living, it's made clear that our behavior flows out of our view of the gospel. It's the gospel and sound doctrine that gives godliness its shape. We see that in Titus 2.1. It's the grace of God that teaches us to say no to ungodliness, Titus 2.11-12. Only a woman who knows the gospel will live her life in loving freedom that comes from grace rather than attempting to meet her culture's vision of perfect womanhood. Well, let's go into Titus 2 briefly in the remaining time that we have. Part of the idea here is that Scripture doesn't just tell us in the Old Testament what a woman is, but also in the New Testament. And so we see in Titus 2 verses 3 through 5, older women, likewise, are to be reverent in behavior, not slanders or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good and to train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. How can you become this kind of woman and how could you encourage and we could say mentor other women to be like her as well? Well, the reason is that the advice given here, the exhortation for younger women focuses so strongly on married women with children is that the vast majority of young women in the first century world would have been married. However, Titus 2, just as Proverbs 31 is relevant, for all women, single, married, every stage. Almost all women are older in relation to someone, right? Even those of you that are 25 can help mentor and disciple those that are younger than you. One author notes that the heart of becoming a godly Titus II woman is a confident trust in God, which includes an inner strength that comes from a deep knowledge of His Word and sovereign purpose, only a woman who hopes in God and reverently fears Him will possess the courage, the courage for submission and display the beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit described in 1 Peter 3. We need deep, deep roots that search out God's Word and His truth. to be a Titus 2 woman. She goes on to say, listen to this, if you're not careful in the way that you look at or teach Titus 2, we can find ourselves subtly encouraging home life, idolatry. In doing so, singleness becomes a waiting room for marriage rather than an opportunity to serve God. with undivided attention, 1 Corinthians 7. And the family or home becomes an end to itself rather than a place to reach out to others. That make sense? And that's not what God intends. It's not the proper balance. Both Proverbs 31 and Titus 2 encourage Christian women not only to be workers at home, but also to be kind. Do you see that phrase in Titus 2? In 1 Timothy 5, 9 through 10, the word kind is linked to good deeds of godly women, not just bringing up children, but also showing hospitality. Serving others, caring for the needy, a godly woman's home should not just be a secure refuge for her family. Oh, it should be, but not just that. It should also be a base for loving and serving and reaching out to others. Here's what John Piper wrote in his book, When I Don't Desire God. that one of the challenges I repeatedly hold out to the people of our church, especially the women, is that they make it one of their aims to age into a sage. I love the vision of older women full of seasoned spiritual fruit that comes only with long life and much affliction and deep meditation on the word of God. So many younger women yearn for older women who are deeply wise to share the wisdom God has taught them over the years. What a blessing it is to see that in the context of a local church where younger are being discipled by older. My last point, but it's an important one, going back to Proverbs, is that the Proverbs 31 example should be freeing, should be freeing and not discouraging. Do you read Proverbs 31 and Titus 2 and feel weighed down, like you don't measure up to the standards that are outlined? Matt Merker, again, is helpful here. Listen to what he says. The author here is highlighting her strengths in Proverbs 31. His point here isn't to dwell on her sins and weaknesses. In fact, this text is more like an acrostic poem where each line begins with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet, which reflects a sense of completion. What's the point? Well, it's okay if you look at this and read it and feel just a bit exhausted. over this woman's accomplishments. But we shouldn't read and see Proverbs 31 like a Pinterest page or an Instagram feed from some domestic diva that you can't live up to. This is a poetic profile that leaves out the dirty laundry and the screaming kids and the rebelliousness sometimes that happens in our home and the weariness even with fighting sin and fighting temptation. If you feel like you don't measure up, That's the whole point, really. The picture of godly femininity should beckon you to depend upon the Lord Jesus, who is your Savior. There's no perfect women, there's no perfect men, just imperfect yet redeemed women who are trusting in their Lord and Savior and dependent upon Him and growing in righteousness. There's no perfect Daughters of Eve. Your salvation, it's important to note, your salvation is not based on your ability to live out the virtues that we see in Proverbs 31 and Titus 2. Your salvation is secured only by trusting in the one who is wisdom himself, namely Jesus, who is the hope for every man and woman. But with that said, we can learn a lot from the Proverbs 31 woman. When you think on her, pray that your womanhood would flow from a heart for the gospel, seeing your deliberate design of woman to reflect Christ in your home, in your speech, relationships, decisions, and actions. Let me conclude with this. Women, it's important that you live out your calling in light of Scripture that God would be glorified in your life, that others would be blessed for having received your wisdom, your attention, your affirmation, and your strength, always with a heart toward the gospel as your motivation. Remember, it's a picture of the Savior who we all strive to emulate. It's not about perfection, but it's growing toward a perfect heart that desires improvement for the glory of God, not of self. And it's not just this generation that will be benefited by you, but it's future generations that will follow. Will your children rise up and call you blessed? Will you provide the sweet strength characteristic of the daughters of Zion written about in the Psalms? women, and by God's grace, you can be that seasoned, godly woman with a quiet and gentle spirit. And by the help of the Holy Spirit, you will. Let's pray. God in heaven, help us, Lord, in our time of need as we think through the implications of this study. Help us to be godly men and women that people, when they see us, would not just see us, but they would see Christ. Father, help us to live out our design in a way that would be helpful to others, in a way that would be encouraging to others, in a way that would motivate and encourage the next generation, that our homes would be places of grace where you would be upheld, where you would be exalted. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.