1 Timothy 2:1-10 - Instructions for Public Worship

this is a message from the ministry of calvary chapel santa barbara for more information about our church please visit calvary SB dot-com i could ask you to open up your Bibles to the book of 1st timothy we're going to begin tonight a chapter 2 and hopefully we'll make it through the first 10 verses of 1st timothy chapter 2 this evening I'm very blessed and impressed to see you all out here tonight on a night when traffic is difficult and that is in fact Valentine's Day if you were wondering if I was gonna do a special message tonight on Valentine's Day I'm not but if I were this is what I would say I would point out first of all that st. Valentine was a Christian who lived in Rome in the third century that he was a martyr who died bravely for the faith and reportedly he died on February 14th 269 AD I would also point out what a great gift romantic love is that God gives to humanity in general and to his people in particular it's it's a it's a gift that God gives us and especially that in Jesus Christ we can receive this gift and enjoy it in a better and deeper way than ever I mean I tell you about how what a blessing it is in my own life and in what a blessing it is for my wife Engle ill that God has brought us together and given us the gift of each other over these many years what what a blessing what a gift it is romantic love from God the other thing though I would point out is that like any gift of God romantic love is often made into an idol and this is a constant tendency in our culture and it often happens among Christians as well sometimes Christians who are single and not presently involved in a romantic relationship they're made to feel in theory or second class and sometimes as well sin is given an excuse in the name of romantic love and sometimes it's forgotten that even though while romantic love is a gift from God so also very specifically stated by the New Testament so also a singleness so while we remember the dangers of idolatry when it comes to romantic love nevertheless we'll receive it as God's gift and we happily say happy balanced time day so that's what I would preach on if I was gonna preach a sermon tonight on Valentine's Day leaving all that behind now as we take a look at first Timothy chapter 2 this evening I do just want to remind you what we're looking at here we're looking at a letter that was written by the Apostle Paul to his young colleague Timothy and when we say young maybe at this time in his life Paul was in his late 50s or 66 TS Timothy was maybe in his late 20s early 30s there was definitely a generational gap between them but Timothy wasn't a kid he wasn't a teenager then he was a man who had proven himself in ministry many times before Paul had given Timothy the great responsibility of carrying on the work in the city and region of Ephesus now today you would find Ephesus on the western coast of modern-day Turkey but back then this was the Roman province of Asia Minor or Asia the lesser and and it was it was a large prosperous important region in the Roman Empire what what you need to understand about this is Paul left Timothy behind and Ephesus to carry on the work there and the work that he called him to carry on was much more than simply pastoring a congregation even being the pastor over a large Conger Gatien what Timothy had responsibility for was a work of God over an entire region you see let's remember what the book of Acts says about the work of Ephesus and I'll just read to you two verses Acts chapter 19 verse 10 says this and this continued for two years so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus both Jews and Greeks did hear what said there it's a little bit of hyperbole there but you get the point all who dwelt in Asia that is that part that Roman province everybody who lived in that Roman province heard the word of the Lord Jesus that there was a massive outpouring of God's Spirit upon this work in Ephesus and many many people were added to the faith so much so that it says just ten verses later this is Acts after 19 verse 20 so the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed man that's like a dream verse for any pastor person working in ministry you want to see the word of the Lord grow mightily and prevail so I just want you understand Timothy wasn't the pastor of like one single congregation even a large congregation even though I'm sure he did pastoral work with the congregation it was more so that he had responsibility for dozens or scores maybe even hundreds of small churches spread out over a very large area and he needed to make sure that these churches did their work right and honorably before God so after the first chapter which we saw last week where the main emphasis in the first chapter was really stating to Timothy the reasons why he was supposed to remain there in Ephesus even though perhaps he might not rather be there now starting in chapter 2 Paul's gonna give some specific instruction to Timothy about how to have church services happen under his supervision so that brings us to verse 1 of chapter 2 where we read therefore I exhort first of all that supplications prayers intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men now the larger context here in first Timothy chapter 2 is of the public gatherings worship services we might call them of God's people together we find this very plain by verse 8 that we'll get to later on but the idea is Paul saying first of all first and priority when I speak to you Timothy I want you to understand that I'm giving you instructions on how Christians should have their meetings together and what I find the interesting about this is that Paul is obviously not laying out a liturgy he's not laying out a form of service he's not saying sing this many songs have this many prayers have a sermon that's this long and then he's not laying out an order of service he's obviously writing about some things that are on his mind about what Timothy must be mindful of maybe these were things that were controversial among the Ephesians at this time maybe there were points that needed special instruction but Paul's not laying out an entire thing he's saying these are some things I want you to remember Timothy now when God's people gather together I find it fascinating that when you take God's people from just about every kind of tradition every kind of denomination every kind of historical flow of true Christianity I'm not talking about those who would be out of the boundaries of true Christianity but of true Christianity back from the days of fossils they basically had the same components of their gatherings together they would come together for worship and specifically worship in song they would come together and they would pray they would come together and they would hear from God's Word and they would come together and enjoy some kind of community and mutual support sometimes although there wasn't any Express regular schedule but sometimes connected with the Lord's table the the the bread and the cup of communion this is what God's people have been doing together for 2,000 years and different traditions do it in different ways different traditions do it with different emphasis on different aspects of that formulation but that's been the basic idea from the very beginning here Paul is saying what I want you understand is when you come together think about this as you pray I exhort that first of all supplications i'm reading verse 1 again prayers intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men first of all notice the variety of terms he uses for prayer supplications prayers intercessions and giving of thanks these describe the wide categories of our own communication with God these are different kinds of prayer and each one of them can have a role when God's people come together there's supplication what's supplication supplication is simply asking God to do something when you say Lord bless our gathering you're making a supplication to God then the next one is prayers prayers is simply a broad word it's covering basically all of our communication with God then he mentions intercessions in verse 1 that refers to the kind of requests that we make on behalf of other people as we pray there should be notice given to the needs of others and not only our own needs although there's nothing wrong please brothers and sisters hear me on this there's nothing wrong with bringing your own needs to God sometimes Christians feel guilty about that and if we were really holy we would only pray prayers of intercession don't think that way at all there's nothing wrong with you bringing your own request to God but of course pray on behalf of others to intercede for others and then finally heal is here in verse 1 giving of thanks which is another essential aspect of our walk with God how important is it for us to have a heart full of gratitude towards God for all that he's given us so he says when you pray it should be marked by all these different aspects and that you pray this is a very important point here verse 1 look at the last couple words that they be made for all men this tells us whom were to pray for with these various means of prayer who all men everybody when he says all men there I don't think he's referring to just the masculine I think he's referring to all of humanity you've never met somebody who doesn't need prayer you've never met somebody who couldn't benefit by prayer from prayer in some way now most Christians find it easy to pray example for your family you think about family that you pray for all the time and that's a good thing you should pray for your family what you think it's easy to pray for your friends your loved ones but let this just sort of hit your mind here that we're to pray for all men I don't think that means you open up the telephone book and start praying for people that's an archaic thing isn't telephone book who has a telephone book anymore but you get what I mean by that it's not just getting a biggest list as possible just mentioning the names although there wouldn't be anything wrong with that the idea is is that who might you be tempted to not pray for think about the people you'd say well I don't want to pray for them well then you just pray for them pray for the people that you would instinctively say I don't want to pray for them I mean did not Jesus tell us that we should pray for our enemies so pray for them that that politician that you really don't like I'm not gonna ask you to mention any names nothing out loud hear that politician you really don't do you pray for them that person who committed that crime a horrific crime and you could fill in the blank as to which one it is things are happening all the time pray for them that leader that you respect pray for them we should pray for those who annoy us or seem to be against us each of these fall into the category of all men here's another thought to pray for all men also means to pray evangelistically I'll never forget something that iam bounds' wrote Ian bounds is a man who wrote many brief but powerful books on prayer and and one line from Ian bounds books says this he says that it's more important to talk to God about men than it is to talk to men about God in other words if you really want to be successful evangelistically the most important thing you can do is pray now fortunately we don't have to choose between the two we should really do both but oftentimes we think only of doing one but we should pray evangelistically that God would reach the heart of those who need help those who need Jesus and so we should pray for our friends and our loved ones who need to know Jesus for our co-workers for people that we have regular contact with but let's remember this as well to pray for all men also means to pray for your pastors for your church and to pray for those in ministries that you know and love and there's a phrase here in verse one that sort of strikes me that I wouldn't note before we go on to verse 2 he says giving of thanks be made for all men isn't that interesting to find something to give thanks for in all men that's a challenge sometimes isn't it and maybe you just come down to this lord I thank you that they're made in your image in some way I don't know what sometimes maybe it's as basic as that but we should have our Lord who do you want me to pray for now going on to verse 2 he gets a little more specific of the idea of all men he says for a king and all who are in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence it's very interesting he says we should pray for kings and all who are in authority now early Christians were often accused of being unpatriotic in regard to the Roman Empire in regard to other states where they may have lived because they openly acknowledged that Caesar was not Lord they openly acknowledge that they had a higher allegiance than the political state and they would get nevertheless answer we're not bad citizens and one of the reasons why we're not bad citizens is we say Emperor we pray for you we pray for you we honestly do we're not we're not we're not bad or unpatriotic we don't think you're God but we do pray for you you know in just in the previous first Paul said that we should pray for all men and give thanks for all men and now he connects the thought with those who are in authority over us look I I know that in today's very inflamed and divided political world that we live in now in the year 2018 it's very easy for us to to get heated up over politics and over political divides and I get all that but one thing that we have to understand is that government is God's gift to humanity Romans chapter 13 spells this out it talks about God appointing the magistrate God appointing basically the policeman and in the military men and women who keep peace he says God has appointed them to help in society to administrate justice to punish the evil do and to keep order in society fundamentally we need to understand that government is God's gift and therefore all the more reason why we should pray for those in government where we should pray for those in authority I remember reading some time ago one of the writings of an early church leader named Tertullian Tudor lien explained it like this he said this quote we pray for all the Emperor's that God may grant them a long life a secure government a prosperous family vigorous troops a faithful Senate and obedient people that the whole world may be in peace and that God may grant both to Caesar and to every man the accomplishment of their just desires I like that phrase because I can pray that for a politician I can pray that for politicians I tend to agree with and I can pray that for politicians that I tend to disagree with Lord accomplish their just desires now Lord you figure out what's just in theirs desires and what's not because sometimes I think their desires are absolutely crazy but Lord accomplished their just desires this idea that Christians were praying for governmental leaders it's a very important aspect going back again to the earliest days of the church but notice why look at verse 2 with me again why that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence there's a sense in which Christians should pray for a government and rulers that would simply leave us alone and let us live as Christians what are we looking for from the government a quiet and peaceable life as Christians I don't think we should look for any special favors from the government now god forbid we don't want any particular interference from the government no not at all but we're not looking for particular favors no we want the ability to live a quiet and peaceable life and where the gospel is given the Liberty to flourish it will flourish I find it interesting that at the time Paul wrote this Christianity was not yet an illegal religion in the Roman Empire at the time Paul wrote this it was still considered to be a branch of Judaism at the time Paul wrote this it was very reasonable to believe that maybe the Roman government might just leave Christians alone to live their faith but it wouldn't stay that way before the Apostle Paul died he would be himself executed by an agency of the Rome gun by the command of Caesar Nero himself and the state would begin to persecute believers what a terrible thing that was not only for the church but it was a terrible thing especially for the state now verses 3 & 4 he's gonna talk about the goal of praying for all men what's the goal well that they'd be saved look at this verses 3 and 4 for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth now that these are two fascinating verses and I'm gonna drill down with it but before I drill down let's just get the big point here when you come together pray don't forget to pray for the rulers and those around you pray for all people and what did you pray for them pray for them that they'd get saved because God wants people to get saved isn't that a pretty fair summation of the first four verses of this chapter but the phrasing of Paul's is very interesting here in verse 4 he says who desires all men to be saved you see these verses have been the cause of at least theological controversy people say in what sense does God desire all men to be saved does God look out upon all of humanity and say it is my will that they all be saved and at the end of it all God's will is going to be frustrated because all humanity will not be saved is that how it works I would explain it like this from a divine perspective we understand that there's a sense in which you cannot say that God desires all men to be saved not in a deterministic calm n to be saved because then other wise men would automatically all be saved or God would have left a a element or would I would say erased an element of human response in the gospel God's desire for all men to be saved is conditioned by another desire within God because like every being God has more than one desire God's desire for all men to be saved is conditioned by another desire and that's the desire to have a genuine response from all human beings God could save every man and every woman by turning them all into robots who were saved apart from or even against their will but God says I won't do that no I want to Kingdom full of willing sons and daughters God will not simply program people to do what He wills them to do God works upon the human nature in other ways to draw them and so we can simply say God desires all men to be saved in the sense that the gospel is to be preached to all without reservation we're not just supposed to look at a group of people and say alright who are the chosen here I'll preach to you tell me who the elect are I'll preach to them forget about that of course only only weirdos would think and by the way there have been a few weirdos like that within the history of the church but know that the messes go on you you let God figure out who's chosen you and I regard that God wants all to be if you're looking to compete God you want these people to be saved I'm gonna bring them the message of your truth and see what you can work with in their hearts upon them and I love every phrases in verse 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth here salvation is clearly associated with coming to a knowledge of the truth you cannot be rescued by God apart from some understanding of who Jesus is and what he's done to save us I'm not saying that you have to have every theological I dotted and T crossed that's not the idea you don't get to heaven by by scoring an adequate number on your theology exam but there's a knowledge of the truth connected with God's saving work and that knowledge of the truth is the truth that's revealed to us in Jesus Christ as he's going to explain starting at verse 5 he says here verse 5 6 and 7 for there is one God and one mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle I'm speaking the truth in Christ and not lying a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth what a beautiful triumphant statement Paul makes here in verse 5 and again you can just connect the dots from the beginning of the chapter hey when you come together pray for all men and don't forget your leaders pray for all men because God wants all men to be saved and how will all men be saved they'll be saved through the one god and mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus through one mediator and one alone the man Christ Jesus it's as Jesus said himself in the Gospel of John I am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the Father except by me that's John chapter 14 verse 6 isn't this just another way of explaining that essential truth and I would say this not only isn't plain from the scriptures that there's one mediator between God and man and friends I need to I need to just carry that out and I don't mean this to be in any offensive way although I'm sure it would be offensive to some people but I mean it just tells us that Buddha is not a mediator between God and man Muhammad is not a mediator between God and man other religious figures that you could point out through the centuries or through the ages they are not the media there's one mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus not only is this simply declared by the scriptures but but it's also just simply logical if Jesus was at least a good and honest man then he told the truth about who he was I mean a good and honest man is not gonna lie about who he is and Jesus said that he was the only way to God now if he did not tell the truth at this very important point then how can you regard Jesus as even a good or honest man much less to profit from God if he was wrong at this point then either he was a liar No he was wrong or he was a lunatic thinking he was wrong thinking he was right but really being wrong all along no you see in the modern world that we live in where the dominant thought is that there's many roads that lead to God and that the only really important thing is that you follow the road sincerely or with a good heart friends that's a very dangerous way to think think about this in Luke chapter 18 Jesus told a story about a Pharisee and a tax collector who each came to God sincerely do you remember that story the Pharisee came to God sincerely he was sincerely proud and he came to God in all sincerity believe me he was not lacking in sincerity one bit he said god I thank you that I'm not like those Gentiles are like those sinners are like those weirdos are especially not like this tax collector next to me thank you God he was sincere and then the tax collector prayed and what did the tax collector prayed Jesus said that he would not even raise his head to heaven but he beat his breast and he said God be merciful to me a sinner and what did Jesus say did he say well God respected both of them for their sincerity no God said God accepted the humble man but he rejected the proud man sincerity wasn't enough and then the rich young ruler he came to Jesus sincerely but he was rejected because he would not give up everything to follow Jesus I think of going back into the Old Testament in Leviticus chapter 10 verses one through three there were two sons of Aaron named nade a banna B who George God God's judgment came upon them because they came before God and maybe they were sincere but God's judgment came upon them because they offended him when he when they came before him it's a verse that I shared with you from this platform not all that long ago proverbs 14:12 is very instructive here it says there is a way that seems right to a man but it's end is the way of death sincerity isn't enough now there's many people especially in this very pluralistic salad-bar religion you and you know what we mean by salad-bar religion don't you it's that you know you just go through and you pick from different faiths whatever you want and you just you have it your way and it's just your thing and you're in control of it in this day and age that we think of and that's marked by that very kind of thinking many people think that it's unfair or narrow-minded of God to have one way to salvation but if you think that way I would just ask you to examine that thought to turn it over in your mind I don't want to sound too dramatic about this but this is the way that I've thought about it for myself to say that God must provide another way than Jesus Christ is to say this I look at Jesus there on the cross there he is dying in his agony having suffered terribly nailed to the cross and not only is he suffering physically the physical suffering is almost the smallest part of the agony he endures what Jesus really suffers on the cross is the judgment of God the cup of God's judgment that he asked if there was any way possible that that cup be passed on away from him but know there was no other way he had to drink that cup of judgment on the cross there is on the cross not only receiving such intense physical suffering but the most unimaginable spiritual agony in the judgment that he received from God that cup of God's judgment and now I come and I look at Jesus and I contemplate him there on the cross and I look at I take it all in and then I look up to heaven and I say to God the Father hey that's great for a start but what you really got to do is you really got to make that the first of about five options that you give me God do you realize how offensive that is to look at what Jesus said on the cross and say that's not enough God you got to do more you got to give me that among maybe five options and if I or you or any other of us would say that to God God would say back and he'd say it firmly but I'm sure he would say it love he'd say I can do no more than this don't you understand what I have done at the cross is the ultimate the ultimate I can do nothing greater I've given you the greatest demonstration of my love I've given you the greatest demonstration of my sacrifice the greatest demonstration of the depths I will go to rescue lost humanity you you can't ask me to do more than this there is one mediator between God and man and again I got to notice this phrase in verse 5 the man Christ Jesus now notice us notice the phrasing this is all in the present tense isn't it it's all in the present tense that's in the present tense when Paul wrote it but quick Bible question here when Paul wrote this had Jesus already ascended into heaven yes he had Jesus was not alive in his bodily presence on the earth but he says there is one meteor not there was there is one mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus he's saying that Jesus is still a man I'm fascinated by that thought because sometimes I've thought of Jesus as humanity as something like a jacket that he wore when he came down from heaven he put on the jacket of humanity and after he died on the cross and rose from the dead and when he ascended to heaven he left the jacket behind no seated on the right hand of God the Father Almighty in heaven is a glorified man he remains truly man and truly God in His incarnation presence for all eternity that blows my mind I don't quite understand it to be honest but Jesus Christ did not relinquish his humanity when he finished his work on earth he remains in heaven the man Christ Jesus it's a remarkable remarkable idea and then I can't get over this in verse 6 I'll just read it again for there's one mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all you know what Jesus gave himself you know you can give your time without giving yourself you can give your money without giving yourself you can give your opinion without giving yourself there some people can even give their life without giving themselves but Jesus wants us to give ourselves just as he gave himself and how did he give himself he gave himself a ransom as a payment of sins now I I shouldn't do this but I'm going to I'm gonna raise a question that I'm not gonna answer because it's a it's a fascinating theological question but actually when you go into the history of theology this question has been argued about a lot in the history of theology he gave his life a ransom for many so everybody got that phrase who did he pay the ransom to that thought has been argued about a lot in the history of Christian theology did he pay it to God the Father did he pay it to Satan did he pay it to somebody else now I said I wouldn't answer it I'll give you my take on that just very quickly I'm not gonna go into much depth if you want to argue about we can talk about it later I think that to ask the question who did he pay the ransom to is actually to take the text further than Paul ever intended I mean he just means it's a payment as a payment and it's not as if somebody had to be bought off for us to be set free although if there's some interesting thing I'll just move on this great message verse 7 for which I was appointed a preacher an apostle a teacher of the Gentiles it still should cause a smile to come to our face when we consider who God chose to be this mighty messenger to the Gentiles he chose the guy who hated Gentiles worse than anybody he chose this guy the the Pharisee of the Pharisees Saul of Tarsus this this guy who didn't like Gentiles oh he that's the man that God chose to be the apostle to the Gentiles verse 8 I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting now do you see basically all Paul's going back to the thought at verse 1 does everybody get that here verse 8 he's basically going back to verse 1 verse 1 he talked about prayer and again we see in general especially from verse 8 in general the context is prayer in the setting of the gatherings of God's people when you get together pray pray all kinds of prayer pray for people pray for foreign leaders pray that they'd get saved because God wants them to be saved and the only way they're going to be saved is through the work of Jesus Christ so pray that they get saved I mean that's what we've been summarizing all of us to this point now in verse eight he comes back and he says I desired therefore that the men pray everywhere lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting actually verse eight introduces something that leads to very significant controversy that I'm just gonna barely touch on tonight but next Wednesday we're gonna dive in full bore into here Paul talks about who should be leading the meetings of God's gathered people what does he say in verse eight I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere now really what that has the idea of folks here it's not in every place like every place around town he's not saying okay I want men to pray over it Stearns Wharf and I want men to pray over up on TV Hill and what men to pray over here no no no no but what he's talking about is in every church in every church that that is there that that what every church that Paul would have influence of Paul's focus is on what the church does when it comes together for meetings the idea is that we should be praying together as a congregation and and that the men would take the lead at those meetings of the congregation by the way there's a great commentator a man named white who commentates on the Greek text here and he says this on everywhere he says the directions are to apply to every without exception no allowances to be made for the conditions peculiar to any locality in other words Paul saying this is what I want done in God's churches that the men pray everywhere when he says lifting up holy hands that was the posture of prayer in the ancient world you would pray by the lifting up of hands we traditionally fold our hands you know the folded hands the locked fingers which again this is our tradition I'm not saying it's a bad tradition as I've said before anything that gets you to let go of your of your smartphone for five minutes is a good thing so praise the Lord for that but in the ancient world it wasn't this it was this he says that the men should take the lead here this speaks of men leading public prayer men representing the congregation before God's throne again Newport white this greek commentator i mentioned to you he translates the idea of the text like this quote the ministers of public prayer must be the men of the congregation not the women now again it doesn't mean that the women don't have their prayer meetings and such but he's talking about at the public gathering of the congregation as a whole and when they pray notice the men they should be lifting up holy hands hands at her holy set apart unto god not given over to evil and without wrath and doubting their prayers should be without wrath lord save us from angry prayers i don't know if you've ever heard an angry preacher preach before a congregate or a pray before a congregation but it's not pretty save us Lord from angry prayers but save us also Lord from doubting prayers so again we should pray with a heart that is reflecting the Heart of Jesus full of faith and love now having mentioned this aspect of the men in verse eight I want the men to lead in congregational worship services in verses 9 and 10 he's going to touch on something that women should emphasize in the gatherings of God's people in like manner also that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel with propriety and moderation not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing but which is proper for women professing godliness with good works now again in like manner also means he's referring back to the statement that he made in verse 8 he's saying I've spoken to the men about something now I want to speak to the women about something and again I want to take pains to say Paul's not giving an exhaustive theology of everything that should be done in a church service it's not as if Paul were to sit down and say well there's a whole group of women coming to church what do they need know Paul wouldn't say only this but for whatever reason whether it was on his mind because just the leading of the Holy Spirit or whatever that this is what he led himself to point out to Timothy verse 9 that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel this how Christian women are supposed to dress especially at their Christian meetings and notice he speaks of modest apparel what's modest apparel I think that the words propriety and moderation help to explain what modest apparel is propriety asks a question propriety asks is it appropriate for the occasion and i overdressed am i underdressed is it gonna call inappropriate attention to myself then moderation asks is it moderate is it just too much or is it too little moderation is looking for a middle ground so he says propriety moderation and then he speaks of braided hair gold pearls costly clothing these were adornments that in Paul's culture went against the principles of propriety in moderation now notices I would definitely regard this idea braided hair gold pearls costly clothing those were cultural expressions of impropriety and in moderation in Paul's day we're not checking women for braids at the door here do you understand why because in our culture braided hair doesn't say out of propriety or out of moderation the principles of propriety and moderation remain how they are expressed are gonna be different from culture to culture from place to place so don't get too hung up on the descriptions of how it works out in that culture look at the principles that Paul establishes here but we must say how we dress reflects our heart it says something about our heart in attitude and so here Paul saying women give care to this but especially a notice is in verse 10 be adorned with good works the most important adornment for a Christian woman is to be adorned with good works if a woman is dressed in propriety and moderation but completely lacking and good works before God there's something missing in her outfit she needs to put on those good works as well then she's so to speak properly dressed and we could say that those good works that godly life it makes a woman more beautiful than good jewelry or fancy clothing ever could now this brings us to the end of verse 10 and launching on to verse 11 that we're going to get to next week really deals with one of the more controversial passages in the New Testament and it is especially controversial today so we're gonna wait and deal with that in great depth next Wednesday but what we've covered so far in 1st Timothy chapter two isn't too hard to understand it begins with prayer when you come together as God's people make sure that you pray and pray for everybody because everybody needs to be saved God has a heart for the whole world and they're only going to come to salvation through Jesus Christ there's one mediator given between God and man the man Christ Jesus and God gave that gift in Jesus Christ so that men could be saved and so when we gather together Paul says I want the men to lead in the church service and women need to be mindful of this idea of their own adornment before God and before man and that'll lead in to what we talked about beginning with next week father we conclude our time in the word for this evening Lord with a sincere prayer for our leaders Lord Father we don't have kings or Emperor's over us but we do have a president and we pray that you bless the president and give them guidance Lord in the words of that ancient Christian tutor lien we pray that you grant him his just desires Lord we pray for our governor in the state of California Lord Lord bless him and cover him and grant him his just desires Lord sometimes we don't know in every aspect what's just but Lord you do Lord we pray for the mayor of our city we pray for our county supervisors we pray for our city council we pray God that you would bless them and father that each of them on the city county state and Lord national level that all of them Lord would be moved by your hand father that please we might live a quiet and peaceable life and that we would have the freedom to proclaim your word not only in this land but beyond father give us this grace thank you and we pray as much as anything Lord for those men and women who are leadership among them that they among us Lord that they would truly come to salvation that they would come to trust in Jesus Christ as the one mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus work that Lord in our leaders national state Lord County local in our cities do it Lord we pray in Jesus name Amen this is a message from the ministry of calvary chapel santa barbara for more information about our church please visit calvary SP calm

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Length: 52min 12sec (3132 seconds)

Published: Tue May 01 2018