Creative Differences - [1 Timothy 2:8-15]

I would invite you to open your Bibles to the book of 1st Timothy. We've been going through 1st Timothy and now we find ourselves in Chapter 2. You know, as some of you know, I was on the Sheriff's Department of Los Angeles County for 21 years.

I don't want to forget. I mean, there are just some things that you just hear and they just stop. You know, everything just stops and you just go, did I really just hear that? I was in training to go to patrol and one of our instructors said, well, you know, when you get out there in the field, you're going to find out there is absolutely no difference between a one-man car and a two-man car.

And I just went, that doesn't even make any sense. You know, I object, Your Honor, but, you know, they don't listen to that kind of thing. And if you have known me for any amount of time, you know that the one thing I don't do very well is control.

I mean, there are many things I probably don't do well, but control my facial expressions. And I'm sure I probably went through several while trying to just maintain. It's just absurd. But we hear such truths all the time.

For example, today we're taught there's no difference between two men getting married and a man or woman getting married. I think there's a difference. There are no inherent differences between men and women.

Anything men can do, women can do. I don't know about you, but frankly, if I'm in a burning building, passed out, I would rather have somebody who weighed 200 pounds and was strong enough to carry me out than somebody who was 75 pounds and could just, you know, wish me the best.

But all this kind of mythology just persists. You know, if you just take away the firetrucks from little boys and you give them to little girls and you give the little boys, the little girls dolls, you know, they'll all turn out the same.

I'll tell you what's going to happen to those little dolls. I don't know what's going to happen to the firetruck. There are inherent differences between men and women. And it's just so, I mean, it's, you know, sometimes, and pardon me for using, you know, another current, this is for Pete Maynard, another current, well, this is an older, but a movie illustration.

It just reminds me of Charlton Heston being locked in that cage in Planet of the Apes and he's screaming, it's a madhouse. And sometimes we just hear what we're being told as if it's, you know, the unvarnished truth.

And we have to say, that's just madness. It's crazy. We know better. The sheriff's department did away with all manner of height and weight and age restrictions. And, you know, one of my jobs was I would supervise what was called an emergency response team.

You know, the inmates would riot or sometimes they'd be on the street and they would riot and I would have 10 deputy sheriffs under my command. And so I would have a list of who was on my ART team because it wasn't like they were all the people who normally worked with me.

And so I'd go down the list and it would sort of go like this, you know, first guy, second guy. And eventually I'd go, who let the hobbits in here? I mean, they're tiny little people. They're not going to scare anyone.

I don't care what they're wearing. Again, it is just this kind of mind-numbing, mind-boggling nonsense. We're going to see in our passage today that God has created men and women to be different. And I'm thankful for that.

He's given us different roles. It doesn't mean that men are better or that women are better or that women are worse or anything of the sort. It means that men and women are different, not the same. It just kind of catches up to where we are in 1 Timothy.

Paul gave us 1 Timothy as a guide for how the church should operate and how he, Timothy, should lead it. And in chapter 1, Paul committed Timothy to stop false teachers. And he also spoke of his own joy in the gospel.

Paul warned Timothy the church was going to be attacked from the inside. And he wanted to protect the church not only from those inside the church but from external persecution. And so he urged the church to have a priority of prayer.

That is, every time the church gets together, it should pray, even for governmental leaders. Because we want to have peace with those in authority over us. Last time, I gave you six ones. That there is one God, one mediator, one Christ, one ransom.

In other words, that Jesus Christ paid the price for all of our sin. One testimony and one messenger, speaking, of course, of Paul. Let's go ahead and read our passage this morning. 1 Timothy 2, 8 -15.

And this is an amazingly controversial passage. 1 Timothy 2, 8 -15. With good works. 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. Now, you can see, this is going to be controversial.

But this morning, I want to draw your attention to five divinely designed differences. I just thought of this. Those are 3Ds. So this is going to be in 3D. Five divinely designed differences between men and women, so that you will view your role in the church and even at home rightly.

Five principles that illustrate the God-ordained differences between men and women. So that you, unlike the believing world, will not be confused. God could not make it any more plain. Divinely designed difference number one.

Men must lead in prayer. And again, we are talking about this context of the local church. Verse 8, Paul writes, I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling.

When the church gathers together, it is, as verse 1 said in chapter 2, it is making supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings for all people, for all kinds of people. For those in authority, and he goes on.

But when they do this, it is to be the men who pray. If the church is going to pray, and it must pray. It is a priority to pray. Then the men must do it. But it's not just any men. There are qualifications.

Lifting holy hands doesn't just mean like this. We've not missed the boat here at Bethlehem Bible Church because we don't pray like this. Why? Well, there are many examples. I mean, I won't give you all of them.

Just a few. Many different postures of prayer. You know, is it wrong to pray while you're driving? Well, it is with your eyes closed. That might be bad. Is it wrong to pray while you're... Well, it's better than some of the alternatives.

Especially when you see someone do something that you prefer not to. You can pray for them. But some of the other postures. Standing. Hands spread out and facing heavenward. Head bowed. Looking toward heaven.

Kneeling. Face down on the ground. And even beating one's breast. All those are descriptions of prayer. So it's not really the physical posture that Paul is addressing. He is addressing the spiritual posture.

The spiritual life. And it brings to mind Psalm 66, 18. You don't have to turn there. Listen to this. 66, 18. If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. This is the idea.

You can't get up here to pray if you're holding on to sin. In fact, when he says holy hands, it really is... Hands represent the activity of life. It is hard to really do much without using your hands.

I mean, you can run without using your hands. But most things that we do in life require hands. So hands are symbolic of the activities that we participate in. So holy hands is a way of saying don't be encumbered or be in the practice of sin.

And he mentions two in particular. And I think these are two that men are particularly prone to. First, he talks about anger. Which can be defined as a state of relatively strong displeasure. Yeah, I'll go for that.

With focus on the emotional aspect. In other words, you are filled with anger or rage. It is being in a state where one holds back forgiveness or mercy. You don't want to let go of what somebody else has done to you.

I would submit, not only should you not get up here to pray, you probably shouldn't be in church at all. Listen to what Jesus said. He said, and whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.

We think about the offering. Should we even give an offering if we are holding a grudge against someone? But when we think about praying, what do we do when we pray here? We pray for the congregation.

How can anyone hope to get up and sort of intercede with God on behalf of the congregation when he's hanging on to anger against someone? It could even be someone within the congregation. Secondly, Paul writes about quarreling.

This would be one who habitually argues, who is a disputer, someone given to getting into verbal disagreements. That sort of person is not the sort of person who ought to be leading prayer. I mean, imagine that.

You argue with somebody in the parking lot and then you get right up here and pray. That's not right. Now, think about this. Supposing, because we do this sometimes, supposing that we call upon a man to pray and he says, you know what, last week Steve taught on this and about anger and quarreling and I was just in an argument and he thinks to himself, I can't pray right now.

Would it be okay to say I'd rather not pray? Yes. How many would do that though? But in any event, men, not women, and the word men there cannot. It is a specific word. There are different kinds of words that can be used.

Sometimes it can be translated mankind. This one can't be. It refers specifically to the male gender. Women must not pray before the congregation. That's the flip side. Men are to pray. Women are not to pray.

Pretty clear. Our second divinely designed difference. Women must dress appropriately. Now that's not to say men can dress however they want. But again, I think if we look at what Paul's talking about, he understands and he almost presumes these kind of differences.

That men don't think of themselves, they're going to dress in such a way to make a spectacle of themselves, although I'll get to some of that later, but because men certainly can. Well, I'll just say it now.

I've been in this one establishment, this business establishment, where there's this perfectly fine looking gentleman dressed like a woman and he's working behind the counter and I can't get over that.

I don't understand that. I want to just reach across, but that would be wrong, I guess. It's just odd. Very strange. But women must dress appropriately. Look at verse 9. Likewise, also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel.

Now that might seem like an awkward transition, so let's think again about what Paul's doing. He's instructing Timothy on how the church should operate. He's just given him teaching on prayer and told him only men should lead prayer within the church when it gathers.

And then he says, likewise. So in the same kind of way, just as he instructed the men who would pray to examine their lives for a couple of particular besetting sins that men fall into, he does the same for women.

Before you come to church, here's something that you need to do. Here's something that you need to examine yourselves on. Let me ask you this. Have you ever watched one of those award shows, the Academy Awards, any of those award shows?

All the guys show up in tuxes, right? I mean, it's pretty standard. They just show up, they look like penguins, and they move on. What does everybody talk about? They don't talk about how all the men look.

It's all about the women. In fact, there are entire shows where all they do is they just, you know, they're on the red carpet or whatever and they talk to the people coming up and they rate the gowns.

You can look online. They just talk about who was nicely dressed and who was not and who was appropriate and who was not. I mean, there's a TV show called What Not to Wear. They could never do that about guys.

Nobody would watch it. But respectable means arranged, thought out. It comes with the idea of considering where they are going. You wake up in the morning on Sunday or before you go to bed Saturday night.

Did you ever think, I'm going to church tomorrow. I need to dress appropriately. Church is not a drive-through restaurant, and it is also not the Academy Awards. It's somewhere in between. You don't need to look like you're ready for the red carpet.

On the other hand, you shouldn't look like, well, nobody's going to see me anyway but the person at the window. And he goes on in verse 9. He says, with modesty. Kistemacher knows that it indicates a sense of shame, not wanting to exceed what would be appropriate.

It's kind of like Goldilocks. Too hot, too cold, just right. You want to find that just right, that middle ground. He also uses the term self-control. And it just means sensibly. A woman should plan what she's going to wear and think through the image it projects.

What image, what am I telling people when I wear this? What does it say about me? What does it say about my husband? Shot not to look slovenly, nor look like she just stepped off the cover of a fashion magazine.

Again, somewhere in between. Look at verse 9. Not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire. By the way, we are not going to do what not to wear here. We're not going to do that. But this is a matter that the Word of God addresses and we need to think about it.

Not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire. The fashionistas of Paul's day would have spent fortunes on their hairdos. The well-to-do people, that's what they did. And they would get gold and pearls and all sorts of jewelry braided into their hair.

That was the fashion of the day. In today's terms, they would spend tens of thousands of dollars on their hair and small fortunes on their dresses. Now, there's nothing sinful about getting your hair done.

There's nothing sinful about having nice clothing. However, there is a point when the intent becomes to needlessly draw attention to yourself. Paul's point is that no woman should enter the church building with her objective being to have every eye turned towards her when she walks in.

This isn't your wedding day, this is church. And it really is a matter of the heart. One commentator says this, showy clothes ill-befit broken and contrite hearts. Again, this is not to say that you're going to show how humble you are by rolling in like you just spent last night dumpster diving.

That's not the point. It's a matter of scale and propriety. And again, an area where the more mature ladies in the Lord can help the younger ones. Pull them aside, maybe say, you know what? I mean, when you walked in, everybody's head just kind of turned around.

That's probably not the best way to go. Now, for the men, I would just say this, it's probably better if you're not the one to try to correct another, to correct a woman's fashion. If she's not your wife or your daughter, then she's not under your headship and you should probably go to the proper authority figure in her life.

One ancient preacher, Chrysostom, said this, he said, modest apparel covers them, women, completely indecently and not with superfluous ornaments. He goes on to say, are you coming to a ball, to a wedding, to a carnival?

Again, it's just a matter of thinking, where am I going, how should I appear? Verse 10, he gives us a contrast. But with what is proper for women who profess godliness with good works. Now, men, if you've been zoning out, this is a critical area.

And I'll tell you why in a moment. Well, let me tell you now. If you're single and you're looking for a wife, this is the key. You want a wife, not who dazzles the room when she walks in, but one who has these good works, who is attractive because of who she is.

And by the way, that first word there is very important. But it is a Greek word that indicates, there are a couple of different words for that. This is the one that indicates a sharp contrast. In other words, it's like, don't be focused on being a fashion plate.

Instead, be focused on who you are on the inside. It's interesting, that verse there, or that verb, profess godliness, to profess, means to claim to be well accomplished in something. To lay claim, to give oneself as an expert in.

You think you're an expert in godliness? You don't show that by how you dress. You display that in your daily life. Think about it, when does scripture ever praise women or men for being snappily dressed?

God always looks on the heart. He is concerned with the quality of our character, not the quality of our clothing. Our works and the motivations for them, not our wardrobe. Being a Christian woman is not easy.

I can get an amen, Becky. Being a Christian woman is not easy. Not that I have any personal experience. But there are many things to balance. And I often tell wives, I think maybe the hardest passage in all scripture isn't even this one.

It's Ephesians 5 .22. Wives, submit to your own husbands. That must be very difficult. And then I go on to explain, well, there's a little balance there, because it's husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church.

If your husband is doing that, it's a little bit easier to follow Ephesians 5 .22, but it is difficult. But this is an issue that you must wrestle with. You must consider when you come to church. Am I dressed appropriately?

So we've seen men must lead in prayer. Secondly, women must dress appropriately. Our third divinely designed difference is women must be disciples. Women must be disciples or learners. Look at verse 11.

Oh, this is so harsh. It's so patriarchal. It's so old-fashioned. Paul is such a chauvinist speaking down to women. The truth is, not at all. Is it harsh to tell a man he must work? Is it harsh to tell birds to fly?

Fish to swim? This is what we were created to do. This is not about equality per se. It is about roles. Listen to what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 14 verses 34 and 35. 1 Corinthians 14, 34 and 35. He said, Shameful!

I'll never forget one of my, I think it was our first trip out here. They did, Charlie and the band were doing a concert over there and this woman came across the street from the congregational church.

She was there for a while and she said, Well, now I know what I'm going to preach on tomorrow. And I just thought, she doesn't understand this. I mean, if she did and she's the pastor, I guess she should get up and just be quiet.

That would be the best sermon she ever gave. But one of the great weaknesses of the Christian church in America is that men have abandoned this role to be teachers in their homes. And I'm not talking about explaining the rules of football so that your wife can explain them or understand them.

Men have to be students because you're wise that they're saved, they're going to be. You need to know more than your wife does. If you cannot answer her questions, then you're not working hard enough.

I remember when I first got saved, I was always amazed. In fact, I don't even know if I was saved yet. I probably wasn't, but I was just amazed at how consistently the wives in Christian homes seem to know the Bible better than the husbands.

It should not be. It should not be. Wives are to be learners, disciples. Number four, women must not be teachers. Women must not be teachers. Verse 12, I do not permit a woman to teach. Now that does not mean, listen carefully, that does not mean a woman can never teach.

You say, well, I thought you just said women must not be teachers. Okay, let me give you some exceptions. They can teach other women. Titus 2, verses 3 to 5. Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine.

They are to teach what is good and so 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's one area where women can teach.

And by the way, to teach in that Titus passage means to instruct in prudence or behavior that is becoming and shows good judgments. So again, the more mature ladies are to teach the lessons they have learned, sometimes the hard way, to the younger women.

Second area where ladies can teach, children. Within the church, within their homes, they can teach children. Now, some of you might say, well, when does a child stop being a child? Here we've kind of, you know, this gets into what is the age of accountability.

There is no biblical answer for that. We've kind of made the arbitrary decision here that we will treat young people as if they are adults at the age of 13 for no other reason other than we just decided that.

Now, does that mean that you stop teaching your own children at age 13? I don't think so. I mean, you are their mother and that's just your role. You have to keep teaching them. Who else is going to do it?

I mean, certainly you can send them to school where they will learn everything that you don't want them to learn. And the third area where you can teach women, you may teach unbelievers the gospel. There is nothing wrong with that.

However, I would say this, that if someone becomes a convert, it is very wise to then bring in a man and hand that relationship off, so to speak. Because there is a certain, I think, an emotional attachment that goes with someone who is responsible for you being saved, you know, humanly speaking.

So those are the three exceptions that I would cite. Now, back to the passage that we're in. This absolutely does mean that women cannot ever teach Christian men. There are women teachers who look for loopholes around this.

I know one who says, well, look, I don't tell the men that they need to come in, but I don't kick them out either. That's on their own conscience. I don't know what to tell you, except for Paul says women are not supposed to teach.

Some feminists, and I'm going to talk more about this tonight, have put forth the idea that Ephesus, the city where this was written to, where Timothy was a pastor, was an island of feminism in the sea of male domination that so filled the ancient world.

And they point to the temple of Artemis or Diana and the centrality of the female body image to the worship at this temple. As one writer put it, the idea that Ephesus was some kind of hotbed to feminism.

And that's all that Paul was addressing here. He says that would be a real bulletin to the ancient Greek and Roman world because it simply was not the case. Paul was not making some kind of specific charge that only applied to one church.

And we'll get to the reasons why here in a minute. So women are not to teach in areas of doctrine, the Bible, etc. Now could a woman teach me Japanese? Yes. Obviously, I don't know that much Japanese.

Probably about three words. Now people always want to insert some what-ifs here, what-if scenarios. I love what-if scenarios. You know, what if... I don't really love them, in case you're wondering.

What if a church is all new believers and a woman is the most seasoned Christian there? Then can she be the teacher? No. What if an asteroid strikes the church and the men are incapable of speaking for months?

Can a woman be the teacher? No. A woman cannot teach Christian men, period. The Apostle Paul, commissioned by the Lord Jesus Christ, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, says he does not allow it.

Present tense, active voice, ongoing forever, a permanent prohibition. Paul says this must never be no exceptions. There is not a single example in the New Testament of a woman teaching in the church.

Even later in 1 Timothy, Paul makes it plain that it is men who must aspire to the office of an elder. If you don't believe me, look at chapter 3, verse 2, and he talks about husbands of one wife. I don't think he anticipated what we're experiencing in Massachusetts.

That's not what he was talking about. Husbands would be men with a wife. He could have used inclusive language, but he did not. Women are not to be teachers. They are also not to be in charge. Look at verse 12b, I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man.

Women are not to be in leadership positions. They're just not to have any kind of authority over men. They are not to be the decision makers. I hear of churches who have pastoral search committees and they have ladies on it, and I just think, well, what could be more of kind of like an exercise of authority over a man than deciding whether he should be hired or not?

Look again at verse 12. He says, no teaching, no authority over a man. Rather, the ESV says, she is to remain quiet. Now I'm going to give you a little insight. The ESV kind of chumped it here. The rather is an unfortunate translation choice, although it's better than the NIV, which ignores the Greek word altogether.

The word is actually but, and again, it's that strong adversative. It is the strongest possible adversative. In other words, Paul is saying women should not teach, nor should they exercise authority over men, but instead, in contrast, rather, opposite, they ought to remain quiet.

Now does that mean when we all gather here together and we greet one another, ladies can't say anything? Nope. It means they cannot teach or lead. And that's the contrast. They cannot teach or lead, and even though they want to, they need to remain silent.

You will not see the ladies in leadership positions other than over the women's ministry here at BBC. It's not because we are Neanderthals, women haters, not evolved, we're old-fashioned, although we are old-fashioned, but because we must follow the word of God.

We are captive to it. And it's all going to become quite clear in point number five, but let me just review. Number one, divinely designed difference. Men must lead in prayer. Secondly, women must dress appropriately.

Thirdly, women must be disciples. Fourthly, women must not be teachers. And fifthly, this is so profound, women are different from men by divine design. The world will tell you that there's no difference between men and women.

I think that would be news even to Adam and Eve. Let's go back to Genesis for a moment. I'm going to read just part of verse 13, but go to Genesis chapter 2. Women are helpers by design. Listen to verse 13, it says, For Adam was formed first, then Eve.

This is important, that little snippet is important to helping us understand the whole of this passage. That first word, that small word, therefore. Paul is going to give us the reason for all these truths.

He's going to tie it all up for us. Why was Eve created second? Let's read Genesis chapter 2, verses 18 to 22. Genesis chapter 2, verses 18 to 22. Then the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone.

I will make him a helper fit for him. Now, if you recall, God had brought to Adam all of... Well, actually, he's going to do that, so let me not skip ahead. It is not good that the man should be alone.

I will make him a helper fit for him. Now listen, verse 19. Now, out of the ground the Lord had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them.

And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all the livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field, but listen, but for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him.

Not the birds, not even dogs, not even little pet, miniature wire-haired dachshunds. Not a suitable helper. Verse 21. Eve was a helper, an assistant. Why? Because none of the other creatures that God had created were a suitable companion for Adam.

Women are the perfect complement. That's with an E, not an I. The perfect complement, helper, filler up of all that men aren't, for men. 1 Corinthians 11, verses 8 and 9 says this. Paul writes,. Now it goes without saying that men don't always understand women, but that gets back to the idea that they're a complement to us.

They have certain qualities and characteristics that we don't have. I'm thankful for the differences. But the very purpose God had in mind when he created women was as a companion for men, a helper. He did not create Adam as a companion for Eve.

Woman was created with a purpose to be man's companion. Now, women are daughters of Eve. They are descendants of that. They bear the same characteristics. Verse 14. Let's think about the chronology of this.

Eve led. Eve fell. The curse of Eve is upon all women just as the curse is pronounced upon Adam or upon all men. Adam followed. He was not deceived, the scripture tells us there. He didn't fall for Satan's game.

Although we really don't know, we don't know because these things aren't told to us. We don't know and it's pure speculation whether Satan went to Adam first and failed. We don't know that. Could it be?

It could be. We don't know. Could it be that he looked at the two and thought, I bet I can get Eve easier? We don't know that. All we know is what's in scripture. We know that Satan went to Eve and Eve fell.

She became a transgressor. The word implies that Eve stepped over a boundary. She went over the line. In fact, we know that she distorted the word of God and believed Satan and fell. Her sin involved leadership.

She led, Adam followed, and disaster ensued. Now there are objections to all this. Here we have the created order. Some people object to Paul's writings and they say, well, culture. I mentioned it a little bit earlier about Ephesus.

The idea that these restrictions applied only to Ephesus. They're popular among so-called egalitarians. The idea that we're all equal in Christ. And to evangelical feminists, we are all equal in Christ, but that's not the issue here.

But Paul ties this idea of teaching. He ties this idea of praying. He ties this idea of leading all to one thing. The fall. Eve fell. And part of God's curse upon her is that she would what? Have desire over her husband.

She would want to lead him, just as she did back then. So they object. They say, well, it's just a cultural thing. He was just addressing the culture. No, he wasn't. He directly tied it to the fall of Adam and Eve.

There's no room for debate on that. Another objection, giftedness. What if a woman is really gifted to teach? How can you cause her to suppress that? In fact, in the current issue of Christianity Today, Dr. James Dobson, a focus on the family, in an interview, speaking of his grandmother who co-pastored a church with his grandfather, he says, quote, I would encourage my daughter, when this interviewer says, well, what if your daughter is gifted?

He says, I would encourage my daughter to use whatever gifts God gives her. You can draw the conclusion that women have to be locked into a narrow role, that they can't be creative and can't be leaders.

That's ridiculous. There's not a limitation on girls. Just take your exacto knife and just cut that little passage right out of the Bible. Scripture has to trump opinion. Now, can women be gifted in teaching?

Absolutely. Does that mean that, you know, the fact that maybe somebody here is more gifted than the elders in teaching? A lady. Does that mean we just throw out what the Bible says and let her teach?

No. It means we find an outlet for her teaching ability within the confines of Scripture. Well, what about an inward subjective call? I know that I know that I know that God has called me to the ministry.

That's really no different than God told me. I feel led or I'm sure that what God has told me, I feel sure of what God has told me to do. Well, I'm equally sure that he didn't tell you that because God is not the author of confusion.