Ira Baptist Church
June 14

      • Psalms 107.1-4ESV

      • Psalms 107.5-8ESV

  • Redeemed

      • Galatians 3.23-26NIV2011

      • Galatians 3.27-29NIV2011

  • My Song is Love Unknown
  • Here is Love
  • "A little yeast leavens the whole lump”
    Sometimes, characteristics can become pervasive in a church simply due to the fact that we are around one another.
    The smell of homes - maybe its just me. Not a bad smell, but distinctive smell. A combination of their laundry detergent and hand soaps and pets.
    Galatians 5, the Galatian church was being steered away by influence. In the same way, a church can take on a persona, an identity, an aroma, due to influence and demeanor beginning in just a few.
    So when Paul addresses men and women, he is not necessarily saying that by nature all men are hotheads and all women just care about their appearance, but he is giving some principals to steer the focus of the congregation toward things that will produce a holy aroma, as it were.

    What are you known for? There are characteristics of Christian men and women that should mark our interactions and assembly as followers of Jesus.

    1. Men

    Holy Lives

    Holy - sanctified, set apart, consecrated.
    Romans 12:1 ESV
    I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
    What about the hands?
    Nehemiah 8:6 ESV
    And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, “Amen, Amen,” lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.
    Luke 24:50 ESV
    And he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them.
    The outstretched hands signal both an appeal to God, and a regard of others in blessing or favor.
    The “holy” aspect of this is simple, it is from a life or a heart that is right with God. Set apart toward God.
    Already, then, we see that the focus of the church is to be Godward and others-oriented.
    Reversing the next two

    Holy Intentions

    James 4:1 ESV
    What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?
    Luke 6:45 ESV
    The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
    The illustration of a full cup - when it is bumped, what comes out? - why?
    That seems simplistic, but it is not - it is true.
    When men in a congregation are known for disputing and quarreling and anger, it is not necessarily because there is more to dispute and quarrel about in that church than in others. It is likely because, either by relishing it or failing to repent of it, the men harbor a readiness to express anger.
    Paul does hit a psychological note here, in that there does seem to be within fallen men a more likely disposition to anger in men than women.
    Men are responsible for over 80% of road-rage fatalities.
    If men are naturally gifted leaders and protectors, the ditch on the one side of that is to become controlling and sinfully angry, in arrogance. The occasion to be right doesn’t allow for any and every means of proving that you are right.
    James 1:20 ESV
    for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
    Now, the ditch on the other side is for men to become passive and abrogate their God-given responsibilities to lead, but we will have more on that next week.

    Holy Interactions

    In the church?
    Know this, disputing and quarreling disrupts a church, it disrupts worship.
    Hands lifted to God, regarding others
    prayer, after all, is in essence an appeal to God and focused on others in scope.
    Hands, not quarreling and fighting. Not “throwing hands, but lifting hands”
    Setting a tone in gathered worship, not of one-upmanship, not of superiority or of strife, but of holiness and humility, looking to God.
    Here at the center, then, I want to see this principle which will bear out in the next portion also.
    When we come together as Christians, the focus is to be on God. Anyone or anything that attempts to distract from that focus is a hinderance to the assembly, not a benefit.
    Romans 14:19 ESV
    So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.

    2. Women

    Paul, then, turns to the women with the same principle, different application.
    Now if you read this passage as a sister in Christ and you say, “well, I’m not a dress-up, make-up, dolled-up kind of woman, I don’t worry about my appearance any more than men might”
    Well, then you are 1/2 way there. Because the point is not the particulars about hair and clothing, the point is the positive part of this instruction - and that is the true adornment that is to accompany women of faith.

    True Adornment

    Adornment
    To beautify, to put in order of appearance, to decorate.
    In a big-picture sense, as Paul addresses men and women in distinct but complementary ways, he is saying that both men and women in their comportment in the congregation are responsible for integrity and the reputation of God’s people.
    Now, if you as a woman are more given to anger than you are to worrying about your appearance, this doesn’t give you a free pass to be quarreling and disputing. And men, if you are more given to worrying about your appearance than you are given to anger and disputing, this doesn’t some how free you of any responsibility for the comportment of the church.
    In the larger context, beginning in verse 1, the topic is prayer in the context of a group assembly for worship.
    In the case of this church in Ephesus, it is likely that they had believers and members from all walks of life.
    Later in the letter, Paul will specifically adress the wealthy.
    In the book of Ephesians, Paul will address both servants and masters, indicating that the whole scope of socio-economic classes were present for assembled worship.
    This backs up, by the way, the declaration of the Gospel of God’s salvation for all kinds of people. And that would have been utterly apparent in the fact that sitting in the room together were all kinds of people.
    In Specifics
    1 Timothy 2:9 ESV
    likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire,
    Not with braided hair
    Not with gold or pearls
    Not with costly attire
    1 Peter 3:3 ESV
    Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear—
    Similar, which is interesting.
    Apparently, there was a common way of adorning one’s hair in that day that gave a significant display or emphasis to wealth.
    So, I’m sure that Paul and Peter alike had a picture in their minds, as did the others in the congregation, of when a lady would come in to the assembly with such a noticeable display, that all around could do nothing but say “wow, look at her hair”
    or in regards to “costly attire...” wow, look at what she must have spent on that.
    Now, “expensive” is universally understood, but not universally equal.
    And here is where we must move to principle rather than try to hone in on the exact hairstyle or dollar amount.
    If Paul had written to us in this day, he may have noted another means of displaying wealth or drawing attention. Let the reader understand, and in this case “work out your own salvation.”
    However, the principles underlying it are clear.

    True Beauty

    1 Timothy 2:9–10 ESV
    likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works.
    Notice the positives
    modesty
    Reverence, respecfulness
    self-control
    good works
    1 Peter 3:4 ESV
    but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.
    Adorn yourselves, not with outward displays of what will show to other people something about your temporary qualities like wealth or taste, but adorn yourselves with the true beauty, the unfading standard of beauty which endures for all times and all generations.
    Colossians 3:12–13 ESV
    Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
    What does this mean for us?
    No dress code… although there are churches and denominations that, believe it or not, do have dress codes for the ladies among them.
    Sometimes clear and spelled out, sometimes unspoken.
    What is not called for
    Slovenliness or Laziness in appearance
    out-of-style or strange appearance
    In fact, striving for those things could in a sense be as distracting as another
    What is called for
    reverence
    respectfulness
    a peaceful spirit
    a demeanor that points, like in holy hands of prayer, toward God and defers to others

    True Profession

    1 Timothy 2:10 ESV
    but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works.
    Matthew 5:16 ESV
    In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
    At the end of the day, there is a simply way of thinking about this. And this is true for men and women alike. “You profess godliness, let the unspoken testimony of your life back up the spoken testimony.”
    “Let what you are known for in the church point so distinctly to God that it permeates the whole assembly”

      • Romans 12:1ESV

      • Nehemiah 8:6ESV

      • Luke 24:50ESV

      • James 4:1ESV

      • Luke 6:45ESV

      • James 1:20ESV

      • Romans 14:19ESV

      • 1 Timothy 2:9ESV

      • 1 Peter 3:3ESV

      • 1 Timothy 2:9–10ESV

      • 1 Peter 3:4ESV

      • Colossians 3:12–13ESV

      • 1 Timothy 2:10ESV

      • Matthew 5:16ESV

  • My Faith Looks Up

      • Ephesians 3.20-21ESV

Ira Baptist Church
1 member