Christ’s Counter-Cultural Calling
Bible Passage:
1 Tim. 2:8-13
Pastor:
Pastor Mike
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Sermon Date:
2011-05-14
Everyone who wants to follow God is confronted with the same question, “Will I let God’s Word judge my views or will my views be the judge of God’s Word?” That question matters because in every time and place parts of the Bible will be counter-cultural. They will go against the way we were raised or what everyone believes. Which parts or doctrines those are depend on where and when you live, but they’re always there. Think of Easter. If you told your hair stylist, “Jesus is alive!” she’d probably say, “Well, yeah.” But if you lived in a different place and time—let’s say 1st century Athens—you’d be completely counter-cultural. “A resurrection?! You are nuts! Who taught you that?” Or take the statement, “God loves all people.” In our culture, everyone would say, “Of course he does.” But travel to the heart of Hinduism where karma and reincarnation are commonly accepted and many people will be shocked, “God loves all people? What about the wicked who came back to earth as slum-dwelling nobodies?” Some doctrines will always be counter-cultural. Which ones just depend on when and where you live.
Today’s topic is no exception. God wants men and women to have different roles. For most of history throughout most cultures, the world said, “Well, of course he does.” But that’s obviously not the case in 2011 in Madison. In this culture, any distinction is incredibly controversial. When our own church discussed this doctrine in 2008, words like “prejudice”, “oppressed”, “victimized”, and “discrimination” were used. Our position that only men should be pastors and that only men should have authority over other men was and continues to be extremely controversial, not just to the unbelieving culture, but also to the people of God right here. So let’s turn back to God, study his Word, and answer the question, “Is our church sexist?”
We’re diving into 1 Timothy where God will lay out three sections: What he wants from men, what he wants from women, and what he wants when men and women come together. You’ll see God is unapologetically and completely counter-cultural, in some ways you might never have expected. We start in v.8. “8I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer.” Now that’s counter-cultural. Prayer doesn’t seem like a beard-growing, Harley-riding, tattoo-on-your-neck, manly pastime. ESPN2 has competitions where guys jump off mountains on a piece of fiberglass. There are Navy Seal designed half-marathons where guys carry each other, run up ski hills, and jump through fire. But prayer? Doesn’t seem that manly. Bowing your head while the guys dive into nachos and beer. Not manly. Taking a minute before the game to pray you would play like a Christian. Not manly. Starting Sportscenter late so you can pray for your friends who are far from God. Not manly.
But God defines manly in a different way. To God, prayer is not like quilting. Prayer is like battle. A long time ago, a man named Daniel lived. He loved God. He loved to pray. One day, some of his enemies set him up—passed a law through the government that said, “If you pray, you die.” So what did Daniel do? He threw open the windows of his bedroom, knelt right in front of the window for everyone to see, and prayed. He chose prayer over life. And so they threw him into a pit to be devoured by lions. But the God he prayed to saved him. Prayer wasn’t a harmless starter pistol for Daniel. It was a shotgun in his spiritual war.
God wants men to be men of prayer. Pick up your weapon and fight in this war. Pray for your faith. Pray for the mission of the church. Pray for the enemies of the gospel. Pray for your kids—and not just that they get into college, but that they glorify God in college. Pray God would help you not be another closet-porn-addict who stopped romancing his wife years ago. Pray for forgiveness. Pray for strength. Jump off a mountain if you have time. But make time for prayer.
What else does God say to men? “Lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing.” If you don’t think that’s counter-cultural, you’ve never met a man. No anger? That’s like telling a teenager, “No Facebook.” Anger is what guys do. It’s our specialty. We get angry at the bar. We get angry at the game. We get angry at the T.V. and it didn’t go anything at all. We get angry at opponents, angry at politicians, angry at our bosses, and angry at other drivers. We love middle linebackers who get angry and hurt people. But Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers.” And that doesn’t seem manly. Arnold and Sylvester and Bond didn’t do that. They blew stuff up. Because they were men, right?
But God defines manly in a different way. It takes a bigger man to conquer his anger than to express it. Any idiot can yell. It takes a man not to. It takes a man to go back to the cross, confess his anger, and find forgiveness in Christ, the peacemaker. It takes a man to ask the Holy Spirit to give perspective so we don’t lose it when our team loses the game or our kids don’t make the cut. You can be angry at injustice and sin and the devil, but pray without anger or disputing. God wants you to be a man of peace.
A few years ago, a conservative pastor from Seattle ran into a woman after church. Here’s how he tells the story: “A young woman comes up to me. She’s an associate pastor at a local church. She says, ‘You know, I love your church and I come all the time, but I just hate your position on women in ministry.’ I said, ‘Well, if you hate our position, why do you keep coming?’ She blushed. ‘I don’t want to talk about it.’ I said, ‘Tell me the truth. Why do you come here?’ She answered, ‘I’m single. I want to get married and have kids. There’s no decent guys at my church.’ I said, ‘We got a thousand good guys. They all say, ‘I want to take responsibility, love my wife, raise kids, be responsible, be like Jesus.’ She hates what I believe, but she really likes the fruit.
Guys, what a perfect example for our church. No matter what the culture says, here’s what God says, “Produce fruit. Fight the good fight. Resist the devil. Put on the full armor of God. Don’t go into battle today and get killed. Know your Bible like a marine knows his gun. Stop yelling at your kids. Spend less. Give more. Model repentance for your family by admitting when you messed up. Listen always. Talk sometimes. Love the cross. Run back to Christ every day and find forgiveness for all your faults and his strength for all your weaknesses. Be a man by God’s definition, a counter-cultural, Christian man. Is that sexist? God doesn’t care. He wants his Church filled with men who bear the scars of battle, not boys who are scared to go to war.
So what about women? “9I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, 10but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God.” Completely counter-cultural. “Dress modestly with decency.” If you showed up for a date and a guy said, “Wow! You look very modest this evening,” would you be flattered?! Ever seen a teen magazine, “The 5 Most Modest Dresses for Prom!” No! Culture wants glamorous, alluring, and sexy.
But God doesn’t care about sexy. He cares about sanctified. He cares about what’s honorable for women who profess to worship God. In other words, do your clothes match your confession? Do people look at you and see humility, generosity, modesty, and purity before you open your mouth? Or would they be surprised to hear you’re a Christian? Would guys look at the length of your shorts, the neckline on your dresses, and the size of your swimsuits and say, “I gotta go to that church!” Does God give us measurements, lengths, standard issue modesty uniforms? No, but he does give women a what-to-think-about-as –you-stand-in-front-of-your-closet principle. What is appropriate for a woman who believes in God and in his standard of humility and purity?
Now, you might wonder, are braided hair and gold earrings and shoes from Macy’s sinful? No, not in and of themselves. Notice the contrast Paul makes in v.10—“Don’t dress with braids and gold and expensive clothes, but with unbraided hair and Goodwill rejects and plastic jewelry—No, he doesn’t say that. The contrast isn’t with clothing, but with character—Dress with good deeds.” Ladies, just think before you buy (husbands, I won’t charge you for that bit of help!). Do you want that dress because the guys will notice your body? Then don’t buy it. Do you want that jewelry because your girlfriends will be so impressed? Then don’t buy it. Let your outfit, whatever it is, be a reflection of your faith.
Do you know the best person to help you pick out your clothes? Christ. Because Christ gives you an identity. He sought you out when you were ugly and loved you. He gave himself up for you when you were a mess. He calls you his own and gives you something new to wear—perfection. He clothes you with forgiveness and makes you more beautiful than a princess on her wedding day. When you know that—that Jesus loves you right now—you won’t disrobe to find your worth in getting attention. You will feel like a woman without guys drooling over you or other girls wishing they had what you had. Instead, you can just be secure. How counter-cultural is that?!
So what about when men and women come together? (Well, it looks like we’re out of time. Maybe we’ll get to it in the next century!) This is really the controversial issue, isn’t it? Some of you tuned in last month to the extravaganza on the other side of the lake. A woman and a man got married. But this wasn’t your second-cousin with a keg of Pabst and the chicken dance to follow. This was the royal wedding. Prince William. Kate Middleton. Middle-aged American men got up at 5am to watch it—for the record, that was not manly of you. There were big English hats, a queen, a massive cathedral, and enough cameras to show the world every detail. What many in the world were waiting to hear, however, were the vows. There were rumors about what Kate would say and what she wouldn’t say in her official vows of marriage. The Archbishop of Canterbury asked, “Kathryn, will you live together with William according to God’s law? Will you comfort, honor, love, and keep him in sickness and in health?” Sounds nice, right? What got the internet buzzing was what those vows didn’t say, “Will you obey him?” That part of the traditional vow was dropped. Many people understood why. “It’s antiquated,” they said. “William didn’t vow to it for her, so why would she do that for him?”
The controversy in our culture rages when there is a distinction between the sexes. We’ve come so far with women’s rights—equal pay, equal opportunities, equal status in society’s eyes (all good, godly things)—that making any distinction seems like a step back to an oppressive time. That makes God’s final words in this text challenging. “11A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent.”
Which word in those verses shocks you the most? On the count of three, yell it out. Ready? One. Two. Three! “Learn!” Wait, what did you say? Quietness? Submission? Authority? Silent? When these words were first written, none of those words were offensive. What was counter-cultural was the word “learn”. Most women in the 1st century didn’t or couldn’t get a formal education. They stayed at home and learned in the kitchen. But God didn’t care about the cultural views of the 1st century. He said, “A woman should learn.” She should come to church, study the Bible, attend a class, ask questions, write down answers, get a degree, study theology. Put on some shoes, come out of the kitchen, and learn God’s Word. Completely counter-cultural.
That verb is so important for interpreting this text. You see, many people accuse the New Testament of being chauvinistic. “These men were in power and they didn’t want women in power, so they wrote down this stuff to hold onto their power.” Or, “These men were just living in a culture where women weren’t equal and they were just reflecting that culture in the Bible.” But then you read the word, “learn” and that all goes out the window. The New Testament is not concerned with being cultural acceptable. The crazy thing is that Jesus and Paul and the Bible were incredibly progressive. They gave extraordinary praise and extraordinary rights to women. Jesus praised a woman for her great faith and rebuked the men for their great sin. In that time, women couldn’t testify in court, but God said, “I don’t care about that. I want women to be the first witnesses of the greatest event in history—the resurrection of Jesus from the dead!” Paul praised women by name as “those who have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel”. To read the New Testament and pull the sexist card is to ignorant of the culture in which it was written. God wasn’t conforming to cultural rules. He was calling that culture to a higher standard. The men, who were used to ignoring and belittling women, would read this and have to change their thinking and conform it to God’s design.
In the 21st century America, the situation is reversed. Our culture says, “There should be no distinction. Equal roles. Equal opportunities to serve at every position.” But once again, God is calling culture to a different standard. “12I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent.” There’s really no way around that. We’re not twisting logic or ignoring the context. We’re just trying to be faithful followers of God’s Word. And God’s Word, both here and in the other passages that address this issue, make a distinction between the roles of men and women.
Since there is so much controversy on this, I’d like to take ten extra minutes and wrap things up with six common questions about this doctrine. Here we go:
Question 1: If we take this text literally, why do we let women speak at all? Doesn’t the text say, “I don’t permit a woman to teach…She must be silent,”? The answer is “context”. The context of a chapter, a book, and the rest of the Bible is essential to biblical interpretation. So what does the context say about this verse? In Titus 2, God tells a pastor named Timothy, “Teach the older women…to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women.” That tells us that teaching, in and of itself isn’t the issue. The issue in 1 Timothy is teaching with authority over men. If it means breaking God’s design, then she should be silent. But if she can sing, pray, and praise without exerting that authority, then worship away!
Question 2: Doesn’t the Bible say men and women are equal in God’s sight? Answer: Sort of. There is absolute equality in status. God loves men and women equally. He forgives men and women equally. He protects men and women equally. Both genders stand before him equally through faith in Christ. And yet there is a distinction in roles. Remember Jesus? He loves women, cares for women, stands up for women, and praises women. Yet when he chooses the people to go preach with authority, whom does he choose? Twelve men.
Question 3: How do we know this distinction is for all people of all time? Answer: Verse 13. That verse gives us the reason why men should be in authority. “For Adam was formed first, then Eve.” God doesn’t say, “Well, in Greece men are in authority, so let’s do that, too.” No, he goes back to paradise. When God created the world, he specially formed Adam and Eve and he formed them specially in that order. Was Adam better? Smarter? A better leader? No, no, and no. God simply decided that his design would include men leading selflessly and humbly like Christ.
Question 4: Isn’t talk of male authority and women’s submission an open-door for abusing women? I may have already told this story—I once preached a wedding where much of the bride’s family and friends were not Christians. Nevertheless, the bride chose some verses about submission to preach on. (Thanks.) In front of atheists and feminists, I explained the Bible’s roles for husbands and wives. How men should be like Christ as they lead. How women should respect their husbands and not nag them so much they want to sleep on the roof. I explained how this was the most beautiful thing when a couple lived this. Afterwards, one of the bride’s friends talked to me. She was a feminist and wasn’t about to get an “I’m a submissive wife!” tattoo anytime soon. But I’ll never forget what she said to me. “Your sermon—I’m not sure I agree with everything you said, but I liked the way you said it.” She understood that God’s design isn’t evil. It was the one some people broke that design and abused it. God’s design is the opposite of abuse. To be like Christ is not abusive. To respect your husband is not to be a doormat.
Question 5: What does this doctrine mean practically for Eastside? Admittedly, that’s incredibly challenging since there’s no special appendix on 21st century ministry at the back of the Bible. Here’s a summary: Where there is an official, authoritative teaching or leadership position, we ask men to fill those positions and ask intelligent women to submit to that authority. In our context, we see pastors, Bible study leaders of male/female groups, church board members, and our voters as authoritative positions since they must make binding decisions for the entire congregation, often involving teaching, doctrine, and church discipline.
Question 6: What should we do now? Answer: Repent and pray. Our men need to repent for not using our authority like Christ. For those times we made women feel inferior, didn’t defend them, didn’t listen to them, didn’t consult them, didn’t love them, didn’t pray for them, didn’t protect them, and didn’t treat them like Jesus treated us, we need to repent. Our women need to repent for despising this doctrine and refusing to submit to God-given authority. For those times you didn’t respect your husband, didn’t follow the lead of your church, spoke when you should have been silent, and thought your design was better than God’s, you need to repent. Both men and women need to repent and look to our counter-cultural Savior. If our culture knew all the mess we’ve made, they would never forgive us. If they knew all the evidence, they would despise us. But Jesus doesn’t care about cultural opinion. He forgives. He accepts us because of the sacrifice he made at the cross. We follow God down the narrow road of counter-cultural doctrine because God has won our allegiance at the cross.
So, are we sexist? Maybe. If a church that loves women, prays for women, serves women, teaches men to put women first, teaches husbands to be like Jesus, teaches leaders to listen to, respect, and represent women, yet doesn’t allow women positions of authority—if that’s sexist, then we are. If that is what the culture thinks of us, then we have no choice but to love. To love and sacrifice more for women then even the feminists do. To love and respect men more than the world does. If we cannot get them to love God’s Word, we will get them to love our love for one another. Amen.
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