1 Timothy 2:8-15 “Men and Women in the Household of God” (Carlton 10:30am)

Hello everyone. I've given myself an easy passage this morning. Seriously, I'm going to be the senior minute. Why didn't I get the new student minutes that I've reached on this one or have you Troy could have had or any way? The funny thing is this passage actually is an easy passage to understand, I think. Besides verse 15, which hopefully I'll get to if we have time, it's not that hard to understand the point that one Timothy chapter 2 is making, it says what it says, it says what it means, it means what it says. But of course what makes it hard is how what God is clearly saying in these verses. And I stress that, what God is clearly saying is how that pushes up against what have become almost unquestionable truths in our culture, truths that you're almost not even allowed to question, little alone that you do and get pushed back on. So much people hear these verses and they just say, I refuse to listen, I'm not going to listen to that and so forth. You see, what is the simple point of this passage? What's the simple point of this passage? It's that men and women are different. That's the simple underlying truth if you like of this passage. And so that means God has designed us to play different roles in the family. So husbands and wives are different, fathers are different to mothers, that sort of thing. But then also, therefore, he's designed us to play different roles in the family of God in the church. You see that the teaching in the Bible is really, really clear. God has made men and women equal in every sense, equal image bearers of God, equally valued by God and yet he has also made us wonderfully distinct and complementary. And so the reality is, though, interestingly, I think. The reality is that difference that men and women are different, that has been self-evidently true through nearly all of history. Interestingly, it's not the equality bit that's been self-evidently true, it's the difference bit. The difference people have understood that for thousands of years until very recently. Over the last 60 years or so, basically a bit longer than my lifetime, there has been a revolution. And I'm talking about the impact of feminism. And feminism is just now part of the bedrock of our culture. It's just part of the air we breathe. And in some ways, feminism has had good results for society. It has done good things, good, because there were some things where it actually helped us as a society get rid of things that go against the Bible and go against God's will for people. In some ways, feminism has had these good results. Our culture has rightly kicked out against the idea that men are superior to women. And it's actually enshrined something biblical that no men and women are equally valuable. Society is rightly called men to account who have used positions of authority and responsibility to abuse people, men or women. And so there have been good outcomes of the revolution that's happened in society over the last 60 years. But sadly, in doing that, our society has ended up throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Because now, our society has made an almost unchallengable truth to believe that equality means uniformity. That equality means that there cannot be any difference at all. If a woman are to be truly valued as equal, then it must be demanded that there is no difference between men and women. Even to the point now where it's argued that gender has nothing to do with biology. The gender is just entirely a construct. That's now where our society has moved. Interestingly, I think even our society has realized, hang on, this is going too far and is swinging back the other way. But whether you realize it or not, that's just the air we breathe. And especially if you've been to school or university over the last 30 years or so, you don't realize how much you are just shaped as accepting things as normal. And so for some people here, you might find this passage really grating. In fact, I think all of us will find it grating to some degree because we live in the same world. We assume our culture that what it thinks at this moment is normal and we assume, especially our modern arrogant culture assumes this, we always assume we're progressing. Despite all the evidence that says actually society's get things awfully wrong that they've got to repent of and change all the time, our arrogant modern Western culture always thinks everything we've got now, everyone else was wrong. We're right at the moment. We assume the latest views are always correct. As Christians, we have a very different view, don't we? As Christians, society sometimes gets it right, sometimes gets it wrong. And the history of the world is of society getting it wrong more often than it gets it right. But God's Word does not change. You see, we know human beings get it wrong and what we thought was obviously good 20 years ago, sometimes we go, gee, that was a mistake. But God's Word doesn't get it wrong. God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. And God's Word tells us what is best for us in every age and every time and every society and every culture. But because our passage does conflict with the air we breathe, the danger because of that is that I get up and preach a defensive message today. The danger is that I spend all my time apologizing for God, all my time justifying to you why you have to believe what God says, whether you like it or not. If I did that, I would be failing you as your pastor. I would be failing you because for people like us who love Jesus and love His Word, and I'm sort of making that assumption. If you're someone here today who wouldn't yet call yourself a Christian, it's wonderful you're here. We want people to be investigating the gospel and working out who Jesus is. But if you are someone who is a Christian, then my prayer is, I want you to see this is actually part of a beautiful picture of how God has made us as humanity. And I want you to see that God's ways are best for us. And as I say, if you're someone here who doesn't yet love Jesus, I want to encourage you not to close your ears if you don't like what God's Word says. Because you'll never actually ever investigate or critique anything if you act like that. I want you to listen to what God says and grapple with it and work out and be willing to ask maybe just maybe it offers better answers than our world has to give. So that in mind, a bit unusually, before I get to this passage, I want to remind us of some truths we believe as Christians, one underlying truth, and then two truths on this topic. So three key underlying truths, the first is God is good and so His Word is good and true. God loves us and He wants what is best for us. Now, if you are someone who has come to know Jesus, you know that is the truth. And so who is what it says? The Bible verse, come up, Romans chapter 8 verse 32. It says God did not even spare His own son. That's the overwhelming fact that every Christian understands. The Lord of the universe did not even spare His own son but gave him up for us all. Does God love us? There is the underlying truth. He did not even spare His own son. So then it says, how will He not also with Him grant us everything? So I think some of those people act like they think God is some exasperating father who puts limits on His children, justice to see if they will work it out or just to see if they will obey. That's sadly what many human fathers do. That's why the Bible says, fathers do not exasperate your children because it knows what we like. But you see, in Matthew 7, Jesus points out, if even sinful human parents like us know how to love our kids. If even sinful human parents like us know how to give good things to our children, how much more does our father in heaven give us what is good and what is true and what is best for us. If you don't have that basic belief, then of course you are going to question God's word when it goes against what we think is normal and against our society. But if we do believe that truth, then we approach God's word differently. We approach God's word with humility and we say, I know what God wants is what is best for me. And so if I struggle with it, I have to change my mind and my heart, not change God's word to fit him with my mind and my heart. Now I would just normally assume that truth. That is basically the basis on which I preach every sermon. It's Christianity 101, really. But it's worth making it explicit as we come to this passage, that that's our assumption. But still before we get to 1 Timothy 2, I want us to get clear in our minds what God says in total about men and women in the Bible. Because this passage doesn't come in a vacuum, it's just one couple of verses on the topic. Now I can't go through the whole Bible. This sermon's already long enough. But very quickly, there are two strands of what the Bible says about men and women. And I've called them my second truth and my third truth, truth, two and three. And I want to say this, you have to have both of these truths together or you end up with awful distortions of the Bible. And the history of the church, through a lot of time, and over the last 50 or 60 years in particular, is a great example of where Christians will often take one of these truths and deny the other one. And that then ends up into, oh, we just ignore God's word, or actually in awful situations where power and authority is abused. Okay, so I want to get both of these truths in our heads. So second truth, truth to men and women are both made in the image of God. Men and women are equal in God's eyes, equal in status, equal in our value, equal in our salvation. The opening chapter of the Bible makes this clear. Right from the beginning of the Bible, it corrects that view that women are somehow less valuable than men, which has been so common throughout all of history. So in Genesis 1 verse 26, it says, "God created man." in the sense of humanity and he made us in his own image and then it makes it absolutely clear it then says no he made them male and female in his image together made in the image of God and that idea then flows right through the Bible and it reaches its climax at our salvation and Paul says this in Galatians chapter 3 he says there is no Jew or Greek slave or free male and female since you are all one in Christ Jesus and if you belong to Christ then you are Abraham's seed heirs according to the promise see the the point he's making is you might think that you know certain people have priority back when the gospel says preach that other Jews have priority says no there's no Jew or Greek you might think three people have priority over say no no no no you might think men have priority ever women no not in God's eyes we are all together heirs of the promises that he made to Abraham the God made to Abraham and air would usually only be the son but he says no no male and female together you are all heirs of the promises of God if you trust in Jesus you're one of God's children you are equal in his son now here is the irony that is actually the teaching that is incredibly radical not the bits of our difference because if you just look at society and you look at history and you look at biology the difference is obvious ironically if you are a atheist evolutionist if you are a true atheist evolutionist and this is why I often say I am so thankful that most atheists are inconsistent in their logic because if you truly believe in the world where there is no God and it's just all evolution you have no grounds for arguing that men and women are equal you see I biologically men are physically stronger it's if you believe in survival of the fittest you know what I'm saying that's why we have men's sport and women's sport that is just an undeniable fact of science and sociologically if you want to look at it through that lens every society that is ever existed until the impact of Christianity every society has valued men over women including most societies in our world today that are not impacted by Christianity in the gospel so it's only the Bible and Christianity that has stood up and said no men and women are equal in status and in value and in redemption it's not secularism that logically demands equality it's our Christian heritage see it was Christianity that stopped the ancient Romans putting female babies out on the mountainside to be left to whatever happened to them because they valued boys over girls it wasn't paganism that did that it was Christianity that stopped that was Christianity that stopped wealthy men using women for whatever they wanted to use them for because what did it matter there less than me anyway please don't miss the irony of this the only reason people in Sydney today can stand up and argue for all sorts of things but especially that men and women are equal and argue for change is because of the impact of Christianity try doing that in the Roman Empire before Christianity try doing that in pagan Europe or pagan Africa or pagan Asia or pagan Americas I'm trying to cover the whole world where people live before the gospel try doing that today in the Islamic world try doing that today in the communist world so whatever directions our world goes in never forget the fundamental teaching of the Bible that men and women are equally made in the image of God and so equally valuable in his sight then the other side of the Bible's teaching though is my third truth God has made us wonderfully different equal does not mean the same man and women are intrinsically different whatever modern gender theory thinks men and women are different and so again rightfully beginning of the Bible we see that men and women are meant to complement each other not complement with an eye with an e we are meant to say nice things about one another but we're meant to be together not one without the other see God has made us wonderfully different and he says that difference should show itself in the roles we have in the family so a husband and a wife are not interchangeable they are different they have different roles a father and a mother are not interchangeable they are different they have different roles and so should it be he says in the house of God which brings us at last to one Timothy 2 and our passage today we've finally got there but you must have those three truths in your mind to correctly understand this passage and fit it in so let's turn there now men and women in the house of God I really do want you to have it open so if you didn't get a Bible put your hand up someone will get you one so that we can all be looking at it together now we started looking at chapter 2 last week and we saw how this whole section is talking about how we should conduct ourselves in what he calls God's household that is the family of God the church so it's not telling us how we should conduct ourselves in the world it's showing us how we should conduct ourselves as Christians so if you flick over to one Timothy chapter 3 verses 14 and 15 just till the next week's thunder he summarizes what this whole part is about and he says this he says I have written so that you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household which is the church of the living God the pillar and the foundation of the truth see what you're saying saying this is all so that you'll understand how we should act as the church how we should conduct ourselves so last week looked at chapter 2 verses 1 to 7 and you remember Troy sermon last week he starts with prayer he encourages us all to pray men and women everyone pray and pray for all sorts of people all sorts of prayers you remember he just repeats that word all the whole time pray pray about everything but he makes the point that he wants all people men and women all to pray that all other people would come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior that's the big purpose of it now at verse 8 he addresses men and women differently come with me look for verse 8 he says therefore I want the men in every place to pray lifting up holy hands without anger or argument so many says I want you to stop lifting up your hands to fight that's not what I want from you I instead lift up your hands to pray if you want to bumper sticker for it it's be prayers not fight as men that's that's what he's saying now women should hear that call too he's not saying women you get on with fighting doesn't worry me women don't pray that he's not he's not saying that what he's doing is he is picking up on the reality of that fundamental difference between men and women you see that a particular struggle not for all men but a particular struggle in general for men is over aggressiveness a particular struggle for men is anger and then misusing their physical strength in unhelpful or for ways he's saying because we're different as Christians because we're different as men and women this is something I need to address with men especially is it men stop thinking masculinity is about throwing your weight around men stop thinking being a man is about asserting your authority and see that real men are spiritually strong real men lead in prayer rather than leading that to the women then he turns to women look at verse 9 he says also the women are to dress themselves in modest clothing with decency and good sense not with elaborate hairstyles gold pearls or expensive apparel but with good works as his proper woman who profess to worship God now again he is not saying that some men don't need to hear this and you know I sometimes walk I've never walked into a gym or walk past gyms and and I think there are many modern men you'd be surprised to hear that but there are in our modern world men need to hear this too but the reality is throughout time and history because of the way God has made us this is more of an issue for women so he says to women don't worry so much about hair don't worry so much about makeup and jewelry adorn yourself with what is truly beautiful he is saying so stop worrying so much about that and adorn yourself with modesty and with faithfulness and with good works care about the beauty that really matters now how sad that as soon as I say that you know if I went on the ABC you know I don't have Q&A anymore because no one was watching it but if I went on there how sad if I if they asked me that question and I said those things just read out to the people would all be up in arms and people would say how dare he say that just to the women and people would say how dare he tell women how to dress but we are not like our world we're Christians we're people who want to want a God and so we say well what great wisdom and if I might say any person who doesn't just blindly follow the culture any person who doesn't have an axe to grind who doesn't have an agenda to push they hear this and they say you know what God's word is true isn't it any person who's ever had sons and daughters says wow gee God's word is true because wouldn't our society be better if men and women actually heard these words today wouldn't our society be better if men heard stop abusing your physical power stop abusing your generally greater strength and use it for good use it to serve use it to love use it to pray women don't be drawn into the world of Instagram that just destroys you don't don't do that you know care more about true beauty than what you look like for other people wouldn't it be wonderful if more women in our society heard that And man, you can help with that stop objectifying women and actually care about true beauty rather than these physical things. As I said, the things he said to men are relevant to women. The things he said to women are relevant to men. But underlying it all, he is just recognising that men and women are different. And so we need different emphasis because God has made us different. And that idea then of the difference between men and women must show itself, he says, in the household of God. Which brings universal heaven, come to universal heaven. He said, a woman is to learn quietly with full submission. I do not allow a woman to teach or to have authority over a man instead she is to remain quiet. Now what's he saying there? We don't see it because we're 2000 years into the influence of Christian thinking. But people from many cultures would see it. What he says there is actually revolutionary, women learn. We take that for granted. But that was not encouraged in the culture of that day, nor in many cultures, not impacted by Christianity today. Rather ironically, Jesus and Paul were seen as women's liberation people in their day. So women, he says learn, but that learning should take place with a quiet spirit and with a submissive attitude. Now, understand because sometimes Bible translations get this wrong, quietness doesn't mean silence. It's not saying women, I don't want to hear from you. It's the same word as the quiet life we were praying for back in verse 2 for men and women. So it's that same idea. It's that idea of not with seeking to overthrow things, not with seeking after authority. It's just quietly learning with a submissive spirit without being argumentative. And by the way, that's how the Bible encourages men to learn as well. And that means that, now remember, this is talking about the gathered household of God. He's not talking about how the female police officer relates to the man breaking the law. That's not what he's talking about. He says that means in the household of God, I want teaching and authority to be reserved for suitably qualified men. Now, as I say, that greats against our culture. And we've got to get this right. We mustn't go beyond what the Bible says, which sadly many Christians have done. And I was very clear, women are encouraged to teach in all sorts of other ways. Men and women alike are called to speak the word of truth in love to one another. Men and women alike are called to share the gospel with men and women alike. Men and women alike are called to encourage one another. Men and women should be doing all these things. The Godly Church doesn't separate men and women like other people might. Women are encouraged to teach other women and children and youth and so forth. In my Corinthians, women are encouraged to pray, to prophesy, to sing praise, there's all sorts of things. But that task of communicating the word of God to the gathered people of God, to lead the gathered people of God is reserved for Julie appointed men. Not all men, by the way. That's another overrated this. It's not saying all women submit to all men and any man at church can tell any woman to say, "It's not what it's saying." It's saying sit under the Julia pointed elders of the church. And what about having authority? Well, that's talking about those who are called to oversee the church, to lead the church in following Jesus. And the two are related. You can't teach without having authority. You can't have authority without teaching. That's why I put them together. But these two things, he says, are reserved for Julie appointed men. Not all men. And that's what we're going to get to next week in 1 Timothy chapter 3. It's certain people who are sent aside to have these roles. Now the immediate question is why? Why does God make this distinction about the roles of men and women in the household of God? And that's an important question. Because a lot of people, and a lot of churches, and a lot of people who call themselves Christians, and a lot of people who are Christians want to say, "This doesn't apply to us anymore because his reasons for this were cultural." So there are all sorts of different arguments people make for why we don't have to listen to 1 Timothy chapter 2 anymore. And I should say, I cannot deal with all the arguments here and make our sermon even longer this morning. But if you come across, I can bring it up with me. Talk about it. Let's hear about it. But the gist of most of them is, this is about what was going on in that city, in that culture at that time. And so the argument is, some people argue in that culture would have been shockingly offensive for a woman to have authority or to teach in the church. So that's why it's forbidden in the church. It's a funny argument because Jesus and Paul really didn't seem to struggle with being shockingly offensive to people on multiple grounds. The other argument is our culture has moved on. Beyond that, it doesn't apply to us. The other argument people give is that in that particular church there was a particular problem with some particularly argumentative women. What's the problem with those arguments? Other one I've already said, that there are loads of problems with those arguments. But the main one is God's word. He doesn't appeal to culture to support the argument. He doesn't say, "I don't allow this to happen here in this setting, but I do here." He doesn't say, "I don't permit a woman to teach because it would cause a scandal." He doesn't say, "I don't permit a woman to teach because those women really caused trouble." Last time I was there in Ephesus, what he does say is, "I don't permit a woman to teach because of the way God made us." That's the argument he gives. Not because of culture, but because of creation. And so he says, "This is true whether you're in Ephesus in 60 AD or in Sydney in 2026 AD if you are in the House of God." So look with me from verse 12. He says, "I do not allow a woman to teach." And then he says, verse 13, "For because for Adam was formed first, then Eve." There's the reason, because of the way God made men and women back in the beginning. Now he assumes in saying that you've got Genesis 1 and 2 in your head. So if you don't know Genesis 1 and 2, you'll have to go read it later. But very, very briefly, remember back in the beginning in Genesis, God made Adam and then he made Eve and he made Adam first, and he from Adam to be his helper. Now we hear the word helper and we think, "Oh, lesser." That's a silly argument because the other person, one of the better word, who gets called our helper all the time in the Bible is, got himself. And no one thinks God is less valuable than us. It's not a negative word. The point is God gave man this responsibility and then he made woman to work with man and compliment him in fulfilling that responsibility. That is undeniably what it says in Genesis 1 and 2. Then he goes on, verse 14, he said, "Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and transgressed." Now again, please don't overread this. Some people have said this is saying, is this saying women are not permitted to teach because it was Eve that messed up and not Adam. Like Adam was an innocent bystander. If that understanding is right, that would go against the whole rest of the Bible. Who gets blamed for sin entering the world, the whole way through the Bible? Adam. So Romans 5 is the most obvious place. Adam heard God's command, Adam ignored it, Adam transgressed, and sadly sin entered the world. So again, he assumes he, you know the story in Genesis 3. You can go read Genesis 3 again later on. How God created the world with this order, how Adam was meant to listen to God and then take responsibility and include Eve in that as they lovingly served. And together they were to rule over God's creation. But what happens in Genesis 3? Eve listens to the serpent, who they were meant to rule over. Like it says, she was deceived. But then what did Adam do? When instead of listening to God and lovingly saying to Eve, "Oh no, you didn't hear this, but I did." God says we shouldn't do that. Adam gives into the temptation himself. When you read Genesis 3, it is Adam who comes out far worse. Let me tell you. He was the one who heard God's commands. The point is being here is Eve was deceived. Adam just said, "I'm in." Eve was deceived. Adam said, "I know it's wrong and I'm doing it anyway." See, Adam willfully disobeyed. He was there as Eve listened to the devil's lies and he said nothing. And then he just took the fruit. And so this passage is saying, "Look what happened when God's order gets messed around with. I want my household, I want the church to reflect God's order, not the messed up order of our sinful world." That's his argument here. It is not saying that all men are better teachers than women. It's not saying women can't teach, as I said before, there are so many ways that women are encouraged to teach in other ways as a part of God's people. It's not saying all women have to submit to all men. And I want to say that over and over again. It's not saying that. It's about in the household of God submitting to the teaching and the authority of Julie appointed elders. Like all men have to as well, by the way. And I should say this only makes sense when you understand the gospel. Because you see this would be awful in the world. Because leadership is about bossing people around and looting it over people. But Jesus has totally turned on its head what leadership is in the gospel, hasn't he? The one who deserved to be served came to serve rather than be served to give his life a ransom for many. And that is his model for all Christian leadership in any setting. is a life of service of giving up of oneself to care for the others good. It only makes sense when you've understand it in that context. So that's the passage, I'll get to verse 15 in a moment, but that's the guts of the passage. God is saying, "Understand I've made men and women different, so I want them to have different roles in the family of God, and that applies to all churches at all times because it reflects God's created order." It's actually pretty simple, even if hard to take. If we haven't believed those first three truths. But the next question is harder, which is, "What does this look like in practice?" What does this look like at St George North, Anglican Church? What does this look like in the modern church in our church? See, one of the difficulties of applying this part of the Bible is working out what falls under teaching or having authority, and what doesn't fall under that. That doesn't include all preaching at the Sunday service. Does it include leading a gospel team study? Does it include parish counsel, serving on parish counsel, or as a warden? Now, if we're going to be faithful to God's Word at this point, we have to draw a line somewhere. I hope you've seen it's not acceptable to say, "I'm a Christian, and I just throw this out." It's not acceptable to say, "I'm a church, and we just throw this out." And sadly, lots of modern churches and denominations have done that. They've just thrown it out. Interestingly, they nearly all shrink afterwards, because if you just say, "We do whatever the word is, there's good rather than the Bible," pretty soon people say, "You've got nothing to say to me. I can learn this from a self-help book, rather than actually be a part of the household of God." So some churches have decided they've said, "Where we draw the line is we don't allow a woman to be the senior minister, like my position here, but we do allow women to preach underneath the authority of the senior minister." Now, I think that's very convenient, but it's a little bit smart for its own good. The passage Kulie talks about teaching, or having authority over a man, and not teaching with authority, or without authority, or something like that. So now, I think to faithfully accept this teaching, we have to draw the line somewhere beneath preaching the Bible to the gathered people of God at our normal gatherings. I mean, if this is not teaching or having authority, then what is? You know, we effectively say nothing is if we draw the line under the table. Nothing is if we draw the line under that. I think it also excludes leading the church, or leading a mixed Bible study group generally, as in leading the study. I don't think it excludes women from being on our parish council, or serving as wardens, and that sort of role, because those positions are more about administering the church, rather than teaching, and having authority in that sense. So that's how we've tried to apply the Bible here, at St. George North, on this issue. I want to say to you, though, some other churches, you might have friends at other churches, that draw the line differently. And some might be more conservative, some less conservative than ours. And I want to encourage you, I might not agree with where they draw the line, but I respond with grace and gentleness, even as I explain our difference. It's not something to go and judge people on, if they show that they're still seeking to apply the Word of God in their setting. It matters, because we want to talk about applying the Bible rightly, but it's not something to just go and say, "Oh, your church is wrong because it does this." For instance, if they let people do something that we don't, or something like that. But that's where we've drawn the lines, if you like it, St. George North. But again, I want to affirm, though, and please understand this, there are so many things women are called to do, and encouraged to do, in the church. Leading the church in prayer, Bible reading, music, singing, sharing words of encouragement and testimony, teaching the Bible to other women, teaching the Bible to children, teaching the Bible to teenagers. Women are free to serve in so many ways, and we often focus on what's not permitted, rather than everything that is permitted when we have these discussions. And interestingly, come to the last verse. I think that's the point of the very cryptic verse 15, the point that God values women as women. Now, I'm going to go through the various options of what people think about this verse. If someone writes a book on this verse, they usually come up with about 10 different possible understandings. But that, it's hard. Verse 15 is making sure that we don't think that by saying women can't do this, that that means women are less valuable in God's eyes. It's an old verse 15. It says, "But women will be saved through childbearing if they continue in faith, love, and holiness with good sense." Now, if you took out the words with childbearing there, this verse would be really simple, wouldn't it? I mean, tempted to do that all week. The point is that women like men will be saved through faith in Jesus. That's the main point of it, a faith that shows itself in love and holiness and a sensible life. So why the childbearing bit? Well, what is the quintessential example of our difference? What is the quintessential example of what a woman can do that a man cannot do? Not all women do for various reasons, but whatever our crazy modern world thinks, men can't have children. See, that's the point here. And the point is women, he's saying, "Live out your faith as a woman." You don't have to take on these other roles to be important in God's sight. He's actually really validating the mother and how important a role that is. You don't need to be the preacher to be loved by God. You don't need, you God values you as a woman. Now, you think, "Well, isn't that self-evidently true for anyone who's read the Bible?" Let me tell you, if you go back and read things written in the early church, it took a lot of people convincing that women were included. It took a lot of people a lot of time to be convinced. They found writings, one of the fake gospels, where they made up stories about Jesus, where it said, "You've actually got to become a man to be saved." Because they couldn't get the head around the fact that God values men and women both in salvation. And that's the point he's making here. God values you. You don't have to become a man. You don't have to act like a man. God values you as a woman, just as he values you as a man as well. People talk about this passage as being a difficult passage. All weak people have said to me, "Wow, what a difficult passage." But as I said, really, besides the childbearing bit in verse 15, it's not that difficult to understand. God has created us male and female. God has created us equal in His sight, but He's made us to be wonderfully different. And He wants His family, the household of God, to reflect that. And I think it's so important that we do reflect that as the church, or we will become irrelevant and useless to our world. See, it really sounds me that just when our modern world is starting to realize, hang on, this isn't working. We thought if we just removed all the differences from men and women, we'd get rid of abuse. But there's more abuse. We thought if we just get rid of all the men and differences between men and women, there'd be more equality, but there's less equality, all the studies show. It's just when our world is working out, this isn't working. Sadly, many Christians are saying, "Oh, let's just become like the world." Rather than saying, "Maybe God has a better picture. Maybe God has a better way." Despite all the claims that we believe in equality, our world is in a mess. We now have generations of men in particular who are confused and don't know what it means to be a real man. Because they've lost all understanding of it, and they think either a real man abdicates all responsibility or a real man is a bully who misuses his strength for abuse. Rather than what the Bible says, that real men take responsibility, but take responsibility to love and to serve. That's what a real man is. And we've got generations of women who don't know how to be women because the world is said, "You can have it all." And so we've lumped every problem on women, and then we've said, "And by the way, try and act like a man with all the worst traits of men that Jesus said men needed to repent of. To be a success in the world be more aggressive. Assert your rights more, the opposite of what Jesus calls on men and women to do. Our world is in a mess. God's way is better. And so we need to model it in the church. Male and female equal in God's sight, but wonderfully different. And that's the teaching of the Bible. And that is a message we should not be ashamed to talk about. Let me pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you that your Word doesn't just affirm what we think. We thank you that your Word speaks the truth, whether it's in season or out of season, whether it's popular or unpopular. And we pray that we would continue to trust and know that you are the Lord who sent your Son to die for us, and say, "You want what is best for us." And so we pray that we would bring our minds and our hearts into line with your Word, even where it disagrees with society. And we pray that in our church, as people who have asked, they would see a place where men and women are equally valued, that they would see a place where men and women are equally treated with love and respect, but also a church that reflects your order of things. of things. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.