God's High Calling For Women, Part 1

1 Timothy 2:9

     For now I'd invite you to open your Bible to 1 Timothy chapter 2...1 Timothy chapter 2.  We're going to be looking together in the next few weeks at verses 9 through 15, 1 Timothy 2:9 through 15.  I want to read that text so you'll have it in your mind.  I trust you'll reread it through the weeks we go in the teaching of it, but I do for this morning want to set in your mind so you listen carefully as I read beginning at verse 9.

In like manner, also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel with godly fear and self‑control, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothing, but which becometh women professing godliness with good works.  Let the women learn in silence with all subjection.  But I permit not a woman to teach nor to usurp authority over the man but to be in silence, for Adam was first formed then Eve.  And Adam was not deceived but the woman being greatly deceived was in the transgression.  Nevertheless, she shall be saved through child bearing if they continue in faith and love and holiness with self‑control.

     Now obviously this portion of Scripture has to do with the woman's role in the church.  And we're going to be looking at it in detail because it is as we find so commonly in Scripture a revelation of the most marvelous comprehensiveness.  The Spirit of God using that economy of words that only God can use uses very few terms to express vast amounts of truth in a comprehensive manner.  Because of that we need to give careful attention to all that is said in the passage.  And when it is complete, we will have a consummate statement on God's design for women in the church.

     Now I think it's apparent to everyone here that this is a battleground today.  The dialogue and debate and even conflict that goes on over the issue of the role of women in the church has reached massive proportions.  It is amazing to me that it all began with a sort of self‑justifying effort on the part of a group of lesbians who wanted to have their day in the sun and gave birth to the modern feminist movement.  Feminism rises out of sinful perversion and yet in spite of its origin it has found its way into the culture of our society in almost every area and even lately into the church.  And the church for years committed to certain standards of behavior for men and women is systematically and rather progressively throwing aside all of its former doctrines in favor of newer ones.  I am amazed at how many evangelical churches, schools and even seminaries are fast jetisoning things that they have for all their life long held to be biblical truths. 

     Books are coming out written by people who have for all their ministry been known as evangelicals now denying the things they've always believed and affirming new truth regarding the role of women.  They're going back to passages in the Scripture and saying they have to be reinterpreted.  Some are saying they have to be ignored, they reflect only Paul's anti‑female bias.  Others are saying they were added later by editors and they do not reflect the intent of the biblical writer or even his own verbiage.  One or another kind of approach is used to do away with what has been the traditional interpretation of the Word of God.  In fact, interpreting passages which are so patently obvious that even a rather brief reading of the passage, as I have just done, leaves you in little doubt as to the intent of its meaning. 

     But nonetheless, the church which is to be the last bastion of the truth of God is falling fast to the march of the feminist army.  And it's my own covenant and vow in my own heart that Grace Community Church and myself and the integrity of our teaching of the Word of God will not become victim to what is going on in the society around us.  We need only to go back to the Word of God and affirm what it says to hold our ground.

     Now we are aware, I trust, that all of this kind of effort is really not the effort of men, but is the effort of the archenemy of God, the God‑hater himself Satan who desires to use sinful human agents to attain his goals.  But really, his goal is to overthrow the plan and design of God for His church.  And that's why it's so tragic when the church capitulates, when the church falls in to the lies of Satan and becomes a part of his own system of attack on the plan of God.  God has designed a place for man and a place for woman in society, in the family and in the church that is very clear in Scripture and we need to go back and reaffirm that for us and for all who will listen to the Word of God.

     Now, frankly, I could take a lot of time demonstrating how far‑reaching the feminist movement is.  I could quote all kinds of people and we could look at all kinds of incidents.  We could go into the schools and seminaries and the books and the things that are indicating to us that the capitulation is wholesale in many areas of the church.  But we're all aware of that.  I really don't think that would serve any purpose to go over all of that data and it would take up a lot of our time.

     So, in view of the fact that we all know about the march of feminism, we all know about the capitulation that is going on, it seems to me most needful to simply look at the Word of God.  And having understood what the Word of God says, we then have the where with all to deal with any error that we might face.  And, frankly, no passage is more direct, more helpful, more comprehensive than the one before us today.  I wish we could cover it all in one time, but you don't want to be here five hours so we're not going to do that.  But over the next few weeks, we are going to cover this passage.  And I believe you're going to see very clearly and concisely what the Word of God has to say about the role of women.  We will also tie in related passages which are necessary because Scripture interprets Scripture.  And when we're done, it will be only a question of whether or not we desire to respond positively to God's Word, or join those who are rebelling against it.

     Now in looking at our passage, I want you to note there are six features in regard to the role of women in the church that the Apostle deals with: their appearance, their attitude, their testimony, their role, their design and their contribution.  Each of these opens up a whole area of thought and understanding to us.  And for this morning, we're going to take the first two.  I had hoped to be able to take the first three, but was not able to get through that third one so we'll take the first two this time.

     Now I want you to remember the context so that you understand the setting of this.  The letter is written from the Apostle Paul to his protege, his son in the faith, his dear friend and co‑laborer, Timothy.  Paul has concluded his three missionary journeys.  He has just been released from his first imprisonment in Rome.  He is now a free man.  The book of Acts is completed.  And as he moves out of prison, he meets Timothy in the city of Ephesus.

     Apparently word has reached him that things in Ephesus are not as they ought to be.  And Ephesus and the church there was close to his heart.  He had spent three years of his ministry there.  He had poured his soul into that church.  He had said about that ministry that he had not failed in Ephesus to declare all the council of God.  He had warned them night and day for three years that error would come from the outside and evil would rise from the inside.  And sure enough, his worst fears had come to pass, the church had entered into doctrinal error, the church had entered into ungodly living and many things were wrong in that church.  Most significantly of all, the leadership had been corrupted doctrinally and morally.  The church then had pastors and elders and those who were the official deacons of the church who needed to be replaced with godly people.

     Well, Paul met Timothy there and I believe personally dealt with Hymenaeus and Alexander, as mentioned in chapter 1 verse 20.  Then Paul had to leave to go west for further ministry, but left Timothy there in Ephesus.  And Timothy was to straighten out the rest of the issues in the church.  Paul's only been gone a few weeks and he writes this letter back to Timothy to strengthen his hand, to encourage him in the task and to make sharp his focus as to what he was to be about.

     Now many things were wrong in the church.  We know that because of the character of this letter and the subjects which it addresses.  But you'll notice chapter 3 verses 14 and 15 sort of give us the overall intent of the letter.  "These things write I to you hoping to come to you shortly, but in case I have to tarry long, I'm writing that you may know how you ought to behave yourself in the church of God which is...pardon me...in the house of God which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth."  In other words, I'm writing you so you know how the church ought to function.  This is a letter to set the church in proper order. 

     Now there were many problems in that church.  One of them...one of them related to the place of women.  Obviously, if the church was entering into areas of false doctrine, obviously, if it was ungodly in its behavior, this would impact the women in the church as well as the men.  And since usually there are more women in a church then there are men, this could have indicated a great proliferation of problems.  Things were not right in that church and it impacted the women.

     There is a reminder in chapter 5, if you'll notice, in verse 2 that women are to maintain purity.  Since there is a polemic nature to this epistle, that is to say it is written to deal with problems, it is written to attack issues, we can assume that the indication here about women having all purity might mark out that some did not.

     Further into that chapter we would note in verse 6, for example, that some women were living in pleasure and were really dead while they were alive.  Some women then had abandoned purity, perhaps.  Some had desired to live only for pleasure.  We find further in the passage in verse 11 that some younger widows had made vows and promises to Christ which they could not keep but in their lust were in danger of great violation of those promises and thus to bring upon themselves in verse 12 condemnation for being unfaithful to their original pledge.  We find in verse 13, that some of them had become idle, wandering around from house to house.  They were tale bearers, busy bodies, saying things that ought not to be said.  Verse 15, some of them had already turned aside after Satan.

     In his second letter to Timothy at Ephesus, the second epistle to Timothy, chapter 3 verse 6 he notes there were silly women who were laden with lusts, who were easily led astray by those teaching lies.

     Now back to chapter 2.  In this passage we learn that not only were women having problems with purity, not only were they turning aside to Satan, breaking pledges they had made to Christ, being led around by their own diverse lusts, but here there were some of these women who were acting indecently.  That is to say bringing these improprieties, impurities and immoralities into the worship of the church.  And under the pretense of coming to worship God were flaunting themselves and desecrating that worship by the dress and demeanor that betrayed an evil intent rather than a heart of worship.

     Now it is important in the church that worship be central.  Is that not so?  We're committed to that here and we have studied much about worship.  So in the list of priorities as Paul sets these things down for Timothy, this comes near the top.  In chapter 2 when he began the discussion of matters in the church, he began with the issue of evangelistic praying, didn't he?  Calling for the church to pray for the salvation of all men because God wants all men to be saved.  And that was the most important issue for Paul to deal with because the church at Ephesus had developed an exclusive doctrine of redemption that said only a few elite Jews who keep the law can be saved, or a few elite Gentiles who can rise to the level of mystical knowledge can be saved, and it's not for everybody. And this exclusive mentality had literally cut the cord to world evangelization.  And so he dealt initially with the need to realize that God wants all men to be saved.

     The second subject that is in his mind is the subject of worship.  And the worship was being polluted by women who saw it as a way to flaunt their wealth, to demonstrate their beauty, to put on a sexually attractive demonstration to men that would draw their focus away from the living God to things not fitting, certainly not fitting in a worship environment.  And so it is the worship issue that is dealt with and that takes Paul right into the whole matter of the role of a woman within the context of the Christian faith.

     Now remember that in the matter of evangelistic praying, he spoke to the men in verse 8.  And said that the men are to do the praying, publicly, and they are to do so not only with holy hands, that is with a clean life, but without anger and dissension, that is with a pure heart.  So the life and the heart of men were the issue in verse 8 and now the life and the heart of women become the issue in verse 9.

     Since clothing is an issue of some importance with the fairer sex, Paul begins with a discussion of their appearance.  And that is the first point that I want you to see.  He discusses their appearance.  And without question in my mind, he is revealing a problem in the church at Ephesus and not only there but, no doubt, their problems were symptomatic of problems in the church everywhere.

     So, he says in verse 9, let's look at it.  "In like manner, also, that women adorn themselves," literally the Greek says, "in adorning apparel."  And then skipping down to the end of the verse he gets very specific, "Not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes."

     Now you really cannot have a problem understanding what he says.  It's very, very simple and very clear.  But I want you to understand the intent of it in full so I want you to look at it in detail.  First of all, the phrase "in like manner" takes us back to verse 8 where he said "I will that men behave in this way...in like manner, women in this way..."  In like manner introduces a new subject but a related one.  It is a new dimension of the total subject of how men and women conduct themselves in the worship in the assembly of the believers.  The word "like manner" transitions within a broad subject matter to another emphasis.

     For example, in chapter 3 he begins to talk about the bishop or elder or pastor.  Then in verse 8 he says, "In like manner the deacon..." in verse 11, "In like manner the women..."  And there what he's doing is within the context of those who are officially recognized as servants of the church, he transitions from elders to deacons to what we know as deaconesses.  So the little word "in like manner" which is one word in the Greek is the transition within a large subject to another dimension of that discussion.  So, he is moving then from the general attitude of men in worship to the general attitude and demeanor of women.

     Now go back to the beginning of verse 8 and you will notice the verb "I will."  This is boulomai, this is the will of intent, this is the will of purpose, this is the will of determination, this is the will of command.  This is not thelo, the will of a wish, the will of emotion.  This is "I command," it carries apostolic intent, it carries divine authority.  He is commanding that men pray and that women adorn themselves in a proper way. 

     Now then after stating the intent is to command, we get an idea that this is serious business.  And what is it specifically that he is after?  "That women, also," the "also" being there to indicate men are to behave in this way, and also women in this, "They are to adorn themselves."

     Now let me just talk about the word "adorn."  The word "adorn" is kosmeo.  We get the word cosmetic from it.  It has to do with how a woman prepares herself.  It means basically to arrange, to put in order, to make ready.  And he is saying a woman is to make herself ready.  I want to start with that very simple thought.  When a woman comes to worship, there is a preparation involved.  A woman should prepare herself for worship.  She should make herself ready, that is assumed, that is a given.  And when they prepare themselves, it should be in adorning apparel.  And here is another form of the word kosmeo from the same root, this is an adjective, kosmios and it simply carries the same idea.  She is to prepare herself with the proper preparation.  She is to adorn herself with the proper adornment.  The word kosmios, the adjective form, means orderly, becomingly, properly, well‑ordered, well‑arranged.  So a woman, then, is to come to worship properly arranged.  That is to say that there is some preparation for worship, obviously.

     Now the word that is translated in the King James by the term "apparel" is really a bigger term than that.  It means not only clothing but is used in many places to mean demeanor or attitude or action.  It can be the deportment of a woman.  The idea then is here is a total preparation.  When a woman comes to worship, she is to be totally prepared.  She is to be adorned from the inside out.  And one demonstration of that is in the proper kind of apparel.

     Now we said the word kosmeo is to arrange and kosmios speaks of the orderness...orderliness of that arrangement.  The noun that comes from that same root is the word kosmos from which we get the word "world."  It's translated very often world.  It really means order or system.  And the opposite of kosmos is chaos.  And so we could conclude that a woman is not to come to worship in a chaotic fashion.  That is in disorder, disarray, without a proper preparation, with an unbecoming demeanor, or an unbecoming wardrobe.

     Now the idea we know here emphasis wise is clothing, but the underline idea is attitude which we'll get to in a moment which is godly fear and self‑control.  But he is talking about clothing because he's very specific about hair, gold, pearls and expensive garments. 

     The point is this, initially a woman is to prepare herself for worship.  And that preparation involves a heart attitude and it involves a proper adornment on the outside.  She is to come not in a disarray in spirit and not in a disarray in clothing, not in a disarray in any way but in proper respect for the matter of worship. She is to be dressed in a manner that is well suited to worship, that is orderly, that fits the God intended spiritual purpose of the meeting of the church.  Her clothing should reflect a worshiping heart focused on God and focused on God's glory.

     Now Paul does not just leave with that general exhortation but he gets very specific at the end of verse 9, let's look at it.  He says, just in case you might miss what I'm talking about, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes.  Now here the Apostle hits at some very specific styles of extravagance that corrupted the worship of the church at Ephesus and perhaps other churches as well.  It is very straightforward and very practical and it needs our attention and understanding.

     Now Paul, let me say this, is not saying that women ought to come to church tacky or slovenly or sloppy or indifferent.  He is not saying that.  He is not saying that they should not be nicely dressed.  He has just finished saying that they ought to come with a right preparation which assumes that they would be properly dressed, in a way that is becoming both to the grace and beauty of a woman and to the purpose and intent of worshiping God.  But as the tendency of men was to perhaps dissent and quarrel and maybe carry a grudge and maybe dirty their hands in the things of life and come with their sins, the tendency of a woman might be to be preoccupied with her outward adornment so that she would abuse the worship service.

     Now let me give you a little idea of what the culture was like and where these things might come from.  There was a man by the name of Juvenal who lived about 40 to...about 60 to 140 A.D.  He was a poet and he has written many things that we have found and so we get a little characterization of that time in the Roman Empire by reading his writing.  In one document that has been found, he wrote this: "There is nothing that a woman will not permit herself to do.  Nothing that she deems shameful.  And when she encircles her neck with green emeralds and fastens huge pearls to her elongated ears, so important is the business of beautification.  So numerous are the tiers and stories piled one another on her head that she pays no attention to her own husband," end quote.

     Now Juvenal gives us a little insight into women who were preoccupied with their appearance.  And certainly we would agree today that our culture is preoccupied with that.  Our culture has the cult of worshiping the human anatomy and worshiping fashion and worshiping hairdos.  I mean, it's just...it's our culture.  And if the church today falls influence to that system, why should we expect anything different in the early church?  It's always the world system that endeavors to encroach on the church and tragically the church sooner or later seems to welcome that encroachment.  There were women in the church in that time whose life was frankly centered on their appearance, as there are women today in the church who have that same mentality.  They come to church with the intent of making an elaborate display of their clothing and their hairdo. 

     In Philo's description of a prostitute which is quite interesting in his writing called "The Sacrifices of Cain and Abel," he writes this, "A prostitute is often described as having hair dressed in elaborate braids, her eyes with pencil lines, her eyebrows smothered in paint and her expensive clothes embroidered lavishly with flowers and bracelets and necklaces of gold and jewels hanging all over her," end quote.

     Now in that particular culture then the woman of the world, the woman who wanted to flaunt her wealth and flaunt her beauty and call attention to herself and attract everybody's interest and sexually allure someone was the woman who was overdressed, over‑made up and over painted in every sense.  Now this was the woman of the world.  This marked out the prostitute or the garish gaudy lavish kind of person.  And what the Apostle Paul is saying, that cannot come into a worship service without being an overt statement‑‑Folks, I'm not here to worship God, I'm here to attract your attention.  That's his intent.

     In Rome, for example, Pliny tells of the bride of Calligula(?) whose name was Lolia Polena(?) and it said that very often when attending some very special event, she was arrayed in pearls, emeralds and gold which exceeded in value one million dollars.

     Now in contrast to the woman of the world who was gaudy and showy and wanted to be alluring and attractive and draw attention to herself, it is interesting to note that if you study the cults of Rome, that is the cultic religious systems, and study the mystery religions of that time, you will find that they had very stringent rules about the dress and the appearance of the women who came into those worship times.  The cults were very strong on this.  For example, there's one inscription that has been discovered that reads like this: "A consecrated woman shall not have gold ornaments nor rouge nor face whitening, nor a headband, nor braided hair, nor shoes except they be of felt or the skins of sacrificed animals," end quote.

     Now that religious cult was saying that no woman can come in here unless she is properly dressed.  That's still very much a part of the cults and religions of the world.  If you were to go, for example, to visit a Moslem mosque anywhere in the world, I've been in several of them in the Middle East, particularly the one in Jerusalem, if you try to go into that place as a woman and are not properly dressed, they will not admit you, in fact, they will dress you appropriately to go in.  In many cases those cultic operations of religion have a higher standard than the church has through the years.

     So, you can see the tension that is existing in the Ephesian congregation that is concerning Paul and Timothy.  And that is the fact that here is the church sitting in the middle of the corrupt world, endeavoring to be a testimony of godliness to everyone around it.  And if the church catches the disease of the world, then it brings reproach on Christ and it destroys its own testimony.  To have the women in the church who are supposed to be the epitome of godliness appear like prostitutes or gaudy showy women trying to call attention to themselves, or to have them come with the intent of alluring other men and making them discontent with their own wife, or even worse, to allure them into a sexual relationship would be to blaspheme the intent of the church, certainly when it comes together to worship the living and holy God.

     So, the point in all of this is that the world of that day and the world of this day has always had a preoccupation with the adornment of women.  And there are always women who want to put themselves on display.  And it's a very delicate balance and a very fine line for a godly woman to know when she is properly dressed to demonstrate the grace and the beauty of womanhood, to show her love for her own husband and submission to him and yet to avoid being the center of attraction that causes people's thoughts to turn away from God to those things which are shameful.

     Now you have to understand, also, that in that particular time there was great poverty among the masses of people.  And a wealthy person could put on a demonstration that was really hard to match.  Frankly, today I can't tell a five‑hundred dollar dress from a forty‑five dollar one.  I've got to tell you the truth, ladies.  I'm not sure how you tell.  Maybe you are.  It's a different time, it's a different day.  But I want you to get a little idea of that day so you can understand what the issue is here.

     In that day, people were very poor.  In fact, for example, a very costly dress worn by a very wealthy woman would cost up to seven‑thousand denarii.  Now a denarius is one day's pay for a common laborer.  So seven thousand days pay for one of those dresses.  And she would come flowing into church in one of these very expensive garments and the whole focus of worship would turn to her.  And everything would be lost.  And the women would feel second class and the men would take a look at their wife and look at her...(snap)...why couldn't I have married a rich one, you know?  It just did not contribute to worship.

     And then there were those women, frankly, who had their intent set on alluring men.  And so they would come dressed in clothing that was not modest, clothing that demonstrated sensuality, passion, lust, desire, that was intended to allure and attract.  And thus with those lustful purposes did they betray and desecrate the spirit of worship.

     So Paul hits at that very directly and look what he says.  First he deals with braided hair.  Now this idea of plaiting, the old word is plaiting, p‑l‑a‑i‑t‑i‑n‑g.  We don't exactly know specifically what that was, it was some way of weaving the hair.  Does this mean it's a sin to put pigtails on your little girl or braid your hair?  No.  That's not the intent.  The intent is that it was a sin to overdo and to develop such an elaborate hairdo that it did nothing but call attention to yourself.  And what happened was, the women would literally take their gold and silver and pearls and jewelry and these tortoise shell combs and things like that and they would stack their fortune on their head.  This was the custom.  A braid is one thing, a braid woven with a gold chain, another braid woven with pearls is something else.  This was a way of flaunting wealth.  And that's what Paul speaks to...the elaborate braiding of a fortune in jewelry in the hair.  Gold, of course, has always been valuable.  It was then and in those days pearls were about three times the value of gold so a woman could put a fortune on her head.

     The women also wore gold on their fingers. They wore them on their ears.  They wore them on their sandals.  They even hung gold on their dresses.  And it was out of place.

     Now that is not to say that you shouldn't own gold and pearls.  I gave my wife a gold ring when I married her and I bought her some pearls.  And I've told her she can wear them.  I've got $60 in those things.  But I notice she didn't wear them this morning, she knew what I was going to preach on.  There's nothing in the Scripture to indicate that God wants everybody poor.  And I remember so well, and you do to, don't you remember reading in Song of Solomon, chapter 1 verses 9 to 11, how that the bride is decked in beautiful things around her neck?  And I'm reminded of the Proverbs 31 woman in verse 22 who had such beautiful clothing in order to honor her husband and appear beautiful in her presence.  There's nothing wrong with that.  It's just that when that becomes the focus of your attention and the intent that you have is to draw attention to yourself by that, and you know that in your environment and in your culture that's exactly what it does, you have violated the spirit of worship.  So women are to come not for the purpose of alluring men from their own wives by putting on a display of lust or sexuality, not for the purpose of parading their wealth, not for the purpose of showing off in any of those ways, but women do that.  And very often do that to allure men.

     After a sermon some time back, I walked out the door there and a woman met me there, a woman who was overly dressed and not appropriately attired for church and she held out her hand and handed me something and I took it and opened it and in it was a well...an expensive piece of jewelry and a gold chain and a note soliciting me.  Now that's pretty overt.  I don't know how it could be more overt.  But there are much more subtle solicitations that go on all the time in the church.  If you don't think so, your head is in the sand.  Just look how many pastors fall...just look how much immorality exists in a church.  It's not new, folks.  It's that which he's dealing with right here, that people should be discontent with their own wife or their own economic status is not certainly the purpose for which a woman comes to worship.  So we might say the curtain comes down on the fashion show in the church in this passage.

     Dressing on the part of women with sexual desires or insubordination to their husbands or to flaunt their wealth or to flaunt their beauty, make themselves attractive to someone other than their husband is a desecration of worship.  To show you how old this is, John Chrysostom, one of the early church fathers, wrote this, "And what then is modest apparel?"  Commenting on this passage.  "Such as covers them completely and decently and not with superfluous ornaments, for the one is decent and the other is not.  What?  Do you approach God to pray with braided hair and ornaments of gold?  Are you come to a ball?  To a marriage feast?  To a carnival?  There such costly things might have been seasonable.  Here not one of them is wanted.  You are come to pray, to ask pardon for your sins, to plead for your offenses, beseeching the Lord and hoping to render Him propitious to you.  Away with such hypocrisy."  End quote.

     So, a Christian woman should attract attention to her character not her clothing.  A Christian woman should show by her dress and her demeanor her love and devotion to her own husband.  She should show by her dress and desire that she has no intent to flaunt her wealth but that she is in appearance and attitude marked out by a humble heart that is obviously committed to worshiping the living God.  And some single women are going to say, "But wait a minute, I'm not married.  And I've got to attract somebody soon."  I can understand that.  But the worship service isn't the place to do that.  That's not the worship service function.

     Furthermore, it might just be that the person you want to attract will be most attracted by your godly character.  I hope so.  You'd hate to get stuck with somebody who was attracted by everything but that.  And by the way, I'm going to say a word before this series is over about you men that ought to be attracted to godly character and aren't showing that you're being attracted by it.  It's time for a lot of you to get married.  But we'll get into that later.  (Clapping)  Some of these godly women have made sufficient the point of their godliness and some of you men...need to respond.  Now back to the point.

     I mean, we're all aware of 1 Samuel 16, aren't we?  First Samuel 16:7 says man looks on the outward appearance but God looks where?  On the heart.  And that's what he's saying here.  And if you're worried about how do I know if it's right?  How do I know if I'm dressed right?  Just check your heart.  I don't believe we need to get specific and I don't think we're going to have a dress check.  I'm not going to stand at the door and say, "You're okay...you're not okay...you're okay...you're not okay."  I know there's a black pastor in L.A. told me a lady came to his church door one time and he said to her, this is the way he said it, "Baby, you can't come in here."  And she said to him why?  He said, "You aren't dressed right.  You go home and you get yourself dressed properly."  And he said to me, he said, "She came back a half an hour later and I was up at the front and she walked through the door and I stopped and I said, "Honey, you look good...come on in."  And he said that's how we deal with that problem.

     Well, we're not going to hire somebody to check you out at the door.  I really don't feel that that's necessary.  I think that's between you and the Holy Spirit.  And all you have to do is do a motive check.  How's your spirit?  What's your intent?  Why are you dressed the way you're dressed?  What's your goal?  What's your object?  Are you going to do everything you can to draw everyone's attention to God or are you trying to draw their attention to you?

     Matthew chapter 6, Jesus said, "Why do you take any thought about your apparel?"  Right?  Why do you give that any thought?  "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these other things shall be added."  God will provide that.

     Look at 1 Peter chapter 3 and that's the parallel passage that's so important.  First Peter chapter 3, he's talking about husbands and wives and their relationship together.  And as he talks about this he gets to verse 3 and speaks of the adornment of the woman. And he says a woman's adornment, and here he's not only talking particularly about the church but he seems to have even stretched beyond that and is talking about how a godly wife wins over an ungodly husband.  You're adorning, he says, let it not be that outward adorning of braiding the hair.  And he refers to that same custom of spending too much time and too much money and too much effort on your hair.  Let it not be that.  Or the wearing of gold or the putting on of clothing but let it be the hidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit which in the sight of God is really valuable.  Now he says when you women think about your adornment, don't think about your hair and don't think about your clothes and don't think about your jewelry, think about your what?  Your heart...your heart.

     Now I want you to know that this is not forbidding you to wear pearls.  It's not forbidding you to wear gold.  I'll show you why it can't be doing that.  Look at verse 3 again.  "Whose adorning, let it not be the outward adorning of braiding the hair or of wearing gold or putting on apparel."  Now if he means you can't braid your hair and you can't wear gold, he also means you can't put on clothes.  Now we know he doesn't mean that.  What he means is let that not be that which is the preoccupation of your adornment.  Put on your clothes and wear whatever jewelry you choose to wear in discretion, modesty and humility and fix your hair in such a way that it is not distracting.  And by the way, the other extreme may be as bad as this one, coming to church with no preparation will cause attention to be drawn to you as well.  And I...it's amazing, the world is coming to a...what looks to me like an anti‑beauty fashion.  Do you feel that way?  I tell you, I have never seen so many ugly hairdos and wardrobes in my life.  (Clapping)  It's almost as if women have bought the lie that womanhood is bad and they want to make it as ugly as pos