INTRO.- Our world is full of bad behavior. However, it’s not supposed to be in the church! Christians are supposed to be somewhat different from other people in the world.
ILL.- Geroge Gallup wrote: There’s little difference in ethical behavior between the churched and the unchurched. There’s as much pilferage and dishonesty among the churched as the unchurched. And I’m afraid that applies pretty much across the board: Religion, per se, is not really life changing.
Religion may not be life-changing but Christ is life-changing. And true conversion to Christ is life-changing. Christ does change a person’s behavior!
ILL.- I think a great example of changed behavior is that of Nicky Cruz, of the famous “Cross and the Switchblade” story and movie. Nicky was only 3-1/2 years old when his heart turned to stone. As one of 18 children born to witchcraft-practicing parents from Puerto Rico, bloodshed and mayhem were common occurrences in his life. He suffered severe physical and mental abuse at their hands, at one time being declared the "Son of Satan" by his mother while she was in a spiritual trance.
When he was 15, Nicky’s father sent him to visit an older brother in New York. Nicky didn’t stay with his brother long. Instead, full of anger and rage, he chose to make it on his own.
Tough, but lonely, by age 16 he became a member of the notorious Brooklyn street gang known as the Mau Maus (named after a bloodthirsty African tribe). Within six months he became their president. Cruz fearlessly ruled the streets as warlord of one of the gangs most dreaded by rivals and police. Lost in the cycle of drugs, alcohol, and brutal violence, his life took a tragic turn for the worse after a friend and fellow gang member was horribly stabbed and beaten and died in Nicky’s arms.
As Cruz’ reputation grew, so did his haunting nightmares. Arrested countless times, a court-ordered psychiatrist pronounced Nicky’s fate as "headed to prison, the electric chair, and hell."
No authority figure could reach Cruz - until he met a skinny street-preacher named David Wilkerson. He disarmed Nicky - showing him something he’d never known before: Relentless love. His interest in the young thug was persistent. Nicky beat him up, spit on him and, on one occasion, seriously threatened his life, yet the love of God remained - stronger than any adversary Nicky had ever encountered.
Finally, Wilkerson’s presentation of the gospel message and the love of Jesus melted the thick walls of his heart. Nicky received the forgiveness, love and new life that can only come through Jesus. Since then, he has dedicated that life to helping others find the same freedom.
Christ does change the behavior of genuine believers who surrender to Him.
PROP.- In our text, Paul speaks of the behavior of Christian men and women.
1- Behavior of men
2- Behavior of women
I. BEHAVIOR OF MEN
8I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing.
ILL.- A man and woman where on their honeymoon after a long and very happy courtship. On their honeymoon, they decide to take their horses through the beautiful mountain passes of Europe. As the horses were crossing a small stream, the woman’s horse mis-steps and jostles the man’s wife.
Once across the stream, the man dismounts, walks over to the horse, and stares into its eyes. Finally, he states, "That’s one." The man remounts his horse and they continue their ride.
A bit further down the path, the woman’s horse stumbles when stepping over a fallen tree. The man dismounts, stares the horse in the eyes, and boldly states, "That’s two!" He returns to his saddle and they move on.
As the afternoon sun began to set, the woman’s horse once again lost its footing on a mossy slope. The man dismounts, moves to the woman’s horse, and helps his wife out of the saddle the man. Moving to the front of the horse he stares it in the eyes and firmly says, "That’s three," removes a pistol from his vest, and shots the horse dead.
The woman, quite upset at seeing the beautiful horse killed, says to her husband, "That’s terrible, why would you do such a thing!" The man stares at his wife and firmly says, "That’s one!"
Now what kind of behavior is that? It’s funny, but it’s not correct behavior according to most wives and according to scripture. It’s not how a husband should treat his wife.
I Peter 3:7 “Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.”
Here is God’s Word for how a husband should behave toward his wife: be considerate. Treat them with respect.
What about a Christian man’s behavior otherwise? What’s he to do?
8 I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing.
Christian should lift up holy hands in prayer. Huh? What’s that? I know about prayer, but what about lifting holy hands in prayer. I thought that was something only charismatics did?!
Seriously, you don’t see many people lifting up their hands in our church services, but I get the idea from this text that there is certainly nothing wrong with it. However, I think it should be genuine and not something for “show.”
It may be like when we were small children. We were taught to pray how? With our heads bowed and our hands folded together. And these are still a good practice as long as they are sincere forms of reaching out to God in prayer.
ILL.- I remember when I was a student at Ozark Bible College back in the mid-60‘s. On Wednesday nights, we had prayer meetings in the chapel. Sometimes it was more like a revival, that is, when Brother Woody Phillips would preach to us students. Sometimes he laid it on us pretty hard. I remember one time when he said in his sermon or teaching, “you OBC kids are keeping the local theater open.” He was rebuking us for our worldly behavior of going to the movie show.
In the midst of Woody’s preaching and teaching he would stop and say, “Now let’s stop and pray about this.” He encouraged us to say sentence prayers. He would invite all of us to get down on our knees between the pews and pray together.
I thought that was good but I also thought it shouldn’t be forced. If someone didn’t feel comfortable on their knees in prayer then I didn’t think they should be compelled to do so. CAN YOU IMAGINE ME ASKING YOU TO DO THAT IN CHURCH? It’s certainly not a bad thing but it would be a forced thing for some people and some of our people would have hard a time doing it physically!
Now what about lifting up holy hands in prayer? I remember a professor inviting us to do this in a class in Bible College? At that time it felt very uncomfortable for me, however, there is certainly nothing wrong with it.
The important thing about this text is that men should be holy and they should pray! You can pray without being holy but you can’t be holy without praying!
We should be men of prayer, mighty in prayer. Instead of being angry and argumentative, we should be men of prayer! That should be our behavior inside and outside the church.
II. BEHAVIOR OF 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. 11A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. 12I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. 13For Adam was formed first, then Eve. 14And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. 15But women will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.
Behavior of women. Boy, now we’re preaching the gospel! Did you happen to notice that there is whole lot more about women’s behavior than men’s? I wonder why? There must have been a problem with some women in the early church.
ILL.- 07/20/09 - After more than 60 years together, Jimmy Carter has announced himself at odds with the Southern Baptist Church -- and he’s decided it’s time they go their separate ways. Via Feministing, the former president called the decision “unavoidable" after church leaders prohibited women from being ordained and insisted women be "subservient to their husbands." Said Carter in an essay in The Age:
“At its most repugnant, the belief that women must be subjugated to the wishes of men excuses slavery, violence, forced prostitution, genital mutilation and national laws that omit rape as a crime. But it also costs many millions of girls and women control over their own bodies and lives, and continues to deny them fair access to education, health, employment and influence within their own communities.
And, later: “The truth is that male religious leaders have had -- and still have -- an option to interpret holy teachings either to exalt or subjugate women. They have, for their own selfish ends, overwhelmingly chosen the latter. Their continuing choice provides the foundation or justification for much of the pervasive persecution and abuse of women throughout the world.”
Right or wrong, that was Jimmy Carter’s decision. I personally don’t think the mentality of the Baptist church has changed at all during those 60 years. If anything, I would say that the Baptists and other churches have become lenient in their thinking about the woman’s role in the church and in society.
9 I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes.
Actually, Paul discusses a woman’s dress before he says anything about her behavior. Dress modestly. That’s pretty much what you see in the church today, modest dress. The way of the short skirts is gone. It may have been a big thing in the past and occasionally, was even seen in the church but no more.
ILL.- I had one preacher friend tell me about some churches he was affiliated with in the past where they actually measured the length of a woman’s skirt before she was allowed to come into the church. THAT’S PRETTY EXTREME behavior on the part of church leaders.
If anything today, you don’t see many women go overboard when it comes to dressing for church. It’s pretty modest and mild these days. No hats, no high heeled shoes.
9 I 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.
V. 10 Good deeds. There’s the proper behavior for women. They should be adorned or beautified with good deeds. Of course, we know that all Christians, both men and women, should fill their lives with good deeds.
11 A 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.
This is real gospel stuff! Ha! Women should learn in quietness and full submission. HEY, we ALL should learn in quietness and full submission to God! No one can argue with that.
What about women teaching men? They can if the elders give their approval. And the elders better give their approval, otherwise, you won’t have a VBS! Many of our churches have been kept alive by the women of the church who served and taught the Word of God!
Of course, the leadership of the church is still given to men. There are no women elders in the Bible, but there was a deaconess.
Romans 16:1-2 “I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church in Cenchrea. I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been a great help to many people, including me.”
Phoebe was a deaconess in the sense that she was a servant in the church and we have lots of women servants in the church. In fact, we have more women servants in the church that men servants!!! Look at the women who serve in various ways. And as I said, look at our VBS!
15 But women will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.
This sounds like a woman will be saved if she gives birth to children. Not exactly. We know from the context of all scripture that all people, both men and women, can only be saved through faith in Christ. But if a woman fulfills her natural role in life as a mother it may well encourage her to live the faith. Giving birth tends to make women think more highly of God and Christ.
CONCLUSION------------
Remember when you were a child and mom and dad would say as you went off to school or perhaps other public functions: “Be sure you’re on your best behavior!”?
Well, what do you think God is saying to us who are in Christ? Be the best you can be. Be the light of the world. Be on your best behavior in this world and you will be the light of the world!
We’ve heard the experts talk about behavior modification. Well, there is only true behavior modification that’s to be in Christ and allow Christ to change you. We must believe in the power of God and His Spirit to change into better people. It’s not a matter of wishful thinking, it’s a matter of surrendered living. When we surrender to the Lord He will do a good work in us!
Steve Shepherd, Jonesboro Christian Church, AR
jonesborochristianchurch@suddenlink.net
