The Scariest Sermon I've Ever Preached

Text: 1 Tim 2:11-15, Title: The Scariest Sermon I’ve Ever Preached, Date/Place: WHBC, 4/8/18, AM

A. Opening illustration: I’ve preached on gay marriage before a referendum was voted upon. I have preached on hell and eternal punishment. I’ve preached on false salvation. I have preached on God’s design for suffering after many “preventable” events. I have preached on church discipline. I’ve preached on election/predestination. I’ve preached on modesty. This sermon today, I have wrestled with for weeks. I have discussed it with everyone I know. I have read everything I have to read.

B. Background to passage: Paul has begun to give Timothy his list of issues that he needs to fix at Ephesus. False teachers had confused and led astray many. Therefore, this text and all the rest of the book, really all the text of the bible is set forth to advance the kingdom, to further the gospel, and to glorify Christ. So, if you are here today and you have never embraced Christ as your treasure, look to the cross first. Be born again first. Let the gospel transform you first. Jesus loves you first. He desires repentance and followership first. Believe. This text again deals with women and their role in the church. I wish that I could cover the breadth of the angles regarding women in ministry, but there is not time. However, I will try to include most texts and truths relevant to this subject matter. Two reminders: 1) this is the next text in the book, 2) I do not take any preaching of the Word lightly. As much as I want you to check behind me and learn it for yourself, I do not have the liberty to stand before you and in an authoritative sermon and get it wrong. The only authority I have comes from this pure and unadulterated Word. I have labored to get it right. Hard texts in the bible exist for a reason.

C. Main thought: Women in ministry, then and now.

A. How and Why We Read the Text (v. 11-15)

1. We must read the text at face value.

i. There is no reason explicitly stated to take the text and look at it figuratively. The latter part of the text deals with real people in a real situation. This also goes to show that the instruction here was based on creation, not upon context. The link back to creation as a basis for these and other similar teaching is also noted in 1 Cor 11 where prayer and prophesy by women are dealt with. In fact, it is noted that when Eve usurped the headship role, sin entered into the picture.

ii. We do not take other texts of the NT and explain how they only applied to that situation, but not to ours. We must take context into consideration. The women of Ephesus were specifically named as being led astray. They were known to be aggressive with their new-found freedom in Christ, and seek prominence in the church, flaunting themselves to excess. The city’s patron deity was female, and they may have exerted more authority because of this reality. However, we must tread lightly regarding reading too much into the instruction as a back context. Don’t argue from silence.

iii. Paul gives us his normal practice, not as a suggestion for Timothy. God preserved it for us all to read. Paul is an apostle; thus, he is speaking with a God-delegated authority.

2. 1 Cor 3:13

3. Illustration: The respectable Greek woman led a very confined life. She lived in her own quarters into which no one but her husband came. She did not even appear at meals. She never at any time appeared on the street alone; she never went to any public assembly. (The Letters to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon [Philadelphia: Westminster, 1975], 67)

4. Oneness in Christ did not obliterate the distinctions between Jews and Gentiles. Nor did it remove the functional differences between slaves and masters (cf. 1 Cor. 7:20–24). Why, then, should we assume it did so between men and women?

B. How We Interpret and Apply the Text (v. 11-15)

1. The difficulty in application of this text is that church in the first century was much different. They did not have Sunday Schools, Vacation Bible Schools, or online bible studies from Francis Chan on Right Now Media. They probably met in homes, in small buildings, sometimes underground, in small numbers (75 max), and with much less organizational structure.

2. So, let’s define some words that might be helpful for interpretation. “Submissiveness” means to line up under” in the sense of proper order, willingly. This is the same word used for children and parents, wives and husbands, as well as the church and its leaders. “Allow” always means to permit a person to do what they want to do. This may indicate that in many first century churches (another reason to apply this to all churches at all times) had women who were attempting to become pastors, but Paul did not allow them to do so. “Teach” in the form here means “to be a teacher.” 3) It should be interpreted clearly as being pastors, but also as other official, church sanctioned doctrinal teachers. Paul does not allow a woman to teach and have authority over men because of the created order designed by God.