1 00:00:00,000 –> 00:00:07,120 You are listening to a sermon from Pastor Colin Smith of Open the Bible. 2 00:00:07,120 –> 00:00:15,840 To contact us call us at 1-877-OPEN-365, or visit our website OpenTheBibles.org First 3 00:00:15,840 –> 00:00:17,559 let’s get to the message. 4 00:00:17,559 –> 00:00:19,540 Here is Pastor Colin. 5 00:00:19,540 –> 00:00:25,680 Let’s turn now to the book of Proverbs, to the Scriptures and we are looking together 6 00:00:25,680 –> 00:00:27,840 at Proverbs chapter 31. 7 00:00:28,639 –> 00:00:34,340 Last week, we looked together at what it means to be a man after God’s own heart. 8 00:00:34,340 –> 00:00:39,279 Today we are asking the question, what does it mean to be a godly woman? 9 00:00:39,279 –> 00:00:44,119 We come to Proverbs chapter 31. 10 00:00:44,119 –> 00:00:52,180 This is a marvelous passage of Scripture that really is a poem in praise of godly women. 11 00:00:52,180 –> 00:00:57,439 If you look at the beginning of Chapter Proverbs 31 you would see that it records here that 12 00:00:57,540 –> 00:01:05,339 these are the sayings of King Lemuel, an oracle that his mother taught him. 13 00:01:05,339 –> 00:01:12,000 We will come back to the identity of Lemuel’s mother later, but for now, let’s just note 14 00:01:12,000 –> 00:01:20,059 that what we have in this chapter is a godly mother’s wisdom given to her son who will 15 00:01:20,059 –> 00:01:23,940 one day be king. 16 00:01:23,940 –> 00:01:29,500 It’s very significant that a large part of the wisdom, half of the wisdom that this godly 17 00:01:29,500 –> 00:01:35,139 woman gives to her son who will one day be king is concerning what her son should look 18 00:01:35,139 –> 00:01:39,019 for as he seeks for a wife. 19 00:01:39,019 –> 00:01:45,500 So Proverbs chapter 31 very simply is about the kind of woman a king would look for. 20 00:01:45,500 –> 00:01:46,940 That’s what it is. 21 00:01:46,940 –> 00:01:49,440 The mother’s advice to her son. 22 00:01:50,440 –> 00:01:55,879 Or to put it another way we’re talking about the kind of woman God seeks. 23 00:01:55,879 –> 00:02:00,800 This is the wife or woman of noble character. 24 00:02:00,800 –> 00:02:02,800 And what makes character noble? 25 00:02:02,800 –> 00:02:07,580 Well simply that it is a reflection of the character of God. 26 00:02:07,580 –> 00:02:10,220 And I want to do two things today. 27 00:02:10,220 –> 00:02:18,179 The first is to cast a vision of godly womanhood and then the second is to offer some encouragement 28 00:02:18,320 –> 00:02:21,039 with regards to pursuing this. 29 00:02:21,039 –> 00:02:25,880 And so, for the women I hope and have prayed very much this week that seeing the broad 30 00:02:25,880 –> 00:02:32,880 sweep of God’s purpose for your life will be a blessing and will be an encouragement 31 00:02:33,139 –> 00:02:34,779 to you. 32 00:02:34,779 –> 00:02:40,000 And for the men and especially for the husbands in the congregation I hope we will be challenged 33 00:02:40,119 –> 00:02:47,119 today about how we can help our wives flourish with the kind of confidence that we see in 34 00:02:48,779 –> 00:02:50,759 this godly woman. 35 00:02:50,759 –> 00:02:57,059 So let’s take a look at this together, I want us to see first the boundaries of this godly 36 00:02:57,059 –> 00:03:03,940 woman’s life and then having seen these as they’re very clear in the passage, the freedom, 37 00:03:03,940 –> 00:03:09,960 the glorious freedom that the godly woman has within these boundaries. 38 00:03:10,759 –> 00:03:12,380 First then the boundaries of her life. 39 00:03:12,380 –> 00:03:19,520 I want you to notice the godly woman defines the boundaries of her life by two relationships. 40 00:03:19,520 –> 00:03:26,559 The first is her relationship with her husband and the second her relationship with the lord. 41 00:03:26,559 –> 00:03:33,559 Notice here the relationship with the husband in verse 12, She brings him good not harm 42 00:03:34,419 –> 00:03:36,740 all the days of her life. 43 00:03:37,580 –> 00:03:42,080 and then in verse thirty, you will see her relationship with the lord. 44 00:03:42,080 –> 00:03:47,220 a woman who fears the lord is to be praised. 45 00:03:47,220 –> 00:03:52,199 Now these two relationships of this married lady, the relationship with her husband and 46 00:03:52,199 –> 00:03:58,139 the relationship with the lord, they stand like bookends at the beginning and end of 47 00:03:58,139 –> 00:04:00,039 this great poem. 48 00:04:00,259 –> 00:04:04,699 and they establish that the glory of God who she fears and the good of her husband who 49 00:04:04,699 –> 00:04:08,259 she loves are the boundaries of her life. 50 00:04:08,259 –> 00:04:15,639 And within these boundaries, the whole poem lays out a display of her marvelous freedom. 51 00:04:15,639 –> 00:04:17,679 Let’s look then at these two boundaries. 52 00:04:17,679 –> 00:04:24,480 First, her relationship with the lord, verse thirty, a woman who fears the lord is to be 53 00:04:24,480 –> 00:04:25,480 praised. 54 00:04:25,779 –> 00:04:33,820 Here the poem speaks to all women, whether married or single, a woman who fears the lord 55 00:04:33,839 –> 00:04:34,839 is to be praised. 56 00:04:34,839 –> 00:04:37,179 Now, what does that mean? 57 00:04:37,179 –> 00:04:44,040 Well, fearing the lord very simply means that you let God’s word have weight in your life. 58 00:04:44,040 –> 00:04:46,119 That you submit yourself to it. 59 00:04:46,119 –> 00:04:52,019 In other words, when your ideas and your desires are in tension with what God has revealed 60 00:04:52,019 –> 00:04:58,940 in the scripture, you reshape your ideas and your actions to what he has said. 61 00:04:58,940 –> 00:05:05,160 In other words, it is the commitment of your life made in advance that you submit yourself 62 00:05:05,160 –> 00:05:10,799 to God and of course, the only alternative to this is that you imagine that God should 63 00:05:10,799 –> 00:05:16,679 submit himself to you and obviously that is not going to happen. 64 00:05:16,679 –> 00:05:20,940 The fear of the Lord and this runs right throughout Proverbs and other places of the bible, the 65 00:05:21,299 –> 00:05:28,720 Lord is the beginning of wisdom, that is Proverbs 17, and this word wisdom can be translated 66 00:05:28,720 –> 00:05:34,239 life skills, if you want to know how to put your life together here is where it begins, 67 00:05:34,239 –> 00:05:36,839 the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. 68 00:05:36,839 –> 00:05:45,940 So let me ask, right at the beginning this morning, is this commitment to fear the Lord 69 00:05:45,940 –> 00:05:49,359 established clearly in your life? 70 00:05:49,440 –> 00:05:55,760 Have you come to the place where you are absolutely clear that priority number one for you is 71 00:05:55,760 –> 00:06:00,399 that you will actively pursue God’s purpose, that you should be conformed to the image 72 00:06:00,399 –> 00:06:06,980 of Jesus Christ, His son, and are you ready as a point of principle and commitment to 73 00:06:06,980 –> 00:06:14,540 say wherever, wherever my thinking, my behaving, my attitudes, our intentions with what God 74 00:06:15,160 –> 00:06:20,619 my thinking, my behaving, and my attitudes that have to change. That’s what it means 75 00:06:20,619 –> 00:06:27,059 to live in the fear of the Lord and of course that is how you grow. The only alternative 76 00:06:27,059 –> 00:06:34,859 and we do see it often is that you read the Bible through a filter and you accept everything 77 00:06:34,859 –> 00:06:39,140 that agrees with what you think already and dismiss everything that is in tension with 78 00:06:39,140 –> 00:06:47,420 it. And if you feel free to dismiss, reinterpret, push to one side what God says in His Word 79 00:06:47,420 –> 00:06:57,200 because it does not fit with who you are or what you want, then you do not fear the Lord. 80 00:06:57,200 –> 00:07:01,619 You may put your life and your family together in a way that you think is appropriate but 81 00:07:01,619 –> 00:07:07,899 at the end of the day it will be, Jesus says, like building a house on the sand. If you 82 00:07:07,899 –> 00:07:14,579 hear My words and do not put them into practice, that’s what it will be. 83 00:07:14,579 –> 00:07:19,540 So let me give this encouragement that is absolutely foundational to pursuing a godly 84 00:07:19,540 –> 00:07:27,220 life indeed whether it be for men or for women. If you want to build your life on a solid 85 00:07:27,220 –> 00:07:34,940 foundation, the place to begin is the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the beginning 86 00:07:34,940 –> 00:07:43,579 of wisdom, and it is the defining mark of the godly woman. A woman who fears the Lord 87 00:07:43,579 –> 00:07:45,700 is to be praised. 88 00:07:45,700 –> 00:07:50,880 And so Lamwell’s mother says to her son, you’re going to be a king one day, and as you think 89 00:07:50,880 –> 00:07:58,579 about the woman to whom you will trust your life, the woman you will ask to marry you, 90 00:07:58,579 –> 00:08:06,519 make sure she is a woman who fears the Lord, in whose life the word of God carries weight. 91 00:08:06,519 –> 00:08:17,799 Because that’s the kind of woman who will be able to build a marriage, life, family 92 00:08:17,799 –> 00:08:19,859 that is honoring and pleasing to God. 93 00:08:19,859 –> 00:08:25,279 Now look at the second relationship that defines the boundaries here. A relationship with the 94 00:08:25,359 –> 00:08:28,839 Lord, she fears the Lord, and that’s something worthy of praise. 95 00:08:28,839 –> 00:08:33,359 Secondly her relationship with the husband, verse 12. Her husband has full confidence 96 00:08:33,359 –> 00:08:41,559 in her, that’s wonderful, and lacks nothing of value. She brings him good, not harm. All 97 00:08:41,559 –> 00:08:44,179 the days of her life. 98 00:08:44,179 –> 00:08:53,219 Now bringing her husband good is this woman’s first commitment under God, period. That’s 99 00:08:53,299 –> 00:09:01,359 what we’re being told here, and we’re going to see that the range of this woman’s activity 100 00:09:01,359 –> 00:09:11,440 and her authority is broad, wide and I think perhaps surprising for some. But before we 101 00:09:11,440 –> 00:09:19,739 get to that, proverbs is laying down this key principle, that in this wide range of 102 00:09:19,940 –> 00:09:27,700 what this woman is able to do and capable of doing, the motivating fountain for what she 103 00:09:27,700 –> 00:09:33,640 is doing and for the choices she makes in her many activities is that everything that 104 00:09:33,640 –> 00:09:41,580 she does is an expression of her life commitment, which is to bring good to her husband. She 105 00:09:42,000 –> 00:09:50,799 brings him good, not harm all the days of her life. You see how verse 12 and verse 30 106 00:09:50,799 –> 00:09:55,940 of the book end to this whole passage? Marvelous description is going to come in between but 107 00:09:55,940 –> 00:10:05,179 it is bounded by these primary commitments of this remarkable woman’s life. I think 108 00:10:05,179 –> 00:10:10,020 this is very important, very practical for us. There are many women today who are relentlessly 109 00:10:10,140 –> 00:10:15,900 busy and have no idea as to why they are doing what they are doing, and of course that is 110 00:10:15,900 –> 00:10:24,299 always a formula for frustration and for burnout. But the godly woman is absolutely clear about 111 00:10:24,299 –> 00:10:30,059 the purpose of all her activity. She has an effective filter by which to decide what she 112 00:10:30,059 –> 00:10:35,299 should do and what she should not do and indeed to know why it is that she is doing what she 113 00:10:35,359 –> 00:10:42,359 does. Her life falls within the boundaries of two life commitments, to fear the Lord and 114 00:10:45,340 –> 00:10:52,340 to bring good to her husband and there is nothing in all that she does that falls outside 115 00:10:52,340 –> 00:10:59,340 of that. This phrase, to bring him good all the days of her life is a beautiful phrase, 116 00:10:59,780 –> 00:11:06,780 a wonderful phrase. It’s probably as clear a description as you will find anywhere in 117 00:11:06,900 –> 00:11:13,900 the bible of what is meant by this word, submission. I had some light on this in a very different 118 00:11:15,340 –> 00:11:20,700 context today, rather on this week. I was talking with one of the professors at Trinity 119 00:11:20,700 –> 00:11:27,700 University earlier this week and he was speaking in the conversation about how a large church 120 00:11:28,299 –> 00:11:35,299 has many ministries and each one has it’s particular mission. But he said the mission 121 00:11:37,559 –> 00:11:44,559 of each ministry in the church has to support the mission of the whole church. Then he said 122 00:11:46,500 –> 00:11:53,500 you see, that is what submission is. It is putting your mission under something or someone 123 00:11:57,900 –> 00:12:02,799 else. I thought that is brilliant. I can speak about this subject on Sunday and wrote 124 00:12:02,799 –> 00:12:09,799 it down. Now you see think about it. Without submission, without the ability to place what 125 00:12:12,559 –> 00:12:19,559 I do under something larger without that principle being at work, a family becomes a group of 126 00:12:21,359 –> 00:12:27,200 independent people living at the same address off the same checkbook, that is all it is. 127 00:12:27,960 –> 00:12:33,059 Without submission, a church becomes a group of independent ministries operating at the 128 00:12:33,059 –> 00:12:40,059 same location and off the same budget. Submission means that I take all that I could do, and 129 00:12:41,960 –> 00:12:48,719 the things that I might like to do, and I place them and I evaluate them and I decide 130 00:12:48,719 –> 00:12:55,719 them, sub, under a higher mission to which I have already committed myself. 131 00:12:57,380 –> 00:13:02,500 And the mission to which this woman has committed herself that is the grid by which she is able 132 00:13:02,500 –> 00:13:07,099 to make decisions about her life is that she fears the Lord and that she will bring good 133 00:13:07,099 –> 00:13:14,020 to her husband. Now see, if you do not have submission, you 134 00:13:14,020 –> 00:13:21,020 do not have unity. You cannot. Submission is the key to unity. If you don’t have submission 135 00:13:21,580 –> 00:13:26,919 you don’t have unity in the family. If you don’t have submission, you don’t have unity 136 00:13:26,919 –> 00:13:29,559 within the church. It is impossible. 137 00:13:29,559 –> 00:13:35,520 I’ve been thinking about how this works out, for example, in my life. I think about how 138 00:13:35,520 –> 00:13:41,960 it works in the relationship that I have as senior pastor with the elders. See, there 139 00:13:41,960 –> 00:13:48,960 are many many things I am asked to do. And frankly many things that I’d like to do. Ideas 140 00:13:49,599 –> 00:13:53,559 that I have, all kinds of them. Too many really. 141 00:13:53,559 –> 00:14:00,559 So how do I decide what I should do? Well I obviously use my own judgment. But then 142 00:14:00,780 –> 00:14:07,320 God has placed me under the authority of the elders so I submit my judgment to these men. 143 00:14:07,320 –> 00:14:11,020 I have been asked to speak at this conference overseas what do you think? I’d like to write 144 00:14:11,020 –> 00:14:15,739 a book, what do you think? I think I’ve found a person who can help us move ministry forward, 145 00:14:16,059 –> 00:14:18,679 what do you think? Now you see 146 00:14:18,679 –> 00:14:25,679 in a healthy relationship a normal pattern will be one of enthusiastic partnership. But 147 00:14:26,219 –> 00:14:30,659 there have been times and there will be times when elders will say, no, no Colin, that’s 148 00:14:30,659 –> 00:14:36,119 a wrong idea. This is the wrong time, Colin you’ve got too much in your calendar, Colin 149 00:14:36,119 –> 00:14:43,119 that doesn’t fit with the big pieces of where we are going. Now submission means that I 150 00:14:44,000 –> 00:14:50,840 have decided in advance to receive their word as the Lord’s word to me. And of course, that’s 151 00:14:50,840 –> 00:14:57,840 not always easy. But it’s a good thing and it is God’s pattern. And it’s also a joyful 152 00:14:57,960 –> 00:15:04,880 thing for two reasons. Because here are a group of men who care for me and an environment 153 00:15:04,960 –> 00:15:11,960 of love makes this kind of submissions easy. But what makes it easiest of all is that I 154 00:15:13,440 –> 00:15:20,440 is that their mission is my mission. It’s what it is. It’s one mission that we share 155 00:15:21,200 –> 00:15:28,200 together in which we are able to make decisions because of clear agreement as to what it is 156 00:15:30,719 –> 00:15:37,520 we’re trying to accomplish. Now the godly woman has a very simple definition 157 00:15:37,599 –> 00:15:44,599 then of success. It’s fearing the lord and its bringing good to her husband and whatever 158 00:15:49,119 –> 00:15:56,119 is advancing these things is within the wonderful freedom that is hers and his. Within these 159 00:16:00,099 –> 00:16:06,659 great commitments that give direction and wonderful boundaries to life. An unbounded 160 00:16:06,659 –> 00:16:12,799 life is a terrible thing. A terrible thing. An impossible thing. 161 00:16:12,799 –> 00:16:17,700 Now notice before we move on from this and I think this is very important that the commitment 162 00:16:17,700 –> 00:16:24,700 is to the good of her husband rather than the good of her children. Now that really 163 00:16:24,880 –> 00:16:30,979 needs thinking about carefully of course she does good to her children but the commitment 164 00:16:31,020 –> 00:16:38,020 is to bring to her husband all the days of her life. God created Eve as the partner for 165 00:16:38,260 –> 00:16:45,260 Adam, not for the children, not for Cain and Abel, but as the partner and as the helper 166 00:16:45,799 –> 00:16:52,640 for Adam and that is very significant for strong and for healthy families. 167 00:16:52,640 –> 00:16:59,640 See for this reason. When children become the center of the family, they soon begin 168 00:17:00,099 –> 00:17:06,180 to feel that they are the center of all things and if your children grow up with this feeling 169 00:17:06,180 –> 00:17:13,180 that they really are the center of all things, they will soon imagine that God exists for 170 00:17:14,739 –> 00:17:21,459 them just as you do and that will make them Idolaters. 171 00:17:21,459 –> 00:17:27,640 Now it is Satan’s work, think about this, it is Satan’s work to make your children 172 00:17:27,640 –> 00:17:34,640 think that they can take the place of God and we need to be very careful that we do 173 00:17:36,160 –> 00:17:42,780 not do Satan’s work for him. So the Godly Woman’s commitments are very, very clear 174 00:17:42,780 –> 00:17:47,880 and they are foundational to healthy family life. She lives for the glory of God and for 175 00:17:47,880 –> 00:17:54,239 the good of her husband and everything she does is an expression of this life commitment. 176 00:17:54,359 –> 00:18:00,739 The boundaries in which she thrives. Now I want us to take a 177 00:18:00,739 –> 00:18:07,739 look together at the extraordinary life that this woman has as she pursues this marvellous 178 00:18:08,680 –> 00:18:14,239 direction. Are you ready? Here we go. Her freedom within the boundaries. I want us just 179 00:18:14,239 –> 00:18:21,239 to take in the scope of what this woman is free to pursue as Lemuel’s mother gives 180 00:18:22,239 –> 00:18:28,719 counsel to her son. It really is quite extraordinary. It’s a poem so we’re going to move through 181 00:18:28,719 –> 00:18:34,500 it very quickly. I want us to just get the sense of this woman’s life and of her freedom. 182 00:18:34,500 –> 00:18:41,500 Look at her joy in verse 13. She selects wool and flax and she works with eager hands. The 183 00:18:41,939 –> 00:18:48,140 emphasis is on the word eager, willing, there is an enthusiasm, a joyfulness, a fulfilment 184 00:18:48,199 –> 00:18:54,020 that she finds in her work, a cheerfulness in all that she does. Notice her creativity 185 00:18:54,020 –> 00:19:01,020 verse 14. She is like the merchant ships. She is like a ship, but what it’s speaking 186 00:19:02,119 –> 00:19:07,339 of here, bringing her food from afar, what she does is she brings variety, that’s what 187 00:19:07,339 –> 00:19:14,339 it’s saying, creativity, freshness into family life and into her home. Without her, life 188 00:19:15,339 –> 00:19:22,339 would be a dull routine, but she brings color, she brings warmth, she brings life. She turns 189 00:19:23,880 –> 00:19:30,880 a house into a home and blesses all who come there. There’s an old Chinese proverb I found 190 00:19:31,060 –> 00:19:39,060 that says, a hundred men can make an encampment, but it takes one woman to make a home. 191 00:19:39,979 –> 00:19:46,959 Look at her discipline, verse 15 and verse 17, she gets up while it is dark, she provides 192 00:19:48,760 –> 00:19:54,619 food for her family. Verse 17, she says about our work vigorously and her arms are strong 193 00:19:54,619 –> 00:20:00,619 for her task. Now I want you to see her enterprise, verse 16, she considers a field and buys it, 194 00:20:09,500 –> 00:20:14,479 and out of her earnings she plants a vineyard, so this woman besides the homemaking that 195 00:20:19,479 –> 00:20:25,479 she has evidently has an eye to business. She is into real estate, she is a shrewd investor, 196 00:20:28,160 –> 00:20:35,160 buying and selling, she turns a field over. She considers a field and buys it and when 197 00:20:35,939 –> 00:20:42,099 turns over the investment we are told that out of the profit with her earnings she then 198 00:20:42,099 –> 00:20:48,439 plants a vineyard, so this is two businesses she has going on the side, real estate in 199 00:20:48,439 –> 00:20:53,599 the soft fruit farm. Now some other people are feeling uncomfortable, 200 00:20:53,599 –> 00:21:00,599 I know. She makes linen garments, verse 24, and she sells them. She supplies the merchants 201 00:21:01,079 –> 00:21:07,280 with sashes. This looks to me suspiciously like a third business, in which, besides making 202 00:21:07,280 –> 00:21:12,400 clothes for her family, she turns in a tidy little profit on the side by supplying linen 203 00:21:12,400 –> 00:21:17,979 sashes to the merchants. In her hands, verse 19, she holds the disk staff and grasps the 204 00:21:17,979 –> 00:21:24,979 spindle with her fingers. Talk about multitasking. This woman is amazing. 205 00:21:25,920 –> 00:21:26,439 Now take a 206 00:21:26,459 –> 00:21:33,459 look at her management skills. Verse 18, she sees that her trading is profitable. So this 207 00:21:34,359 –> 00:21:40,260 woman is into financial management. And her lamp, verse 18, does not go out at night, 208 00:21:40,260 –> 00:21:46,699 hardly surprising, bearing in mind all that she’s doing. Verse 27, she watches over the 209 00:21:46,699 –> 00:21:52,479 affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Now remember, we’re 210 00:21:52,500 –> 00:21:58,020 talking about the King’s wife here. So when it says she watches over the household, what 211 00:21:58,020 –> 00:22:05,020 does that mean? She runs the budget and the staff of the entire palace. And why does she 212 00:22:05,979 –> 00:22:12,560 do that? Because, verse 11, the King has full confidence in her. He recognizes this woman’s 213 00:22:12,560 –> 00:22:18,680 extraordinary ability and he says, You can do this and I’ll give you all the authority 214 00:22:18,760 –> 00:22:25,760 that you need. She runs the whole show. Look at her compassion, verse 20. She opens her 215 00:22:28,239 –> 00:22:35,239 arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy. Look at her planning, verse 21. 216 00:22:37,599 –> 00:22:44,599 When it snows, she has no fear for her household, for all of them are clothed in scarlet. She’s 217 00:22:44,599 –> 00:22:51,599 a planner, she’s thought ahead, she’s anticipated winter, she has already provided the clothing 218 00:22:54,859 –> 00:23:00,739 that her family and the servants need so that they are clothed and warm throughout the bitter 219 00:23:00,739 –> 00:23:07,739 part of the year. If you look at her appearance, verse 22, she is clothed in fine linen and 220 00:23:07,900 –> 00:23:14,900 purple. She has in other words the dignity of a woman who cares about her appearance 221 00:23:16,619 –> 00:23:22,760 because she knows that she is called to greatness as one who fears the Lord and as one who brings 222 00:23:22,760 –> 00:23:28,760 good to her husband. It’s possible to make both too much and too little of that point. 223 00:23:28,760 –> 00:23:35,439 The Bible grants us wisdom between these two opposite errors. 224 00:23:36,380 –> 00:23:44,819 I’m very struck by this as the king’s wife let’s face it she could have lived a life 225 00:23:44,819 –> 00:23:50,859 of full-time leisure in the palace but what we’re being told here in this 226 00:23:50,859 –> 00:23:55,959 description is that the woman of noble character has the broadest imaginable 227 00:23:55,959 –> 00:24:05,199 sphere of activity and of ministry and of life and of creativity and of work 228 00:24:05,260 –> 00:24:10,000 within the commitments that she has made that guide her life that what she is 229 00:24:10,000 –> 00:24:15,880 about at its heart is a woman who fears the Lord and a woman who brings good to 230 00:24:15,880 –> 00:24:24,540 her husband. Now I say this is an extraordinary vision and there’s enough 231 00:24:24,540 –> 00:24:33,000 here to challenge everybody obviously it challenges this vision the broad liberal 232 00:24:33,000 –> 00:24:39,359 ideas of womanhood that are about autonomy and a self-definition and 233 00:24:39,359 –> 00:24:47,400 I’m me and mine by placing primary commitments that are expressions of love 234 00:24:47,400 –> 00:24:53,599 she fears the Lord and she does good to her husband and challenges that very 235 00:24:53,599 –> 00:24:59,520 broad liberal kind of view it also challenges narrow restrictive views of 236 00:24:59,560 –> 00:25:04,719 womanhood by giving freedom of activity her husband is full confidence in her 237 00:25:04,719 –> 00:25:12,640 and encourages her to thrive in all the areas of her gifting boundaries to give 238 00:25:12,640 –> 00:25:19,640 direction to life you can’t live without that and marvelous wonderful freedom 239 00:25:19,640 –> 00:25:25,859 within these boundaries now I see that the sheer breadth of this vision is 240 00:25:26,020 –> 00:25:30,660 absolutely staggering and the result is that I think it does make some women 241 00:25:30,660 –> 00:25:34,479 stagger that it is in effect discouraging for some and I have 242 00:25:34,479 –> 00:25:37,699 actually picked that up even this week when folks have said well what you’re 243 00:25:37,699 –> 00:25:41,479 going to preach on on Sunday and I’ve said well it’s going to be Proverbs 31 244 00:25:41,479 –> 00:25:43,739 and do you know what folks have said this has happened three or four times 245 00:25:43,739 –> 00:25:55,839 oh no not the Proverbs 31 woman no one can live up to that now there is the 246 00:25:55,839 –> 00:26:01,719 danger of course that this remarkable woman may make other women feel like a 247 00:26:01,719 –> 00:26:08,660 total failure so I think that some significant encouragement is needed here 248 00:26:08,660 –> 00:26:16,699 and so let me briefly just say three things the first is this that Proverbs 249 00:26:16,800 –> 00:26:24,859 chapter 31 is about scope not expectations. It is about scope not 250 00:26:24,859 –> 00:26:29,719 expectations. In other words the woman who is described here is clearly an 251 00:26:29,719 –> 00:26:35,280 exceptional and remarkable woman in fact if you look even at the beginning of the 252 00:26:35,280 –> 00:26:39,979 poem in verse 10 that’s made clear when Lemuel’s mother says a wife of noble 253 00:26:39,979 –> 00:26:44,459 character who can find she is worth more than rubies so we make it very clear this 254 00:26:44,459 –> 00:26:52,500 is a very rare unusual and indeed remarkable woman. Most of us can do some 255 00:26:52,500 –> 00:27:00,579 of what she did very few will be able to do all of what she did. And the point of 256 00:27:00,579 –> 00:27:04,680 the Proverbs 31 passage is not that the godly woman has to do all of these 257 00:27:04,680 –> 00:27:13,719 things but that the godly woman is free to pursue all of these things. So guys 258 00:27:13,760 –> 00:27:16,040 please don’t go home and say to your wife, I hope you were listening to that 259 00:27:16,040 –> 00:27:19,099 sermon this morning, that godly woman, she had three businesses on the side and 260 00:27:19,099 –> 00:27:31,560 what are you doing! This is a wonderful picture about the scope of life that God 261 00:27:31,560 –> 00:27:36,040 has opened up for godly women who fear the Lord and are committed to doing good 262 00:27:36,040 –> 00:27:41,880 to their husbands all the days of their life. I do think it’s remarkable, you know, 263 00:27:42,300 –> 00:27:49,680 the wife of the king could have lived in leisure all her days, but she has a 264 00:27:49,680 –> 00:27:59,079 bigger view of the usefulness of her life than that. Second comment is just to 265 00:27:59,079 –> 00:28:03,479 say this, that Proverbs 31 is obviously, as everything in the Bible, about growth 266 00:28:03,479 –> 00:28:09,920 over time. Christian life is in its nature one of growth over time, so let 267 00:28:10,180 –> 00:28:18,180 this be a vision to inspire you. Don’t let it be a weight that would crush you. Let 268 00:28:18,180 –> 00:28:25,079 this be for you today a picture of the dignity of your calling. The freedom and 269 00:28:25,079 –> 00:28:32,260 joy of God’s design for your life. The glory of fulfilling a God-given purpose. 270 00:28:32,540 –> 00:28:37,900 The range of what may be pursued within the calling that God has given to you. 271 00:28:37,900 –> 00:28:46,420 And if you feel a sense of failure this morning, then take a step forward by 272 00:28:46,420 –> 00:28:56,060 recommitting yourself to the central priorities to fear the Lord and if 273 00:28:56,060 –> 00:28:59,420 you’re married, to bring good to your husband. That 274 00:28:59,420 –> 00:29:07,560 will guide you in what it is that you should now pursue. Then the last thing 275 00:29:07,560 –> 00:29:13,060 that I want to say this morning before we come to prayer is that Proverbs 31 is 276 00:29:13,060 –> 00:29:21,819 a remarkable picture of what God’s grace can do in a woman’s life. Now I said 277 00:29:21,819 –> 00:29:28,780 that we would come back to the identity of Lemuel’s mother and I quote here from 278 00:29:28,780 –> 00:29:33,619 Dr. Louis Goldberg who is the Professor of Theology or was the Professor of 279 00:29:33,619 –> 00:29:38,640 theology and Hebrew at the Moody Bible Institute. It is always a safe principle 280 00:29:38,640 –> 00:29:45,859 if in doubt quote a higher authority. so that’s what I’m doing here. Now in his 281 00:29:45,859 –> 00:29:52,280 book The Practical Wisdom of Proverbs Goldberg has a section on the identity 282 00:29:52,280 –> 00:29:57,640 of Lemuel in which he points out that this could be the name of a king who 283 00:29:57,640 –> 00:30:02,719 would otherwise be unknown, we have no other identification for Lemuel. Or he 284 00:30:02,719 –> 00:30:09,359 says it could well be a description and his reason for saying that is that 285 00:30:09,359 –> 00:30:17,800 Lemuel means dedicated to God. Goldberg thinks and makes the case I think 286 00:30:17,800 –> 00:30:23,099 well, that Solomon is the most likely candidate. He points out that as a child 287 00:30:23,260 –> 00:30:29,180 Solomon was dedicated to God. He was given the name Jedidiah in this 288 00:30:29,180 –> 00:30:35,140 dedication meaning loved by God. And he says and I quote, therefore Lemuel could 289 00:30:35,140 –> 00:30:42,599 very well be a reference to Solomon. When I read that I said to Karine, now I 290 00:30:42,599 –> 00:30:47,640 know why Solomon had 700 wives. His mother set such a high expectation it 291 00:30:47,660 –> 00:30:56,599 seven hundred women to fulfill it. But seriously think about this. I think 292 00:30:56,599 –> 00:31:01,560 Goldberg is right. For this reason that there were a limited number of people 293 00:31:01,560 –> 00:31:07,199 who were given the great privilege of writing scripture under the direct 294 00:31:07,199 –> 00:31:10,979 inspiration of the Spirit of God and clearly Solomon was one of them. It just 295 00:31:11,199 –> 00:31:19,900 makes sense to me for that reason. But if Lemuel is indeed Solomon then what we 296 00:31:19,900 –> 00:31:26,300 have is something I think absolutely fascinating right here because these are 297 00:31:26,300 –> 00:31:40,459 the words of Lemuel’s mother. Who was the mother of Solomon Bathsheba? The woman 298 00:31:40,560 –> 00:31:50,359 who in her younger years turned the head of the king and caused him to stumble. If 299 00:31:50,359 –> 00:31:55,959 that is the case as I believe it to be then what we have here is an 300 00:31:55,959 –> 00:32:06,239 extraordinary work of grace in a woman’s life over time. Early in her life 301 00:32:06,280 –> 00:32:13,199 Bathsheba blew it big-time I mean what was she doing bathing out there 302 00:32:13,199 –> 00:32:20,060 on the roof in full view of the king’s palace? But God’s grace has been at work 303 00:32:20,060 –> 00:32:27,560 in her life over the years and think of it, the woman who once was a stumbling 304 00:32:27,560 –> 00:32:33,520 block to the King became in God’s redeeming grace the model of godly 305 00:32:33,560 –> 00:32:43,760 wisdom for her son and if God’s grace can make Bathsheba the woman of noble 306 00:32:43,760 –> 00:32:57,339 character then think of what God’s grace can do for you. Father may your grace do 307 00:32:57,420 –> 00:33:07,099 all that is needed in the life of every woman and every man in this congregation 308 00:33:07,099 –> 00:33:10,979 today for Jesus sake 309 00:33:14,500 –> 00:33:19,099 you’ve been listening to a sermon with Pastor Colin Smith of Open the Bible. To 310 00:33:19,140 –> 00:33:25,280 contact us call us at 1-877-Open-365 or visit our website 311 00:33:25,280 –> 00:33:29,500 openthebible.org