Inner Holiness and Outward Worship

 

Inner Holiness and Outward Worship

 

For our guests, we are working our way through the letter of 1Timothy which is a letter written by the Apostle Paul to a young man named Timothy. It's a seasoned leader to a young leader. Writing this to tell Timothy and the church how they should act in the church. Like all of Paul's letters, he's writing this letter to address certain issues and problems that the church in Ephesus is facing.

 

So he instructs them to pray for all people. Chances are they were in danger of growing inward and become navel gazers, so connects their prayers to their mission - pray for all people, for it is God's desire to save all people. By reminder, have you thought of that one or two unsaved people you want to pray for? I made a feeble attempt at leading our family in both identification and prayer for neighbors don't know Jesus. I say feeble because we only visited subject once or twice. But rather than grow discouraged, let's keep it before us - let's repent where there is apathy or lack of diligence and recommit to praying specifically for the lost people God has put around us. We want to cultivate a habit birthed on conviction.

 

Prayer in general, breaks up discussion to address men and women individually and in their public worship.

 

1 Timothy 2:8-10

 

In essence what he's saying here is for Christian men and women, the outward needs be expression of the inner. Outward (public) worship must reflect an inner holiness.

 

I.                   Men should pray in such a way as reflects an inner holiness

 

a.       The men should pray (vs 8a)

 

Stop right there: men should pray. Too many times, its the women who are more likely to see importance of prayer and actually pray. Many churches have far more women than men and the men are absent (I'm grateful that's not the case here). Fathers far too often leave the spiritual leadership of their children up to the moms. Women are to be commended for their stepping in to fill that vacuum, but men need to be rebuked.

 

Prayer is not a feminine thing to do. Being passionate about God is not a feminine thing. It's a feminine and masculine thing! God created both men and women to have fellowship with Him. This is what life is about - when we chase after anything else we are falling far short of what created for.

 

Men: never underestimate the impact of your example in lives of those around you. I remember as a teenager coming downstairs in the morning to find my dad at the foot of the couch, praying. His love for God affected me. Dads, men, let's lead the way in our example of prayer.

 

b.      Lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling

 

Outward expression: men in church should pray, lifting up hands. This is an outward expression. Not that we have to lift hands - but it's a good thing. Outward worship of God needs to reflect an inner work of God. The hands that men are to raise to the Lord in prayer are to be holy hands. Clean hands representing clean hearts. Echo of Ps. 24:3-4

 

Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? and who shall stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift his soul up to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.

 

Know that none of us have clean hands or pure hearts to bring to God on our own- sin has dirtied both our hands and our hearts with stains that we have no power to remove. Only the blood of Jesus Christ shed for us has the power to cleanse us in the sight of God from all the filth of our sin. We are saved by the grace of God alone, but Titus 2:12 tells us that same power of grace that saves us also teaches us to say no to ungodliness.

 

Outward must reflect the inner. Following Jesus Christ must not become a outer formality of cleaning the outside of the cup while leaving the inside dirty! Men, this doesn't come naturally to us, but need to allow the Holy Spirit to examine our heart.

 

If there is polluting sin in our lives that we aware of - not ok to go to God harboring that sin in heart. God looks at the heart! We will sin - need to confess and repent of our sin and ask for God to change us.

 

So if we're angry at someone - hands are lifted up in anger - not cool. It pollutes. It stains. We can't compartmentalize - "I love God, but I hate my brother." Love for God needs to work in our hearts so that we love our brother.

 

We can't always help how the heart and hand of another will be toward us, but for our part the reality of Christ and His great forgiveness for us should purify our hearts from bitterness and anger and arguing.

 

Let's pause and consider our hearts. Allow the Holy Spirit to speak. To shine light on the inward parts. Are your hands holy? I don't mean we have to be perfect or anything, but is there something that needs to be washed off? Anger? Are you quarreling over stuff with someone? The good news is that is exactly where the Gospel of Jesus Christ works - humble yourself (hard for men to do) and repent.

 

Outward: men should pray with hands lifted up. Inner: holy hands without anger and quarreling.

 

II.                Women should adorn themselves outwardly in a way that reflects the inner beauty of godliness

 

Question is this: how should Christian women "adorn" themselves? The word adorn is Greek word "Kosmeo" from which we get our word "cosmetics".

 

I happened upon story of a controversy brewing in Singapore over a cosmetic line called "Looking Good For Jesus". The controversy is over the fact that women are encouraged to buy hand cream, lip gloss, etc, to be attractive to Jesus.

 

There is no question that their ad is misguided. But there is a beauty that is precious to God. God isn't against beauty - in fact, it was His idea! The quality of beauty, when referring to people, is distinctly feminine. Men aren't trying to enhance their beauty (shouldn't be). Men don't use "beauty products". Men don't ask, "how do I look?" but if they do, you don't tell them they look beautiful. That's feminine.

 

God made women beautiful inside and out. The problem is that it's the outside appearance of beauty that gets all the attention. Our culture is obsessed: the fashion industry, modeling industry, and movie industry have set standards of physical beauty (often digitally enhanced) that perpetuate the lie that beauty begins and ends with the appearance. Term for it: "beautiful people". Beautiful people that we read about and see

 on TV magazine shows may not necessarily be beautiful people on the inside -but who cares?

 

By the way, we didn't invent this obsession with physical appearance - and some of the steps taken to enhance the cultural perception of beauty have been pretty extreme.

 

• Ancient Egyptian women used drops of sulfide to make their eyes glitter - not realizing that it would eventually destroy their vision.
• Chinese women for hundreds of years were forced to wear "lotus shoes" - shoes that restricted their feet from growing more than three or four inches - the ideal of attractiveness in their culture. The shoes left women crippled for life.
• Among the Padaung people of Burma, having an elevated neck was the symbol of beauty and so young girls would start by wearing four or five brass neck rings. Each year one or two rings would be added until they wore as many as 20 rings. The weight of the rings actually didn't stretch the neck but crushed the collarbone, giving the illusion of a long neck. By that time they became adults they had to wear the neck rings because their stretched out necks were too weak to support the weight of their heads.

 

There is a similar situation that Paul is addressing: in cosmopolitan cities of day such as Ephesus it was popular for wealthy women to go to excessive lengths to call attention to themselves. Braided hair and very excessive displays of gold and expensive dresses were a way of calling attention to their looks and their wealth.

 

The church wasn't immune to this obsession with appearance. Wealthy women were probably dressing to the hilt - purposely calling attention to their appearance and the church was in jeopardy of becoming a fashion show rather than a house of worship.

 

1. Paul calls women to adorn themselves with inner beauty of godly character

 

This isn't primarily a negative prohibition: "don't wear this, don't wear that." Paul isn't against women taking care of themselves or trying to look attractive. Paul isn't calling for women to be frumpy for Jesus. It is a positive call to adorn themselves with a beauty that is deeper, more beautiful, and far more lasting than physical appearance. "Proper for women who profess godliness". Let the outer adornment reflect the inner beauty. Peter says it well:

 

Do not let your adorning be external-the braiding of hair, the wearing of gold, or the putting on of clothing- 4but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable (or unfading) beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious.  1 Peter 3:3-4 (ESV)  

 

Like the Christian man, whose outer worship is to reflect the inner reality of the work of God, so a Christian woman's outward beauty is to reflect the inner beauty of godliness. Beauty that goes deeper than the skin - it is in the hidden person of the heart. That is a beauty that does not fade with time.

Outer beauty will eventually fade. When I was about 16 years old I had a crush on a "beautiful person" of the day: Farrah Fawcett. She was one of the stars on hit TV show "Charlies Angels". Farrah is now 61 years old and fighting cancer. It's inevitable for all of us: the beauty that is physical only lasts a short, short time.

 

But there is a beauty - the hidden person of the heart - which is unfading. In fact, it gets more beautiful with age. And it is precious in God's sight.

 

1. Guiding principle of this beauty in terms of dress is modesty and self-control (or a better word might be propriety). Not setting rules or laying out fashion codes. I don't think Paul's purpose here is to get into a lengthy discussion about fashion here and I know I don't want to be getting into a fashion discussion here this morning. And you don't want me to be your fashion director - believe me!

 

But speaking to heart and the inner motive. Again, the outward is to reflect the inward. Godliness on the inside wants to honor God and serve others, including in the way we dress. Modesty doesn't have to mean a return to fashions of 1800's, or that subscribe to "Lifestyles of the Rich and Amish". It begins with a heart check: asking the question: is this modest? What is my motive for wearing this? Am I wearing it with hope of calling attention to myself? Is your motive is to love and honor the men around you who want to love and honor Jesus - do you have no desire to stumble them or make it hard for them?

 

1. Inner beauty is to shine through good works.

 

A holy life will make the deepest impression. Lighthouses blow no horns, they just shine. D.L. Moody.

 

The beauty of a godly heart will shine in the beauty of good works. Love for Jesus leads to a love for people - expressed in care and gentleness and mercy and helps and teaching and nurturing and encouraging and witnessing and on and on.

 

In contrasting this kind of inner beauty worked out in good works, Carolyn Mahaney writes:

 

Do you see the difference? The beauty our culture esteems may turn some heads, but the beauty God calls us to cultivate will make a lasting impact...[the] woman who cultivates inner beauty, who fears God and lives to serve others, makes a difference in people's lives. Her beauty makes a lasting impact on the lives she touches. ~ Carolyn Mahaney

 

Suspect most of women in this church are already shining in countless ways like this in your daily lives - probably far more than you are even aware of. Hope that as we close, the Lord will encourage you with knowledge that while you may not be blowing horns, you are shining with the beauty of good works, and pray also that the Lord will stir heart to more good works.  

 

Whether it be men or women, one thing is same: The outward worship of the church should reflect the inner work of God. That inner work of God is only possible because of the glorious work described just a few verses before:

 

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all...

 

Pause and consider: is reality of Christ and His salvation filling our hearts?

 

Let's pray.