In Jason Dohm's sermon 'Womanhood by the Book,' he explores the biblical definition of womanhood primarily through Proverbs 31, emphasizing that virtuous womanhood is fulfilled in Christ. Dohm argues that gender roles, often under attack in contemporary society, are divinely designed and reflect the image of God, as outlined in Genesis 1:27. He stresses the importance of inner beauty over outward adornment, citing 1 Peter 3, and describes the Proverbs 31 woman as industrious, trustworthy, and wise, extending her influence beyond the home while ensuring it remains the center of her activity. The sermon also connects the biblical structure of headship and submission with love and respect, reflecting Christ's relationship with the church. Dohm addresses cultural challenges to gender identity, asserting that God’s wisdom surpasses societal trends and that scriptural principles offer a pathway to true happiness and fulfillment. He encourages women to cultivate a deep relationship with Christ, which will make the biblical vision of womanhood clear and rewarding.

Good morning. Please turn to Proverbs 31. I get the privilege of reading Proverbs 31, 10 through 31 in such a wonderful fellowship where we have such godly examples. With that said, I want to encourage us, as we hear God's word, to not view this as just a list on how to be right with the Lord. This is all filled in Christ.

We get to be this because of His indwelt spirit, because of what Christ has done. And that just makes it all the sweeter. This should be an encouragement to our souls, not a shackle of I can never measure. So, hear God's beautiful word about what Christ has done. Starting with verse 10, who can find a virtuous wife for her worth is far above rubies.

The heart of her husband safely trusts her so he will have no lack of gain and she does him good and not evil all the days of her life. She seeks wool and flax and willingly works with her hands. She is like the merchant ships. She brings her food from afar. She also rises while it is yet night, and provides food for her household, and a portion for her maidservants.

She considers a field and buys it. From her profits she plants a vineyard. She girds herself with strength and strengthens her arm. She perceives that her merchandise is good and her lamp does not go out by night. She stretches out her hands to the distaff and her hand holds the spindle.

She extends her hand to the poor. Yes, she reaches out her hands to the needy. She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household is clothed with scarlet. She makes tapestry for herself. Her clothing is fine linen and purple.

Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land. She makes linen garments and sells them and supplies sashes for the merchants. Strength and honor are her clothing. She shall rejoice in times to come. She opens her mouth with wisdom, and on her tongue is the law of kindness.

She watches over the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed. Her husband also and he praises her. Many daughters have done well, but you excel them all. Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.

Give her of the fruit of her hands and let her own works praise her in the gates. Let me pray for us. Father, to think that such rebels could attain to this is only possible through your son. Thank you for your definition of beautiful and good and womanly. I want to thank you for Christ that this is all fulfilled in him.

Thank you for doing what we could not do even on our best day as filthy rags. God, We want our hearts to be conformed to yours, to see and agree with what is beautiful and good and right and true. And we want to pursue it with all of our hearts because that is unto the praise of your glory and your grace. God, would Your Word be exalted in our hearts, not just as a, oh that sounds nice, but as yes, we will go. Yes, we will do anything to attain to what pleases you.

Holy Spirit, please transform our hearts. Make us unto the image of Christ today. This is unto the image of Christ, what we just read. Cause us to become like that. Cause our affections and our desires and everything about us To become pleasing to you in this way Father empower Jason to preach your word that will just cut into us deeply, to leave us sweetly wounded and more like you.

In Jesus' name, Amen. Last week the sermon was on personhood and manhood by the book. So in other words, what the Bible says about what it means to be a human being. And then within the human race what the Bible says about what it means to be a man. This week the title of the sermon is Womanhood by the Book.

So we're looking at the other gender. Next week will be on marriage by the Book. And then the week after that will be forming marriages by the book. So the common theme is by the book. We're the people of the book.

We live by the book. God is wiser at His weakest that we are at our strongest. That's figurative language. He's not weak in anything. But it is language that Paul uses.

So the wisdom of God is wiser than anything man can think up, or that does think up. So we're here to drink in the wisdom of God and to proclaim the beauty and perfections and goodness of his wisdom. I need to remind myself of that as I step into the pulpit today because especially when you're talking about these things that are so roundly contradicted out there by the world, you can end up apologizing for God. I've not come here to apologize for God. He's smarter than anything that the world has going.

And his ways are better and good. His ways about manhood, his ways about womanhood are beautiful and altogether good. And you've lost your mind if you forsake them. So, now we can end, maybe. Why are we preaching these sermons?

Well, gender is under attack. That's new. I'm not aware of another time in human history when people were saying, gender's not a thing. Now they might be saying roles, gender distinctions aren't a thing, that's been under attack for a long time. So even some of the things I said about biblical manhood last week have been under attack.

And so they're controversial, but never that I'm aware of in human history has gender as a notion come under attack where people of one gender would say, no I'm not that gender, I'm actually the other gender and have that thought be taken seriously at all. But today it is. So we're going to preach about it just to ground ourselves in the truth of the Word of God. But this is especially applicable to womanhood. It's not new that manhood would be attacked, but womanhood has been so thoroughly attacked.

We are so far down the road that to even suggest that what the Bible teaches is good is an outrage. So again, I've not come to apologize for that, but to proclaim the beauties of it and to say that God is wise and good in all his ways and that the people who trust the Bible and build their lives on the Bible are not the fools here. It's the people who forsake what the Bible says. Let's pray and ask for God's help. God, I pray in the environment that we find ourselves in, I pray that you would help and bless my sisters.

And especially that you would help and bless our daughters who if they intend to embrace your Word and build lives on your Word, will have to swim against a strong current until they die. Oh, give them courage to do it. God, I thank you for the mothers who are here who have bet their lives on these things and have in so many ways built beautiful lives, good lives. And I pray that they, like Proverbs 31 says, that they would be praised, that they would eat sweet fruit from it as they progress in their years, that they would eat more and more and sweeter and sweeter good fruit from these investments that they've made by betting their lives on the Bible. Maybe so in Jesus name.

Amen. Well the outline should look familiar. It's exactly like last week's outline except instead of manhood it's womanhood so there'll be three major points one what is a person we'll just review what we said last week as a grounding for number two which is what is a woman and then three why does it matter so number one what is a person I'm not going to re-preach last week's sermon. I just want to summarize what we said from Genesis 1. Let me reread Genesis 1, verse 27, which is really the crux of it, Genesis 1, 27.

So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, He created him. Male and female, He created them. So there is personhood in a nutshell. What does it mean to be a human being?

There you go. There you have it. Genesis 1.27. It means that you are made by God. If you just evolved out of the primordial soup, starting billions of years ago, and in the tiniest increments coming up to today, as the result of just random chance that you then you get different answers to every question radically different answers to every question that's not what we believe we believe Genesis 1 27 that personhood is grounded in the fact that we have been made by God our creator.

That's very significant because then all of a sudden this God who made us has the rights of a creator. And it makes perfect sense that he gets to say. If we just evolved the primordial soup, then no one gets to say, why would you get to say anything about me or me about you? Because it's not grounded in any of that. But if there really is a creator God who made me, then all of a sudden he has the rights to have all the say, the final say in every category.

Genesis 1.27 also says something very profound about what it means to be human, and that's that we're image bearers. We're different than every other creation of God in that we bear God's image in ways that the other creations don't. Imagine what a privilege it is to be an image bearer of the all good, all powerful, all knowing, all everywhere present God. Genesis 1.27 says that mankind has been made in two different genders. According to the image of God, He created him male and female.

He created them. And so when a baby is born and the doctor says, it's a girl. Nothing unusual has happened there, nothing strange, nothing to be rebuked has happened there. In fact, we didn't even need a doctor, anybody with two eyes, could look at that baby and successfully diagnose the gender. It's always been true, always been received to be true.

It's still true today. It's a boy. Congratulations. You got it right. You know, even though that child is minutes old, in terms of being outside the womb.

It's obvious. God created male and female. And together, human beings, these two genders, have been given a gigantic, glorious two-fold mission to fill the earth and to subdue the earth and both require both. What do I mean? Both parts of the two-fold mission require both genders.

There will be no filling of the earth without males and females. There will be no subduing of the earth without males and females. Both require both. Both parts of the two-fold mission require the two genders that God has made in the human race. In Genesis 1, let me notice what's not there.

What is not in Genesis 1, not a word about structure is in Genesis 1. So, how do these two genders relate to each other? You can't tell from Genesis chapter 1. So structure is secondary. I hope that's not scandalous to you that I would say that structure is secondary.

It is important, it is even essential, and we often prioritize it because it is under such attack, but we can't afford to skip the fact that structure is secondary. Paul actually confirms this in what we looked at last week in 1 Corinthians 11. When Paul does speak of structure, He says man wasn't created for woman, but woman was created for man. But then he goes on to say, don't get the wrong idea, we're interdependent here because man came through woman. Men, if you think you're independent of women, call your mama and ask her what it took to bring you into the world and she'll set you straight on this matter.

Men and women are interdependent. Women were made for men because they needed companionship, they needed not to be alone, and they needed help in the mission that God was giving to the human race, but we are interdependent. All of us were born through a woman, and then Paul in 1 Corinthians 11 gets to the punchline, what is this all about? But all things are from God. Women are dependent on men in certain ways.

Men are dependent on women in certain ways. But all of that is irrelevant in comparison to the punchline. All things are from God. Structure only matters under God. That's the part of structure that matters the most.

All things are from God. So structure is there for the mission. Are you with me? So structure in a home is there for the mission. It serves the mission.

So it won't do for men who love the structure but have no time for the mission. No, no, no. The structure exists to fill the earth and subdue the earth for the glory of God. If the structure in your home isn't serving that purpose and you just like to be the boss, then you're not a biblical anything. You're an idiot.

You're an idiot. You're a knucklehead. You are still ahead. You're ahead of the home. The man is the head of the home.

But he can be the knucklehead of a home if he gets this confused. If he gets this confused and likes to be the boss, wants to talk about structure, but doesn't have the time of day for the mission. No, no, no. Structure serves the mission. So in considering biblical womanhood, we start with the stunning privilege of personhood, bearing the image of God, and women are not second fiddle in bearing the image of God.

Men bear the image of God. Women bear the image of God. The human race gets this wonderful privilege of bearing the image of God. Number two, what is a woman? Now we go to chapter two where we do find structure.

Let me read Genesis chapter 2 verse 18. I think that's the nutshell of what's in chapter 2. And the Lord God said, It is not good that man should be alone. I will make him a helper comparable to him." So Adam's surrounded by all sorts of other creatures, all sorts of other creations, but he's still alone in that, in that there's no one comparable to him. And the creation of Eve is in response to this statement.

What statement? This isn't good. Adam being alone isn't good and he needs help. Not just a beast to harness, there are plenty of beasts to harness, that's not what woman is in any way, shape, or form. He needs a helper who's comparable to him.

High octane help. Image bearing help, who satisfies this need to not leave him alone. And again, as I said last week, the nature of what God intended, meaning that's only one verse, it doesn't give you a lot, it's not good that he's alone, he needs help, that the nature of the relationship, when you begin to flesh that out, is really articulated in verse 24. Look at Genesis 2.24. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh." So this is not just a business relationship.

This is not just Dome Incorporated where we come together to meet the business objectives. No, this is actually two being made into one and the aloneness is eliminated through a loving relationship. And we know that for 100% sure it's implied here but it's explicit when Paul takes this up and quotes it in Ephesians 5. So let's go back to Ephesians 5. I know we were in all these places last year but it has a bearing on personhood, manhood, and womanhood.

So we know that what God intended by the two becoming one was a love relationship because Paul explains it in Ephesians 5 and he says it's love. He actually quotes 2.24 to become one within the context of Christ and His love for the church. Look again at Ephesians 5 verses 31 and 32. I know we're skipping a lot of good stuff. We'll come back to the good stuff next week.

We're talking about marriage. So I can't steal all the thunder on week two because there's a week three. Ephesians 5, 31, and 32. I'm just gonna reread essentially Genesis 2.24 because that's what Paul is quoting. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.

Then he says this, This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church." Let me restate that. In other words, though there have been hints of it in scripture, Paul comes right out and teaches and explicitly says here in Ephesians 5 that human marriage has always been about pointing to an ultimate version of marriage. What's the ultimate version of marriage? That human marriage is just a dim reflection of Christ and His love for His people. A Savior who bleeds and dies to have a wife from his sacrifice.

Human marriage is a picture of the ultimate marriage, which is Jesus Christ and his people, the church, his bride. So there is something greater than gender identity, which gender identity is meant to reflect. I just want to say that again so you'll think about it. Gender identity isn't an end to itself. Manhood as a concept, and womanhood as a concept, masculinity as a concept, and femininity as a concept are not ends in themselves.

They serve a greater end. And it is Christ and the church. Masculinity was made to serve the image of Christ. Femininity was meant to serve the purpose of reflecting the church in her attributes. So the ultimate expression of gender identity is rooted in this ultimate beautiful compelling relationship Jesus Christ and his bride his people.

And so that decisively informs manhood. It tells you the most important things you need to know about manhood, Even the single manhood of Paul informed by this. And that decisively informs womanhood. It tells you the most important things that you need to know about womanhood, even the single womanhood of our daughters. Because men don't point towards this when they go to the altar, wow I should start thinking about masculinity and manhood now so that I can express it.

No, no, no. You don't wait until you get to the altar to do that. Same with women. Men should be developing these traits exhibited by Christ long before marriage, so they're ready for marriage. Women should be developing these traits exhibited by the church long before marriage so they'll be ready for marriage and even if God keeps them single this expression of gender is still pointing towards this great image of the ultimate marriage.

We'll obviously be back here in Ephesians 5 next week, but for now let me observe this. For manhood and womanhood Ephesians 5 speaks of both structure and disposition. It's not all structure without the flavor of it, and it's not all the flavor of it without the structure. Paul speaks about both structure and disposition. Structure, we have headship and submission.

We start with the non-controversial, which is that Jesus Christ is the head of his church. Does anybody want to debate that? Is that controversial to anyone? It gets prickly when we start talking about people, but in the ultimate marriage, that seems to be, even today, beyond debate, that Jesus Christ is and ought to be and is wonderfully that the head of his wife So we have that structure a headship and submission and then we have the disposition. Fundamentally it is love and respect.

Behind a husband's headship is love. The disposition of his headship is to be love and behind the submission of the woman is respect. It's not just outward headship, no there's a heart thing here, love, and it's not just submission, this outward thing required, no there's a heart here to respect. And that the structure, Hedge Up and Submission, and the disposition, love and respect, reflects both Christ and the church and what we see in Genesis 2.24 to becoming one. The structure and the disposition perfectly fits both and that's not a coincidence because one is a reflection of the other.

One is a model of the other. Now, where else in the Bible do we go to learn about biblical womanhood? Here's one place, 1 Peter 3 versus 3 through 6. By the way, we pick up some helpful rules of thumb along the way. Rules of thumb are good for some things and not for others.

But I love rules of thumb. It gives you a sense. It gives you a way to just quickly measure something. Does this pass the overall test, or does it seem to be out of step rules of thumb can be good for that a rule of thumb for biblical womanhood Based on what Paul says in Ephesians 5 or it is is this consistent with how the church ought to be relating with the Lord Jesus? It's a good rule of thumb for biblical womanhood.

If it's consistent with how we ought to be relating to Jesus as His people, as His bride, then it's passing the sniff test so far. But if it's out of step we should wonder what's happening here. This isn't matching up with the ultimate thing that all of this including gender is supposed to be approximating or reflecting. Okay so now we're in 1st Peter 3 verses 3 through 6 and it's speaking to wives, but especially in the early verses of what I'm going to read, there's nothing distinctive about marriage status. So I want to acknowledge that it is speaking about wives, but in a way I want to disconnect it and say this isn't marriage status centric in what Paul is calling for here.

It is biblical womanhood even more broadly. 1st Peter 3 verses 3 through 6. Peter says, Do not let your adornment be merely outward, arranging the hair, wearing gold, putting on fine apparel. Rather let it be the hidden person of the heart with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. For in this manner in former times the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves, being submissive to their own husbands as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror.

So this is about biblical womanhood and he gives women who are desiring to be biblical women, godly women, a warning and an exhortation. The warning is this, be careful about the pursuit of outward beauty. Be careful about prioritizing outward beauty. It's a trap. So Peter warns you.

Arranging your hair, wearing gold, putting on final apparel. Beware of pursuing that, of prioritizing that. The exhortation then is go for Inner beauty. Don't ignore beauty. Beauty is good.

Prioritize inner beauty. In Proverbs 31, we'll be going there in a minute, but in Proverbs 31 the writer of Proverbs says charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting but a woman who fears the Lord, she will be praised. Meaning you get to keep the inner beauty. The outer beauty fades over time. Charm, these outwardly attracting things, charm, can't count on that.

Outer beauty can't count on that, but a woman who fears the Lord inner beauty intersubstance not only do you keep it in the godly woman, it grows. So you'd like to think your outer beauty will keep growing forever, but there is a peak to all of our outer beauty. Whatever it is, it's going to peak at some point, and then we will have hit the highest point and it was going to start to decline. But actually spiritual beauty goes in the other direction often. So don't be Deceived by charm.

Charm is deceptive. And don't think that you get to keep your beauty forever. Beauty is fleeting. But a woman who fears the Lord, a woman of inner substance, growing inner substance, she is to be praised. She is the winner in this contest.

So we have the warning and the exhortation. Warning, be careful about prioritizing outward beauty. Exhortation, go for the inner beauty. That's what Peter is saying here. I think he's preaching on Proverbs 31, but he just won't say it.

And this inner beauty has some characteristics. How do you know it when you see it? He gives you some characteristics. A gentle and quiet spirit. By the way, this is exactly the polar opposite of what modern feminists are demanding.

There is nothing more out of step with modern feminism than a gentle and quiet spirit. Gentle? Ladies, go get what's yours! A quiet spirit during what's been happening legislatively and with the overturning of Roe versus Wade. Have you seen some of the pictures coming out of those demonstrations?

It takes your breath away, the expressions of these women who are screaming their heads off with the most hatred and contempt, these expressions that you don't, like the picture says it all, you have no audio, you have a picture, but you know exactly what is going on in the circumstances and in the heart of that woman because it's coming through loud and clear even though you have no audio. Have you seen some of these pictures? They take your breath away. God is calling for the exact opposite of what is represented in those pictures. He's saying that a gentle and a quiet spirit are characteristics of this inner substance that God values, and He warns you against prioritizing outward beauty and says, go for the inner substance.

It's incorruptible. It's precious in God's sight. So this is what you need to know about it. God loves it. It's precious to Him.

It's like gold to Him. Sarah's submission to Abraham is given as an example. Her fearless trust in God was expressed by her gentle and quiet spirit. This is the essence of biblical womanhood. Her fearless trust in God.

So don't get the wrong idea about a gentle and quiet spirit. This is no doormat. It just gets trampled on by everybody. This is no wallflower that is just there as a decoration. No, no, no, we are talking about fearless trust in God here so don't misinterpret gentle and quiet spirit.

It doesn't mean doormat. It doesn't mean wallflower. It is an expression actually of fearless trust in God. Do you know that only women who fearlessly trust in God can afford to have a gentle and quiet spirit. But if you don't fearlessly trust in God, then you have to go and get it for yourself.

That's what the feminists are saying. Go and get it. You can't fearlessly trust in God. If you're going to get it, you've got to go grab it yourself. The Bible says the complete opposite.

No, you can trust God to give you all that's good and all that you need. You can afford to have a gentle and quiet spirit because God rules. So trust Him. Build your life on His promises. You can afford to build your life on His promises.

So the prioritizing of this inner beauty defined by scripture over the outer beauty, which is often defined by the world, is an important part of biblical womanhood. Is Paul teaching that you should never do anything to look nice? Of course not. He's saying you shouldn't prioritize that. Where else can we learn about biblical womanhood?

Proverbs 31. Please turn to Proverbs 31. I've been debating all morning whether I was going to re-read this. I knew it was going to be the sermon text. Yeah, I'm going to re-read it.

Proverbs 31 verses 10 through 31. So it's a long reading. It's hard to hang in there and really keep your attention on it. So I'm going to ask for hard work. Be ready to do hard work to hang in there and just consider it phrase by phrase and just try as hard as you can not to let your mind wander.

Otherwise, there will be no point in re-reading it. Proverbs 31, beginning in verse 10. Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is Far above rubies. The heart of her husband safely trusts her, so he will have no lack of gain.

She does him good and not evil all the days of her life. She seeks wool and flax and willingly works with her hands. She is like the merchant ships. She brings her food from afar. She also rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and a portion for her maid servants.

She considers a field and buys it. From her profit she plants a vineyard. She girds herself with strength and strengthens her arms. She perceives that her merchandise is good and her lamp does not go out by night. She stretches out her hands to the distaff, and her hand holds the spindle.

She extends her hand to the poor, yes, she reaches out her hands to the needy. She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household is clothed with scarlet. She makes tapestry for herself. Her clothing is fine linen and purple. Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land.

He makes linen garments and sells them. She makes linen garments and sells them and supplies sashes for the merchants. Strength and honor are her clothing. She shall rejoice in time to come. She opens her mouth with wisdom and on her tongue is the law of kindness.

She watches over the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed, her husband also, and he praises her. Many daughters have done well, he says, but you excel them all. Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing. But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.

Give her the fruit of her hands and let her own works praise her in the gates." This is so inspiring. This is so inspiring. Rather than try to give an exposition of these 22 verses, you can thank me that I'm not going to try that. Let me offer five observations. So I'm just going to zoom out a bit and just generalize and give you five of my observations about this.

So much more could be said that would be very helpful than I'm going to say but let me give you five things. Number one, in my opinion this is the most helpful corrective for having misunderstood the other texts. Say that again. In my opinion, this Proverbs 31 is the most helpful corrective for having misunderstood the other texts. Meaning the other texts give us rock solid principles, essential principles, but don't flesh them out so we might draw the wrong conclusions from the good principles.

It's possible to do that when things are spoken of as general principles, but not given flesh in details showing us what it looks like you can draw the wrong conclusions and not even know it. This text helps us not to do that from the other texts. Our understanding of scripture comes from 2nd Timothy 3, 16 and 17. All scripture is given by inspiration of God. It's not the opinions of man, but it is breathed out by God.

All of it. Every word of it. So our understanding of scripture is not that this text corrects that text because we don't believe any text needs to be corrected. There's nothing in any text that needs to be corrected, but all texts have areas in which they can be misunderstood. Some texts in which they can easily be misunderstood.

And so other texts of scripture don't correct this text. But they give you a right understanding of these texts. So as it applies to Proverbs 31, I would say this, every other text on Biblical womanhood is perfectly consistent with Proverbs 31. If you came away from Genesis chapter 1, Genesis chapter 2, Ephesians chapter 5, 1 Peter chapter 3, if you went to Titus 2 and you developed this understanding and now you come to Proverbs 31 and read this and it's a shock to your senses then you didn't understand those other texts right. You don't need Proverbs 31 to correct anything about those texts, but Proverbs 31 can help you understand it in the way that you will understand it when you understand it rightly.

There are ways to understand those other texts that will bring you to Proverbs 31 and then send you away from Proverbs 31 scratching your head. Like this doesn't match up how I understood those other texts. Well, When you're sent away from Proverbs 31 scratching your head, you should go away and then understand that it is helping you to form boundaries about your understanding of these other texts. Number two. A godly wife enjoys a tremendous amount of trust and latitude from a godly husband.

I'm getting into areas that can get me in a lot of trouble. So I was careful in picking the words. I'm going to say it again. Don't you misquote me on this and get me in trouble. A godly wife enjoys a tremendous amount of trust and latitude from a godly husband.

Not all wives are godly. That changes the equation. Not all husbands are godly. That changes the equation. But that is the target.

A godly wife and a godly husband, and because of that so, she enjoys a lot of trust from this godly husband, because she is a godly wife, and she enjoys a lot of latitude from this godly husband because she's a godly wife. Verse 11a, the heart of her husband safely trusts her. She enjoys his trust. That's because she's a godly wife. If she's not a godly wife, he can't safely trust her.

I know that. That's what we're talking about in Proverbs 31. We're talking about the target. Verse 16. She considers a field and buys it.

From her prophets she plants a vineyard. If you can find me a micromanaging husband in this equation, I don't know how to help you. I know ungodly husbands I know ungodly husbands who would never give their wives that much latitude. I know husbands of ungodly wives who'd be out of their minds to give their wives that much latitude. That's not what we're talking about.

We're talking about godly husbands with godly wives. When you have that, the Godly wife enjoys a tremendous amount of trust from her godly husband, a tremendous amount of latitude from her husband, and that is the target. Get it fixed in your mind. My elder, my co-elder is nodding. I'm just making me happy.

I'm breathing a sigh of relief, I'm not getting in trouble. Number three, which is a corollary of number two, meaning it flows right out of Number two. This is not the maid, this is the maid's boss. Proverbs 31 is not describing the maid. Proverbs 31 is describing the maid's boss.

She is not the household servant. She manages the household servants. Verse 15, her maid servants. Does she serve the house? Yes, she serves the house.

I know she is serving in the home. I do know that. The New Testament term is the Greek word oikodespiteo. It's a compound Greek word, oikos, home, despiteo, despot. What do you think of when I say despot?

Like supreme dictator. That's not exactly this. But it literally means master of the house. Oikodespiteo, this compound Greek word, literally means master of the house, ruler of the house. Those are both responsible translations of that Greek compound word.

And if you get far from that, you begin to have irresponsible translations of that word. That's what it means. So that's number three. This is not the maid, this is the maid's boss. Proverbs 31, she has maid servants plural.

In our context, it's you kids. For vast hours of the day, for most of the hours of the day, most of our wives are the supreme authority of what's happening under our roofs. That's true. That's true. Number four.

Think of a woman who gets up, feeds her kids breakfast, puts her kids on the school bus, watches some daytime TV, maybe runs a few errands, picks them up from school, takes them to soccer practice. That is the polar opposite of Proverbs 31. But that is the world's view of the modern housewife. So when you say, I'm a stay at home mom, that's what the average person at Food Lion thinks of. She gets up, she feeds her kids breakfast, she puts them on the school bus, and she has six hours to watch some daytime TV, run some errands, get things in order around the house.

So she picks them up from school, she takes them to soccer practice, chats with the other moms on the sidelines, she brings him home, that's pretty much her life. That is the polar opposite of Proverbs 31, and an actual godly stay at home mom. She's first out of bed, she's last in bed, pedal to the metal. That's the description of Proverbs 31. First one up, last one to bed, and full throttle all day long.

This woman is a powerhouse, not the embodiment of wasted potential. Did you hear what I said? This woman is a powerhouse, not the embodiment of wasted potential. If you even hint to me that godly women who give their lives to build healthy homes are the embodiment of wasted potential, help you. I hope we would all be visibly angry at any hint of that.

That is so insulting to what God is calling for. It should make us furious with God in the anger. With righteous indignation. Daughters, if you ever thought for a second That what the Bible is calling you to is actually the embodiment of wasted potential. We just want to contradict it now and say, that's not true, that's not true, don't believe that.

That is whispering of bad voices. Number five. I'm gonna add a number six on the fly. You watch me. Number five.

Her reach extends to outside the home, but the home is the center of her activity. You can't read Proverbs 31 and say this is a cooped up woman. She never gets outside the four walls. That doesn't fit. So her reach extends outside the home, but the home is the center, unquestionably, of the chapter.

Home is the center of her activity. For instance, verse 20, she extends her hand to the poor. Yes, she reaches out her hands to the needy. These are people under her roof in her house. She's going out to help the needy but also she watches over her household So whatever else is true of her in Proverbs 31, it's under the banner of she watches out for her household.

She's there watching over it. She watches out for her household and her reach extends outside the home. She's not cooped up, but the home is the center of her activity. It includes economic activity. She is spending money, A lot of money.

She is making money, maybe a lot of money. Keep in mind, this is a king's wife. This is King Lemuel's mother. This is a king's wife. So not every expression of this will look the same.

So Janet, when we get home, can't demand multiple maid servants. I'm not a king, So you don't get to be a king's wife. You married me. Not every expression will look the same as this. Not every woman will be spending the same amount of money or earning the same amount of money, nor should they.

These are the principles we're talking about here. Sisters, I hope you get this. Isn't a second-rate vision of life? Men get the good stuff, I get the bad stuff. I get all the limitations, men have no limitations.

All of that is completely wrong. Men get the good stuff, I get the bad stuff. If I had a dime for every day over 19 years that I came home from filling the world with electronics products and saw my wife who had invested her life into our children all all that day and secretly wished to switch places I could buy us all lunch. This is no second rate vision of life. It's not men get the good stuff and I get the leftovers.

Not true. This is not I get all the limitations, men have no limitations. Men who believe the Bible have all sorts of limitations. We might be head of household, but we don't get to do anything we want if we embrace the scriptures, nor do you get to do anything you want if you embrace the scriptures. All the limitations aren't yours.

We are subject to limitations as well. Elders in churches are subject to limitations. Civil magistrates are subject to limitations. This is no second rate vision of life. It's beautiful.

It's wonderful. Number three, why does it matter? I'll give you three reasons. Number one, because the Creator has the rights of the Creator. If there's a creator, he has the rights of the creator.

There is no creator with no rights. The creation gets all the rights. The creator got nothing. The Creator has the rights of the Creator. This is true of both genders.

He has the right to tell men what to do. He has the right to tell women what to do. Why? Because they're His men, He made them. They're His women, He made them.

It's true of every individual. It is good. It is beautiful. It is perfectly wise. It is a pathway to happiness.

All of that is secondary. What is primary is that God has the right to tell me what to do. Number two, because God knows best. Wow, the sooner we embrace that, the better off we are. God knows best.

I don't know best. He knows best. His design is for His glory and our good. You cheat Him of the glory, just know you'll be cheating yourself of the good. Now hear me, daughters, hear me.

His design is for His glory and our good. And if you cheat Him of the glory, You're cheating yourself of the good. And I'll be proved to be right in that statement in the end, to your sorrow. I say that with such confidence. Why?

Because I'm 52. I'm 52. Would have said that with less confidence at 42, less still at 32, less still at 22, but I've been alive a long time now and I've seen enough people cheat God of the glory and see that at the same time they're cheated of the good. The joke wasn't on God, the joke was on them. Okay, you can fight gravity if you want to.

You can say gravity won't take you down if you jump, but when you jump the truth will be known. When you jump from the plane with no parachute, having demanded that there be no gravity, then Reality will have its way. There's no cheating gravity. Number three. Because the world is watching.

Titus 2 tells the older godly Christian women what to teach, good things to teach to the younger women who want to grow in godliness. And it's a great list. We probably should have spent some time in it today. But at the end of that list, Proverbs 2, the end of verse 5, it says this, that the Word of God may not be blasphemed. That the Word of God may not be cursed.

That the Word of God may not be defamed. That The Word of God may not be spoken of as untrue and not good. Friends, If the professing people of God won't build their lives on Scripture, who's going to? If we don't really believe it, who will believe it? If we say, well, the Gospel's good, I embrace the gospel, but I don't know about this other stuff, I'm not building my life on that.

You wait, you want the world, when you don't believe the rest, to believe this little portion of it. No, the Word of God will be blasphemed if we don't build our lives on this book. That's true of the men, that's true of the women, that's true of the children, that's true of old, the old professing Christians, the young professing Christians. The world is watching. Do we think it's beautiful?

Do we think it's wise? Do we think it's good? Do we think God knows what He's doing? If we don't, on what basis would they believe in Jesus? Why would they believe in Jesus?

Why would they believe in Jesus? You don't believe any of the rest of it? Wow, this part helps me with my sins. Applications, I'll just give you one. Sisters.

Go deep with Jesus. Go deep. Go deep. Cling to His Word. Give yourself to His Word, and give yourself to having fellowship, personal fellowship with Him.

Go deep with Jesus. It will all make sense then. And I'm not sure it can ever make sense before then. You know, he does have the rights of the Creator and I can stand on his behalf to insist on his rights as a Creator. My experience is, it starts to make sense when he has his rights as the Redeemer.

He has the claim on everybody on planet Earth as creator, but he has a double claim on us. He not only made us, but he redeemed us. He's proven His love so surely to us. So we know His intentions towards us have to be loving intentions, or He never would have gone to the cross. When you go deep with Jesus, and you give yourself to fellowship with Him and to His Word, all this stuff starts to make sense.

I'm not sure it can before then. When you go deep with Jesus, you'll see that the limitations are really a helpful focusing. From the outside, it just looks like limitations. You can't, you can't, you can't, you can't, you can't. From the inside, it starts to look like God is focusing me on this good thing.

God is focusing me on this good thing. God is focusing me on this good thing and keeping me back from all the distractions that would keep me from having what's actually good. Oh bring me joy. God You are wise. Thank You for Your Word.

I pray that You would give all the women and young women and girls who are hearing this courage to bet everything that your word is true. In Jesus' name, Amen.