The Local Christendom Podcast with Aaron Ventura

Sermon: Three Truths To Live By (Esther 1:1-4)

Three Truths To Live BySunday, November 17th, 2024Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA
Esther 1:1-4
1Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus, (this is Ahasuerus which reigned, from India even unto Ethiopia, over an hundred and seven and twenty provinces:) 2That in those days, when the king Ahasuerus sat on the throne of his kingdom, which was in Shushan the palace, 3In the third year of his reign, he made a feast unto all his princes and his servants; the power of Persia and Media, the nobles and princes of the provinces, being before him: 4When he shewed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the honour of his excellent majesty many days, even an hundred and fourscore days.
Prayer
O Father, we thank you that to Christ has been given all authority in heaven and on earth. We thank you also that we live in an age where the kingdom of heaven has come, and is coming, and shall one day come in all its glory. Teach us to live as faithful ambassadors of your kingdom in our day, for we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Introduction
This morning, we are continuing to introduce the book of Esther. Last week we tried to situate this story within the broader biblical timeline, and so before we get into some new material, let’s briefly review the ground we covered so far.
There were two main questions we asked and answered last week:
The first question was, “Where does the story of Esther take place?” And we said it takes placed in Shushan/Susa, which was the capital of the Persian empire.
As promised, I included on the back of your bulletin two maps. The map on the top shows the extent of the Persian Empire, “from India to Ethiopia.”And then the map on the bottom shows you the modern-day names for these places. And I also included the walking distance between Jerusalem and Susa, which is a journey that some Jews like Mordecai and Nehemiah would have had to make.So it was roughly 1,000 miles journey between Jerusalem and Shushan, which we said is about the distance between Centralia and Las Vegas.
So that’s the Where of the book of Esther. What about the When?
When did the story of Esther take place?
Contrary to most modern commentators who (I think) rely far too much on external extra-biblical sources (like Herodotus), rather than the biblical text as written, my view is that Esther takes place in the years c. 519-509 BC, and that the King who is called Ahasuerus is the same as King Darius I.
Ahasuerus is a throne name kind of like Pharoah or President, and it means “Chief/Hero Among Kings.” And just as there are multiple Pharaohs in the Bible, so also are there multiple Ahasuerus’s in the Bible (see Dan. 9:1, Ezra 4:6-7).
If you were to study the way these different throne names (Darius, Xerxes/Ahasuerus, Artaxerxes) are used in Ezra-Nehemiah, Daniel, and Esther, the best conclusion is that Darius the Great, who renewed the decree of Cyrus to rebuild the temple, is the same as the Ahasuerus who is described here in Esther and in Nehemiah.
This question of When Esther takes place, and the identity of the Ahasuerus she marries, is of major consequence to how you interpret the book. If you get this question wrong, it can warp your view of King Ahasuerus’ actions, Esther’s actions, and so forth, and unfortunately that is the case for most modern commentaries on Esther that are in print today.
To go back to our theme last week of becoming prudent “Sons of Issachar, who understand the times,” it is doing this hard chronological work to harmonize the Scriptures, and understand the context, that shall reap great fruit in interpreting the text, as you shall see in future sermons.
Now this morning, I want to give you a little sample of that fruit by looking at the prophets and the sermons that God gave to his people during this Era of Restoration.
Recall from last week that we divided the history of Israel into 5 Eras:
1. The Era of Moses begins around 1,500 BC.
2. The Era of Judges runs for about 500 years.
3. The Era of Kings begins around 1,000 BC.
4. The Era of Exile begins around 600 BC and runs for about 70 years.
During this time Jeremiah, Daniel, and Ezekiel are all active. Jeremiah in Jerusalem, Daniel and Ezekiel in Babylon. And Daniel lives to see the end of Exile, when in 537 BC, God raises up King Cyrus of Persia (also known as Darius the Mede), to decree that the Jews should return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple.
5. So in 537 BC, the Era of Restoration officially begins, and we said that amongst those Jews who return to Jerusalem under Zerubbabel (the Governor), are Nehemiah and Mordecai.
We are told in Esther 2:6-7 that in 597 BC, Mordecai was taken from Jerusalem to Babylon, and now 60 years later, a 60 year-old (or older) Mordecai makes the long journey back home.
However, we also said that this “Build Back Better” project stalls out, and that sometime during the next 16 years, Mordecai relocates to Shushan. And by the time the book of Esther opens in 519 BC, a 76 year old (or older) Mordecai is there with his adopted daughter and cousin Esther.
So our purpose in the rest of this sermon is to answer the question: What were God’s standing orders for His people during this Era of Restoration?
We know from Jeremiah 29, that God gave very specific instructions to the Jews for the Era of Exile. In short, they were to get married, have children, build houses, and seek the peace of Babylon, for God says, “and pray to the Lord for that city; for in its peace you will have peace” (Jer. 29:7).
So during this 70 years of discipline for their rebellion against God and His appointed rulers, the Jews are to learn obedience through the things they suffered. They are to learn the lessons that Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel taught them, and teach those truths to their children, so that when the Era of Exile ends, they know how to live and not repeat the same mistakes.
So to help us get inside the mind of Mordecai, Esther, and the Jews of this era, I want to highlight three prophetic truths that these Jews were to live by. And we will draw these truths from the various prophecies of Jeremiah, Daniel, and Ezekiel, but especially the prophets Haggai and Zechariah who were alive when the book of Esther is unfolding.
Three Prophetic Truths for The Era of Restoration
Truth #1 – Seek First the Kingdom of God
We learn from the prophet Haggai, who was preaching in 520 BC, just one year before the book of Esther begins, that the Jews in Jerusalem had their priorities out of order.
It says in Haggai 1:3-7, “Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?” Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: “Consider your ways! “You have sown much, and bring in little; You eat, but do not have enough; You drink, but you are not filled with drink; You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; And he who earns wages, Earns wages to put into a bag with holes.” Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Consider your ways!
So for 16 years, the people have been making excuses for why the building up of their own homes is a higher priority than building up God’s Temple.
To put it another way, the Jews in Jerusalem are still living like they are back in Babylon. They are living like the exile is still going, and that Cyrus’ decree to rebuild God’s House, is somehow not applicable anymore.
Given the opposition they faced from their local enemies, and the disfavor of the Emperor who ruled after Cyrus died (Cambyses II), a good legal case could be made for them not working. It was legally ambiguous whether Cyrus decree was still in force. But God, who sees into the heart of man, knows when we are making excuses. God who sees into the intents and desires of our heart, knows whether the kingdom of God is our first and highest priority, or if it is just an accessory to our own personal pursuits.
This was the great sin of the Jews in Jerusalem. Seeking first their own private earthly kingdoms over the Kingdom of Heaven. So God sends Haggai the prophet to rebuke them and ask, “How is that working out for you?” (Consider your ways!) Are you prospering? Are you happy? Are your storehouses full?
Having left off God’s house to focus on your own, why are you still struggling to make ends meet? “You have sown much, and bring in little; You eat and You drink, but you are not satisfied. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; And he who earns wages, Earns wages to put into a bag with holes.”
When God’s people stop seeking first the kingdom of heaven, He often withholds His blessings so that we’ll stop and consider our ways. Remember the terms of God’s covenant, if you keep faith and love God and serve Him, He will bless you (all things work for good). But if you break faith and disobey His commands, the curse of the covenant will find you. Taxes increase, your car breaks down, jobs fall through, things fall apart.
In the words of Psalm 106:13-15 referring to Israel in the wilderness it says, “They soon forgot His works; They did not wait for His counsel, But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, And tested God in the desert. And He gave them their request, But sent leanness into their soul.”
So if your soul feels hallow, lean, lacking in joy and peace and love, perhaps you need to stop and consider your ways. Consider whether God really is the highest priority, or if you are simply using Him as a means to your own ends.
And if that is you, consider it a great grace and gift from God to love you enough to show you the unhappiness of a disordered life.
Remember the full context in which Jesus gives the command to seek first the kingdom of heaven. He says in Matthew 6:24-34, “No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
Jesus is like Haggai, preaching to us where true prosperity and blessing can be found. It is not in the love of money, or the building up of our own private kingdoms, it is rather in the ordering of all our affairs towards the kingdom of heaven (remember the Proverbs 31 woman and her priorities). That is what it means to seek first the kingdom of God.Build up the church. Give yourself to right worship in spirit and in truth. Do justice in all your affairs and be merciful even as your heavenly Father is merciful to you.
That was the truth Mordecai and Esther were to live by according to Haggai the prophet: Seek first the kingdom of God.
The second truth comes from the prophet Zechariah and is a word of encouragement for those building God’s Temple.
Truth #2 – If God is For You, Who Can Be Against You?
It says in Zechariah 1:14-16, “Thus saith the Lord of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy. And I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease: For I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction. Therefore thus saith the Lord; I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: My house shall be built in it, saith the Lord of hosts, And a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem.”
And then a few verses later it says, “Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls For the multitude of men and cattle therein: For I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, And will be the glory in the midst of her.” (Zech. 2:4-5)
This is the promise for those who trust God and build even in adversity, “I will be a wall of fire around you, and the glory within you.” God will be your invisible shield, and He will be the source of light and heat when the world feels dark and cold.
There were many enemies of the Jews who did not want the temple rebuilt, who did not want the walls rebuilt, and who were ready to play dirty to stop them. We read in Ezra and Nehemiah that they used tactics of intimidation, assassination threats, false accusations, and hired false prophets against them.
It says in Nehemiah 6:1-3, “Now it happened when Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall, and that there were no breaks left in it (though at that time I had not hung the doors in the gates), that Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come, let us meet together among the villages in the plain of Ono.” But they thought to do me harm. So I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you?”
Nehemiah had set his face like flint to accomplish God’s purpose, and that conviction gave him courage to say, “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down.”
The enemies of the church will try to get us off course. They will conjure up false accusations again our leaders, they will try to trap us and discourage us, but we must expect this opposition and be unmoved by it.
Paul says in 2 Corinthians 2:11 about the necessity of forgiving one another, “Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.”
Likewise he exhorts in Ephesians 6:16, “Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.”
We see that another scheme of the devil in Nehemiah’s day was to hire a prophetess named Noadiah, along with some others prophets to report that Nehemiah was planning to make himself King, and he was entering the holy place, against God’s command.
It says in Nehemiah 6:6-7, the Sanballat wrote an open letter saying, “It is reported among the nations, and Geshem says, that you and the Jews plan to rebel; therefore, according to these rumors, you are rebuilding the wall, that you may be their king. And you have also appointed prophets to proclaim concerning you at Jerusalem, saying, “There is a king in Judah!” Now these matters will be reported to the king. So come, therefore, and let us consult together.” And when that bait does not work, they try another scheme.
Nehemiah 6:10-13 says, “Afterward I came unto the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabeel, who was shut up; and he said, Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple: for they will come to slay thee; yea, in the night will they come to slay thee. And I said, Should such a man as I flee? and who is there, that, being as I am, would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in. And, lo, I perceived that God had not sent him; but that he pronounced this prophecy against me: for Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. Therefore was he hired, that I should be afraid, and do so, and sin, and that they might have matter for an evil report, that they might reproach me.”
So the enemies of the saints have many devices, many schemes and ploys to run against us. And so as the church is built up, and the walls of Christendom start to get repaired, we should expect to see these same moves run against the Ezras and Nehemiahs of our day. Ezra was a priest and scribe. Nehemiah was a civil ruler. The enemy focuses his attack on the leaders in the church, and the Christian leaders in civil government. Wherever Christians are in places of influence, the devil schemes against us.
To translate this to modern day, there are powerful special interest groups and political factions, that have a vested interest in opposing the kingdom of Christ. And so they will use scare tactics, they will run smear campaigns, they will fund Jezebel’s prophets to run interference on our building projects.
And so we must learn from Nehemiah to not take the bait. To see through their lies and accusations, and say to them, “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down.”
Where do we get that kind of boldness and fortitude? It comes  from loving what God loves and hating what God hates; that is when we have the fire of the Holy Spirit around us and within us.
We are told in Titus 2:14, that “Christ gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”
Likewise Jesus says in Revelation 3:19, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.”
God wants the fire of His love to burn within us. That is the zeal He desires in the church. And when you have that supernatural love of God, then Romans 8:31 feels true in our soul, “If God be for us, who can be against us?”
Now whenever the enemies of God’s people cannot stop us from the outside, they try to corrupt us from within. And so the third truth God reminds His people to live by in the Era of Restoration is.
Truth #3 – Do not intermarry with unbelievers.
We read in the book of Numbers, that Balak, King of the Moabites, hired Balaam the prophet to curse Israel. But because God was a fire around them, and the glory within, God turned those attempted curses into blessings. However, Balaam gave the Moabites counsel that the best way to conquer Israel, is to just get them to sin so that God will punish them.
So we read in Numbers 25, right after Balaam and Balak go their separate ways it says, “And the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods. And Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor: and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel.”
This same sin is committed by the Jews in Jerusalem under both Ezra and Nehemiah, and it persisted until the days of Malachi when the OT Canon closed. And so it is this sin of intermarriage with idolaters that looms large in the background of Esther’s marriage to Ahasuerus. Was that marriage biblically lawful or not? That is a question we will have to take up in a future sermon.
It is significant that Scripture tells us, “In the tenth month, in the seventh years of his reign” (Esther 2:16),Esther is in Shushan marrying Ahasuerus. And in that very same month and year, Ezra is back in Jerusalem dealing with all the Jews who had married pagan wives.
We read in Ezra 9, that right after the temple is finished, a report comes that they have already broken God’s covenant.
It says, “Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass. And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonished. Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been carried away; and I sat astonished until the evening sacrifice.” And then Ezra goes on to offer a prayer of repentance and intercession for this great sin.
So the great temptation for God’s people when they are scattered throughout the empire, is to intermarry with unbelievers, and to adopt their idolatrous customs, their morality, and their religious and political views.
How did our nation go from having Protestant Christianity and even established churches in the states at our founding, to transgender story hour at your publicly funded library?
How did we go from having God’s law as the infallible foundation for our civil laws, to the legalization and celebration of abortion, sodomy, adultery and the like. In just 300 years, we have gone from punishing with the death penalty what God calls abominations, to open celebration of these manifold perversions?
The answer is: We intermarried with unbelievers. We did this both literally and figuratively.
One of the reasons there is so much injustice, oppression, murder, rape, sexual abuse, and child trafficking in our land, is because the church yoked itself to unbelievers. The church committed grave injustices, abandoned God’s standards for its leaders, stopped disciplining its members, stopped defining sin by God’s standards, and started mimicking the world. It is obvious that the church intermarried with the world when our Sunday worship services became little more than a rock concert and a ted talk with a few Bible verses attached.
As one of my fellow pastors in the CREC likes to say, “Before we had clown world, we had clown church.”
Before we had abortion on demand, we had no fault divorce in the church. Before we had women in the military, we had women in our pulpits and seminaries. When the church yokes itself to Baal of Peor, there is only one way out: the zeal of Phinehas.
How does God discipline and reform His adulterous people?
Hear Numbers 25:3-13, “And Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor: and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. And the Lord said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the Lord against the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel. And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baal-peor. And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand; And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel. And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy. Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace: And he shall have it, and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel.”
The only way out of idolatry is through the atoning blood of Jesus. If you live like a Canaanite, your end will be like the Canaanites, devoted to destruction.
And so the church must recover (at bare minimum) these three prophetic truths, if we want to see justice restored, and peace in our cities, as we build God’s House in age of empires. The king’s heart is still in the hands of Christ, He turns whithersoever he will.
And so:
1. Seek first the kingdom of God.
2. Stir up God’s spirit of love within you.
3. Do not intermarry with this idolatrous world.
May God make you as zealous as Phinehas, so that with javelin in hand, you thrust through the world, the flesh, and the devil. IN the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Sermon: In the Days of Ahasuerus (Esther 1:1)

In the Days of AhasuerusSunday, November 10th, 2024Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA
Esther 1:1Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus, (this is Ahasuerus which reigned, from India even unto Ethiopia, over an hundred and seven and twenty provinces:)
Prayer
Father, we thank you that there is no power except from You. You are the one who appoints rulers, and You cast them down. You are the one who opposes the proud, but gives grace to the lowly. And so we ask now for you to hear the prayers of the righteous, the cries of the humble, and make us to see how You work all things for the good of those who love you, and who are called according to your purpose. We ask for all this in the name of Jesus, and Amen.
Introduction
In 1 Chronicles 12, God gives us a description of the mighty men of valor/hayil who gathered around David to make him king over all Israel. It says in 1 Chronicles 12:22-23, “For at that time day by day there came to David to help him, until it was a great host, like the host of God. And these are the numbers of the bands that were ready armed to the war, and came to David to Hebron, to turn the kingdom of Saul to him, according to the word of the Lord.” And then the text goes on to describe how many men from each tribe came out and joined David’s army.
6,800 from Judah,
7,100 from Simeon,
4,600 from Levi,
3,000 from Benjamin,
20,800 from Ephraim,
18,000 from Manasseh,
But then when it gets to the tribe of Issachar, it says in verse 32, “of the sons of Issachar who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, their chiefs were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their command.”
Notice the Sons of Issachar had a special gift: “understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do.” What do we call this ability? This gift of understanding that leads to right actions. In the Christian tradition, we call this the virtue of prudence.
Prudence in its most basic definition is right reason about human actions. To put it another way, Prudence is knowing both 1) the correct destination, and 2) the best road to get there. Prudence is the habit of acquiring an aerial eye view of the situation on the ground, considering all possible paths, and then judging which path is the best of all.
Prudence is the virtue that perfects our mind, our intellect, and without out, we make bad decisions.
It says in Proverbs 8:12, “I wisdom dwell with prudence, And find out knowledge of witty inventions.”
It says of Christ in Ephesians 1:8-7, that “he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself.”
God gave to us in Christ, the knowledge of the highest good, which is God Himself. And so to receive prudence from Jesus is to know that God is the highest destination for humanity, and the best and only possible path to God is through Jesus Christ, who calls himself in John 14:6, “the way, the truth, and the life.”
So prudence first understands what the highest good is, namely God, and the surest path to Him, namely Christ. And then from that knowledge of the highest good, and as someone who is seeking first that good (the kingdom of God), our Heavenly Father intends for us to learn and practice prudence also in lesser things, in politics, in government, in family matters, in parenting, in business ventures, in personal decisions about our finances, or what career to pursue, or what person to marry, or what house to buy, or what city to live in. These are all prudential questions that God wants us to answer using the principles of His Word.
Now why all this talk about Prudence?
Because Prudence is a major theme of the book of Esther. And to teach us prudence, is one of the primary purposes for God inspiring this book and giving it to the church.
It says in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
And so as we study this book now and for many months to come, I want you to study it with an eye to growing in this virtue of prudence. My hope for us as a church, and for you as individuals, is that you become like the sons of Issachar:
You understand the times you are living in from God’s perspective.
You understand the story arc of biblical history and where you are in that story.
You understand the motives and actions for each character in this book, and are then able to identify the motives of your own heart and where they need to change.
My hope is that our immersion in the world of Esther will help us internalize God’s truth, so that we can become the characters God wants us to be in the story He is telling in our day. So that in the books of heaven we might be numbered as sons and daughters of Issachar, who understood the times of God’s kingdom, and what we ourselves ought to do.
Now I only read one verse for us this morning (verse 1), and that is because if you want to understand Esther, you need to understand the times and the places wherein this story takes place. Because without that context, you can easily miss the whole point of the story, and you will likely mis-judge the actions of the different characters within the story, whether Ahasuerus, or Vashti, or Haman, or Mordecai, or Esther.
In order for us to rightly judge their actions, or to argue for what they should have done, we need to first understand the times they were living in and enter into that world with them.
So there are just two questions I am going to ask and answer in this sermon:
1. Where did this story take place?
2. When did it happen?
Question 1 – Where did the story of Esther take place?
The answer to this first question about location is the much easier of the two. We are told explicitly in Esther 1:5, “the king made a feast unto all the people that were present in Shushan the palace.” “Other translations might read, “in the citadel of Susa.”
Shushan/Susa was the capital of the Persian empire at this time, and if you were to look for it on a map, it would be in modern day Shush, Iran.
Next week I will try to include a map of the Persian empire so you can get a better visual for where this is.
As far as the Jews were concerned, Shushan was about 1,000 miles away from their home in Jerusalem. And to give you some perspective, it’s about 1,000 miles from here in Centralia to Las Vegas, Nevada. So if you were to walk in the ancient world, from Shushan to Jerusalem, it would take you about 44 days if you walked non-stop for 8 hours a day.
We have in various museums some physical artifacts from Shushan during this time period, one of which is a clay tablet that describes the construction of this palace by King Darius. It reads, “This palace which I built at Susa, from afar its ornamentation was brought. Downward the earth was dug, until I reached rock in the earth. When the excavation had been made, then rubble was packed down, some 40 cubits in depth, another [part] 20 cubits in depth. On that rubble the palace was constructed.”
We read in Esther 1:6 that in this palace there were, “pillars of marble: the beds were of gold and silver, upon a pavement of red, and blue, and white, and black, marble.”
So the Bible gives us a description of the precious stones and materials used in this palace, and this fits with what Darius himself describes in this artifact saying, “from afar its ornamentation was brought.”
So what is today just ruins and a tourist attraction in Iran, used to be the center of imperial power that extended from India in the East, to Egypt and the Mediterranean in the West.
When it says in verse 1, “this is Ahasuerus which reigned, from India even unto Ethiopia,” the Hebrew word beneath Ethiopia is Cush, which was a land just south of Egypt in modern day Sudan.
So this was a vast empire, and Shushan was a convenient middle point between the Eastern and Western borders.
We learn from the book of Daniel that Daniel himself had a vision that placed him in Shushan, and this was about 12 years before Babylon fell to the kingdom of Persia. So while Daniel is serving in the Babylonian capital, God takes him in a vision to where the new capital shall be.
It says in Daniel 8:1-2, “In the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar a vision appeared unto me, even unto me Daniel, after that which appeared unto me at the first. And I saw in a vision; and it came to pass, when I saw, that I was at Shushan in the palace, which is in the province of Elam; and I saw in a vision, and I was by the river of Ulai.” And then God shows to Daniel the future wherein a ram with two horns arises and conquers. And an angel tells Daniel, “The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia” (verse 20). And then after this ram, comes a goat which refers to Alexander the Great, the king of Greece.
And so God shows to Daniel while in Babylon, and through him to all the faithful, what shall take place in the years ahead. And this brings us to the more important and more difficult question of when exactly the story of Esther takes place?
Question 2 – When do the events of Esther happen in the biblical timeline?
The short answer is that Esther spans the years c. 519-509 BC, after the exile and return from Babylon, but before the walls of Jerusalem are rebuilt under Nehemiah. So while prophets like Malachi are still to come, Esther is the final story in the Old Testament that describes Israel outside of Jerusalem. And so both Jews and Christians have consistently looked to Esther as a kind of guide for living in an age of empires, especially empires that can be at times very hostile to Christians, and at other times very favorable.
Now because this time period in biblical history is one of the most confusing and unfamiliar for many Christians, I want to situate Esther within the broader biblical timeline. And because Esther stands as the culmination of many Old Testament plotlines, to study Esther is also to study many stories that came before. The book of Esther is consciously trying to resolve certain storylines and tensions that began way back in Genesis and Exodus.
So let us get the big picture of the Old Testament fresh in our heads.
For mnemonic purposes, we can divide the history of Israel into 5 basic eras.
1. The Era of Moses, which begins around 1,500 BC with the Exodus from Egypt and the birth of Israel as a nation. After Moses dies, Joshua takes the people into the promised land, and this leads to the second era…
2. The Era of Judges. During this eraIsrael tries to settle down in the promised land under various tribal rulers (12 Judges from Othniel to Samson). This time period, according to the Apostle Paul in Acts 13:20, runs for about 450 years. However, as we know from the book of Judges, this was a time when every man did what was right in his own eyes, and the result of this moral environment was in many cases lawlessness and a lack of unity amongst the twelve tribes. This created a desire amongst the populace for a king “like the nations” to rule over them. We read about this populace demand in 1 Samuel 8, “And the Lord said to Samuel, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.” And thus, Saul is anointed and we began a third era…
3. The Era of Kings. By now it is about 1,000 years before the birth Christ, and 500 years after the death of Moses. We witness the height of Israel’s monarchy under David and Solomon and the building of God’s temple around 943 BC, but that glory is short-lived when Solomon commits idolatry and polygamy and this sets the table for civil war under his son Rehoboam, and from that point on, Israel and Judah become two separate kingdoms. The capital of Israel becomes Samaria and is ruled primarily by the tribe of Ephraim, while the capital of Judah (and part of Benjamin) remains in Jerusalem. So you have Israel in the north and Judah in the south, with two separate kings reigning over them.
If we look at the northern kingdom of Israel, we see that is was exclusively ruled by wicked and idolatrous kings (with Jehu being short reprieve), and so they are eventually conquered by Assyria in 722 BC. And thus, the northern kingdom only lasts for about 200 years.
The southern kingdom of Judah on the other hand fairs a bit better. That kingdom will run for another 100 years or so after their Northern brethren fall. And this was because there are at least 6 good kings who reign after Solomon’s death, but despite their various attempts at reform, the people are so wicked and the leadership so compromised, that they are eventually conquered by Babylon, taken into exile, and the temple at Jerusalem is burned to the ground around 586 BC. This is key and crucial date to remember: Jerusalem’s destruction by Babylon around 586 BC.
And this begins the fourth era…
4. The Era of Exile.
It is during this time period that Jeremiah functions as a senior prophet working in Jerusalem. Two of his young seminary students are Ezekiel and Daniel (who were both born around the same time). And it is these two men that God sends ahead of his people into Babylon, to prepare a place for them.
So even prior to the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC, Daniel has already been serving in the Babylonian court for 17 years. And Ezekiel has been seeing visions and teaching some of the captives in Babylon for 10 years.
And guess who else was amongst these early exiles to Babylon? We are told in Esther 2:6-7, that Mordecai was amongst this group, “Now in Shushan the palace there was a certain Jew, whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite; Who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captivity which had been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away.”
If we do the math and compare this with Jeremiah 52:29, we learn that this was around 597 BC. So Mordecai was likely a baby or a very young man at this stage.
So during this Era of Exile, you have Jeremiah, Daniel, and Ezekiel, teaching the people how to live, survive, and even thrive under Babylonian rule.
Jeremiah is in the palace at Jerusalem. Daniel is in the palace at Babylon. And Ezekiel is amongst the captives at Babylon, and they are God’s threefold cord of prophets during this era.
Now if you were an Israelite living in this time period, what would faithfulness look like? What would prudence look like in an age of exile?
Well God tells them very explicitly what they are to do:
In Jeremiah 29 (written in 597 BC) it says, “Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem unto the residue of the elders which were carried away captives, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon…[Daniel and Ezekiel are recipients of this letter]. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon; Build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them; Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that ye may be increased there, and not diminished. And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace…For thus saith the Lord, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith the Lord: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the Lord; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.” (Jer. 29:1, 4-7, 10-14)
So for the next 70 years, Jerusalem will lie in ruins taking its sabbath rest. And during that time, they are to build houses, get married, seek the peace of Babylon, and pray to God for Babylon. And then when those years are up, God is going to regather those who have been scattered. And this brings us to the days of Esther, and the fifth era of Israel’s history…
5. The Era of Restoration.
The Restoration Era begins with Cyrus’ decree in 537 BC, for the Jews to arise and return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple there.
The book of 2 Chronicles ends the same way the book of Ezra begins, with this royal decree: “Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem. And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem” (Ezra 1:2-4).
So the marching orders for Israel changes in this era under Persian rule. God’s people are called by Cyrus to rebuild the temple, restore Jerusalem, and return to the Lord with a whole heart.
God gave Israel 70 years of “timeout discipline” to think about their sins, to think about their apostasy, and to learn from Jeremiah, Daniel, and Ezekiel, how they are to live when God ushers in this new era of restoration.
And this brings us to 537 BC, when the first wave of exiles returns to Jerusalem. And again we see that a now grown Mordecai is amongst them. He is at least 60 years old now.
It says in Ezra 2:1-2, “Now these are the children of the province that went up out of the captivity, of those which had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away unto Babylon, and came again unto Jerusalem and Judah, every one unto his city; Which came with Zerubbabel: Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai…”
And so by now, Mordecai is an elder, a ruler, and he is amongst those governing officials of the Jews who heed Cyrus decree to go and rebuild the temple.
How does that reconstruction project go?
We learn from the book of Ezra that this work begins, but opposition arises, and so they stop building. They get the sacrificial altar built, and the foundation laid, but that’s about it.
Meanwhile, Daniel is almost 90 years old, and he has his final vision of what will take place between then and the time that Christ is born. And as these prophets from the Era of Exile are now old or dead (Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel), there is a need for new prophets to arise.
And so in 520 BC, 16 years after the work stalled out in Jerusalem, God raises up the prophets Haggai and Zechariah to get the Jews back to work.
Now sometime during that 16-year construction stall, Mordecai goes back to Persia. He returns to Shushan. The Bible never tells us exactly when or why he went back, all we know for sure is that when Esther becomes queen, there is Mordecai “in Shushan the palace.”
So here’s your first test of prudence, Why do you think Mordecai went back? What would be a good reason for doing? And what would be a bad or sinful reason for doing so?
There is no one right answer to this question since the Bible does not tell us, but it’s a good question to begin to enter the story and exercise your intellectual powers on.
Conclusion
To summarize the answers to our two questions, Where and When does Esther take place?
Esther takes place in Shushan the capital of Persia in the years 519-509 BC.
And more importantly, it takes place during the Era of Restoration, when the prophets Haggai and Zechariah are active in Jerusalem, and when the visions of Daniel and Ezekiel are starting to be fulfilled.
So as you seek to become a son or daughter of Issachar, remember that Jesus Christ is the font of all prudence, and as it says in Colossians 2:3 in Him “are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
So give yourself wholly to Christ, and He shall make blessed. As it says in Psalm 119:2, “Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, And that seek him with the whole heart.”
May God seal this word within you. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, Amen.

Sermon: The Virtuous Church (Proverbs 31)

The Virtuous ChurchSunday, November 3rd, 2024Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA
Proverbs 31:10-31
10Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies.
11The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, So that he shall have no need of spoil.
12She will do him good and not evil All the days of her life.
13She seeketh wool, and flax, And worketh willingly with her hands.
14She is like the merchants’ ships; She bringeth her food from afar.
15She riseth also while it is yet night, And giveth meat to her household, And a portion to her maidens.
16She considereth a field, and buyeth it: With the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.
17She girdeth her loins with strength, And strengtheneth her arms.
18She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: Her candle goeth not out by night.
19She layeth her hands to the spindle, And her hands hold the distaff.
20She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; Yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy.
21She is not afraid of the snow for her household: For all her household are clothed with scarlet.
22She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; Her clothing is silk and purple.
23Her husband is known in the gates, When he sitteth among the elders of the land.
24She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; And delivereth girdles unto the merchant.
25Strength and honour are her clothing; And she shall rejoice in time to come.
26She openeth her mouth with wisdom; And in her tongue is the law of kindness.
27She looketh well to the ways of her household, And eateth not the bread of idleness.
28Her children arise up, and call her blessed; Her husband also, and he praiseth her.
29Many daughters have done virtuously, But thou excellest them all.
30Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: But a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.
31Give her of the fruit of her hands; And let her own works praise her in the gates.
Prayer
Father, please open our eyes to behold wondrous things from your law. We ask for the illumination of your Holy Spirit, in the name of Jesus, Amen.
Introduction
In Ephesians 5, the Apostle Paul says that marriage is a great mystery. And he says specifically that the one-flesh union of Husband and Wife, is a mystery that refers to Christ’s spiritual union with the Church. And therefore, just as Christ loved the church, and gave himself up for her, so also husbands are to love their wives. And just as the church is commanded to submit to Christ as our Head, so also wives are commanded to submit to their husbands as head. Marriage is a great mystery that speaks of Christ and the Church.
Now for the last three weeks, we have been studying Proverbs 31 in its original historical context. And that means we have been emphasizing what a young King/Prince Lemuel ought to look for in a potential spouse. And so we said that this poem is in the very first instance, advice from a godly mother to her son.
“Do not give your strength to women,” she says in verse 3, and then in verses 10-31 she gives him a comprehensive vision for what a woman of virtue looks like.
So we’ve had three full sermons studying this poem verse by verse, and yet we would be neglecting the full Divine intention of this passage if we stopped here, and did not go further on to apply this passage to the most important wife that shall ever exist. And who is that wife? It is the Bride of Jesus Christ, namely, the Church.
The Bible begins with the marriage of Adam and Eve. And how does the Bible end? With the marriage of the Last Adam to the New Eve.
For as we heard in Revelation 21:2 it says, “Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”
This is how human history ends, with the Bride of Christ, the holy city, the New Jerusalem, which is the mother of us all (Gal. 4:26), descending from heaven as a bride adorned for her husband.
So the bride of Christ, the Christian Church, is the most important wife, because she is eternal. She is heavenly. She is God the Father’s chosen daughter. She is the one that Christ shed His blood to redeem and purchase for Himself. She is the temple the Holy Spirit indwells.
And so to treat Proverbs 31 as merely a portrait of exemplary Christian womanhood is to aim too low. Because if as Paul says, marriage is a great mystery that refers to Christ and the Church, then this model of the virtuous wife is also the model for what the one holy catholic and apostolic church shall be, and therefore we, as the church, should aspire to become this in the present.
So that is the approach we are going to take in this sermon. We are going to consider the spiritual or mystical sense of this poem as it refers to Christ’s Bride. And while we cannot give the full spiritual sense of every single verse (or else we would have 4 more sermons!), I am going to draw out a few examples of the spiritual sense, and then leave you to work on some of the sections I pass over.
Recall again the outline of this poem, but this time with the Church in mind:
Verses 10-12 describe the church’s value.
Verses 13-27 describe the church’s actions.
Verses 28-31 describe the church’s praiseworthiness.
So starting in verse 10…
Verse 10
10Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies.
We might restate this question as, “Who can find a virtuous church?” Where are the solid churches at in America? Who can find a virtuous body of believers who love what God loves and hate what God hates?
In the sea of idolatry that is these United States, how valuable is a faithful church in this apostate land?
The answer is, “far above rubies.”
Imagine the poverty of your own soul if all the faithful churches in America suddenly vanished.How much darker would our society become if all our lights were extinguished?
God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah with fire and brimstone because there were not found 10 righteous men in that city. What then would be the fate of our nation, our cities and suburbs, if all the virtuous churches were removed?
It is easy to forget how blessed we are by the existence of not only our own particular church, but the many other virtuous churches in our region. Yes, we might have some doctrinal differences with some churches (even strong differences), but to find a church where the Word is taught, God is worshipped in spirit and in truth, and the people love one another as Christ commanded, that is a precious and invaluable treasure.
This question, “Who can find a virtuous church?” is essentially the same question that the Prophet Elijah once asked of God when he was being hunted down by wicked Jezebel.
Elijah says in 1 Kings 19:10, “I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”
And what is God’s response? After a storm and wind and earthquake and fire, God speaks in a still small voice and says, “Anoint Hazael to be king over Syria, and Jehu to be king over Isael, and Elisha to be prophet after you…[and also] I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.”
In other words, although Elijah felt like he was all alone in serving God, although he felt like the ungodly were in control and the righteous were going extinct, there were actually 7,000 other faithful men in Israel, and it was God who was still appointing the rulers of the nations.
Ahab and Jezebel were the wicked rulers Israel deserved, they were the King and Queen that God ordained to discipline his rebellious people, and as soon as the righteous cry out and the people repent, God is ready to send in a Jehu to destroy Jezebel.
When the righteous intercede and pray like Elijah, and the nation humbles itself in repentance, God isready to raise up reformers like Josiah to purify the land of idolatry and restore right worship in the land.
So while it may feel like there are no virtuous churches, and it may feel like the wicked are in control and have all the power, it is actually Jesus Christ who has all authority in heaven and on earth, and He still holds the hearts of the president, and the governor, and the judges, and the legislature in his hands like a stream, and he can turn them whithersoever he will (Pr. 21:1).
So what is your job as a member of the church, when the land is full of idolatry? What is within your control and your responsibility?
For starters, heed the words of 1 John 5:21, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” That’s the bare minimum.
It says further in Jude 1:20-23, “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And of some have compassion, making a difference: and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.”
So especially in days of national judgment, such as we are living in, when as it says in Romans 1, God gives people over to their sins, the church is to 1) keep herself pure, 2) pray fervently as Elijah did, and look for opportunities to show mercy and compassion by pulling people out of the fire.
And as we do this, we must not become proud as if we are the only faithful people or church around. No, there are far more than 7,000 virtuous saints and churches in the land. You might not know who they are, or where they are, but Christ will not suffer his bride to go extinct. Jesus promised that the gates of hell shall not prevail against Her.
So yes, a virtuous church can be hard to find, but that is no excuse to complain or grumble. Instead, we must get to work. We must become the virtuous church that God desires. So how do we do this? The answer is given in the rest of this poem.
Verse 11-12
11The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, So that he shall have no need of spoil.12She will do him good and not evil All the days of her life.
Who is the husband of the church? Jesus Christ. Can Jesus trust us to obey him? Can Jesus say about our church, “Christ Covenant has done me only good and no evil all the days of her life”? “Christ Covenant has faithfully represented me to the people of Centralia.”
The answer to that question can be objectively measured by what God’s Word says the church is supposed to do and be.
Are we loving one another?
Are we speaking the truth with kindness and seeking to build one another up and not tear one another down?
James 3:16 says, “For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.” Are we confessing our sins of envy and pride? Or are we haughty and ignorant of how ignoble our minds are?
Are we offering to God our bodies as living sacrifices unto Him?
Are we taking every thought captive and making it obedient to Christ?
Are we stewarding our gifts and not squandering them?
Are we living the Blessed life that Jesus speaks about in his sermon on the mount?
Blessed are the poor in spirit, the mournful, the meek, the righteous, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and so forth.
In sum, are we fulfilling our part of the Great Commission where Jesus says, we need to “observe/obey all things whatsoever I have commanded you.”
If we wanted to take further inventory as a church of how we are doing, we could also read the seven letters that Jesus writes to the pastors and churches in Revelation 2-3 and then compare ourselves to what we find there.
We want to live in such a way that Christ can say of us, “My Bride is trustworthy, I have no fear of spoil. Christ Covenant does me good and not evil all the days of her life.”
Remember that when you were baptized, your last name became Christian, and therefore whatever you do, whether good or ill, reflects upon Christ.
Does your life make Jesus look as good and glorious as He is? Or are we giving people just cause to not follow Jesus, because our lives are just as unhappy and disordered as the rest of the world?
In Romans 2, the Apostle Paul rebukes those who boast in God’s law and yet break it saying, “For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles” because of you.
The only offense we want to give to unbelievers, is the offense of the gospel, the offense that is Christ crucified and salvation by faith in His name and none other. It ought to be the exclusivity of Jesus Christ as the only true God that offends our neighbors, and not our bad living.
In 1 Corinthians, Paul rebukes the Corinthian Church for tolerating sins that would make the Gentiles blush. He says in 1 Corinthians 5:1-2, “It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife. And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.”
And so one of the essential marks of a healthy church is that there is both government and discipline. A church that refuses to practice discipline is like a body without an immune system.
And so if we would be a chaste and holy bride for Jesus Christ, we must become chaste and holy in our personal conduct. That is the high and glorious calling that God wills for us. For chastity and holiness are also the surest path to experiencing true joy and true peace in the Holy Spirit.
To Summarize: we see in this opening section of Proverbs 31 that what makes the church valuable is that she is faithful, she is trustworthy, she is chaste and discrete, and she is all these things because she adores Christ her savior.
To be madly in love with God is the surest way to a holy and happy life. Psalm 112 says, “Happy is the man that fears the Lord and delights greatly in His commandments.”
So that is what makes the church valuable, what about the church’s actions?
And here I am going to pick up the pace a bit.
Verses 13-15
13She seeketh wool, and flax, And worketh willingly with her hands.14She is like the merchants’ ships; She bringeth her food from afar.15She riseth also while it is yet night, And giveth meat to her household, And a portion to her maidens.
The Church is a busy place. And just as the virtuous wife clothes and feeds her household, so also the Apostle James says we are to do the same, “If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?” (James 2:15-16).
And so for this reason God ordained that there be Deacons in the church who oversee this service. And it is not just the deacons who do this, but many others who work with willing hands to alleviate the physical needs both in the church and outside of it.
Recall Paul’s image in 1 Corinthians 12 of the church as a body with many different body parts. Who are the “willing hands” of the church?
They are you who seek out the wool and flax, the new and needy sheep, the raw materials that God wants to turn into something more glorious.
Some of you are more oriented towards serving those within the body. Building community. Tending to our own. Whereas some of you are more like the merchant’s ships. You want to bring in those from afar. You want some new spice in the church and so you invite your neighbors over for dinner, you like minister to unbelievers. You want to serve the broader community that does not yet know Christ.
All of these are good and important works, and we should thank God for all the different members and the gifts they bring. God has given us these diverse gifts to build up the whole body.
Problems arise in the church when we start to think that everyone is called to the exact same ministry. But that would be to abolish the body and to turn everyone into a hand, or a foot, which would just look silly.
Now if the Deacons are the ordained hands of the body, we might say that the Ruling Elders are God’s ordained eyes, and the Pastor is God’s ordained mouth.
In 1 Timothy 3 elders are called Bishops/Overseers, which translates the Greek ἐπισκοπή, that is one who looks from above.
And so the elders have embedded in their very name this special duty of oversight, of planning, of looking ahead, of taking inventory. We must look at our internal needs and health and also look at external threats and opportunities.
And so while the deacons are ministering to the physical needs of the Church, the elders have the special task of providing spiritual food and spiritual clothing to your souls.
This of course is what the Lord Jesus told the Apostle Peter to do in John 21, “Feed my sheep” x3!
And so my job as your pastor is to feed you the bread of heaven, the truth, to nourish you on the pure milk of the word.
To do as Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:1-2, “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.”
What is this work of teaching but imitating the virtuous woman in verse 15, “She riseth also while it is yet night, And giveth meat to her household, And a portion to her maidens.”
Our first and most important job as elders is to feed you God’s Word, and to cover you with prayer. That is the food and clothing the elders arise early to offer.
Verse 16
16She considereth a field, and buyeth it: With the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.
What is this work of the church but planting new churches/vineyards with the fruit of our hands.
Just as the virtuous wife considers a field and then buys it, so also the church weighs out whether we have enough resources to buy property, to invest in new ministries, to start new works in new places with the people who have blossomed here.
Notice the organic nature of her planting efforts. She uses good fruit that she already has to plant this new vineyard. We likewise want to plant churches with the healthy and good fruit we already have growing.
And just as the virtuous wife would have had to save and plan and consider a field long before she could buy it, so also our church must save and plan and consider now what fields God wants us to cultivate in the future.
We want to imitate the virtuous wife by planting vineyards in our own day that our great great grandchildren can drink the wine of.
Continuing in verses 17-25, the major theme is clothing and the making of various garments and coverings. And if we were to study out each of these details we would see that her work and materials are the same as what we find described in the construction of the tabernacle.
For example, it says in Exodus 26:1, “Moreover thou shalt make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: with cherubims of cunning work shalt thou make them.”
And then in Exodus 28 it says of the priestly garments, “And they shall take gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen. And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, and of purple, of scarlet, and fine twined linen, with cunning work. It shall have the two shoulderpieces thereof joined at the two edges thereof; and so it shall be joined together. And the curious girdle of the ephod, which is upon it, shall be of the same, according to the work thereof; even of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen.”
So we have here portrayed the virtuous church adorning herself as a place for God to dwell and be exalted.
These same colors and fabrics get picked up in the Book of Revelation to describe God divorcing the Harlot of the Old Jerusalem and marrying the faithful New Jerusalem.
In Revelation 18:16-17 it says, “Alas, alas, that great city, That was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, And decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls! For in one hour so great riches is come to nought.”
And then we read in the following chapter, in Revelation 19:7-8, a description of the New Jerusalem, “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.”
And so the story of Israel’s history is actually summed up by verse 30 which says, “Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: But a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.”
God betrothed Jerusalem to Himself and made her beautiful and prosperous, but she became proud and vain in her own beauty, she fell in love with herself, and then used that external beauty (the Temple, the priesthood, etc.) to deceive and seduce other nations to sin. She becomes a harlot.
And all the while, within that system of the Old Jerusalem, there were true saints. There were saints who actually feared the Lord and served Him, and it is that faithful remnant of Israel that God unites to the Gentiles in the Gospel era, and together they become the bride we see in Revelation 19. A New Jerusalem composed of Jews and Gentiles, arrayed in the fine linen of righteous deeds.
So fine linen and colored garments signify the beauty of worship at God’s sanctuary, the adornment of his house. And how is God worshipped and glorified? 1 Peter 3:4 tells us it is by 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.”
So (to run through some of these verses) the virtuous church girds her loins with strength, she makes good merchandise, she extends her hands to the poor and needy, her candle does not go out at night, her heart is always awake to God, she is not afraid of the snow of persecution that tries to cool her love for God, and that is because all her household are clothed in scarlet, the blood of Christ, and as it says in Revelation 12:11, “they overcame Satan by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.”
This is how the church adorns her husband who sits as an elder in the gates. And not only is he an elder, he is Ancient of Days, He is Himself the gateway through which the righteous enter.
When the church opens her mouth, wisdom comes forth, the law of kindness is on her lips. She speaks peace to her children, and peace to the world, because she is married to the one who is the Prince of Peace, and as it says in Isaiah 9:7, “Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end.”
And then finally, on the last day, God praises and rewards His faithful bride.
Verses 28-31
28Her children arise up, and call her blessed; Her husband also, and he praiseth her.29Many daughters have done virtuously, But thou excellest them all.30Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: But a [church] that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.31Give her of the fruit of her hands; And let her own works praise her in the gates.
It says in Ephesians 2:8-10, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
To be a part of the church is to participate in a life of grace. The Christian life begins in grace, continues in grace, and ends with God graciously crowning us with glory for the things we did by His grace.
Where sin abounds in the church, grace abounds much more. And that is why there is no excuse for us to be an ugly church, a lazy church, an unfaithful church. Grace upon grace has been given to us by Christ, and if we use that grace well, we shall bear fruit for God, fruit that remains, works of love that God will praise us for in the gates of heaven.
May God present us to himself a glorious church, without spot, or wrinkle, or any blemish. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sermon: The Virtuous Woman - Part 3 (Proverbs 31)

The Virtuous Woman – Part 3Sunday, October 27th, 2024Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA
Proverbs 31:10-31
10Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies.
11The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, So that he shall have no need of spoil.
12She will do him good and not evil All the days of her life.
13She seeketh wool, and flax, And worketh willingly with her hands.
14She is like the merchants’ ships; She bringeth her food from afar.
15She riseth also while it is yet night, And giveth meat to her household, And a portion to her maidens.
16She considereth a field, and buyeth it: With the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.
17She girdeth her loins with strength, And strengtheneth her arms.
18She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: Her candle goeth not out by night.
19She layeth her hands to the spindle, And her hands hold the distaff.
20She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; Yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy.
21She is not afraid of the snow for her household: For all her household are clothed with scarlet.
22She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; Her clothing is silk and purple.
23Her husband is known in the gates, When he sitteth among the elders of the land.
24She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; And delivereth girdles unto the merchant.
25Strength and honour are her clothing; And she shall rejoice in time to come.
26She openeth her mouth with wisdom; And in her tongue is the law of kindness.
27She looketh well to the ways of her household, And eateth not the bread of idleness.
28Her children arise up, and call her blessed; Her husband also, and he praiseth her.
29Many daughters have done virtuously, But thou excellest them all.
30Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: But a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.
31Give her of the fruit of her hands; And let her own works praise her in the gates.
Prayer
Father, we thank you for this divinely inspired portrait of feminine strength. As we seek to imitate these virtues and apply them to our own lives and households, we ask for grace to work out what You work in, grant us Your Holy Spirit in abundance, for we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Introduction
This morning, we are in Part 3 of a four-part series on the Proverbs 31 Woman. Last week we concluded at verse 23, and so this morning our plan is to pick up in verse 24 and complete our exposition of this poem. Now some of you might be wondering, if we finish the passage today, what will the fourth sermon be on next week? And my answer to you is that it’s a secret. You’ll just have to wait and find out next Sunday. There’s your cliffhanger.
Before we pickup in verse 24, let’s just review the basic outline and contour of this passage.
Outline of the Text
We said there are three basic sections to this poem:
1. Verses 10-12 describe the woman’s value.
2. Verses 13-27 describe the woman’s actions.
3. Verses 28-31 describe the woman’s praiseworthiness.
So picking up in verse 24 we are in the tail end of that section on the woman’s actions.
Verse 24
24She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; And delivereth girdles unto the merchant.
Another translation has it, “Fine cloth she makes, and she sells it, a loincloth she gives to the trader.” *Btw, the Hebrew for trader/merchant here is “Canannite.”
Recall, there are three dominant themes to this woman’s actions: 1) She makes garments and clothing, 2) She provides food for her household, 3) She does all of that with glad palms.
Food, clothing, and joyful labor are essential qualities of the virtuous wife.
We also noted that this woman likes to start with the raw materials, whether wool or flax, or an empty field, and then she turns those raw materials into something both beautiful and useful: clothing, garments, a vineyard, grapes, wine, etc.
So this woman delights in taking hold of nature, in receiving God’s good creation with willing hands, and then transforming it by those same hands into something better.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11:7 that, “woman is the glory of the man.”And this glory is reflected in how the woman transforms and elevates creation. Woman was God’s final act of creation on Day 6, and she carries in her own nature this aspect of crowning and beautifying whatever God gives to her. Woman is the glory of man, she is the crown of God’s handiwork.
So both men and woman are commanded to exercise dominion in the land, but they each have a unique role to play in how they extend the peace and prosperity of Eden out into the four corners of the earth.
We see this uniquely feminine role illustrated in how the poem describes the woman’s priorities.
For example, who is the first person this woman is said to be a blessing to? In verses 11-12 we see that it is her husband.
“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.”
The virtuous woman is a wife in the first instance, and that one-flesh union of marriage takes priority over and informs all other relationships, save her relationship with God.
After her husband and marriage, we then see she provides food and clothing for her own household, her children and handmaidens (vs. 15).
And then in verse 20 we see her opening and extending her productive hands to the poor and the needy outside her home.
So the woman’s actions reflect her priorities. Marriage is her first priority (after God), 2nd are her children, 3rd her maidservants, and 4th the poor and needy.
If you know Paul’s letters well, you know this is the same basic order and patten for how he instructs Christians in their domestic life: Husbands-Wives, Children-Parents, Servants-Masters.
So the virtuous wife is practicing what Paul says in Galatians 6:10, “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.”
A well-ordered household has well-ordered loves. A disordered household on the other hand is one where people are overlooking their closest and most proximate neighbors. Christ commands us to love our neighbors as ourselves, and that means starting with those who share a roof with you.
So here in verse 24 we see that while the woman is interested in turning a profit on her merchandise, she does not herself become a traveling merchant, or a door-to-door salesman. Instead “she gives her fine cloths to the trader,” “she delivereth girdles unto the merchant.” She remains focused on being present and overseeing her household, and she lets the men, the traders, the merchants, do what God created them to do.
This is likely how she went about doing what it describes earlier in verse 14 when it says, “She is like the merchants’ ships; She bringeth her food from afar.” These merchants bring the spices, and she trades with them for her fine linen garments.
To Summarize: The virtuous wife conducts even her external business transactions with the home as the center around which it revolves. And this is not because she is on house arrest, but rather, because her home is a productive paradise, like Eden, she actually enjoys working there.
Feminism has tried to convince women that the home is a prison and marriage is a slavery from which they must be liberated. And what does female liberation look like? It looks like having a career instead of children, a fancy office instead of a messy kitchen, and a CEO to submit to, instead of a husband.
This and many other lies have been sold to our generation, and we are now reaping the consequences of those decisions. One of which is sadly the rapid disappearance of single-income households because of the ever increasing costs of living.
God is not mocked; a nation reaps what is sows.
So recall the core curriculum that God commands older women to teach younger women.
He says in Titus 2:4-5, “that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.”
Likewise in 1 Timothy 5:14, Paul says, “Therefore I desire that the younger widows marry, bear children, manage the house, give no opportunity to the adversary to speak reproachfully.”
So make your fine linen, sell it to the merchants, turn a profit on what you produce, but do it all as one whose vocation and calling is homemaker, as one guiding the house, so that God’s Word may not be blasphemed.
Perhaps someone will then ask, “Is it sinful for a woman to work outside the home?” The answer is it depends. Are you married or unmarried? Do you have little children or grown children, or no children? What is the season of life you are in? What is your husband’s income? What are your expenses? Is working outside the home a temporary necessity to make ends meet, or is that the long-term plan?
If you are unsure, you can give me all of those details and I’ll tell you. But what is the principle?
The principle is that: if a wife and mother is neglecting her marriage, her children, her household so that she can “find fulfillment” in some other career, then yes, that is sinful.
So the question to ask yourself is: Does my work and my actions reflect God’s priorities for me as revealed in His Word? Is Titus 2 and Proverbs 31 the goal you are aiming at, or are you aiming at something else?
Intentions matter. Our actions reflect our intentions. And God’s Word is the judge of both.
Continuing in verse 25 we see that being a homemaker is by no means a weak or shameful calling. Quite the contrary.
Verse 25
25Strength and honour are her clothing; And she shall rejoice in time to come.
Another translation has it this way, “Strength and grandeur are her garment, and she laughs at the day to come.”
This is true womanhood, this is woman as the glory of man. Back in verse 22 we saw that her literal garments are linen and purple, and here we see that those garments reflect her own strength and majesty.
We also saw earlier in verse 21, that she is not afraid of the snow in winter, because her household is clothed in scarlet, and here the text goes a step further and says she laughs/rejoices at the day to come.
How do you become this kind of fearless rejoicing woman?
You have to meditate upon the law of God day and night. You have to have Scripture as the soundtrack of your soul.
Psalm 118:6 says, “The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”
Psalm 27:1 says, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?
When your soul overflows with the promises of God’s goodness towards you, then fear of the future is cast out. And so you must keep these promises as a seal upon your heart. Commit them to memory so that you can rejoice and laugh at the days to come.
A woman who fears the Lord will not the fear the future. God keeps in perfect peace the woman whose mind is stayed upon Him.
Now what results from having God’s Word hidden in your heart? Verse 26…
Verse 26
26She openeth her mouth with wisdom; And in her tongue is the law of kindness.
Wisdom and the law of kindness cannot come out of you, unless it first dwells richly within you.
And the Word cannot take root in the soil of your heart, if it is choked with the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and desires for other things besides God (Mark 4:19).
The more singular and one you are in your desire for God, the more you become like God who is One. You were created for God, and therefore the perfection of your nature consists in knowing and loving Him above all else. Jesus says, that is what eternal life is, to know the one true God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent (John 17:3).
So only someone who knows and loves Jesus can be truly wise. Because the essence of wisdom to order all things according to their First Principle, and God is that First Principle. Jesus Christ is the Alpha and Omega, Beginning and the End of all creatures. So wisdom is the heavenly gift that comes from knowing God.
In James 3:17-18, we have a description of what true wisdom looks like in comparison to earthly wisdom. He says, “But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”
The virtuous woman is a peacemaker. She knows when to overlook the faults of others and cover them in love, and she also knows when to speak up and confront those who are wandering from God’s law. The goal in all of this is to sow with her words the seeds of peace, peace with God first and foremost, and peace between others insofar as it depends on her (Rom. 12:18).
“She opens her mouth in wisdom; teaching of kindness is on her tongue.”
Verse 27 then sums up and concludes the virtuous woman’s actions.
Verse 27
27She looketh well to the ways of her household, And eateth not the bread of idleness.
As if this was not obvious already, the virtuous woman’s work can be summarized as “looking after the ways of her house.” She has been attentive to her husband, her children, her servants, and the poor. She has made provision for the now, and has made plans for the future. She has a storehouse of wisdom, experience, and kindness to share. And the result of this virtuous life is the praise of verses 28-31.
Verse 28
28Her children arise up, and call her blessed; Her husband also, and he praiseth her.
For years she arose early to feed her household (vs. 15), and now her household arises and blesses her for it.
All her days she did good for husband and no evil, and therefore she deserves the praise of verse 29, where he says…
Verse 29
29Many daughters have done virtuously, But thou excellest them all.
Notice that the husband sees that his wife’s hayil, her virtue,surpasses all other women, and this is the basis for our regarding the Proverbs 31 Woman as the standard by which all others are judged.
It is also possible the “daughters” he is referring to here, who have also “done virtuously,” who have a hayil of their own, are his own daughters.
Recall that the poem began with the question, “Who can find a virtuous woman?” She is rare, she is precious, she is not easy to find. But now here at the end, there is this acknowledgement of other daughters of virtue. And from the mother’s perspective, what could be a greater reward than to have her own children, her own daughters grow up to imitate her virtues.
And from the husband’s perspective, what could be a greater gift than to receive from his wife, daughters of hayil?
Finally, the poem (and the book of Proverbs) concludes by extolling the fear of the Lord, and this is where we shall close.
Verses 30-31
30Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: But a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.
31Give her of the fruit of her hands; And let her own works praise her in the gates.
What gates does the virtuous woman care about? Whose opinion does the woman that fears the Lord concern herself with?
It is not hard to find praise when you are charming and pretty. It is not hard to find praise when you are hardworking, smart, and successful. But the praise of human beings is as vain and fleeting as a woman’s outward beauty.
And this is why the gates the virtuous wife cares about, and fixes before her mind’s eye, are the gates of heaven. For it is there at God’s judgment seat, that charm and good looks will be exposed for what they are, vain. And it is also there where the things that matter most, spiritual things, shall be rewarded and praised for what they are, precious, eternal, and everlasting.
The Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:18, “we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
No man can see the invisible virtue that is fearing God, or loving God, or faith in God. We can see the fruit of those virtues, but not the virtues themselves, they are invisible actions of the soul.
But God is the one who does see. As it says in 1 Samuel 16:7, “For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
So the virtuous woman desires above all else, to please God and to receive His praise, because of the contents of her heart. For as it says in 1 Peter 3:3-4, “Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or 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.”
This is the essence of faith, to seek first the gates of heaven, and to work unto the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, so that as death approaches, you can with the Apostle Paul, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.”
May God grant you His grace to run that race well, and to finish with a basket of fruit you can barely carry.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Sermon: The Virtuous Woman - Part 2 (Proverbs 31)

The Virtuous Woman – Part 2Sunday, October 20th, 2024Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA
Proverbs 31:10-31
10Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies.
11The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, So that he shall have no need of spoil.
12She will do him good and not evil All the days of her life.
13She seeketh wool, and flax, And worketh willingly with her hands.
14She is like the merchants’ ships; She bringeth her food from afar.
15She riseth also while it is yet night, And giveth meat to her household, And a portion to her maidens.
16She considereth a field, and buyeth it: With the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.
17She girdeth her loins with strength, And strengtheneth her arms.
18She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: Her candle goeth not out by night.
19She layeth her hands to the spindle, And her hands hold the distaff.
20She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; Yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy.
21She is not afraid of the snow for her household: For all her household are clothed with scarlet.
22She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; Her clothing is silk and purple.
23Her husband is known in the gates, When he sitteth among the elders of the land.
24She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; And delivereth girdles unto the merchant.
25Strength and honour are her clothing; And she shall rejoice in time to come.
26She openeth her mouth with wisdom; And in her tongue is the law of kindness.
27She looketh well to the ways of her household, And eateth not the bread of idleness.
28Her children arise up, and call her blessed; Her husband also, and he praiseth her.
29Many daughters have done virtuously, But thou excellest them all.
30Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: But a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.
31Give her of the fruit of her hands; And let her own works praise her in the gates.
Prayer
Father, we thank you for the many examples of godliness that you have given to us in the Scriptures. Make us to be faithful and virtuous in our own day, so that in glory we may join that heavenly cloud of witnesses the surrounds us even now. We ask for your Holy Spirit in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Introduction
This morning, we are in Part 2 of what was going to be a three-part series on The Proverbs 31 Woman, but because there is so much here to meditate on, I decided to go at a more leisurely pace, and thus it will take us four sermons to go through this passage.
Now before we continue our exposition of this text, I want to remind you of three important truths that we established last week, and which are essential to understanding this passage of Scripture.
1. The first truth is that Proverbs 31 is divinely inspired advice From a godly mother To her son King/Prince Lemuel.
And so we said last week that while many people think that Proverbs 31 was given primarily for the women in the church to study, it is actually the opposite. According to verse 1 these are, “The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him.” And therefore, it is young unmarried men who are the original and target audience for this poem.
2. The second truth is that this portrait of the “The Virtuous Wife” in verses 10-31, answer back to Lemuel’s mother’s warning in verse 3 that says, “Give not thy strength unto women, Nor thy ways to that which destroyeth kings.”
We said that the Hebrew word for strength in verse 3 is hayil, and that that same Hebrew word appears again in verse 10 when it asks, “Who can find a virtuous woman?” that is, “Who can find a woman of hayil?”
So the advice of Lemuel’s mother is: Don’t give your masculine hayil/virtue/valour/strength/substance to women in the plural, but rather find one godly woman who has a feminine hayil of her own, and marry her.
We also noted that in the Hebrew Bible, Ruth is explicitly identified as a woman of hayil, and Boaz is explicitly identified as a mighty man of hayil.
So if you want to know what biblical virtue/valor/strength looks like in its masculine and feminine forms, study the book of the Ruth.
3. The third truth is that this portrait of the virtuous wife is a portrait of mature womanhood in full flower, and therefore a young prince Lemuel would have had to look for the seeds of these virtues as he sought out a potential wife.
So as we study this portrait, there are two things to keep in mind, 1) we should expect to fall short because this is a model of perfection, and 2) we should aspire to become this each according to our own unique and individual circumstances.
Recall that in verse 29 the husband says to his wife, “Many daughters have done virtuously, But thou excellest them all.”
In other words, of all the women who have the precious virtues enumerated here, this women and this portrait is the greatest, she is the exemplar and standard by which all others are judged.
So to repeat what I said last week, wisdom consists in being able to apply universal principles to ever-changing and unique circumstances. Wisdom comprehends the whole so that you can then rightly orders the parts.
And if you lack wisdom, you got to go back to the first chapter of Proverbs where it says, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” And as it says in James 1:5, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”
So whatever you try to practically implement from these sermons, it will only be successful insofar as it proceeds from faith, hope, and love for God. Those three theological virtues are the root of all the other virtues we see her.
With all that by way of review, let us now proceed to our text.
Outline of the Text
Recall, there are three basic sections to this poem:
1. Verses 10-12 describe the woman’s value.
2. Verses 13-27 describe the woman’s actions.
3. Verses 28-31 describe the woman’s praiseworthiness.
Last week we covered verses 10-12 and beheld the woman’s value, so let us pick up in verse 13 as we consider the woman’s actions. We’ll only get through verse 23 this morning.
Verse 13
13She seeketh wool, and flax, And worketh willingly with her hands.
Here we see the beginning of two themes that will be developed throughout this passage.
The first theme is that of making clothing and garments.
The second theme is that of skilled manual labor.
As we go through this passage notice how many times the woman’s hands or arms are explicitly mentioned ot implied.
And notice also how many times clothing and garments are mentioned as well.
You can think of this poem as a kind of tutorial for how to arrive at the finished product of verse 31 which says, “Give her of the fruit of her hands; And let her own works praise her in the gates.”
If you have ever searched online for a recipe video, or a DIY on how to make something or remodel a room in your house, often the thumbnail (picture you click on) has a Before and After picture that shows you the humble beginnings (the mess you started with), and then the glorious, finished product.
And it is that glory at the end (the fruit, the prize) that God intended to inspire us so that we can plow with hope in the present.
Hope is what motivates joyful work in the now.
Later in this poem we are going to see the woman has “scarlet and silk and purple and fine linen to sell.” That is what she hopes for and intends to make, but how does she get there? How does that future hope bear on her present reality?
It starts here in verse 13, she seeks wool and flax, the raw materials for making beautiful garments, and not only that, she also has a willingness to work and get her hands dirty.
So the two qualities of the virtuous woman we see straight off are: 1) a willingness to seek out and search for what she needs in accord with her vision, and 2) a willingness to work with those materials once she has them.
Another way of translating verse 13 is, “she diligently selects wool and flax, and works with her glad palms.”
That Hebrew word for “willingly” carries this sense of joy and delight in one’s work.
And this is what God explicitly commands of all of us.
It says in Ecclesiastes 9:10, “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.”
And Colossians 3:23 says, “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as unto the Lord.”
So the virtuous woman has a mind to search out and select quality materials, wool and flax. And she does this because she has an actionable plan to turn those raw materials into something beautiful and useful. And that plan involves her own joyful hands getting to work.
So the virtuous woman is not just a Pinterest daydreamer. Yes, she looks for inspiration, but then she makes a plan, a budget, a to-do list for how to actually accomplish the goal she has in mind. Perhaps she consults her husband, she talks with her mother or mother-in-law, she gets advice from people more skilled and experienced in that trade than she is. She does her homework.
One of the many differences between men and women (and between some women and other women) is that we just notice and are attentive to different things. Many women are great with the details and the particulars, while being really bad at seeing the big picture. Sometimes it is the opposite. What kind of person are you?
A large part of wisdom is knowing your own strengths and weaknesses and blind spots, and then seeking out help where you have shortcomings. This is one of the many ways that a husband and wife can love and lean on one another, and also other people in the church. It is a mark of wisdom to humbly seek out advice from the wise, especially in places where we are ignorant and unsure.
I often recommend to young men considering a specific trade or career to go find a man excelling in that trade and ask to buy him lunch.And then go to that meeting with a list of questions prepared. And in that meeting ask him, What other questions should I be asking as I consider pursuing this vocation?”
A big part of wisdom is learning what questions to ask, and what questions are just bad questions or dead ends.
Proverbs 15:22 says, “Without counsel purposes are disappointed: But in the multitude of counsellers they are established.”
So don’t get the wrong idea. The Proverbs 31 woman is not a solo act. A virtuous woman knows her own limits, her weaknesses, her strengths, her gifts, and then makes her plans accordingly.
Verse 14
14She is like the merchants’ ships; She bringeth her food from afar.
Another quality of the virtuous woman is that she knows how to shop. She knows what to source locally (eggs, milk, fresh produce), but also what to get from far and distant lands.
When the Queen of Sheba visited King Solomon, it says in 2 Chronicles 10:9, “she gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices great abundance, and precious stones: neither was there any such spice as the queen of Sheba gave king Solomon.”
Likewise in Genesis we see that in times of famine and hardship, it was necessary to go and get grain from Egypt.
And recall that Ruth, our historical exemplar of the virtuous woman, left Moab and returned to Bethlehem to glean during barley harvest.
So the virtuous woman embraces the task of feeding her household. And she is not content to just feed them locally sourced food from her homestead, she is like the merchants’ ships and bringeth at least some of her food from afar.
I am all for “Farm to Table” eating, but the virtuous woman has no problem with sourcing ingredients from across the ocean.
Adding to our two themes then, of clothing and manual labor, we now add a third theme of feeding her household. This theme is developed further in the next verses.
Verses 15-16
15She riseth also while it is yet night, And giveth meat to her household, And a portion to her maidens.16She considereth a field, and buyeth it: With the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.
Notice the virtuous woman rises early, when it is still dark, to make breakfast for her household.
This might surprise us since she has maidservants who could do this, but instead, she is getting up to feed them.
This language of giving “a portion to her maidens,” also suggests that she assigns to them their tasks for the day. So she provides them with nourishment and food, and also apportions their duties in the household (laundry, dishes, yardwork, etc.).
So like our Lord Jesus, who came amongst us as one who serves (Luke 22:27), so also the virtuous woman is willing to serve even her handmaidens. Her servants are under her authority, but she models for them what diligent and joyful work looks like, and she delegates certain tasks to them. By exercising authority in this way, “the lesser is blessed by the greater” (Heb. 7:7).
We see then in verse 16 that this emphasis on food and nourishment is part of her long-term vision for feeding her household. “She considers a field and buys it; from the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.”
Notice how ambitious this woman is. She wants to grow grapes, she wants to make wine, she wants to own her own vineyard. That is an expensive and laborious task that will take significant resources (both financial and human) to accomplish.
And, like her seeking of wool and flax, she is starting with the raw materials, an unplanted field.
It typically takes at least three years for a newly planted vine to bear fruit, and it takes even longer to produce from that fruit an excellent wine.
So the virtuous woman is planning for the future needs of her household. She is not so utilitarian as to only feed her children porridge for breakfast, lunch, and dinner; she wants to give them something more glorious.
It says in Psalm 104:14-15, “God causes the grass to grow for the cattle, And vegetation for the service of man, That he may bring forth food from the earth, And wine that makes glad the heart of man, Oil to make his face shine, And bread which strengthens man’s heart.”
Paul says in 1 Timothy, that the living God “gives us richly all things to enjoy” (1 Tim. 6:17), and that “every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer” (1 Tim. 4:4-5).
So the virtuous woman is simultaneously earthy and yet heavenly minded.She directs all her present and fleeting work on earth towards a kingdom end: glorifying God and blessing others with His good gifts.
In this sense, she is returning to the task that God gave humanity in Eden, to cultivate, steward, and beautify this world. To be fruitful, multiply, and subdue the earth.
So what field is God calling you to consider, to buy, and to cultivate for His glory?
If you are a young woman in school, that field is your own mind and heart, and all the skills and habits you are learning.
If you are a mother, that field might be your children (or planning for future children), it might be your kitchen, or some actual plot of ground you want to turn into a garden.
If you are an empty nester or a widow, your field might be teaching the next generation the many skills you have accrued over the years, and passing on that wisdom.
All of us have some “field” in which God calls us to labor right now, and then there is usually some other field, a future place or season that God is preparing for us to labor in the future. So consider what God has placed in your heart, the gifts, the resources, the opportunities, and then store up now so you can own that field one day.
To give you one such example, consider the joint effort of starting Christ the King Academy, and all the people who joined their time, and energy, and resources to plant a vineyard for the next generation, our children. That would not have been possible unless folks already had a surplus of fruit from their own lives to give and plant.
So what field is God calling you to consider, to save for, to buy, and to cultivate for His glory?
Verse 17
17She girdeth her loins with strength, And strengtheneth her arms.
Here again we have those twin themes of clothing and manual labor intertwined.
What does it meant to “gird oneself with strength?”
It means to put on your uniform and prepare for battle. It means pour the coffee, do your stretches, sing some Psalms, and get the blood flowing, because it’s time to get to work.
That is the spirit of strength that this woman puts on: readiness of body and soul for action. And then what is the result of those actions? We read in verse 18.
Verse 18
18She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: Her candle goeth not out by night.
So in the morning she rises early and puts on strength, and by the end of the day, she looks out at her work and perceives that it is good.
This of course is the pattern that God Himself sets for us in His work of creation. At the end of each day he looks out and surveys what He has made and judges that it is good.
And like God who places the moon and stars in the night sky, so also the virtuous woman, from the goodness of her own work has sufficient oil so that her candle does not go out at night.
We read in Proverbs 13:9, “The light of the righteous rejoices, But the lamp of the wicked will be put out.”
Likewise in Proverbs 24:20, “For there shall be no reward to the evil man; The candle of the wicked shall be put out.”
Light is a sign of life, whereas darkness is a sign of judgment. From the woman’s good work and the right use of her strength, she has more than enough to let her light shine even while she sleeps.
In verses 19-20 we see the woman back at work again the next day.
Verses 19-20
19She layeth her hands to the spindle, And her hands hold the distaff.20She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; Yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy.
Four times the woman’s hands are mentioned here, in verse 19 they are taking hold of spindle and distaff, two tools for spinning thread. And then in verse 20, those same hands are stretched out and opened to help the poor and needy.
As one commentator puts it, “The hands that grasp to produce, open wide to provide.”
This is consistent with what the Apostle Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12,“Aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing.
Likewise in Ephesians 4:28 he says, “Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.”
So God’s Word extols the person who works skillfully and joyfully with their hands. Manual labor is good. Mental labor is good. And best is when both of those things come together.
Remember that the first person in the Bible who is said to be “filled with the spirit of wisdom,” was not a theologian, or prophet, or pastor, it was Bezaleel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. God says to Moses, “I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, To devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, And in cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship” (Ex. 31:3).
And then a few chapters later when they start building the tabernacle, that same Holy Spirit animates many others, including the women. It says in Exodus 35:22-28, “And all the women that were wise hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, both of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine linen. And all the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom spun goats’ hair.”
So the virtuous woman uses her God-given skills and wisdom to build up the house of God, and she does this especially by opening her glad palms to the poor and needy.
In order to be generous to others we need to have surplus. And where does surplus come from? Diligent and skilled labor, done unto the Lord.
Finally, in verses 21-23, we see two consequences of all this work, and this is where we’ll close.
Verses 21-23
21She is not afraid of the snow for her household: For all her household are clothed with scarlet.22She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; Her clothing is silk and purple.23Her husband is known in the gates, When he sitteth among the elders of the land.
1. The first happy consequence is that she has no fear of the future.
Because of her industry and planning, her household is well supplied for winter.
Moreover, their garments are not shabby or plain, but rather fit for royalty. To make scarlet wool and purple linen was an expensive process in the ancient world. And yet her hard work has made it possible to afford and make such garments “for all her household.” That includes the servants in addition to her children.
The woman is generous to all who come under her authority.
2. Second, because of the woman’s domestic competence, her husband can then serve as an elder in the gates.
According to 1 Timothy 3:5, “If a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?” This principle is true in both church and civil government: the state of a man’s marriage and household is a sign of whether he is competent to rule outside of his household.
This is where a wife can either make or break society. It says in Proverbs 14:1, “Every wise woman buildeth her house: But the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.”
This proverb is true of individual marriages and families, but it extendsto the broader community. Foolish women are a plague to society, while wise women are the glory of a nation.
We have this saying in the CREC, that a wife cannot qualify her husband for eldership, but she can disqualify him.
Put another way, having a godly wife cannot in itself make a man competent to rule in the church, but a foolish wife who tears down her own house will also tear down the church, and therefore a foolish wife will prevent a man from confidently leading in spheres outside his own home.
So when a wife is trustworthy, and industrious, and unafraid of the future, her husband is then freed up to go out and execute justice in the world. When the home fires are hot and well-tended by the wife, and domestic worries are absent from the mind, the man can then give himself wholly to bringing the peace that he has in his home to a world that is at war and without peace. He can then take the love and justice and generosity he has experienced from his wife, and pass that on to others outside the home.
Conclusion
I have said this before, and I say it again: Our church is only as healthy as the households who compose it, and our households are only as healthy as our marriages (if you are married).
The secret weapon of a godly society, a city set upon a hill, is men and women who cheerfully embrace their God-given roles and duties.
Marriage is a great mystery that speaks of Christ and the church. And therefore, you must not lie about that mystery by how you live and treat your spouse.
So heed the Lord Jesus who gave us this inspired and infallible portrait of virtue. And as Solomon says in Proverbs 7:4, “Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; And call understanding thy kinswoman: That they may keep thee from the strange woman, From the stranger which flattereth with her words.”
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Sermon: The Virtuous Woman - Part 1 (Proverbs 31)

The Virtuous Woman – Part 1Sunday, October 13th, 2024Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA
Proverbs 31:10-31
10Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies.
11The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, So that he shall have no need of spoil.
12She will do him good and not evil All the days of her life.
13She seeketh wool, and flax, And worketh willingly with her hands.
14She is like the merchants’ ships; She bringeth her food from afar.
15She riseth also while it is yet night, And giveth meat to her household, And a portion to her maidens.
16She considereth a field, and buyeth it: With the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.
17She girdeth her loins with strength, And strengtheneth her arms.
18She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: Her candle goeth not out by night.
19She layeth her hands to the spindle, And her hands hold the distaff.
20She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; Yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy.
21She is not afraid of the snow for her household: For all her household are clothed with scarlet.
22She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; Her clothing is silk and purple.
23Her husband is known in the gates, When he sitteth among the elders of the land.
24She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; And delivereth girdles unto the merchant.
25Strength and honour are her clothing; And she shall rejoice in time to come.
26She openeth her mouth with wisdom; And in her tongue is the law of kindness.
27She looketh well to the ways of her household, And eateth not the bread of idleness.
28Her children arise up, and call her blessed; Her husband also, and he praiseth her.
29Many daughters have done virtuously, But thou excellest them all.
30Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: But a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.
31Give her of the fruit of her hands; And let her own works praise her in the gates.
Prayer
Father, we thank you for the light of wisdom that is revealed in the Scriptures. And as we consider now this specific ray of light in this model of the virtuous woman, we ask that you would inspire us and motivate us and reveal to us the ways that we ought to pattern our own lives after this example. We ask for Your Holy Spirit in the name of Christ Jesus, and Amen.
Introduction
This morning, I am delighted to begin with you a three-part mini-series on the Proverbs 31 Woman. And these three sermons in Proverbs are going to set the stage for how to read and interpret the book of Esther, which we shall begin in November, Lord willing.
So three sermons on Proverbs 31, and then Esther, that’s where we will be for the next few months, if you want to start reading and thinking ahead.
Getting Our Bearings
Well, let’s get our bearings first for where we are in the Bible. We are shifting gears from Mark’s Gospel in the New Testament to a Hebrew text that was likely written or recorded by Solomon around 900 BC.
In the Biblical timeline, the book of Genesis spans about 2,300 years from Adam to Joseph.
Moses comes on the scene around 1500 BC, 1500 years before the birth of Christ.
And then about 500 years after Moses and the Exodus, you have the Davidic Monarchy established, and this brings us to Solomon’s reign which begins around 943 BC.
We have in our Bibles multiple works by Solomon, we have Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon. But these three divinely inspired and canonical books are just a sample, the cream of the crop, of the many other things that King Solomon wrote.
We read in 1 Kings 4:30-34, “And Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men…and his fame was in all nations round about. And he spake three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five. And he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes. And there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, which had heard of his wisdom.”
So in addition to being king, Solomon was a kind of natural scientist, biologist, and philosopher. God gave to Solomon a special and supernatural gift of wisdom, and this gift was given so that knowledge might increase, advance, and be passed on to others, even to us who are living 3,000 years after Solomon reigned.
Now if we zoom in on the book of Proverbs, we discover in chapter 1 that the whole purpose of this book is to train a young prince into a wise king. Proverbs is divinely inspired parental instruction.
Listen to Proverb 1:1-8, “The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel; To know wisdom and instruction; To perceive the words of understanding; To receive the instruction of wisdom, Justice, and judgment, and equity; To give subtilty to the simple, To the young man knowledge and discretion. A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; And a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels: To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; The words of the wise, and their dark sayings. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: But fools despise wisdom and instruction. My son, hear the instruction of thy father, And forsake not the law of thy mother…”
So Proverbs is a collection of riddles and wise sayings from a Father King & Mother Queen, that if observed, and if understood, and if obeyed, will turn a young and simple prince into a wise and just king. Proverbs was written to make those who read and obey it wise.
Now there are many sins and mistakes that young men are prone to, and in the first 30 chapters Solomon covers them all: laziness, lust, drunkenness, violence, running your mouth, not listening to good advice, hanging with the wrong crowd, caving to bad peer pressure, not respecting your elders, wasting money, wasting time, trying to get rich quick instead of being patient and diligent, on and on Solomon goes. And then after all of that instruction and repetition, how does Solomon end the book?
Well, we read in Proverbs 31:1 that the contents of this final chapter are, “The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him.”
Lemuel literally means “devoted or belonging to God.” We don’t know if this King Lemuel was a real person that Solomon knew, or just another title for Solomon himself, but in either case, these are the words of a king devoted to God, and an oracle that the king learned from his mother.
So the contents of Proverbs 31 originates from the mouth of a godly woman, a godly and wise mother who wanted the best for her son and therefore had him commit these words to memory.
Do Not Give Your Strength to Woman
So what kind of oracle and advice does this godly mother give to her son?
There are two sections to Proverbs 31.
In verses 2-9, Lemuel’s mother gives him a poem about how a king should conduct himself.And then in verses 10-31 (our text), she describes the kind of woman that Lemuel should seek to marry. She gives him a description of the kind of daughter-in-law she wants to have.Godly mothers care about who their sons marry, and godly sons heed good advice from their mother.
We read in verses 2-3, the Queen says to Lemuel, “What, my son? and what, the son of my womb? And what, the son of my vows? Give not thy strength unto women, Nor thy ways to that which destroyeth kings.”This threefold repetition of the question “What? What? What? Is another way of saying, “Listen, my son. Listen to me. Listen to your mother who bore you and raised you and dedicated you to God. Listen to the voice of your mother who knows you and loves you and wants what is best for you.”And then with his ears attentive to her voice, she says, “Do not give your strength to women.” This is a mother’s advice.This word that gets translated as “strength” is a very important Hebrew word which is pronounced hayil.Hayil is used 243 times in the Hebrew Bible, and it most frequently has a military connotation that signifies physical strength to fight, or to go to war, or to rule and govern with ability. A man that has hayil is a man of valour.
For example, it says in Exodus 18:25, “Moses chose able men (men with hayil) out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.”In the book of Ruth, Boaz is called a “mighty man of hayil” (אִ֚ישׁ גִּבּ֣וֹר חַ֔יִל), he is a great man with wealth, valour, and strength.
And so here in this context of Proverbs 31, King Lemuel’s mother is saying, do not give your hayil, your wealth, your substance, your power, your virility, sexual or otherwise, to women (note the plural!).
So if that is the negative command, “Don’t do that.” What is the positive exhortation? What then should the prince do to avoid wasting his strength?
Well, the answer is he needs to find one virtuous woman and marry her. And that is what verses 10-31 portray.
The Virtuous Woman
Now before we look at the first section of this passage, there are couple things you need to know.
First, this is an acrostic poem, which means that each verse begins with a new letter in the Hebrew alphabet and goes all the way through. There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet, and there are 22 verses starting with verse 10 and going through verse 31.
So to translate this into English terms, this is the A to Z of what a godly woman looks like. Every letter in the Hebrew alphabet begins a new verse to describe this woman.
It would be kind of like writing an anniversary card for your wife and saying I am going to describe you with every letter in the alphabet: “A is for how Attractive you. B is for how Beautiful you are. C is for how great a Cook you are. And so on. That is essentially what Proverbs 31:10-31 is, a Hebrew acrostic poem from Aleph to Tav, it is a comprehensive vision for a virtuous wife.
So that’s the first thing, this is a Hebrew acrostic poem that was written to be easily memorized (at least in Hebrew).
Second, this portrait is not describing what a young woman in her teens or twenties must be before she gets married, but rather, it is describing what a godly woman becomes as she walks with God for many many years, raises children, manages a household, served the Lord, and loves her husband.
In this sense, a young prince like Lemuel is being taught to look for the seeds of these virtues in a potential wife. And then once he is married, this portrait gives him and his wife a model to pattern their own marriage and household after.
It is the wife’s responsibility to cultivate her own gifts and virtues that God has given her, but it is also the husband’s responsibility to see that she does not neglect those gifts and qualities. So remember this description is given in the first instance not to women, but to Lemuel, a man.
A husband should not expect his wife to become the Proverbs 31 woman overnight, or on her own. This is a model and example for the husband to know and study, so that he can sanctify his wife, resource and encourage her in these ways.
So to summarize my second qualification: what we are about to look at in these verses (this week and next) is a vast and beautiful garden in full bloom after years of weeding, pruning, and toil in the soil. This is the glory that comes from a long obedience in the same direction, and not a microwaved glory that disappears as quickly as it comes.
That means we should both expect to fall short of this model and example (because its perfection), but also, we should be inspired to become this and aim at this over time and make the necessary changes now according to our life and circumstance.
Applying this passage is going to look different if you are 13, or 25, or 65, whether you are married, unmarried, widowed, divorced, etc. There is something here for everyone to imitate.
An essential aspect of wisdom is knowing how to discern the principle, and then apply it to your unique and individual circumstances. You need to the fear of God to do that.
Now to our text.
Outline of the Text
There are three basic sections to this poem:
1. Verses 10-12 describe the woman’s value.
2. Verses 13-27 describe the woman’s actions.
3. Verses 28-31 describe the woman’s praiseworthiness.
This morning we’ll only cover that first section, verses 10-12, and then next week we’ll cover the rest.
Verse 10
10Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies.
The first thing we learn about the virtuous woman is that she is not easy to find. Virtue is rare in a world of sinners (and even more rare in a world dominated by feminism and false teaching), and therefore a young man must do the hard work of searching, asking, knocking, networking, praying to God and pleading for God’s favor.
We read in Proverbs 19:14, “Houses and riches are an inheritance from fathers, But a prudent wife is from the Lord.”
Likewise in Proverbs 18:22 it says, “He who finds a wife finds a good thing, And obtains favor from the Lord.”
So a virtuous woman is rare and precious, and you need God’s favor to find one.
Now recall that Lemuel’s mother told him not to give his strength/hayil to women. Well guess what the Hebrew word that gets translated as virtuous is in this verse? It’s that same Hebrew word, hayil.
The “virtuous woman” in Hebrew is called an wife with hayil. She is a woman of valour/strength/competence/substance.
And so Lemuel’s mother is saying, don’t give your masculine hayil to a bunch of women, find one woman who has feminine hayil, and marry her.
Now if you want to see the difference between masculine hayil and feminine hayil, the place to go is the book of Ruth.
Because there is one woman in particular that the Hebrew Bible explicitly praises as a virtuous woman. And that woman is Ruth. Boaz is called an ish-gibor-hayil (a mighty man of valour), and he says in Ruth 3:10-11, “Blessed be thou of the Lord, my daughter: for thou hast shewed more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning, inasmuch as thou followedst not young men, whether poor or rich. And now, my daughter, fear not; I will do to thee all that thou requirest: for all the city of my people doth know that thou art a virtuous woman.”
In some versions of the Hebrew Bible, the book of Ruth is placed right after the book of Proverbs. And so reading in that order you would have this description of the Proverbs 31 woman, and then you would meet that woman in the person of Ruth.
Recall also, Ruth is the great grandmother of King David, and the great-great grandmother of King Solomon. Some have speculated that perhaps this poem of Proverbs 31 originated with Ruth or Naomi and was passed down to Lemuel’s mother as family heirloom, the poem of the virtuous wife.
Whatever the case, if you want to know what a virtuous woman looks like in an esepcially hard circumstance, Ruth is your example. And if you want to know what a man of virtue looks like, Boaz is your example.
Boaz and Ruth, although economically very un-equal, are a great match because they are equal in virtue. They both have hayil in the way that God intended.
So in answer to the question, “Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies.” Well, it helps if you are a man of virtue and know what to look for. A prudent wife is from the Lord.
In verses 11-12 we see why she is so valuable.
Verses 11-12
11The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, So that he shall have no need of spoil.12She will do him good and not evil All the days of her life.
A virtuous woman is trustworthy. And that is extremely high praise given what Scripture says elsewhere about trusting other human beings.
Psalm 118:8 says, “It is better to trust in the Lord Than to put confidence in man.”
Psalm 39:5 says, “Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor.”
Jeremiah 17:5 says, “Cursed is the man who trusts in man And makes flesh his strength, Whose heart departs from the Lord.”
So a virtuous wife is not a substitute for trusting in God, but she is a rare and reliable confidant for her husband because she herself trusts in God.
What makes a woman trustworthy then are the other virtues of 1) prudence, 2) discretion, and 3) love.
1. A prudent wife does not gossip or complain to others about her husband’s faults.
We read later in this poem in verse 26, “the law of kindness is on her lips.” When she opens her mouth wisdom is what comes out.
2. Likewise, a discrete wife knows what details to disclose and what details to omit when she speaks of personal matters to others.
Recall the qualifications for a deacon’s wife that we studied a couple weeks again, Paul says in 1 Timothy 3:11, “Likewise, their wives must be reverent, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things.”
He says further in Titus 2:3-5, exhort all “the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things—that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.”
Jesus says that, “Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.” And therefore, a discrete woman must first cleanse her own heart, keep her own heart with all diligence, and then is able to safely keep the heart of her husband. “The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, So that he shall have no need of spoil.” He has no fear of betrayal.
3. Third, a loving wife always and ever seeks the good of her husband, and that love covers a multitude of sins.
Where love and trust are lacking in a marriage, true intimacy will be lacking as well. Our souls can only intermingle with one another, when there is mutual trust and mutual love that comes from the Holy Spirit.
Summary: A virtuous woman is trustworthy. She is prudent and discrete, and the sign of that trustworthiness is that her husband can say in all honesty, “my wife has done me no evil but only good all the days of my life.” That is a really high bar and very high praise, and you can see why such a woman of virtue is hard to find and more precious than rubies.
Conclusion
Let me close with a few exhortations according to the different ages and stages of life in this room.
First to the young men. If you want to find a virtuous wife, then you must become the kind of man a virtuous young woman would want to marry.
A virtuous woman will not be attracted to you if you are lazy and broke, with no substance to give.
In our day, many men have wasted their strength on women through pornography, through gambling, through the many deceptive snares of the world that promise immediate pleasure instead of the far greater and true satisfaction of hard work, self-denial, and chastity.
And so heed the words of Paul who says to Timothy, flee these things. Flee the love of money, flee the deceptive woman, flee pornography and the lying snares of the devil. They are all liars that will rob your hayil and destroy you.
I say again, If you want to find a virtuous wife, you must become the kind of man a virtuous woman would want to marry.
Second, to the young women. I said earlier and it bears repeating, that this portrait of the virtuous wife is like the king’s palace garden in full bloom after many years of hard obedience. You don’t get acres of mature fruit trees and beautiful flowers overnight, or even in a few years. It is decades in the works.
And so to borrow that imagery, you are starting with one little garden bed. Weed it. Tend it. Water it. Plant it. Nourish it. Care for it. And as it says in Zechariah 4:10, “Don’t despise that day of small beginnings.”
The garden is your soul. Your life. Your responsibility.
And so remember the words of Jesus who said, “He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much” (Luke 16:10), and if “you have been faithful over a few things, God will make you ruler over many things” (Matt. 25:23).
So practice faithfulness in your little garden bed, and God will in due time expand your borders.
Third, to those who are married and only see in this portrait just how far you are from these virtues. Take heart and remember who is the source of every virtue: It is Jesus Christ.
It says in John 1:14, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
This means that where you are presently is just the beginning and not the end. God wants to take your ashes and give you beauty. God wants to take your shame, your fear, your broken past, and give you a new chapter that is characterized by grace and truth.
If you want that, God offers it to you every day. His mercies are new every morning. So call upon him, confess your failures and sins to Him. Go to the one of whom it says in Psalm 84:11, “For the Lord God is a sun and shield: The Lord will give grace and glory: No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.”
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Sermon: The Apostolic Mission (Mark 16:15-20)

The Apostolic MissionSunday, September 22nd, 2024Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA
Mark 16:15-20
15And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
16He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
17And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
18They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
19So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.
20And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.
Prayer
Father, we thank you for the obedience and faith of the apostles, and that through their witness, and by the power of Your Spirit, the gospel has gone out into the world. The news of Christ’s resurrection has reached our ears, it has pierced our heart, and it continues to scatter the darkness. And so reign now in us O King of light, that we might reign with You forever, for we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Introduction
Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 7:8, “Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.”
This morning, we come to the end of Mark’s gospel. We began this series on April 2nd, 2023, and now over a year later, you who are patient in spirit and have attended closely unto this word shall be richly rewarded with its conclusion.
Mark has taken us from John’s baptism in the wilderness, through Christ’s ministry in Galilee, up to his passion in Jerusalem. And now at the close of his gospel, He ends where he began, but in a new and better way.
For we read in Mark 1:1-3, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”
And so this gospel began with the prophet and messenger John baptizing and preaching in the wilderness.
And now this gospel concludes with eleven new prophets, eleven new messengers (apostles), sent forth to baptize and preach in the whole world.
Humble and local beginnings in Galilee now give way to grand and global new beginnings with a new message. Jesus is alive. Jesus is Lord. And what has brought about this great change? The new king David now sits upon his throne.
And so this morning, I want us to consider two questions that arise from this text:
1. The first question (and the one we’ll spend most of our time on) is, “What was the apostolic mission of the 1st century?” Or to put it another way, “What did Jesus command the apostles uniquely to do?
2. Second, we will conclude by asking, “In what ways do we carry on that apostolic mission?”
Outline of the Text
There are two basic movements here:
In verses 15-18, Jesus gives the eleven apostles their marching orders.
In verses 19-20, Jesus ascends to heaven, and the eleven carry out those marching orders.
So starting in verse 15 let’s walk through this text together.
Verse 15
15And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
Who are the “them” that Jesus is speaking to here?
Recall from last week that the disciples did not believe that Jesus was alive when Mary Magdalene told them, or when Cleopas and his companion told them. And then we read in verse 14, “Afterward he [Jesus] appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.”
And so the “them” that Jesus is giving this commission to is the eleven disciples who he just chastised for their unbelief and hardness of heart.
This is also the same as what Matthew records at the end of his gospel. He writes in Matthew 28:16-20, “Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”
So although this text is often called The Great Commission, and we use this is a proof text for the church’s mission today, we must not overlook the fact that this mission in the very first instance and original context is uniquely given to the eleven apostles.
Even in the 1st century, these orders to “go and preach” were not given to every individual believer. This order was not given to Mary Magdalene, or to Mary the mother of Jesus, or even to Cleopas and other male believers who were outside of the eleven. Christ called a special group of men from amongst the larger body of believers to do this work.
Recall that Jesus had many followers, but we read that early on in Mark 3:13-14, “Jesus went up into a mountain, and calleth unto him whom he would: and they came unto him. And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach.”
So while all creation is called to believe and follow Christ, only a select few, those whom Christ ordains, are called to go and preach in all the world.
This is of course keeping with what James says in his epistle, “My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment” (James 3:1).
And so this command to, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature,” does not apply directly to every individual Christian. This is a unique command, given to the eleven, and then as the book of Acts records, the apostolic office is extended to Mathias who replaces Judas, and then later to Paul when Christ visits him on the road to Damascus.
So the apostles are a select few that have a special job to pour the concrete for the Christian church.
Paul says in Ephesians 2:19-22, “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.”
So Jesus is the chief architect, he is the author and finisher of our faith. And then he employs the apostles to be his fellow laborers.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:9-11, “For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
When you build a house, how many times do you lay the foundation? If you do it correctly, only once. Did God make a mistake when he laid the foundation of the church in Christ and the apostles? No.
And that is why the church has always recognized that while there might be missionaries and evangelists and church planters who we can call lower case “apostles” (because their work is similar to The Apostles), still in terms of being ordained by Jesus to lay the foundation of the church, there are only these original 12 and their band.
This is further confirmed by the vision of the church that John sees in Revelation 21. There he sees the New Jerusalem descending out of heaven from God and he says, “Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb” (Rev. 21:14).
Summary: The risen Christ gave these orders to go and preach to the apostles, and therefore everything that follows in the next verses applies uniquely to them.
Verses 15-18
15And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
16He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
17And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
18They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
Notice first that the scope of the apostolic mission is worldwide and to every creature. This is important to establish that salvation is offered not only to the Jews, or Israelites, but to every human being that has breath in their lungs.
There is no nation, however wicked and barbaric that is beyond the grace of God.
If Jesus died and rose again, then he can cause entire nations and civilizations to likewise die and rise again.
For as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
He says in Romans 1:14-15, that as an apostle, “I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also.”
So the gospel is for all creatures. It is for Greek philosophers, for backwards Barbarians, for Cretans who Paul affirms “are always liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons” (Titus 1:12). And so if the gospel is for Cretans, the gospel is for Americans. It is for our lying, and evil, and lazy butts.
This is the great hope that grounds all of our evangelistic efforts: That If Jesus Christ died and rose again, then he can cause entire nations and civilizations likes ours to likewise die and rise again renewed. That is the apostolic hope, and the scope of the apostolic mission: ever creature under heaven.
Now how exactly do these creatures enter into the kingdom? How is the foundation of the church laid?
Well, there are three tools or weapons or instruments that Christ gives to the apostles. And we could categorize them as follows:
1. There is preaching.
2. There is baptism.
3. And there are supernatural signs.
Or to put it another way, there is 1) Word, 2) Sacrament, and 3) Extraordinary gifts of the Spirit.
Let’s consider each of these in their turn.
Instrument #1 – Preaching of the Word
Jesus says, “preach the gospel to every creature.”
Paul says in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.”
So the ministry of the apostles is first and foremost a ministry of publishing the truth and refuting error.
In Acts we find them preaching in the temple and the synagogues, and other public forums like the Areopagus in Athens (Acts 17), or the Hall of Tyrannus in Ephesus (Acts 19).
Paul says in Acts 20:20-21 to the Ephesians elders, “I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.”
And so the apostles are the heavens we sing about in Psalm 19. They declare the glory of God to all creation.
In Romans 10:17-18, Paul applies Psalm 19 to his own ministry when he says, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, [quoting Psalm 19:4] their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.”
Christ is the sun shining and lighting up the world, and the heavens are the apostles proclaiming his glory. That is what true preaching is.
We magnify God. We speak of the glory and infinite value of God. We tell people to stop staring at themselves and staring at earthly things, and to look up to heaven to where Christ is, seated, enthroned, and reigning as King.
The mark of true preaching is that raises your eyes to God.
This is Christ’s chosen instrument for raising the dead. The Word of God is alive and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. And the apostles proclaimed that living and incarnate Word to all creation, and through their preaching heaven invades the earth.
Instrument #2 – The Sacrament of Baptism
Jesus says in verse 16, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.”
Now recall who this announcement is directed to in the first instance. This is a warning first to the eleven that if they (who have been hardhearted) do not believe, they will not be saved. It is also a command for them to be baptized, not merely with water, but with the power of the Holy Spirit.
We read in Acts 1:4-5 that Jesus, “being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.”
So in order for the apostles to work signs and wonders (all the extraordinary gifts described in the next verses), they must believe and be baptized by the Holy Ghost. And this is also the case for you and I if we want to avoid damnation.
And so there are two errors we need to avoid when it comes to the topic of baptism.
One error is to downplay the importance and necessity of baptism, as if it is just optional.
Against this error Jesus says in John 3:5, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”
So unless you are the thief on the cross, and physically cannot come down to get baptized, then you really do not have any good excuse. If that is you, come talk to the elders, request baptism, and we’ll make it happen.
A second error is to treat baptism as if it automatically grants you entrance into heaven.
Against this error is the example of Simon the Sorcerer, who tried to buy the Holy Spirit with money and was rebuked by the Apostle Peter.
It says in Acts 8:13, “Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done.” And then a few verses later Peter says to him, “Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.”
So notice, Simon believed and was baptized, and yet he was still trapped in the gall of bitterness and the bonds of iniquity. And unless he truly repented, he died in his sins.
Remember, not all faith is saving faith. And baptism does not automatically save you. But baptism is not optional for Christians, it is commanded by God.
What is certain, is that unbelief damns you. “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.”
Instrument #3 – Extraordinary Gifts of the Spirit
17And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
18They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
In the book of Acts we find almost all of these signs accompanying the apostles.
Of casting out devils we read in Acts 19:11-12, “And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.”
Of speaking with new tongues, we have the Pentecost event in Acts 2.
Of taking up serpents we heard from Acts 28 that “when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand…And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm.”
Of healing the sick we read in Acts 3, that Peter said to the lame man at the temple, “Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ancle bones received strength.”
The only sign not recorded in the book of Acts is drinking something deadly and going unharmed.
However, the church father St. Augustine said that to drink a deadly thing without being harmed is a reference to reading and engaging with the arguments of heretics in order to refute them.
He writes, “For what else are hearing, reading and copiously depositing things in the memory, than several stages of drinking in thoughts? The Lord, however, foretold concerning his faithful followers, that even “if they should drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them.” And thus it happens that they who read with judgment, and bestow their approval on whatever is commendable according to the rule of faith, and disapprove of things which ought to be repudiated, even if they commit to their memory heretical statements which are declared to be worthy of disapproval, they receive no harm from the poisonous and depraved nature of these sentences.”
So for Augustine, when Paul cited pagan poets and philosophers, and other non-inspired writers from memory, he was as one who had drunk poison and went unharmed. He had the spiritual maturity to judge truth from error. He knew how to plunder the Egyptians while not becoming an Egyptian himself.
And so similarly for us today who read books other than the Bible, we also must take heed that if we drink poison, if we read what unbelievers write, that we have discerning tongues to judge what accords with faith, and what does not.
In the words of 1 John 4:1, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”
So those are three weapons that Christ gives to the apostles. And then finally we read in verses 19-20 that they used those weapons.
Verse 19-20
19So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.
20And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.
Notice that the purpose of these signs and wonders was to confirm the word preached. They were signs especially to the Jews “who seek signs,” that the apostles were true messengers from God.
We also have here the fulfillment of Jesus words to the disciples in John 14:12, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.”
Jesus preached and healed and cast out demons in Galilee and Judea. But when Jesus goes to His Father, and sends down the Holy Spirit, the apostles are empowered to preach and heal and cast out devils in the whole world.
What is the greater work? To heal a man’s body which will later die. Or to heal a man’s soul and rescue it for eternity?
What is the greater miracle? The resurrection of Lazarus, or the conversion of the heathen nations to Christ?
Conclusion
“In what ways do we carry on the apostolic mission?
Many ways could be enumerated but I will limit myself to just four:
We preach the same gospel as the apostles.
When we preach the New Testament, we are preaching the very words the apostles wrote, approved of, and ratified.
When we preach the Old Testament, we are obeying the apostolic teaching that “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.”
There is no other gospel or foundation other than Jesus Christ, and we carry on the apostle’s mission every time we preach the same Word that they preached.
We baptize in the same name as the apostles.
Paul says in Ephesians 4:5, there is “One Lord, one faith, one baptism.” And Jesus commanded in the parallel of Matthew 28:19, to baptize “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”
And so all who receive baptism in the Triune Name are joined to the “one holy catholic and apostolic Church.” And it is in this sense that we have “apostolic succession.” We preach the same faith. We believe the same doctrine. We baptize in the same name.
We continue to send and support missionaries, evangelists, and little a “apostles” to plant churches where there are none.
Many of the places where the apostles once planted churches, are now places that need to be re-evangelized: Corinth, Ephesus, Philippi, Thessalonica, Antioch, Jerusalem, Rome.
Here in America, where true religion once flourished, and righteous laws prevailed, now what we have become? Decadent, depraved, perverted from the truth.
We love one another with the same love that the apostles received from Christ.
It says in 1 Corinthians 12:27-31, “Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way.”
And what is that more excellent way? What is the best spiritual gift to have? It is love. It is the supernatural love of God we call charity: which is patient, and kind, does not envy, and does not parade itself, is not puffed up, is not rude, does not seek its own, is not provoked, it thinks no evil, does not rejoice in inequity but rejoices in the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails…And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
May God give us this apostolic gift that is the crown of all gifts. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sermon: He Is Risen (Mark 16:1-14)

He Is RisenSunday, September 15th, 2024Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA
Mark 16:1-14
1And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.
2And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.
3And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?
4And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.
5And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted.
6And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him.
7But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you.
8And they went out quickly, and fled from the sepulchre; for they trembled and were amazed: neither said they any thing to any man; for they were afraid.
9Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.
10And she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept.
11And they, when they had heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not.
12After that he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country.
13And they went and told it unto the residue: neither believed they them.
14Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.
Prayer
O Father, we thank you that by Your Son’s resurrection, death is swallowed up by life. For the devil took the bait of Jesus’ flesh, and by that bait You hooked and caught the crafty serpent, and You have thrown down that ancient dragon and are still plundering his house. Continue that work as Christ’s resurrection is proclaimed in us, for we ask this in Jesus’ name, and Amen.
Introduction
In 1 Corinthians 15, the Apostle Paul says that “if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain…and ye are yet in your sins” (1 Cor. 15:14, 17). How do you know that your sins are forgiven? How do you know that your faith in Christ, and your hope for salvation is not an empty hope? Well, it all comes down to this question: Did Jesus Christ die and rise again? Did Jesus Christ die to pay the penalty for your sins, and did God accept that payment? How do you know your sins are forgiven?
Well because God is gracious, He has not left you to wander in the dark on this question. Instead, He has given you the brightest of all lights in the Holy Scriptures.
For starters, He has given to the world four distinct but harmonious accounts of Christ’s life, his teaching, his miracles, his death, his resurrection, and ascension on high.
And within those four gospels we find a plurality of diverse witnesses to the empty tomb: we have angels, soldiers, chief priests, women, the disciples, amongst whom are unbelieving men, the hardhearted, and the skeptical.
And yet what all of these witnesses attest to, both malicious and fair-minded, is that the body of Jesus is not in the tomb. Something happened.
In Matthew we read that the Jewish elders bribed the guards into telling the tale that, “His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept” (Matt. 28:13). “We fell asleep,” is the best excuse they could come up with.
And so even in the Jews’ attempt to discredit Jesus of Nazareth, they have unwittingly added their own witness to the reality that the body is not there. The tomb is empty.
In addition to the four gospels, we also have the book of Acts, which records the history of the church from Christ’s ascension in 30 AD up to Paul’s Roman imprisonment around 59 AD, and all throughout those 28 chapters of Acts, the resurrection of Jesus is proclaimed and witnessed to, and believed on throughout the Roman Empire.
This news of Christ’s resurrection was so widespread that Paul could say in Colossians 1:23 (written around 60 AD), it “was preached to every creature which is under heaven.”
And so in the collection of books that we call the New Testament, are 27 distinct but harmonious witnesses to the resurrection of the Son of God. And most of the men who wrote those books, especially the apostles, sealed that witness to the resurrection in the blood of martyrdom.
Something happened. Something that changed the Roman Empire. Something that changed Judaism. Something that changed fearful and ignorant men into bold and courageous apostles. What was that something?
The church father St. Augustine argued that if someone does not believe in miracles, they are forced into a corner by the facts of history.
Because either Jesus Christ miraculously rose from the dead. And if that is true, then believe on him for salvation.
But if you deny that miracle, Augustine says, you are still left with perhaps an even greater miracle, namely, that without a resurrection, millions upon millions upon millions have freely believed on Jesus and had their lives transformed by him.
And whereas unlike Islam, and other false religions, Christianity has conquered the world not by military threat and force of arms, or by the promise of sensual and earthly gain, but rather through love, through self-denial, by teaching contempt for this world, and repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.
Which is the greater miracle? That Jesus Christ rose from the dead? Or that he didn’t, and yet so many millions freely and joyfully believe that he did? Augustine contends, you’ve got a miracle either way.
As Christians, we of course believe the former. And we defend against all adversaries that our faith in Christ’s resurrection is by no means in vain.
In the words of the Apostle Paul, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable” (1 Cor. 15:19).
In other words, if Jesus Christ is not risen, then this life is as good as it gets. And so get what pleasure you can while you can.
But if Jesus Christ is risen, then for those who believe, this life is as bad as it gets, it cannot any worse than living here. Eternal life, with all the saints, in a new heavens and new earth awaits us, and as Jesus promised, the pure in heart shall see God.
This is the ultimate desire of the Christian, to know God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent, and it is the resurrection of Jesus that assures us that our desire shall not go unfulfilled.
Here in these 14 verses of Mark, we have God’s infallible witness to the resurrection of Jesus.
And as we come to the end of Mark’s Gospel, and the second to last sermon in our series, we see that Mark’s love for irony continues to the end. For here, Mark has placed before us the greatest news that the disciples could ever hope for, Jesus is alive. He is risen. But instead of believing this news when they hear it, they don’t believe until Jesus himself appears to them.
And so Mark has foregrounded for us the initial unbelief of the disciples, and he has done this in order to help us overcome our own doubts. So that we can find ourselves in these characters and learn the important difference between seeing and believing.
For as Jesus said to Thomas in John 20:29, “Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”
It is that blessing that Mark wants to give us by this resurrection account.
Outline of the Text
There are two basic sections to this text.
In verses 1-8, the angel announces the resurrection to the women, and they tremble and are amazed.
And then in verses 9-14, Jesus appears to the women and the disciples.
So we have first the announcement of the resurrection by an angel, and then the actual resurrection appearances by Jesus.
So let us walk through these verses together.
Verse 1
1And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.
Recall that the sabbath for the Jews ended at sunset on (what we call) Saturday night, roughly 6pm. And when that Saturday sabbath is past, they go out and buy spices.
And then since it would be too dark to go visit the tomb, we read in verse 2…
Verse 2
2And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.
So now it is what we call Sunday morning, around 6am, sunrise, and they have risen early to visit what they think will be the dead body of Jesus and a closed tomb.
On their way there we read in verse 3…
Verse 3
3And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?
So these women have not the strength to move the stone themselves. But on this day, that is no trouble. Their devotion is rewarded.
Verse 4
4And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.
In Matthew’s account we are told that “there was a great earthquake, and an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone” (Matt. 28:2).
Verses 5-8
5And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted.
6And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him.
7But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you.
8And they went out quickly, and fled from the sepulchre; for they trembled and were amazed: neither said they any thing to any man; for they were afraid.
Notice that the very first proclamation of the resurrection comes from an angel. Just as the Virgin Mary was told by an angel that from her Christ the God-man would be born, so also now an angel is first to bring the good tidings to these women, that that same God-man is firstborn from the dead. He is risen. He is not here.
These women are then commissioned to go and tell the disciples that Jesus has gone before them into Galilee, and that is where they will see him.
Why Galilee?
Galilee is the Shire. Galilee is where the story began. It was by the sea of Galilee that Jesus first called the disciples Simon and Andrew and told them, “I will make you into fishers of men” (Mark 1:17).
Jesus has not forgotten that promise, even if the disciples have.
But also, on the night of the Last Supper, Jesus told them in Mark 14:27-28, “All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. But after that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee.”
So this is the regathering of the sheep. This was the plan all along, and so when the disciples hear from the women that Jesus is risen and waiting for them in Galilee, they are supposed to remember, that’s exactly what Jesus said would happen.
He is calling them back to the beginning, back to their old stomping grounds, He is calling them back home. Because their ministry as fishers of men, which shall take them to the ends of the earth, is going to commence in just 50 days from now in Jerusalem.
This is the apostle’s sabbatical before everything gets crazy. The angel says, “Tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you.”
God really is the best storyteller. He knows what the disciples need, and He knows what you and I need when we are low and doubting.
Sometimes, the remedy is to call us back to the familiar places, the places where we first met Jesus. The places where God spoke to us, and changed us, and where our faith was made strong in hearing His promises. For the disciples this was Galilee.
For years they had seen Christ’s power there. He cast out demons, He healed the sick. He multiplied loaves and fishes. He raised the dead. He walked on water. He calmed a storm with His words. Those were the “good ol’ days” that the disciples have forgotten. Whatever faith or hope they had back then, has been shaken by the crucifixion, and so before Jesus appears to them in person, He wants to call their minds back to Galilee by the words of these women. For when they arrive there, they shall see him again.
Where is Galilee for you? Where did God first meet you and change you and give you real joy? Where did you learn the sweetness and freedom of forgiveness, of having your heavy burdens removed?
Perhaps it is not any specific geographic place, but rather for you it is a place in God’s Word, a verse, a story, a Psalm that gives you comfort?
Or perhaps it is a fellow saint, a friend, or group of friends that stirred you up to love and good works, who made you want to love and serve Jesus more fervently.
In Revelation 2, Jesus says to the church at Ephesus, “I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.”
When the fire of your desire for God is waning, when there is no joy, the solution that Jesus prescribes is “Remember!” Go back to your first love. Remember from where you have fallen and do what you did when the love was hot.
Put another way, “Go to Galilee.” Go to where God has met you in times past, and as it says in Jeremiah 29:13, “you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”
Returning to our text, we have in verses 9-14, three different appearances of the risen Lord.
Verse 9
9Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.
The first person to see the risen Lord is a woman, and it is a woman who was formerly demon possessed. In John’s gospel we have a fuller account of this appearance, and there Mary mistakes Jesus for the gardener.
It says in John 20:15-16, “Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.”
Here we have a new and Last Adam, a new keeper of the garden (the True Gardener), and with him, a new Eve, a new mother of the living. And so to Mary Magdalene is given the first announcement of the resurrection, and the first appearance of our Lord. God has made good on His promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent’s head. Christ is the serpent slayer.
So seven devils were cast out of Mary, out of the woman. And now through her witness, the holy gospel is proclaimed.
Verses 10-11
10And she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept.
11And they, when they had heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not.
So here is the first instance of unbelief at the good news. They hear but do not believe.
Verses 12-13
12After that he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country.
13And they went and told it unto the residue: neither believed they them.
This time Luke gives us the fuller account of this resurrection appearance.
We read in Luke 24:13, how “two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem.” We are told that one of them was named Cleopas, and the other disciple is unnamed.
Jesus strikes up a conversation with them, they don’t recognize him, and so Jesus walks with them incognito, and it says in verse 27, “beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.”
Eventually they arrive at their destination, they sit down to eat together, and it says verses 30-32, “Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight. And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”
They then go back seven miles to Jerusalem, and tell the Eleven, “The Lord is risen indeed.” And Mark says, “neither believed they them.”
Second strike against them. And we know from Luke that it was during this same meeting of the disciples that later Jesus appeared.
Verse 14
14Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.
Notice why Jesus rebukes them. Because they did not believe Mary when she told them. And they still did not believe after Cleopas and his companion told them. There are your two and three witnesses.
And so the force of Christ’s rebuke applies to all who doubt what they hear, when the word of God is proclaimed. And conversely, the greatest commendation is reserved for those who Peter says, “Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:8-9).
Without faith, it is impossible to please God. And so believe the words of these formerly unbelieving apostles when they tell you, the tomb is empty, He is risen. And if you believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.