Sermon: The Virtuous Church (Proverbs 31)

The Virtuous Church
Sunday, November 3^rd, 2024
Christ 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.