[0:00] All right, please take your copy of God's Word and turn to the book of 1 Timothy, chapter 2. Once again, if you do pay attention to the bulletin, you notice in the liturgy, we are not going to be in the book of Mark.
[0:13] But I will remind you that that's where we're at. We've been preaching together through the book of Mark. We've come to the end of chapter 4. And as a general habit, this is what we find to be the healthiest thing, is to go through the Scriptures verse by verse, and that is our work right now in Mark.
[0:31] However, we can become overly dogmatic about that kind of thing and make that somehow an idol. And it's important at times to stop and address some things topically.
[0:43] Now, just to be clear, for those of you who may not fully wrap your mind around what good expositional preaching is all about, which I don't know that I would qualify myself as a good expositional preacher, but expositional preaching takes, as its main point, the main point of the scriptural text.
[0:59] We don't do things with the Scriptures to fit into our own opinion, our own methodologies, but we simply look at what the Scriptures have to say about something. And as we're moving verse by verse through Mark, we're looking at the life of Christ and what it would say to us and to our living.
[1:13] But we can also look at a topic and say, what does the Scripture have to say about this particular topic? And so, this morning, I'm not very apt to do this, but this morning's sermon title is Modesty of the Heart.
[1:27] We'll begin reading in 1 Timothy 2, verse 8. Paul writes, Join me in prayer.
[1:59] Father, we do praise you for this day, and I praise you for all of the souls that are sitting here together in this room. We recognize that they came here today by your providential word.
[2:15] And therefore, Lord, you have something for us, each of us, in this day, some way in which you intend to conform us in greater degrees to the image of your Son. And so, I pray that you will bless the reading and the preaching of your word to that end.
[2:31] Father, we need you for this. I need you to be powerful in my preaching. Everyone needs for you to be powerful in our hearing. That by your Spirit, you will apply these truths to our hearts.
[2:43] That you will make us into new creations. And we pray this in Christ's precious, holy, high, lifted name. Amen. So, this morning we're going to talk about modesty.
[2:56] And as you may assume, that's because it's beginning to warm up a little bit out there. And as we have a church that has so many young people, this is a particular issue that young people need to hear.
[3:13] Modesty ultimately is an issue of the heart. As all behavior is, it's very easy and we're often likely to talk about behavior modification.
[3:25] Tell you how it is you should live. And give you some practical steps for what that might look like. And that is such a temptation here. I so desperately want to make a list.
[3:38] And a bunch of rules. And tell you ladies what it looks like to be modest. Say, do that. And if you don't, I don't know. There will be some consequence. Right? We're going to discipline you some way.
[3:50] Right? But that doesn't really get at the core of the issue. And that is, it is an issue of the heart. In Ezekiel chapter 36, beginning of verse 26, God says, And I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you.
[4:09] And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
[4:23] So as we talk this morning about modesty and what that looks like, we must remember that Paul was writing to Timothy, who was an elder of Christian people, who was leading believers and was leading women who had hearts that were changed.
[4:42] So the condition of their heart should be, necessitates some outward expression. An appropriate outward expression.
[4:54] An outward expression that honors the gospel of Jesus Christ rather than profanes it. An outward expression that ordains, that lays good works on the gospel of Jesus Christ.
[5:09] Ephesians 2.10, Paul says, Now, this is a little bit, potentially, a little bit of a touchy topic.
[5:26] And I hope that most of you ladies in the room have already sighed a big sigh of relief. And have said, yes, a sermon on modesty. That is great. That is something that our culture needs to hear.
[5:37] I hope that none of you have gotten really uptight and are feeling uncomfortable this morning. I want to speak to you plainly this morning. And I want to speak to you pastorally as one who loves you and cares about you.
[5:50] Cares about what's going on in your life and about the things that you're doing that may bring judgment on you one day. It's a great fear of mine. And it has been all week as I've been considering exactly how to say some things.
[6:04] And what should and what shouldn't be said. It's a great fear of mine to embarrass any of you. I think. I want to at least believe that anyone here who doesn't quite understand what it means to be modest has done so out of ignorance.
[6:23] And I don't want to embarrass you because you're ignorant. If I say something this morning that applies to you and makes you want to sink in your seat and sneak out of here as soon as we get back up to sing, please don't.
[6:35] You have a past this morning. We will assume ignorance on your part this morning. And never again from here on out. But this morning, you can be ignorant of why it is you should be modest and how it is that that serves the church.
[6:53] So please don't let me embarrass you. I really, really, really don't want to do that. Sam has coined a little phrase for me and she calls it my stomp hug method. Where I step on people's toes and I give them a quick hug before they can get away.
[7:08] Please hear me now hugging you. Please hear me now hugging you. Not bringing condemnation down on you. If I thought anybody in this room intentionally dressed immodestly, was intentionally trying to cause the men in our church to sin, was really working at that, I would have no problem laying it out for you.
[7:26] But I don't think that's the case in our church. Ladies, let me encourage you to apply this truth to your own heart. To not sit in judgment of other people around you, but to apply this truth to your own heart.
[7:40] And then in turn, in speaking the truth in love, to apply it to the hearts of others. Let me caution you against legalism. Legalism. Proper Christian encouragement says to people, I want you to look more like Christ.
[7:57] Legalism says, I want you to look more like me. Don't do that. Don't fall into that trap this morning as we talk about these very practical matters. Now ladies, as I speak to you and potentially in your ignorance, I say to you that there is not a man in this world.
[8:14] And certainly not a man in this room that does not battle with the temptation of the flesh of sexual lust. Not a man in this world that doesn't deal with that temptation.
[8:28] Now there are men in this world that fight quite well against it. And I don't mean this as a huge boast to myself, but I have been fighting that battle for two decades now.
[8:39] A little over two decades now. I have been battling against sexual sin in my life. And I find massive victory in this by the grace of God.
[8:50] Massive amounts of victory in this. But as you get to know me, you'll learn that I hate the beach. I hate the beach. To me, to go to a place that's hot, that has no sun, makes no, I mean no shade, makes no sense.
[9:03] A place where I have to manufacture my own shade or buy it at Walmart makes no sense to me. I try not to be, but I'm a bit of a control freak. And I cannot control where sand goes when I'm at the beach.
[9:16] And it just absolutely drives me crazy. But let me tell you the primary reason I do not like going to the beach. It's not relaxing to my soul to go to the beach. I don't get to rest when I go to the beach.
[9:28] I've got to be on my game when I go to the beach. I've got to arm up. And I've got armor. And I know how to wield my sword. I know how to fight the fight. I just don't want to fight when I'm on vacation.
[9:41] I want to go someplace where I can relax and be calm a little bit. I don't want to get up in the morning and go, it's battle time. Let's go play with the kids at the beach. I don't want to. Somebody suggested to me this week, they said, couldn't you just bury your head in a book when you're at the beach?
[9:56] And I said, not with toddlers. This last year, Judah wanted to walk up to people laying down on the beach and say, hi. And you had to go, come on, Judah.
[10:07] Come with me. It doesn't quite work that way. Ladies, you need to understand that this is something that all men battle with. And we live in a culture that is highly sexualized.
[10:18] Highly. It is everywhere. Men are asking most of the time for these things to be in front of them, for these images to be presented to them.
[10:29] It's in magazines. It's in our Facebook feeds. I can't believe some of the advertisements that are showing on Facebook now. I may just have to stop using it altogether because it's just horrible. The shows that we watch, the casual nature of sex and the presentation of women in our culture is there all the time.
[10:45] You don't want to be a part of that problem. Now hear me clearly. Secondly, I am not this morning making men's sexual sin your fault.
[10:59] Please, please hear that. I'm not going to say it to you over and over again throughout this sermon. It is not your fault. Men have their own deal. They have to deal with their own deal.
[11:10] They will be held accountable for their own sin. However, you could be sinning and contributing to that factor. If I were single and had a roommate who was an alcoholic, and I always had the fridge stocked full of cold beer, and had a liquor cabinet full, and offered to him on every occasion a drink, would I not be somehow accountable for his sin when he fell back into his alcoholism?
[11:37] Certainly, that would be true. And so there's a negative feedback loop that we find in our society. Men struggle with this. Women want to be accepted. This is big picture.
[11:47] Culturally, women want to be accepted. So they dress the way they perceive men want them to dress, which causes men to sin, which causes them to desire that, which is this bad negative feedback loop.
[11:58] And men, we really need to be the ones that are responsible for getting that loop going the opposite way. We need to be the ones saying to women, I don't want to be attracted to you for that. I want to be attracted to you for your mind, and your heart, and your actions.
[12:13] We need to be saying that to women. We need to be saying it to them verbally. We need to be saying it to them practically. We need to be finding ways of showing them that we don't want to see them dress immodestly.
[12:24] Like, we've got to be working at that. But ladies, help us do that. Be part of that process of getting that feedback loop to be a positive feedback loop, where we are growing together in grace.
[12:35] I want to read to you a short testimony of a young guy in our church that most of you love and respect, a godly young man, to just give you some idea of what young people are dealing with these days.
[12:53] He wrote, When I walk on the college campus, I must confess as a man that each and every day is a battle. If I do not spend sufficient time in prayer and meditation on the word of God, I find that I have already lost this battle, the battle of lust.
[13:08] I am so thankful that my father is faithful to provide the grace to stand in purity and to keep my heart from wandering from him. I am truly thankful that he has created me to be a man attracted to women. However, when walking the college campus, I enter into a spiritual war zone, especially when the weather is warm.
[13:26] I must constantly be on guard, using every weapon at my disposal to survive in the battle for purity. Scripture memory, prayer, and music aid me greatly. I try to bounce my eyes as not to gaze at immodestly dressed women, yet it seems nearly impossible to heed the apostles' exhortation to flee sexual immorality and youthful lusts when around every corner I find the same temptation.
[13:48] There are certain days I know my only option is to look down at the ground. When I see a girl immodestly dressed, my heart breaks for her. Little does she know that in a campus setting, she probably will be devoured in the hearts and minds of many men.
[14:02] Then again, perhaps she is aware. I honestly don't know. I truly think the majority of women have no idea how serious that battle against lust is for every man, young and old. It never, ever stops seeking to turn us aside, to draw us into its paths, to count us amongst its victims, to drag us down to the chambers of death.
[14:24] For the most part, the church is a sanctuary from this battle against lust. Yet today, the struggle is slowly becoming just as hard in the congregation of God's people. The manner in which some women dress at church can cause major distractions for a man.
[14:37] I would dare say that most girls are ignorant concerning dress, but some are not. I plead with you to embrace the truth that you are a woman created in the image of God and beautiful apart from what this world would make of you.
[14:50] Though my sin is my own and I will be held accountable to God for it, I plead with women, especially sisters in Christ, to choose to aid their brothers in this unending battle. For the godly women who refuse to dress according to the pattern of this world, a thousand thank yous.
[15:06] You have chosen to follow in the beauty, honor, and dignity of Sarah, Ruth, and Esther. You have considered serving, caring, and loving your brothers of higher value than what this wretched world thinks of you.
[15:18] You are the truly attractive women in the eyes of a godly man, and I am forever grateful for you. Lastly, I think it is right to ask the forgiveness on behalf of all men, for we have failed to treat you with the honor and respect you deserve as those created in the likeness of our wonderful Creator.
[15:35] The result has been you dressing in a way which appeals to the eyes of sinful, depraved men. Change must start with men loving you and treating you with the dignity you deserve. Only then will your dress reflect your love and care for you with sincerity, your brother in Christ.
[15:50] This is a very common issue. Now, to be very clear, if all of you ladies in this church got it just right, and many of you do, to be sure, men are still going to deal with this temptation.
[16:03] It's still going to be on our college campus. There's no doubt about it. I was there the other day visiting with some students, and I'll address a particular fashion that's come about and was just shocked.
[16:13] Like, oh, poor guys. Winter used to be so safe. It used to be so easy in the wintertime. It's not really the case anymore on our college campuses. So, it's going to exist, but you do not want to be a contributor to the issue.
[16:27] You want to be a help to it. You want to be a service to men. Ladies, you must know, as I say, that all of the men in this room deal with this, that so many of them deal with it so well.
[16:40] I know a lot of the young men in this room very well, and they fight, and they fight well. They really, really want to be pure in everything that they do.
[16:52] They want to relate to you appropriately, so please, please help them. So, back in our text, we see, beginning there in verse 9, that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel with modesty and self-control.
[17:11] And modesty is an interesting word we use in English that in the Greek has a bit more meaning to it. It carries the idea of bashfulness, right? That you actually would feel that it's inappropriate to expose yourself to men, right?
[17:27] But it's a bashfulness that has a regard to others, right? That cares about others seeing you in a particular state. The truth of it is, you can dress however you want to when you're by yourself.
[17:38] I don't care. When you're all by room, in your room, all alone, by yourself, it really doesn't matter. But when you go out into the world, you must consider how it is that other people are looking at you.
[17:51] And ladies, I know you have a culture that feeds attention for the way that you look, right? And you guys are all beautiful girls, especially the young ones amongst you.
[18:02] You're young, which is what our culture worships, right? You have the ability to wear scanty clothes, to not be modest. But is that really the attention that you want?
[18:15] Is that really the attention that you want? If in your heart you say yes, then we have so many things to talk about. Let me say to you, that is not the attention that you want. You do not want the type of attention that is fleeting, right?
[18:27] That objectifies you. You want people to care about who you are as a person, to look at you in the eyes. What would be my encouragement to you is to dress in such a way that people want to look at you in the face.
[18:40] They want to look at you in the eyes when they're talking to you. So you're to be dressed appropriately with modesty and with self-control. And self-control here just simply means soundness of mind.
[18:51] Be rational about this. Think about what you're wearing. There's a particular type of bug called a processionary caterpillar. We talked about this in a community group.
[19:02] I thought it was a beetle. It's a caterpillar. A processionary caterpillar. And this caterpillar will follow another processionary caterpillar to food. And you can actually get them to work in a circle where they get head to tail, head to tail, head to tail, and you can work them around in a circle.
[19:17] And they will go around and around and around and around in a circle looking for food, following the person in front of them for food until they die. Don't be a processionary caterpillar.
[19:30] Operate with soundness of mind. Lift your head up. Look around you. Don't let this culture lull you to sleep and tell you what's appropriate.
[19:41] But look to the scriptures. Look to the church and ask them what is appropriate. Function with modesty and with self-control. As I said to you before, I don't want to embarrass anybody.
[19:54] I don't want to offend anybody this morning. So I'm going to let the scriptures do that for you. Proverbs 11, 22. I absolutely love this proverb. Maybe even a little less for its application and just for its brilliance.
[20:10] Proverbs 11, 22 says, Like a gold ring in a pig's snout is a beautiful woman without discretion. Like a gold ring in a pig's snout is a beautiful woman without discretion.
[20:23] The gold ring here is the beautiful woman. The gold ring is a beautiful woman. It's something to be treasured. It's something of great value. And the contrast here is that this type of thing should not belong in a pig's snout.
[20:37] It does not belong there. So the implication is that a beautiful woman necessarily should operate with discretion. The pig's snout is the lack of discretion.
[20:52] See that there. And pigs in this day were not in any way attractive. Some of you might have thought, Oh, but pot-bellied pigs are so incredibly cute and adorable. Now, these would have been like our modern hogs, the kind of hogs that are down south just ravaging farms and you can kill them all year long and you want to and they're hairy and they're disgusting.
[21:12] They're pretty good eating, but this type of a hog is what would have existed here. Remember that the Hebrew people didn't eat pigs and pigs would be out at the edge of town where refuse was dumped and they would go through the refuse.
[21:25] These were not attractive animals. This is not where a beautiful woman should reside. It should not be as a gold ring in a pig's snout at all.
[21:38] It does not belong there. Now, the exhortation that he continues with is that women should be adorned in respectable apparel with modest self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire.
[21:56] Now, we could get ourselves into a little bit of trouble with this, can't we? And I am one who takes the word of God as the word of God and I take the word of God literally in its literary forms.
[22:10] And so we have to wrestle with this a little bit. What does this mean exactly to us and to our culture? Should we take it just at its face value and say, ladies, do not braid your hair.
[22:22] It's not appropriate for you to braid your hair. It's not appropriate for you to wear gold or pearls or costly attire. I don't know how we would define that exactly. What I say to you is no.
[22:34] It's important for us to understand the culture that was being spoken to here and then pull the reality out for us. What is being taught to us? Paul is saying to Timothy that women should not ever improve the way they look, that they should never do any dressing up at all.
[22:49] I would say to you, no. But what you need to understand is that the way in which these particular characteristics were true at best of the wealthy, these were things that wealthy would have done, at worst of prostitutes.
[23:08] So as the early church was finding some liberty in their faith in Christ, they were beginning to do some things that they would never have done previously as respected parts of the community, as Jewish adherents, or as just well-to-do, normal, good, Gentile people.
[23:30] They were beginning to say, well, we like the way the pretty women dress. We want to look like them. We want to put on the airs that we are these women, whether that would be the wealthy or those whom the whole culture looked at as the epitome of sexual desire.
[23:46] And that's what they were doing. That's what the instruction is against, is to be sure that when people see your apparel, they see godliness, not the things of the world.
[24:01] Now, specifically, we're speaking about modesty, but ladies, this is going to affect a lot of other things that you do and ways that you think. Now, I'm not going to be legalistic at this point.
[24:13] I could come up with some for you, but I'm just not. I'm tempted to, but I'm just not. I'm not going to say anything. I'm going to let this work in your own heart. How is it that you make yourself up to look more like the world and your motivation in that, the heart in it all, is to not look godly?
[24:33] Our culture does a lot of things to epitomize particular types of people, like celebrity. You must think about this. Peter wrote in 1 Peter 3, 3 and 4, do not let your adorning be external, the braiding of hair, and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear.
[24:51] See the same cultural issue happening there. But let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious.
[25:05] This is the way you should want to adorn yourself. With respectable apparel is the terminology used here. With respectable apparel.
[25:17] And you must think about what that looks like. What does respectable apparel look like? And again, it would be so tempting at this point. In fact, I found some great resources that were checklists for you.
[25:29] Most schools have dressings code. Most of you probably went to some kind of a high school that had a dress code of some sort. I'm just not willing to make laws where the Bible doesn't make laws.
[25:43] I'm just not willing to do it. However, we do need to address a few things to give you an idea of what I may be talking about. And here's the part where I'm really worried to embarrass you. Don't be.
[25:53] Please don't be embarrassed. You're ignorant this morning. Tights or leggings, whatever you want to call them, ladies are not pants. Hug.
[26:06] They're not pants. And if in your mind the natural progression from the tightness of your jeans is that you might as well, then your jeans are too tight too.
[26:19] Right? If you can't comfortably sit down in your pants, you need to wear bigger pants. Ladies, bikinis. How did that become culturally acceptable?
[26:31] How is that something that it seems that everyone does? Even people who from the world's terms shouldn't possibly ever be seen in a bikini, they would not wear anything else at the beach.
[26:41] It's bizarre that the culture really says that you get within an hour of the beach and your brain turns off. And you begin to think entirely differently.
[26:54] Right? Would any of you ever walk into this building in your underwear? No. Why is it okay in a different context? I don't understand.
[27:05] I honestly do not understand. Right? If it would be normative to wear something on top of something that you're wearing, you probably should be wearing something on top.
[27:16] Tights would be an example of that. If it would be normative to wear it as an undergarment, treat it as an undergarment and wear something else. on top of it. Ladies, Facebook is a dangerous medium both for you and for men.
[27:33] When you go to the beach and you make your pose, your cute little picture in your bikini, you know it ends up on a place where everyone can see it. And sometimes, more often than not, when they didn't choose to see it.
[27:48] Right? It shows up there in the feed and that image is imprinted in a guy's mind and he's got to deal with it and he's got to wrestle with it. He's got to go to battle because you thought it'd be cute to post a picture like that.
[27:59] Or your friend did. Right? You need to really think about what you wear everywhere that you go. Now, clearly, also none of you would walk into this room in a modest one-piece bathing suit.
[28:14] That would also be very strange. I think there is appropriate swimwear that you can wear. And I would encourage you ladies to be the unique ones amongst your groups of friends that finds the cute, appropriate swimwear.
[28:26] And there are companies out there doing this now. Right? That you can be the most adorable one on the beach and be very covered. Right? And I would encourage you to do that.
[28:39] You may not be able to keep up with the latest trend if you desire to be godly. You may not be able to fit in with the crowd if you desire to be godly.
[28:50] Is this shocking to you? That God has sanctified you, He's taken you, and He's set you apart from the world to serve Him and His ways, and you may not be able to fit in in every way?
[29:01] Right? That your pants may not be as tight? That you may be the one on the beach in the one-piece? The modest one-piece? There are some horrible one-pieces as well.
[29:12] Right? Is this a surprise to you? It shouldn't be. It shouldn't be. And it shouldn't be heartbreaking to you. It shouldn't hurt you in any way whatsoever to say, I would gladly give up that.
[29:25] To serve my Lord? No problem. Right? That's easy. Right? That is low cost. Right? To be a servant of the Most High God. He's called us to much higher costs than that.
[29:37] Right? He's called us to suffer for His sake. To potentially lay your life down for His sake. To be martyred one day? Don't wrestle over swimwear with Him. Be modest.
[29:48] Serve your brothers. Right? How can you possibly know what is and isn't appropriate? Right? Nathan, give us the list. Just give me the list. I'm not giving you the list. But what you can do is you can ask your fathers.
[30:01] Many of you have godly fathers. And even if they're not godly fathers, they probably know the way men's minds work. And you could say to your dad, Dad, is this appropriate? The little ones do it.
[30:13] If I ever have daughters, oh, I can guarantee they're going to get screened before they go out of the house. Right? And I'll also check the backpack to make sure there's nothing stuffed in the bottom of it. Right? Ask your fathers and be willing to take something back.
[30:26] Right? Go to the store and buy something, bring it home, show it to your dad, and go, okay, dad, I'll take it back. I will honor you in that way because you're a man and you understand men. And I don't want to be consumed in the minds and hearts of men.
[30:37] Ask the women of your church. If this is your church, we have many godly women in our church that dress very modestly. Do that.
[30:48] Talk to those women. Ask them, is this appropriate? I'm feeling a little on the edge here. What do you think? Right? Ladies who are married, ask your husbands. I, without ever talking to Sam about it, Sam has always asked me about things she just wasn't sure about.
[31:05] Is this alright? And you know what I'll tell you, that I really appreciate her because she, she really errs to the side of caution. And more often than not, my response to that is, yeah, it's fine. Like, totally fine.
[31:16] No big deal. But on occasion, I've said, yeah, I don't, I wouldn't do it. Right? Ask. Just ask. It's such a simple thing to do. And when in doubt, don't.
[31:28] Just, if you don't know, you're standing in your dorm room and you just don't know if it's appropriate. You don't know if it's going to serve your brothers. Just don't. Just don't. Caring for them matters more than how cute you might be.
[31:43] Right? Verse 10, though, is kind of the continuation of the beginning of 9. Right? What is it that you're to be adorned with?
[31:54] Respectable apparel. Verse 10, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness. With good works. So what should make women attractive to men?
[32:07] Good works. Guys, that's the kind of woman that you want. Our cultural definition of beauty, so hear me carefully here, our cultural definition of beauty, we epitomize youth.
[32:19] And guess what? Your wives are going to get old. They're not going to hold together the way they held together when they were younger. Speaking as a spiritual man, who loves my wife for spiritual reasons, she gets more beautiful to me.
[32:35] Right? Physically and spiritually, she's increasing in beauty day by day. But if you epitomize beauty the way culture epitomizes beauty, you're going to be disappointed one day.
[32:50] Someday, you'll wake up to an older woman who'll be laying next to you and you'll say, that is not the woman that I married, if that is what you care about. Do not care about that. Look for women who profess godliness and adorn that with good works.
[33:06] Proverbs 31.30, speaking of our famous Proverbs 31 woman, says, Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, passing, fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
[33:19] Ladies, this is the way you want to orient yourself. If guys don't like that in you, then they're not worth your time. Right? If you have to show off any part of yourself, any part of yourself physically to a guy for him to like you, kick him to the curb.
[33:37] And if you can't do it, call me and I'll come kick him to the curb for you. Right? Not worth your time. You want a man who is attracted to godliness as you should be displaying godliness.
[33:53] 1 Corinthians 10.31 says, So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. This would include the way in which we dress.
[34:05] So it's important that you see that part of the way that you give legitimacy to the gospel message is how you dress. It includes all so many things about the way we function in our life.
[34:18] We've been talking about that in Mark chapter 4 as we've been preaching through that about not hiding our light under our bed but putting up on a lampstand where it's meant to be seen. We've been talking about how we should be sowing seed in the world.
[34:30] This is the activity that's fitting Christians. We should be functioning in this way and that includes the way that you dress. A really classic example of this is 1 Corinthians chapter 9 verse 19-23.
[34:45] Now hear me we have great liberty in Christ. That's one of the great blessings is that we are no longer under law but under the spirit. So we have been given access we've been granted permission to do things like eat pork would be a very simple example of that.
[35:03] We're allowed to do some things not all things but some things we're allowed to do we've been given liberty in Christ but you can practice your liberty for yourself or for service to the kingdom.
[35:16] Let me give you an example in my life I find it perfectly permissible by the scriptures to consume alcohol not to become drunk but to drink but because of my position and because of the culture we live in this hyper Christianity fairly legalistic culture that we live in I choose not to and I am practicing my liberty in choosing not to as in no way profanes the gospel Christ has set me free I'm free to do it but I'm also free to not do it I would encourage the same for all of you not a law but think about where you live and what you do and how it is that you serve the kingdom of God I would never want anybody in our culture to not hear the gospel from me because they saw me drink it's just not worth it to me I don't care 1 Corinthians 9 beginning of verse 19 Paul says for though I am free from all I have made myself a servant to all that I might win more of them to the Jews
[36:17] I became as a Jew in order to win Jews to those under the law I became as one under the law though not being myself under the law that I might win those under the law to those outside the law I became as one outside the law not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ that I might win those outside the law to the weak I became weak that I might win the weak I have become all things to all people that by all means I might save some I do it all for the sake of the gospel that I may share with them in its blessings what do you ultimately care about in this world right do you care about being cute do you care about fitting in do you care about attracting the wrong type of attention from guys or do you care about the kingdom of God do you care about advancing the good news of Jesus Christ and if you do if your heart is modest it is going to affect the way you live it's going to affect the way that you dress
[37:21] Titus 2.10 Paul says that good works adorn the doctrine of God our Savior so how we dress guys this applies to you my two year old and my three year old outclass some of you guys on Sunday mornings might not want that to be the case right this applies to guys as well how we dress matters because it's about the gospel everything that we do should adorn the doctrine of God our Savior now ladies let me say to you again it is the fault of men that men sin sexually in their minds it is their fault but it is your fault when you feed it you will be judged one day for your actions and it is my great prayer for this church as an odd group of people we're fluctuating constantly college students I love you you make our group weird and that's okay like I'm really content being weird that way you come and you go many of you and I look out at your faces
[38:27] I've never even seen you before this morning that's okay with me I'm glad that you're here but we ebb and we flow and we change but I just don't care what I want Christ Family Church to be known for is being set apart from this world not for the sake of being different we're not trying to be rebels against our church culture that's not the intention of what we're trying to do but to be set apart from the world that we might magnify Christ in all that we do and that includes the way you ladies dress let's pray together let's pray together let's pray together let's pray together let's pray together let's pray together let's pray together let's pray together let's pray together let's pray together