Lessons From a Beehive
I Timothy Chapter 2
Scripture= I Timothy chapter 2:8-10 (Today's New International Version)
8 Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing. 9 I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, 10 but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God.
Observations and Applications=WARNING!
(Because of the nature of this passage this blog will have a little more of teaching feel then most others.)
Do you remember as a kid watching on television or at the movies a scene where some character accidentally grabs hold of a beehive? Think about it; what do you do? Throw it down? Try to run? Jump into the water (if there is any around you)? I mean no matter what you do, you know that you are going to get stung; it is just a matter of how many times.
That is how I feel when I look at I Timothy chapter 2. There are at least two very controversial passages in this chapter especially verses 11-15. As you might have noticed I took the brave pastor, chicken approach and chose the verses before this controversial section. In my defense however, verses 8-10 are rather controversial as well. I chose them because I do believe that verses 8-10, in the context of the chapter, have something to say about verses 11-13.
The place to begin to understand this passage of scripture is the first four verses of the chapter. Paul writes to Timothy that, “we should (may) live ‘peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth.” (See verse 2-4) Verse 8 then has a ‘therefore’ in it, which means this verse is linked back to something said previously and I believe that it is linked back to verses 1-4.
If the point of our behavior is to point people to Jesus then somehow verses 8-15 have something to do with revealing Jesus and pointing people to the truth. The earlier verses talked about peaceful and quiet lives that are filled with godliness and holiness. So maybe what Paul is telling Timothy is how men and women in the church can live these types of lives. The men shouldn’t be fighting and disputing with one another in anger because that would distract people from the Lord. This type of behavior is far from being peaceable and non-controversial.
The women if they are to live in peace and have non-controversial lives should not be in a clothes competition with one another. They shouldn’t be in a place where there are debates on whether they are dressed modestly enough. It would be better to err on the side of modesty than to stir up arguments. This is not however, calling for the modesty police. The word here is that they should have personal discretion that would coincide with the other women around them. Remember the idea is to point others to Jesus; not to be controversial.
Following the same flow of verses 8-10, it makes sense to me that verses 11-15 refer to distractions and controversies that would take place in church if there were debates between husbands and wives or men and women in church. Remember the context of chapter 2 is not about who teaches or doesn’t teach but about living peaceable, quiet, godly and holy lives. If the word ‘woman’ in verses 11 & 12 could also be translated “wife,’ this would fit the context that Paul is talking about not having distractions from Jesus from within a household. Husbands and wives were not openly to discuss or debate what was being taught in the church. This would distract others and could border on a lack of submission to God, other church members and to one another (wives to husbands). The willingness to not debate these things publicly would reveal a peaceable and quiet heart. Controversy and debates over doctrine, church issues, clothing choices or family arguments and discussions in church all ought to be avoided.
Do we distract people in Church today? Do we do the same things? Do we argue and openly debate in opposition to one another? Do we see clothes controversies and wardrobe choices that distract and cause dissention? Is there open hostility or disrespect observable among husbands and wives and men and women? What do we need to do to live peaceable, quiet, godly and holy lives? Remember our lives point people to Jesus.
Prayer= Lord speak into my life. Show me where I need to live a more quiet and peaceable life? I want to live in godliness and holiness with others. I want to be an example and not a distraction to those who need to see what you look like in me.
