This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

I want to welcome you to day three of our look together through 1st Timothy
chapter 2. We're continuing to look together at what it means to live a
motivated Christian life, how to be motivated day to day in your Christian life
in the book of 1st Timothy. And if you want to live a motivated Christian life,
much of that is going to have to do with how you worship.

Now, all of us know that worship can be, well, it can be something that I just
check off my to-do list for that week, or it can be a motivating and
life-changing experience with Christ. And I've had both things happen. You
probably have too.

It all depends. It all depends on where my focus is. And so Paul writes to men
and to women in these verses today about keeping the focus on Christ in worship.

Some very practical words. Let me read for you verses 8 to 10. Paul writes, "I
want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer without anger or disputing.

I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with
braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds,
appropriate for women who profess to worship God. " From beginning to end, these
verses are all about how we worship God. And Paul talks about lifting up holy
hands and praying instead of arguing and disputing.

As I read those verses, I realize immediately how much easier it is for me to
argue with men than to pray to God to lose my focus. Now sometimes that arguing
might be internal. You might not even have an external argument.

You just see somebody sitting over there while you're worshiping or you think of
somebody that you disagree with. And instead of focusing on God in worship,
you're focusing on how you could win that argument with that person. You're
fighting inside over an issue or over a personality.

I pray men, as we walk through these verses today, that they would serve as a
reminder for us in those moments to pray, to talk to God, to talk to God rather
than feeling like the answer to me getting re-motivated, re-energized in life
isn't an argument with a person. It's amazing what God can do in those moments.
Now as we walk through these verses about men and women, there are two things to
know.

First, Paul is talking about what to do in worship here. He's focusing on what
happens in a worship service. And he has something to say to men and something
to say to women.

And second, Paul is not talking exhaustively about worship in these verses. He's
not giving every rule for worship. He's talking about some things that this
church was facing.

He's addressing some needs that they were facing in Ephesus. And what do you
know? Because human nature is still the same, you might be still facing some of
these same needs.

Churches today still face exactly these same needs. He writes and he says to
keep the focus on God. Man, here's what I want you to do.

I want you to pray. Because they were obviously struggling with this. In this
church there was too much arguing and there was not enough praying.

They were talking to each other too much and they weren't talking to God enough.
So he says I want you to do two things. First he says I want you to lift up holy
hands.

He's talking about their relationship with God. And then he says I want you to
do it without anger or disputing. He's talking about their relationship with
each other.

And notice in these verses the relationship with God comes first. If they'll do
that, if you'll lift up holy hands to God, then you can get rid of the anger or
disputing. You start with your relationship with God and that makes your
relationship with everyone else begin to fit into place.

So Paul writes and he says men, I want you to pray. Then he writes to the women.
He says women, I want you to dress modestly with decency.

Now why would Paul focus on that? Well God's word is very practical. He focused
on that because they were obviously having a problem with this in this church.

Now it's not that the way that you dress is the only important thing for women
in worship. It's important in that they were struggling with it in this church.
And it's important in your life if you happen to be struggling with it in your
life.

It's very important to notice the words that Paul uses here as he talks about
how do you dress in church. As you read the words, you see he's not talking
about dressing nicely. He's talking about dressing in a wealthy way.

He's talking about dressing for status. Did you see the words? He says don't do
it with braided hair, gold, pearls, expensive clothes.

That's like comparative dressing. My hair is better than your hair. My dress is
better than your dress.

My life is better than your life and you can see it in the way that I dress. So
all of a sudden the focus in worship is on what your hair looks like or what the
dress looks like rather than the focus being on God. Now Paul is obviously not
here saying that you should just dress in some ugly kind of thing.

That's not his point. His point is don't dress for status. His point is, both to
men and women, his point is this.

You want to live the motivated Christian life? Stay away from distractions,
especially in worship. Men in this church were being distracted in their worship
by their arguments with other men.

And women in this church were being distracted by appearances. Men by arguments,
women by appearances in this church. And if you read these verses carefully, the
women may have been distracting men with their appearance because Paul does
emphasize modesty here.

Men distracted by arguments, women distracted by appearances, the issue for both
of them was really the same. And whatever issue you're facing with distraction
in worship, here is what it comes down to. I mean you may dress just fine.

You may not have an argument with anybody in worship, but something else is
distracting you when you come to worship God. You walk away every week feeling
like, "I didn't get anything by that time of worship. I'm not motivated in any
way.

I don't feel more connected to God in any way. " Now all of us feel that way
sometimes. But if it's been weeks, if it's been months that you've been feeling
that way, what is the issue?

Well, the arguments and the appearances just mask what the real issue is, and
the real issue is attention. Who's getting the attention in worship? The men, by
focusing on arguments, were keeping the attention on themselves.

The women, by focusing on dress, were keeping the attention on themselves. The
issue of attention, is it going to be me or is the attention going to be on God?
The only kind of worship that motivates my life, the only kind of worship that
motivates your life is the worship that focuses on God.

We worship for an audience of one. We stand before Him. We sit before Him.

We pray before Him. We sing before Him. So Paul says, "Guys, get your focus off
the arguments.

Pray. Focus on God. Ladies, get the focus off your appearances.

Do good works. Focus on God. Get your attention back on God.

" So let's get our attention together on Him right now. Would you pray with me?
Father, as we pray, I have to admit how easily it is, how easily I can lose my
focus.

In worship, I get my attention on something that's happening in the worship
service, rather than the reason for the worship service. I get my attention on
me, something that's happening or not happening in my life, rather than putting
the focus on you. Lord, sometimes it seems like there's a thousand things to
distract me in worship, but there's one that can draw me in, and it's not a
thing, it's a person, it's you, and you are greater than all those thousand
things put together.

And when I take a moment to set the other aside and to focus on you, Father, you
are a God who is worthy of our praise. You are a God who is worthy of my
worship. God, I pray that today, as I walk through the day, you help me to get
the attention back on you.

And I pray as I go to worship services, you would help me personally to get the
attention back on you. And I also pray that you'd help me not to do things that
cause other people to lose focus, to lose attention from you. Help me to give
others the ability to focus on you in this time of worship.

It is about you, God. It is about who you are and what you've done. And we are
thankful for who you are and what you've done.

Thank you, Father, in the name of Jesus, amen. And we'll see you tomorrow.
Paul's going to continue on this.

He has more to say about men and women in worship.