Leading Us Into Family Reverend Anthony R.

Locke
August 29th, 2010 www.FirstPresTucker.org
at the First Presbyterian Church of Tucker
Proverbs 31:10-31 Communion of Saints Series English Standard Version
10 An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels.
11 The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain.
12 She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life.
13 She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands.
14 She is like the ships of the merchant; she brings her food from afar.
15 She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens
16 She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.
17 She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong.
18 She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp does not go out at night.
19 She puts her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle.
20 She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy.
21 She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household are clothed in scarlet.
22 She makes bed coverings for herself; her clothing is fine linen and purple.
23 Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land.
24 She makes linen garments and sells them; she delivers sashes to the merchant.
25 Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come.
26 She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
27 She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.
28 Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her:
29 “Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.”
30 Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
31 Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.1
I haven’t listened to country music in a while, but I remember a funny song that had a line
about going to the lost and found in a trailer park and asking if someone turned in your lost
diamond ring. “They just look at you like you lost your mind and say, I haven’t seen a thing.”
Finding a virtuous woman in our self-oriented culture is about that hard, but not
impossible. God makes women virtuous. Through faith in Jesus, obedience to the laws of God
and service to others a woman is transformed from fallen to faithful in God’s eyes.
Becoming a woman of virtue isn’t a mystery or secret, but it isn’t easy either. God
explains how to become a virtuous woman in our passage. Proverbs 31:10-31 is the ultimate
woman. This is an ideal and therefore not meant to become a guilt trip, but rather a goal toward
which ladies strive. Men are to be like Jesus and lay their life down for the bride. Women
strive to be virtuous.
The woman in Proverbs 31 is a lot of things, but chiefly she leads others into the
blessings of family life. Whether a woman is married or not, she has the power to lead the
church and the community into the blessings that God reserves for people living in a family
environment.

1 The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
 The New Testament is clear that we are the Family of God. Women in the Church have no
responsibility more glorious than to lead us into the blessings of family life as the children of
God.
This definition of a virtuous woman will help our ladies know to be faithfully in their duty
to lead the church into the blessings of family life. Therefore, we will use this text as our guide
as we talk about women in the life of the church.
Obviously, the Church will be blessed as our ladies are active in church life. Finding an
active Women’s Ministry Team is like finding a rare jewel. Ministers are thankful when ladies
are active for Jesus’ sake. Elders are blessed to have lady folk that they can call when doing
ministry. Deacons are blessed to have an active Women’s Ministry team supporting the family
life of the church. Ladies, we need your best foot forward when serving the Lord in the church.
When they are filled with virtue we can trust their labor to bear good fruit. The fruit of
well taught young people growing up in our Sunday School programs. The fruit of prayers that
reach the throne of God.
The Hebrew word for virtuous is translated many different ways in our English Bibles.
This is a woman of strength, of ability, of noble character and goodness in her soul. Which is
why she is able to bless the church all the days of her life. A virtuous woman brings God’s
goodness into the life of the church.
We’ve covered verses 10-12. Now verse 13-22. A virtuous woman is a hard worker.
Whether it be sewing or cooking, taking care of the children or assisting in church business,
Women in the life of our church do their fair share. Note that they work willingly in verse 13.
It is not a matter of compulsion but compassion. These women love the Church and please
Christ through tier labors in the Church for the kingdom.
I have women beating me to work at 7 am to water the flowers, and I have women
dropping in to do work as I leave late in the evening. Verse 15 rising while it is yet night and
provides food for her household and portions for her maidens. Our ladies work hard to bring
the best of God’s goodness to His family.
And they are not motivated to serve because they are serving the minister or a special
speaker. Even the servants are served by our ladies. The least of these are changed, fed, clothed
and taught by our ladies. By seeking to be last within the family they find themselves first in
God’s eyes.
I have a list of ministry ideas that I hope to get launched within our church in the next 18
months. Three of those ideas came from ladies who called me to tell me about a great resource
for the family of God that they wanted to seek implemented here. Like the merchant ship, they
gather good ideas and bring them into our church. I trust them. I rely on them. Our Women are
amazing.
Verse 16-19 is hard to pull off in the life of a church because we are so fearful of what
Jesus meant when He cleansed the temple. But, if we don’t do verses 16-19 then we will not be
able to do verse 20 as a church family.
Jesus cleansed the temple from false religion. Priests were rejecting the offerings being
brought by families from out of town. So the family had to exchange their out of town money
to purchase a preapproved animal for worship. And the temple merchants were making a
fortune on the exchange rate and the inflated value of the animals they had for sale.
Jesus is not going to condemn us if our ladies organize a meal around their favorite foods
and sell plates for a fund raiser. I think you could start a successful restaurant with the
delicious covered-dish food we eat around here. If times get really tough our ladies might
consider a soup kitchen to minister their talent to the community.
Verse 16. If Women’s Ministry had the resources they could buy land, hold it for a few
years, and sell it at a profit. Well, maybe not in this market. But Jesus wouldn’t condemn them
for trying. They could plant a garden and sell the fruit of their labor. They could plant a
vineyard. LOL Well, maybe not a vineyard. We don’t want to compete with Chateau Elan.
My point is that our ladies need to have the freedom to show their skill and craft, their
discernment and wisdom when organizing church activity. There really isn’t any limits on what
they can do. The goal is to lead the church family into the blessings of God’s goodness.
What if only a few of our ladies want to start a preschool to teach Christian principles and
provide Christian education for the local community? Our elders would ask a bunch of
questions. The congregation would be allowed to vote yes or no. But this would be a good
example of reaching out in mercy.
These opportunities and many more are open to excellent, strong, noble and able women.
Verse 23. The ministry of our women should have a wow effect on others. I think we are
already there. I was wowed by the August 8th installation. Our ladies lead the church family
into God’s goodness. The luminaries for the foot path around the back of the church was the
extra mile. It was the wow. The lintel beans. Best my mouth has ever tasted. Not an
exaggeration. The deserts were so delightful. The decorations, the planning, the table set up
and extra chairs which were ordered, the whole spirit of the event was awash in the gracious
service of excellent women.
Wouldn’t you agree?
Did you know that the women do the bulletin boards. I think they show skill and
creativity, love and compassion to keep those up for us. Our church is beautified at Christmas
and Easter. They maintain the kitchen. They show God’s love by cleaning up our messes.
The ladies sustain the classy habit of sending snail mail letters to those going through
trials. They remember birthdays. Serve refreshments at special events. Serve meals after a
funeral or during a protracted illness.
Every Wednesday they organize a meal after our Bible Study. They find a substitute
teacher when I can’t be here. The ladies in our church do all of this.
They maintain our church history. The flowers outside the church and the special occasion
flowers in the sanctuary are done by industrious women.
Our ladies are so industrious that they provide gifts and crafts to the Bonclarken Gift Shop
so they can make a profit and support the ministry. That’s wisdom in action. Maybe some day
we can hold a church garage sale and let people bring items they would have given to
Goodwill, and we can have a huge church sale on a Saturday.
 I got on a rabbit trial, back to verse 23. There is a wow factor that our women can create.
Like when a home is organized around godliness, good works and piety. Especially the women
create a blessed setting for family activity and life. Our women take the lead role in shaping
this Christian culture within a church family. And it has the potential to make others ask,
“There must be something special here, just look at the love these amazing women have for
this place.”
And by the virtuous women in our midst, the testimony of the church and glory of Christ
is lifted up in our hearts.
If my life is entering a difficult spot, and I needed God’s wisdom sprinkled with kindness
and love, I certainly would not hesitate to go counsel with our elder ladies. We have many
verse 26 ladies here at this church.
Next, verse 27. Our women look well to the ways of the church. The elders are
commanded to know our flock. Our ladies are so diligent in their efforts within the church that
they are the first to know about issues that the elders need to address. We men can’t lead the
children of God without the good counsel of the women.
I think it is appropriate to stand up and call them what they are. They are blessed. We
have verse 28 women here at the First Presbyterian Church of Tucker.
Ladies, I praise God for you and I mention your work in praise before the community.
Most civic organizations and community groups utilize the skills and gifts of women, but the
women in the church excel them all.
Why? Because God has made you virtuous. You are enabled to love without failing. You
are filled with good works through the empowering of the Spirit of God. You don’t grow
weary in well doing for your faith knows that the time is short. You are a channel of God’s
love to the rest of us.
Many things beautify women, but the most attractive virtue is fear the Lord. It is the
beginning of wisdom, it is a safeguard from sin and it is the path of understanding. There is no
greater lesson we can learn from the ladies than to fear God.
Ladies, wow us with your commitment to Christ. May the disciplines you maintain in
your prayer life, your Bible reading and worship be a lesson for us all as we fear God in a
society and culture that has no fear of God.
We are not the only ones who will bless you. The groom of the Church, Jesus Himself
will rise up and call you blessed. He will praise you for bringing the church family into God’s
richest blessings.
There is a day when we will stand before the glory of the Son of God, and He will reward
us according to the works we have done, whether they be good or evil. Jesus will give you the
rewards that your works deserve. The fruit of your hands will be rewarded. Your teaching,
serving, feeding, cleaning, creating, selling, buying, your industry that leads us into a confident
joyful expectation of a secure future will all be rewarded by the heavenly Father.
No doubt about it. God appreciates what you do for His family. No work is so small that
God doesn’t take notice and prepare a blessing to you in return. I know you believe that.
We thank God for you. May you continue to lead our church family into the goodness of
the blessings of God until Jesus comes. Amen.