Sermon Tone Analysis

*Wonder Woman*

*Proverbs 31:10-31*

May 8, 2005 (repeat w~/modifications from May 10, 1998)

 

Introduction:

 

ILLUS: Video “Highly Valued” from Sermon Illustrators, vol. 1, no. 2.

 

This video shows us some practical scenes from the portrayal of the ideal woman in Prov.

31 and her value to her children.

Indeed, it is impossible to overestimate the value of a godly mother to her children.

The future of the world is in the hands of each new generation as nurtured and taught to children by their mothers.

Mothers, more than anyone else, more than even fathers, have the greatest impact upon children because of a God-given bond from earliest age.

The first influence is the most endearing and far reaching.

The role of the father collaborates more and more as time progresses and steadily increases in importance, although it is the father who stands behind and enables the mother’s role from the beginning.

But the child who is set aside by his mother must surely wonder what went astray in the most basic and important of human relationships.

We just yesterday went as a church to the Caris Hike for Life to support and celebrate the value of children and their right to life – their right to at least a mother, even if not a father due to some circumstance.

The struggle in our culture, and all across the Western world and other developing and industrial nations, is a struggle to obey God in following his way and his desire for human reproduction.

He created us and wants us, and when we obey him, he sustains us.

ILLUS: Listen to this educational and convicting testimony by Tim Bayly entitled “Shepherd’s Pie” ---

 

But with this in mind, let us go back to Prov.

31:10-31 to queue in on the kind of woman that can make this happen – the qualities that God enables a woman to have in order to change the world if she seeks God for those qualities.

In a way, this describes “Wonder Woman”, but we must remember that we have a “Wonder-Working God”.

“8  And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

9  As it is written: "He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever."”

(2Co 9:8-9 NivUS)

 

These verses are written as an acrostic poem for remembrance, each verse starting with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet - an organized arrangement of virtue - the ABC’s of wisdom (or in Hebrew, point Aleph, point Beth, point Gimel, point Daleth, etc.).

There is a fearful beauty in true womanhood.

This ideal woman fears God.

A woman who does this will have no time or inclination for sin.

She will build a lasting legacy for her God, her husband, her children, her world.

This passage does not speak of what this woman /looks/ like, but speaks of what she /does/ that flows from who she /is/.

Perhaps this ideal “Wonder Woman” cannot be found.

There certainly are degrees of approaching this ideal.

But we must have an ideal of what this godly woman is like if we are to approach it.

If she can be found, you will have seen the effective image of godliness, as God intended, in a woman, a wife, and a mother.

What an effect this woman would have on those around her.

She is a priceless model of womanhood.

Every man wants a model for a wife.

But there is a difference between the world’s model and God’s model.

What are the characteristics of value in a wife and mother?

What constitutes a woman’s irreplaceable value to a godly home?

A.

She has priceless character.

*10 ¶ A wife of noble character who can find?

She is worth far more than rubies.*

Why is it that women like jewelry?

Perhaps they have an innate understanding that that is how they are to be viewed - since jewelry has value.

But we are talking here about what it is in a woman that is of the most value, and that is character.

Character flows from the knowledge of God in the lessons of life, and who can put a price on God?  Character has the most value because it has the most influence.

Just like the man who finds the kingdom of heaven to be most valuable, so too the kingdom of heaven displayed in the life of a godly woman is most valuable.

B.

She is her husband’s greatest treasure.

*11  Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value.*

The tribute begins here and this is her first priority.

She is a wife, a career woman, and the mother of children.

But neither her career not her children are allowed to come before the obligations of her marriage.

She knows that a stable and loving marriage is basic to success and happiness in these other areas.

She knows that marriage fulfills her as a person and that the first essential of motherhood is to create for the children the environment of a loyal and loving home.

So first of all she is faithful and supportive to her husband.

She must establish and maintain credibility with her husband as a helpmate that brings him honor.

Her character is proven and her husband trusts her.

She makes herself indispensable - and she is.

There is no need to look for greener grass elsewhere, he has all he needs in her in this life.

And if her husband is not a believer, he may well become one by her witness.

C.

She is a consistent helpmate.

*12  She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life.*

She is not contentious.

She sees the end from the beginning and runs the race to win.

She is confident of what she can accomplish.

She knows that she has value to her family and her society in each stage of life.

D.

She is industrious.

*13  She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands.*

She spreads out her assets.

She has prepared herself with skills and ability to be industrious and contribute to the family welfare.

She follows projects through from beginning to end.

She doesn’t just delegate to her husband and children.

She delegates herself as an example to all.

She enjoys work and the outcome it produces.

E.

She is resourceful.

*14  She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar.*

She researches her options and learns from experience.

She is an expert in her God-given, and willingly accepted, role as homemaker.

F.

She is diligent.

*15  She gets up while it is still dark; she provides food for her family and portions for her servant girls.*

This woman is quite aware that many depend upon her and she plans ahead, knowing that a stitch in time saves nine.

Note that her industriousness has acquired others to help her, but she is not a slave driver - she sets the example.

G.

She is frugal.

*16  She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.*

She has accomplished much with her efforts.

The profits of her labors are not spent foolishly but reinvested wisely.

She doesn’t put all her eggs in one basket.

She runs a well rounded operation.

Marriage does not claim all her time.

She is too gifted for that.

She is a business woman:  she has an interest in real estate, and is also a dress designer and manufacturer.

There is nothing old fashioned about her.

She is a liberated woman, a person in her own right.