Am I a Reverent Woman?
Since I’m posting the interview by Lindsay this weekend, I thought it a wonderful time to interject an audio series by Voddie Baucham on “Biblical Womanhood”. He is FANTASTIC. I listen and just say, “WOW”.
The first message in the series was more of an intro and less to do with the meat of his message, so I started with the second one–he asks a biblical question not asked very often anymore of godly women…”Are we reverent women?” And to the guys–”Are you looking for a reverent woman to marry?”
It’s not very long–this is GOOD STUFF!
Tags: modesty, Voddie Baucham
marriage, modesty, single women, Voddie Baucham | Word Warrior | 
May 16, 2008 4:49 pm
THANK YOU Kelly for this morning’s devotion!
Oh to have more BOLD, Godly men like Vodie!
Godly womanhood is such a beautiful balance of so many things, and it comes in all shapes and sizes. If we were called to be just like men, why would God have made Eve in the first place?
I’ve always loved this sermon (but I’m a bit biased
Well, Jasmine, I guess you are a bit biased! And a very blessed young lady…you know a group of us have threatened to run a “Voddie for President” campaign
God has raised up your father as a Jeremiah of our day…it is SO encouraging the impact his message is having on the church.
Reverence…do I love, honor, and fear God? My grandmother used to ask us often, “Do you love Jesus? Do you really love Him?”
We have a tendency to want to replace that love for Jesus with love for other things, and that’s why we so often focus on externals.
In high school, I knew some girls who never wanted to draw attention to themselves. They dressed very “modestly” and were known for their quiet demeanors. But they were not at all reverent, neither towards God nor towards their parents. In fact, they were very irreverent and defiant of their parents, who wanted them to dress more attractively, be more popular and outgoing, draw more notice from others, etc.
Some of the most reverent women that I know, who love and serve and honor God, can be a bit “loud” at times. People tend to notice them. Some are noticed because God has made them tall, and they refuse to slouch and try to hide this fact. Some draw attention because they “carry themselves like ladies”. Some draw attention by their lovely personalities. Most draw attention to themselves because of their reverence.
Does the Bible really tell us that it is wrong to draw attention to ourselves? What if we simply cannot help it? Does this make us less reverent?
Or should we look more to Jesus and be more concerned about our heart attitude towards him than about whether or not we laugh too loud, have husbands who ask us to dress in bright colors, or have flaming red hair?
Rebecca,
I think you miss an important point in your “fear” of externals…you say “does the Bible really tell us that it is wrong to draw attention to ourselves?” No, but it does tell us to be reverent, of a meek and quiet SPIRIT (that doesn’t mean a quiet personality, per say), and if the Bible speaks specifically of something, then yes, we are to observe that.
The Bible speaks of externals. They are more of outward demonstrations of what’s internal, but we need not be afraid of them if the Bible directs us to observe them.
Obeying the biblical command to be reverent doesn’t me that we only put on outward appearances while the heart is wrong.
Nor does it mean a woman with an outgoing personality, or a tall woman, or whatever, can’t be reverent.
There is a grave misunderstanding in the current church culture that as soon as anyone observes any kind of “external” admonition, he must be legalistic with a wrong heart motive.
Let’s be whole Christians…”if you love me, you will KEEP my commands.” Don’t be afraid of the keeping.
“If you love me”, you will want to know what it means to be reverent,or, fill in the blank, because the Bible says it. You won’t try to go around the world to explain it away, you just look at it for what it is and know that any Christian with a heart to please and love the Lord will strive to live out the Scriptures.
Kelly this was so good! I sat here and listened to it with my hubby listening in the background. Thanks for introducing me to V.B. I just bought his book this weekend! I am so excited about reading it! Nice to see his daughter commenting too. What a beautiful young lady.
Talk about taking one word and reading a whoooole lot of extra-Biblical things into it.
I am sure Voddie has the best of intentions, but this talk is a premium example of what happens to us when we get our minds wrapped up in performance-based living instead of hanging on to grace.
A respectful dissenter (once a fan),
Molly
Let’s be whole Christians…”if you love me, you will KEEP my commands.” Don’t be afraid of the keeping.
I agree. That was exactly my point. Too often we stop at the externals, just as Vodie did in that clip. Too often we add our own “spin” to things, where reverence becomes more about clothing, appearance, and demeanor, and nothing is said about true reverence.
The externals are so, so much easier. That is why they are emphasized. It makes us feel better, more spiritual, more obedient. We conveniently forget that God looks on the heart, because we are so busy concerning ourselves with the outward man.
It’s easy to toss on a pretty, modest dress, and tone down our voices. It’s much harder to be truly reverent towards God in all we think and do, to love Him with every aspect of our being, and to love our neighbors as ourselves.
“Don’t let the FACT of grace become an excuse for spiritual apathy.”
This debate amazes me…
Just because someone speaks of an external behavior (straight out of the Bible, no less), doesn’t mean he is ignoring the matters of the heart.
Grace is what it is…redemption from our sin. After that, we are commanded in some areas…along this topic we’re commanded to be reverent (all people, not just women), sober, shame-faced, discreet, etc.
Voddie said NOTHING that Scripture hasn’t said first.
We don’t focus on externals ignoring the heart, NOR do we ignore our behavior because our hearts are OK.
That’s what I mean by being “whole” Christians.
When Jesus rebuked the Pharisees, he did NOT tell them to stop their external practices; He said to do them IN ADDITION TO having the heart right.
“Be reverent in behavior”…if God didn’t care about anything external, why would he bother to be so specific about “behavior”?
“Don’t let the FACT of grace become an excuse for spiritual apathy.”
Amen! A real understanding of grace, a true appreciation of what Christ has done for us, and the resulting delight and awe in the freedom His blood purchased for us — why, it’s the exact antidote of spiritual apathy! How on earth can we be apathetic when we contemplate a grace so amazing?
It’s when it becomes merely a “fact”, rather than the very theme of our lives. Ah…grace…it is so much more than a theological term. It is, for those of us who follow Jesus, so intensely personal, isn’t it? I can understand why some of our most beloved and powerful hymns were inspired by an utter amazement at how wonderfully incomprehensible grace is.
I’m so glad you brought up grace. It’s that grace — and the overwhelming realization that we can not contribute in any way to either our justification or sanctification — that incredible understanding that it is all of Him, and nothing of us — that realization that we are so undeserving and will always be, but He has poured out His love and unmerited favor on us — that is what inspires our reverence towards Him.
That’s exactly why I was so puzzled to hear about clothing and appearance and not being loud, and really nothing about Jesus, or about what true reverence means.
To me, it always comes back to grace, and to my grandmother’s simple question, “Do you love Jess?”
He sees the heart. He knows.
I think there is a confusion here about Dr. Baucham’s message…
He is speaking to Christians. Christians (hopefully) have already understood the groundwork, the “milk of the word”, which is the doctrine of grace. Our salvation has been bought with the blood of our Savior…no argument here.
But so many Christians want to just stop there…but the Bible doesn’t stop there. Paul says to ADD to your faith…grace is the completion of our salvation, and the beginning of our Christian walk.
Dr. Baucham’s message about reverence doesn’t exclude grace just because he didn’t cover it in this particular video. He assumes there’s no need to lay the groundwork again. (Hebrews 5:12-)
It is a simple teaching of Scriptural principles which have been specifically commanded TO BE TAUGHT, which the church is failing to do, because they’re afraid if they say anything about “behavior” of a Christian, they’ll be accused of being legalistic.
This is not the teaching of Scripture, but of false doctrine. BEWARE.
Amen Kelly. If grace were all there was, then why would we need the rest of the Bible?
He is speaking to Christians. Christians (hopefully) have already understood the groundwork, the “milk of the word”, which is the doctrine of grace.
In my opinion, after half a century of intense involvement in the church, not enough Christians fully understand grace. It needs to be emphasized far more than it is.
Perhaps I missed the part in Dr. Baucham’s message where he talked about what/whom the object of our reverence should be, and why. To me, this is foundational, yet it does not go without saying. Christians too easily forget these things.
We should emphasize what Scripture emphasizes. To add to its message with our own opinions about “loudness” and clothing styles, while ignoring attitudes of the heart — to speak only of externals while ignoring true reverence — that is giving an incomplete picture. It is, I admit, the easier way. It is the popular way. It is the “feel good” way. But it is not the Biblical way.
It is a simple teaching of Scriptural principles which have been specifically commanded TO BE TAUGHT, which the church is failing to do, because they’re afraid if they say anything about “behavior” of a Christian, they’ll be accused of being legalistic.
And, far more frequently, the problem is “ignoring the simple teaching of Scriptural principles which have been specifically commanded TO BE TAUGHT” in favor of teaching one’s own opinions on pet topics. We fear teaching about grace, because it is “milk” and we want to pretend what we teach is “meat”. But, more than that, we fear even mentioning grace lest people accuse us of not wanting to obey Scripture! (Is that wacky or what?) We fear teaching about the heart, because we will step on toes. We fear teaching too much about Jesus for fear people will think we are fanatical. It is so much easier, so much “safer”, so much more interesting and ear-tickling, to teach about external behavior. It’s something we can measure, something we can judge, something we can pat ourselves on the back about.
And, if we define reverence as clothing styles and quiet voices, we don’t have to worry about whether or not we truly love Jesus enough. And those pesky people who go on about loving Jesus? We can just claim they are accusing us of being legalistic, or trying to worm out of obeying God, or spreading false teaching…or anything but what they are really saying: Do we really love Jesus?
Let me add to that… Although grace is the way to Salvation (which is not of works, lest any man should boast).
Grace is only the beginning. There is so much more to the Christian walk(fruits of the Spirit).
I am thankful for bold teachers of God’s word (truth)!
It’s all grace. Those fruit of the Spirit? Who do they come from? Do we create them in ouselves or earn them?
Is Christianity about Christ? Or is it more about us? Who deserves honor and glory for anything we might accomplish?
Hi Rebecca,
I don’t know if anyone has mentioned this yet, but early on in the video Voddie says something along the lines of “why are we doing things- to honor God or to draw attention to ourselves?” I think he hit the nail on the head here- it is all about your motives. Of course sometimes attention is drawn to us, even because of our love for Jesus, and we can’t help that, but the important thing is- why are we doing the thing we are doing: to honor God or to bring attention to ourselves? I think this answers your questions from some previous comments. Voddie does talk a lot about externals in the clip, I think he is simply trying to give examples of what he means…but he begins by saying this about our motives. I think we need to just be sure that we are trying to bring honor to God in everything and if this causes attention to be drawn to us, then it is not because we have done anything wrong or are not being reverent.
Hope this helps.
Amy
Rebecca,
I didn’t mean to imply when I said “grace is only the beginning” that it stops at that. I didn’t word that statement properly.
We need God’s grace EVERY day of our lives. On the other hand, I do not think that preachers should be afraid to preach every aspect of the Bible…
That includes externals and practical Christian living. Paul wrote a lot of letters to the churches giving them practical every day instructions.
I Corinthians 13:5 says that love does not behave rudely.
Dr. Baucham, as a preacher has the responsibility to say what the Lord lays on his heart and then the congregation/listeners have the responsibility to apply it.
And as you say, if one does not love Jesus then it doesn’t matter what they do on the outside… because all of those things externals mean nothing if the heart isn’t right.
But if they do have a heart that thirsts after God (true Christians), they will be receptive and open and obedient to His word. Obedience out of a heart of love.
Those are my two cents. I do not claim to be eloquent, a great debater, or a great writer. So I hope my jumbled thoughts make sense.
Well-said Kim M…
To me this is just so simple. Do I love Jesus? Then I will obey his commandments. Grace and obedience are inseparable.
I obey BECAUSE of grace…I want to learn what it means to be reverent in behavior because my Lord has asked it of me.
Just a reminder to those who feel that Voddie stops at externals…
This clip that is on the blog is one of an EIGHT PARTS. Take the whole sermon in context. Then judge.
Blessings,
Daja
Obviously I am waaay late to this discussion. I had a few minutes to spare in my post partum recovery and thought I’d check in.
I think Kelly has made her point very well, but I just wanted to say that often people tout the grace line when we want to excuse our slipshod behavior and heart attitudes. While it’s true that the converse can be true as it relates to legalism, that is much more rare than the blog world would indicate. Grace is no excuse for not attending to our behavior and how we present ourselves to the world around us. We are, after all, ambassadors for Christ.
Okay, maybe I’ll be back by in a couple of weeks!
It’s never boring around here, kelly, I’ll give you that.
Lol…no never boring!
Congratulations–I pray you are enjoying little Maya and just soaking in her sweetness!