Paul Washer on the Virtuous Woman

I found an excerpt from a sermon given by Paul Washer on the Virtuous Woman.  Single men, are you attracted to a woman's virtue or her personality?  A personality can be misleading, but virtue is evidence that Christ that is manifested in her life.  Enjoy!

The Desire of a Pharisee

For the most part, we Christians desire to know Jesus in a more intimate way.  We desire to seek his face, know His will, and hear that precious still small voice speaking into our lives on a daily basis.  Desire is a good thing especially when it pertains to our walk with Jesus, but desire, just like potential is dormant until expressed in action. We have our busy lives with work, family, and even church activities that can sometimes leave us tired with little time for prayer.  Due to our hectic lives, so many times it's our relationship with Jesus that sometimes gets pushed to the back of our lives. Jesus so often gets our scraps or leftovers when what he desires is the first-fruits of our time and energy.   It's not so much that we are living sinful lives, but it more about what we're not doing and the special intimacy with him that we are missing out on.    In Luke chapter 7, many have focused on the woman who brought an alabaster box of ointment to the home of the pharisee where Jesus was at. She stood at the feet of Jesus, and weeping, began to wash his feet with her tears, wipe them with her hair, kissed his feet, and anointed them with the oil. Her story is one of worship and forgiveness that will be remembered for all generations, but today, I would like to focus on another character in the story- Simon the Pharisee who Jesus was visiting.  Luke 7:36 says that "one of the pharisees desired him [Jesus] that he would eat with him."  The story goes on to say that Jesus accepted the invitation and came to eat with this man. At this point, the woman with the alabaster box came in and ministered to Jesus as we just described. Simon, the Pharisee saw this and spoke within himself about how Jesus could allow such a sinful woman to minister to him.  Jesus, knowing Simon's thoughts, spoke to him with these words,

"Simon, seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet; but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.  Thou gavest me no kiss, but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet.  My head with oil thou didst not anoint, but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment...for she loved much..."  (Luke 7:44-47). 

I can imagine Simon's heart dropping to the ground as the words cut into his very core.  Simon had the desire to meet Jesus.  We know this because he invited Jesus to his house, but unfortunately, his desire did not meet with his action that day.  It was a middle eastern tradition that whenever a guest came to your home, a servant of the host's house would take the guest to an area of the home and wash his feet.  As you can imagine, feet were pretty dirty due to the sandals that were the norm in many middle eastern cultures. Washing one's feet showed a sign of respect, hospitality, and graciousness. Simon offered none of this for his special guest of guests- Jesus Christ. Simon may have had good intentions, but when it came down to it, He did not make Jesus a priority.  Sometimes, we too, do not make Jesus a priority as we should.  We tell him we want Him in our lives, but our daily schedule omits our time with Him.  We slowly find ourselves in a dry spiritual state and even death because of the lack of connection with Jesus. We can't live a joyful life without His presence.  We can't know what He wants from us without being in His presence.  We need Him like oxygen,  taking every bit of our strength and life from him.  Maybe you have felt His special nudges and call to you, Why didn't you meet me this morning? I miss you.  I want to talk to you.  I know you ministered to your family and church, but when are you going to minister to me, the Lover of your soul? Won't we answer Him? God takes pleasure when we minister to him. Won't we give him the time he wants?  Today, let us touch Jesus with not only our desire, but with a commitment to prayer that is birthed out of that desire.  

God, Get Me Out of Here!

During the first Jewish diaspora, the people of God were carried away to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar.  They were torn away from their beloved homeland and separated from their loved ones. The people of God found themselves in a strange land where there was no fear of God.   This was a place in which they didn't want to be.  They cried out to God to bring them back to their homeland and lift this burden that seemed  too hard to handle.  In the 29th chapter of Jeremiah, God sends a word through the prophet Jeremiah to those Jews that had been carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon:
  

"Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all who were carried away captive, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit. Take wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters—that you may be increased there, and not diminished. And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the Lord for it; for in its peace you will have peace" (Jeremiah 29:4-7).

We must first note that it was God who caused the Jewish people to be carried away to Babylon into captivity.  It is often God that takes us to those places in our lives where we don't want to be. Gasp!  April, God wouldn't do such a thing!  Yes, God would do such a thing.   He is using this uncomfortable place to make you more like Him.  The good news is that if he takes you to such a place in you life, He will be the one to take you out of it when it is time. 

Next, notice how God told the people to build houses in Babylon, live in them, plant gardens, eat the fruit thereof, takes wives and husbands, and have children and great-grandchildren.  In essence, God was letting them know that they were going to be here for a while so they needed to live their lives and find peace in this particular place.  This is not what the people wanted. They wanted  God to rescue them immediately,  but this was not God's will yet. We see a couple of scriptures later that it would be 70 years before God would take them back to Jerusalem (and He eventually did, true to His word).  So often, we ask God to rescue us from particular seasons or places in our lives.  We cry to God to make a way out when He is the one that made a way in to this place. We throw spiritual tantrums (can I get a witness?) and resist what He is doing.  What we must realize is that God may relieve us of our burden in a short period of time, or He might keep us in a this place for a longer period.   I know the pain seems so unbearable at the moment that we can't imagine months or even years of feeling like this, but just like God told  the people to seek the peace of the city where they were carried away to, he is telling us to do the same.  He instructed them to embrace this place for it was where God had placed them.  Some of you may be living with cancer or some other disease while some of you might be dealing with heavy marriage problems or you're seeing your spouse go through something very hard. Others might be experiencing unemployment or homelessness, bankruptcy, the death of a loved one, a divorce, or even just loneliness.  Maybe you are experiencing obstacles in your ministry.   I don't know the place where God has you right now, but God does. He wants you to know that He has you in this place and everything is going to be alright. Don't fight it, but get on your knees and ask Him to give you peace in this place and grace to make it through. God will not rescue you, but He will renew you.  He will not allow for a place of escape, but He will allow you the grace to endure until it is time to bring you out and mark my words. HE WILL BRING YOU OUT in His time. In verses 10-14, we read God's word to His people,

"For thus says the Lord: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place...Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.  And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.  I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive." 

 When all is said and done, you will know God in such a wonderful way. You will look back and see how God transformed you and your family. You will see how God changed and perfected you.  You will see how God is faithful to answer you and accomplish that which He promised.  Why should we trust God to fulfill His promises in us and answer our prayers?  The answer can be found in verse 11 of the same chapter,  "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope" (Jeremiah 29:11).  Know that you serve a loving God who has a wonderful plan for your life. Know that He finishes what He started.  Know that He hears your prayers even when you don't feel Him.  He will not just leave you in the place to die there, but will be with you through it all.  That's the kind of God that we serve.

Thoughts from a Woman Who Never Stops Thinking

 "He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth" (Isaiah 53:7).

I have always tried to respect all people regardless if I agree with them or not.  I hold very strong religious views because I hold the Bible as my standard for living and I am zealous for the things of God, but I do not believe that the Bible gives me the license to hate on people and treat them as inferior.  Further, hate and violence are not supported Biblically, even if its the side with opposing views/beliefs that initiated.  On the contrary, we are told to bless and pray for those that curse us and spitefully use us (Luke 6:28) and to turn the other cheek (Matthew 5:39).  Christians have a long history of using violence and hate as a means of controlling others (ie. Crusades etc), but I truly believe that we do not have to continue that pattern. The truth is that we don't have much time left in this world to continue the pattern with the return of Christ coming so soon.  I do not believe in backing down in one's beliefs, but if people disagree or even hate you for your beliefs, we should let them do so without reciprocating anger. We will accomplish nothing by getting angry and name-calling or by holding signs on the corners and telling people they are going to hell.  I simply cannot imagine Jesus doing this.  When Christ went to the cross, he was ridiculed and taunted, spit on, and whipped, yet He held his peace and I believe that He calls us to do the same thing while carrying our cross.  He was sent like a "lamb to the slaughter" yet "opened not his mouth" the Bible says which means He took a passive approach.   He didn't take a passive approach to preaching the Gospel and loving others, but he took a passive approach to dealing with the hate and the persecution.   I'm tired of focusing on all the negative in the world and am making the conscious decision to be a vessel through which God can demonstrate His love to others no matter where they come from, their status, their sins etc. I will focus more on my own imperfections and allowing God fix mine so that I can be a better vessel of His love. When I get to heaven, God is not going to say, I wish you would have protested more on the corner on my behalf, but He will tell me, What did you do to allow people to experience my love?  I'm going to make myself ready so that I can usher in thousands of people and say Lord, here's what I did to show your love and these are the people that came to know you as a result of it.

"Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord" ~ Hebrews 12:14