Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

What is a “Biblical Woman”, you might ask?

Is she a “strong, independent woman” who doesn’t need anyone else to tell her what her worth is?

That is the message that our culture attempts to sell people nowadays, at least.

Even in the Christian sphere of things, women are bombarded daily to “be free” and to put themselves first.

Our society screams “equality” yet what we see in Scripture is that men and women have different responsibilities and are to be praised and honored because of this.

Men and women are equally created in the Image of God and today we are going to look at a familiar passage of Scripture to see what a “Biblical woman” looks like because our world has no idea what Biblical Womanhood is.

Proverbs 31:

Here we see God’s portrait of a Wonderful Wife and a Marvelous Mother!

This Proverb is among the most interesting in our Bible due to the way that the author crafted it.

Each verse begins with a letter in the Hebrew alphabet and continues down the list.

In English, the first few verses might look like this: An Awesome wife, who can find her?

A blessed lady, her husband trusts her.

A caring woman, she does him good all her life.

a diligent worker, she is skillful with her hands.

You see how the author so eloquently phrases everything here.

This woman is truly everything from “A-Z”!

It is interesting to see that motherhood is talked about very frequently on the news today.

In 2005, Newsweek published an article that dived into motherhood and took a look at what stay at home moms do on a daily basis.

They stated that if stay at home moms were compensated hourly for their work, they would make over $130,000 a year!

The article also went on to say that more than 70% of wives say that their husbands got on their nerves more than their children - husbands, see to it that today is not one of those days!

The article also said that 50% of women said that their mother is also their “best friend”.

There is a lot of work that goes into being a stay at home mother and even for those who are not stay at home moms, there is a special bond that a mother has with her family.

While we know many women who have had successful careers and others who had the opportunity to stay at home with their kids, we know that motherhood and being a wife is a special thing.

In a 2004 New York Times article, the author found from his investigation that “motherhood provides joy and fulfillment.”

A couple of months after this article was published, though, a follow-up article came out that was entitled “The Myth of the Perfect Mother” in which the author examined the burden that usually falls upon women in the home and how this burden can rob mothers of the joy of being a wife and a mother.

Contrary to the article entitled “The Myth of the Perfect Mother”, the “perfect mother” is not a myth.

Our passage today describes what a “Biblical woman” looks like.

She embodies all the wisdom in Proverbs (she is a Jesus first lady!) and gives Christian women an example to try and emulate.

I want to stress that perfection should not and can not be the goal of a mother or a wife.

That would only bring in frustration and discouragement!

However, growing in the direction of what we find in and becoming like this lovely lady who walks in the wisdom of Christ is certainly something that is possible.

We see 8 exemplary truths present themselves in this passage and we will spend our time this morning examining these truths as we honor our wonderful wives and marvelous mothers this morning!

A Biblical Woman is Trusted by her Husband (10-12)

Verses 10-12 open this passage of Scripture by declaring that a Biblical woman is trusted by her husband.

You might think that the words “who can find” means that there is not an “excellent wife” out there, however we certainly know there are Godly women out there.

This introduction in verse 10 shows us that these kinds of women do in fact exist and should be treasured.

Trust is something that our society desires in others but often falls short in on an individual level.

We want others to be trusting of us and be honest with us, but we know many people fall short in living an “honest” life.

We see in Scripture a depiction of an “adulterous” woman time and time again primarily in Proverbs and Revelation.

Whenever there is deception and concern, trust is not something found (usually) in that relationship.

What we see in is that a Biblical woman is trusted by her husband because she is noble as we see in verse 10.

Another word for noble might be able, valiant or capable.

She is able to do things on her own and be trusted in the process.

This is not a “lesser” thing in that her husband is looking over her shoulder all the time but as we know with relationships, this woman is trusted fully by her husband because he knows that she is noble and loyal.

She is a treasure worth far more than jewels.

She is also valuable.

There are no doubts about this woman.

Her husband has full confidence in her character.

Verse 12 is unique in that it illustrates that she does him good all the days of her life, not his.

Meaning that if he were to pass away before her, she would still treat him with respect and treat him good even when he is gone.

I can look back on my grandmother, in this regard, and see what this looks like in reality.

My grandfather passed away 2 years ago and my grandmother still talks about the good memories and the good man that he was.

Rather than dwelling on those negative things or stirring up gossip, this woman does her husband good.

What a blessing this type of woman is.

There are several proverbs that speak about the blessing of a good wife.

The man who finds an excellent wife will experience tremendous blessing.

Praise God for women who are trusted by their husband in a world that is dishonest and puts a premium on one’s immediate satisfaction and emotions.

A Biblical Woman is a Hard Worker (13-19)

Growing up as a child it seemed as though my mom never stopped doing something!

She could be sick or sleepy but she always was doing something around the house.

Because I was an only child, I never had the opportunity to see if other women were this way or if it was just my mom.

After getting married though, I can confirm that it is a woman thing!

Whether it be cleaning or doing clothes or studying for class, praise God for hard working women!

I’ve heard it said that the male is the spiritual leader of the house and acts as the “coach” of sorts but the wife is certainly the star Quarterback of the family.

She does dozens of things all at once and even calls audibles from time to time and executes the game plan perfectly.

We see in verses 13-15 that she uses her hands.

She takes care of the family’s clothing, she takes care of the family’s food and she takes care of the family’s schedule.

Now it is not to say that you have to do all of these things to be a godly woman!

I have several friends who share these types of duties as a couple and they love doing this.

What is important here is the context.

At this time, generally speaking, the man would be working at his trade shop or in the market all day while the wife was doing the things around the house.

Obviously things have changed a little bit today in that many more women have jobs now than back then and more men are able to work closer to home/at home/less hours than men did back then.

Because of this, these responsibilities are able to be shared between husband and wife - as a wife, do not feel guilty or bad if you do not do all of these things!

The main point that the author of the proverb is trying to get across is the fact that hard work is important and genuinely matters to a Biblical woman.

Whether it be getting up at 4am to help on the farm or 6am to get the kids ready for school and prepare breakfast, we know the sacrifices that mothers and wives make on a daily basis!

As husbands, we appreciate the hard work that our wives put in day in and day out and it can be very easy for us to appreciate this hard work without giving our wife a word of appreciation.

Words matter.

Actions matter.

Sometimes something as little as a “thank you for all you do” means more than anything.

In verses 16-19 we see that a Biblical woman uses her head.

She is strong, not weak.

Wise, not timid.

She has confidence about her because she is devoted to excellence and helping her family.

Her confidence comes from the Lord, though.

Whenever we hear people speak on topics like feminism and the like, what they generally are talking about is confidence coming from yourself and “being yourself” and not someone else.

Certainly, you are created in the Image of God and you should be yourself because you are fearfully and wonderfully made, however your confidence and purpose CERTAINLY comes from someone else - it doesn’t come from a person, not even your husband!

It comes from the Creator of the Universe itself.

Praise God for hard working women who will stay up late into the night and wake up before the crack of dawn to do what they must do for their family!

A Biblical Woman is Compassionate (20)

A Biblical Woman is tender hearted and aware of those who are less fortunate than she is.

She has a generous spirit and she helps out those in need.

We see in verse 20 that she helps the poor.

She does not become so busy in the things of her business/job or even her family that she losses sight of the needs of others around her.

She is very much like Jesus Christ in that she opens her arms to the poor and she attempts to reach out and aid them.

Because this “Biblical Woman” in is the embodiment of Wisdom, this should be the goal and model of the church today as well.

We should strive to not be so inwardly looking (both in our own lives and in the life of the church) that we miss the needs of people right around us! We must be compassionate to these people, and I genuinely think that we want to be, however we must be aware of a need in order to help meet the need.

We see that a Biblical Woman is compassionate and praise God for compassionate individuals in our lives because they often know the exact word that needs to be said or the thing that needs to be done that we are too ashamed or prideful to ask for ourselves.

She also helps the needy.

Not only does this woman helping those who are poor, she also helps out those who are in need of kindness and truth.