You’ve likely heard the saying that ‘Good Presbyterians want all things to be done decently and in order.’

That little line is actually derived from the New Testament.  Paul says this to the Corinthians: “But all things should be done decently and in order” (1 Cor 14:40).  A few verses before this memorable statement, the Apostle writes this: “For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.”

As we read the amazing story of redemption that unfolds before us from Genesis to Revelation, we find our Creator’s determination to bring order out of chaos; that universe-wide disruption that our sins have caused.  We also discover that the diabolical champion of disorder and chaos is the devil himself.  He is, as Scripture clearly portrays him, the ‘great disrupter.’

All of this takes us back to the words of Paul to Timothy in 1 Timothy 2:11-14.  As we have seen over the last couple of Sundays, the Apostle’s concern is for a heavenly order to prevail in the home and in the Church, which is the family and “the household of God” (1 Tim 3:15).  Oder in both of these essential institutions demands that men and women function properly in their respective roles, according to the wise and good design of our loving God.

However, it is in the home and in the Church that the assault against order by the devilish forces of chaos is most focused and intense.  The great enemy of our souls has determined to destroy both home and Church for obvious reasons. If the evil one, and his minions, can disrupt the home by seeking to confuse and obscure the respective roles of the husband and the wife, then the Church will naturally fall under the same wicked attack.

This is why we are proceeding very slowly and prayerfully through these most strategic verses in 1 Timothy 2.  While they are often difficult for us to comprehend, they are nevertheless the inspired pathway out of the chaos of sin and back to the cosmos of Eden.

Our message this Lord’s Day will come from 1 Timothy 2:11-14.  Let’s soak our hearts in prayer as we prepare to come under the instruction of our Father’s nourishing Word.