[Ron Barker] As we celebrate the Feast of Trumpets today, there are many things we look forward to. One of the things we look forward to is the return of Jesus Christ to take the Church as His Bride. Today, I would like to look at the Bride of Christ and I'd like to look at it through the lens of Proverbs 31. Growing up in the Church, I can remember so many Bible studies where we were told as young men, "Look for a P31. That's what you want." And I'm sure many of the young ladies growing up in the Church were told, "Be a P31, that's what the guys are looking for."

The Proverbs 31 woman is one who loves God, who lives His will every day and has a purpose in her life. As the future Bride of Christ, we all should be striving to have the characteristics of the Proverbs 31 woman. We'll see today it's not just a physical relationship that's being spoken of here, but also our relationship with God as we make ourselves ready to be the Bride of Christ. Maybe you haven't read Proverbs 31 in a while. Maybe you think it doesn't pertain to you. My hope today you will see that it pertains to all of us, the characteristics of the Proverbs 31 woman.

Let's turn over to Proverbs 31 and see the qualities that we should be developing as we prepare to be the Bride of Christ. Proverbs 31, we'll be starting in verse 10 through 12. The first characteristic of the Proverbs 31 woman is she is virtuous. Proverbs 31, starting in verse 10, "Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies. The heart of her husband safely trusts her; so she will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not evil all the days of her life."

What does it mean to be virtuous? A good definition is having or showing high moral standards. It's being chaste, abstaining from extramarital affairs, loyal, trustworthy. The NIV says that her husband is full of confidence in her. Again, picture ourselves as the Bride of Christ. We want Christ to have full confidence in us, don't we? Let's look at a description of the Church from Revelation 19 starting in verse 7. Revelation 19:7-8, "Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready. And to her, it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints." That's what we're to be clothed in, the righteous acts of the saints.

Let's compare that description with a description of the religions of the world. How are they viewed? How does God view what Satan has passed off as religion? Let's turn to Revelation 17 starting in verse 1, Revelation 17, starting in verse 1 through 5. "Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying, 'Come and I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters.'" Listen to some of these descriptive words. Verse 2, "With whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of the names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of the abominations and the filthiness of her fornication."

Verse 5, "And on her forehead, a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH." To be virtuous is to be loyal and faithful in all things. We don't participate in the religions of this world. We don't participate in their customs. To do so would be unfaithful. False religion is an abomination to God. We're not to have any part in it. It's not okay to participate in the office gift exchange as long as we don't wrap it in Christmas paper, right? We can convince ourselves of a lot of things being okay. It's not okay to participate in Halloween if you're only giving out organic fruit.

There is no compromise when it comes to being loyal. We are called to be faithful. James 1:27, James 1:27, a very familiar verse, but we'll read it anyway, "Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world." Are we busy about keeping ourselves unspotted from the world? Unspotted from the world means that we live in it but we're not tainted or dirtied by it. We're not influenced by it, especially our religion. It means it's not coming under the influence or the sway of the one who is right now, the ruler of this world. We look beyond this world to the world to come. It means walking a different path than the way the world is going right now.

We need to keep ourselves unspotted from this world because this is Satan's world. You must never forget that. This is Satan's world. It's his politics, his entertainment, his fashion, his social programs, programs that reward the breakup of families, his education system, and his science that tries to deny that God even exists. From all these things, we must strive to remain unspotted. Satan's system must not be allowed to influence our beliefs or we are not being faithful to the bridegroom.

The second characteristic of the Proverbs 31 woman is that she's busy. She's doing a work. We as a church are doing a work. Proverbs 31, starting in verse 13 through verse 15. Proverbs 31:13, "She seeks wool and flax, and willingly works with her hands. She is like the merchant ships, she brings her food from afar. She also rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household, and a portion for her maidservants.” She's a busy woman.

God did not call us into this group to be a part of a social club. We have a work to do. We're talking about the spreading of the word. Could there be a more important work than that? We need to be busy about that. What could be more important than to minister to those that God is calling? Hebrews 6 starting in verse 10, we'll be reading through verse 12. Hebrews 6 starting in verse 10, "For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown towards His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister.” It's a labor of love. Verse 11, "And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises."

God commanded that we're to go into the whole world and spread the gospel. Matthew 28:19-20, Matthew 28:19, the words of Christ Himself says, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you and lo I am with you always even to the end of the age." Amen. That is our great commission from Jesus Christ.

To that end, the motto of the United Church of God is preaching the gospel and preparing a people. That is what we are to be doing, preaching the gospel and preparing a people. From our website under the heading of about the United Church of God, the following explanations of the work we have to do are listed as this, preaching the gospel. We preach the good news of the Kingdom of God through our media outlet, Beyond Today. Through the generous support of our members and contributors, we're able to reach out through television, the internet, public appearance campaigns, and the printed word. Don't think that anything we're doing is not important. We're moving ahead with the work that Christ has given us to do and we're preparing the people.

The purpose of the Church is to help God's people prepare to be the Bride of Christ. We take that responsibility very seriously and provide many programs and events to help our members learn, grow, and connect. Are you learning, growing, and connecting? That's part of our duty. We're doing a work today that Jesus Christ commanded us to do. Collectively, we're working together through the ties and offerings and donations, like what we had the opportunity to participate in this morning, very nice offering. I'm sure God is well pleased with that. That is part of our responsibility.

I don't know how often you visit the ucg.org website, but the information there is phenomenal. We have an incredible website. I direct people there all the time. It's no longer do you have to call up, ask, "You know, do you have something on this subject? And can you send it to me?" and then wait. It's right there. It's easy to find. It's indexed and you can download it or read it online instantly. We're doing a work to prepare people, to educate people. The resources are there. Use them. Make sure that you are moving ahead as we should all be.

Back to the Proverbs 31 woman, Proverbs 31:16, along the same lines is what we just read about. She is preparing for future generations, preparing for future generations. Proverbs 31:16, "She considers a field and buys it; from her profits she plants a vineyard." She's looking ahead. We all should be looking ahead. We want this church to continue to grow. We want there to be resources for future generations. We want others to be able to have what we have had.

Psalm 102:18 says, "This will be written for the generation to come, that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord." We need to be preparing for the future generations. Proverbs 13:22 says, "A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children." We need to be planning. We need to be passing on the excitement. Do you have excitement for God's plan? Looking around this room, I'm going to guess that some of you are maybe entering your 40th cycle of Fall Holy Days, maybe even 50th, maybe even 60th. Can you remember the excitement you had when you were first called? Do you still have that excitement?

I can remember being at the Feast of Tabernacles as a kid and they would say, "Who's here for the first time?" And you'd see maybe 20% of the hands go up and we would all applaud and people sitting next to him would lean over and pat him on the shoulder and welcome them, and congratulate them for keeping the Feast of Tabernacles for the first time. Do you still have that excitement in you? Can you still pass that excitement on? The reasoning of the Feast has not changed. The messages are still the same, Christ is going to return. If you've lost some of that excitement, bring it back. Pass it on. Grab one of these youngsters when they walk by today and tell them what it was like when you first started. Tell them about the sacrifices you had to make to be a part of God's family. Possibly walking away from a good job, heartache within family, but you knew it would be worth it because you were on fire for the Word of God, for the truth that was being taught to you.

The only thing that has changed from when you were first called is that we are a lot closer now than we were then, that excitement should not be waning. It should be growing year by year. Pass on that excitement to the younger generation. God is doing a spectacular work and we have all been called to be a part of it. That's pretty amazing when you think about it.

The next characteristic of the Proverbs 31 woman is found in Proverbs 31:17-19, and that is that she is strong enough to run the race. Proverbs 31, starting in verse 17, "She girds herself with strength, and strengthens her arms. She perceives that her merchandise is good, and her lamp does not go out at night. She stretches out her hands to the distaff, and her hand holds the spindle." The virtuous woman does not give up when the walk is no longer easy. When the path that we have to go is hard, we continue on.

We've been going over prophecy in the Dayton Church this past month. It gets scary. There are things that are happening that we don't want to think about. We were talking earlier about not wanting to read the book of Job. Some people don't want to hear about prophecy. This is an evil world, and even more evil times are coming. We need to be strong enough to complete the job that we've been given, not stop until Jesus Christ Himself tells us, "Okay, you've done it. Well done." We haven't reached that point yet. We need to finish the race strong.

Let's turn over to Hebrews 12:1-3. Hebrews 12:1, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author, and finisher of our faith, for who the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, yet lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls."

Look to Jesus. Look at what Jesus went through, the hostility it says from the sinners. Did He want to go through what He was going through? No, He asked, "You know, if I don't have to do this, please let's find another way." But He did make Himself subject to the will of the Father knowing that he was going to go through this. Yet we read that He endured the cross for joy, for the joy that it would bring because He knew there was no other way for you and me to be a part of His family. He looked ahead of the present. Are our lamps full? Are we putting in the effort we need to have full lamps at all times?

Remember the parable of the foolish young virgins. Once it was too late, it was too late. There was nothing they could do. Filling your oil is a lifelong process. We must continue to do that every day of our lives. It's not something you can at the last minute try to get a hold of. So the strength that we need comes from having the proper relationship with God. We want our lamps to be full at all times. Another characteristic of the Proverbs 31 woman, Proverbs 31:20-22, she helps the less fortunate. This is what we as a church are called to do. Proverbs 31:20, "She extends her hand to the poor, yes, she reaches out her hands to the needy. She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household is clothed with scarlet. And she makes tapestry for herself; her clothing is fine linen and purple."

What is our view of the poor? How do we view those among us who are needy and poor? Do we somehow place the blame on them like this is a choice they've made? One of my favorite songs has a line that says, "Charity is a coat. You wear it twice a year," implying that the world gets very charitable around Christmas and Easter. Charity is not a seasonal event. We need to be charitable at all times. Extending our hand to the poor and the needy needs to be a way of life.

We started a program in the Dayton congregation to give to our community. We're never going to make a big enough difference that people are going to notice us. That's not the purpose. That's not our motivation. Unfortunately, Dayton's summer started out with terrible devastating tornadoes that wiped out cities and businesses all around town and ended with a mass shooting. There was plenty of opportunities to do good in Dayton this year. There's plenty of opportunity to do good in every community because this is Satan's world. It's not hard to find those who need help. The question is are you willing to help?

Sometimes that person standing on a street corner asking for a couple of dollars isn't trying to scam you. It's just a person that's down on their luck, unemployed or hungry. How do we view those people? One of the purest things I've ever seen was a young lady in the Dayton congregation when she was a teenager. She carried around lunch bags and those lunch bags had a bottle of water and a pack of snack crackers in case she came upon one of these people that was asking for a handout. What a powerful example.

And sometimes, you know, we see these people and we pass some sort of judgment. "I'm not going to give them any money. They're just going to go buy liquor with it." Who are we to make that determination if someone is down on their luck or not if we don't know them? I would rather have that person stand before God and have God, you know, cut them down as to why were they living a life like that when they were perfectly healthy and could have had a job than to cut me down because I never stopped to help one of them. We need to have an attitude to help those who are less fortunate.

Mark 10:17-27. A lot of this has to do with our relationship with our belongings. What is your relationship with your belongings? Mark 10:17, "Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him and asked Him, 'Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?'" There's something different about this person that approaches Christ at this time than from all the others that we read about. Because a lot of them, it says they came to Christ wanting to trip Him up. Not this person. This person came respectful, got down on his knees, recognized Him for who He was, and said, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?"

Verse 18, "Jesus said to him, 'Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is God. You know the commandments, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your mother and your father.' And he answered and said to him, ‘Teacher, all these things I've kept from my youth.’" At this point, he was probably pretty excited, "Woohoo, I'm in. That's me. I do those things." Verse 21, "Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, 'One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross and follow Me.' But he was sad at this word, and he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions."

This man gave up a discipleship with Christ because of his possessions. He did not want to let go of what he had and follow Christ. And I'm sure… it says he has great possessions, he probably could have helped a great number of people by doing that but he did not want to let go. I can only assume that because Christ was telling him he needed to do this, that giving to the poor was not a normal way of life for him. Our attitudes should be one of giving and not thinking of receiving anything in return. We don't help to get helped. We don't help to be seen. We don't help for recognition.

Luke 14:12-14, Luke 14, starting in verse 12, "Then He also said to him who invited Him, 'When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just.'" What is our motivation when we do help people?

Going back to Proverbs 31, the next characteristic of the Proverbs 31 woman which we should be exemplifying as the Church, as the Bride of Christ, is that she preserves her husband's good name. Proverbs 31:23-24, "Her husband is known in the gates, when he sits among the elders of the land. She makes linen garments and sells them, and supplies sashes for the merchants." Her husband is known in the gates because of the things that she does. She preserves his good name. Some of the most despicable acts in history were done in the name of religion. We are the Church of God. We're not just an organized religion. We are the Church of God established by Jesus Christ. Everything we do should be to the glory of God. We should bring honor to His name in every action we take.

Matthew 5:16, "Let your light so shine before men, that they see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." Do your works glorify God? What have you done this past week that people would look at you and glorify God? That's what we're called to do. Glorify God in all that we do, let it show through our works.

Back to Proverbs 31:25, she is not worrisome. Do we worry? Proverbs 31:25 says, "Strength and honor are her clothing; she shall rejoice in time to come." Do we worry about the way the world is going? Matthew 6:27-33, some of the most comforting words spoken by Jesus Christ to us, His followers. “Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I say to you that even Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?" It's not necessarily a title we want to have, is it?

Verse 31, "Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?' For after all these things, the Gentiles seek." Everyone's looking for these things. Everyone needs those things to survive. God's telling us, "You don't even have to worry about that stuff. That's not for you to worry about. Clothing? I can clothe you. Food? We aren't even to worry about it." Verse 33, "Seek first, the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added onto you." If you want to stop worrying about things, then spend the time that you're worrying seeking after God and His Kingdom. Everything else will go away. Everything else will come into perspective and you will realize it doesn't matter what happens around you. God will provide for you.

The Bride needs to have faith, faith in the bridegroom that things will work out for the best, faith that God will provide if we're doing our part of seeking His Kingdom first. Back to Proverbs 31. Proverbs 31:26, she speaks with wisdom. She speaks with wisdom. "She opens her mouth with wisdom, and on her tongue is the law of kindness." Proverbs 31:26. How many of you always speak from wisdom? We say some pretty stupid things sometimes, don't we? There's a time to cry aloud and spare not and then there's a time to answer softly. We need to use wisdom. The same rules do not apply to every situation. We need to choose our words wisely and we should always speak out of love.

People will come to you with questions. When people see that you live differently than they live, that you observe things differently than what they observe, people will have questions. We were talking this morning as we were getting ready. The Day of Atonement is the hardest thing in the world to explain to somebody in the world. You're going to explain all the rest of them to them and they're like, "Oh, okay. That sounds nice. Yeah, that's one day off work. You get to go and eat and stuff." Trying to explain the Day of Atonement, they just don't get it. How do we explain this to them? “Well, you dummy, it's in the Bible.” Is that with love? You feel like that's sometimes. They should know, right? We need to speak with wisdom and always with love.

Back to Proverbs 31:27-29, we see that her husband praises her. Up to this point, it's been all the things that the Proverbs 31 woman would do. And now we're saying that as a result of all this stuff, as a result of who she is, as a result of who we should be as the future Bride of Christ, the husband will praise us. Proverbs 31:27-29, "She watches over the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also and he praises her. 'Many daughters have done well, but you excel them all.'" We don't have time to be idle. We do have a work that needs to be done. The end is approaching.

And there are many in this world who do well. There are. There are good people in this world, but the Bride of Christ excels them all. That's our goal, to excel them all so that the bridegroom will praise us in our efforts. What work are we doing that Christ would praise us? What are you doing in your individual lives? Are you setting the proper examples? Are you living your life the way that you should be living it? The marriage relationship is used to describe the relationship between Christ and the Church. If you'll turn over to Ephesians 5:25, Ephesians 5:25, we read through this and we can see what our relationship should be like with the bridegroom. "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her." So we see right there how much Jesus Christ loves the bride. He gave Himself for her.

Verse 26, "That He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish." That's what Christ wants to praise, a church that is holy and without blemish. Verse 28, "So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes it and cherishes it just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of his bones. ‘For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” We should be as one flesh with Christ.

Back to Proverbs 31:30-31. She's praised for her fear of the Lord. She's praised for her fear of the Lord, Proverbs 31:30, "Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. Give her fruit of her hands, and let her own works praise her and the gates.” What we do is so much more important than what we say or what we portray ourselves to be. What is it in the churches of the world that draw people in? Big, beautiful tabernacles, huge congregations, music programs that rival the professionals. We're never going to have those kinds of things. We're never going to have these huge tabernacles with great gold organs on the wall.

You know, probably the nicest building we have is the one that you all attend in church in Cincinnati. Very few people are going to walk in off the street and go, "Wow, this is beautiful. I can't believe this place exists in Cincinnati." We're never going to be those things. God's Church has a humble beginning, a humble beginning, and a consistent message. That's what we have. That's what we have to offer to the world. Charm and beauty, they're going to fade away. Even those people that have those great tabernacles after weeks and months and years of going there, someone else going to say, "Wow, this place is beautiful," and they're like, "Yeah, I'm used to it." Those things fade. What doesn't fade is the message.

We are God's people with a consistent message of truth and love. Our fear of the Lord is what is worthy of praise, not our buildings, not the number of people, not our music programs, not any stage production that we could put on. None of those things are worthy of praise. It's what we are on the inside, who we are becoming. What will stand the course of time is our fear of the Lord that keeps us grounded with the message that Christ gave us from the beginning.

Colossians 1:10, we're told, "Walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God." Walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him. That's our mission. That's our job. That's where our charm and beauty comes from. Matthew 5:48, a huge order. But this is what we're told to do, "Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect." If you're there now, you can stop. If you're not there yet, let's keep going. Let's keep moving forward. Let's keep developing. It's a very high standard, but that is our goal. Today, we celebrate the Feast of Trumpets knowing that we are picturing a time of the return of Christ. When He returns, will we, as the Bride of Christ, have made ourselves ready?