The world has a lot to say about what it means to be a woman. Most of it is noise. This past Sunday, Pastor Chip continued the Counter Culture series with a message called Biblical Womenhood from Ephesians 5 and Proverbs 31 that was honest, honoring, and full of grace for every woman in the room.
A Message Worth Waiting For
Pastor Chip opened by acknowledging something directly. Last week was biblical manhood. He did not hold back. He said the same would be true this week. The culture is loud about what a woman should be. God’s word is louder.
He also made something clear from the start. This message was not designed to put women in a box or diminish anything about who they are. It was designed to do the opposite. To honor the women God has made, to celebrate the unique and irreplaceable role he has given them, and to show from Scripture that biblical womanhood is not a limitation. It is a calling worth embracing.
He pointed to a striking fact. Women are mentioned more in the New Testament than in any other ancient document from the same era. In a culture that largely ignored women, Jesus constantly elevated them, engaged them, healed them, taught them, and commissioned them. The first people to carry the news of the resurrection were women. That is not an accident.
Made in the Image of God
Pastor Chip went back to Genesis 1 and 2 to lay the foundation. When God created humanity, he created them male and female and said both were made in his image. Not one more than the other. Both fully reflecting the image of God in distinct and complementary ways.
He explained what theologians call the imago Dei. The image of God in humanity means that every person, male or female, carries inherent dignity, worth, and purpose that no culture, no circumstance, and no person can take away. You are not valuable because of what you produce or how you look or what role you hold. You are valuable because God made you and placed his image in you.
Eve was created from Adam’s side, not from his head to rule over him and not from his feet to be trampled by him, but from his side to walk beside him. Side by side. That is God’s design for man and woman. Not a hierarchy of worth but a partnership of purpose.
The Wife God Is Looking For
The central passage for wives was Ephesians 5:22-24 and 33. Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. The wife is to respect her husband.
Pastor Chip addressed the word submit directly because he knew half the room just tensed up. He unpacked what it does and does not mean.
It does not mean a wife is inferior to her husband. Philippians 2:5-8 says Jesus submitted to the Father, and no one would argue that makes Jesus inferior to God. Submission is not about worth. It is about order within a loving relationship.
It does not mean a wife must submit to abuse, sin, or anything that violates the word of God.
What it does mean is that a wife who trusts God enough to honor the leadership of a godly husband is not diminishing herself. She is demonstrating extraordinary strength and faith. He made the comparison to a military unit. Everyone in the unit is equally valuable. But someone has to lead. The structure is not about worth. It is about function.
He also landed on the word respect from verse 33. Research consistently shows that the number one thing a man needs from his wife is to feel respected. Not worshiped. Not feared. Respected. Seen. Believed in. Pastor Chip encouraged every wife in the room to ask herself honestly, does my husband feel respected by me? Not just in public but in private. Not just in what I say but in how I say it.
The Mother God Is Looking For
The second movement was about motherhood. Pastor Chip went to Proverbs 31, a passage he said is often misread as a burden rather than a portrait.
The Proverbs 31 woman is not a checklist. She is not the standard every woman must match by Tuesday. She is a picture of what it looks like over the course of a lifetime to fear God and let that fear shape every relationship and responsibility you carry.
He walked through her qualities not as obligations but as characteristics.
She is trustworthy. Her husband has full confidence in her. That trust was built over years of consistency, honesty, and faithfulness in small things.
She is hardworking. She does not wait for someone else to do what needs doing. She sees a need and meets it. She manages her home, her resources, and her relationships with energy and intentionality.
She is generous. Proverbs 31:20 says she opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy. She is not closed in on herself. She is looking outward.
She is wise and kind. Verse 26 says on her tongue is the law of kindness. The most powerful thing that comes out of her mouth is not criticism or complaint. It is wisdom wrapped in kindness.
She is God-fearing. Verse 30 says charm is deceitful and beauty is vain but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. The culture sells women the lie that your value is in your appearance. God says the woman who fears him is the one worth celebrating. Not because beauty is wrong but because it fades. Character does not.
He also shared something pastoral and tender. He looked at the moms in the room, particularly the ones with young children who feel invisible, exhausted, and unseen, and he said plainly. God sees you. What you are doing matters more than almost anything happening anywhere else in the world right now. Raising children who know Jesus is one of the most eternally significant things a human being can do.
Women Who Changed Everything
Pastor Chip closed by walking through a gallery of women in Scripture whose lives changed history.
Rahab hid the spies and ended up in the lineage of Jesus. Ruth refused to leave Naomi and became the great-grandmother of King David. Esther risked her life and saved an entire nation. Mary said yes to God when no one else understood what was happening. Mary Magdalene was the first to carry the news that Jesus was alive.
He also named women who shaped his own life. His mother, who prayed for him faithfully through every season. His grandmother, who modeled quiet and steady faith. His wife Michelle, who he said is the reason his ministry is possible. Women who were not famous. Women who were not on stages. Women who said yes to God and let him do the rest.
He closed with Proverbs 31:28. Her children rise up and call her blessed. Her husband also, and he praises her.
That is the legacy biblical womanhood builds. Not a title. Not a platform. Children and a husband who rise up and say she was the real thing.
There’s a Seat for You
Whether you are a woman still figuring out who God made you to be or you have been walking faithfully with him for decades, you belong here. We are a church that believes biblical womanhood is not a limitation. It is one of the most powerful callings in the world.
Plan Your Visit and come be part of what God is doing here. Or take your next step and Get Connected with our church family. We would love to have you with us.