Classic Sermon Outlines (continued)
CLASSIC SERMON OUTLINES — Matthew Henry
B. She Is Industrious (Verse 27).
1. She is concerned for her family. She takes care of her family and all the affairs of it. She does not intermeddle in the concerns of other people's houses, she thinks it enough for her to look well to her own.
2. She is a good homemaker. Most of the characteristics given to her in the verses preceding the text fall under this head, where she is commended for her diligence and consideration in the management of her house and the affairs of it, which is her particular calling. It is to her praise that she looks well to the ways of her household, appointing them their portion of food and work.
C. She Is Virtuous (Verse 29).
1. The meaning of virtue. Virtue is vigor and boldness and resolution in that which is good; courage and spirit in doing our duty, in facing difficulties, giving reproofs, bearing reproaches, in proving opportunities, and pressing forward toward perfection. They are lively and cheerful, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.
2. The excellency of virtue. Many daughters in their father's house, and in their single state, have done virtuously, but a good wife and mother, if she is virtuous, excels them all and does more good in her place than they can do in theirs. A man cannot have his house so well kept by good daughters as by a good wife and mother.
D. She Is Godly.
1. The importance of piety. It is the fear of God that crowns the character of this virtuous woman, without which, all the rest is of small account. She does not lack that "one thing needful." In all that she does she is guided and governed by the principles of conscience and a regard to God.
2. The description of piety. It is a holy awe and reverence of God that sets Him always before us, recognizing His authority and submitting ourselves to His precepts and His providence. It glorifies God as the greatest and best of beings and evidences it in a steady, uniform, and unhypocritical devotion.