TITUS 2:1-15
Let's look up to the Lord.
First of all I want to remind all who are here that the last message that we spoke on the woman's role emphasized the head covering. This is for several reasons. First of all, it's a current topic of interest in our assembly. Secondly it was a request by elders and others. Thirdly, and probably most important, this is a fundamental thing - the head covering is symbol of our understanding and our submission to a Bible doctrine which is of utmost importance i.e. the doctrine of headship. We did mention at that time, that God the Father sent the Son who voluntarily submitted to the Father while He was here on earth. And we are not going to ever be strict in our belief of scripture if we do not understand that the Lord Jesus was equal with God and yet able to take a different role for the work of redemption.
I also want to state very clearly that the things that we have been studying and will study today, God-willing, concerning the role of women in the assembly are not a consolation prize. We should never look at them in that way. In fact, it's very wrong if we do. Because they are God's inspired plan and revealed us in His word. They are equal in importance and equal and necessary with anything that a man may do. We each have our place as God has shown us in His word, and we receive it with thanksgiving.
Another thing that you might have noticed as you read the New Testament - it's really impossible to find really extended examples of each specific ministry that anyone really occupies. So we'll have to look carefully then at the few examples that there are in order to discern principles for our guidance.
Finally, a question you may think about - "how many here did review the sheet that we passed out, those who received it, in order to discern where God was calling you to serve and to minister for the good of the body of Christ in this local assembly?" These things are not given out that we can just tuck them away in our notes and forget them. They're given with the prayerful hope that all may pray over them, and see if the Holy Spirit may lead into a sphere of ministry that perhaps may be neglected. There are many needs in a growing work, and they need help.
Now, let's begin and notice seven areas mentioned on the sheet - not specifically in the right order - that we might just hopefully make a few suggestions about.
Refer to 1 Tim. 2:15, 1 Tim.5:14.
I want to address the singles among us. Singles should not be intimidated by any scriptures that speak about the family or children, any more than us married people should be intimated by certain things that Paul says in 1 Cor. 7 about the blessings of being single. God addresses us all in our particular position where we are, and He does so in order that we may understand that if we're walking with Him we're in His will. Singles are not saved to pursue a care-free self-centered lifestyle. You should view being single at this point of your life as having received that station or gift from God in order that you may be freed up from over much concern and care so that you may better serve the Lord. And certainly in the assembly there are some serving, who are singles, and who just seem to have abundance of time and energy; and some of us others look at them in amazement. That's wonderful and that's needed.
Turn to 2 Tim. 3:15, Paul there speaking to the young man Timothy says, "That from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures" - and we need to realize that the word 'child' there can be adequately translated 'infant'. In other words, Paul is saying that from an infant thou hast known the Holy Scriptures. The mother and grandmother of Timothy were godly women. They didn't wait until Timothy was older before they started to plant the word of God in his heart. Timothy grew up to be a man of God. And in meditating on that I realized that really great people of God in the scripture either had godly parents or their parentage was not known or discussed in scripture. But you very seldom read of very godly people of God who had wicked homes. And so those here who have the responsibility to bring up children - we should realize that this a tremendous opportunity from God. The work today of God needs godly men and women. And godly men and women do not just happen, they are trained and reared in the things of God.
Now, Timothy was a man of God, and as Paul writes to him, he seems to be saying in his closing days, "Timothy, what is needed today in the world is men of God to stand in the gap and speak clearly on the word of God, esp. this matter of faith and doctrine. And over and over again, I encourage you to read 2 Timothy and Titus and see how many times Paul talks about sound doctrine and the faith. Now Timothy could never defend the faith if he didn't have any of his own or if he wasn't clear on where he stood. So Timothy had a good solid foundation. And Paul tells Timothy that I want you to know that in the last days, it's going to get so bad that people will not tolerate sound doctrine; but they'll pile up teachers who will tickle their ears - "Don't tell us what God says. Don't tell us what we need to hear. Tell us what we like." And that's a temptation all around us today - and it's one that we'll have to continually stand up against.
On Wednesday night at a Bible study up in Bristol, a young woman who has been saved very recently came up to me, and she said, "I'm deeply concerned about my daughter - if there's any hope for her - it there's any thing I can do for her." And of course we get these comments very often. So I tried to calm her down and reassured her, and all of a sudden I realized I might ask her how old her daughter was. She said, "Three. And I've just let her go these three years, and I've seen the fruit of it. Now that I'm saved, I'm very concerned." I praise the Lord for that young mother because her eyes are opened to something that many don't see for many years. The time to begin is NOW. And so she's going to seek out good Christian books and messages and other resources to help her.
So, the bearing of children and the rearing of children is a very weighty responsibility; and it deeply affects the future of the assembly and the work of God.
I might just remind you of the obvious that the Lord Jesus chose to be born into a Christian family - to be born of a young couple. Think of the many ways that the God of glory could have come out of heaven to work in this world. But He chose to be born into a Christian home, into a God-fearing and God-loving home. And we thank God for His parents who certainly did what was right to give Him that start in His early years that so adorn the doctrine that we read about in scripture.
In Acts 18:26, you remember there the godly husband and wife team - Priscilla and Aquila - heard the young man Apollos stand up, and they perceived that something wasn't exactly right in his teaching and they took him unto themselves and they counseled with him.
A very simple definition of the word 'counsel' ... it doesn't mean going away to school and obtaining extended degrees in this world's method of dealing with psychological problems ... it simply means 'to explain the way of God more perfectly'. Everybody knows a little of the way of God but sometimes it needs to be explained more perfectly, more clearly. And this is what Priscilla and Aquila did. I might suggest that the spiritual gifts of pastoring, and I hope we all understand that it's just as open and available to women as to men. It's not an office. It's not an official position at the head of the church. It's just a spiritual gift listed with other gifts - pastoring and also the word of wisdom are gifts that maybe very helpful here.
Now, to counsel anyone, you need to know what the Bible says. And it's good to know what the Bible says about things that are very practical - e.g. worry, finances, children, disciplining of children, the home, ... I would suggest a very careful study of the book of Proverbs. There's much there that is very practical in dealing with other people and their troubles.
Just a reminder that 'counseling' is not so much as giving people all the answers (i.e. telling them the answers to their problems) as it is in training them to find the answers to their problems themselves in scripture. If you have someone that keeps running to you and saying, "What's the answer to this problem?" - well, it's nice that you can help them, but how much better if they come to you and say, "You have taught me how to go into the scripture and to discern God's answer for my problem - my need. Now I have a problem, and I've found some scriptures here let me share them with you and tell me, am I rightly discerning the scripture and dividing the truth?" Now that's a real blessing when we can see people come to that degree of maturity. They have to see an example of course - someone who also is daily turning to the word of God in their own life.
The training of those who are younger. Discipleship is commanded - it's part of the great commission. We're not taught to go into all the world and make those who profess or just followers, but we're taught to make disciples. So discipleship among the younger is a very weighty matter - one that needs to be attended to.
We need to train our young people how to be followers of Christ. The word 'followers' can be expressed as 'imitators'. How do you imitate the life of the Lord Jesus in your own home, and family, on a day-to-day basis? You don't have the same job, you don't live in the same land, but knowing God you follow the same principles?
And of course this is a family matter - the assembly is a big family, it's a spiritual family. Our Christian homes are little small families with physical children. Here's a big family of spiritual children. But just as in your own home, discipleship and training has got to be attended to very carefully; it's got to be planned, and it's got to be regular or it won't happen. So it is in the assembly.
Notice please, Titus 2 - we don't really have time to expound this chapter. Notice that it begins with an exhortation to Titus himself to speak the things which become sound doctrine, i.e. this is not an issue where somebody can go home and say, "Well we talked about things about the life and the family, but I'd rather that we talked about something from the word of God." Too often, the church is seen as a place where the things that are taken up are so abstract. Everybody says, "Praise the Lord - I really enjoyed it." Why? Well, it didn't hit me.
Once, I sat in an assembly that was just wrecked with problems. A man stood up and preached the way of salvation to all these saints that couldn't get along, and they all went out and said, "Praise the Lord." Sure it was. They were saved, but they just couldn't speak to each other. And how much we need to see that the word of God is one that deals with our lives and our walk.
Someone had said, "The world usually judges religion not by its doctrines, but by its effects on its adherence." How true that is.
So Paul then begins to tell Titus, speak the things which become sound doctrine. And then he lists various age groups - the aged men, sober-minded, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in love and in patience; the aged women or the older women (this does not mean elderly and very old women -- because so often this ministry never happens because everyone says, 'No I'm not there yet! It'll be a few years before I'm really aged'. And we don't want you to pass on to be with the Lord and take away with you all the experience and blessings that God has given you, waiting for a day when you'll reach aged standard. We want you to share that now.) ... it says, the aged/older women LIKEWISE. Now notice what is said about them that they may be in behavior become holiness - their life is to be characterized by holiness not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things ... then v.4 says 'that'. And in the Greek it is 'in order that'. They're to maintain this kind of Christian testimony IN ORDER THAT they may be qualified and equipped to do something and that is to teach. The word 'teach' here is a different word from v.3 - it is the word 'to train' i.e. a combination of teaching and encouragement. So they're to train the younger women to be sober-minded, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers/workers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands in order that the word of God be not blasphemed.
Book entitled "Growing, Sharing, Serving" by a lady Jo Berry. She says, "This is to be a ministry of encouragement i.e. the older women may encourage the younger ones. Life can be very discouraging. Suicides in the 18 - 25 year age group climb higher yearly. Many well-intentioned young women in our churches are immodest - both in action and speech, and don't know how to be good wives or mothers. Many older ladies in the same church is condemning those whom they should be discipling and directing. They say they can't understand what's happening to young people today. The young women have no one to look to for guidance or help, so they become discouraged. Many of our most dynamic young women are defeated and discouraged because they haven't been properly taught. Whose fault is that? Is it their mothers who didn't raise them properly? Does the blame lie with schools that didn't teach them correctly? Or with the preacher whose sermons that don't seem to reach them? Perhaps. But the fault also is at the feet of older Christian women who have not accepted their God-given role within their local churches to teach what is good and encourage these young women - to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure workers at home, kind, being obedient, being subject to their own husbands that the word of God may not be dishonored."
So, I submit that in the assemblies there is a great need for godly older women first to know the word of God and to have a holy lifestyle, and secondly to see this ministry as something that they should perhaps take up on a regular basis. We have many young people and college students and this must be done.
She's commenting on the phrase at the end of v.5 - 'that the word of God be not blasphemed'. Paul says that Titus is to instruct the older women to teach the younger women so that God's word will not be blasphemed. You see how he's approaching the matter of sound doctrine in a sort of a oblique way, he's saying, "Sound doctrine is good but we don't want the world cursing the word of God because of the results." Jo Berry says this, "If we don't do this, the Bible says that the word of God will be dishonored. That means that someone somewhere can point to a young woman from your church who is dressed in a bra-less, tank-top, and tight jeans, dragging her screaming toddler down the aisle of the supermarket, yelling at him to shut up. The observer could say, if that's what being a Christian is, who wants it?" If we have not tried to encourage and teach these younger women whom God in His sovereign wisdom has set in our midst, we are to blame for their misconduct.
So, I suggest then that we have here a ministry that is very very needed and very very important. And may God raise up those who have a burden to discharge this ministry. I'm not saying it's not being done. We praise God for those who are doing it - we just want to see it done more.
1 Tim 5:10 and Proverbs. 31:20.
Many many verses in Scripture speak about the burden that we need to carry for those poor saints among us. Christianity should show its concern for those who are poor. I want to suggest that the spiritual gifts - and these are only suggestions - of serving, giving and again the showing of mercy would be very helpful in any poor ministry. I want to suggest that because the book of Proverbs deals with the poor 37 times, one should make a study of the book of Proverbs and notice what it says about working with those who are poor. Proverbs. 14:21 ...
(Prov 14:21 KJV) He that despiseth his neighbour sinneth: but he that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he.
... a little key as to where happiness may lie in our lives. Those who have mercy on the poor, the Bible says, are happy. v.31 ...
(Prov 14:31 KJV) He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker: but he that honoureth him hath mercy on the poor.
... showing mercy on the poor is one way we can honor our maker.
Now I want to suggest that this ministry should be in every assembly - a ministry to the poor. It's a barometer - it's a monitor about how genuine is our claims about the love of God really is. It's so easy to say we love God but John says (I John 4:20) that if we say we love God, but we don't love our brother, we're not willing to meet the needs of our brother, we should question our love for God. I think John says that more strongly than that. So then it's a strong clue that the assembly needs a ministry of this sort.
(1 John 4:20 KJV) If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
Some in our midst are perhaps struggling to make ends meet. Other families seem to be sinking in materialism. We need to train , to challenge, to expose each other to what the needs are. We need to help the poor learn better ways of stewardship. These are all things, that if they are not done by the love of God's people, where in the world are they going to be done.
A word of personal testimony. In my early years here in the work I was reading through the Bible and became gripped by how many things were said about our responsibilities to the poor. My wife and I shared this with one another. We saw that this was very frequently mentioned in the Old and New Testaments. And so we began to look for what we defined as "worthy poor people". And you know we went a long time and we didn't seem to be ministering to anyone that was poor. And I said, "Is it really true that we live in a country that is so affluent that nobody is poor - just no one to minister to?" And then after some prayer and soul-searching we found that the real reason was we were looking at somebody that could be just plain poor, who's careful with their money, disciplined with their time, good stewards - anything that we might share with them they will use it carefully and wisely, and you know when a person is like that, very often they cease to be poor anymore .
In other words, it's not always the case, but very often someone who is poor is poor because of their inability to discipline themselves to apply the the principles of God's word. And if we wait until we find the ideal poor person to share with, we'll probably never share.
That means when we give what we give, it's a test of our motives. If we're giving it to the Lord, and as unto the Lord, then we cannot tear our hair and be grieved that the person does not perhaps use that money wisely. If it's given to the Lord, and in the name of the Lord, then it's God's money, and if they use it foolishly, I believe we open the door for God to come into their lives and chasten them, discipline them, because they're using His money in a foolish way. So I think then we have a responsibility not to wait and wait, but to begin now with those who are less fortunate than we are.
1 Timothy 5:10 etc. 'Hospitality' in the Greek is literally 'lovers of strangers'. It doesn't mean you invite me home for roast beef this week and I'll invite you home for roast beef next week, and we'll call that hospitality. That's nothing wrong with that, nothing wrong with Christian fellowship. But that's not technically what hospitality is. Hospitality is lovers of strangers - those who are in the area passing through. If you'll have them to your home, they may never be able to have you in their home. College students who may live far away, even overseas, you may never be in their country, they may never in this earth be able to repay true Christian hospitality.
Those who have the gifts of giving or serving would be blessed in this ministry, and many others too I'm sure.
Jesus was in this world as an outcast. So often we sing that hymn 'Wandering as a homeless stranger in the worlds Thy hands hath made'. What must it have been like for the Lord Jesus to spend the night in the Mount of Olives or somewhere, some place without a home, without a place to lay his head, sitting under the trees that His own hands made? That's an experience that none of us will ever know anything about. But He did that.
Remember Luke 24 as the two strangers were going along the Emmaus Road, and then that One came up to talk to them, and perceived that they were discouraged. And they said, "You don't know these things?" He said, "What things?" And they said, "Are you the only stranger in Israel now?" Little did they know whom they were speaking to - the Creator of the very ground they were walking on.
So then in the Old Testament the Lord seems to have a special place for strangers in His heart. Deut. 10:17-19 ...
We are commanded to love the stranger. And as we know LOVE IS MEETING NEEDS BY PERSONAL SACRIFICE. Love ye therefore the stranger, for ye were strangers at one time.
I want to suggest that the operating or the maintaining of a Christian home is a great responsibility for those in the assembly. I don't think any of us can grasp the importance of the value of a Christian home. Remember the home of Mary and Martha and Lazarus there in Bethany where the Lord Jesus often went. Why did He go there? Because He was made to feel at home. Are we to think that in our day, because He is in heaven He is not also making Himself at home inn some of our homes? He certainly is. Scripture tells us that. I think of Martha who was standing to serve; and Lazarus who was sitting in fellowship; and Mary who was kneeling in worship. Those are really 3 things that should be going on in our Christian home - serving, and fellowshipping, and thanksgiving/worship. And I think that's why the Lord Jesus was comfortable there. It's been a real challenge to me to ask myself the question, "Am I the father and the husband of a Christian home where the Lord Jesus is so welcomed and so comfortable that He will not just drop in but that He will take up His abode there?"
You know, if you don't mind me sharing a personal note, one of the nicest compliments that I've ever received in our life, or we have in our family. Some years ago, we had a girl in our home from a very troubled background. And she came from time to time and we tried to help her and share with her as we could. And we built up a friendship with her. She was a Christian. One day she dropped in to see us on some matter, and she just happened to have a girl-friend from Waterbury with her in the car. Now this girl was an unbeliever and she didn't know us at all. She's just coming along for the ride. We had a little cup of coffee and some refreshments and some time to talk about the Lord, and then they left. And our friend when she got home, she called us ,and she said, "I just thought you might be interested in hearing the comment my girl-friend made when we drove away from your house. She said, 'Did you feel that atmosphere in that house?' She said, 'I would give anything I own to get back in that house.'" Wasn't that something? I don't feel anything so special when I walk in our house. It's kind of small, and has yellow walls etc. But here was an unbeliever who said, "I'd give anything I have to get back into that house" - couldn't define it, couldn't understand it, but she felt it. My, you know, we ought to think very carefully before we race out of the house in the morning to go off to the world wherever it is - some need to and that's the will of God; for others the calling of God may be to be at home making the house into a godly Christian home.
Even in the New Testament some assemblies met in homes. Assembly meetings were held in homes. Hospitality.
Romans 16:1,21 -
... we read of Phebe, a servant of the church, a helper of many. A verse that the ladies used yesterday in the conference a little bit - a helper of many, a servant of the church. A servant is a general word. But to be a true servant you need to have faith that God is the One who sees, that God is the One who rewards. Doesn't that really take faith? I think before anybody becomes too serious about getting involved in service, they should ask themselves one very pointed question - "How much praise and how many pats on the back is it going to take to keep me in this ministry?" Now, that's something we need to face, isn't it? We hear a lot about that today - "I do so much and I get so many pats on the back and I'm counting and if there's one missing I may quit." And we have to be careful about that.
Another illustration occurs to me here. Years ago, when my son was very small, we used to stack firewood together. We still do but I was surprised (but of course I had never had a child before and I don't remember when I was that little) ... but I was surprised how I had to literally give him a word of praise for each and every little piece of wood he loaded on the pile. Now that's true because I watched that. He would lower one piece each time I said, "That was good, son. My, you really lift those pieces (they were only this little)." But if I missed one word of praise for one piece of wood, he'd say, "Dad, I'm going up the house, I'm tired. I don't want to do it anymore." And then as time went by I noticed that he would work for 5 minutes and as long as there was a little word of praise after 5 minutes he would keep going. And now I notice he would do a whole stack of wood - we'll finish together - and he'd go up the house and say, "Guess what I did, mum." And that's her cue, and she knows what to say. But I'm looking forward to the day when he sees our home as the place that needs to be warm, and therefore we need to bring in the firewood, so the stove will have it. And he enjoys a warm home as much as I do. And therefore even though praise is nice, that's not why he's doing it. He's doing it because as a member of the family it needs to be done.
And so we're members of the family of God. We serve because the Lord Jesus asks us to. We have faith in the oneness of the body, and we're all working together. A SERVANT SHOULD BE SENSITIVE TO NEEDS ... Romans 12:11 says 'fervent in spirit' - the word is literally, 'boiling in spirit' ... and should be someone who is available. Ask yourself - "Am I willing to be available?" Think of the godly women who served the Lord Jesus during His life, at the cross and even came to the tomb on the first day of the week to anoint the body. Service right down to the very last measure.
Last, but certainly not least. What a great ministry this is. Acts 1:14, Acts 16:13 - instances of godly women met together praying.
May I just read you a little definition I wrote here - "Those who serve by praying ", in other words, specifically in this case 'godly women taking up prayer as a ministry', "are working towards the blessing of the saints by bring the will of God to pass by His appointed means." And of course the will of God is always best. In other words, God had said that He will work in the world in response to the prayers of His people. If we believe that and we pray to Him concerning the things that we know to be His will or for His will, He will work and we are blessed.
Now that's a behind-the-scenes ministry. You've got to have faith that God is really going to answer quiet, behind-the-scene prayers, or you'll never take up that ministry. How many of us have been blessed by it!
Obviously all ministries require love and we've all learnt that love is meeting needs personal sacrifice. And I ask you, and I ask myself, "Can we really be concerned about blessing the stranger or the missionary or some other person far away, if we're not really willing to meet the needs of the person who is right next to us - our loved one, our family, or whoever it is?" THE TOUGH PART ABOUT THOSE NEEDS IS THAT THEY'RE ON-GOING NEEDS. Those are the hardest needs of all. The ones that require long faithfulness.
MINISTRIES FLOW BEST
FROM SOMEONE SECURE IN CHRIST AND WITH THEMSELVES. A person who is
serving and who is looking for help with their poor self-image will
soon get discouraged. Now let me give you a little hint on how you can
tell this - whenever you hear the phrase "It isn't working", you might
prick your ears. That means "I'm not getting out of this what I had
hoped." And you say to that person,
"Isn't that person in need?"
"Well, yeah."
"Well, don't you have what it takes to meet the need? Well, haven't you been giving?"
"Well, yes."
"Doesn't that relieve the need?"
"Yes."
"Well, what isn't working?"
And
what they're really thinking of is, "I thought I'd get more out of it -
more praise, or more whatever it is that I seem to be lacking. And
that's why I got involved in this service in the first place." And we
need to be very careful because that's not a good motive for taking up
a ministry, and it isn't conducive to long-term faithfulness.
Finally, of course, individual ministries can be modeled after and nurtured by the corporate fellowship in the assembly - the ministry takes place in the assembly. The motivation for assembly fellowship is something like this -" I love the Lord and His people so much that I can't stand to go through rituals on Sunday and return home without reaching out, and serving, and blessing my brothers and sisters." Now we're heading in that direction in the assembly and we thank God that we are heading in that direction. We just don't want to stop here. The assembly is not just a place where we come to listen to teaching and act in a very impersonal manner. It's a place where we, among other things, get to know one another and learn how to bless and comfort and encourage and set good examples for one another. And my prayer is, and I know many of you are praying, that God will continue to lead us in this direction.
And I want to close by saying, No one will ever know what a big part in all of that our Christian sisters have, and we pray for them and encourage them not to sit back and wait for someone else; but to be leaders -to step forward - in these very precious and necessary ministries.
Let's pray.