The Undeniable, Irreplaceable, Need for Godly Mothers
Mothers Day • Sermon • Submitted
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· 108 viewsGod's Message is Given Validity when Mom's are Godly
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Opening - Lead with a Story!
Introduction
Main Idea -
Opening -
Mother [muhth-er] -noun
One person who does the work of twenty. For free.
(See also: ‘masochist’, loony’, ‘saint’.)
“If evolution really works, how come mothers only have two hands?” - Milton Berle
“My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute all y success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I recieved from her. - George Washington
“I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life.”
Transition -
Main Idea -
“I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life.”
“All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.”
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
“All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.”
“If evolution really works, how come mothers only have two hands?” - Milton Berle
Abraham Lincoln
“If I have done anything in life worth attention, I feel sure that I inherited the disposition from my mother.” - Booker T. Washington
“Youth fades; love droops; the leaves of friendship fall; A mother’s secret hope outlives them all.” - Oliver Wendell Holmes
Main Idea -
“I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life.”
“All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.”
Abraham Lincoln
“My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute all y success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I recieved from her. - George Washington
Today, the world celebrates mothers, and we should! Everyone has or had a mother for this we are thankful. Where would we be without mothers?
I have two mothers. One biological and one adoptive. I am grateful for both, but mostly for the woman who raised me.
I remember when I found my birth-mother almost 20 years ago. It was quite an event! In three hours, my wife and I went from knowing very little about her to actually speaking with her on the phone. It is quite a story that I’ll save for another time.
But I remember going to my parents after Angie and I found her to tell them the good news. My dad, who rarely did so, started crying! And my mom who was excited at first, quickly became fearful that she would be replaced by the one who birthed me. How silly! After all...
The one who raised me, taught me, comforted and encouraged me. Who made my school lunch everyday and saved me from my tyrannical older brother often. She was and always will be my mom. I had this plaque hanging in my bedroom while I was growing up...
NOT FLESH OF MY FLESH
NORE BONE OF MY BONE
BUT STILL
MIRACULOUSLY MY OWN
NEVER FORGET
FOR A SINGLE MINUTE
YOU DIDN’T GROW UNDER MY HEART
BUT IN IT
Regardless of your situation, if nothing else, your mother brought you into this world and for that we give her thanks! And of course we thank our mothers for the countless hours they spent teaching us the things that we easily take for granted (MaryKate on the potty)...
And while it is important for us to take the time to thank our mothers for their undying love and sacrifice, as your pastor, moms, it is an opportunity for me to encourage and challenge you to realize the tremendous, immense and crucial role you have as a Christian Mother!
And to do this I want us to go to a powerful letter found in the New Testament. A letter that was written to a young pastor/elder who had been given the task to train up elders to oversee the various church plants on the Island of Crete.
Of course I am talking about the letter written by Paul to Titus. This letter is one of three found in the New Testament that are called the Pastoral Epistles or letters. Letters written by Paul to Timothy and Titus giving them explicit instructions on how the local church should operate. It is well worth your time to read through each of these letters and discover their rich truths and how they relate to church life even today.
One of the things you will notice in these letter and especially in Paul’s letter to Titus is how these men, these pastors are to instruct and disciple the people of these church on how to live. Yes, the bible is more than a book on how to avoid Hell and get into Heaven. The Bible is an instruction manual on How to live life until we get to Heaven.
And in the letter written to Titus, Paul challenges the people of the island of Crete to live lives that accurately reflect the righteousness of Christ. In fact, in chapter two, Paul gets right down to business when he challenges the older men and women and the younger men and women on how they are to live their lives in Christ. I strongly encourage you to spend time reading and studying through this chapter.
Today, I want to focus on two of the four people groups in Titus chapter 2, the Older and Younger women. In a society that is doing everything it can to blur the distinctions between men and women, it is good to be reminded from the Word of God that...
“God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”
It is interesting in light of the perspective of our latest cultural shift that the apostle Paul distinguishes between the sexes. He doesn't simply speak to them as one group of people, but recognizes that they are different. Not unequal, but different. And while this concept is worthy of a sermon on its own, can I just say, celebrate the sex you are! be content with who God has made you. If you are a guy, love that fact and revel in it! If you are a lady, praise God you are an amazing creature of God’s created Genus. In our gender confused world, would you just take a minute and celebrate the gender that God gave you! He doesn’t make mistakes! You are fearfully and wonderfully made! Revel in that fact!
Ladies! Celebrate your glorious and distinctive role as a woman and all that come along with this! You are not subpar or subservient but fearfully and wonderfully made and equal to men in your standing before God!
And ladies, as this holiday we celebrate makes abundantly clear, we desperately need you. In SO many ways we NEED you! I could give you list upon list describing to you in detail why we NEED each and every one of you. But there is one thing we NEED from you. One thing that you simply must leave here understanding this morning...
Main Idea - Ladies, we need you to follow Jesus now, more than ever!
1.
Transition - That’s right! We NEED you, your sons, daughters, husbands, friends, family, need you to FOLLOW JESUS. And there are two things from this text that I believe you are to do as you follow Jesus. And then Paul give one, very powerful reason why you are are to do them.
Ready?
Explain -
1. Moms - Act Like Jesus (Vs. 3a)
3 Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good,
Illustrate -
Explain - Becoming a Christian comes with the wonderful promise that we now, because of faith in Christ, have the hope of eternal life!
And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
This promise was given by Paul to the Philippian Jailer. He believed and he was saved. Soon afterward, his family heard and they were saved as well. They believed on Jesus.
because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
This promise is valid for all of us here this morning and those listening in through Face Book! If you Believe In Christ, you will be saved! Praise God.
And for this we say amen and amen! You and I can leave here this morning knowing that we have eternal life.
But faith in Christ is much more than a get out of hell free card and much more than a ticket for free entrance into heaven after we shed this mortal coil (I love that old phrase)!
No, faith in Christ produces a new reality for this life here and now! Faith in Christ changes us...
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
2
We have become new! Old things, the old way of life is gone and ebbing away over the course of this life. The new has come! We are becoming more and more like the one who saved us! God is making us new!
C.S. Lewis describes this process with beautiful imagery...
“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.” ― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
Jesus has contracted with the Holy Spirit to recreate you, to make you a new creation fit for a King!
Positionally, at the point of Salvation, you are declared RIGHTEOUS! But then He, over the course of your life makes you more and more like Jesus!
You begin, over your new life, to act less like your old self and more like your new self created in the likeness of Christ!
This is what Paul clearly communicates in his letter to Ephesus!
They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,
But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
This is the path of New Life in Christ! We become like Him!
Ep
Now, we do not sit back and have God mystically and magically change us. He certainly could do it with the snap of a finger, but instead He chooses to work with you to change you! This is what Paul says in his letter to the Philippians...
First, He begins the work in you...
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
And then He works with you to transform you...
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
Folks, ladies, Mom’s, I say all of this to say, ACT LIKE JESUS! Be careful to emulate Christ! This is what Paul tells Titus to challenge the ladies with on the island of Crete...
Look again at the first part of verse 3 again...
“Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine.
3a Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine.
Like the older men in verses 1 and 2, Paul admonishes Titus to “teach what accords with sound doctrine.” In other words He is to teach the teaching of the bible to the Men, women and children of the local churches on Crete...
By the way, the teachings of the Bible are not always popular here in this world. But this makes no difference to Paul, they are still to be taught. This is what He instructed His other protege, Timothy...
preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.
Titus was to teach the christian men the following...
1 But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine. 2 Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness.
Again, in this list we see that teaching the solid teaching of the Scriptures leads to good character IF OBEYED! And so Paul has Titus start with the older men, but then quickly moves to the older women of the Christian congregations.
Paul tells Titus that the Older women “likewise” are to live in a particular way. Just like the Older men, they too have behavioral responsibilities...
It is interesting in light of the perspective of our latest cultural shift that the apostle Paul distinguishes between the sexes. He doesn't simply speak to them as one group of people, but recognizes that they are different. Not unequal, but different. And while this concept is worthy of a sermon on its own, can I just say, celebrate the sex you are! be content with who God has made you. If you are a guy, love that fact and revel in it! If you are a lady, praise God you are an amazing creature of God’s created Genus. In our gender confused world, would you just take a minute and celebrate the gender that God gave you! He doesn’t make mistakes! You are fearfully and wonderfully made! Revel in that fact!
So Paul says that the “older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior”. “Reverent” means PRIESTLY...
1. Reverent in behavior = There is a correlation between this and sober-minded for the men.
ἱεροπρεπής, ές strictly befitting or suitable to what is sacred; hence, of persons who honor God in their conduct fitting for religious persons, reverent in behavior ()
Timothy Friberg, Barbara Friberg, and Neva F. Miller, Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament, Baker’s Greek New Testament Library (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2000), 203.1.
Reverent in behavior = There is a correlation between this and sober-minded for the men.
2. Not Slanderers - So what does it mean to be a slanderer? Well, it is serious business!
διάβολος diábolos - to accuse. A false accuser, used for the devil. One who falsely accuses and divides people without any reason. He is an accuser, a slanderer (; ; ; Sept.: ; ).
διάβολος diábolos; gen. diabólou, masc., fem. noun from diabállō (1225), to accuse. A false accuser, used for the devil.
(I) One who falsely accuses and divides people without any reason. He is an accuser, a slanderer (; ; ; Sept.: ; ).
Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2000).
The slanderous person is one who purposely uses false information in the attempt to ruin someone’s reputation so the slanderer appears superior to the one being slandered.
Gossip is closely related. It is willingly lying about someone to make yourself look and feel better about yourself. And folks it happens, even to Christians rather easily! However, this is NOT how we as believers are to function.
We speak the Truth in LOVE because our Savior is Truth and Love
But the second warning mentioned is not slaves to much wine. It’s interesting that Paul puts these two things together. Slander and slaves to much wine. Much wine can lead to loose lips and reveal what is really going on in someone’s heart. These older women (probably in the 50’s and 60’s no longer had children in their homes and had nothing but time on their hands. So they would get together, drink much wine and talk about others. It sounds like an episode of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills”!
Not Slaves to Much Wine = It was impossible for them to avoid wine. Wine was a safe drink for them due to the lack of pure water. It was a part of their culture. However, it, because of its addictive qualities could wreak havock on a family.
Women were just as prone to alcoholism as men. The same it true today. The warning Paul gives to women is they are not to be in slavery (addiction) to much wine! Their lives are not to be characterized as drunks. Their lives are to be characterized as reverent and holy not wholly drunk!
The drunk, drug addict, the addictive personality, is someone who will give into their physical craving at all costs even to the detriment of their family.
If you can't live life without the relief of alcohol, if alcohol is your solace and relief over God, you have a problem and you should seek help! You need the relief that only Christ can give!
Paul’s challenge through Titus for the Older women is not to live their lives for the fulfillment of their selfish cravings but instead to live a “priestly life”. A Priest in the Old Testament was a person who gave his life in service of God and others. This is the call of a godly woman! This is the privilege of a “priestly” mom!
Apply -
Illustrate - Welch's juice company researched the workloads and schedules of 2,000 American moms (with children ages 5 to 12) and discovered the role is equivalent to 2.5 full-time jobs. The average mom starts at 6:23 a.m. and doesn't stop until 8:31 p.m. The average downtime is just 67 minutes, which is little more than a normal job's lunch break. These 14-hour workdays add up to 98 hours throughout the non-stop-seven-days-a-week regimen. Never ask a mother, "So, do you work?" FoxNews.com, 3/17/18
Review -
Apply - Mom, the bottom line is if you’re a follower of Jesus you have an additional responsibiity to the enormous workload you carry. You have the glorious privilege of not living for yourself, but as a priest on behalf of your family.
Mom, how important is the Word in your daily life?
Mom, how ofter do you go before God and beg God to bless, help and protect your husband? to Redeem your children? To give your daughters Godly husbands and your sons, wives that love and serve Jesus?
Mom, how do you treat your husband in front of Your kids? Do you show him love and respect or do you communicate that you are superior to him by correcting him or giving him the old eye role when he says something?
Quite honestly, that is the old way of living. God, through Christ has call you, mom to a new way of life though His strength and power, not yours.
Gloria Furman said, “Jesus invites women to missional motherhood: To follow His pattern, to trust His promises, and to nurture others by the power He provides.
A priest’s job in the Old Testament system was to be the go between God and God’s people. Paul tells Titus that is your job as well.
Mom, you must act like Jesus because of what Jesus has done for you and what He has recreated you to be - He has recreated you to be Jesus to your family! And He gives you the power, through His Spirit to make it happen!
1.
Review - Ladies, we need you to follow Jesus now, more than ever!
2.
Moms - Act Like Jesus!
Explain -
2. Moms - Train Like Jesus (vs. 3b-5a)
4 and so train the young women to love their husbands and children,
Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children,
Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.
Explain - In my ministry experience, I have noticed a great divide. A divide between the older women and the younger women. The good news is, I don’t see that as much here at ABC! But the bigger we grow, it can happen quickly, so we must be careful!
The fact is, it is easy to stay within our comfort zone. It is not comfortable to insert yourself in the lives of another.
Illustrate -
Explain -
But this is what Paul called Titus to challenge the older women to do. They are to not passively sit on the sidelines of life, but they are to take an active role in the lives of the younger women of the congregation.
See what the text says?
They are to teach what is good!
Teach what is Good = Slandering and Drunkenness is a focus on self. The older ladies are to instead teach the younger ladies "what is good".
What is good? The exact opposite of living for self. Living for self brings self-destruction. Living for God and others brings for that which is morally good and that which is a demonstration of the true gospel.
Paul, in this text gets specific as to how the older women, who have been around the block could teach the younger women, what is good...
Apply -
Illustrate -
Dr. Liftin, in his commentary says this regarding this passage,
“Older women could help the younger women in at least seven areas, a list that no doubt represents the apostle’s understanding of a young wife and mother’s proper priorities. This list emphasizes, in the original, first what young wives and mothers are to be, and then only secondarily what they are to do.”
A. Duane Litfin, “Titus,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 764.
Let’s identify those seven areas the older women are to train the younger women. By the way, by the very nature of this command to “train” or “disciple” indicates that these characteristics don’t always come naturally to the believer!
Train them to Love their Husbands - This is an unconditional love based on God’s will, not the husband’s worthiness. The word for love here is phileo which emphasizes affection. (My wife loves me in my mess)
Train them to Love their Children -
Train them to be Self-Controlled - This is a fruit of the Spirit and a reoccurring theme in the Scriptures.
but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined.
Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Train them to be Pure - “Faultless” “Without cracks”
Train them to be Hard-Working in their Home - By the way, this doesn’t mean women cannot work outside the home. Just read ! That woman did it all!
Train them to be Kind - a benefit to others
Train them to be Submissive - “to their own husbands”
Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
But let’s not forget the prior verse...
submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Eph
In this is equality in the sexes
Yet the wife is called by God to willingly place herself under the husband...
In society all humans, all men and women in various positions of leadership or following and dependence, are equal, yet their functions vary and their responsibilities are diverse. We are all equal before God and the laws of society, and yet we have varying functions and responsibilities. If we accept certain functions under a fellow–human, we must subject ourselves to that individual to accomplish a common goal. So it is with a wife placing herself in the proper and divinely–fitted position under her husband. Only a wife can bear children, and to do this she must subject (hupotássetai) herself to her husband. The functions are equally important although different. And they are different not because we want them to be, but because God made them to be so.
Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2000).
The Trinity is the most beautiful example of equality and willing submission.
Regardless, the older women, who have mastered their understanding of these truths are to purposely disciple the younger women in these ways...
A. Duane Litfin, “Titus,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 764.
Illustrate - Now, I obviously am not a young mother. But I have to tell you, I have had the opportunity to sit down with Gert Irwin on a few occasions. Her years of experience, her wisdom, her love for Jesus, her love for her family come dripping from her lips! She can’t help it! This woman, by the grace of God raised four children with her husband. The remarkable thing about Gert is that she had two children and then contracted Polio. After she recovered (still relegated to crutches for the rest of her life, she had two more children!
Younger women of ABC, do you think Gert Irwin might have a clue about loving her husband, about loving her children (when her bones were aching from the residual ravages from the wretched disease she endured? Do you thing she might have something to say about being self-controlled (she could have easily fallen into the depths of despair because of her situation but she continued entrusting herself to the Lord! Do you think she might be able to speak about purity, being hardworking in the home (seem-stress to help make ends meet). Kind, submissive to her own husband? I know for a fact she can and does. Go have coffee with her and learn from her. Let her train you!
There are other women in this congregation you can learn from. Go find them. Don’t simply surround yourself with people your age. Look to those who have walked the path.
Older ladies, the admonition in this passage is that you go and train. It doesn’t say wait around for them to come to you. Go for it! Be a trainer!
Review -
Apply - It is pride that keeps us from working together. It is humility that opens our hearts and minds and shows us that we can learn from anyone. If you fall into the Older Women category - Go train
If you fall into the Younger women category - seek training!
This is SO important!
1.
Review -
Review - Ladies, we need you to follow Jesus now, more than ever!
Ladies, we need you to follow Jesus now, more than ever!
2.
Moms - Act like Jesus
1. Moms - Act like Jesus
3.
2. Moms - Train Like Jesus
Explain -
3. Moms - Your Lives Reflect the Words of Jesus (Vs. 5b)
5 to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.
Illustrate -
Explain - Ladies, there is something far greater here going on than your own little world. Often times we take God word as a self-help book that says if you do these ten things then great things will automatically result.
After all, God want you to be “Healthy, Wealthy and Wise” right? I mean isn’t this God’s plan for His children? Well, sorry to disappoint, it is not His plan for this life. The healthiest among us will still die. The wealthiest among us still deal with pain and heartbreak and the wisest among us still have questions we cannot answer. This life will never ultimately satisfy. The next life will! And this is the message of the gospel! God has provided everlasting satisfaction in His Son. And that by believing on Christ we can have the promissory note claiming our reservation for the next life!
But in this life, we must not look to our obedience to the scriptures of a guarantee that we will have our best life now. Jesus was perfectly obedient to the will of the Father and it got him killed.
Paul was exceptionally obedient to the Word of God and it got him pain, suffering and exceeding challenge in this life.
23 Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. 24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?
23 Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. 24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.
The list of people suffering for Jesus in this life goes on and on.
So, the goal of obedience to the Scriptures isn’t so we have our best life now. That’s pragmatic and not how God’s plan works. Certainly there are blessings that come from obedience in this life. My point is, this should not be the main reason we obey Christ!
And for the women, the wives and mothers, Paul tells Titus to challenge them to be godly for a very powerful reason. Do you see it in the text? There are to be Godly and act godly “that the word of God might not be reviled”
The NASB says, “that the word of God will not be dishonored.”
The NIV says, “so that no one will malign the word of God.”
Apply - Introduction
The CSB says, “so that God’s word will not be slandered.”
Opening - Lead with a Story!
Main Idea -
Transition -
1.
Do you get the point of the Apostle? The way a believing woman handles herself within her family has the potential for dishonoring, maligning, slandering and even blaspheming God’s Holy Word.
Explain -
Illustrate -
Apply -
Review -
Illustrate -
You are God’s letter. You are the living representation of Jesus. You are Christ to your family, friend, neighbors to your circle of influence. And when the unbelieving see you functioning in a way that is consistent with God’s character and will, you are unleashing the power of God in their lives. The way you live your life matters! It has an influence it can either bring validity to God’s works or make it a joke to those who may never read it for themselves.
1.
2.
If there is one thing you can do to influence your children for Christ is to allow Christ to live through you.
Explain -
Illustrate -
Illustrate - William Ross Wallace (1819-1881)
Apply -
“I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life.”
Review -
“All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.”
1.
Abraham Lincoln
Review -
2.
Apply - The way you live your Christian life really matters, mom. It really does!
3.
Explain -
Illustrate -
Apply -
Review -
1.
2.
William Ross Wallace (1819-1881)
THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE IS
THE HAND THAT RULES THE WORLD.
3.
BLESSINGS on the hand of women!
Angels guard its strength and grace.
In the palace, cottage, hovel,
Oh, no matter where the place;
Would that never storms assailed it,
Rainbows ever gently curled,
For the hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rules the world.
Infancy's the tender fountain,
Power may with beauty flow,
Mothers first to guide the streamlets,
From them souls unresting grow—
Grow on for the good or evil,
Sunshine streamed or evil hurled,
For the hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rules the world.
Conclusion
Woman, how divine your mission,
Here upon our natal sod;
Keep—oh, keep the young heart open
Always to the breath of God!
All true trophies of the ages
Are from mother-love impearled,
For the hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rules the world.
Application
Blessings on the hand of women!
Fathers, sons, and daughters cry,
And the sacred song is mingled
With the worship in the sky—
Mingles where no tempest darkens,
Rainbows evermore are hurled;
For the hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rules the world.
Apply - Mom, the way you live your Christian life really matters. It really does!
Concluding thought
Invitation
Connection Group QuestionsReview -
1.
Review - Ladies, we need you to follow Jesus now, more than ever!
Review - Ladies, we need you to follow Jesus now, more than ever!
2.
Moms - Act Like Jesus
3.
2. Moms - Train Like Jesus
Conclusion
3. Moms - Your Lives Reflect the Words of Jesus!
Application
Conclusion
Concluding thought
Application -
Concluding thought
Invitation
So, are you a mother? A biological mother? An adoptive mother? A young mother? An old mother? A foster mother? an auntie mother? a neighborhood mother? A church momma?
If you are a woman here this morning, you have opporunities to be a mother for someone. Not just any kind of mother, but a godly, Jesus following, people loving mother. Don’t miss this opportunity that God have lovingly given you.
Remember there is, “The undeniable, irreplaceable, need for Godly mothers!
Will you run after this glorious privilege?
Invitation
Connection Group Questions
Connection Group Questions