Sermon Tone Analysis

The Ministry of Motherhood

By Jeff Strite

Summary: In his instructions of the role of older women, God tells us what he really thinks about the role of women in the church.

As I read the text at the beginning of the sermon I asked the audience to pay special attention to the instructions Titus received in what he was to teach each specific group in this passage - ).

Have you ever seen a child with lots of freckles on their face?

I read the story about one little boy whose face was just covered with bright freckles.

He was spending the day at the zoo with his grandmother and they were standing in line with dozens of other children waiting to get their cheeks painted by a local artist who was decorating them with tiger paws.

A little girl in front of him turned around and smirked and said "You've got so many freckles, there's no place to paint!"

Embarrassed, the little boy dropped his head.

Then his grandmother knelt down next to him.

"I love your freckles.

When I was a little girl I always wanted freckles, “She traced his cheek with her finger and said.

"You know, freckles are beautiful.

The boy looked up in amazement, "Really?"

"Of course," said the grandmother.

"Just name me one thing that's prettier than freckles."

The little boy thought for a moment, peered intensely into his grandma's face, and softly whispered,

(pause)

"Wrinkles."

They say “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”

And to that little boy, nothing was as beautiful as his grandmother’s wrinkles.

Today we want to look thru the eyes of God at beauty.

God doesn’t look at us the same way others do.

Last week we talked about the kind of men and that impress God and found that they are those who are good fathers/husbands, who have a good reputation, and who stand in the gap encouraging others in their faith, and rebuking those who try to teach false doctrine.

Those are the kinds of men who impress God.

Today we’re looking at the women who impress God.

Titus is told to “teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good.

Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.”

Now there are people who look at this set of verses and think women are being picked on by Paul here.

But… that’s not the case at all

Women are being elevated to a place of high honor.

You see - we live in a world where women are evaluated based on

• how “pretty they are”

• how sexy they are

• how thin they are

• how popular they are

• (pause) or by how much skin they can show

We live in a world that is much like ancient Crete (where Titus was serving)

Paul tells us that in Crete“… there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers”

These folks lived as pagans and they viewed everything from a paganistic point of view – including viewing women as objects to used, abused and owned.

What God is saying here in have a higher view of women than that.

As God tells us in

“Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.”

Here in the letter to Titus… God is praising older women.

Just think about it: a few verses before this, we’re told that men who are called to be Elders should

“… hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.

Now, we read that older women in the church are called by God do exactly the same things.

They are to train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands.

This is what God regards as being sound doctrine.

The training these older women are to do is greatly important to God, because IF they do their training right “… no one will (be able to) malign the word of God.”

If you recall, I asked you to pay close attention to the instructions Titus was to give to each group in this section of Scripture we read.

From thru 2:10 we find that Titus is teaching

• Older men to live Godly lives

• Younger men to live Godly lives

• And Slaves to live Godly lives

But when it comes to the older women – Titus is not only to challenge them to live Godly lives, but they are also to teach the younger women to do the same.

In other words, these older women are given a special responsibility that lies at the heart of building a church into a strong force for God in a dark world.

God is counting on these women to create an atmosphere in the church where no one will be able to make accusations against God’s Word.

It helps to realize that Crete was a major cesspool in that day.

Paul writes that “Even one of their own prophets has said, ‘Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.’”

The church was surrounded by these CRETANS!

These were pagans.

They were people who didn’t care about God or His righteousness.

All that seemed to matter to these folks was their own agendas and priorities.

They were driven by the desire for success and power.

Their highest priorities were whatever would further their goals in life.

And their highest goal was their own selfishness.

And the Christians in Crete had to live around those kinds of folks!

• The men of Crete were apparently known for getting drunk, and lacking self-control.

• The women seem to have been involved in gossiping and neglecting their families.

• Slaves were guilty of lying and stealing.

• And everybody showed disrespect for their rulers and authorities.

When you live in a pagan culture like that, it becomes easy to begin to live like they do.

It becomes easy to fudge a little.

• When you’re surrounded by people who tell dirty jokes, it’s hard not to laugh.

Some of their jokes really are funny.

Yes, they’re crude and immoral, but if they are well told, it’s just hard not to laugh.

• When you spend time with people who curse, it’s hard not to pick up the practice.

• When you’re surrounded by friends who drink, it’s difficult to refuse a glass.

When my sister Barbranne decided to come back to Jesus (she’d left the faith for a long time) she’d still go back to the parties, because that’s where her friends had been… except now she refused to drink their alcohol.

Instead she’d walk around with a glass of Pepsi.

At one of the parties, one of the men walked up to her and remarked “What’s the matter?

Are you too good to drink with us?”

• When you’re spending time with people who belittle their spouses, it’s hard not to chime in and say “Well, you haven’t heard anything!

This is what is wrong with my husband/wife.”

• And when you spend time in a school or an office where people cheat to get ahead, it’s hard not to do the same thing because if you don’t – you might lose out.

It’s called peer pressure, and better people than you or I have given in to it.

We live in a pagan world and we sometimes find ourselves being drawn into pagan way of life they live.

Especially when we end up watching the same TV shows and movies, and reading the same books as they do.

Many of those books and shows tell of lifestyles that are impure and immoral and unworthy of the God we serve.

And when we find ourselves surrounded by that kind of thinking we can end up forgetting the importance of living godly lives that would please our Savior.

(PAUSE)

BUT - in the midst of a pagan world, one the most powerful force for God can be the words and examples of Godly women.

A godly woman can have the same influence on people t’s just how that little boy with his freckles.

He was embarrassed and shamed by the words of this world but he found encouragement and strength in his grandmother’s words.

Godly women are able to pierce the darkness of this world.

And that is because in those words and in those actions of these Godly women the world sees the image of the one woman believed in them.

The woman who bore them and cried for them.

Who stayed by their bedside when they were sick, and nursed them till they were well.

Say what you will about men, it’s mothers who make the biggest impact on the world.