Titus 2:5b

Our text tonight, Titus chapter 2. I want to read verses 3 to 5, our focus on the second part of verse 5. That the age women likewise, that they be in behavior as become of holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things, that they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphained. May God bless to us, He is sacred and holy this evening. Marriage and the Christian or the family life are often ridiculed, scoffed about. The relationship between a man and woman is often the bruntled. of a lot of sarcastic remarks, such as, are you happy or are you married kind of question that people are asked sometimes. It seems a little rusty, misunderstood what the preacher said at his uncle’s wedding ceremony. Later, he was overheard reenacting the event in a play-like situation. He said, Rosemary, do you take this man for your awful wedded husband? I think some people look at marriage in such a light. However, marriage can be a wonderful thing if we, indeed, follow the principles of God’s Word, with regard to the duties of the husband and wife. And such, as we find in our text tonight, are important duties with regard to wives in particular. Now, here we have the young Christian women being spoken about. He’s been, Paul has been stressing the various groups, of Christians and their lives, how they should live their lives. In particular, he has spoken about the aged women and the aged men, and he turns his attention now to the younger Christian women. We’ve already considered several of the characteristics which are necessary for such women in an age of self-interest and self-indulgence. You must love your husband, love your children, Be self-controlled. Be pure. God is giving you as a young Christian woman a tremendous spiritual task to care for your husband and to care for your family. So we want to look at the second part of verse five tonight as we continue our look at this issue of young Christian women. He says here, you are to be keepers. at home. This is your calling as a wife and mother. Now, in a day and age of self-fulfillment and having a personal career, these words may seem out of place. They may seem odd to you. However, let me say that bearing and raising a family is a full-time job. Indeed, it’s not an easy task. Being a good, faithful wife and mother takes all the time that a woman has and perhaps even more. A woman can have no higher, no greater, no more honorable calling than this. You indeed, will find that it’s very hard work to care for a family. if God has given you a family, do you not have a responsibility to care for it? I think the scriptures say you do. You have an opportunity to mold and shape lives. You have an opportunity to train children up in the things of the Lord. Paul says to that end, be a keeper at home, be a worker at home. This is your career. This is your career. You should never think, lightly of being a homemaker. There’s nothing more valuable than that. There’s nothing more fulfilling than that. But you should embrace your calling and give your attention to it. It is true. We read through the scriptures. You find Lydia was a seller of purple. She was a businesswoman. We find her in the book of Acts mentioned. But we don’t read that she had a husband. We don’t even read that she had any children. As far as we knows she had household servants. They are mentioned. But we don’t see her leaving her family behind and running off somewhere to carry on her duties or her work. Simply look what the Bible says here. This is what God expects. Of you, indeed, he command you, to be a keeper at home. Now, there is a danger if you neglect your calling in this regard. For a society such as ours, which practically worships the concept of freedom of personal choice, committing yourself to be a keeper at home seems too confined, too restrictive. But let me say this. God knows what’s best. He knows what is the best thing for the family. There’s a grave danger to the family in neglecting to do what God commands you to do. I recognize here we’re dealing with a sensitive issue. It has complicating factors involved at times. But I think the apostle here has given us a general rule. In general, this is what you should do. Obviously, there are circumstances that may vary widely in a person’s life. We know that the cost of living and having adequate housing sometimes is quite expensive. Many women are tempted to find a second income to supplement the income of their husbands. But the question is, where are your priorities? Can you not live on a little less? Can you not give priority to your family? And I think Paul would have you to do that. I’m not saying here that you’re not going to have situations where you might have an unmarried mother of a child, where she may find it, where she might have to work and maybe have one of her family members, help her with the child. You might have a wife whose husband has left her, doesn’t provide inadequate support for her. You might have a woman who’s a widow and still raising children. You have all these circumstances that may come up, and you might have a wife whose husband becomes incapacitated in some way. And so you have all these circumstances that may be unique or unusual, but in general, the principle I think, that’s a good thing. taught here is that under normal circumstances, the Christian woman who has a family should be home taking care of that family. It’s interesting in John White Hood’s book, The Stealing America, he talks about the employment of married women, and he said that the statistics have profoundly changed as time goes on. In 1890, less than five percent of all American people, and wives worked outside their home for wages and salary. By 1940, this figure had increased to 17 percent, but the most dramatic change took place right after World War II. In 1947, 20 percent, one out of every five married woman was employed in the workforce. That proportion has risen to one in four, 25 percent by 1950. One in three, around 33 percent by 1960 to one in two by 1980 48 percent two in two out of three sixty seven percent by nineteen ninety and the estimates are over eighty percent now in the workforce can’t we see a connection between the breakdown of the family union and the juvenile delinquency and the bad behavior among children by not seeing that the wife is, by seeing that the wife isn’t at home where she should be, and helping to care for the children. It makes a difference. And this is why we have such unruly children in crime and immorality and so forth. When children are just left to themselves, child left to himself is going to bring his mother to shame. And that’s just the way it’s going to be. children can’t raise themselves. So God intended for them to have proper supervision. I read two women mentioning this whole issue of trying to balance working and raising children. Catherine Hepburn, one of the TV or one of the movie stars, is I’m not sure women can successfully pursue a career and be a mother at the same time. The trouble with women today is that they want everything, but no one can have it all. Joanne Woodward said this. My career has suffered because of my children and my children have suffered because of my career. I’ve been torn and haven’t been able to function fully in either arena. I don’t know one person who does both successfully, and I know a lot of working mothers. I think they’re hitting on something that I think is obvious. It should be clear. People say, oh, you can do it. You can balance your career with raising. No, you really can’t. Avoid the one sure thing that will indeed undermine your children, and that is if you fail to be a keeper at home. You know, a lot of people like to quote the Proverbs 31 woman and talk about all that she does. But, you know, one of the things that are mentioned in there, verses 27 and 28, she looketh well to the ways of her household. She’s focused on her household. And he is not the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed her husband also, and he praises her. She looks well to her household. That’s the Proverbs 31 woman. Everything she’s doing is for the family. That’s where her concerns are. So you are to be a keeper at home. Secondly, you are to be a keeper at home. Secondly, you are to be efficient and kind. The word good is mentioned here. Good. Goodness is a virtue, which in general, is opposed to any malice that may be in one’s heart. Goodness is a fruit of the spirit. Certainly as a young Christian woman, you are to bridle by the power of God, the corruptness of your own heart and display a genuine goodness toward others. However, the word good here is also used in a more specialized sense. It can be used in the sense of being kind, having a meek, kind spirit, not bitter, not sullen, but someone who indeed is a sweet disposition. The word can also be used in a sense of being profitable, being helpful or efficient. Originally, God made the woman to be a help suitable to the man. That’s what the scripture tells us. Every wise woman buildeth her house. She works to improve her household. She’s doing what’s good for our household. In many ways, we see the husbands focus on providing for the household. and the wife’s work is to nurture the household. The famous writer, Nathaniel Hawthorne, not only owed his success to what he said was the daily inspiration of his wife, but also his opportunity to compose his masterpiece came from his wife. He lost his custom house job. He went home to tell his wife he was a total failure. He was so downcast, so discouraged. to his amazement, she said, now you can, she was all excited, now you can write your book. Nathaniel said, well, what are we going to do for an income? The astounding woman took out an unsuspecting hoard of cash that she had. Where did you get that? Nathaniel said. She answered, I’ve always known you were a genius and you would write an immoral masterpiece so I saved up the money. She said, every week, out of the money who gave me for housekeeping, I set a little bit aside. In all these years, I set it aside, set it aside, set it aside, and set it aside. We have enough for a whole year. You got a whole year to write your book. And so we did. He wrote the Scarlet Letter, which we know is a classic. But he said he would never have been able to do that without the goodness and kindness and efficiency of his wife. She’s the one that helped him in this whole situation. You’re to be profitable and kind. Thirdly, you’re to be obedient to your husband. Obedient to their own husbands. I’m not going to dwell on this. We’ve spoken about this when we studied the book of Colossians recently. In our day and age, there are couples that deliberately leave out the word obey in the wedding vials. They used to be a standard thing in the wedding vial. I rarely. marry anyone who are not believers, but at one occasion, I married two unbelievers. It happened to be a, someone was attending our church and they asked about whether I would marry his daughter and someone that she wanted to marry. I sat down and talked with him, and they didn’t have a clue about the things of the Lord. So I went over, you know, their duties of husband and wife, and so I went over, you know, their duties of husband and wife, and so forth. And so I’m there doing the wedding ceremony, and I get to that point, and I say, are you about obeying your husband. And I put it in there. So if I do your wedding, if I do a wedding, it’s going to be, it’s going to be in there. And if you could have seen the look on the wife’s face when I, you know, are you going to obey your husband in all things, whatever the case may be? And that look, that stunned look on her face, and it was like, there was a hesitation. and then she finally said yes, but it was like, you know, she was gritting her teeth the whole time in that situation. It’s not something that people really want today. But why does you have a clear command here to obey your husband? We have leadership in all areas. In government, we have government leaders to rule over nations and peoples. We have church leaders to rule over congregations of the people of God. We have home leaders. and that’s the husband’s responsibility. Knowing that this is God’s word, you should always be careful in choosing a husband, because if you can’t obey your husband, that man that you want to marry, don’t marry him. Because if he’s not someone that you find you can submit to, you should never marry the man. Because that’s what God’s going to expect of you. Now, there are several reasons we’ve talked about. this before, so I’ll just briefly mention him again, for this command. First is the order of creation. First Timothy 2, verses 12 and 13. God does everything with a specific purpose and design. His wisdom is seen in all things. Even in the creation of Adam first and then Eve. You know, when he created all the other animals, he created the males and females all one time. Do you ever notice that? But when he created man, he created Adam first, had him name the different animals and so forth, realize his need, and then he provides a wife for him, Eve. But the order here is important. He was created first because he was supposed to be the leader of the family. And that was set out from the very beginning by the wisdom and purpose of God so that the wife should be subject to her husband. we have God’s law after the fall in 1 Timothy 2.14. Eve, acting independently of Adam and in disobedience to his specific commands, became the victim of Satan’s deception of the garden. She even attempted to lead her husband by saying, you know, look at the food. Look at this tree. Isn’t it good for food? And so forth. And God reminded Eve of her first. failure in this regard in Genesis 316, thy desire shall be to thy husband and he shall rule over you. And then thirdly, marriage is a picture of Christ and the church. Ephesians 523. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church. This is a very strong argument when you think about it. Who among us could claim to have equal authority with Christ? So why should a wife claim to have equal authority? when her husband and wife relationship is a picture of Christ in the church. So on this basis, the biblical doctrine is laid out here, be obedient to your husband’s wives. So God commands, command for you is to obey. Now, there are implications of this teaching. I know that submission is a dirty word for a lot of women today with the women’s liberation movement, there’s a rebellion really against the commands of God, against all that God says about the family and marriage and so forth. But everything has to be put in a proper perspective. It’s true that the husband is to be like Christ, be a loving leader, sacrifice for the benefit of the family, for the wife, and so forth. And the wife, first and foremost, is be obedient to God, but also to be obedient to her husband. If there’s a conflict, God’s authority certainly takes precedence. So the issue of this teaching is it may not be fashionable to be a submissive, obedient wife in today’s rebellious society. But if you want to be happy and content in your marriage, this is what God commands of you. Not to do so would be sin. You’re not full on your part. Now it is possible that a wife could have a lousy husband. There are women who are converted after they’ve already married and their husband is an unbeliever. He may live a crude, wild, reckless, drunken type of life. And he might have every bad quality in the book. But still remember, your God-given place, you may prevent harm by your goodness, by your wisdom, by your counsel to him. You may, in a sense, do what Abigail did for Nabal in the book of Samuel. It would pay you to consider carefully how she dealt with Nabal. There were times she didn’t say anything. She kept silent. And then there were a time she said it was time, you know, it was time to speak up and say something to she tried and she acted in all the things that she did was to save himself, to save him from himself, I should say, because he is the main problem. So you have to subject, it’s objection to your own husbands, that if any obey not the word, they may be one without the word by the conversation, by the behavior. their wives, as Peter and 1.1 tells us, you’re to be obedient to your husband. Fourthly, he says this, your purpose in living according to these commands is to adorn the gospel, that the word of God be not blasphemed. So he’s saying here, you should commend the gospel by the way you conduct yourself as a wife. If marriage is a picture of Christ in the church, then your marriage can and must in some way portray the biblical truth concerning the gospel. While the worldling wallows in wickedness and rebelliousness, he’s going to notice, he is going to view, perhaps take careful note of the godliness of the godliness of a Christian marriage. There’s something unique and special about a Christian marriage. He’s going to see loving leadership by the husband. He’s going to see a submissive, respectful spirit by the wife. He’s going to see how you, as a Christian wife take care of your family, take care of your home. And your sweet spirit is going to be noted. In all of this, you commend the gospel of Christ. what a stark contrast. That is going to be to the way the world lives. So your Christian lifestyle should stand out. And it will lead, in many cases, directly to a witness for Jesus Christ because you’re different. And people want to know what makes you tick. And then they’ll have an opportunity to learn about your faith and about the Gospel of Jesus. Christ. You need to prevent the gospel from being maligned. Now, it’s true. We could look at every Christian group here and say, you know, if you don’t fulfill what the commands are for you, you are going to undermine the gospel. You’re not living according to godliness. However, in particular wives with their families here are singled out. Why? Because your failure to obey. God’s teaching will affect yourself, your husband, your children, your church, and your neighbor. And if you fail to heed this good instruction, God’s word will be evil spoken of by the ungodly. You’ll be providing ammunition for the enemies of the cross of Christ. Perhaps you haven’t given this matter as careful a thought as you should. Because your activity is a housewife and a mother have some type of direct bearing on the gospel, according to what Paul is teaching here. Yes, your obedience to your husband affects the way people think about God’s word. What a grief it would be for someone to scoff at the Christian faith because of the way you handle your own family. She’s never in home taking care of her family or her husband or whatever the case. She’s always doing this, that, or the other. If that’s what people think and that’s what people see and, you, what testimony is that? All believers certainly ought to be aware of this teaching. You know, people often talk about their faith and, you know, how religious they are and, you know, what they’re doing for the Lord and all this. Here’s something you ought to be doing for the Lord. It’s very basic. Be a keeper at home. Take care of the family. Take care of the children. That’s what you’re commanded to do, very specifically. Years ago, there was a man that ran for public office in Germany. He made very free, you. use of Christian vocabulary. He talked about the blessings of the Almighty and the Christian confessions, which would become the pillar of his new state should he be elected. He assumed the earnestness of a man that was utterly weighed down by historic responsibilities. He handed up pious stories to the press and to various church papers. As reported, they showed his tattered Bible to a church group and to a church group and to that drew strength from this great work for his great work from the Word of God. Many religious people welcomed him thinking, well, he’s been raised up by God to guide their country to new heights of glory. That man was Adolf Hitler, notorious, evil leader of World War II Germany. If one looked closely at his book Mind Conf, you would see through all this, but He fooled people. He fooled people. My friends, it’s not what we say. You know, we can say all we want about how we’re going to do this or that of the other, how we’re serving God. Let’s get down to the, if you get down to the nitty-gritty, how does this person live? That’s where Christ can be honored or disgraced. This is where the gospel can be exalted or end up being blasphemed by those around us. Think how many people who claim. the name of a Christian, live hypocritical lives. And I think I told you this story one time when I was in seminary. I went to a gas station. It wasn’t too far away from the seminary because I was going to get some work down on my car. And I go in there, and I’m waiting in the office. I forget. I had to wait for some reason for something. And I’m looking at the bullet and board on that, and there’s somebody’s check. it’s on the bulletboard. It bounced. It was one of the students in the dormitory. Go in the seminary. Don’t take any checks from so-and-so. I think, what kind of a testimony is this for the school and for this person who’s supposed to be a professing Christian? You can imagine what they thought about this guy. adorn the gospel by the way you live your life. And for a Christian mother here and wife, this is a very important point to make. You ought to be different from all the women around you just by the way you conduct yourself. Well, the relationship between a man and a woman can be the brunt of many sarcastic remarks. However, marriage can be a wonderful thing. A wife has to keep in mind that she is serving the Lord Jesus Christ by what she does in home. How she takes care of her husband and family are going to be important. She’s going to be rewarded for that or lose reward with regard to that. So you are to adorn the gospel of your Savior Jesus Christ. Never think lightly then of the role of being a homemaker or a keeper at home because the scripture indicates this is a high, indeed a high calling for you and a service for you to do. Let us close with the word.