Mothers Day 2019
Text: Titus 2:1 - 5
George Washington, the first President of the United States of America said, “All that I am, I owe to my mother. I attribute my success in life to the moral, intellectual, and physical education I received from her.”
Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States said, “All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.”
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, one of the most prolific preachers in all of history said this, “I cannot tell you how much I owe to the solemn word of my good mother.”
Mother’s Day, here in the U.S. can be traced back to a woman named Anna Jarvis, who began writing letters to senators, congressmen, and state governors in 1905 – requesting that a day be set aside to honor motherhood, and mothers. She worked hard and continuously, and it paid off. By 1911, nearly every state had a state holiday celebrating and honoring mothers. Finally, in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed a joint resolution, passed by Congress that designated the 2nd Sunday in May as the national holiday we now know as Mother’s Day.
Now… 105 years later, our culture has become so confused, and twisted, many American’s don’t value, or understand the role of a mother. Instead of prominent people and leaders saying things like “I owe everything to the teaching and training of my mother.” You hear things like, “The home is your prison! Free yourself from the drudgery of motherhood.” And at the same time, women who see being a mother as the Bible describes it… as an honor and privilege… they are marginalized and demonized by the general public. And our society today doesn’t see being a mom as something that is valuable, or of great importance. Now the Bible on the other hand is completely the opposite. In-fact; the Bible describes being a mother as one of the most important roles and callings in society. In-fact; I would argue that being a parent – a mother or a father, is the highest, most important, role and calling, given in the pages of Scripture. It’s more important than being a king or queen, or leader. It’s more important than being a pastor or a prophet, or a priest. It’s more important than being a doctor, a lawyer, a teacher, or farmer. And it’s more important than being in law enforcement, or the military. Like I said, being a parent is the highest calling and role given to us in Scripture.
So with that in mind, I want you to take your Bibles and open them to the Book of Titus 2:1 – 5 (READ).
Now the Apostle Paul is writing this to a young pastor. And he’s telling him, “This is what you are to do… you are to teach. But not just any old thing. You are to teach what accords (or… what lines up with) with sound doctrine.” In other words, teach what lines up with Scripture, what affirms Scripture, what results from Scripture… teach what Scripture teaches. And then basically Paul gives examples of what he means… Verse 2 – “Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness.”
But verses 3, 4, and 5 are what we’re really going to zero in on this morning.
So… this is also what accords with Scripture. Paul says that the older women should behave in a certain way. They should be reverent in behavior. They should not be slanderers. And not slaves to much wine. Now to be reverent in behavior means that they should hold the good, the noble, the honorable, and authoritative things in high regard and esteem. Now why is that important? Well… what happens when a lady has contempt for her husband? What does that do to her children, and the other girls that she has influence over? What happens when a lady has contempt for her pastor? What’s that do to her children, and the other women or girls she has influence over? What happens when a lady disrespects the police, or teachers, or let’s just say, men in general? What does that teach her children, and what does it teach the other women or girls that are influenced by her? And this is just as true for men as well… but being that today is Mother’s Day, we’re focusing on you ladies.
So Paul says they should be reverent… and that leads to the second thing he says. If you’re reverent, you’re not slandering people. Now what is the definition of slander? It literally means to say something that will hurt another person, or damage their reputation.
Now understand me – there are times when the truth needs to be told about a person. The Bible actually teaches that. As Christians we are to be truthful people, and bold people. But slander is when you’re saying something with the intent to defame someone, or… to stir the pot because you like drama. Have you ever met someone like that? All their life is drama? It’s one world changing, earth shattering event after the other… I don’t know about ya’ll; but people like that are exhausting to me.
So Paul says, “You older women, be reverent, don’t slander others, and don’t be a slave to wine.” That last one should be a given, right? Alcohol thins your filter… it’ loosens lips… it disintegrates self-control. Basically; don’t get drunk! You get drunk, you do stupid things. You say stupid things. You act in stupid ways, and eventually you’ll wake up one morning with a lot of regrets. Then Paul goes on in verse 3 and says, “And by being reverent, by not being slanderous, and by not getting drunk… here’s what you’ll end up doing – you’ll train the young women to love their husbands and children.”
Now Ephesians 5 tells us that husbands are to love their wives – as Christ loves the Church… and here in Titus we find that wives are also supposed to love their husbands and their children. And it’s very interesting to me what Paul is saying here. In verse 2 the word “love” is “agape”… here in verse 4 the word “love” is “philia”. Now you’ll hear people say “agape” is unconditional love, and “philia” is brotherly love, and that’s true for both of those… but that’s the short, concise, dictionary definition. Let me go into a little bit more detail here. Philia is a strong, and I mean a STRONG bond between people who share common values, interests, and basically life together. The Greek word is not only describing a brotherly love, but soldierly love. It’s the kind of love that says I want the very best for this person, and will even die for them. It includes respect, and self-sacrifice.
A great example of this in the Bible is David and Jonathan…. So wives are called to both “agape” love and “philia” love for their husbands. And when this kind of love is missing in the home, nothing else can fill the gap that a husband feels. His career won’t satisfy him. Expensive homes, cars, boats, or even guns won’t satisfy him.
Now think about this principle with me for a second. If you’re being reverent, if you’re not slandering others, and if you’re not putting down a bottle of wine every night, and that’s helping to teach younger women to love their husbands and children… then what is being taught if you’re not reverent, if you are slanderous, and you get soused on a weekly basis? It’s teaching young women to NOT LOVE their husbands and children. And then if you look at verse 5, Paul goes on and says it also teaches younger women to, “be self-controlled, pure, to work at home, to be kind, and to be submissive to their own husbands.” And that makes sense right? All of those things are things that are born out of love for another person. And ladies; make sure you get this… Paul says, “Submissive to THEIR OWN husbands.” He’s not saying you submit to men in general. He’s saying, “You have a husband, and you willingly, and lovingly submit to his authority.” And of course there’s qualifiers on that as well. God is our supreme Authority, and we submit to other authorities and leadership as they are faithful to Him.
Now… being self-controlled, pure, and kind are things that all Christians are called to. So to be self-controlled means you’re in control, not your sin nature. You’re putting to death your sin nature, and its desires… purity goes along with that… to be pure means, you’re keeping yourself away from outside things that are going to spoil you, or dirty you, or corrupt you, whether that’s influences, relationships, things you watch, things you listen to, things you read. And to be kind is to be nice to other people, to be friendly to other people, and bless other people. And again, these are things all Christians are called to do, but Paul is specifically saying young moms need to be taught these things, because they will aid in their role as wives and mothers.
But then he throws in something else… he says, “Teach them to work at home.”
And this is where we’re about to get controversial…
So first of all… Paul was not saying that women could not work outside the home. That’s not what he’s saying here. But, at the same time, what is being implied here; and what’s taught all throughout Scripture is that the wife is the keeper of the home.
You go all the way back to the foundations in Genesis, and God Himself says that the man is to make the living by the sweat of his brow. Man is to work to make the living. And because of Adam’s sin in the Garden, there is a curse upon labor. Now understand me. Work is a good thing, and it’s something that God ordained. But it is also toilsome, stressful, and troubling at times. It’s that way because of the curse that came about due to Adam’s sin in the Garden. When a woman… a lady… a wife, goes to work outside the home, she is taking upon herself the curse of the man. And the thing is… Eve, and women in general had a curse they had to deal with as well. Pain in child-birth, and a desire to be over men. And what the radical feminist movement has tried to do, is subvert the decrees of God by saying, “We are not going to have babies so we’ll avoid the pain of child-birth, and we are going to instead take on the role of men, so that we can be over them.” And they think that they will escape the curse women have to deal with, by taking on the curse that men have to deal with. But what they end up with is having to deal with both of them at the same time.
Now again; please here me… I’m not saying women can’t work outside the home. What I’m saying ladies, is that when you do that, make sure it’s for the right reason… and when you do that, understand you’re not only going to have to deal with the curse that women face, but also the curse that men face.
So ladies, don’t ever believe the lie that being at home, keeping the home, and raising children is somehow demeaning or degrading to you… and don’t believe that it’s not “actual” work. It’s like the story of the stay at home mom who met a career business woman at their kid’s school function. The business woman asked the stay at home mom what she did, and the stay at home mom said, “I’m a stay at home mom”. The business woman sneered a little bit and said, “Oh, so you don’t work?” To which the mom said, “Oh I certainly do. I cook three meals a day, I do dishes every day. I wash and fold laundry every day. I vacuum, sweep, and dust at least once a week. I make sure my kids are where they need to be when they need to be there. I run them to the doctor’s office when needed. And try to do as much as possible to help my husband focus on his job of earning a living for this family. Trust me, it’s a full time job.”
Now at the end of our text there, Paul says that older women should teach younger women these principles keeping in mind, that by doing this, it makes it so the Word of God isn’t reviled. I’m sure you all have heard that saying, “You might be the only Bible some people ever read.” They say in the United States, that just about every home has a Bible… and on average, there’s three Bibles per home. But that doesn’t mean people are reading them. For some people, they bought it ten years ago, looked at it once, and haven’t opened it since then. But what happens when we as Christians begin living our faith out in front of the world, and living in obedience to God’s Word, the world takes notice. They say, “Something’s different about your marriage. Something’s different about your kids. Something’s different about your day to day life… about you attitude… about YOU!”
And moms are like a billboard that God is using to display His glory, and grace, and love. And what happens ladies, is that as you consistently live out your faith; it tells the world that there is a God who is upholding you, and empowering you, and supporting you, and guiding you. As you show love, it tells the world that within you is a God who also loves. As you show wisdom and grace, it shows the world that within you is a God who full of wisdom and grace. As you give, it shows the world that within you is a God, who gave Himself, who took our sin, and our punishment, by giving His very life.
Loving moms point to a loving God – and like I said… it’s a very high calling… and because of that, you are deserving of our gratitude, our honor, and our love.
CLOSING
