When Young Women are Christians (Titus 2:3-5, 11-14)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.080 --> 00:00:29.980 Let's hear God's Word now from Titus Chapter two, titus two, versus three 2 00:00:30.019 --> 00:00:35.890 through five, and then eleven through fourteen. You might think of these two 3 00:00:36.009 --> 00:00:40.130 is connected in the way that the scriptures talk about the fruit and the vine. 4 00:00:40.969 --> 00:00:43.890 First we read of the fruit that is to be produced in our life, 5 00:00:44.490 --> 00:00:48.049 in our lives, and then we read of the vine, our God, 6 00:00:48.329 --> 00:00:55.200 that produces that fruit. So, titus two, verse three. Older 7 00:00:55.200 --> 00:00:59.719 women, Likewise, are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves 8 00:00:59.759 --> 00:01:03.349 to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train 9 00:01:03.510 --> 00:01:07.629 the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self controlled, 10 00:01:07.989 --> 00:01:14.510 pure, working at home, kind and submissive to their own husbands, that 11 00:01:14.670 --> 00:01:22.140 the word of God may not be reviled. And then verse eleven, for 12 00:01:22.219 --> 00:01:26.060 the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us 13 00:01:26.099 --> 00:01:32.739 to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self controlled, upright and Godly 14 00:01:32.780 --> 00:01:37.290 lives. In the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing 15 00:01:37.450 --> 00:01:41.650 of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave 16 00:01:41.689 --> 00:01:48.359 himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a 17 00:01:48.519 --> 00:01:53.640 people for his own possession, who are zealous for good works. May God 18 00:01:53.680 --> 00:02:17.780 bless his word to us. Please be seated. One of the concerns of 19 00:02:17.900 --> 00:02:27.539 scripture is that God's Word is not reviled. How does that happen? Well, 20 00:02:27.659 --> 00:02:32.250 happens when God says something and to the world it doesn't seem to come 21 00:02:32.449 --> 00:02:38.490 true or doesn't seem to happen, and so people despise God and laugh at 22 00:02:38.490 --> 00:02:43.810 him. This comes out in all sorts of ways throughout the Bible. In 23 00:02:43.889 --> 00:02:49.719 judgment in particular, people laugh and mock about the judgments of the Lord because 24 00:02:49.759 --> 00:02:52.520 it's been promised for so long, they say, and it's not here, 25 00:02:53.280 --> 00:02:57.879 and therefore the judgment that God has pronounced is reviled, mocked, made fun 26 00:02:57.960 --> 00:03:01.110 of, not trusted in. Well, there's other ways this happens to. 27 00:03:02.469 --> 00:03:08.389 God's Word is said to produce in our lives godliness. The vine produces fruit, 28 00:03:09.469 --> 00:03:14.580 and here we are reminded that if the vine is to be producing fruit, 29 00:03:15.259 --> 00:03:19.379 then we should seek and desire to produce fruit, that the word of 30 00:03:19.460 --> 00:03:23.780 God may not be reviled. To put it in a really plain and common 31 00:03:23.900 --> 00:03:28.889 way, we don't want to be called hypocrites or even more pointedly, we 32 00:03:29.009 --> 00:03:32.849 don't want our God to be called a hypocrite. We want to one of 33 00:03:32.930 --> 00:03:38.129 the our motivations to act and live as the way God has called us to 34 00:03:38.409 --> 00:03:42.319 is because we love our God. We want him to be honored and not 35 00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:46.039 dishonored. We want to go out into the world and people to say there 36 00:03:46.280 --> 00:03:52.520 is a good man, there is a good woman, not for our praise 37 00:03:52.680 --> 00:03:58.189 but unto the praise of God. The opposite should hurt us. It should 38 00:03:58.590 --> 00:04:03.189 pain us to think that people would think ill of our God because of the 39 00:04:03.270 --> 00:04:08.830 way we act. I would think poorly of the king and his word because 40 00:04:09.430 --> 00:04:15.340 of the way we represent him. And so tightus gives, or Paul gives 41 00:04:15.419 --> 00:04:19.620 to Tightus, instructions about the way our households are to be conducted, the 42 00:04:19.740 --> 00:04:27.810 way our lives as individuals in various stations and places in life are to live, 43 00:04:28.290 --> 00:04:32.610 and we've been considering these. First we considered older men and then older 44 00:04:32.649 --> 00:04:39.600 women. Now we come to younger women. We continue with the series of 45 00:04:39.680 --> 00:04:44.800 God's instructions to various people within the church in considering the younger women of the 46 00:04:44.879 --> 00:04:50.040 Church, younger married women in particular, and even more narrowly, MOMS I'm 47 00:04:50.120 --> 00:04:58.069 young women with children and husband's. Now, though, this passage has a 48 00:04:58.149 --> 00:05:03.029 special and direct usefulness to mothers in particular, and married, young married women. 49 00:05:03.110 --> 00:05:08.899 A little more broadly, it's, of course, beneficial to us all 50 00:05:10.620 --> 00:05:14.339 in a number of ways. For example, it teaches men and parents what 51 00:05:14.459 --> 00:05:17.540 they should be looking for in a future spouse. It teaches all of us 52 00:05:17.980 --> 00:05:23.370 what we ought to pray for for our young mothers and wives. It also 53 00:05:23.410 --> 00:05:30.250 gives in brief the various curriculum topics that older women are to teach the younger 54 00:05:30.290 --> 00:05:34.689 women, and that's the context that this comes in. I'm we're focusing on 55 00:05:34.839 --> 00:05:40.839 younger women tonight, but of course you noticed that this is sort of included 56 00:05:40.959 --> 00:05:45.160 in a command to the older women, which starts in verse three. Older 57 00:05:45.199 --> 00:05:48.839 women are to be likewise reverent and behavior, not slanders or slave too much 58 00:05:48.879 --> 00:05:53.230 wine. They are teach, to teach what is good and so to train 59 00:05:53.350 --> 00:05:57.589 the younger women to do. And then it lists so six different things. 60 00:05:59.949 --> 00:06:04.540 Now, giving just another sort of set of introductory comments because of this context 61 00:06:05.060 --> 00:06:10.259 of older women teaching younger women, I want to make just a few practical 62 00:06:10.300 --> 00:06:16.620 observations. Sometimes we think that Godliness and morals, knowledge of what God wants 63 00:06:16.740 --> 00:06:25.050 for us comes to US magically or just automatically somehow, as if God doesn't 64 00:06:25.050 --> 00:06:30.610 use means for that. It's not true. God clearly has chosen to work 65 00:06:30.769 --> 00:06:36.959 through particular and the ordinary means of Christian partnership and discipleship. Sometimes we wait 66 00:06:38.040 --> 00:06:41.759 for wisdom and morals to show up on our doorstep like a baby in a 67 00:06:41.879 --> 00:06:45.560 basket. Oh, look, here they are, and as long as they're 68 00:06:45.560 --> 00:06:49.189 not coming, we simply don't do anything about it. But scripture tells us 69 00:06:49.189 --> 00:06:54.110 that these things are things that are taught. They are things that are learned. 70 00:06:55.389 --> 00:07:00.189 And so those who want to grow in Godliness, young women, younger 71 00:07:00.230 --> 00:07:04.860 women, must learn to submit themselves to their older sisters, to their mothers 72 00:07:04.939 --> 00:07:10.620 in the faith. They must learn to humble themselves as students that they may 73 00:07:10.660 --> 00:07:14.259 mature, and that, of course, is not always easy. You don't 74 00:07:14.300 --> 00:07:16.490 always like what your teachers have to tell you. You want to do your 75 00:07:16.490 --> 00:07:20.529 own ways. You think you know what is right. It requires a spirit 76 00:07:20.569 --> 00:07:28.810 of humility to be able to learn a second practically, unless the older women 77 00:07:28.889 --> 00:07:32.920 and younger women are together in some way, that's difficult to imagine how this 78 00:07:33.079 --> 00:07:39.079 is going to happen. How are older women going to teach the younger women 79 00:07:39.120 --> 00:07:44.000 unless they are and somehow getting together, meeting together, living together, working 80 00:07:44.160 --> 00:07:48.629 together? Without some kind of context like that, this would seem to be 81 00:07:48.750 --> 00:07:53.670 impossible. Of course you can learn a lot from books, and there are 82 00:07:53.709 --> 00:07:59.019 good ones out there, but there's no substitute for a living lady who knows 83 00:07:59.060 --> 00:08:03.699 you, who loves you, and there's of course, a hundred different ways 84 00:08:03.779 --> 00:08:07.139 that this might happen. I'm I'll leave you to figure that out, but 85 00:08:09.300 --> 00:08:13.930 let me just mention that to the older women in particular and encourage you in 86 00:08:13.050 --> 00:08:18.730 particular, as those who have authority and honor by virtue of your age and 87 00:08:18.889 --> 00:08:22.889 the design of God. Let me encourage you, older women, to reach 88 00:08:22.970 --> 00:08:28.560 out to your daughters in the faith, though we hope those who are younger 89 00:08:28.600 --> 00:08:31.320 will be eager to seek your counsel. Often the young are not wise enough 90 00:08:31.320 --> 00:08:37.159 to do so. They are controlled by what Simon Times called the tyranny of 91 00:08:37.240 --> 00:08:41.240 the urgent, moving from one thing to the next to the next and forgetting 92 00:08:41.590 --> 00:08:46.590 the things that you have learned, sometimes through hard knocks. So go and 93 00:08:46.789 --> 00:08:50.990 offer yourselves to them. Perhaps you can offer to help in their homes, 94 00:08:52.429 --> 00:08:56.139 perhaps you can take them to lunch. Perhaps you can meet with them at 95 00:08:56.179 --> 00:08:58.539 Church and ask how to pray. There's so many different kinds of things. 96 00:09:01.220 --> 00:09:05.460 I'll just suggest that one obvious solution might be to use our ladies Bible study. 97 00:09:07.299 --> 00:09:11.289 Men, is this something you can support your wives in? There's, 98 00:09:11.330 --> 00:09:13.370 of course, other ways to do it, but the nature of the goal, 99 00:09:13.649 --> 00:09:18.129 this teaching and learning, demands that we think of some kind of constructive 100 00:09:18.210 --> 00:09:22.690 and practical ways to work towards that goal. It doesn't necessarily have to be 101 00:09:22.850 --> 00:09:26.879 formalized or anything like that, but we should have a goal in mind and 102 00:09:28.039 --> 00:09:33.200 move towards that direction. This is what the Scripture teaches. Well, let's 103 00:09:33.200 --> 00:09:39.629 move on. What does God want from his daughters? He lists six things 104 00:09:41.830 --> 00:09:46.230 to love their husbands and children, to be self controlled, to be pure, 105 00:09:48.269 --> 00:09:52.789 to be working at home, to be kind and submissive to their own 106 00:09:52.830 --> 00:09:56.740 husband's now, of course, we can only touch on these in a very 107 00:09:56.820 --> 00:10:03.259 brief and some ways shallow way, but I hope the overview of this will 108 00:10:03.259 --> 00:10:09.330 be I hope the overview will accomplish setting a general sense, or maybe even 109 00:10:09.490 --> 00:10:13.570 something a little more particular than general, but the kind of direction in which 110 00:10:13.570 --> 00:10:22.000 we ought to be headed. So let's look at these in let's look at 111 00:10:22.000 --> 00:10:26.039 these six things. First, to younger women are to love their husband's and 112 00:10:26.200 --> 00:10:31.879 children. It is a beautiful thing that starts this description of God's daughters. 113 00:10:31.919 --> 00:10:37.750 It starts with love, not that it stops at that point, for love 114 00:10:37.870 --> 00:10:41.710 has to flow through everything that we do. The woman who hates her husband 115 00:10:41.750 --> 00:10:48.149 or hates her children will never be able to fulfill in any real meaningful way 116 00:10:48.190 --> 00:10:52.580 the other commands that she is commanded to do. It's good to ask yourself 117 00:10:54.620 --> 00:10:58.019 and be honest. Do you hate your husband? Do you hate your children? 118 00:10:58.059 --> 00:11:03.179 Or maybe it's not. You wouldn't use language quite that strong, but 119 00:11:03.340 --> 00:11:07.730 you might say that you tolerate them. God calls you to something higher. 120 00:11:07.809 --> 00:11:13.850 He calls you to love not just when it's easy, not just when they're 121 00:11:13.889 --> 00:11:20.320 cute and sweet, but at all times. Now that kind of love, 122 00:11:20.440 --> 00:11:26.480 we all know, is a difficult kind of love, but not so for 123 00:11:26.639 --> 00:11:30.960 God. When we consider the great love of God as it's given to us, 124 00:11:31.039 --> 00:11:37.830 unlovable, difficult in transients as sinners, we know the great goodness of 125 00:11:37.909 --> 00:11:43.590 God and the power and strength of his love. So when you consider the 126 00:11:43.629 --> 00:11:48.779 command to love your husband's, your husband and your children. Look to God, 127 00:11:50.419 --> 00:11:54.179 who is love, to produce it in you. Look to Jesus on 128 00:11:54.220 --> 00:11:58.340 the Cross, who died for you when you were unlovable, and ask him 129 00:11:58.460 --> 00:12:03.009 to help. Help you draw from that well. The well that Jesus provides 130 00:12:03.330 --> 00:12:09.409 never runs dry. Women are to love their husbands and children. They are 131 00:12:09.409 --> 00:12:13.889 also to be self controlled. Now this, of course, is not to 132 00:12:13.009 --> 00:12:18.440 given exclusively to women, and many of these things could be applied to others 133 00:12:18.480 --> 00:12:24.120 as well, but because we all need self control. But, like love, 134 00:12:24.279 --> 00:12:28.440 self control is not always easy. In fact, sometimes it's very, 135 00:12:28.519 --> 00:12:33.590 very hard. The Bible tells us that the flesh is powerful and it within 136 00:12:33.669 --> 00:12:37.990 us and it wages war against the spirit. It's not something that's just kind 137 00:12:39.070 --> 00:12:43.149 of going on in the background. It's one of the its central in many 138 00:12:43.190 --> 00:12:46.460 ways to who we are and the kinds of lives we live in the world. 139 00:12:48.220 --> 00:12:52.139 But our bodies are a temple of the spirit, which means the spirit 140 00:12:52.220 --> 00:12:56.899 has already won the battle against the flesh. We have been born of the 141 00:12:56.940 --> 00:13:01.929 spirit, the spirit says in his word, which is both a reason to 142 00:13:03.049 --> 00:13:07.649 exercise self control and the promise that we believe in order to be self controlled. 143 00:13:09.850 --> 00:13:11.490 What do I mean by that? I mean that, on the one 144 00:13:11.570 --> 00:13:16.320 hand, when we think about our bodies as temples of the spirit, when 145 00:13:16.360 --> 00:13:20.919 we think about ourselves as the battle ground in which the spirit is waging war 146 00:13:20.120 --> 00:13:26.200 and winning that war, it gives us great encouragement and reason to fight, 147 00:13:26.389 --> 00:13:31.950 to strive, but it also gives us the strength and encouragement and the direction 148 00:13:33.149 --> 00:13:37.070 we need to fight, because if you fight in the fight, in the 149 00:13:37.190 --> 00:13:41.179 flesh, with your pride and your self righteousness, seeking to be esteemed among 150 00:13:41.299 --> 00:13:48.620 others, you only feed the fire of your own sinful desires. Self control 151 00:13:48.779 --> 00:13:54.700 comes from seeking God control, turning to him in prayer and repentance and faith, 152 00:13:54.620 --> 00:14:01.570 asking that the spirit himself would subdue within you what is fleshly and make 153 00:14:01.610 --> 00:14:11.320 a dwelling place there. Third, women are called to be pure. MOMS 154 00:14:11.399 --> 00:14:16.519 have to get their hands dirty a lot, but not their hearts. Wives 155 00:14:16.559 --> 00:14:22.960 and mothers should seek to live lives which honor their husband's and honor God and 156 00:14:24.240 --> 00:14:31.429 live lives which are pure. A Clean House means nothing if it's if all 157 00:14:31.470 --> 00:14:39.860 around there is dirt, the dirt of an immorality. Philippians eight reminds us 158 00:14:39.700 --> 00:14:43.980 the things that we are to look at and to consider and to spend time 159 00:14:45.139 --> 00:14:50.179 dwelling on are things that are pure, Paul writes. Finally, brothers, 160 00:14:50.259 --> 00:14:54.090 whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, 161 00:14:54.970 --> 00:15:00.370 whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is anything excel of 162 00:15:00.490 --> 00:15:03.970 excellence, if there is anything worthy about praise, think about these things. 163 00:15:07.090 --> 00:15:11.039 Here again, it is the spirit of God that strengthens and teaches us what 164 00:15:11.200 --> 00:15:16.600 is pure and what is not. This doesn't mean that a Christian woman is 165 00:15:16.639 --> 00:15:22.509 a formalist, a traditionalist or a prude, but neither is she a libertine 166 00:15:22.549 --> 00:15:28.269 or a careless person. In either case, she doesn't seek purity as understood 167 00:15:28.309 --> 00:15:31.870 by the world, but she learns it from her Lord and her God. 168 00:15:31.990 --> 00:15:37.019 A Christian woman doesn't seek, and likewise, a Christian woman does not seek 169 00:15:37.059 --> 00:15:43.500 purity by the world, but from God himself, who cleanses her mind of 170 00:15:43.620 --> 00:15:48.500 impure thoughts, who forgives her sins when she is at fault, who washes 171 00:15:48.700 --> 00:15:52.929 her clean whenever she gets dirty. This is the hope of all of us 172 00:15:52.929 --> 00:16:00.570 who struggle with impure thoughts, who cast ourselves into impure things, that we 173 00:16:00.690 --> 00:16:04.559 have a God who makes us clean, who washes us and makes us pure. 174 00:16:06.960 --> 00:16:11.919 You remember, I told you that these two passages in titus relate to 175 00:16:11.960 --> 00:16:15.279 the fruit and the vine. Listen to the words that connect to the vine. 176 00:16:17.120 --> 00:16:21.110 We are a minded that it is our savior, Jesus Christ, who 177 00:16:21.149 --> 00:16:26.909 gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself 178 00:16:26.549 --> 00:16:33.179 a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. How do 179 00:16:33.299 --> 00:16:37.019 we pursue purity in our lives? How do we become people that are pure, 180 00:16:37.220 --> 00:16:41.860 not just on the outside, but on the inside as well? It's 181 00:16:41.899 --> 00:16:48.289 by finding salvation, it's by finding cleanliness and forgiveness and redemption in our Lord 182 00:16:48.289 --> 00:16:53.809 and Savior, because in him he has made a people pure. We have 183 00:16:55.009 --> 00:17:00.929 no means of getting ourselves clean, but we and he, but in Jesus. 184 00:17:00.090 --> 00:17:07.039 We do not of getting ourselves cleaned, but by being cleaned by him. 185 00:17:07.079 --> 00:17:14.160 Jesus washes us, he washes the filth away, and in this are 186 00:17:14.279 --> 00:17:19.390 younger women and all of us have a lot of hope. Number four, 187 00:17:19.869 --> 00:17:26.029 working at home. This phrase does not limit a woman's work only to the 188 00:17:26.150 --> 00:17:33.180 home. It doesn't exclude other occupations and activities that she might be involved in. 189 00:17:33.180 --> 00:17:38.059 Why? Because, both by precept and by example, the Bible tells 190 00:17:38.099 --> 00:17:42.420 us that, holy do women do more than work at home. There are 191 00:17:42.460 --> 00:17:48.690 queens like esther, whose home is also a governmental office, and extra and 192 00:17:48.890 --> 00:17:53.009 which she exercises is the authority that she has in that vein. Miriam was 193 00:17:53.049 --> 00:17:59.119 a prophetess who served Israel and in various acts of worship. Lydia was a 194 00:17:59.240 --> 00:18:03.759 seller of purple goods, and the Queen described in proverbs thirty one. is 195 00:18:03.079 --> 00:18:07.400 working at home, yes, but also in the fields, in the market 196 00:18:07.519 --> 00:18:11.839 place and among the poor. So what does Paul mean when he says working 197 00:18:11.869 --> 00:18:18.390 at home? Well, what he's doing is he's saying positively what could be 198 00:18:18.589 --> 00:18:23.910 put negatively, which is to not be meddlers or busy buddies or in other 199 00:18:25.029 --> 00:18:27.980 people's affairs. They are to be working at home. In other words, 200 00:18:29.019 --> 00:18:33.019 their business is to be there with their families. Paul says a similar kinds 201 00:18:33.099 --> 00:18:40.059 of things and gives similar instructions in a similar passage in first timothy or he's 202 00:18:40.140 --> 00:18:45.450 talking about younger widows again, to this particular group of people here, those 203 00:18:45.490 --> 00:18:48.450 who have lost their husband's and he tells them to be, I'm, busy 204 00:18:48.490 --> 00:18:53.049 at home and not about and other people's business. They are to use their 205 00:18:53.130 --> 00:18:59.160 time wisely to focus on the tasks which they have been given. They are 206 00:18:59.359 --> 00:19:03.759 to submit to the Lord in the callings to which he has called them, 207 00:19:03.440 --> 00:19:11.069 to be content in them and to work hard in them. And number five, 208 00:19:11.869 --> 00:19:17.509 they are to be kind. Perhaps the opposite of kindness is cruelty. 209 00:19:18.829 --> 00:19:23.269 This is very important to remember because women have an amazing amount of power, 210 00:19:23.339 --> 00:19:27.539 as they as it has been said, and rightly, the hand that rocks 211 00:19:27.619 --> 00:19:33.460 the cradle rules the world. I'm you see this in various novels, in 212 00:19:33.619 --> 00:19:38.130 Shakespeare and Jane Austin. Though the women may not have a certain kinds of 213 00:19:38.250 --> 00:19:45.329 outward authority, it is often very quickly obvious that they have a much power 214 00:19:45.849 --> 00:19:48.089 and are able to use it in all sorts of ways, both for good 215 00:19:48.130 --> 00:19:55.279 and for evil. And Paul says that they are to be kind. The 216 00:19:55.440 --> 00:20:00.880 power that they are are given, the things that they do, the way 217 00:20:00.079 --> 00:20:06.519 in which they exercise their callings before God. They are to act in ways 218 00:20:06.640 --> 00:20:11.630 that are kind. It is easy to be cruel, it is easy to 219 00:20:11.710 --> 00:20:18.069 be manipulative, it is easy to hurt and to harm, but God tells 220 00:20:18.430 --> 00:20:23.819 these younger women to not give into those kinds of temptations, but to be 221 00:20:23.980 --> 00:20:29.579 gentle, to be loving. This is, of course, the way of 222 00:20:29.619 --> 00:20:33.019 our Lord. Again, to consider the vine out of which the fruit is 223 00:20:33.140 --> 00:20:38.369 produced. There is our Lord who gives himself up for us. It's our 224 00:20:38.450 --> 00:20:44.369 Lord who brings us our salvation, who comes to us in gentleness and meekness 225 00:20:44.690 --> 00:20:51.000 and humility. Jesus, of course, is powerful and had every right to 226 00:20:51.480 --> 00:20:57.160 wield that power with a kind of crushing authority, but instead he comes in 227 00:20:57.359 --> 00:21:03.079 love, and we are called to treat each other in the same way. 228 00:21:04.029 --> 00:21:08.549 And finally, number six, younger women are called to be submissive to their 229 00:21:08.589 --> 00:21:15.269 own husband's here we see in the Bible that her relationship with Christ bears directly 230 00:21:15.509 --> 00:21:21.220 on this point. In particular, in Effusions Five, God says that just 231 00:21:21.460 --> 00:21:26.660 as the church is to submit to Christ, so wives are to submit to 232 00:21:26.779 --> 00:21:32.140 their husband's submission, of course, does not mean that she is required to 233 00:21:32.859 --> 00:21:37.289 take his blows or his tyranny, or she is to go against the will 234 00:21:37.329 --> 00:21:42.089 of God if he commands her to do evil. God doesn't command his daughters 235 00:21:42.369 --> 00:21:48.720 to do evil, but to do good, to honor and submit to their 236 00:21:48.720 --> 00:21:56.440 husband's means striving to lift up their character, to seek their godliness, to 237 00:21:56.640 --> 00:22:03.150 follow their lead to advance their credit among others. It means living righteously and 238 00:22:03.230 --> 00:22:07.589 not scandalously. It means keeping one's duties and being faithful in all things. 239 00:22:08.990 --> 00:22:12.869 And, as with all these other things, this is also hard because of 240 00:22:14.150 --> 00:22:18.660 the sin in ourselves and, in particular, because the weakness of men. 241 00:22:19.380 --> 00:22:26.660 But she serves the Lord and it is made bearable and even joyful. Peter 242 00:22:27.059 --> 00:22:34.250 I'm describes when he's talking about similar duties and he talks to women, he 243 00:22:34.930 --> 00:22:41.609 has in mind a particular situation where a wife is called to do these things 244 00:22:41.809 --> 00:22:45.880 that Paul is describing here in titus, but in a particular context, where 245 00:22:47.000 --> 00:22:51.279 she has a husband who does not obey the word of God, who isn't 246 00:22:51.279 --> 00:22:56.200 a Christian, who doesn't have the priority she has, doesn't have the loves 247 00:22:56.279 --> 00:23:00.349 that she has, isn't motivated by the same things, isn't warring against the 248 00:23:00.470 --> 00:23:07.470 flesh, and she is called to lead a godly life, to submit, 249 00:23:07.309 --> 00:23:12.339 and Peter Recognizes that is hard. It is a hard thing. It is 250 00:23:12.380 --> 00:23:18.180 a hard thing to serve the Lord when people are unlovable and difficult. It's 251 00:23:18.259 --> 00:23:23.619 hard to submit and give honor when a husband is not very honorable and is 252 00:23:23.740 --> 00:23:30.410 difficult to follow. But the Lord reminds women and reminds all of us that 253 00:23:30.450 --> 00:23:36.329 wohend whatever duties we are called to him in. We are called to serve 254 00:23:36.329 --> 00:23:41.009 him ultimately in these things, and in that there is a lot of joy, 255 00:23:41.960 --> 00:23:45.799 because to do the Lord's will, even when it's hard, to know 256 00:23:45.039 --> 00:23:49.440 that he is strengthening us in the tasks that we are given, to know 257 00:23:49.720 --> 00:23:55.559 that he is sanctifying us through those difficulties, is to know that we are 258 00:23:55.599 --> 00:24:00.990 close with God and we are walking in his ways. Scripture reminds us that 259 00:24:00.069 --> 00:24:07.750 he sees us in our struggles, he knows our difficulties, and so when 260 00:24:07.789 --> 00:24:11.019 we consider these things in hole, we will need consider this direction that God 261 00:24:11.099 --> 00:24:17.740 would have his daughters to walk in. We see a lot of goodness. 262 00:24:18.779 --> 00:24:22.700 We see that if if these things were be to care, if these things 263 00:24:22.740 --> 00:24:26.650 were to be carried out and God were to bless them, as he often 264 00:24:26.809 --> 00:24:30.769 does, what we find are very happy and pleasant results, most of the 265 00:24:30.930 --> 00:24:37.569 time, happy homes, pleasurable places, marriages that are strong. Of course, 266 00:24:37.599 --> 00:24:41.160 it's not always that way and of course we don't always do these things. 267 00:24:42.240 --> 00:24:48.079 Younger women, like older women, and younger men and older men, 268 00:24:49.400 --> 00:24:53.670 you have a lot to repent of. As you go through this list and 269 00:24:53.829 --> 00:24:59.710 you look at these things, with each one of these no doubt and hopefully, 270 00:24:59.789 --> 00:25:03.509 you can see in yourselves ways in which you fall short, ways in 271 00:25:03.589 --> 00:25:07.059 which you have not loved as you ought to love, ways in which you 272 00:25:07.099 --> 00:25:14.059 have not been self controlled or pure, or working at home or kind or 273 00:25:14.140 --> 00:25:19.099 submissive. If we're honest with ourselves, whether we're women or not, these 274 00:25:19.140 --> 00:25:23.490 are things when we when God calls us to a way of living in a 275 00:25:23.529 --> 00:25:30.329 kind of righteousness, we know that we struggle. The flesh does wage hard 276 00:25:30.569 --> 00:25:34.960 against us. But again, that's why we consider the vine. It's why 277 00:25:36.039 --> 00:25:40.960 we consider our Lord and our Savior, who makes us zealous for good works 278 00:25:41.039 --> 00:25:45.640 when we're tired, who purifies us when we are unclean, who gives us 279 00:25:45.640 --> 00:25:52.230 righteousness when we are unrighteous, who controls us when we lack self control, 280 00:25:52.150 --> 00:25:57.589 who loves US WHEN WE ARE UNLOVABLE. Younger women, that means you have 281 00:25:57.710 --> 00:26:03.710 a place to turn, a God who rescues and loves and takes care of 282 00:26:03.869 --> 00:26:11.420 you, a husband who is inestimably honorable and always good. Submit to him, 283 00:26:11.380 --> 00:26:15.380 submit to him in faith, and God will um work in you. 284 00:26:15.700 --> 00:26:21.930 He will do the things that he is promised. When we consider these things, 285 00:26:22.609 --> 00:26:26.009 when we consider our God, let us strive after these good things, 286 00:26:26.690 --> 00:26:33.200 but strive in Him, knowing it's in him that we live and work, 287 00:26:33.960 --> 00:26:38.839 and it's him who is working these things in us. Let us pray for 288 00:26:38.960 --> 00:26:42.079 our younger women and for all of us and our souls.