Titus 2:1 But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine: 2: That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience. 3: The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; 4: That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, 5: To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

Introduction

Today I want to speak about the high calling of womanhood and motherhood. This is not an easy subject for me to preach on. Some of the things I will say to you ladies, you might say, “What do you know about womanhood or motherhood? You’re not either one.” And you are right! Obviously, I am not a woman and I am not a mother, so, what do I know about being a woman and a mother, right? But keep in mind that I am coming to you this morning not with my own personal ideas and opinions but with the Word of God. So, I believe I have something to say this morning that deserves to be heard and that would benefit, encourage, and comfort godly women and mothers.

The culture we are living increasingly disregards and even despises the precepts in the texts we just read this morning. Biblical womanhood and motherhood are looked upon as outdated and even hated in our society today, but nonetheless these are biblical truth and must be heard and must be taught today. There is a generation of children and grandchildren that need to be rescued from wrong ideas and attitudes toward womanhood and motherhood. We need to understand that there is beauty and dignity in being a woman and being a mother. I pray that we will not let the modern culture, or Hollywood, or any politician define for us and dictate to us what a woman or mother should be and should look like. I confess that it is very tempting to be silent on this subject and not stand up for biblical womanhood and motherhood because the principles and truth that we are going to talk about this morning is becoming more and more unpopular and even derided even among professing Christians.

So, where do we begin? What will give you and me strength, courage, wisdom, and freedom to ignore what the world says about being a woman and a mother. I submit to you this morning it begins by recognizing that the God Who made us is infinitely wiser than us, that He has every right and authority to rule and that He has the final words on this subject. God in His Word has given clear directives as to what a woman and a mother should be and should look like. Knowing and learning God’s design for women and mothers will give you freedom and courage to ignore what the world says about being a woman and a mother.

In this letter, the apostle Paul is helping Titus understand what holiness looks like for older and younger men, and for older and younger women. Since today is Mother’s Day, I will focus on the apostle Paul’s exhortation to the aged women and the young women.

Titus 2:3 The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; 4: That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, 5: To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

Before we talk about the high calling of women and mothers, I would like to remind us of some foundational truths taught in the Scripture about men and women. There are at least three views out there about the dignity and design of men and women, namely, Chauvinism, Egalitarianism, and Complementarianism. The first is Chauvinism, which is a view that men and women are of intrinsically different worth and value, that men are superior to women. The second view is Egalitarianism, which comes from the word “egal”, which means equal. It’s a view that men and women should share the same authority and responsibilities in marriage, religion and elsewhere. The third view is Complementarianism, which is a view that says that men and women have different but complementary roles and responsibilities in marriage, family, life, and religious leadership. This is what I believe the Bible teaches. In Genesis, it says that “God created them male and female.” Both male and female were made by God, equal in dignity, equal in value, equal in importance and worth. Though equal in dignity and value before God and before each other, yet, different in responsibilities. Men and women are different not only physically but also in roles. Though God created men and women equal in worth and dignity, God has given us different functions. Men and women have different designs, different functions but the same purpose which is the glory of God! To deny the difference between men and women or try to blur or blend these as one is to question and reject God’s design and wisdom which leads to confusion and turmoil.

So, contrary to what the modern culture and society accuses the Christians, true biblical Christianity puts great importance and value to the women. They play very important roles in the family, in our society, and in our churches. But in order to faithfully fulfil our God-given role, we must listen and follow the directives God has given to us in His Word. As I mentioned already, since it’s Mother’s Day, we will focus on God’s directives to aged women and young women today. I believe if we only follow these directives, we will have successful and happy homes and safer and harmonious society.

The apostle Paul begins this chapter by exhorting Titus to teach “the things which become sound doctrine.” In other words, Titus must teach the aged men and women, young men and women, to live a life that is consistent with sound doctrine.  There is a message for every member of the body of Christ.

I - To the Aged Women

Titus 2:3 The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;

The aged women are the adult female advanced in years. The older women have roles to fulfil not only in their individual family but also in the church. Older women should not be put on a shelf nor should not be the objects of ridicule as is often done in today’s TV sitcoms. The older women can serve in the church in many different areas and ways. As Paul mentions in verse 4, “that they may teach the young women.” One of the key functions of older women was to teach and encourage younger women in the things of the Lord. They can minister to each other and to other women in the church of any age—whether single, married, or widowed. But in order to be effective teachers of the younger women, the apostle Paul gives the older women exhortations in four areas. I will touch each one briefly.

1. Testimony

Titus 2:3 The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness ...

The apostle Paul begins with the older women’s behavior. Older women must have behavior fitting for those who are holy. As someone has said, “Ideally, age and growth in grace ought to coincide. The older we get, the more spiritually mature we should become. Yet this is not always the case. Just as there are some temptations that are especially common to youth, age brings with it its own set of trials.” And so, the need and importance of this exhortation. Here is a call to the older women to be godly examples of holiness. The prophetess Anna is a great example of an aged woman who has a godly testimony. In Luke 2:37, we read these words about Anna, “And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.” Anna even at the age of eighty-four never left the temple, serving night and day with fasting and prayers. Because she had lived so faithfully in the Lord, she was given the privilege to see the Messiah in person.

2. Tongue

Titus 2:3 The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers ...

The tongue is a very dangerous thing. It is like a fire. As fire can destroy houses, our tongue can destroy people, church, and even a whole nation. So, be careful with the use of your tongue. Don’t be a false accuser. Actually, the word “false accuser” is one word in Greek, “diabolous,” the word for “devil.” When you are accusing someone falsely, you are doing the devil’s job.

The godly lady of Titus in this chapter is a wonderful lady that has full control not only of her desires but also of her tongue. Godly aged women not only refuse to listen to, but also refuse to spread slanderous, demeaning, and damaging stories about others. “He that raises a slander carries the devil in his tongue and he that receives it carries the devil in his ears.”

3. Temperament (Disposition)

Titus 2:3 The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine ...

If you do some study about the city in Crete from which Titus lives and ministers, there were women drunkards in his town. So, Paul told Titus to warn the older women who would sit around and drink and get drunk in that town of Crete. Spurgeon comments that “Old women also among the heathen were often addicted to the taking of much wine, so here they are cautioned against it by the Spirit of God.”

There are people who are given to much wine. They have become enslaved to alcoholic drinks. They started out with just a single glass and now they are in bondage. Some may say, it will not happen to me. That may be true, but you have children or grandchildren watching you. As Paul said at the outset, aged women must have a kind of living consistent with right teaching.

4. Teaching

Titus 2:3 The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;

The aged women have an important function in their family and in the church body—they provide wise counsel and godly instruction to younger women. Here’s why the aged women are to watch their testimony, their tongue, and their temperament, so that they would be able to effectively teach and guide the younger women. The aged woman is to be a teacher of good, beautiful, and beneficial things both by example and instruction.

Spurgeon comments that older women… “And how beautifully can an aged Christian woman, by her kindly example, be a teacher of good things! There is no more charming sight under heaven, I think, than that of an elderly Christian lady, whose words and whose whole life are such as becometh the gospel of Christ.”

These are the four areas the aged women are exhorted to consider and obey—testimony, tongue, temperament, and teaching. The apostle Paul goes on to say in verse 4, “That they may teach the young women.” But what are these good things? That’s what I want to cover next.

II - To the Young Women

Titus 2:4 That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, 5: To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

Who are the aged women to teach? The aged women are to teach the younger women, particularly the young wives and mothers. The godly older women have the responsibility of teaching the younger women. The younger women need to be taught and the apostle Paul focuses on three different areas, namely, attitude, affection, and appearance.

1 - Area of her attitude

Titus 2:4 That they may teach the young women to be sober …

Aged women are to encourage the young women to have sober-minded attitude. Other words for sober are thoughtful, calm, and subdued. It has the idea of self-control. The sober minded person is in command or control of their mind.

Steven Cole wrote, “Younger women sometimes feel overwhelmed by the difficulties of rearing children and keeping house. Hopefully not, but perhaps they sit around watching “Desperate Housewives” and begin to think they would be happier if they abandoned their responsibilities. The older women should help them think sensibly about the importance of those duties.”

The aged women must teach the younger women to have clarity in how they think and react to things. Instruct them to have the right spiritual and mental attitudes and to have their desires and passions well-regulated or under proper control.

“Attitude is everything! A bad attitude is like a flat tire. If you don’t change it, you’ll never go anywhere.”

2 - Area of her affections and priority

Titus 2:4 That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, 5: To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

Crete, the city Titus was ministering, was a pagan city. The young women coming to Christ and saved out of pagan background are not familiar with biblical Christian home. So, they need to be educated and instructed on what a Christian home looks like. The young women need to be instructed in the area of affection and priority. The aged women must teach younger women, wives, and mothers how to make their homes their priority. In Paul’s day specially in the island of Crete, there were so many young women that were turning to alcohol and they were not loving and taking care of their husbands and their children as they should.

How about today? Oh, how we need this reminder in an age where we are bombarded with the worldly and radical feminism ideas which tells our young women, wives, and mothers to forget their families and find fulfillment in a career. Godly older women are to help them by teaching the beauty and the attractiveness of loving their husbands, of loving their children, of taking care of their home, of being good, and of honoring and respecting their own husbands. If we only take these things to heart, we will avoid many problems in our homes.

3 - Area of her appearance

Titus 2:5 To be discreet, chaste …

Older women are to teach younger women to be discreet and chaste. The word “discreet” is another word for sober mind. The word “chaste” means clean, innocent, and modest. So, older women are to encourage the younger women to be sober-minded and modest. Chaste, not only in act, but also, in speech, in thought, even in dress and in their appearance. Appearance starts with the right mind and a clean heart. If a person’s mind is right and the heart is clean, then the outside starts to become right. As Pastor Noffsinger puts it, “You can put a brand new freshly pressed suit on a drunk, and you know what he will do? He will go get drunk and he will lay down in a gutter with a brand-new suit on. Why? Because he has to be changed from the inside out not from the outside in.”

Before I close, please note that Titus is not told to instruct the young women directly and personally regarding their behavior. It was the older women, not Titus, that were to teach the younger women regarding their attitude, their affection, and their appearance. To instruct the younger women directly and personally, as Henry Ironside says, “might not always be discreet, and might compromise him as a servant of Christ. He is to address himself to the aged women and they [older women] are to ‘train’ the younger.”

So, the apostle Paul instructed Titus was to let older women minister to younger women, lest he get himself into a difficult situation and get himself into trouble. He is to assign the responsibility of teaching and counseling the younger Christian women to the older and more spiritually mature women. This is a way to protect and preserve both parties. 

Closing Thoughts

Reading our text again: Titus 2:3 The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; 4: That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, 5: To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

Why should the older women teach the younger women these things? The older women are to teach the younger women these things, that the Word of God be not blasphemed.  The older women are to teach the younger women in the things of the Lord because what is at stake is the glory of the God! The older and the younger women should have a good testimony so that no one can belittle or speak evil of the Word of God. “That the Word of God be not blasphemed” is a good motive for unity, sobriety, love, and obedience at home.

I don’t expect the unbelieving world to take these directives to the older women and younger women seriously because the world will do what the world does and what the world wants. But God expects His children—whether young or old, single or married, with children or without children to take His directives for holy living seriously. Someone puts it this way, “God wants us on focus on becoming His beautiful people—not the outward, fading beauty of the world, but the inner, lasting beauty of a heart that is obedient to Him. We refer to a beautiful person as attractive, because beauty attracts. A beautiful place, like the Grand Canyon, attracts people to it. The body of Christ should be so beautiful that those who do not know the Saviour are attracted to Him through us. So, get to work on helping this church develop into a beautiful body for His glory!” AMEN!

Let me speak to those who are still lost in our midst. The directives we spoke about this morning will be impossible for you to obey without the new birth. You must be born again. The apostle Paul in this same letter spoke about the new birth in chapter 3.

Titus 3:4 But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, 5: Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; 6: Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; 7: That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

The new birth is possible because of the “kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared.” Because God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Call upon the One who came to save you from your sins. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, now and forever!

AMEN!