Titus 2:3-5 Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, ⁴ and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, ⁵ to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.

 

Introduction

Welcome to 2016 and welcome back to Titus. I’ve been eager to get back into Titus—and to this passage in particular—for some time.

Addressing the topic of women’s ministry is long overdue at Grace. I’ve recognized the need to address it for a while now, but God’s providence had previously taken us elsewhere. However, beginning last August his providence brought us to Titus and today it has brought us to Titus 2:3-5. This short passage speaks directly and specifically to the issue of women’s ministry and so I will too.

I’m not the most intuitive guy on the planet or in the room or even in alone in a closet on most days, and yet even I’ve noticed a growing buzz among the women of Grace when they hear that I’m going to be addressing the topic of women’s ministry. There’s an eagerness it seems. There’s even a measure of desperation that I’ve noticed—women longing to be built into and longing to experience the freedom of being released to use their gifts for the cause of the gospel. I’m excited for both of these things to happen and at the prospect that God might use the next few sermons to bring them about.

I love that Grace is full of strong, smart, driven, godly women. But I also love that Grace is full of women who are characterized by patience, submissiveness, humility and trust as well.

Over the next several weeks, I’ll be laying out a simple, biblical foundation for women’s ministry. That’s certainly not to suggest that I’m going to cover every possible question and issue that women or women’s ministries deal with, but it is to suggest that I mean to do my best to help you all see what the bible says about women’s ministry in principle and practice. Lord willing, this will be the beginning of a much longer discussion (rather than the final, authoritative word) on the subject.

Please pray with me that our greatest longing would be for the presence and pleasure of God among us. And, pray that we would be a people who are wholly committed to pursuing God’s presence and pleasure for women in women’s ministry (and everything else for that matter) according to God’s Word and for His glory.

 

The Larger context

I still remember my first ever women’s ministry discussion. It took place in my 1987 Ford Ranger on the way to a Campus Crusade for Christ spring retreat. It took place while I was driving, one of my friends sat in the middle, and my friend’s girlfriend sat near the window. The cab of my truck was filled, but my knowledge of Scripture was largely empty.

The women’s ministry topic of the day (I have no idea how it came up) was whether or not God intended women to be pastors. Having grown up in a largely secular and somewhat liberal home and, as I said, without any understanding of what the bible had to say about…well, anything (this subject included), my understanding of such things was shaped at that point almost entirely by hot air. Unfortunately, this did not deter me from attempting to speak authoritatively on the subject.

Somewhat ironically I took the position that God did indeed intend women to be pastors every bit as much as men, my friend stayed out of it, and my friend’s girlfriend argued that God designed the office of pastor exclusively for men.

My argument: of course He did. Why wouldn’t He? It wouldn’t be fair if He didn’t. Women are every bit as smart and capable and pleasing to God as men.

My friend’s girlfriend’s argument: you’re making that up. That’s simply not what the bible says. The bible is pretty explicit on this matter and I don’t believe it was merely a cultural practice.

After going around and around with these same basic points we both began to realize the futility of continuing the discussion. All out of arguments and nearly out of hot air, then, I concluded with the question, “Why would a women not be able to be a pastor if God called her to be one?” My friend’s girlfriend, in a way that was wise and gracious and godly beyond my ability to recognize at that time (don’t answer a fool in his folly comes to mind now) replied, “Well, let’s leave it at that. If God were to call a woman to be a pastor then I suppose it would be good.”

So what about it? Does God mean women to be pastors? If so, what else is unique about God’s intention for women? How do we come to understand women and women’s ministry? What is a women’s ministry? What do women’s ministries do? Why do women’s ministries exist? Where do answers to questions like these come from? Or, what is our authority for making such decisions?

In our passage for this morning, through the apostle Paul, God communicates a particular application of and curriculum for women’s ministry. We will look at that passage in detail (not today). But first, as I should have understood before offering my opinion on the way the CCC retreat in 1996, in order to truly understand it well (or any other women’s ministry issue, for that matter) we need to first step back and consider the larger context.

We will never be able to rightly understand specific questions about, or applications of, women’s ministry if we don’t first understand women’s ministry in general. But we will never be able to rightly understand women’s ministry in general if we don’t first understand God’s design for women. To word it a little differently: women’s ministry in practice flows out of women’s ministry in principle, and women’s ministry in principle flows out of woman’s nature and purpose.

Again, where do we go to find such things? And what is the point of all of this anyway?

 

According to THe Word and for the glory of God

One of the most significant discoveries that I ever made as a Christian is this: every answer to every question concerning God’s will on a given subject starts with the same two points. If we miss these two points, forget them, deny them, or put something else in front of them, we have no chance of rightly understanding the will of God. It makes no difference if we’re looking for God’s will on women’s ministry or marriage or friendship or sports or eating or work or potty training or syrup making. If we are to know God’s will, we will always begin with the same two points:

1. The Word of God is the standard for all things. It alone is able to authoritatively reveal the will of God.
2. The Word of God unashamedly states that the glory of God is the ultimate purpose of all things.

Do you want to know God’s will for video games? It begins with acknowledging the facts that God’s Word is the standard for understanding God’s will for video games and that God’s glory must be the aim of video games if they are to be pleasing to God.

Do you want to know God’s will for dating, sleeping, working, fishing, shopping? Same thing. God’s Word is the basis for understanding each of them and God’s glory must be the goal of them.

Again, women’s ministry is no different.

This means, then, that when it comes to rightly understanding women’s ministry, we must begin with the notions that 1) the bible will be our ultimate standard (not culture or tradition or the preferences of people or even the women’s ministries of other solid Christian churches—though we can certainly learn from those things), and 2) the glory of God will be our ultimate aim (not the appeasement or happiness or contentment or even the spiritual health of women—although those things will be considered). Our women’s ministry decisions will be made with Scripture as our authority and God’s glory as our purpose. Women’s ministry at Grace will account for all that the bible says on the subject and ignore none of it. And women’s ministry at Grace will always point ultimately to God’s magnificence. Only once we’ve come to understand and commit ourselves those two things are we ready and able to move on.

With the larger context in mind, the Word of God as our standard, and the glory of God as our aim, then, over the next few weeks we’re going to work backwards from God’s design for women (today) to God’s design for women’s ministry in principle (next week) to women’s ministry in practice, including the application of Titus 2:3-5 (in two weeks).

Let’s turn our attention now to the bible’s teaching on God’s design for women as we seek to gain a bit more of the larger context and the means by which God will be glorified in women’s ministry.

 

God’s good design for differences between men and women

It seems to me that the best place to start gaining a biblical understanding of God’s design for womanhood is with the biblical teaching on the differences between manhood and womanhood. I know of no better summary of Scripture’s teaching on this distinction than the Danvers statement.

The Danvers statement was put out in December of 1987 by the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.   It affirms ten biblical principles. We’ll look briefly at each as a first step in developing a simple, but sound biblical doctrine of womanhood. (The actual words of the Danvers Statement are italicized. My commentary is not.)

1. Both Adam and Eve were created in God’s image, equal before God as persons and distinct in their manhood and womanhood (Gen 1:26-27, 2:18).

This cannot be overstated. There is no distinction in value or honor or worth between men and women. Both have been created in God’s image and for God’s glory. Women are neither superior nor inferior to men in God’s design. They are every bit as valuable to God and therefore ought to be every bit as valued by God’s people. At Grace Church we will not tolerate the devaluing of women, but we will let God determine what constitutes valuing them and what does not. You must keep this in mind as we work down these points. Differences in roles do not equal differences in value.

2. Distinctions in masculine and feminine roles are ordained by God as part of the created order, and should find an echo in every human heart (Gen 2:18, 21-24; 1 Cor. 11:7-9; 1 Tim 2:12-14).

God made men and women equal in value, but different—in some cases—in role. These differences were a part of God’s original, good creation and design. Grace, don’t miss this biblical reasoning—which is easy to do because it’s very different from how the culture around us thinks. Where the world says certain roles are valuable and, therefore, people gain value by filling those roles, God’s Word says that people are valuable and therefore roles gain value as we fill them well. Do you see the difference? One of the main objections to any such distinction between roles in men and women is that the roles of women, they argue, are inherently less valuable than those of men. Grace, again, we must understand that this the logic of our world, not the Bible. This point seeks to highlight the fact that God’s economy is different from the world’s.

3. Adam’s headship in marriage was established by God before the Fall, and was not a result of sin (Gen 2:16-18, 21-24, 3:1-13; 1 Cor. 11:7-9).

This point is mainly a clarification of the previous one. Some deny that the bible teaches any such distinction between roles of men and women. Other’s acknowledge the difference in role, but argue that the difference is the result of the Fall. Again, emphatically, the God-assigned role differences between men and women described in Scripture are not the result of sin. They were clearly taught to be a part of God’s good, original design.

For instance, even before the fall, God paradigmatically gave man to a task and women to help the man in his task, which he was incompetent to complete on his own. His glory is in the task and his inability to complete it. Her equal glory is in her help and the way in which she makes its completion possible.

The result of all of this, then, is that we ought to joyfully order our lives around the many things men and women have in common as God’s image bearers, but also around the distinct roles God has created us for. As the next point notes, though, although sin didn’t fundamentally change our value or roles, it did make delighting in them and fulfilling them much harder.

4. The Fall introduced distortions into the relationships between men and women (Gen 3:1-7, 12, 16).

As I just said, Genesis 3 makes clear the simple fact that sin makes the tasks of both men and women more difficult. What was meant to be produce joy and glory, now produces frustration and jealousy. The Danvers Statement authors note two examples:

a. In the home, the husband’s loving, humble headship tends to be replaced by domination or passivity; the wife’s intelligent, willing submission tends to be replaced by usurpation or servility.

Loving, humble headship is God’s design for men. Sin makes men fall left (into passiveness) or right (into domination), though. Similarly, willing, intelligent submission is God’s design for women. But sin makes women fall left (into wanting to lead herself) or right (into thoughtless slavery).

b. In the church, sin inclines men toward a worldly love of power or an abdication of spiritual responsibility, and inclines women to resist limitations on their roles or to neglect the use of their gifts in appropriate ministries.

Similarly, sin didn’t fundamentally change the roles of men and women in the church, but it did make them more contentious, confusing, and difficult.

5. The Old Testament, as well as the New Testament, manifests the equally high value and dignity which God attached to the roles of both men and women (Gen 1:26-27, 2:18; Gal 3:28). Both Old and New Testaments also affirm the principle of male headship in the family and in the covenant community (Gen 2:18; Eph 5:21-33; Col 3:18-19; 1 Tim 2:11-15).

What was made plain in the OT is reinforced and expanded on in the NT. We received shadows in the OT and gospel explanations in the NT. This fact reinforces the goodness and eternal nature of God’s design.

6. Redemption in Christ aims at removing the distortions introduced by the curse.

If my title for Titus is “The Gospel in Effect”. My subtitle is “Titus: The Small gospel Killer”. Here is another example of small-gospel-killing. This point highlights the fact that besides merely providing a way for people to have their sins forgiven, the Gospel also goes to work on killing sin and reversing its effects. Again, the Danvers people offer two examples.

a. In the family, husbands should forsake harsh or selfish leadership and grow in love and care for their wives; wives should forsake resistance to their husbands’ authority and grow in willing, joyful submission to their husbands’ leadership (Eph 5:21-33; Col 3:18-19; Tit 2:3-5; 1 Pet 3:1-7).

The gospel is accomplishing this in all Christian homes; even if painfully slowly.

b. In the church, redemption in Christ gives men and women an equal share in the blessings of salvation; nevertheless, some governing and teaching roles within the church are restricted to men (Gal 3:28; 1 Cor 11:2-16; 1 Tim 2:11-15).

This too is the gospel in effect. This too is being accomplished in every Christian church. What was created good and made difficult and distorted by the Fall is being renewed and restored by the cross of Jesus Christ.

7. In all of life Christ is the supreme authority and guide for men and women, so that no earthly submission-domestic, religious, or civil-ever implies a mandate to follow a human authority into sin (Dan 3:10-18; Acts 4:19-20, 5:27-29; 1 Pet 3:1-2).

Simply put, the Word of God is the standard for God’s people inside and outside of the church. Though God has given elders the authority to govern His Church, men and women alike are called to humbly and grievously reject any sinful charge from their elders; but to do so with a longing for them to repent in order that they may again joyfully and willingly submit themselves to their authority. Likewise, though God has placed the husband as head of his home, wives and children are never to follow their husbands or fathers into sin. When people in places of God-given authority step away from the authority of God, we must step away (again, in grief, not vindictiveness) from their authority until they repent. In short, God is the highest authority. Therefore, we must always submit to his authority above all others.

8. In both men and women a heartfelt sense of call to ministry should never be used to set aside Biblical criteria for particular ministries (1 Tim 2:11-15, 3:1-13; Tit 1:5-9). Rather, Biblical teaching should remain the authority for testing our subjective discernment of God’s will.

God has given His Word and His Church to help His people discern a call to ministry and to distinguish between the types of ministry appropriate for God’s people. When anyone—man or woman—feels called to ministry it must be tested against God’s Word and confirmed by God’s people. That is, a subjective sense of calling will never override Scripture’s teaching or be apart from the Church.

Should a man in an adulterous relationship, then, “feel called” to eldership, He ought to be swiftly rejected for the office on the authority of Titus and 1 Timothy. Similarly, should a women “feel called” to elder ministry, she ought to be swiftly rejected on the basis of the same texts. The man is disqualified on Biblically defined moral grounds; the woman on Biblically defined design grounds.

In both cases, we would do well to applaud the desire for the office—for God’s Word says that is a noble desire. However, rather than allow them into an office prohibited for them, we ought to help the man and women bring their sense of calling in line with God’s Word. We must help the man understand that if the “calling” is from God it is to repentance rather than eldership. Similarly, we must help the woman understand that if her sense of calling is truly from God it is probably for one of countless areas of ministry given for women. That’s the point of the next point.

9. With half the world’s population outside the reach of indigenous evangelism; with countless other lost people in those societies that have heard the gospel; with the stresses and miseries of sickness, malnutrition, homelessness, illiteracy, ignorance, aging, addiction, crime, incarceration, neuroses, and loneliness, no man or woman who feels a passion from God to make His grace known in word and deed need ever live without a fulfilling ministry for the glory of Christ and the good of this fallen world (1 Corinthians 12:7-21).

The point being: great ministry opportunities are open to men and women; indeed, most ministry opportunities are open to men and women. Sin would tempt us toward bitterness concerning the ones that aren’t open to us, but the gospel frees us from such temptation and opens our eyes to the glory of those that are.

10. We are convinced that a denial or neglect of these principles will lead to increasingly destructive consequences in our families, our churches, and the culture at large.

Finally, rejecting these affirmations is not merely a matter of preference or strategy. Like every rejection of God’s design, rejecting these teachings of God’s Word will always lead to harm. God’s plan isn’t arbitrary, it’s what is best. Only inside God’s design does God receive the glory he is due and do we find the fulfillment we were created for. God’s creatures reject God’s design to their own unhappiness and peril.

In short, all of this is simply meant to demonstrate the biblical principles that 1) men and women are created equal in honor and value and worth in God’s sight, 2) in some areas men and women are designed by God to fill different roles, and 3) all of this is the result of God’s love and grace and perfect plan to reflect the glory of His nature and gospel to the world.

 

God’s good design for Womanhood

Godly womanhood, then, embraces both the glory of being created in God’s image and the glory of the roles she was created for (as distinct from her brothers in Christ). We’ll look next week at the glory of the roles. I want to close, though, by briefly mentioning the uniqueness of the image of God in women as women. In other words, though men and women are both created in God’s image and for God’s glory, and though most of the ways we bare his image and glory are the same, there are also unique ways in which men as men and women as women bare God’s image and glory.

At Grace, we’ve tried to sum up the unique ways in which God has called women bear His image and glory in four characteristics.

1. Helpers (Genesis 2:18). Passages like Genesis 2:18 teach that women were created to be helpers in a unique way. They have a God-given desire to support, serve, and befriend (Proverbs 31:20). This means that God made women for a feminine kindness, care, helpfulness, thoughtfulness, and trustworthiness.
2. Passages like Proverbs 31 teach that women should consider their home as the center of ministry and be devoted to the well-being of their household. And this means developing a particularly feminine intelligence, industriousness, competence, creativity, wisdom, and preparedness.
3. Life-givers (Genesis 3:20). Passages like Genesis 3:20 refer to a distinct life-giving role of women. Women are called to bear fruit in all that they do. They are called to mother, model, and teach other women to lead Godly lives (Titus 2:3-5). Again, then, there is a uniquely feminine way in which women are to be nurturing, fruit-bearing, considerate and responsible.
4. Finally, passages like 1 Peter 3:3-4 and 1 Timothy 2:9-10 call women to be ladies; to adorn themselves with the imperishable beauty which is found in devotion to Christ. We need to learn that this kind of beauty flows out of a quiet and gentle heart. This means that women are femininely prayerful, gentle, gracious, careful and modest.

Again, these are one way to describe the uniqueness of godly womanhood. Healthy women’s ministries, therefore, acknowledge these, love these, and help women grow in them.

 

Conclusion

As I mentioned in the very beginning, sin has corrupted our appetites. What is truly beautiful can often seem ugly. What ought to feel fulfilling and satisfying can often seem demeaning and difficult. If you find, then, twinges of rejection (or outright rebellion to) the idea of a unique glory of womanhood, test these things against God’s Word. Let your feelings become subject to the will of God rather than the other way around.

Grace, in conclusion, as we continue to walk through the issue of women’s ministry I want to conclude by affirming a few things. First, on behalf of the elders it is our joy to begin working toward greater health in women’s ministry at Grace. Second, whatever women’s ministry ends up looking like at Grace, it will embrace all that Scripture teaches on the subject and ignore or dismiss none of it. And third, God’s love and God’s gospel are such that we can be absolutely certain that God is already working healthy women’s ministry in us. Amazing grace. Amen.