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
Kathleen Nielson (in Word Filled Women’s Ministry, p.19) asks,
What pictures do the words “women’s ministry” bring to mind? We come from different contexts, all of us. Some will picture a small circle of jean-clad women gathered at a friend’s kitchen table or maybe sitting on folding chairs in a church meeting room. Others will recall crucial conversations one-to-one at a local coffee shop. Others will think of regular visits by a younger woman to an older one too feeble to leave her cramped, old-photo-filled apartment. Others will be carried back to times of crisis, with a few women gathered in a friend’s living room, prayers and tears flowing. Others will see lovely teas with flowers on tablecloths and perfumed women dressed in colors that match the flowers. For some, the scene may be a church kitchen, where women with flushed, focused faces are wearing oven mitts to handle steaming pans. Others may envision classrooms, with women leaning over chattering children in little chairs around low tables, or auditoriums filled with rows of attentive women listening to a woman up front standing behind a podium. And others will have entirely different sets of pictures—these are just a few from my set!
So, Grace, what do you think of when you think of women’s ministry? Where do those thoughts come from? If you could personally design the women’s ministry at Grace, what would it look like? What things would happen and what things wouldn’t? Who would be involved and who wouldn’t? How do we know if our picture of, and desires for, women’s ministry are good and honoring to God?
Titus 2:3-5 forces us to ask and answer some of these questions—which we began to do last week. Probably the most defining paragraph of the sermon from last week was this:
We will never be able to rightly understand specific questions about, or applications of, women’s ministry (like those presented in Titus 2:3-5) 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.
Consistent with the conviction explained in that paragraph, on our way to understanding Titus 2:3-5, we looked last week at biblical womanhood (specifically at the fact that for His glory and our good, God designed men and women equal in value and honor and worth as his image bearers, but distinct—in some cases—in role and in how we bare God’s image). This week, then, before looking (next week) at women’s ministry in practice, we are going to look at what God’s Word says about women’s ministry in principle.
My aim for this morning is simple: to describe the biblical boundaries of a God-honoring women’s ministry. Likewise, my prayer for this morning is simple as well: that you would feel the safety provided by these boundaries and the unique freedom of functioning inside of them. Would you please join me in praying for God to work those things (and more) in and through us this morning?
Woman’s ministry in principle
Unfortunately, in our current culture, the focus of women’s ministry discussions tends to be detached from Scripture altogether on one hand, or on what ministries Scripture has reserved for men (and prohibited for women) on the other. The overall picture of women’s ministry painted in God’s Word, however, is one of boundaries of protection designed to provide the safety and guidance necessary for a ministry of richness and abundance and fruitfulness and value and freedom.
Claire Smith notes (WFWM, 60) that the women in the bible played significant ministry roles.
They played a role in the formation of assemblies and acted as hostesses in homes where believers met. They spoke in tongues, prayed, and prophesied, and they demonstrated great industry and charity (Acts 9:36-41). Phoebe was a servant of the church and a patron, who probably gave financial, material, and administrative assistance (Rom. 16:1-2). Priscilla, and her husband, privately instructed Apollos (Acts 18:26). Widows showed hospitality, washed the saints’ feet, and cared for the afflicted (1 Tim. 5:10). Women were “fellow workers” with Paul, presumably in the work of the gospel, and risked their lives for Christ. Others traveled, labored, or were imprisoned. Still others sent or received Christian greetings or received letters.
There is the ministry of women as wives and mothers. Timothy’s grandmother Lois and mother, Eunice, raised him to love the Lord and know the Scriptures (2 Tim. 1:5; 3:14-15). The worthy widows in Ephesus had been faithful to their husbands and raised their children well (1 Tim. 5:9). Paul even received motherly care from Rufus’s mother (Rom. 16:13).
All over the New Testament there are women doing ministry, and that’s before we even get to all those descriptions of Christians in general!
Indeed, as Cindy Cochrum writes (WFWM, 100),
The cost of neglecting the giftedness of women in the local church is far-reaching. Not only will we miss the beauty and joy of a healthy, well-functioning body, but the church will also slowly weaken. The body of Christ is filled with capable women who are eager to serve Christ in the context of the local church, serving under the authority of church leadership. When these women bring their voices and unique gifts to their own communities of believers, the church becomes more and more effective.
I’ve loved reading these women (and others) speak about women’s ministry over the past weeks. Their heart for bringing the Word and the gospel to bear on women is encouraging and convicting. It’s encouraging because I see many women at Grace who share their heart and burden and intelligence and love for God’s Word and gospel and people. And it’s convicting because there is much work to be done to improve the health of our women’s ministry at Grace.
All of this leaves us, once again, with the question of what women’s ministry is meant to be. What does Scripture have to say about God-honoring women’s ministry? Or, to ask it another way, what are the boundaries of women’s ministry? Or, to ask it another way still, what is women’s ministry in principle?
After much study and prayer, it seems clear to me that a healthy women’s ministry—the kind described by Claire Smith and Cindy Cochrum and the NT authors—includes at least the following six clearly taught biblical boundaries or principles. Outside of them (which is where the world around us spends most of their time) is danger and difficulty and struggle. But inside of them there is great joy and freedom and fruitfulness. Let’s briefly consider each of these six boundaries.
1. God’s Word is the standard for all things (including women’s ministry).
We saw this in the sermon last week. Simply, “All Scripture is breathed out by God” and therefore it alone is wholly and fully “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man [and woman] of God may be competent, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
Whatever the other boundaries of women’s ministry are, God’s Word alone is authoritative for setting them.
2. God’s glory is the goal of all things (including women’s ministry).
This too we saw last week. Everything—birds and stars and mushrooms and laughter and food and drink and sports and clothes and babies and poems and music and marriage and hair and government and economics and friendships and suffering and pain and puppies and women’s ministries—exist for the purpose of displaying the glory of God to God and to all of His creation.
Whatever else might be said about women’s ministry, it, along with all things, exists ultimately for God’s glory.
3. Ministry (including women’s ministry) is the process of making disciples because of our love for God and people.
The point here is that women’s ministry is a branch of the Church’s larger tree of ministry. It is not a separate tree altogether. That is, women’s ministry, like all Christian ministry, aims at making disciples in love. In other words, it is not as if Christian ministry is about making disciples and women’s ministry is about planning events or even studying the bible. And it’s not as if Christian ministry is motivated by love and women’s ministry is motivated by making sure women have good relationships or meeting the felt needs of the women of the church. Again, Christian ministry (and all of its branches) is, by its very nature, about making disciples in love. And women’s ministry, by its very nature, then, is loving disciple-making which focuses on the unique roles and Divine image bearing of women.
The uniqueness of women’s ministry, then, is not in the fact that it has a different purpose or motivation (from Christian ministry in general), but in the fact that it focuses on the unique aspects of feminine discipleship (helping women become ladies, helpers, managers, and life-givers) and on the unique disciple-making roles assigned to women by God (which we’ll see in a bit).
4. God has assigned and restricted certain aspects of women’s ministry to/from certain people.
The following four groups have been assigned specific roles in women’s ministry, for instance.
The first group is parents. Women’s ministry is meant to begin in the home. Parents in general (Proverbs 22:6), and father’s specifically (Ephesians 6:4), are charged to help their daughters trust and grow in Christ. All girls are future women and, therefore, one key component of parenting girls is training them to be godly women. That is, one key component to parenting girls is engaging in women’s ministry. In most cases, the health of a church’s women’s ministry will never be greater than the health of the parent’s ministry to their daughters. Parents, this means you must be clear on the gospel and on God’s good design for women. Imparting (through teaching, example, and prayer) is the very definition of parenting a girl and the very beginning of women’s ministry.
The second group is the Church in general. Most of women’s ministry in a healthy church won’t happen under the banner of women’s ministry. The elders are charged with the sound preaching and teaching of God’s Word to the women of Grace (2 Timothy 4:12). Your brothers and sisters in Christ in your DG are charged with joyfully encouraging you as women of God (1 Thessalonians 5:11). All the saints are charged to faithfully gather with you on the Sabbath (Hebrews 10:25). The young people are charged with setting an example of godliness for women (1 Timothy 4:11). The entire church is charged with constantly praying for the women of Grace (1 Thessalonians 5:17). All of these things come together to minister to women and are necessary for any measure of health in a woman’s-specific ministry. All of these things are women’s ministry. Let’s rise up, Church. Let’s take our charge seriously and joyfully work in the power of the Spirit at growing the women of Grace in grace.
The next group is husbands. Among a husband’s most significant women’s ministry charges are: loving their wife as Christ loves the church (Ephesians 5:25), working toward their wife’s sanctification (Ephesians 5:26-27), and explaining God’s Word to their wife (1 Corinthians 14:35). More than most realize, husbands are tasked with significant women’s ministry—this is an essential part of what it means for a husband to be a functioning head of his wife. Men, husbands, we need to repent of the sinful notion that women’s ministry to our wife is primarily someone else’s job. We too need, perhaps above all, to understand the gospel and God’s good design for women. Young men, I admonish you: you are not ready to get married until you understand these things for they are, once again, at the very heart of what it means to be a husband to your wife.
Lastly, as our text makes clear, and as we’ll look at in depth next week, older women have been given a specific charge by God to engage in women’s ministry, particularly with the younger women of the Church.
The beauty of the fact that multiple groups have been charged with specific aspects of women’s ministry is that where sin robs women of one, God uses the others to make up for any loss. Women, your parents might not have ministered well to you in your youth, but God has given you a godly church to come alongside you. Your husband may not be ministering to you well, but God has given you a church to reach out to him or discipline him and older women to help you grow.
Those four groups have been assigned specific women’s ministry roles. As the heading indicates, though, there are also some restrictions placed on women’s ministry. Specifically, there are two areas of women’s ministry that women are restricted from: teaching men and having authority over men (2 Timothy 2:12).
As I noted earlier, while this gets much of the press in our culture (unfortunately, even within the church), it is not the focus of Scripture. And when it is, it is not cast in a negative light. Rather, as we saw last week, it is cast in the bright and warm light of God’s good design.
In reflecting on 2 Timothy (2:12 in particular), Susan Hunt writes (in Women’s Ministry in the Local Church),
The directive “I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man” (v. 12) is not an attempt to demean women. The Greek word that is translated “authority” means judicial or governing authority; so it refers to the authoritative preaching of the Word. Paul is teaching a biblical ecclesiology that reflects the creation order, thus reflecting the character of God, thus reflecting the gospel.
Paul did not patronize women by pussyfooting around this issue. He gave them credit for understanding that submission has nothing to do with status. Submission is about function. Equality of being and differentiation of function characterize the Trinity. The Persons of the Godhead are “the same in substance, equal in power and glory,” but each has a different function in the accomplishment of our salvation…
In other words, there are certain aspects of women’s ministry that are not open to women. However, they are not restricted because of any incompetence on the part of women. Rather, it is because God created men as men and women as women for the purpose of imaging forth the gospel of Jesus Christ. These restrictions, then, are in place not to punish or demean, but to maintain the image they were created to display.
The key to this entire point is that if we are to have a truly healthy women’s ministry, one that is pleasing to God and helpful to the Church, we must all learn to love and embrace our roles in women’s ministry. What’s more, we cannot allow anyone to abdicate or alter their God-given charge. It is only when God’s people are joyfully functioning as God designed us to that we can experience the true beauty and joy and power of the Church to help us grow more like Jesus.
And this means, then, that while you may be tempted to think of what we need to add at Grace for a more effective women’s ministry, probably, initially what we need more is to help those charged with particular aspects of women’s ministry to recognize and embrace their charge and then train them to fulfill it.
5. The local church is the primary context in which ministry (including women’s ministry) is meant to take place.
God has given the local church for the purpose of making disciples of all people—including women.
Cindy Cochrum writes, (WFWM, 105), “As a community of grace-filled believers comes together in a local church ,a powerful bonding takes place. Brothers and sisters in Christ filled with the same Spirit unite under shared theology, church governance, and a commitment to one another. In spite of our different personalities, tastes, ages, economic standing, and so forth, we come together by God’s grace and through the power of his Spirit to worship our God, to build up our brothers and sisters, and to show the love of Jesus to the world.”
Where the worldliness in us causes us to want to avoid letting anyone really get to know us, avoid making any real commitments, and avoid placing ourselves under any real authority, God’s Words commands God’s people to all of these things within the context of the church, for our good and His glory.
This means, then, that the local church ought to be the primary champion of women’s ministry and the women who are engaged in it; training and releasing them to use their God-given gifts for the glory of God and the good of His people.
Again, Cindy Cochrum writes (WFWM, 101), “Just as women have a responsibility to use their gifts in the local church, so church leaders have a responsibility to welcome their sisters into areas of service within the church where their gifts can be well used.”
Let’s pause and marvel together at all God means to accomplish in and through his church—including women’s ministry. Women, you are meant to joyfully seek to bring all your ministry endeavors under the protective and supportive leadership of the elders. You are meant to make your prayer requests known to the church. You are meant to seek to minister to other women in ways that are complimentary to the rest of the ministries of the church. You are meant to find accountability within God’s people. And again, all of this is meant to be life-giving and joyful and grace-filled. It’s meant to help you and make your ministry to women even more fruitful.
6. The gospel is the foundation, fuel, and fruit of all ministry (including women’s ministry).
Finally, we must never forget that the gospel—the good news that Jesus Christ died on the cross in our place, to pay the penalty for our sins, to reconcile us with God, to bring us back into fellowship and obedience with God and one another, and to empower us to live as we were created to live—is the only, but certain, hope of women’s ministry. Women’s ministry works because of Christ’s work on the cross. In this sense, the gospel is the foundation of women’s ministry.
The gospel is also the fuel for women’s ministry. That is, resting in the good news that we are God’s children, with God’s favor, and intended by God to be instruments of grace and redemption to the world—including women—is what ought to drive our women’s ministry efforts. The gospel is what enables us to minister to women who are unreceptive or unappreciative or otherwise challenging. The gospel is what enables us to persevere even when it seems like our labor isn’t bearing any fruit. And the gospel is what enables us to remain humble even when God does see fit to draw women to Himself through our efforts.
And the gospel is the fruit of women’s ministry. If women’s ministry is working in a local church, the fruit of it is that women are increasingly loving and living in the good news of Jesus Christ. The fruit is that women are being transformed by the gospel into ever increasing Christlikeness. The fruit is that the gospel takes hold in women and they are thereby compelled to spread the gospel to the ends of the earth.
The gospel is the beginning, middle, and end of women’s ministry. It rescues women from their sin. It brings women into the presence and pleasure of God. It enables women to walk in joyful righteousness. It is what reconciles the broken relationships of women with others. And the gospel in all its fullness is the great reward of all women.
With all of this, please notice: Scripture doesn’t command any particular women’s ministry activities or events and it does not command any particular women’s ministry gathering or leadership structure (outside of the leadership structure of the local church). Instead, as we just saw, it primarily describes several women’s ministry boundaries. In other words, before we ever get to the activities of women’s ministry (and we will), which tend to dominate women’s ministry discussions, we first need to learn and love and implement these boundaries. Once this happens, and only once this happens, free to use all of the creativity and wisdom and gifts that God has given us to plan events and activities appropriate for bearing much fruit in our local ministry context.
Conclusion
There you have it. Women’s ministry in principle. This is not, of course, everything that could be said about women’s ministry. It is, however, a simple description of the boundaries of women’s ministry.
As I mentioned in the very beginning, my prayer is that you would feel the safety provided by these boundaries and the unique joy and freedom of functioning inside of them.
The safety I mean is safety from seeking your satisfaction in hollow things, missing the calling of God and design for your life, doing right things in wrong places, looking for strength in places it is not meant to be found, and, ultimately, inside these boundaries is safety from ordering your life in ways that are outside of God’s will and, therefore, destructive.
The freedom I mean is freedom for a life of fulfillment and joy and fruitfulness and purpose and meaning and godly relationships and godly endeavors and, ultimately, for a life that is pleasing to God and, therefore, life-giving.
May this increasingly mark all of God’s people, including us at Grace. To God be the glory. Amen.