Retracing Our Footsteps, Part 1

That the woman being the keeper of her home is an old-fashioned concept, but it was uncommon even in Bible times.

Paul then to this culture is effectively managing the roles of mother and wife and a homemaker. People say wow you try to make women for they haven't studied their history wasn't their culture anymore than it's our is commanding them to do something that would be radically different than their culture against that culture on the role of women in the home. Do you think mothers should stay home with their kids or should they pursue a career. These questions are being hotly debated in the church today just as they were in Paul's day today were in Titus chapter 2 verse five, and Stephen has a message that he's calling retracing our footsteps, open your Bible, Stephen takes us to God's word next. I am about to deliver a message on one of the most politically incorrect passages you'll find in all of the New Testament. It's a passage that for the most part, the church has avoided in our generation by many leaders as well that several phrases are going to appear in our text for our study today that are literally loaded with emotional firework to create an immediate response predisposed in word response from the notions that you may have heard or widespread opinions you may have been influenced by may be in your own heart and life. It may be the way you feel. The majority of Christians in our world today have chosen to ignore the implications of this text, or chosen to explain them away or simply assign them to some time in a long, long ago, before society ever grew up is a loaded phrases going to appear in Titus chapter 2 when you preach expositional you go through books of the Bible verse by verse, you eventually get some of those verses that are no longer preached today. This is one of them. Paul is going to deliver to Titus some instruction to deliver through the older women to the young married women that they are to be arguing the phrases now they are to be workers at home and submissive to their own husbands, as I grabbed why we just going to Smith's okay. I mean, this raises eyebrows certainly outside the church that raises eyebrows inside the church now today the ideas presented by the apostle Paul on submission and homemaking are are viewed by the American culture. Certainly as relics you know from his past dinosaur age before we ever grew up when men used to drag their lives around by the hair and ate everything wrong and assist with this belong with Shirley Paul doesn't mean what we think he said and he certainly doesn't mean that for us 2000 years later the truth is a thinking we can categorically refer to as feminist thinking outside the church. And now, by the way, securely rooted inside the evangelical church certainly understands at face value what Paul means, which is why there's so much ink spilled on this text. One of the reasons the Bible is so troubling to them when you come to passages like these, we have all kinds of people doing all sorts of interpretive gymnastics to make Paul say something other than what he said one.

In fact, of the predominant one of Brahman offenders organizations called now the national organization for women has for decades, victims 1966 been effectively calling for an abandonment of exactly what were about the study they want the end of marriage which they view as slavery use terms like that. They want the end of motherhood that they have demanded that the corporation, the corporate world and the state and the educational system take on more and more of the responsibility of raising children their lobbying that marriage as an institution effectively and vectors.

One member of the European Union that introduce legislation a couple years ago didn't pass, but that marriage could be a seven year contract. The dinner seven years without any legal implications, you could break it up or you can re-up for another seven that's the generation we we we live in, largely because they equate any kind of marital submission to slavery. One member of the national organization. Women said that quote freedom for women cannot be one without the abolition of marriage nominal really helped too much of this meaner plenty meant to make this kind of conclusion easy, especially a woman it on the Lord and I'll explain where the battle began. In a few minutes. Some of you are old enough to remember the slogan that the rent on the US for quite a while.

That said, simply quote motherhood – just say no that one of the greatest successes that we have now inherited from the feminist movement. The legacy of the American feminist movement is the legal right granted to women to end the life of her pre-born baby regardless of the fact that even now secular science, medical science has conclusively proven that life begins for that baby long before birth and death that the throwing off of restraints, which has been part of the feminist agenda that that lack of restraint has not made men out of boys by the men had been all too willing to acclimate to the female culture of autonomy and independence and sexual freedom to me.

Why get married and have children anyway when you have the physical pleasures of marriage without a covenant of fidelity you can have the added income of two breadwinners and continues for the party lifestyle. Why settle down a little of what income and and raise our family to help it if the children ever do hit the radar. You can either abort them or go ahead and have them but then hand them off for over to someone else to raise so that you are minimally affected one actress who said a few years ago. You know I was never handicapped by children. Thus, our culture goes along believing that it is found what it really wants sexual freedom, individuality, autonomy, self-serving, all in the name of coming of age all in the name of of sophistication and maturity.

The story may be read when you're in elementary school by Hans Christian Anderson, where the Emperor was told by two weavers. They have the ability to make him an amazing suit of clothing would be so magnificent, however, and so beautiful that only the sophisticated would be able to see it only goes truly mature in their hearts, and course the Emperor. The law is to be able see sweet paintable quite a feeder to do it so they began to weave away spin away on imaginary shuttles and work with imaginary needles and imaginary thread in the Kingwood said leader after leader to report back to him on their progress and of course they wanted to be sophisticated and they would be able to see this and so they come back to thinking that's a whole it's it's back deficit. Can't believe how beautiful these closer going to look on you. Finally, the big day arrives when the Emperor paraded through the streets in his suit of clothing and no one wanted to be viewed as less than sophisticated, so everybody and God isn't that magnificent until he passed an innocent little boy who pointed at the Emperor and said he remembered the Emperor. What has no close the brakes and the parade and the procession, who will tell the truth about abortion and risk being cast outside the world of political and moral sophistication by saying they are actually taking the lives of real human living babies when you will say and be cast aside as some relic that to be rid of motherhood is to abandon the foundation of family and lose the greatest potential role of influence known on planet Earth will say and be viewed as some Victorian that a woman who throws away the constraint of the covenant of marriage is not going to be cherished by a world of man she is going to be exploited by a world of men, I thought I might say something about cohabitation abortion, freedom from the rigors of motherhood, the constraints of a covenant of purity fidelity look at our new clouds our society is been buying these suits of clothes in earnest for the past several decades and is been thinking of it but we like you mean it makes us feel so light makes us feel so unencumbered we we can even feel a breeze will course, you can your clothes and nothing more than your imagination.

The truth is, all the opinions and then the messages in the propaganda of our politically correct world are not making people more contented, more satisfied, healthier, happy, fulfilled the clothing of our world is at best the red bear infected the eyes of humanity could be opened all at once, like Adam and Eve they would discover all of a sudden that they are naked.

Even though everyone has said to close magnificent arches, something the dawning of Revelation brings the truth were naked. In spite of the advertisement and the propaganda in the endorsement and the applause our world outside of God's order and outside of God's design is still trying to cover up what it intuitively knows is its shame. So where you start to tell the world the truth. Start with us. Paul told Titus to go and organize the churches on the island of Crete. He didn't tell him to go order and organize the island of Crete to go organize the churches and he knew that an organized active committed to the gospel church would have people within it so committed that they would go out and infiltrate their culture like salt and tell their world the truth.

They would go out and they would impact their culture as they go around turning on the light pole is about to tell Titus to teach them to turn on the light as a relates to marriage and motherhood. Doesn't that just sound old-fashioned now because it is the world is going to be quick to jump in and a lot of evangelicals as well. To say that you know those are cultural ideas or lease part and parcel certain parcels of those are expressions that belong to the first century so we just sort of culturally assign them back 2000 years ago, so before we jump into the fireworks display.

Let me have you look back at verse one of chapter 2 in this letter to Titus, and I want you to notice how he sets the stage for everything is going to teach related older men older women younger women and younger men. He says in verse one, but you Titus in other words, all these false teachers are teaching is what you but as far you Titus is what I want you to teach. I want you to speak the things which are fitting for what sound doctrine. Would you notice Paul does not say Titus go and teach the things which are fitting for the culture of Crete. He doesn't say Titus what you going teach the things which are fitting for the first century. It fits them growing up yet know. He says teach those things because they happen to fit alongside of with sound doctrine and you don't tinker with doctrine. These are timeless truths of these truths are not only fitting for the first century. They are fitting for the 21st. Now, as Paul continues with the curriculum for young mothers and wives, which is the context here in verses four and five is going to effectively deliver through Titus three more distinctive characteristics that they are to model their lives after I think this is where it gets especially interesting in our culture.

Let's back up to verse three. Get a running start before you jump in the fireworks older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslave the much one teaching would you do this by the way, what is good yes or Lord good culture is saying that this is a good is not to be good pulses.

This is good she's good what's good pole.

Teach them younger wives and mothers, encourage them to what verse four love their husbands to love their children to be sensible.

Teach them to be workers at home, kind being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored so for the sake of an alimony order.

This way Paul is giving instruction to younger wives and mothers regarding their priority, their mentality and their humility. I want you to notice.

First of all her priority.

Paul writes teach them to be workers at home. What is that mean workers at home is a compound original word combining the word for house boycotts in the Aragon work task we get our word ergonomics from the Greek word home task or home makers home worker. The wife and mother, then, is to expend her energy primarily at home. One author wrote it this way to maintain a nested haven for her children and her husband obviously not in this context he is writing to younger mothers who we did have younger children. Some translations render this phrase keepers at home and some would say well if she's to be the keeper at home and that means she must be kept at home. Whatever you do don't let her out. She getting it is meant to limit she's chained to the kitchen sink 0678 crying children at her feet. Paul did mean that the only place a wife and mother can work is in the home within those four walls and that roof infected.

Just go back and think about what he would've been saying to them that wife would've worked in the garden and in the barn in the field and with other women in other fields at times to help in the community and other community events and then the church for a variety of needs for go study the Proverbs 31 woman and you discover that she is. She is interviewing and hiring her own household staff of life is often joke with me honey, I'd be a much more virtuous woman if you'd let me have a household staff she's out there bartering in the market.

Tradesmen she's negotiating real estate deals. She's expanding the land and the rotation of crop. She's even going out of her way to go out and find the poor who need assistance. She is chained to the kitchen sink. The family isn't her only focus and I'm concerned with the other extreme that the families become an idol that is in her only focus, but it is her primary focus she pauses and was defining the only place a wife and mother were what is the findings that the home is the number one place is the number one priority for her energy and for her effort for her work in Paul, then to this culture is effectively commending the roles of mother and wife and homemaker, which was the opposite of what the cretin culture was all about.

Back then the people say well you know you just try to make women fit into the culture they haven't studied their history was in their culture anymore than the tires he's commending them to do something that would be radically different than their culture and he started out by saying, look, this fit sound doctrine so you haven't heard before, and it happens to be good even though it's the toughest thing on the planet. The home is the place with the mother virtually impacts every member of society, where they learn to respect authority in the learned virtues and they learn relational skills and they learn compassion and honesty and a work ethic and and above all, the application of biblical truth to life appointed to God no matter what the Emperor says no matter what the subject around you are saying this is good. Wonder though. There's so much pressure for young wives and mothers. No wonder the pressure is so great inside and outside to adopt the ungodly precepts of radical feminism, which believe that wives and mothers who are at home are second-class to me. You just missed the bus people are really out of date and out of touch. Your staff at that the enormity of the pressure, the culture at that that the pressure and perhaps even Osman who wants that added a stream of revenue no matter what their own fallen nature and desires and Alyssa wants to go on and on in the reserve that holds them back from the rigors of that kind of commitment between the pressure is on to leave the home, not just women but men, why would Elijah's ministry was summarized in a ministry that will happen at the end of human history as we know it is going to turn the hearts of the fathers back home. The pressures on the leave the home. The woman who is the anchor the foundation of that haven especially pressured to leave it. My research I read one article entitled the new breadwinners which gave the statistics of incredible rise of mothers of young children that working full-time jobs outside their home. You imagine the statistic in 1967. The percentage of young mothers with young children working full-time outside the home was 10% nine were home. One was working outside the today that number is approaching 40% and the rise of daycare than over the past 30 years, especially is matched the alteration of the home in our world as we once knew it. Today there are 12 million infants and toddlers cared for at daycare centers of the rate of nearly 40 hours a week.

Obviously we live in an imperfect world only their reasons mothers may have to work for season may be several years and maybe economic reasons. I fear most of it is simply to keep up with the Joneses to match the living standard of our culture, but there may be a mom.

Single mom raising her children must work outside the home, divorced women who are providing for family women whose husbands have died or are disabled and unable to work, who may be imprisoned or left the family and is unwilling to pay any kind of support for the children. It could be wives who are without children or his children have grown with your obligations to keeping the home more time available. She and her husband may agree as they study and prayer talk it through that she may choose a job outside to work in some ministry perhaps or or the church or an organization or school or hospital or maybe pick up the career she set aside in order to focus as a priority, especially while they were young, but let's not put on our blinders and buying into this cultural full court press for couples to simply raise their standard of living at the expense of God given priority which I fear is the majority of cases, their God-given responsibility responsibility by the language is really short-lived.

I me parenting little ones, especially won't last long. It seems like it will last forever. But before you know it it's over it's over. My wife was cleaning. I was just crazy. She showed me what she found this plastic guitar but that long orange little plastic strings little blue wanted to. I got it wrong. I thought we got a will and one of her daughters was a preschooler, but no it was it was it goes all the way back to the twins off for them.

Work that thing over Strom did plated it each other over the head with it what whatever she said honey. We gotta put this up somewhere. I said absolutely. What a treasure to see that and and to remember and it's over. I can I thought was interesting to read the national Institute of Child health and human development unnecessarily the most biblical organization on the planet but they been conducting a $100 million investigation they've tracked 1100 children from birth through preschool $100 million to track and identify behavioral issues and and maturity developmental issues and all of it are those children that have been in day care, the level of 30 to 40 hours a week they found that over 30 hours brings on significant issues, but here's a secular organization writing and I quote, we have found that the total number of hours a child is without apparent primarily their mother from birth through preschool.

The number of hours away or without apparent matters hundred million dollars to find out if I would've been willing to tell them that for only $1 million. Paul is teaching but even even a secular society can pick up the home is being Paul tells these believers. In the first century and the 21st century.

The opposite effect. This is what we need to do is we need to focus a spotlight stop a little bit flawed.

Praise the subjects: motherhood and marriage. We have to do is retrace our steps back home. The apostle Paul taught that it was a come in double and noble pursuit to be home caring for teaching and raising the children God's blessed you with. God wants women to see motherhood is a noble pursuit, not a compromise there's more to this message board close to the end of our time so will pause here for today will bring you the second half of this message on our next broadcast. This is wisdom for the heart with Stephen Devi. You can learn more about us and interact with us@wisdomonline.org.

Today's message was called retracing our footsteps home. Stephen has a book that dives deeper into the marriage relationship as described and defined in God's word. The book is called for better or for worse.

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