The Ministry of Motherhood (Titus 2:1-5)
Big Idea: Motherhood is a God-given calling to teach, love, and shape the next generation with faith and care.
It is exactly 90 years since Mother's Day was first celebrated on May 10, 1908. The idea started with a woman named Anna Jarvis. Three years after her mother's death on the second Sunday of May, she invited friends over to propose an annual nationwide celebration called Mother's Day.
She wrote to the Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia, where her mother had been a member for years, proposing a service to honor mothers. So, on May 10, 1908, the first Mother's Day service was held in Grafton, where the minister's text was John 19:26-27:
When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son," and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.
Miss Jarvis presented every mother in the congregation with a carnation, her own mother's favorite flower. The idea began to take off. The U.S. House of Representatives quickly passed a Mother's Day resolution, but it stalled in the Senate. Miss Jarvis began one of the most energetic letter-writing campaigns in history. She wrote to congressmen, mayors, business leaders, and ministers throughout the country. Soon everyone was celebrating an unofficial Mother's Day. In 1914, the Senate approved a resolution, and President Woodrow Wilson declared the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day.
That's not the end of the story. Anna Jarvis became disappointed in the commercialism of the occasion. She began to launch lawsuit after lawsuit against any company that tried to profit from Mother's Day. Her lawsuits all failed, she exhausted her savings, lost her home, and was forced to seek public assistance. In 1948, she died a childless and unhappy recluse. But let's thank God for Anna Jarvis and Mother's Day. Those of us who still have our mothers with us, or are mothers ourselves, realize how blessed we are. Many of us, whether our mothers are still with us or have passed, wish we could give them one more carnation and take them out to dinner.
I agree with the author who wrote:
The Mom Ministry is one of the toughest assignments God ever gave anybody. She's got to be as insightful as a psychologist, tough as a marine corps drill instructor, gentle as a nurse. She's got to be a labor and management negotiator, a teacher, an electrician, a plumber and a carpenter. It requires an endless supply of energy, a massive amount of patience, an iron will and recognition of the fact that if she gets sick, she's got to get well before the end of the school day. (Norman Bales, All About Families ministry)
And yet the ministry of motherhood has been derogated in recent decades. Some women pursue careers after becoming mothers, but it's concerning that many view motherhood or parenting as a lesser role. Dr. Grace Ketterman writes:
Perhaps the most urgent need of our era is the restoration of the high value of godly mothering…. Those of us who cherish biblical values must teach and practice them consistently. Those of us who are mothers must see that responsibility as a high privilege. We must reclaim our role as the shapers and supporters of the next generation of leaders and parents.
Let's read Titus 2:1-5 together:
You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine. Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance. Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God. (Titus 2:1-5)
Three Ministries
In this passage we discover three important ministries of the godly women.
The first ministry that the godly woman is to pursue is the ministry of teaching.
Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. (Titus 2:3)
Paul instructs those of you who are more mature women to teach the younger women "what is good." He emphasizes that older women serve as examples of Christian living, helping to teach younger women how to be godly. Right living and right teaching always go hand in hand.
I thought there might be some confusion in your minds over who is an older woman and who is a younger woman. You can know you're an older woman if you see younger women, especially mothers, taking certain courses of action, and you say, "Tsk, tsk. In my day we wouldn't have done things that way!" You'll notice I didn't say you're an old woman – you're just older than the young women! Did you know that, according to the Bible, you play a key role in mentoring and teaching younger women about being godly? In some ways, you are to mother and mentor the younger women. And what good things will you teach them?
Read verses 4 and 5:
Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God. (Titus 2:4-5)
Godly women have the ministry of teaching. But that's not the only ministry they have.
The second ministry of a godly woman is the ministry of love.
Older women are encouraged to teach, while young godly women are called to love their husbands and children. If there is one thing that is necessary within our homes today, it is love – love not just from wives, but from men and children alike. The call here is for wives to continue to love their husbands and children. This is not a passive, mushy feeling. The call is to a love of action.
One of the ministries of a godly woman is to love her husband. As the husband of a godly woman, I can say that receiving her biblical love is incredibly encouraging and uplifting. Our society has allowed the love relationship to falter to a lifestyle that says, "I will if you will." Paul describes love as a commitment that involves daily sacrifice, rather than one based on reciprocity. Ultimately, it is a love based on love for God.
It might seem obvious, but younger godly women are also to love their children. Once again, we have allowed the present culture to decide what love is, and it is usually love when convenient. In their book, What Every Child Needs, Elisa Morgan and Carol Kuykendall discuss nine basic needs of children and how to fulfill them through love.
- Security: a hold-me-close love
- Affirmation: a crazy-about-me love
- Belonging: a fit-me-into-the-family love
- Discipline: a give-me-limits love
- Guidance: a show-me-and-tell-me love
- Respect: a let-me-be love
- Play: a play-with-me love
- Independence: a let-me-grow-up love
- Hope: a give-me-hope love.
You see, only God's love supersedes the love of a mother. The greatest priority in the home should be love. Success in the home is never gauged by the incoming of money and stuff, but by love. The greatest success story in the home is that we love one another. Wives, love your husbands and children.
Godly women have the ministry of teaching and of loving. There's more:
The third ministry of a godly woman is the ministry of building.
...to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God. (Titus 2:5)
Paul lists what appears to be a grocery list of qualities the younger woman is to exemplify. Most of us wouldn't argue with the portion about being "self-controlled and pure" and "kind." But the part about being "busy at home" and "subject to their husbands" is decidedly politically incorrect.
In my study of the Bible, I've never found a passage that commands men to do the yard work and to take out the garbage, and women to clean, cook, and do laundry. I have read a lot about husbands and wives loving, submitting to, and sacrificing for one another. I think we detect in this passage a difference between being a house builder and a homemaker. One builds the physical structure of a house, and the other builds the lives of those who live in the house.
Phil Ware of Heartlights' 2 Minute Meditations eloquently describes motherhood as "soul craft," noting that "Mothers partner with God in shaping children into adults prepared and equipped to serve Him." Consider Timothy's example and the powerful influence of godly maternal guidance. Scripture affirms this legacy: "I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also" (2 Timothy 1:5). Nurturing faithful children builds a spiritual inheritance that passes eternal truths through generations.
My grandmother spent hours on her knees praying for her children and grandchildren. She exemplified the qualities of a godly woman. And all four of her children, all ten of her grandchildren, and so far all of her great-grandchildren, are walking with the Lord. Ministry moms, never let the world conform you to think your role as a mother is not worth it. Don't let the success stories of the world conform you to think your role as a mother is not worth it. Don't let the success stories of women in the world deflate your divine calling. Your status is with the Lord.
A mother was asked in a county clerk's office what her job is. She replied, "I am a mother." "Mother" was not an acceptable job description. So she wrote:
I'm…a Research Associate in the field of Child Development and Human Relations… I have a continuing program of research (what mother doesn't?) in the laboratory and in the field (normally I would have said indoors and out). I'm working for my Master's (for a whole family) and already have four credits (all daughters). Of course, the job is one of the most demanding in the humanities (any mother care to agree?) and often I work 14 hours a day (24 is more like it). But the job is more challenging than most run-of-the-mill careers and the rewards are in satisfaction rather than just money.
Moms, you are homemakers, soul crafters, and builders of lives. It is a divine calling from God.
Adapted from a message by R. AuBuchon Jr.
