Reduction of Elders: What Might God be Saying? Part 5

Introduction: The Context of Elder Attrition and the Triangle of Principles

0:00 The following message was delivered on February 7, 1993, in the Adult Sunday School class of the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. We extend a special welcome to those who may be visiting among us today, particularly some who are here as a result of their coming into the area in connection with the lovely wedding that was conducted here on Friday night in which we saw Carla Gotworth and Glenn Wilking united in marriage. Now, especially for the sake of our visitors, that you'll not be hopelessly lost and have to discover three-quarters of the way through our study precisely what we are doing.

0:49 During this interim period, when Pastor Lamar Martin was laid aside in the providence of God with triple bypass surgery, I have been leading the adult class, and we have been engaged in seeking to answer from the scriptures this very pressing, relevant question in the life of Trinity Baptist Church, namely, what may God be saying to us as a church in the light of the attrition in our leadership, particularly at the eldership level? And we have tried to set forth what I am calling the triangle of biblical principles by which to assess the providence of God,

1:35 and we have set forth each week the basic elements in that triangle. First of all, the knowledge that everything that transpires in time, in any realm, is but the outworking of the decree and purpose of God. He works all things after the counsel of his own will, And therefore, the second principle inevitably follows that God alone, both comprehensively and infallibly, knows his purposes in his providence. God sometimes weaves a thread of providence into the life of an individual or a church, the end of which will never be seen until we reach the other side.

2:20 Sometimes the end of it is not seen for years. Remember Joseph. Who would have thought that that very dark, rough thread of providence that put him in a pit had along the way at the other end of it, Joseph on the throne, being the one through whom God would keep alive the promised seed of his people. So God alone infallibly and comprehensively understands his purposes in providence, but we learn from the scriptures that Christians ought prayerfully and humbly to seek to discern from the scriptures the purposes of God in his providential dealings with them.

Review of Congregational Suggestions for God's Call

3:03 James chapter 1 is a watershed passage teaching that fundamental truth. And so in the spirit of humility and dependence upon God and with our eyes glued to his word, we have been attempting to understand what God may be saying to us. And you as a class came forward with no fewer than eight specific things that God may be saying to us, And we couched them all in the language of a call, that is, the providential dealings of God being a summons to us in various areas. You brought forward the fact that this could well be, or the suggestion that this could well be a call to recognize afresh the sovereign activity of God in the giving and removing of leadership.

3:57 And we looked at Psalm 75, Acts chapter 12, and Acts chapter 13. Secondly, you suggested that it could be a call to reaffirm our unswerving, uncompromising commitment to biblical standards of leadership. That certainly whatever God is saying to us through the attrition in our leadership, He is not calling us to lower the non-negotiable biblical standards for leadership. We must not in our desperation lower the standard in order to swell our ranks.

4:34 That would be to imbibe the spirit of the nation that said, we want a king. And God says, all right, I'll give you a king after your own desires. And they suffered for it. Then thirdly, you brought forward the fact or the suggestion that this could be a call to repudiate any fleshly confidence in men.

4:54 When God rattles our cage in terms of removing men who have been used of God in our lives, it is a call to cease from man whose breath is in his nostrils. Fourthly, you suggested that this could be a call to intensified prayer for wisdom as we respond to this providence. James 1 and verse 5. Fifth, a call to recognize and repudiate any incipient party spirit.

5:26 And you brought forward that issue from 1 Corinthians chapter 3. Sixth, some suggested it could be a call to mortify a sinful complacency or a taking for granted the leadership we have had. and to recognize afresh, 1 Corinthians 4, 7, what have we that we did not receive? And then in the seventh place, one suggested that this could be a call to the existing eldership to focus on their more explicit duty to this local church, Acts 20 and verse 28.

The Eighth Call: Members Actively Engaged in Ministry (Ephesians 4)

6:04 And then one suggested that this could be a call to the members of this assembly to become more actively engaged in ministry one to another and in reaching out more aggressively into our community. In other words, it was suggested that perhaps we have unconsciously developed a kind of professional mentality that if there is ministry to be performed within the body or in aggressive evangelism, leave it to the elders. And when we came to that eighth suggestion as to what God may be saying to us, we have part on that. And you as a class have, with Ephesians 4, verses 1 to 16, and verses 11 and 12 in particular,

6:58 as the touchstone or the point of reference for our thinking, you have been bringing to the class in response to this question, what are the ministries that believers are to perform one to another, for which he gives pastors and teachers that they might be equipped. You have brought forward two pivotal passages, and we've spent an entire class time examining these passages, 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 15, in which the brethren are addressed in distinction from the leaders who are mentioned in the previous verses, the rank and file of the brethren in the Thessalonian assembly are clearly addressed in verse 14.

7:50 We exhort you, brethren, admonish the disorderly, encourage the faint-hearted, support the weak, be long-suffering toward all. And then last week we looked at Hebrews 3, verses 12 through 14, in which again the rank and file of the brethren are addressed in this exhortation. Take heed, brethren, lest happily there should be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief in falling away from the living God, but exhort one another day by day so long as it is called today, lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

8:37 For we are become partakers of Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end. And perhaps we could add to that exhortation as an extension of it, if not a parallel with it, Hebrews 10, verses 23 to 25, let us hold fast the confession of our hope that it waver not, there's the exhortation to personal spiritual endeavor, to hold fast the confession of our hope, for he is faithful that promised, but here is the responsibility we have to one another, let us consider one another to provoke not unto sin but unto love and good works,

9:30 not forsaking our own assembling together as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the day drawing nigh. Now, since we have only three class periods left, It's obvious that at this rate we wouldn't get through anything that even approached touching the major ministries which the people of God are to have one to another if we went at the rate we've been going until now. So as I prayerfully considered how best to invest these remaining three class periods before Pastor Lamar takes up again our verse-by-verse studies in the book of 1 John, I thought what we would do is, since I'm assuming many more of you have done your homework, and I even promised someone the first shot today,

Category 1: Tailor-Made, Verbal, Practical, and Attitudinal Help

10:24 to take the various ministries that you have discovered in the scriptures as ministries which members are to perform one to another, list them, and then see if we can group them into certain categories and without going into any great detail with any one of the text at least have a feel for the overall cumulative impress of these great blocks of Scripture upon our hearts. So if we were to describe this ministry one to another, for which God gives us pastors and teachers that we might be equipped unto that work of service, I tried to find a handle for the 1 Thessalonians 5.15 one,

11:11 and I'm still not satisfied, but I came up with this, tailor-made, verbal, practical, and attitudinal help. because the last imperative is an attitude, belong-suffering. And the other is verbal. We are to admonish one another.

11:29 We are to encourage. That's both verbal and practical. The faint-hearted, and we are to hold up the weak. So it's both verbal and practical.

11:39 And I didn't know what else to call the other thing of belong-suffering, but attitudinal. So tailor-made, verbal, practical, and attitudinal help is no little part of the work of ministry we are to perform one to another. And under the Hebrews 3, 12 to 14 passage, focused exhortation of one another in the light of perceived areas of need. exhort one another lest any of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

Category 2: Practical Diaconal Assistance (Galatians 6, Romans 12, 1 John 3)

12:14 All right, then what are some of the others? And to whom did I promise first shot? Yes, Henry.

12:26 All right, Galatians chapter 6.

12:34 All right. Galatians chapter 6 verses 2 and 10 Bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ and then verse 10 So then as we have opportunity let us work that which is good toward all men and especially toward them that are of the household of faith And you were suggesting, Henry, that a parallel passage with Romans what?

13:08 All right, Romans chapter 12, verses 13 and 15. Romans 12, 13, communicating to the necessities of the saints, given to hospitality, rejoice with them that rejoice, weep with them that weep. All right? Could we split these things up?

13:35 What is one of the very clear elements in these verses that you've brought forward? And could we give it, could we identify one of them? When it is said, communicating to the necessities of the saints, when we are told as we have opportunity let us work good especially to them of the household of faith What could we call that

14:02 All right, I've put the title Practical Diaconal Assistance. All right, Practical Diaconal Assistance. And I have listed Romans 12, 13a as one of those passages communicating to the necessities of the saints. When we perceive an area of legitimate need, and that takes discernment, because you've got panhandlers in the church as well as in the world.

14:34 They had them in the Thessalonian church, people too spiritual to work. And Paul said, if any man will not work, let him not eat. And don't be soft and an easy touch for Christian panhandlers. That's right.

14:49 And you have them. We've had them in Trinity Church. And they suddenly go around and tell their sob story to every soft-hearted Christian in the privacy of the living room. And after four or five times, suddenly it leaks back to the deacons or elders, and we find out a panhandler has been hitting people.

15:04 and even, even borrowing money that the saints of God had never seen again. So you see, this requires discernment, discretion, but nonetheless, even though it can be abused, we are commanded in this passage to be sensitive to one another's necessities, and when we become aware of them, we are to communicate to the necessities of the saints. Romans 12, 13a and Galatians chapter 6 verse 10. We are to do good to those who are of the household of faith.

The Paramount Importance of Practical Diaconal Assistance (1 John 3, Matthew 25, Hebrews 6)

15:44 And in the context, the emphasis is upon communicating in every good thing. And another passage that would fit in with that is 1 John chapter 3. As I said, I'm sure we could eventually fish these out of you, but in the interest of time, I'm going to have to do a little more teaching than just orchestrating, though I thoroughly enjoy the other method. 1 John chapter 3 and verse 14, we read, We know that we have passed out of death unto life because we love the brethren.

16:20 He that loveth not abideth in death. Whosoever hates his brother is a murderer, and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. Hereby know we love, because he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath the world's goods, and beholdeth his brother in need, and shutteth up his compassion from him, how doth the love of God abide in him?

16:56 My little children, let us not love in word, neither with the tongue, but in deed and truth. There's an absolute for the relative. Paul is not saying we should never tell one another we love one another. I mean, John is not saying that, because John again and again speaks of his love.

17:14 The apostles speak of their love for the brethren. But what he's saying is, let us not love in word only, neither with the tongue only, but in deed and in truth. And in the context, those deeds that validate our professed love are deeds of active benevolence, practical diaconal assistance extended to the people of God. And I would remind you that in the day of judgment of all of the character traits and acts and deeds by which the Lord can both vindicate the rightness of welcoming a certain group into his presence as his own people and sending another group into hell of all the things God could highlight.

18:10 What does he highlight in the judgment accounts of Matthew chapter 25? It's very interesting what he highlights. He doesn't speak of their prayers, nor their fastings, nor their zeal in evangelism, nor does he speak of any of the many other graces that are present in true believers. But in the day of judgment, the Lord Jesus says he will highlight the justness, the rightness of acknowledging those on his right hand as sheep and identifying those on his left hand as goats in terms of whether or not there was practical diaconal assistance offered or withheld from the people of God.

19:05 Notice verse 35. I was hungry and you gave me to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me to drink. I was a stranger and you took me in.

19:18 Naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. Then the righteous answer him saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you?

19:31 Or thirst and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and take you in or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and come unto you? And the king shall answer and say unto them, Truly I say unto you, inasmuch as you did it unto one of these my brethren, even the least, you did it unto me.

19:56 Of all the things that could be highlighted, isn't it interesting? It is not their devotional life. It is not their zeal in evangelism. It is not the many other things that characterize true believers.

20:11 It was their pattern of practical, diacronal assistance extended to the people of God, even to the least of them. And likewise, when he condemns the goats, the unrighteous, verse 41, One, then shall he say to them on the left hand, Depart from me, you cursed, into eternal fire. For I was set before you as Savior and you did not believe on me. Well, that's true.

20:39 I set before you my Father's law and you openly flaunted it. That's true. But that isn't what he brings forward. He simply brings forward what they did not do in practical, diaconal assistance to the people of God.

20:55 I was hungry, verse 42, and you did not give me to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me no drink. I was a stranger and you took me not in. Naked and you clothed me not.

21:11 And then he goes on to say that these shall be sent away into eternal punishment. So you see, this is no little issue. This is no secondary matter. among the family of God, practical, spontaneous, diaconal assistance offered by the brethren to their brethren in need is a paramount characteristic of a true believer.

21:42 And our Lord Jesus will highlight that thing in the day of judgment. Now that being so, there are several other passages that I hope will take on new significance to us. Hebrews chapter 6, and in my preparation I was struck with this afresh, where the writer to the Hebrews has been warning about the sin of apostasy and the spiritual impossibility of the recovery of an apostate. It is impossible for a certain kind of person to be renewed.

22:28 He's going to contrast apostates with true believers, and he does so in Hebrews 6, 9. But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. And what is the better thing or the better things that he will highlight? We are convinced that you have an ongoing grief over and mortification of your sins.

22:56 That would be true. It's not true of an apostate. You have a continual and ongoing hunger and thirst for righteousness. That's true of a real believer and not of an apostate.

23:07 But notice the thing that he highlights, verse 10. For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and the love which you showed toward his name, in that you, here's our word from Ephesians 4, same word, you served, you ministered unto the saints and still do minister. Isn't it interesting that the primary mark of persevering faith that he highlights is the saints ministering, serving one another? You see that?

23:51 And how parallel it is then to Matthew chapter 25. and therefore within the body of Christ taking the Ephesians 4 passage seriously that God gives us pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints unto work of service. Surely paramount among those works of service should not only be the tailor-made verbal, practical, attitudinal help that we extend one to another, 1 Thessalonians 5, and focused exhortation of each other. Hebrews 3, 12 to 14, 1 Thessalonians 4, 18, Hebrews 10, 24 and 25 and other passages.

24:38 But thirdly, practical, diaconal assistance, one, two, another. And another passage in Hebrews 13 and verse 3 underscores the same. Remember them that are in bonds as bound with them Them that are ill treated As being yourselves also in the body And here again we have overtones of the Matthew 25 passage Remember them that are in bonds as bound with them And if you were bound with them You would be concerned that your needs be met Love your neighbor as yourself, as you would that others do unto you.

Congregational Excellence in Diaconal Ministry and Exhortation to Abound

25:25 Even so do ye also unto them, for this is the law and the prophets. And so this is one of the major dimensions. And I want to pause and say that as I've sought with Judgment Day honesty to evaluate my own ministry of three decades among you as a people and ask God to search out areas of deficiency that are reflected in the life of this congregation as well as in my own life, I have to say that I've received no little consolation that this element of body, life, and ministry, which God puts, I'm willing to say, in a uniquely paramount place,

26:12 is one in which you as a people of God excelled by the grace of God. And it's been no little confirmation to my own heart that in spite of all of my sins and the sins of my fellow elders, in spite of all our deficiencies and failures, and I don't say that in mock humility, God knows them to the full. I know enough of them that I would not stand before you this morning were it not for the confidence that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin, I have this consolation that this grace of spontaneous, practical, diaconal assistance is a grace in which, by God's grace, you as a congregation have attained

27:01 no little degree of manifest efficiency, spontaneity, and delight. And in the language of the Apostle Paul, my only exhortation is, see that you abound yet more and more. And if there's anyone sitting here saying, nobody's ever come to me, that's a lot of baloney. My friend, we don't do anything perfectly.

27:29 But there are dozens of people who would rise up and testify that they have been nothing short of overwhelmed with the measure of practical diaconal assistance given, not officially through the deacons though that has touched many but unofficially and spontaneously by the people of God seeking to minister one to another That's an indication that to some degree God has lifted us above this kind of carnal navel watching that makes us so preoccupied with ourselves. We're not free to bear one another's burdens. We're not free to feel as bound with those who are bound.

28:18 It's an indication that something of the love which procured our redemption, that gave the Son here in His love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son, something of that love that delights to give of energy, of time, of substance, of material possessions, of the heart's energy to feel and to weep, as well as to rejoice that in some little measure, the work of Christ in giving himself for us has become the spirit and disposition in which we relate one to another. And for that we are deeply grateful. And my only exhortation is abound yet more and more.

29:04 And secondly, believe that if God can help us to attain some degree of marked efficiency in that area of mutual ministry, and that has a high, if not the highest place in the emphasis of Scripture, then cannot God give us grace for all the lesser ones? if he can overcome whatever must be overcome and implant in us whatever must be implanted to attain to this greater of body ministries can he not give us grace for any equal or lesser ministry of the body to itself in love

29:49 and I take great encouragement that he both can and in his strength As we lean upon him, we will know the outworking of that reality. All right? Can someone think of another category that you had come prepared to set forward as part of our ministry one to another, warranted very clearly by the Word of God? Anyone else have a text?

Category 3: Practical Instructional Input (Acts 18)

30:16 Yes, David?

30:25 Also, next to that one, I'm not directly related to the illustrator of the Zilla quote. You're in the policy. You said that can't be a serious one. One is a reason of hope.

30:42 Okay.

30:45 All right. Now, are you thinking David has suggested the 1 Peter 3 passage, which says, sanctify Christ as Lord, being ready always to give to every man who asks you a reason of the hope that is in you, yet with meekness and with fear. And then the incident recorded in the book of Acts at the end of chapter 18, where Priscilla and Aquila took Apollos into their home and instructed him, are you thinking in terms of that ministry as it points outward to the lost, or more as in the Priscilla and Aquila case, where it is a ministry of one member or two members of the body spontaneously to a fellow believer? Or were you thinking of both?

31:30 Okay. Well, with your permission, what I'd like to do is to hold off, because we will come to what are those works of service we are to perform to those who are without. The distinction Paul makes in Galatians 6, do good to all men, that's including unbelievers, but especially those within, those of the household of faith. So if I may, take your suggestion and say, a spontaneous ministry of mutual instruction within the family of God or the household of faith.

32:04 And one of the examples of that is the Acts 18 passage that David has suggested, and for some who are newer converts and not familiar with some of these stories, for their sake, I do read them and I hope that those of you to whom this stuff is old hat will not grow weary of this. I'm very conscious. We have a broad spectrum. We've got people who've been saved out of paganism who couldn't repeat the books of the Bible if their life depended on it and we must seek under God ever to keep them in mind and feed the lambs as well as feed the sheep.

32:39 So Acts chapter 18 and verse 24 tells us, There was a certain Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by race, an eloquent man, and he came to Ephesus, and he was mighty in the scriptures. This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in spirit, he spake and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, knowing only the baptism of John. Now there's not a negative thing said about this man. everything is purely positive. We are told that he was a learned or eloquent man, mighty in the scriptures. He had been instructed in the things of God. He was fervent in spirit. He taught accurately everything he knew. And the only problem was that his knowledge was limited.

33:28 He was not deliberately rejecting knowledge. He wasn't concocting his own truncated form of Christianity, he had only received that knowledge of revelation that took him up to the baptism of John, which pointed to the coming of the Lord Jesus, pointed to the one who would baptize in the Holy Spirit. And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him unto them and expounded unto him the way of God more accurately. They recognized him as a true man, a godly man, an earnest man, teaching to the hilt everything he knew.

34:11 And they said, well, if only we can tell him more of what reality is of the further and subsequent revelatory data that Christ has come. He has died. He has been raised from the dead. The spirit has been poured forth.

34:27 If this man is being used so mightily with that limited knowledge, how might God use him under the full blazing light of the completed, accomplished redemption of Christ and the knowledge of that burning within his breast? And we read,

35:14 the gospel in its full-blown revelation and content. And the great principle is that it was Priscilla and Aquila who knew more than the preacher did. And they graciously approached him, secured his consent to come into their home or into a place, a neutral territory, and there They expounded the way of God to him more accurately. Now, can you think of any other passages which indicate that this matter of practical instructional input, one with another, is something for which all the saints of God ought to be increasingly equipped,

36:01 that it is not the unique and exclusive province and responsibility of the elders. Can you think of any other passages that clearly establish this? Here's a historical incident, but someone might say, well, Priscilla and Aquila, as you read the rest of the New Testament, though they may not have had some identifiable office, they were obviously high-ranking laypersons, laypeople, laymen and a laywoman, and they're in a category that we don't fit. I'm just an ordinary church member.

36:36 You think of any other passages that indicate that practical instructional input with one another is a generic duty of all the people of God.

Scriptural Mandate for Mutual Instruction (Colossians 3, Hebrews 5)

36:48 All right, Bill?

36:52 Colossians 3.16. A little bit of a problem with that text, but let's put it as a second-ranked soldier, Bill, all right?

37:01 As we are told here, verse 16, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another, or as the marginal reading has it, teaching and admonishing yourselves with songs and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts unto God. Well, it seems a bit difficult to know how we could admonish one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs unless, unless Paul is thinking of what happens in our congregational singing. Whereas we sing as one body the voices of our brethren coming into our ears with songs and with hymns that have a hortatory nature, we could be mutually instructing.

37:49 So I'd say that's a second-ranked passage, but let's try to find a couple of first-ranked passages. Pete, and then we'll come to you, Cliff. Hebrews chapter 5, verse 11. Okay, that's one of the texts I was fishing for.

38:03 Hebrews chapter 5, verses 11 and 12, or we could even read on. Speaking of Melchizedek and Christ being a high priest after the order of Melchizedek, the writer to Hebrews says, of whom we have many things to say and hard of interpretation, seeing you are become dull of hearing. Some of you were here for Dr. Bob's exposition years ago.

38:33 Remember, he kept repeating the phrase, lazy in your ears. You become lazy in your ears. For when by reason of the time ye ought to be teachers. You see the assumption?

38:47 that if you've been in the Christian church for a while and you've not been lazy in your years, you should have accumulated enough knowledge to take the place of a teacher to others. Not necessarily an official teacher teaching a Sunday school class, being recognized as a teaching elder. No, you ought to be in the posture of being able to instruct your brethren. He says, you have need that one teach you the rudiments of the first principles of the oracles of God and are become such as have need of milk and not of solid food.

39:26 And then he says the difference between those able to take merely milk and those who take solid food has nothing to do primarily with your IQ. It has nothing to do with how long you've been around the Christian faith and under good solid teaching. It has to do with whether or not you are taking what you hear and assimilating it at the ethical, practical, experiential level. For everyone that partakes of milk is without experience of the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.

40:01 But solid food is for full-grown men, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil. Growth in grace has nothing to do primarily with gray matter, with IQ, with the amount and time of our exposure to the truth of God. It has to do with how much we're assimilating. And he says, after the passage of a certain amount of time, you ought to be able to be a teacher of others.

40:38 What a tremendous privilege to so assimilate that I might in turn instruct others, and that I might do it out of the matrix of a good conscience, that I'm not merely parroting what I've heard, but I'm passing on what I have heard and experientially proven and absorbed and implemented by the grace of God, that I may pass on that truth both in its objective reality and in its subjective implications for life and conduct as a child of God. So that's one of the very clear texts. And certainly for some of you who have sat under this ministry again,

41:26 with all of its faults and with all of its failures, at least we have sought to have a ministry that treated the Word of God with integrity. And we have sought not to sit on our own little hobby horses, but to preach through large sections of the Word of God, to cover broad themes of the Word of God in order that you might be grounded in the whole counsel of God and surely the time has come when some of you ought to be teaching You ought to be taking that new member under your wing, like a Priscilla and Aquila, setting them down, finding where they're at, and say, Look, I'll probably never be anyone who's going to teach a class, certainly never going to be an elder, and my wife will probably never be conducting a Bible study in her home,

42:14 but this much is clear. The Lord's been good to us, and we've had the privilege of sitting under this ministry. If you've had any questions about things you're hearing, how is your own devotional life? Can we be of help to you in establishing you more firmly in the practice of family worship?

42:31 This matter of aggressively taking people who have not had the privileges we have had and seeking to give them practical instructional input. Can you think of another passage that clearly points in this direction and it does so with a particular segment within the congregation and a particular sect, Mr. Davis?

Specific Mandate for Older Women to Train Younger Women (Titus 2)

42:56 That's the passage I was fishing for, Titus chapter 2.

43:01 Titus chapter 2. Titus is being given directions from the apostle regarding various groupings within the church and he is charging older women verse 3 that the older women likewise be reverent in demeanor not slanderers nor enslaved to much wine teachers of that which is good and there the emphasis seems to be primarily upon their example, but verse 4, that they may train the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sober-minded, chaste, workers at home, kind,

43:49 being in subjection to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. Now remember the background of the Isle of Crete where Titus was laboring. Chapter 1 gives us some insights. The Cretans were sensualists. They were people who were apparently given over in unusual ways to sensuality, to dishonesty. They were liars. Notice verse 12, one of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, idle gluttons.

44:27 So you have a people who didn't have a lot of common grace in their cultural milieu. So they come into the Christian faith and they have a lot of baggage with them and they don't bring a lot of skills in terms of practical godliness in the domestic realm. And so he says that the aged women are so to live that they will exemplify what it is to be a good and godly Christian woman And then he uses the word for translated here, training. And it's none of the standard words for teaching or exhorting.

45:05 And it literally means to bring someone to his senses. That's what the verb means. And that's how it's used in other places. It is to advise and encourage and urge with a view to bringing someone to their senses.

45:23 Now, when we say we tried to bring the guy to his senses, what do we mean? We don't mean necessarily that the man was completely irrational, had gone mad or insane. But we mean with regard to a given set of factors, we tried to get him to see reality for what reality is. Isn't that what we mean?

45:44 I tried to bring him to his senses. He's interested in marrying this woman and it's obvious that thing will be a disaster. I tried to bring my cousin, I tried to bring my friend to his senses. What you mean is you tried to get him to face the reality, which is very evident to you and anyone else in touch with reality, but his hormones and his romantic involvement has so distorted his vision.

46:09 It's like in the funny house with all the misshapen mirrors. What you look at is not reality reflected back on you. And that tall, skinny man or that wavy, curved, fat man, that's not you. That's the distortion of the curved mirrors.

46:25 So here he says, the older women, by example, are to be teachers of what is good, and they are, by verbal input, to bring the younger women to their senses, by advice, by encouragement, by instruction, to get them to face realistically what it is to be a godly wife and mother and keeper at home, to what end? That God's word will not be blasphemed. Because the gospel preachers had come to Crete and said that in Christ all of our sins are forgiven. In Christ there is a way of life that brings honor to God and brings fulfillment to the creature as he takes his rightful place

47:11 in the will of God. The gospel, the word of God, had proclaimed that the grace of God has appeared, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present evil age. Well, these people needed to live soberly. They needed to live in touch with the reality of the will of God for younger married women, and that is that they love their husbands, love their children, be sober-minded, chaste, workers at home, kind, being in subjection to their own husbands.

47:48 And the clear implication is they simply won't learn it automatically. They must have godly examples and they must have hands-on mentors to help bring them to sanity, to bring them to their senses. And as we have less and less of these standards in common grace in our society, We're going to have more and more young women who want to please Christ, but they don't have a clue. They had careerism mothers, absent mothers, who were off with that second income in order to get more things, in order to have more things.

48:31 They have no models. What in the world are we elders going to do if we have to spend hour after hour training? how in the world are we going to labor in the word and in doctrine and do the kind of general studying and general prayer and specific preparation to carry on our task if we have to take every such woman and personally train her how in the world are we going to do it we can't we simply cannot do it and the answer is not to send them off to a three day seminar The answer is for some of you older women to get over your excessive modesty and just plunge in and say to a younger woman,

49:18 look, I don't have my act together in every single area, but I've had the benefit of living under a godly husband and under a good ministry for a number of years, and I'm here to be your helper. Can I come into the home and just spend a little time, observe some of the patterns where possible, point out some mid-course corrections? You older women have got to become a little more sanctified in your aggressiveness. And you younger women have got to be a little more sanctified in getting rid of the notion, well, I'll be a pest.

49:54 Otherwise, it's like teenagers at their first mixed party where the guys are on one side of the room trying to hide their zits, and the girls are on the other side of the room looking around, and nobody meets in the middle of the room. And I'm convinced that this is one of the problems. We have younger women who say, well, the older women have paid their dues. Well, they want to come in my house and hear my screeching kids and hear my problems about how I find it difficult to be submissive.

50:22 No, no, you younger women, reach out and ask. At least give an older woman the privilege of saying, no, I don't feel I'm competent to do that. Or to say, you may not know it, but I have a schedule that is such that I won't be able to get to you for a month. At least give them the privilege of answering positively or negatively.

50:46 And you older women, at least be aggressive with some of the younger women, and at least ask them, say, look, I'm not the paragon of virtue in this area, But by the grace of God, I'm not a slanderer. I am reverent in my demeanor. I'm not a slave to much wine. And I believe at least in some measure, God's helped me to get my act together as a wife and a mother.

51:11 And I'd love to be of help to you. Can I be of help? Now, is that being proud to do that? No.

51:17 If that's being proud, I don't belong here preaching. Because by being before you, I'm saying that in spite of my sins and failures, I believe God has equipped me to be a public teacher. And God has validated that through His church and by His people and through His servants. And so if we're to fulfill this mandate of practical instructional input one with another, we need to get rid of a false modesty.

Overcoming Pride and Timidity in Mutual Instruction

51:45 We need to overcome a carnal timidity. And if there are some of you who have an overinflated view of yourself, Romans 12.3, you're not thinking soberly, but you're thinking of yourself more highly than you ought to think. You'll soon discover it as you seek to be other people's teacher and you'll get the message after a while.

52:04 Frankly, sir, frankly, ma'am, your life doesn't cut it. I have no desire to be taught by you. Because I see such deficiencies in your own life, then you fulfill this other duty of mutual exhortation. Say, you want to be a teacher to others?

52:19 Then you get your act together here, here, and here. then I may be willing to listen to you. You see, if we at least set out to do it, even the proud will get shot down. Instead of going around thinking, boy, I've got such gifts around here, and when in the world is everybody going to...

52:33 You've got such gifts, start to exercise them and see what happens. See what happens. Then you'll get dumped on the deck of reality and get cut down to the side. So we've got everything to gain and nothing to lose.

52:46 Everything to gain, nothing to lose. Like the man who was so convinced he was called to preach, until Spurgeon told him, all right, you preach, take a sermon somewhere, 20 minutes. He said then he realized after five minutes he had nothing more to say. And he got over all of his itch to be a preacher.

Conclusion: Equipping Saints for Service

53:02 It was so glamorous sitting there until he had to stand up here. And he found God did not give him the gift of utterance and the ability to speak. And he was taking his true measure. Well, our time is gone. It's 1031.

53:16 We've covered two more areas then. practical diaconal assistance one to another, and then practical instructional input one with another. And God willing, in our remaining two sessions, we'll take up at least three other categories that I have listed here in grouping a number of passages, and this will be far from exhaustive, but I hope for now it will at least under God be used to bring us to a new level of the realization that God gives us pastors and teachers not to do the work of the church for us, but to equip us, the saints, unto the work of service. Let us pray together.

54:02 Our Father, we thank you that once again we have been privileged to open up your word in your presence and in each other's hearing. We thank you that your word is a lamp unto our feet and a light to our pathway. And we pray that the Holy Spirit would so apply the word with power to each one of our hearts that there will be discernible steps forward in our commitment to minister one to another. We thank you that you have wonderfully graced this assembly with the spirit of diaconal ministry to itself.

54:43 We praise you for every willing hand and heart, for the thousands of meals and for the thousands of hours of sitting with one another's children, for the thousands of dollars expended in responding to one another's needs, known only to you and to the people involved. Lord, we give you praise and ask that that ministry will even increase and abound more and more. But then, Lord, help us in this matter of verbal enforcement and verbal instruction in this whole area, O God, of being more aggressive to instruct one another and to help one another. Grant us the needed grace, we pray.

55:31 Our Father, seal to our hearts the things we have studied And give us grace to walk in the light of them Whatever has had the clay of man's thought Blow upon it, bring it to naught That we may walk in the light of your truth We ask in Jesus' name, Amen