When granddaughter Susie was about four years old, one day she slid down her stairs on her pillow, just as her mother came around the corner and said, Susie, don't ever do that again. And Susie looked at her and said, did you do this when you were a little girl? And Catherine said, no, my mother wouldn't let me. And she said, well, who is your mother? And Catherine said, well, Susie, me mommy is my mother. Susie, my namesake by the way, said, uh-uh, she's an old lady. It gets worse. Susie is now 18. Being the old lady in the room is the only thing I can think of to qualify me to speak about our next topic, which is Titus 2. If you'll turn in your Bibles to Titus chapter 2. It was over 25 years ago that I was captivated by this concept. I had been asked to be the director of women's ministry for our denomination, the Presbyterian Church in America, and I thought, okay, I can do that. I can buy a book, I can read about it, and I can do it. The problem was, 25 years ago, there were no resources, particularly for churches that held to male headship. And so there I was, and I did the only thing I knew to do. I went to the only passage that I could think of that seemed particularly relevant to that topic. And I just landed on Titus 2, and I began reading it, praying over it, weeping over it, trying to figure out what it meant. And I can say to you today that this passage has shaped the calling that God has put on my life, and I am more passionate about it today than I was when I first began considering it 25 years ago. This passion has intensified, and my vision for what I call spiritual mothering has expanded as I have seen this compelling concept And as I've seen women's ministry, not as an end in itself, but as part of the scope of the whole. Remember our principle. Every part of scripture agrees with every part of scripture because it's all related to the scope of the whole, which is to give glory to God. And that principle applies to our lives. There is nothing random. Every part of my life agrees with every other part of my life, no matter how chaotic it may seem, because it is all designed for the scope of the whole, which is to give glory to God. And this same principle applies into ministry. Unless we see Titus 2 connected to the metanarrative, the big story, we will have a distorted and a minimalist view of Titus 2. From the creation story, so far we have seen some foundational truths. Follow along on your handout. Our purpose is God's glory. Our authority is God's word. Gender distinctiveness is God's very good plan. Woman's creation design is to be a helper. and her redemptive calling is to be a life giver in every relationship and every circumstance of life. Now in this session what we want to see is how does this design and calling inform our ministry as women in God's church. How does our design and calling inform our ministry as women in God's church? This was a question that I was asking myself several years ago. I had seen the Apologetic for Womanhood that we unfolded last night in Genesis 1 to 3, and I had seen the relevance of Titus 2, but I kept thinking there's more. I just believe there's more. And I'm not sure where it is and what it is. And then I was writing a Bible study on the pastoral letters, the letters that Paul wrote to Timothy and to Titus in their capacity as pastors of a church. And as I worked my way through verse by verse in that Bible study, It occurred to me that there were five passages that specifically mentioned women. And as I looked at those passages, I saw the principles, the foundational principles for a women's ministry emerge. Now, we're not going to get into the details of that, we're not really going to look at those passages. That is unfolded in the book, Women's Ministry in the Local Church. But I do have them listed for you here. The first principle that we see is ecclesiastical submission. The next is compassion, then community, then gender-specific discipleship, and then the sufficiency of scripture as the foundation for it all. Now, if you look at those first three, hopefully it will ring a bell with you because this is exactly the same principles that we saw last night in Woman's Creation Design and Redemptive Calling. The consent of the parts and the scope of the whole. I just find that thrilling every time I see it in such a beautiful way. So what this is really saying to us is what God has called us to do in his church. Individually as women in his church, as his daughters, but also corporately as a women's ministry. What he has called us to do is exactly consistent with how he has created us, how he has wired us. So there it is. Now, we are called to be helpers and life givers in God's church. We're going to focus particularly in on principle number four, which is gender-specific discipleship. We're not going to get into the weeds, we're not going to get into the details of this, because there are resources to help you with that. What I hope to do in this session is to give you the big vision, and that perhaps God will light a fire in your heart to want to be involved, that this would become your lifestyle, to be involved in Titus 2 ministries. Titus chapter 2 verse 1, but as for you, and this is written to the pastor of the local church, teach what accords with sound doctrine. And then Paul goes on to tell Titus, some things about body life in his church. He speaks about the older men and the younger women, but in verses three to five, he speaks about the older and the younger women. Older women, likewise, are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They're to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. This mandate for women to be training women is given to the pastor of the church. This is to take place within the context of the preaching of sound doctrine. This is the strategy for the church to teach women to be life givers. The examples in the passage that are given here are simply a description of a life giver. It's not an exhaustive list. This is not a behavioral code. It is just a brief description, similar to Proverbs 31, of what it looks like to be a life giver. But in essence, what's being said here is that women are to train women the way God has created us as helpers what that means and what it means to be a life giver. This is life on life discipleship where women are to take the sound doctrine that is preached from the pulpits and to help women to apply it out into their situations and their relationships, and the questions I gave you in last session can help you to do that. The whole idea of discipleship is really captured, I think, in Paul's words to the Thessalonians when he says, we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother. Love that he uses that analogy. taking care of her own children, so being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel, but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us. That's what Titus 2, 3 to 5 is talking about. Sharing the gospel as well as our lives because the people of God are very dear to us. That's why I call this spiritual mothering. It is a nurturing ministry. Last night we looked at Psalm 144, 12 that our daughters will be like pillars carved to adorn a palace. This is the carving process. It is a nurturing process. It is the way that a church can be sure that the women in that church can answer the question that that college woman asked me about that I told you last night. How can I think biblically about my womanhood? We are to teach women to apply the glorious promise, I will be your God, you will be my people, I will live among you, to their relationships and situations. We're to help women to learn those principles that we saw that Hannah learned. Jesus loves his church. Titus 2 is about us loving his church and anointing his body because we love him. It is about living interdependently. We are our sister's keeper. The church is the family of God, the covenant community, the bride of Christ, who is not left breathless as we read of his consuming love for us in Ephesians 5. Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her that he might sanctify her having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word so that he might present the church to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing that she might be holy and without blemish, in the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes it and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. Therefore man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is profound. It refers to Christ and his church. Jesus left his father's house to claim and redeem his bride. He holds fast to his bride. This is covenant language, that binding commitment, that intimate personal union with him. Jesus, the offspring of the woman, the God-man, came and lived a life of perfect obedience and offered himself as the substitute for his bride. He took her punishment so that she so that we can be clothed in his righteousness. She can wear white to her wedding. He conquered sin and death. He ascended to the Father. And we read in Ephesians, God put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body. If we don't have a biblical understanding of the church, and a passionate love for the church. We will never understand Titus 2 or why we should do such a radical thing as invest in the lives of other women. Before Jesus ascended, he gave his church a grand and glorious assignment. We are to make disciples, teaching them to observe all that he has commanded. Here we see that cultural mandate to take dominion that we saw last night expanded. We are to take dominion for King Jesus. The currency of God's kingdom is not military or political power. It is gospel power. We're to extend the kingdom of grace with grace, lovingly, often one person at a time or a small group at a time. perhaps sitting around your kitchen table helping a woman to know how to be a life giver in a specific situation. We're to make disciples, teaching them to obey all that he has commanded and one of the all things he has commanded. is that he has created us male and female, and that matters. Some discipleship, not all, but some, is to be gender specific. Much of our discipleship is the same. Much of our service to Christ is the same, shoulder to shoulder, men and women. every Sunday when sermons are preached, Sunday school lessons are taught. That is not gender-specific discipleship, but the church is to provide sometimes when men are teaching men what it means to be a man and when women are teaching women what it means to live out the implications of the gospel as a woman. Titus 2 discipleship is one part of the church's ministry to teach all that Christ commands in his word. This is on your handout. Titus 2 is one part of a women's ministry in the local church. What are the other parts? Those five principles that I listed for you. Women's ministry should involve teaching women what it means to be in submission to the ecclesiastical authorities over us. The whole women's ministry should be one part of the total ministry of the church. We should be equipping women for relationships together as well as how to make our churches loving, warm places We should be extending practical compassion and it all should be founded on the sufficiency of God's word. Redeemed women, get this now, redeemed women are the only ones on the planet who can display God's creation design and redemptive calling before the world because we're the only ones with the life of Christ in us. And thus, we are the only ones who can give the legacy of redeemed womanhood to the next generation. It is countercultural and counterintuitive to be a life giver. Once we have the life of Christ in us, we have the ability to be a life giver. but we need to be trained. This is the sanctification process. We need to be discipled. Now let's just go over a few of the frequently asked questions about this passage. Is gender-specific discipleship really necessary? It doesn't look to me like Titus 2, 3 to 5 is a suggestion. It is a mandate to the church. The church is responsible to see that this is taking place. A woman, a friend of ours, their family moved to another community where she had been very involved in a wonderful women's ministry where they learned the principles of biblical womanhood that we discussed last night. It was interwoven into their women's ministry. It was a life-giving ministry. When they moved to this new community, they knew of a church that they had heard of with solid preaching and they quickly locked into that church and she would email me about the wonderful sermons just the wonderful church that they were in and very active women's ministry strong Bible studies but after a few months she emailed me and said I'm very confused strong theology, strong preaching and teaching, but as I'm getting to know the women, as I listen to their discussions in Bible studies, they think like feminists. How could this be? How could there be such a disconnect between their theology and their understanding of their womanhood. And so I emailed her back and I said, well, look at your women's ministry. Is there any place where women are specifically being discipled per Titus 2? Not duplicating other ministries in the church, but are they being taught intentionally the principles of biblical womanhood so that they can tell other women about God's creation design and redemptive calling. And she understood what I was talking about since she had been discipled that way. And several weeks later, she emailed back and she said, I'm shocked. There is no place where they're being taught those principles. The Bible studies are strong, but there's no place they're being taught that. How could there be such a disconnect? Sadly, that's not uncommon. But you see, what happens then is that women are left in a vacuum of silence about their womanhood, and thus, what are they going to embrace? By default, they embrace the cultural message that the young woman was being taught that asked the question last night. How can I think biblical when I'm constantly being told that independence is power, to determine my own destiny, and fulfill my own dreams? How can we think otherwise if we're not being taught otherwise? The next question we need to ask is, Should we expect, you know what, I just realized I left out the first question and you're all sitting there wondering the answer to it. Who are the older women? Let's go back to that one. Okay, here's the kicker. We're all both. Think about that. Because you see, Even I'm looking around, I'm quite likely the oldest in here, but no matter, there are things I need to learn from other women. They may not be older than me chronologically, but they're women who have had experiences walking with Christ that I haven't had. And I need to continually be looking ahead to those women who at different points in my life can invest in me and help me to be a life giver as I face new circumstances. One of the things that is intriguing me about getting old is that as much as I think I have life figured out, there are way too many moments when, as with granddaughter Kate last night, the inner tubes are flying and it seems to be chaotic. And I need women who have been where I am at a particular point, even as I need to continually be looking back and making myself available to the younger women in our church. So we're all both, and we all need both. Now, should we expect this kind of discipleship to happen spontaneously? Ideally, This is the lifestyle that every one of us should embrace. And some of you, it just comes naturally. I taught on this one time several years ago and one of the women just got so excited and she just popped up and she said, this is what I have been doing for 25 years and I didn't even know that's what you call it. So there are a lot of you that are like that. You are just naturally tied us to discipleships. You gravitate toward other women, you're welcoming towards them, and you are discipling them in principles of womanhood. You're helping them live out the gospel in their lives. But the reality is, so many women who have so much to give are not connecting with so many women who need them. At another conference, a young woman went to the microphone during a Q&A time and she said, six months ago, I went to a woman in our church and I asked her if she would disciple me. I had seen so much in her life that I wanted to learn from. And she very quickly agreed and said, yes, I will do that. And the woman paused and she said, it has been six months. And I have not heard another word from her since. And the room gasped. And I said, oh, my dear, I can only imagine how devastated you are. But I have a very strong suspicion that the woman who agreed to do that for you is more devastated than you. Because she agreed, because in her heart of hearts, she really wanted to do this. But every morning she wakes up and thinks, I have no idea what to do. I don't know what to say to her. I don't know where to start. And so she puts it off one more day, and she feels more and more guilty. Does that feel familiar to any of you? But you see, this is where a women's ministry can come along and not only connect women, but can equip women. Titus 2 is not just about matching a couple of women and saying, become friends. It is about teaching women the deep stuff of womanhood, the theology of womanhood, and the implications of womanhood according to scripture. Now, I've been living with this, as I said, for 25 years, but it was about 10 years ago that I began evaluating all the different Titus II ministries I had heard and seen in different places, and so many places that I'd actually been called to come in and consult. They had started up Titus II ministries matching two women, and then after a year or maybe two years, it just fizzled and it went nowhere, or some of the relationships had been very painful because the spiritual mother in the equation had never gotten with the spiritual daughter. And I kept thinking, the concept is not flawed. It's the application of it. And so in our own church, we began praying over it and thinking about it. And then it occurred to me, Jesus discipled a small group. And so we set it up as a small group model. And that model is now being used in churches all over the country. And it is very detailed, explained in the notebook that I showed you, as well as training for Titus II leaders. Now, ideally, again, I hope that many of you enter into this in just a lifestyle, that it's just what you do. But at the same time, it is so helpful when a church is equipping women, providing the resources for women, to be engaged in this kind of ministry. Now the next question is why should we live so sacrificially? Why should we share not only the gospel but our lives with someone else? To say that mothering is sacrificial is a huge understatement. Spiritual mothering is also sacrificial. Why should we do such a thing? I could tell you dozens of stories of the results that I have seen over the years, but even if I had never seen a single result, I'm convinced that we should obey this, that we should obey this gospel imperative because it is based on the gospel indicative that we see in verses 11 to 13. We don't do this because it's just a fun thing to do. We do it because, verse 11, the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, to live self-controlled, upright, godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Jesus appeared in grace, and he will appear in glory, and this is what he has told us to do in between those two appearings, whether we see results or not. Our motive must be Jesus came, and he is coming back, and this is what he's told us to do, whether I see results or not. What difference will it make? Verse 14, Jesus gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. We're not the power in this. Changes that happen, results that happen, are not our responsibility. Jesus is the one doing the transforming in his time, in his way, on his schedule. He is the one who is redeeming his people. He is purifying his bride. He is washing her stains and ironing out her wrinkles. Spiritually mothering other women means that we actually participate in getting the bride ready to meet the bridegroom. And get this, whether anything happens with that woman that I may be spiritually mothering at a given time, or whether I ever see any results in her, when I obey this mandate and invest in another woman, I'm made ready. Some of my wrinkles are smoothed out without Botox. It's gospel transformation that happens in me. over all the years that I've loved this passage, so many times I have seen situations of women who go through very hard times. Sometimes I've seen women at the same time in the same church, sitting under the same preaching, go through equally different situations. And over and over I have seen that when a woman has been living in pretty much isolation from other women, It is very difficult going through those times, and very often she loses her way. But I have seen women in horrific situations who are and tight, tightest to relationships with women who would ask them during the hard times those life giver questions. What will it mean for you to submit this to the authority of God's Word? What will it mean for you to be a life giver when your husband has left you with three children? What will it mean for you to glorify God when you've received that diagnosis for cancer, and they've prayed with her through that, and they've lived with her through that, and they've surrounded her, and I've seen them come forth as gold time and time and time again. The situations may not have changed, but they have changed. So interesting to me. that the Titus 2 concept is given weight at the high point of human history when a young girl was told that she would be the mother of the Messiah. Turn to Luke chapter 1. Luke chapter 1. The angel comes to the young woman in Nazareth And he says to Mary in verse 28, Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you. Favored one means that she was a recipient of grace, not the source of grace, the recipient of grace, that glory that God deposits in us. And then in verses 29 to 38, she is told that she will be the mother of the Messiah. In verse 38, we see her response. Mary said, I am the servant of the Lord, let it be to me according to your word. Identifying herself as God's servant shows that her purpose was God's glory. She understood those foundational principles that we saw in Genesis 1. You have to think she had been discipled by the story of Hannah, by the legacy of Hannah, who also identified herself as God's servant. And then Mary declared her authority, may it be to me according to your word. Her authority was God's word. Here we've got those two principles that we saw in Genesis. Remember, Mary is suddenly faced with a shocking and a potentially traumatic experience. Who is going to believe her? And yet, we can't help but just be breathless at the calmness and the clarity with which she reacted to this. But remember, this did not happen in a spiritual or an intellectual vacuum. This is a covenant daughter who knew God's word. We're going to see that as the story progresses. She knew how to think biblically. Now before we go on to see that, go back to verse 36. I just find this such an intriguing passage. It's like all this is going on about you're going to be the mother of the Messiah, the glory, the king, all of this, and then suddenly dropped in that, seemingly unrelated, the angel says, and by the way, your relative Elizabeth has also conceived, And she who was barren is having a child. But it's not unrelated. Because you see, Mary needed the Titus II ministry of an older woman, and God had made provision, and God was reminding her of this. And Mary got it. Because we read in verse 39, Mary arose and went with haste to the hill country, to a town of Judah. She entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. She exclaimed with a loud cry, Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy, and blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord." Note Mary's obedient, humble spirit. Even though she's just been told that she'll be the mother of the Messiah, there's no pride. Well, let Elizabeth come see me. But she goes to the older woman. It is a real indicator of wisdom when young women know that they need the insights of older women. They need the life perspective of older women. And notice Elizabeth's qualification. She was filled with the Holy Spirit. If you think you're not qualified, think again. If you are born again, if you have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, it's because the Holy Spirit resides in you. It's because Jesus has deposited his glory in you. You have the resource that you need. I love about these two women that you have the old barren womb and the young virgin womb, and yet, miracle of miracles, there is life. That's the gospel. We're all barren. We're empty. And yet, life is given to us. Notice, too, that Elizabeth speaks words of affirmation, of instruction, of encouragement, and of blessing. And what is the result? Mary sings. She sings that beautiful magnificat that has blessed the Church of Jesus down through the ages. One commentator said, Mary did not sing when the angel spoke to her. She sang when an older woman welcomed her and embraced her. The commentator said this, the message of the angel assumed for her a living shape when Elizabeth blessed her. Does the message of the gospel take a living shape to other women by your ministry to them? Are the women in your life singing Are they cowering in fear because of your disapproval? I want to push this a bit deep. Some of our teenagers today show up for church in rather outrageous attire. And I wonder, do we roll our self-righteous eyes at them and their behavior and their dress? Or maybe it's our own granddaughters. Or does the gospel take on living shape for them as we look right through it and love them anyway? This is what it means to share the gospel as well as our lives. And my sisters, let me encourage you. Don't share the gospel with them if you're not willing to share your life with them. But if you do share your life with them and the gospel, just your life is not enough. We need the gospel. wonderful things will happen in you. You might have to lean hard on Jesus to love some of those women and girls, but the payoff is big because it's more of the life of Jesus that is in us to spill out from us. Let's look just a moment at some portions of Mary's song and notice the striking similarity to Hannah's song. You see, Mary was spiritually mothered by the legacy of Hannah. Legacies travel a long way, whether they be life-giving legacies or life-taking legacies. Verse 46, Mary said, My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed. Like Hannah, her joy was in the giver of the gift, my soul magnifies the Lord. And notice that she refers to my Savior. Mary was fully aware that she was a sinner and needed a Savior. But look in verse 48, the reason for her gratitude, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. Now what's so interesting about this is that when Elizabeth who was barren, too old to have children, became pregnant. Back in verse 25, Elizabeth has said, �Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me to take away my reproach among the people.� Surely, Elizabeth had said that to Mary. Oh, Mary, the Lord looked on me and he took away my reproach. Mary was probably thinking, they're going to all think that I have been promiscuous. Who's going to believe this story? But Elizabeth reminded her, the Lord has looked on you. He has taken away your guilt. And of course, there was not guilt in this conception, but he has taken away the reproach. No matter what the world says about you, he has looked on you. That's the gospel. It is because God has looked on us in Christ that our guilt and our reproach has been taken away. It's as simple as that. And then verse 49 to 50, For he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name, and his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. Just like Hannah, she refers to specific attributes of God that are particularly comforting to her at this moment. And this is what we need to do. We need to remember the attributes of God that will help us to live obediently in tough situations. She also has this generational perspective. His mercy is for those who fear him, generation to generation. She had that covenantal generational perspective that we saw that the Hebrew midwives had back in Exodus. And then in verses 51 to 53, she too, just like Hannah, saw God as the reverser of our circumstances. Verse 52, He has brought down the mighty and exalted the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things, the rich He sent away empty. That revolutionary principle that God is reversing all things, that He will reverse all things, that He will make all things right. And then verse 54, He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his offspring forever." She refers to Abraham, to that historical, redemptive perspective, the scope of the whole. Mary understood that this part of her life was in harmony with every other part because of the scope of the whole, that covenant promise that had been given. And note that she refers to God as our helper. We looked at some of those helper verses last night of how God is our helper. But look here, she refers to that. He has helped his servant Israel. And I love this quote from Lord Jones. The word helped means to succor, or perhaps better still, to lift up. The people of Israel had been cast down. They needed to be lifted up. They needed to be saved. They had been thrown down by an enemy, but someone comes and rescues them. He takes hold of them and helps them to stand on their feet. Now, of course, we don't save anyone else, but when we show the saving life of Christ, we come along and we help. as we help the one who has fallen to stand back up. That's what it means to be a helper. Now the story continues, and we see another woman that God brings into the life of Mary to have a Titus II ministry in her life. If you have doubted the importance of this ministry, I hope that seeing how, at this point, God is surrounding Mary with Titus II women will solidify the importance of this message in your own heart. As we move on into Luke 2, we see that after the birth of the child, they take him to the temple, and there's the old man Simeon, who had been told that he would not die until he had seen the Lord's Christ. He recognizes that this is the one, and he takes him in his arms, and he blesses this child. But then in verse 34, he says to Mary, Simeon blessed him, and then he said to Mary, Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed. And a sword will pierce through your own soul also, so that the thoughts from many hearts may be revealed." What graphic language. A sword in the soul. I can think of at least three things that can cause a sword in the soul. One is our own sin, perhaps the woman who has the memory of having had an abortion or an addiction. But it can also be the sin of another, Hannah, the rival who thrusts that sword in over and over and over as she taunted her. year after year, or perhaps it's abuse or unfaithfulness. And then a third reason for the sword It's our providential circumstances, the results of living in a fallen, sinful world. It may be a diagnosis of cancer. It may be the death of a child. It may be a financial crisis. Swords are the reality of living in the fog of fallenness. But it's what happens next that just makes me weak-kneed. It is so beautiful. Verse 36. There was a prophetess, Anna. Verse 37, well first verse 36, she had been married for seven years, then she became a widow, and now she's 84. And she did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer, night and day. 38. Coming up at that very hour. This was not random. had orchestrated that at the very moment when Simeon confronted Mary with the cost of her calling that God had there, Anna, who was ready to put her arms around her and to have a Titus II ministry to her. Anna began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. Anna gave thanks to God and she spoke of the Redeemer and the redemption He came to bring. She is reminding Mary of the big story. She is not trivializing the sword in Mary's soul. Swords are painful. But she is contextualizing that sword. She is putting it in the context of the big story, in the context of redemption. And you can't help but believe that Anna had learned this lesson. As she looked back at her own life, having become a widow at such a young age, and widows in that culture were among the most vulnerable in that culture, but at 84 she could look back and she could say every single thing that happened Even the small and significant and the painful, everything was designed by a sovereign God of love to mold me, to carve me, and to shape me into his image, and to transform me from a life taker to a life giver. It is all about the gospel in your life, Mary. She helped that young woman to see God's sovereign love, to see the sword redemptively. Note here that God provided a spiritual mother at a time of rejoicing and at a time of weeping. We need spiritual mothers all the time. Now at some level, Mary understood the enormity of her calling and that all generations would call her blessed. She said so in her song. But I suspect that Elizabeth and Anna never expected a shout out at a women's conference in Columbia, South Carolina in the year 2013. They were ordinary women who, because of extraordinary grace, were looking forward to the coming of Messiah. This is what shaped their lives, and it's what shaped their ministries. I also suspect that Mary was not the first, nor was she the last woman that they spiritually mothered. Not because they were crusaders for women, but because they were looking forward to the redemption of Israel. Unless this kind of ministry is gospel-driven, at some level it will be a self-centered driven ministry, and it will collapse. One more group of women I want us to look at. Turn to Mark 16. Mark 16. After the crucifixion, we read in Mark 16, that when the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome bought spices so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb." Think about this. That cascade of hormones we talked about last night when women are under stress, that oxytocin was released And these women tended and befriended. They did not hole up somewhere on their own, as apparently the men had done. And that's okay, they needed to analyze it. But these women had to do something. They had to show their love for Jesus, and so they did the task that needed to be done. They came together, they got together, they figured out what they needed, and they went on their way. to anoint the body. This is a sign of their love for Him. This is community and compassion in action. These are life givers. Now, why would they go to that dark and dangerous place? Because they loved Jesus. They loved Him. And then note this, verse 3, as they walk to the tomb they ask, who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb? Silly women, they're going to the tomb and there's an obstacle in their way that they cannot possibly remove and yet they've got their spices already. No, not silly women, shining women. Women who went anyway despite the obstacles and what happened. They looked up and the stone had been rolled away And as they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe. Don't be alarmed. You're looking for Jesus. He is risen. They're the first to hear. Matthew 28 tells us that as they hurried from the tomb and ran to tell the disciples, Jesus approached them. He appeared to them and said, greetings. Don't be afraid. Go and tell. When we care for the body of Christ, when we share the gospel as well as our lives, there will be stones to be rolled away that are too big for us. For me, those stones are usually my sin of selfishness, my doubts, my fears, my conviction of my own inadequacy, My forgetting that, yes, I am inadequate, but Jesus is adequate. That it's not about my skills, it's about his glory filling me up. Those are the things that hold me back. They're the stones in my own heart. But sometimes the stones to be removed are the stones of the difficulty of community life. Community life is wonderful. We are the bride of Christ. We are the family of God. But that doesn't mean it's easy to live in relationships with each other, because oftentimes they're stiff-necked people among us, and sometimes we are the stiff-necked ones. So the community life is sometimes itself a hindrance. But you know, as we go anyway, as we don't turn away because we understand, even though it's hard, I've been purchased with the blood of Christ, I've been adopted into his family, these are his people and they are my people. And I'm to love them anyway, because they love me anyway. But when I go anyway, as these women did, sometimes, sometimes, I get a glimpse of the resurrected beauty of our Savior in the most unexpected places and the most unexpected people. And the most unexpected of all is when there's this almost out-of-body experience. It happens all too seldom. But there's this experience when I hear and see myself being a life giver in a hard situation. Wow! He really did it. He really changed me. Everything in me wants to react one way and I'm reacting another way because of the glory that has been deposited in me. Women's ministry is simply the women in a church anointing the body of Christ because we love him because he first loved us. So that's what I see when I look at Titus 2. But what do I see when I look at you? I see a great parade of women. I see the women who preceded us from Eve and Sarah and Hannah and down on through Mary, and Elizabeth, and Anna, and the women of history, and the women of my own family who have been faithful, and I see you, and I see the women who will come behind us, and I see the legacy of biblical womanhood being given generation to generation to generation. It is a parade of women who are saying, come Lord Jesus, and until you do, Give us grace to be women who are preparing your bride to meet you. Don't just watch this parade go by. Join it. Be a part of it. Yesterday when we got here, we stopped at the Statehouse because I just had to go see one of my very favorite monuments in all the world. I hope you know it well. If you go out of the back entrance, which you can't actually go out that entrance, but if you go around to the back entrance of the State House, and if you walk right down the path, past Strom Thurmond striding there, to the very end of the State House grounds, you come to a very dainty monument of a woman sitting there with a book in her lap. I'm sure it has to be the Bible. It looks like one. This monument was erected by the men of South Carolina to the women of the Confederacy. And the inscription on it is beautiful. It says, it begins, in this monument, generations unborn shall hear the voice of a grateful people testifying to the sublime devotion of the women of South Carolina in their country's need. And the remaining words are so inspiring and so challenging. Now, it's not special to me just because I love history. It's a lot more than that, because when I look at this monument and I read these words, I have to wonder, What will future generations say about us when they look back at this post-Christian era, at this time in culture when, as Isaiah says, truth has stumbled in the streets, when we live in the midst of a culture of death rather than a culture of life, when we live in a time when marriage has been redefined? when gender distinctiveness has been denied. May they look back and may they say some of the same things about us that were said about those women. Now, I've taken great liberty with the words on the inscription, and instead of women of the Confederacy, I want us to think women of the church. And I've adapted a few of the other words, and I'm just going to read a few of the lines from that inscription. Their unconquerable spirit strengthened the weary. Their tender care was soulless to the stricken. Reverence for God and an unfaltering faith in a righteous cause inspired heroism to live for God's glory and courage to pray for revival. The living for God's glory and praying for revival are my words for us. The fruits of the noble service of the Daughters of the Church are our perpetual heritage. Is this what our great-great-granddaughters will say? They face the future undismayed by problems and fearless of trials. in loving effort to heal their churches' wounds and with conviction that from the ashes of ruins would come resurrection of truth with glorious vindication. When reverses followed victories, when governments tottered and chaos threatened, the women were steadfast and unafraid. They were unchanged in their devotion, unshaken in their faith, unwearied in service, uncomplaining in sacrifices. Splendid in fortitude, they strove as they wept. I want to read that one again. Splendid in fortitude, they strove as they wept. In the rebuilding after the desolation, their virtues stood as the supreme citadel with strong towers of faith and hope around which civilization rallied and triumphed. My sisters, may we pray that in generations to come there will be monuments of living stones that will continue the legacy that we give them for the glory of God and the advancement of his kingdom. Father in heaven, I thank you so much that you made us and you called us to be your own daughters. Lord, I can just never get up for the fact that I belong to you. Thank you for that sovereign, electing grace. I pray that your Holy Spirit will take the truth of your word and plant it deep in each of our hearts and bring forth the gospel fruit that you intend for each one of us at this moment in our lives. Transform us that we might go back into whatever our situations, and Father, I know that some are going back into barren, hard situations, and it is only your grace that can enable them to be life givers. Show them what that means, Father, and give them all the grace that is needed, and bring around them those who will be their sister's keeper and pray for them and encourage them. Give them spiritual mothers to walk through this time with them. And Father, help us to prevent some of those difficult times, to have a preventive ministry by equipping women before the crisis comes. We thank you so much for your glorious gospel. In the name of Jesus, Amen.