Called To Be God’s
Woman:
A Titus 2
Woman
KEY VERSE: Titus 2:3-5
Lesson 6 – The Aged
Women:
Behavior that becometh Holiness
Lesson
based on Titus 2:
3
Holiness in Body – Pt.
2
We began, last week, with
exploring what the Bible has to say about holiness
and how we might
discipline ourselves to become holy, that is: to be different from
the world’s
standards and values and also to make God’s word the standard for
our
daily lives in all
that we do. Tonight, we will continue to
explore areas of our lives
where we are to
apply holiness and not be conformed to this
world.
2 Corinthians 7:1 says this: “Having therefore these promises, dearly
beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit,
perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”
God’s Word charges us not only to BE holy but
also HOW and WHY we should be holy:
“in the fear of the Lord.”
1. Beginning
with [B] 2 Corinthians 5:17, 18 to
2 Corinthians 7:1, what is Paul’s
exhortation to the Corinthians in these verses?
Paul is making an urgent plea to them to
separate themselves from those who are not believers, verse 17. If we look back to [B] verses 14 and
15, we will see Paul is telling them that they have nothing in common with
them. These people serve Satan;
they serve God. Paul’s plea
from the Lord is to, “come out from among them and be separate.”
And, Paul exhorts them to “be cleansed from all filthiness of the flesh
and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of
God.”
We see this exhortation to holiness and
cleansing to be an outward as well
as an internal
cleansing.
2.
And, WHY should we do this? From the
familiar Romans 12:1, we see doing this is
acceptable to the Lord. This pleases a holy
God!
Oswald Chambers said, “… once you
receive a commission from Jesus Christ, the memory of what God wants will always
come as a goad; you will no longer be able to work for Him on the common-sense
basis.” [My Utmost for His Highest, March
4th.] Once we know what God wants of us, we
are accountable to God and the Holy Spirit will always remind us and keep
reminding us until it is a part of our walk, second-naturedly; like
breathing.
Have you ever
noticed among people you have met, sometimes ‘old ladies’
are the ones with the gossipy
tongues? Well, guess what…this
didn’t just happen because they are old.
This began when they were young and if they reach the silver- haired
stage and have not removed that sin from their lives, they attain the
distinction of ‘gossipy old ladies’.
Hmmm. In the Cretan church,
Paul charges the aged women to mind their tongue, verse 3. It goes beyond gossiping; Paul says they
are not to slander, they are not to be “false
accusers”.
3. What are
these various areas, these enemies to our soul, that we are to come out and away
from?
A. Holiness as it pertains
to Our lips, our mouths, our tongue, our
speech:
Proverbs 10:18 says, “He that hideth hatred with lying lips, and he that
uttereth a slander, is a fool.”
We know immediately from this verse that
if we claim the name of Christ, we are not fools. Then, our behavior should not be like
the fool. There is to be a
distinction between what we say we believe and how the world
behaves.
Colossians 4:6 tells us our speech should “always be with
grace”. This would
include our choice of words. We
need to choose the BEST WORDS, words that would not cause the Lord’s ears or any
other believer’s ears to shutter.
Our words should not have a scent or flavor of the world’s choices. Our words should be separated unto
God.
Titus 2:8 says, ‘sound speech …cannot be condemned.”
Proverbs 10:19, speaks of talking too much: “In the multitude of words
there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise. Proverbs 19 has much to say
concerning the mouth, the
tongue and speech both of the fool and of the righteous. You may perhaps study these verses on
your own, beginning at verse
11-32.
[verses11, 13, 14, 18, 19,
20, 21,, 31, 32]
Paul in writing to the Corinthians said he’d come to them, “not with
enticing words”. [B] I Corinthians 2:4, 5.
Q. From these verses, why does Paul not choose to use enticing
words?
A. Enticing words are man’s wisdom.
Q. How does Paul
prefer to speak to them?
A.
Paul prefers to speak to them in the Power of the Holy Spirit.
2 Corinthians 4:7 explains that
Holy Spirit Power, within us, is what should rule our lives, “…we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the
excellency of the power may be of God, and not of
us.”
You may well ask what kind of things can you speak of?
[B] Philippians
4:8 tells us clearly an acceptable and safe
ground of thought and speech.
Truth, Jesus said in John
17:17, “thy Word is truth”, honest: things that are worthy of respect;
lovely: words that are winsome.
I Thessalonians
us to “abstain
from all appearances of evil.”
APPLICATION: You
might try doing this exercise for yourself one day at home. List the things from Philippians 4:8,
and next to each description: ‘things that are true, honest,’ etc. write down
the things that apply to each of these categories. These are the things to think
about. Or, you might also consider
that when something weighs heavily on your mind and is crowding your thoughts
repetitively, ask yourself how those thoughts line up with Philippians 4:8. If they don’t, perhaps they need to be
removed.
Summary thus
far:
Scripture has said we are not to have lying lips or lips that slander;
our speech should be with grace and should be sound; and, our speech should not
be in our own wisdom but by the power of the Holy Spirit. Our speech should line up with the
things that are acceptable to God as found in Philippians 4:8 and as
in
I Thessalonians
5:22, free from the appearance of
evil.
Why do you think this is important?
What if you are not doing something that is wrong, something you feel
justified in doing, but to someone else, it appears to be
wrong? What then? What do you
do?
Q. What were your findings in these other
verses?
[B] Psalm 120:1-3; 7 speaks of lying lips, the deceitful tongue, the false
tongue. These ungodly uses of the
mouth always affects and brings distress to those who are either the object of
such sin or to those who may be around witnessing the same. Like David, we could be on the receiving
end of someone else’s sin, especially
when we are in a place of God’s design and choice. Like David, our defense and reliance is
on the Lord.
[B] Proverbs 6:16, 17; 19. In these
verses we have further confirmation of some of the things we’ve already found in
our verses tonight. Let me point
out that God HATES the things listed in these verses; they are an
“abomination to Him”.
They disgust Him; He finds them loathsome! And, in verse 19 [B], we find
one more area concerning our mouths that we have not yet addressed: one that “sows discord among brethren.”
If we look at verse 14
[B], we see the result of sowing
discord is because of
a disobedient and willful
heart; a
perverseness. This person is
“continually”, Scripture says, “devising mischief.”
We are getting the picture of
“behavior that becometh holiness”, concerning this area of lives and what
holiness is not.
You may well say, ‘I don’t have a problem in this area. I don’t go around gossiping, lying,
slandering others, sowing discord’.
You do well. But we don’t
want to be counted with those who do.
[B] Proverbs 17:4 tells us we
must not even listen to those who do. We must not
relish in these who sin in this manner.
This verse clearly points to the heart of the one
that does listen. God
considers this person an evildoer. This person is not without sin.
APPLICATION – Among ourselves here, as we serve, we are to be role
models to each other, to the children and to visitors who come through our
doors. From time to time, we should
take inventory of where the Lord has us serving. Are we representing Him in “the
behavior that becometh holiness”, especially in the area of our tongues? We need to be mindful not only of our
speech, but what we say and how we say it.
So, that means, we take our time, choosing our words, try to not ‘react’,
be aware of our own ‘moods’ and temperaments, our own distresses, etc. You get the picture. We are to be circumspect in our
speech. The Bible has much to say
on the tongue…because it is a difficult area for all
believers.
B. Holiness
as it pertains to Our appetites: Eating, Drinking and
Whatsoever We Do
[B] I Corinthians 9:27 – Paul encourages us to discipline ourselves, bring our
bodies under subjection. Our
testimony for the Lord among unbelievers is at stake. Why should the world listen and believe
our “walk” in this world if we will not put our bodies under the Lord’s
control?
The topic is not inherently gluttony or drunkenness…but one of eating and
drinking unto the glory of God. And without question, we would all agree,
gluttony does not bring glory to God.
Society finds it easy to point out the person who struggles with
weight. Have you ever noticed how
many TV commercials have to do with weight and fitness?
They promote
exercise machines, or taking the latest pill discovery in order to control
weight, eating plans, etc. It’s
quite a money making market.
In some social groups, people with a weight problem are ostracized. Children can be cruel, mocking children
who don’t ‘fit in’ with their
ideal, that which they have been taught. Yes, being overweight is not
popular.
And, what about the person who never gains weight, the who can eat
anything they want and all they want to eat, and do eat…yet, never would anyone
ever point to them as one who is socially unacceptable. Society can be short-sighted
and rationalize
all of this to suit their personal views.
But, this person, born with the kind of metabolism that does not gain
weight is no less a glutton than the person who overindulges and has visible
evidence to that fact. Again, we
have examples of how the world views things. They see only the outside. And, God? He sees
inside.
Returning to I Corinthians
9:27, where Paul speaks of bringing his
“body under subjection”, we see more of what Paul’s intent is in
[B] I Corinthians
R.Q. - What does it mean to “do all to the glory of God”?
R.Q. - How do we test whether something is bringing glory to God or
not?
R.Q. - Is what we are doing correspond with God’s
character; does it exhibit God’s character?
Ryrie’s Notes
gives us some principles for guiding the
believer in making choices; in counting the cost of their decision; in weighing
whether or not their choice will bring glory to God.
I Corinthians
our choices. How did you answer this
question?
All things are LAWFUL, but not all things are EXPEDIENT:
helpful.
Our Christian freedom (that which is lawful) doesn’t give us the right to
sin or justify our bad choices.
Regarding expedient: we need to ask ourselves, will the choice I make be
helpful and if so, will it bring me under bondage? This is a question we need to ask
ourselves in every area of decisions for our life: in our homes as wives and
mothers, in making decisions for outside activities, and also in church ministry
and activities…in every phase of
our lives.
We may have the ‘right’ to do something, but it doesn’t always follow that we should
do
it.
[B] I Corinthians
How
much we love God in obeying this principle and how much we care about our
brother in Christ is what this is all about. Are we willing to give up our
‘right’, our ‘freedom of choice’ for the good of someone else? It’s a moral choice. Our goal is the spiritual growth
of another believer.
Basically,
this lines up with the second commandment: loving your neighbor as
yourself.
Galatians
Ryrie’s last principle concerning I Corinthians
The bottom line of this issue is not how much we eat, nor how much we
exercise, or how careful we are about the nutritional value of our intake. These issues, certainly are important
but are of only secondary importance when compared to what God’s Word says
concerning holiness in our bodies.
We are made by God, the Creator, and our living and eating should be as
unto Him. We need to discipline
ourselves to stop and think before taking any action whatsoever. We need to question ourselves and ask:
Is “this” under the control of the Holy Spirit? God, Our Creator, gave us these bodies,
these
Summary:
Concerning “behavior that becometh holiness”:
And our mouths and speech are to be under the power of the Spirit
and we are to separate ourselves from those who sow
discord.
And with regard to our bodies…we are to do those things
which are expedient (helpful), things that will not enslave us, that is, bring
us under it’s power.
Concerning others: We are to do those things which will not cause others
to stumble but rather to do things that will edify or build up another.
[B] I Corinthians 6:19,
20 – Paul makes it very clear as to
why we should follow behavior that becomes holiness. Why?
We are not our own. The Holy
Spirit lives in us. Where we go,
what we say, what we do to our temples, we do to Him. He goes where we go, He hears what we
say, He is a part of what we do to our temples. Our focus should be: Bring Glory to God
in our body and our spirit.
Aged women who profess to be believers are role models to younger women
and bear the responsibility of behaving, acting, speaking in a manner that
agrees with who they ‘say’ they are.
We may not always be aware of the influence we have over those with whom
we meet or perhaps those who just observe us. We are representatives of Christ, His
life in us, and also a testimony to be read by others of “the way they should
go”. Paul said to follow him, as he
followed Christ.
Our bodies, our spirit, all that we are and all that we have belong to
God. It is our responsibility as
believers: “we are bought with a price” and we are to glorify God with our body
and spirit, because they belong to Him.
We are to live with God as our focus; always having Him in the forefront
of our hearts and minds, living in the fear of Who He is and What He has done
for us.
Having this
mindset, this focus, will help us discipline ourselves and also, live in a
manner that will manifest God’s character in us.