Biblical Motherhood

Good morning everyone. Hope you are doing well. Yeah, today we will look at the biblical motherhood. We’ll turn our Bibles to Titus chapter 2 and we will read verses 3, 4 and 5. Titus chapter 2 verses 3, 4 and 5. Let us all read it together.

Titus chapter 2 verses 3, 4 and 5. “Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored.” Let’s pray. Our Father, we thank you for this time that you have given us. As we look into your word, we pray that you would bless our time together, and we pray that you help us understand your word, give us grace to submit to the teaching of your word, give us grace to submit to the your design for our marriages and for our homes, we pray

that you would cause us to Lord repent if we have to repent. Lord, we pray that we may submit to your will, oh Father God. We pray for the work of your spirit and give us grace, oh Father Lord. In Jesus Christ’s name we pray. Amen.

If the modern woman had to read these words, will they take it at its face value? Will they think that this applies to the ancient times, not the modern times? But we must understand that the principles in God’s word are timeless principles and it applies to all our lives. Many years ago, women in the western world abandoned the biblical idea of motherhood. The feminist movement was gaining momentum. The women were supposed to model and nurture homemaking for their daughters.

But the feminist movement nurtured independent spirit. And this was marked by radical individualism which aspired to become equal with men, have success like men, fame, wealth and also given to relentless work. And this culture has also infiltrated the church. And this culture shift led to a decline in the emphasis on biblical womanhood and the result is that many women no longer invest in raising daughters to embrace their biblical calling as

wives and mothers. Thus they are contributing to a societal loss of biblical idea of womanhood. I see a culture in our land as well where Christian parents no longer raise their kids according to biblical wisdom. They look at the world, they want their children to be like the world. And Christian parents have outsourced the Christian teaching to Sunday schools and youth groups. Christian fathers no longer talk about being biblical men with their sons, and women do not speak to their daughters about being biblical women. At most they have conversations about having good morals, a small Bible reading probably, and a and a and a prayer together as a family.

They’re happy if they have recited memory verses and done well in their careers. Christian parents rarely have scripture-saturated conversations with their kids. And increasingly, fathers are losing that connection with their children, especially with their sons. They are raising their daughters as princesses. The daughters excel academically but are not prepared for biblical wifehood and motherhood. They become anxious about the burden of biblical womanhood after marriage. And many young married women do not know how to manage their homes.

Because they were never taught. They don’t know how to manage their homes, food. They don’t know how to keep their house in order. They don’t know what to do at home, right? And when they do a little work they become exhausted. Christian women are excelling in their careers, which is a good thing, which is not a bad thing, but which has that has come to mean being like a man and delegating mothering to strangers.

There was a time when Christian families viewed women as having a maternal role in the family, one of equal importance to anything a man did, and often more important for the future of the family and also of the future of the nation. And more and more Christians are abandoning this age-old wisdom from the Bible.

Family life is often sacrificed at the altar of better lifestyles and more independence. Sacrificing home means sacrificing the kids whom God has given you. Taking your kids to church and making sure that they are a part of Sunday school or some youth groups is not enough. It’s not enough.

You don't see about Sunday schools and youth groups in the Bible. Parents should invest their time and energy into their kids. They should train them up in the ways of the Lord. And it requires a lot of time. It requires a lot of mental energy. It requires a lot of wisdom. It requires much time in prayer and contemplation on God's word. If both husband and wife are busy in their professional lives, who will care for the kids?

It's not a nanny's job or the job of grandparents. And parents. Christian homes are weakened because Christian husbands and wives have neglected the scriptural instruction. They have neglected the Christian duty. Today's Christian homes are weak because our parents failed to teach us the word and also failed to model a Christian household.

Maybe they took us to church. We were part of good Sunday schools probably. But there were no scripture-saturated conversations. They pushed us to have good careers, but there were hardly any conversations about aspiring to become like Jesus. And tomorrow our children's homes will suffer the same fate, because their parenting will be weak, because we have prioritized something else and we haven't modeled to them what the Bible says about the family. When families are weak, the churches will consist of weak families, and eventually our societies will become weak.

Stable societies can be built when morals are strong and when the biblical paradigm of marriage and parenting is greatly valued. There is a decline in a lot of societies, morals in a lot of societies, because they have failed. Parents have failed in their homes. Brothers and sisters, you are a Christian not just for the sake of being saved from sin. As a believer, you will bring all your life under the authority of God's word.

So, mothers, you have a responsibility towards your children, not just to provide them with daily needs, but to bring them up in the ways of the Lord. Look here in Titus chapter 2 verse 3. It says, “Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips, nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good.”

And look at verse 5. It says that, “To be sensible, pure workers at home, kind being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored.” So that the word of God will not be dishonored. I want to start here first. Firstly, a godly mother submits to the authority of God's Word. Look, you look at this last part of verse 5. She is foremost of a woman of God's Word. If you have to become a godly mother, if you have to be faithful as a woman, as a wife and a and a mother, you should first understand what God's Word have to say about

your role as a wife and a woman and a mother. You should intently look at God's Word and see through that God in any way, because ultimately you are accountable to God. And she believes that the Word of God is inspired by God and is authority and it is authoritative over all your life and also for the purpose of godliness. Because you respect the scriptural authority, you will also honor God's design for marriage.

The scriptures clearly teach the value of godly womanhood, which includes both being a mother and a wife. And you see that these are holy callings. The calling of a wife and a calling of a mother is a holy calling, is a calling God which God has given you, and this and these responsibilities shouldn't be sacrificed at the altar of career or anything else. And this verse also teaches us that if you do not build our lives and homes wisdom, it means that God's word will be dishonored. If you women are not paying careful attention to what God's word says about you, about your role as a wife and a mother, and if you're not shaping your life according to the principles

of God's Word, and you are dishonoring God. You're bringing dishonor to God. It is not living lives that are worthy of the gospel which has saved you. And our domestic patterns, they send out a message to the watching world. Firstly to our kids.

The way you live at home, the way you conduct yourself with your husband, the way you conduct yourself with your kids, the way you relate with them, the way you talk to them, the kind of conversations that you have with them. They send out a message to the watching world, to your watching kids.

So Christians, firstly, should have biblical, should value biblical principles of marriage. You should learn to honor God’s Word. God’s Word is applicable for all ages, for all times. There are no different principles for the modern era. There are the same old biblical principles.

And secondly, look at verse 3. A godly mother pursues holiness. Firstly, a godly mother honors God’s word. Secondly, a godly mother pursues holiness. Look at verse 3. “Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine.” The older women in faith should be role models. As you grow old in your Christian faith, it means that you should be a role model to other women. They should be godly women, which means that they should have been godly wives and godly mothers. Godly woman doesn’t mean having got enough scriptural knowledge. In this context it is the reverent behavior is in terms of how you relate with your husbands and how you relate with your children. And Paul focuses on behavior. He says “reverent in their behavior.”

It means behavior worthy of a holy woman. Her behavior is in line with sound doctrine of verse 1. Look at verse 1. Here he says, “But as for you, proclaim these things which are fitting for sound doctrine.” She is constantly shaping her life according to the word of God. She seeks to what the Bible says about everything, about God, about family, about work, about raising up kids, everything. She’s a good Bible student and therefore she will seek to live according to it. She will pay careful attention to each and every word. You grow in godliness only by looking into the word intently.

And understanding what it has to say to us. She is constantly shaping her life according to the word of God. And Paul focuses here on a few aspects. Number one, he firstly focuses on malicious gossip. Or in some translations, in few translations, slander.

Paul discourages slander. The word is diabolos, which is used for the devil, who is a slanderer. It is a verbal assassination. When women gather together, be careful what you talk. What do you talk about? Whom do you talk about? Do you gossip about other women?

I think it is also prevalent among men when they gather, but Paul focuses particularly on women here. And dear women, do not entertain gossip in your fellowship. gossip is advances the work of the enemy not the work of the Lord not the work of the gospel gossip is not the attribute of the gospel this is this is a characteristic of some women probably in this church and look at what Paul says also regarding young widows in first Timothy chapter

1 Timothy chapter 5 verse 13, he says that, “At the same time they also learn to be idle” — he is talking about the young widows — “so they go around from house to house, are not merely idle but also gossips and busybodies, talking about things not proper to mention.” They have unworthy chatter with other women.

If you’re gossiping when you’re meeting with other women, it is a sign that you’re not growing in holiness. You’re just trying to destroy the good work the Lord wants to do in your life. You’re working contrary to what God wants to do in your life.

Every time you gossip about someone else in your group with your closest friend, remember that you are destroying the work of the Spirit of God in your life. The older the woman gets in her faith, the more she should grow in her reverent behavior. The older woman in faith should model God-honoring and edifying conversations.

The younger woman in faith should look up to you who are older in faith. They should learn about living a godly life when they come in contact with you. And the second aspect that you see here is that “enslaved to much wine,” probably addiction to wine among these women, of women at Crete, or was a common thing there. Um, it must have been a problem in the antiquity. It may also be present in some cultures today. But I want to ask you, is there anything in your life that you are addicted to that actually wastes your time, energy and mental capacity?

It’s like a stress buster. What’s that? It can be anything that keeps you away from your holy calling as a woman. How do you spend your time each day? Talking to friends on the phone for hours together, shopping, eating, cooking hundred dishes for your kids and your family — once in a while it’s okay, not every day — or binge-watching because you’re at home, you’re a homemaker, you have nothing to do, so you watch whatever that’s there on the TV, or you’re on the social media scrolling reels and stuff like that. The bottom line is that a godly woman controls her desires. The same thing applies to men.

Instead, a godly woman should focus on cultivating godly habits. You should constantly prepare yourself to become a godly woman, a godly mother, a godly wife. You see here that Paul also encourages older women to encourage younger women. That means that you have a calling to be an encouragement to other women. So women in our church, are you in contact with other women of the church? Do you work to have build relationships in the church?

Do you seek to encourage other women? Or do you prefer to live in isolation? Or your own affinity group? Do you reach out to other women? Do you think about other women? Do you pray for other women? Do you pray for other women who are struggling in their lives? Maybe as wives, or maybe at the workplace, or maybe, you know, as mothers. How are you seeking to encourage other woman? Thirdly, godly women are an encouragement to other woman. This third virtue of a godly woman is to encourage other women to be godly women. And what are those specific areas that women should encourage each other from God’s Word? Older women are to encourage, to counsel and advise younger women, firstly, to love their husbands.

Right? You know, once you get married, after that initial, what do you call that, honeymoon period is over, you get to see the real man behind your man. You get frustrated. I haven’t imagined, oh, I haven’t imagined this man to be such a man.

You get discouraged. You take a phone, talk to your friend. You share your heart. You pour out your heart. Right? What should the other person, the woman on the other side do? Encourage you to be disappointed? That woman, if she is a Christian, she has a responsibility to encourage this woman to love their own husbands no matter how they are.

Encourage them to pray for their husbands. A woman’s first commitment under the lordship of Jesus Christ is to her husband and her marriage. The idea of love is so vague in our context. People fall in love and they get married, but you’ll only get to know the person fully once you are married. That’s a sad reality of love, right? You’ll get to know the person only once you’re married, when you, once you start living with that, and that real side of that person is only revealed as you live with him.

And the challenge is to love the same person even after seeing the unseen side of your spouse. That’s the challenge. Daniel Akin said, said, “The fact is we do not so much fall in love as we learn to love.” You will learn to love only by God’s grace. According to Titus chapter 2, verses 11 and 12, it’s in the same passage, it says that it is the grace of God, it is the grace of, let’s read it. Let’s read this word. I love this, uh, these words, Titus chapter 2, verses 11 and 12. Let’s read it together. Okay. “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people, instructing us to deny…” And also you can read verse 13, “Looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of

a great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” It says that it is the grace of God that teaches us to say no to ungodliness and to live godly lives in this present age. It is only as you depend on God and see your inability to love your spouse because of their… And as you are strengthened by God’s grace, you will learn to love your spouse who may be undeserving of your love.

But your calling is not to hate, but to love. As you get to see the other side of your husband, maybe some weaknesses, it’s not a time to call up your mother about your husband, to your mother or your sister or to other friends or other sisters in the Lord. No, he’s your husband. You should love him however he is. You can only pour out your heart to the Lord. Pour out to him day and night, seeking grace to love him, seeking grace to grow in your… Only the Lord can enable you to love in such a manner.

The way you love your spouse. Sorry, spouse. You’re listening. The way you love your spouse, despite their weaknesses, as a model that you will teach your kids to love their spouses in the, in future. You’re setting a model for your kids, especially to your daughters. Every time you talk back to your husband, fight in front of your kids, raise your voice, disrespect your husband, you are setting an example for your daughter to behave with a future husband.

They are learning from you, sisters. They are learning from you. You are shaping a character in them. You have a disagreement with your husband, get into your room, talk to him in private. Discuss. Pray in private. Honor your husbands before your kids. Honor your husband before your kids.

Don't talk about your husband's weaknesses or failures in front of your kids, because you're modeling motherhood, womanhood to your daughters, to your children. And the next aspect that older woman should encourage younger woman is to love their children. Mothers naturally love their children, right?

And it's part of every culture. Mothers naturally love their children. They want to give their children the best. And a lot of women sacrifice a lot for their children. They sacrifice their own comforts for their children. But it is here we see that it is going beyond this natural realm. It is to understand parenting from the lens of the scriptures and applying those principles in your motherhood. Daniel Akin says again, “The most important way a mother can love their children is to love them to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and Lord. She always has an eye to gently and with sensitivity put before them the love of God and the work of Christ.”

And our greatest joy and most fulfilling heritage is godly children devoted to Jesus and his plan and purpose for their lives. If you're not loving to this extent, you're not gone out of the natural realm of love. The call is to put Jesus before them day in and day out. Paul says in Ephesians chapter 6 verse 1, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” Here children are called to obey their parents, both fathers and mothers, in the Lord. And in verse 2, so in verse 4, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up

in the instruction of the Lord.” There is an implicit command also to mothers here to bring up their children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. The mother's role extends far beyond meeting physical needs, cooking good food, making clothes for them or whatever you do at home. She is called to be an instrument in God's hands for spiritual formation of the next generation.

Though the fathers take the lead in discipling their children and leading their home, you as a wife will assist your husband in that work. And this does not diminish your importance or your intelligence but recognizes God's design. Now look at Proverbs 1 verse 8. It says that, “Hear my son, your father's instruction and do not forsake your mother's teaching.”

And Proverbs 6 verse 20 says, “My son, observe the commandment of your father and do not forsake the teaching of your mother.” Mothers have the responsibility to teach the word and this is not an option. If you're a mother it is a commandment. It is a commandment. It means that, it means that then you should, you should become a good student of God's word. You should grow in the knowledge of God's word. You as a mother should equip yourself in the word and in the doctrines. A mother, a Christian mother ensures that her children develop a Christian world view that interprets all of life through the lens of scriptures. Look at what Paul says about Timothy in the Second Timothy chapter. Let's first read, uh, say First Timothy chapter, um, I think in Second Timothy, yeah.

Second Timothy chapter one, uh, verses four and five. Paul is talking about Timothy, to Timothy. He's saying that, “longing to see you, even as I recall your tears, so that I may be filled with joy. For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelled in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well.”

It is said that Timothy didn't have a godly father. He was probably a Greek pagan but both his grandmother and mother were believers. And they had an influence on Timothy. Look at 2 Timothy 3, verses 14 onwards. 2 Timothy 3, verses 14 onwards. He says, “You, however, continue in the things that you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from where you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”

It is implied also that from this text that Timothy had a godly mother who is well acquainted with scriptures, who taught him the scriptures. She, they trained him in the scriptures. So women, mothers, you have a responsibility to grow in the knowledge of God's Word. So do not waste your time. Do not waste your time. Your time is precious. You need to continuously prepare yourself being a godly mother and a godly wife, right? And next, the next aspect that older women should encourage younger women is in verse 5. Firstly he says, be sensible. It can mean a sound mind, a mind that is informed by God's word, shaped by God's word, so that you will have, you will make a sound judgment. And you must understand that your words and actions can either build your home or destroy your home. It can also

mean this word can also mean self-control. It indicates, it indicates avoidance of extremes and careful consideration for responsible action. So you are so sensible that you're careful how you speak, what you speak, how you behave at home. You're so careful that how you conduct yourself before your husband. You may get angry at times, but you're at self-control, will not lose your cool. You will not raise your voice. You will not shout at your husband. You will not shout at your kids.

You are careful what you speak. You are careful what you speak. You are a woman of self-control. It can apply to every aspect of our lives. And women tend to manipulate emotionally. avoid such extremes and this self-control is a fruit of the spirit the Spirit of God cultivates this attitude of self-control and the next aspect is to be pure was fine Your moral life should be about reproach at home.

It doesn't matter what your friends talk about you, other Christian sisters talk about you. It's important what your people at home who live closely with you, your husband, your kids talk about you. You should be a faithful spouse. your spouse you should be pure in your relationship with your spouse you cannot fancy someone else or break the marriage covenant by being unfaithful that is a reflection of a heart surrender to jesus such a life sets a godly model for your children to follow and the next aspect that the older woman should encourage younger woman is to be workers at home was five again the wife has a specific responsibility to care and manage the home no matter what else she does she cannot neglect her main duty to look after the home and those living in that home because

the Bible commands homemaking as a primary vocation for women. It's, this statement is an offense to the modern woman, right? But this is a timeless wisdom principle which applies to all ages. Your primary vocation is your home. Therefore, as you learn from the Scriptures, your primary vocation, being a homemaker, is no longer a drudgery, but it's a delight. You must welcome this calling with delight.

And this doesn't mean that women shouldn't work outside the home. They can work, but not at the cost of their home and kids. Look at Proverbs chapter 31. Please turn your Bibles to Proverbs chapter 31. The woman in Proverbs chapter 31 was a wife and a mother, and there and there and the writer describes that. Look at chapter 31 verse 10.

The writer describes that. The woman. As an excellent wife. Look at verse 12. She was a business woman. And did well in her business. She provides for her home also. Verse 21. And verse 20. She is known for her generosity. Look at verse 16. She is also a wise investor.

Despite all her business, she did not ignore her house. Look at verse 27. She looks well to the ways of her household. Look at verse 15. She rises also while it is still night or while it is still dark. And gives food to her household. Because she has work, she rises early and prepares meals for her home.

Look at verse 28. Her children rise up and bless her. Her husband also. And he praises her saying, verse 29, “Many daughters have done nobly, but you excel them all.” Maybe she earns more than her husband, and her husband is not jealous of her, but instead he praises her. Though she is a, she is doing well in her business and everything, you know, the moral that is set before us here is that she did not neglect her home. She did not neglect her calling as a wife and a mother.

See, a word of caution here. Now don't go back home to your, don't go back to your homes and make your wife read Proverbs 31 again and again and pressurize your wives to be like the woman in Proverbs 31. I mean, to go, get a work, be successful in business, and also take care of the home. Some women are gifted in that. The point of Proverbs 31 is that if women have a job, they should not neglect their home.

Your primary calling is being a homemaker. If you men are able to make ends meet, then your wife can be a full-time homemaker. If a woman has a well-paid job, it doesn't mean that men can be at home, right? Like house husbands. There's no concept of house husbands. Men should work and earn a living and work hard to provide for their families. That is a calling God has given to men primarily. You may earn less, but you have to work hard to provide for your family. Men should work. Men should work. They are not supposed to be at home.

And Paul says, writing to Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians 3, verses 10 to 11, says that, “Do not be idle. Do not act as a busybody, but work.” And if one is not working, he says, he should not eat. He should not eat. So for wives, your primary role is to be a homemaker. This doesn’t mean you have endless time to waste. It doesn’t mean you need to cook a hundred dishes and post them on Instagram.

It means you focus on serving your family, your husband and your kids. And also educate yourself so that you can teach your children. And also you have time set apart to pray earnestly for your family. And the next attitude is being kind. In verse 5, every woman should cultivate the quality of kindness.

It should first be manifested in your home. Other women, other people outside your home may testify that you’re a kind person, you’re such a sweet person, but what does your husband say about you? What does your kids say about you? It is first manifested in your home. It is being considerate. It is being merciful. It is being forgiving. It is a warm hearted nature. It is the opposite of unforgiving. It is the opposite of quarrelsome, abusive and loud. These are not the qualities that women should aspire. By being loud, by being unkind, by being unforgiving, unmerciful, sisters, you’re modeling something to your kids.

You’re telling them that if your husband is weak, if your husband is failing, the woman should respond to that man by shouting, yelling, being unkind, being unmerciful, unforgiving. Your daughters that. You’re setting an example, a bad example to your kids. By that you’re also dishonoring the word of the Lord. We’re going to verse 5.

We become kind. We grow in kindness by looking to Jesus. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 11? “Come to me. Learn from me for I am meek and gentle.” Learn from me. We grow in kindness by looking at Jesus. And depending on the Spirit’s work in us, by crying out to Him as we see our weaknesses, or as we see our weakness to show kindness, we cry to God and we receive grace to become like Jesus.

And the next attitude is being subject to their own husbands. Verse 5. Same price for everyone to be redeemed, but there is a difference in roles here, if you accept or not. There is a hierarchy in biblical marriage. There is a hierarchy in biblical marriage. Man leads, women submits.

I know this is offensive to the 21st century postmodern women, but Bible is very clear. Man leads, women submits. We have already discussed this in our previous sermons and you can refer to those texts again and again and as god's people we must embrace this divine design women should first embrace the biblical idea of headship in the family look at what bible says in first corinthians chapter 11 verse 3 paul says but i want you to understand that christ is the head of every man And the man is the head of a woman and God is the head of Christ.

You see the kind of hierarchy there? Man is the head of woman. Man ought to fulfill his responsibilities as a biblical leader at home. He should lead his family with humility, love, patience and care. And a woman should follow the lead of her husband. And unless his leadership contradicts the biblical principles, women should not oppose.

Even when you have a disagreement with your husband, even you have to disagree with him on scriptural grounds, you will have to do it out of respect towards your husband. Even when you disagree, you don't respect your husband, you respect your husband. you honor your husband you come at him to the Lord you talk to me if doesn't listen to you come at him to the Lord you pray with him you pray for him if necessary take godly counsel verse 5 continues so that the word of God will not be dishonored. No, all of the failure in cultivating on all these qualities, it will lead ultimately to dishonoring God and his word.

A failure to live according to the standard of scripture is a bad model for your kids. You’re modeling a bad womanhood to your kids. Every time you fail to live by these principles, you’re dishonoring the Lord in front of your kids. Every time you’re arguing about equal rights, the feministic kind of mentality, you’re modeling a bad womanhood for your kids.

I’ve heard of a family, they’ll, they live in abroad. So in that family they have a rule that man should do his work, woman should do her work. Even in the family they have the portion, their own portion for food. The man should cook his own food, woman should cook his own food, cook her own food. The man should wash his own clothes, women should wash her own clothes.

One day the man cleans the house, the next day the woman cleans the house. You are modeling something to your kids. It doesn’t mean that men should not help in household chores. Men should help in household chores. Men should cook if they can. Men should clean the homes and toilets if they can. They should help their wives in every way because they love their wives. Because they love their wives, they will help, they should help.

While women are busy in kitchen or somewhere, men do not sit and relax on a sofa and give orders to their wives. That’s not biblical manner. The biblical manner voluntarily helps their wives, assists their wives, nurtures their wives, provides for their wives. By all this brothers and sisters we are modeling something to our kids. Either we are modeling biblical marriage or an unbiblical marriage.

And every time you fail to live by these principles you’re dishonoring your Lord in front of your kids. And you, when you and when you want your kids to be saved and ask them to read their Bibles, brothers and sisters, you are making a mockery of your faith. They will, they are watching. You want them to read their, attend church and Sunday school and stuff like that, but you are not living by the word. You are making a mockery.

You’re not having an influence over your kids. So, both men and women should carefully consider the word and prayerfully seek to live according to biblical standards. Man, you should help your wife to grow in biblical womanhood. Woman, you should help your husband and encourage your husband, pray for your husband to grow in biblical manhood.

So that we as a home live according to biblical standards. So that together as man and woman you model godliness to your kids, to our kids. We need to incorporate scriptural values in our lives and homes. We should let God’s Word govern our households. We should teach our children from a young age that God’s Word rules our homes, and we should demonstrate this by bringing every area of our lives under scriptural authority.

The way you love the Lord, your spouse and your children should reflect biblical values. The way your perspectives and career working for God’s glory and homemaking should be grounded in the scriptures. Your scriptures too should make those worldviews. Men should work hard to provide for their families, which is rooted in the scriptures. Women should prioritize the home. And also you should model everything before your kids. The way you spend money reveals what you love and sets an example for your children. Your generosity models godly living for your kids. Your hospitality shows that, it models how serving others is important.

Spending money on yourself, endless shopping or excessive spending on food can send the wrong message to the next generation. You should cultivate a missional lifestyle that sets an example for your children to serve God’s kingdom. When God formed the nation Israel and gave them the laws, one of the foremost commandments is Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 5. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”

When God wanted to build a nation, he focused on individuals and their families. And the way you express your love for the Lord is by obeying the scriptures. And to obey scriptures, you must study them diligently and pray earnestly. Remember, your kids are watching you.

Dear brothers and sisters, if you have missed these marks in your life and home, it is time you realize. It is time you repent and turn to the Lord. It is time that you seek forgiveness from your kids as well for failing as biblical parents.

for failing to live by God’s standards. You need to confess your kids for not being good stewards of God’s gifts. At least by doing that, you will begin, you will build their trust in you so that you will have more opportunities in the future to influence your kids. Maybe from now on they will not see your faith as a mockery, your instructions as a mockery, but now they will have good influence on them, and that will give them confidence to live by God’s word. Before closing, I want to say this: why do you think that Proverbs 31 woman excelled at home? Even though she had a business, she was busy.

Did you see? We don’t know. It says that, verse 31, it’s in the scriptures. He’s not giving you an imaginary woman. For example, in the worst of Proverbs, that even he talks about the mother, probably it refers to that mother of King Lemuel. We don’t know. So yeah, but it is not imaginary. So don’t put it aside. Don’t read the Bible because it’s an imaginary story or creative story or whatever story. No, Bible is for our instruction. The Bible is given for us to grow in godliness, right? See, look at verse 30, Proverbs 31 verse 30. It says that, “Charm is deceitful, beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall—” One of the characteristics of this woman is that she

fears the Lord. The woman who fears the Lord embraces the calling that God has given her. One characteristic of a God-fearing person is that he or she obeys God’s word out of reverence towards God. A God-fearing person doesn’t care about the popular opinion.

She doesn’t care about what her colleagues or friends or neighbors will think about her. They are concerned about what God says about a particular thing. A God-fearing wife embraces a God-given calling to submit to the leadership of her husband, and a God-fearing mother embraces a calling to nurture and bring up her kids in the ways of the Lord. And she prepares her heart and she prepares her life for that purpose. Let’s pray.

I request you not to take these words lightly. These are the words of God. And all the things that we have heard about biblical fatherhood or biblical motherhood is from the Bible. And they are given for our instruction. They are given for us to be shaped by those, by these words. So let us take these words seriously. Let us pray earnestly. Let us study the word diligently. Let us learn how we need to live. Let’s pray. Father, we pray that our women would submit to the teaching of your word.

Our women would bring themselves under the authority of God’s word. Give them grace. Shape their lives by your word. And also we pray for men as well, that we men also may work on our own selves according to your word and become godly men, godly husbands and godly fathers. Give us grace, oh Father. In Jesus Christ name we pray. Amen.