Recently a couple in my congregation very kindly bought me a copy of Iain Murray’s latest biography  John MacArthur: Servant of the Word and People. In chapter 4 Murray mentions a sermon that Dr. MacArthur preached in 1979 on Titus 2:4-5, where Paul encourages young women to love their children ….work at home. The result of that sermon was an article of condemnation in the Los Angeles Times. There was however a more positive result and one which dispels the common notion that success in the ministry is only measured by conversions, baptisms and numbers. Murray writes that after that sermon on January 21st 1979 “numbers of women re-examined their priorities, and some who were full or part-time church employees resigned in order to give higher priority to their homes and children.” 

This ought to encourage God’s people and stir us up to pray that the Holy Spirit would accompany the preached Word and that there would be evident change in the lives of God’s people under the ministry of that Word.

Mothers and housewives ought to be encouraged also to understand that “God’s primary calling for her is to manage the home. It is the most exalted place of the wife…far more crucial to the future of a women’s children than anything she might do in an outside job.” (cited by Murray in the biography).