Elderly Living

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Good morning everyone! It is a privilege to be able to speak this morning with you all.

Introduce myself

Summer Youth (msmt, hangouts)

Kick-Off Sept 10. at Munster

Series Introduction

Today we are beginning a 3 week series on the book of Titus.

Titus is a cool name for a baby, so is Abdiel

Slide of Titus info.

This is what would be an overview of the letter to Titus.

letter

Titus was given the role of the overseer of Crete, he was called to install elders which we will talk about a lot more which leads to what I’m titling this message Elderly Living.

PRAY

Transition to how this will go down

Today we are going to look at Chapter one which is 16 verses long. We are going to divide the chapter into 4 sections with purposes and challenges in each section.

Read

Section 1:

Titus 1:1–4 (CSB)

1 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness, 2 in the hope of eternal life that God, who cannot lie, promised before time began. 3 In his own time he has revealed his word in the preaching with which I was entrusted by the command of God our Savior:

4 To Titus, my true son in our common faith.

Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

In verse 1 we learn a bit about what Paul’s purpose as an apostle was. He was called as a servant of God for the purpose of the faith of the believers. It was for their knowledge of the truth. This knowledge leads to godliness.

His teaching here is that what we know about God, will determine how we live for God.

Ask: how many of you believed something funny when you were little.

step on a crack and break your mother’s back

if you eat a watermelon seed a watermelon will grow inside of you

If you touch a toad you’ll get warts

Because you believed these things, you didn’t touch toads, you ate seedless watermelons, and you avoided every crack in sight. The thing is, these fake facts are based on fear.

The thing is, what we know about God will not lead us to avoid certain activities based on fear, it will cause us to avoid certain activities because we are too busy pursuing Godly activities.

Here is the knowledge:

Titus 1:2–3 (CSB)

2 in the hope of eternal life that God, who cannot lie (you can always trust in God because there is no deception in Him), promised before time began. 3 In his own time he has revealed his word in the preaching with which I was entrusted by the command of God our Savior:

The knowledge of the truth of God is that there is eternal life in God. It is rooted in the gospel; that we are great sinners, but Jesus is a great savior.

We deserved punishment for our sin, but Jesus took the punishment for us on the cross.

And anyone who believes in Jesus, in his death and in his resurrection, then we have eternal life and anyone who believes in it will be sealed by His Spirit with power forever!

Do you believe?

When you know this truth, you will be immovable. And anything counterfeit to this truth will not have an effect on you.

Section 2

We’re going to skip down to vs. 5.

Titus 1:5–9 (CSB)

5 The reason I left you in Crete was to set right what was left undone and, as I directed you, to appoint elders in every town. 6 An elder must be blameless, the husband of one wife, with faithful children who are not accused of wildness or rebellion. 7 As an overseer of God’s household, he must be blameless, not arrogant, not hot-tempered, not an excessive drinker, not a bully, not greedy for money, 8 but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, righteous, holy, self-controlled, 9 holding to the faithful message as taught, so that he will be able both to encourage with sound teaching and to refute those who contradict it.

In this section we see Titus’ purpose for being left in Crete. That is to appoint elders in every town then we see what the character these elders need to have in order to be in the position.

This is what I want us all to pay attention to, because I believe we are all called to live at a higher standard. We are all called to Elderly Living.

Let’s look at vs. 6 first.

Titus 1:6 (CSB)

6 An elder must be blameless, the husband of one wife, with faithful children who are not accused of wildness or rebellion.

Blameless:

Blameless and perfect are not the same thing. Someone who is blameless has a good moral standard that stems from their relationship with God. They are open to criticism, and have a good reputation about them.

Some of us might not be on that level and that is ok. What we ought to strive for is an empty closet. There might be a skeleton or two, but we don’t allow what’s in the closet to determine who we ought to be in Christ.

Sexual Integrity:

The next point is important. it says The Husband of One Wife.

There is an implication here that the elder must be married. But there is something we have to understand as well when it comes to marriage and singleness.

Married people and single people are both called to sexual integrity. It don’t matter if you are an elder or not. We are called to sexual integrity. This means you don’t put yourself in a situation with someone else or something else that’s going to cause some fire in the loins.

Here’s the last thing I will say about this, The foundation for sexual integrity is not about avoiding what’s wrong, but by pursuing the one Who is Right.

All our lives we’re told “don’t do this, don’t do that” But that’s the same thing as saying don’t think about cake. Well now all I’m thinking about is cake.

When you put something in your face that is going to lead you to Godliness, then the ungodliness will seem less valuable.

Intentional Parenting

This last characteristic has to do with parenting. Here’s what I need to say, “The home is the training ground for Christian leadership.”

As a Christian we are called to lead our kids to knowing Jesus. This doesn’t mean that it’s going to work perfectly. We can’t control the destiny of our children and we shouldn’t believe that we can. But what we can do, is show them the way to our great savior and trust that He is faithful to save them.

How often are you praying with your children? How often are you teaching them biblical truths?

The church is a place that assists in resourcing you all, but it is not the end all. If you need help teaching your kids about the goodness of God at home, we have an amazing faith kids director and an alright youth director that would partner with you and provide resources.

Take initiative over the spiritual well being of your children before the world gets a hold of them first.

Next part of Section 2

Titus 1:7–9 (CSB)

7 As an overseer of God’s household, he must be blameless, not arrogant, not hot-tempered, not an excessive drinker, not a bully, not greedy for money, 8 but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, righteous, holy, self-controlled, 9 holding to the faithful message as taught, so that he will be able both to encourage with sound teaching and to refute those who contradict it.

This is the part where I like to say, We don’t just read the Bible, but the Bible reads us too.

Where do you see yourself in this list of characteristics?

Is it more in the what not to be, or in the contrast of those things?

That word blameless comes up again, like it’s important or something. Then it lists 5 characteristics an elder should not be, along with 6 characteristics an elder should strive for.