Titus #02

Titus 2:1-15

Teach the Truth

Old Man or Young Man?

If you think running out across a icy lake in a Missouri winter is a fun idea … you might be … a young man. If you see your buddy almost make it before crashing through the ICE just short of the other side and you say “wait … I can do it … It’s my turn!” … you are definitely a young man. But if you drop a piece of ice on the kitchen floor and are afraid you might step on it slip and break a hip … you might be … an old man

When the grey haired people at your party are your grandparents … you might be a young woman … When you realize that all those white haired people at your birthday party are YOUR CHILDREN … you might be a more Mature Lady

If you think you’ve got your stuff together but you don’t know what to do with it, you might be a young man, but if you finally got your head together but now your body is falling apart … you might be an old man

If you cry for Romeo and Juliet, you might be a young women. If you cry for their parents you might be an old woman.

If you still love a good Easter egg hunt, you might be a young person, if you can HIDE YOUR OWN Easter Eggs, you might be an old person

Don't ya love it? Hey -- we might as well laugh!!

Well last week we started our look at this letter to Paul’s partner in ministry, Titus. He had been taken by Paul to the island of Crete. There were Christian groups in every city but they needed an understanding of normalcy in Christian expression.

The first step to normalcy was to find, qualified and called Pastors and assign them in each city fellowship.

Now, with Pastors in place, we find out an important truth for THIS Pastor … that is, YOU have expectations as well and you have responsibilities toward one another.

Now, we are painting a broad brush in this study of Titus. We are looking at the Big Picture and not getting microscopic in the exposition. We will not spend in these small books, only weeks. So I encourage you to reread and explore what God is saying in more depth each week in between messages.

So, remember that one of the purposes of the Pastor is teaching “sound doctrine.” So, today, I want you to see Paul’s charge to Titus to “Teach the Truth” to every age, every generation, and every gender. This is for everyone and they are all interrelated so stay engaged with me. I want you to find yourself in here and see your personal expectations and responsibilities toward one another and to God.

READ 2:1-15

Well, did anyone get left out? This is Truth, at any age, any circumstance, for a godly witness. First:

1. At Any Age

Now I guess the first thing you need to do is define “young” and “old”. It was not unusual in Old Testament times for someone to live with their parents even to their 40’s. And a Man wasn’t really seen as an “elder” or someone with whom they age demanded honor until perhaps maybe 60 or 70. However, in this culture, in the 1st Century, and in the Hellenized world, men as young as 50 were considered Older or honored for maturity and experience. So let’s use that as a starting point. If you are over 50 or are on the cusp where you relate more to those over 50 than below it, you can put yourself here. However in relationships someone of 50 has things to learn from someone of 70. In addition a new Christian of 50 might have some maturity in Spiritual things to learn from someone much younger. And a person of 40 can certainly help someone younger than them while still recognizing there are people older than them who can help MORE.

So, what is the truth to learn? What are the expectations

A. For Older (age before beauty)

1. Teach the older MEN.

This word presbytes is similar to the word presbyteros from last week. but this isn’t referring to Pastors or rulers but those who are more mature or advanced in age. What about the older men?

BE …

a. temperate –

sober, restrained, abstaining from alcohol either entirely or at least never being immoderate

b. respectable –

august, venerable, reverent

c. sefl-controled –

we learned this word last week it is sophron = thoughtful, prudent, moderate, curbing desires. I know I am a dreamer and while not impulsive I get fired up about possibilities and a godly older man who is pensive and self-controlled can help me think through the scenario.

d. Sound –

hygiaino = healthy, accurate, correct. It says here they should be sound …

1) in faith.

This is not “faith” as in the act of placing faith; instead, this is a noun that is definitive meaning THE faith. The Faith or the body of Christian doctrine is in view here. If you are an older man in the church you are expected to KNOW The Truth or The Word. That is a responsibility that must be achieved by intention of submitting to the teaching of God’s Called and Ordained Pastor and through Personal study and Discipleship. You must be prepared for any opportunity to share The faith. If you came to Christ late or came back to the Faith later, you have some catching up to do to fill your role.

You are also to be Sound …

2) in LOVE – agape –

this is the highest level of love. It is a benevolent love that acts. It is best seen as a divine unconditional love. YES for Old Men. There is no room here for the “crotched old man syndrome”. Gentlemen if people often about you “oh don’t mind him, he’s just set in his ways” I’d say, look within and let the Love OUT.

Love should grow with us not AWAY from us.

And they are also Sound …

3) Endurance –

hypomone = endurance, remaining under (as in trials and afflictions) in a way that honors God.

It always carries the idea of having a Spirit that accepts our station knowing that God is good and so we don’t dispute or fight his will. In order to finish well you need to be sound in endurance men.

Well, you can evaluate yourselves

You cannot just do as you please because you have a responsibility outside yourself.

… now what about

2. Mature Women?

a. reverent living –

“way of living” is translated by some people as “behavior”, while other translators use the word “demeanor”. The point of either is that and older woman should be reverent and honorable in all aspects of her life. The word “reverent” bodes holiness in the way she lives, walks, and talks. Then it says she is

b. not slanderous –

now ladies please no that I am just DELIVERING the message. This word “slanderous” is from the Greek word diabolos … it is the same word where we get our alternate name for Satan, DEVIL. It means accuser, slanderer, one who tried to bring another down by making either true or false accusations for the purpose of tearing down. This is not fitting for the mature woman of God that you are. Then she is also to be

c. not addicted to wine (substances) –

the word addicted is an verb form of slave it is douloo = enslaved – don’t enslaved by substances in your life … but instead she is to

d. teach what is good –

the image, ladies, is that you are teaching when you are living. If you lack holiness, are caught up in accusations, or have an addictive lifestyle, you are teaching others to do the same. Instead USE your teaching platform for good, you are MORE NOBLE than the alternative. Teach what is good. You are not free to do what you want because you have a responsibility outside yourself.

3. Both Older Men and Women

need to have a relationship with the younger generations behind them.

I am mindful of the Steve Green recording

Oh may all who come behind us Find us faithful.

May the fire of our devotion light their way

May the footprints that we leave lead them to believe

And the lives we live inspire them to obey

Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful

That kind of living takes intention and effort. You may think “they don’t want anything to do with me”, but they DO even if they don’t know it yet.

Ladies, you are instructed then to TRAIN = teach encourage, restore to one’s senses, to hold to one’s duty

Ladies, I know that younger women are longing for you to show them the path. I have heard them say it and also heard them say “no one wants to help in that area”

And Men, we are told in verse 6 to encourage the young men. This too is done intentionally but notice the word is different. It is parakaleo = call to one’s side” - It is an interesting difference between women and men. Men we don’t often like to be TOLD what to do in a “no-it-all” fashion. However, if you invite a young man alongside and show him, he will listen and learn.

So, what are Older Women and Men supposed to Teach younger ones?

B. Younger

1. Women – need to learn to

a. love …

husbands … children – now remember in their day marriages were often arranged so they may have been strangers, almost, when they married. But still even in our present courtships, when we get married we don’t REALLY know what LOVE is, I’m still learning what love is. It has to be learned and experienced. This literally means “husband lovers” and “children lovers”. I have heard women young and old talk about their wives in ways that I wonder if they truly love them. When talking about this instruction VINCENT writes of seeing an Epitaph in Pergamum in Near Asia it was from a husband for his wife and it read “to my sweetest wife who loved her husband and children and lived with me blamelessly for 30 years”. That’s a beautiful compliment.

Assuming you are married, your #1 job is to love, in action, your husband and children. Then you are to be

b. self-controlled –

same word as before it means thoughtful, prudent, moderate … then the words and pure are added to it … that is haguos = holy the idea is in right motives in heart and mind. She should also be

c. Busy at home –

This does not mean that the woman is restricted to the house; nor that she is commanded NOT to work outside the home; for Proverbs 31 clearly pictures a godly woman who works. But in 1 Timothy 5:13-14 we get a picture of the instructions. The phrase is to “manage the home” or see to the orderliness of the house so as not to become idle and a busy body talking negatively from house to house.

d. kindness – all she does in her house is tempered by kindness. Pro 31:26 shows that Kindness is her normal pattern for relating. I have often said that while Scripture says that men are the Head of the Home, Women are the HEART of the home. They set the tone for the home. An accusing, mismanaging, bitter wife and mother will breed that kind of house. But a woman who deeply loves, thinks the best, is more concerned for others than herself, is kind and compassionate and creates a garden that is fertile for the growth of these things in the life of her family to the glory of God. Which leads to the final instruction …

e. be subject to your husband –

hmmm … well before I address the instruction, notice the PURPOSE … “so that no one will malign the Word of God”. This is not about us. There is a purpose that is greater and outside of me. This is about the glory, the reputation, of God to the watching world. Now you need to take into account Paul’s previous teaching on this Subject. You can Read Colossians 3:18-19 and Ephesians 5:21-33. In those, both men and women are told to be submissive to each other and the Husband is told to LOVE his wife as Christ loved the Church.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Paul teaches that the Great Mystery of Marriage is that it is intended to portray Christ and the Church. So, when God made Eve and brought her to Adam, it was a picture of the church coming to Christ.

That is why it says for ladies then to “be subject” – hypotasso – to her husband. The KJV says “be obedient” but the word means “to arrange under …” as in a General and his subordinate officers and enlisted men under him in the army. The idea is NOT one of inferiority, but in an order that can operate together toward victory. The word is also a verb not a noun. My wife is NOT my subject like a slave or servant, but she IS making herself subject to me. Notice it doesn’t say “you have been subjected” showing something that has been DONE to you by an outside force. No, the picture, men and women is of a beautiful, valuable, intelligent, talented, creative woman offering herself freely in order, arranged, under Christ and under her husband to portray The Church subject to Christ. And MEN Christ offered himself for us, but doesn’t force us to come to him. He woos us, he draws us, he invites us, and we subject ourselves to him and receive his grace and salvation, blessing and honor.

I would love to spend more time there but it is for another time.

Here again, the purpose of teaching young women how to love, care for their families, and be gracious parts of society, kind, good, and properly in order, is fOR the Word of God.

So that, no one can “malign” the Greek word is blaspheme.

What about young men?

2. Young Men

Be

a. self-controlled –

sophron – is the word again. See a pattern. But Pastor, where’s the part about me “sowing my wild oats”? You are not going to find it here. The word means sane, sensible, and reasonable, of sound mind. Well men, we have to admit that young men are especially driven by passions, dreams, and desires that will make them great men, but they have to be encouraged to come under control. Sometimes our heart goes ahead of our head. We have to learn to master our emotions, consumptions, and compulsion through the encouragement of others.

It comes back and reminds us then that Godly older men are to “set an example by doing what is good.”

Men respond better to someone BESIDE them than just being told or commanded.

younger men you need to

b. WATCH godly men,

- and where they are getting it right, come alongside and watch learn, ask, humble yourself to become.

So what are the attributes to pay the most attention to developing in your young life?

c. integrity, seriousness, and sound speech. –

Young men these are truly things that separate the men from the boys. The word adiaphthoria (ad-ee-of-thor-ee-a) means incorruptibility, soundness, integrity.

!!!!!1) “incorruptibility” –

Men when you were boys you could say “Johnny made me do it”, “Billy taught me that word”, or “Everybody’s doing it”. But to be a man, you no longer are easily corrupted or tarnished by someone else.

!!!!!2) “Sound” -

means you have a solid foundation on which to stand

3) “Integrity” –

means you are honest, trustworthy, and take responsibility for your actions. Boys say, “I didn’t do that”. Boys change the facts to cover their tracks. But Men have integrity.

4) Seriousness. -

Now I’m not saying we have to take the fun and smiles out but young men have to learn how to be serious. The word - semnotes – means dignity, seriousness, majesty. Dignity is the state or quality of being worthy of honor or respect. Gentlemen, you all want respect and it can be earned by taking care of business, completing tasks, and being honorable.

And then finally

5) soundness of speech –

The phrase is hygies logos or healthy word. Our words are important men. There is a phase often even with godly young men where we think we are “grown up” because we can no joke in a coarse manner that would be offensive if we weren’t “just kidding”.

Ephesians 5:1,4 – “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children … nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving”

Growing up means putting aside these childish things and if you live like this you will be

d. blameless

Young men, you want respect, well this is how you get it! You may rightly say “Pastor, I know some ‘not so young’ men who still do all of that ‘boy stuff’”. Well, all I can say is “you are right.” But either they haven’t been born into or grown into the mature man of God they are intended.

3. One last Word! –

young women and men, Older women and men, you need to be in mentoring relationships controlled by humility and a desire to learn. Seek one another out and ask to be involved in their lives. Don’t wait for the younger or older to come to you, go to them.

Now before we move on, I have been inspired that we need some “Intergenerational Liasons” – that is, I need at least one each of young and old men and women. That’s four people J at least. Who will come to me and say “I’m willing” to fill that role. A younger and older woman will work together and so the men to plan opportunities and events to foster and build mentoring relationships. I’m looking for you. So if you like the idea and want to know more, come to me send me a note on a welcome slip and we will get it started.

As we try and finish I need to touch quickly on these last two points

Teach the truth At any age, but also

2. In Any Circumstance

I will save a longer teaching here for another time but let me touch on these instructions for the workplace. After speaking about how we should be in our lives then he touches on their work lives.

A. Workers (slaves)

The instruction here was with the understanding that many of the Christians were slaves in pagan homes. The instructions are universal though. I would say that many if not most of you work in a mostly pagan or godless work environment.

We are being told to

1. Be subject to them

We are to place ourselves under them as good soldiers, willingly and joyfully. This is the same word as we saw before … to place under as in an army. We are simply soldiers of Christ serving the Boss that Christ has allowed over us. THEN …

2. Seek to Please Them ---

euarestos = to please well or bring satisfaction to your boss. There’s a new concept. Don’t seek to do what’s best for you, only do what you have to, just slide by … NO seek to PLEASE … “Lord are you SURE” … “Have you met my boss Lord ?”

“NO BUT I”D LIKE A CHANCE” – THEN

!!! 3. Listen and Respect –

don’t back talk . This is just good advice. We often don’t hear what is being said because we have a better way, or we want to defend our view. As a good worker learn to listen and show respect … “wow Pastor, you’re making this hard”

Then it says

4. work honestly, don’t steal from your boss –

you know we can steal from our bosses in a lot of ways; in resources, time, quality of work. Finally

5. Fully Trusted –

you know if you can’t be trusted … why would they think they could Trust your Lord?

Why is God so concerned with how I do MY BUSINESS?

That’s just the point, it’s not YOUR business. We have a purpose that is OUTSIDE ourselves. Verse 10 b says

B. So That

There is always a purpose outside of us and it is to make the teachings of our Savior attractive. Do you make him believable. I think the cry of the world is often “if it doesn’t work for you, how will it work for me?” Oh but if we can live an enviable life in Christ …

Teaching the Truth to Every Age, in Every Circumstance …

3. For a Godly Witness

Why should I care about my witness? Everything we’ve said is about this. Why?

A. The Grace of God is Available

The grace of God – “Charis” - a favor freely done without claim or expectation of return

Aristotle explains the stress of this word is that it is conferred freely – it’s only motive is the bounty and free heartedness of the giver. That is honorable for a pagan philosopher, but in Greece. “charis” was only given to a FRIEND, But THIS says the “Grace of God is available TO ALL MEN”.

We have to live like we are being instructed here in our personal and societal lives because we are operating in this world as part of the presentation of God’s Gospel of Grace.

The Grace of God has appeared – that is the word epiphiano (ep-ee- fah-ee-no) like Epiphany– he appeared and now we appear as his work of Grace and that same grace brings salvation who were once enemies of God but now we are his adopted sons and daughters. And that gift of grace

B. Teaches Us How to Live

If you are trying to figure out how to have the heart change, inner compulsion, to live like list we’ve read tonight? Well, focus on the Gracious Gift of Salvation and see how it was given. Jesus humbled himself, subjected himself to serving us to the death.

How do we say “no” to ungodliness and “yes” to godly living? From a position of Grace, you decide to subject yourself to God’s ways rather than your own. As you humble yourself and are willing to be obedient to the full extent, that submission to the Spirit finds that the Spirit gives us all we need to follow Christ in obedience.

We should live in obedience and Expectation of his imminent return

Don’t you see that when it comes to our lives in the Gospel Presentation, we can be either

C. Stumbling Blocks or Stepping Stones

Depends on if we are found faithful, not perfect just faithful … because there is something bigger at work outside of us