Godly Roles Pt. 2

If you have a bible up it up to Titus 2. I have titled the message this morning Godly Roles Pt. 2. Pray with me…

Now you might have asked yourself this morning.. How can we have a part 2 when I dont even remember part 1. Now back in July I preached a message also titled Godly roles in our series in the pastoral epistles. And in that message I made it my objective to show you that God has created men and women to serve his church in specific roles in order to bring glory to him. Now the the 10 verses we are in today are much different then we find in 1 Timothy. In fact in the book of Titus he is speaking to people both men and women, slave and free old and young on our godly roles that we are to have.

And I would argue that he is telling Titus we are never done with our Christian duty until the Lord calls us home. God I believe allows us to age allows to be young so we can learn must about our Lord and savior, and allow us to serve the Lord no matter the context that we find ourself in. We have people in this church from 0 to 105 and we all have a roles in his kingdom. In fact what I want you to see today as our main idea is this…

To fulfill our God-given roles, we must have sound doctrine and self-control, living how God calls us to live.

Let us read the text and let me show how that main idea comes alive for us.

Titus 2:1–10 (ESV)

1 But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine. 2 Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. 3 Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, 4 and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. 6 Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. 7 Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, 8 and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. 9 Bondservants are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, 10 not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.

Few points for us today the first is this…

We must be taught our roles.

Christianity is not a faith of confusion. God is not a God of confusion. He is a God of truth, and thank God he has given us all we need for life in godliness in this book. You see in the text this charge by Paul to Titus to Older men, and This charge is that Older men are to teach.

He starts off by saying But as for you teach what accords with sound doctrine. Now what did we just talk about last few weeks. The importance of Good high character Pastors that can preach and teach, against those who were bothering Titus in Crete who were preaching and teaching things that went against sound doctrine. Remember they were taking about Jewish Myths, and how the Law saves, not teaching biblical salvation, what we are taught matters to because what we are taught impacts our roles as Christians.

Latter in the passage Paul speaks to Titus to teach in such a way that has integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that any opponent may be put to shame having nothing evil to say about us. Remember Paul wants to silence to opposition of those who challenge the word of God. So teaching people the right way about the right roles to follow is going to be essential to live out biblical roles for both men and women.

The unfortunate part about the world we live in about the church today is we have taken secular ideas to how our roles should be in and outside the church and its causes us to shift away from sound doctrine. God wants us to live a certain way and the only way we are going to know how to live is to be taught how to live through the word of God. Paul stresses the importance in this text of how certain people are to live out there God given roles. I feel that the church has suffered so much because all generations of believers are not taking their doctrine and their roles seriously. I told you I did not have the Godly leadership in my home that I needed and in churches sometimes we have a generation who takes off when it comes to their roles and it effects generation after and the cycle continues. They say I dont need to teach this generation how to live how to be the example, how to have self control.

Write this down for your second point we will camp here for along time.

Our roles must be lived out with self-control.

For the older men in the room, for the men who have leadership positions in the church. we must be sober minded. Paul seems to say this alot in his writings doesn’t he. He wants all believers to be this way, but especially those who lead in the church. Because as I have already talked about you cannot make clear decisions when you are under the influence of something, and we have talked about that goes beyond Alcohol.

To be dignified. Meaning people should honor us. Not because of our position but for the way we conduct our very own lives. To be self controlled. I touch on that in a moment. To be sound in faith. We are to be men who have a good relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ we believe in him and his word. And our lives display that very thing. We are to love. Love God love others. WE are to be steadfast. We are to endure all things. Remember how Paul talked about how he endured all things for the sake of the elect. We endure all things men so that we can display that God is truly working in us and the role he has called us to.

Now we get the Older women. They are to be reverent in behavior. What does that mean? It means that Older women, women who lead are to have lives that honor God. They are to be Holy. Paul goes to add on these women are to be not slanders. Now I want to pause for a moment and say Unfortuately this is a problem in all Christians, but I have seen this affect so many people. So many people would rather gossip than talk about the gospel. And I have seen this drive more people away from the church than other things. Paul knows its an issue God knows its an issue so he makes sure that those who are teaching the women below them do not get caught up in that deadly sin as well. They are not to be drunk with much wine. We see clearly that Paul had an issue with drunkeness because he wants those who are in these important Godly roles to be clear minded. One night can damage a lifetime of faithfulness.

All these things are important to have self-control over because not only do they affect your walk, but others when you are to show them how to live. I believe Godly living magnifies Godly teaching. Which is something we all need to work on. Older women are to train the young women to love their husbands and children.

Grandmothers, mothers in the room you have a great opportunity to show others how to be godly women.

Listen to what one man said this is played out.. When my children were young, my wife and I often sought the advice of Christians we respected regarding their child-rearing practices. Now that my children are older, I note that young mothers often approach my wife with questions about how to raise their children. And though she is not usually aware of the observation, we are told that others watch her to see how she deals with our older children. As I reflect on the ways that my wife teaches others, I recognize that she mothers many in our church. Further, I am immensely grateful that our family also benefits from her thoughtful reflection and consistent modeling of what being a spiritually mature woman means. When these dynamics are multiplied many times through the spoken and modeled instruction of mature women throughout the church, the entire body is nurtured by the spreading influence of these spiritual mothers.

laddies though you may not have the role of a pastor your work is so important to Glory of God and the people of God. Teach them to be self-controlled again I want to touch on that in a moment. To be pure. The hook up culture has really damaged this idea of purity. A Pastor is to be a one women man, and a bride is to be a one man women. One of the greatest prayers I have is that my daughters will be pure. Purity is what makes Jesus look so great, and to describe a man or a women as pure and self controlled is a thing of beauty that no words can describe.

next is says these young women are to work at home. This verse I believes gets twisted alot of different ways. One man even said it like this, and I believe fits perfectly into the role of young women listen to this.. We need to be careful not to impose modern debates about women's roles on our interpretation of these words. It is unlikely that Paul had in mind concern about "career women" or mothers in the secular workplace. The Greek phrase literally says that the younger women should be taught to be "home workers." The emphasis (particularly in light of the earlier instruction to the older women not to be caught in the vices of indolence in the church community) is not on the location of a wife's work but on being productive in the normal occupations of a wife each day.

This instruction still has bearing on modern discussions even if it is not the absolute command for women to stay at home that some may desire. The apostle without question ranks a wife's obligations to care for her husband and children over her personal benefit or fulfillment. Any woman who makes career status or financial advantage a higher priority in her life than the welfare of her marriage, children, or home transgresses Scripture as well as the signals of a heart sensitive to God's Spirit.

The last parts the key to me. Know your role no matter what. These younger women are to be kind. Women are more compassionate then men, and I believe they need to be in the roles God has called them to.

Finally we see younger women are to be submissive to their own husbands. The text is not talking about a yes sir no sir attitude. Its talking about submitting to Godly husbands. Remember the fathers day message I preached from Ephesians. Eph 5:24-25

Ephesians 5:24–25 ESV

24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. 25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,

Men the standard is you loving your wife like Jesus loved the church laying down it all for her.

Next we shift to young men in the text. Again the idea of being self controlled comes up and I will speak of that in a moment. Young men are to have good works unlike we saw last week. Godly living shows that you believe in what you teach.

Finally we end up with slaves or bondservants. Now you know Paul is living a different time then we are in. For us this applies manly I believe for our workplaces if we want to apply it to our own context. But I want to do just a little bit teaching here about why this matters in the context Titus is ministering in, and why this cannot be used today to justify the kind of slavery that we know as Americans.

As must a half the population during the time Paul was writing could be a slave wherever they were Rome 1/3 of the people where slaves the total Roman empire 1/5 the the people were slaves for various reasons. War, Kidnapping, Poverty ect..

Now one man said we need to know this about slavery so I want to pass that along to you he says this.

1. The Bible regulates but does not ordain or require slavery (Exod 21; Lev 25; Deut 15; Eph 6:5-9; Col 3:22-4:1; 1 Tim 6: 1-2; Titus 2:9-10; 1 Pet 2:18-25). Slavery is not a divine institution.Note the absence of an Old Testament grounding in Ephesians 6:5-9!

2.Paul taught that if you can gain your freedom, then go for it 1 Cor 7:21-24), but do not let it consume you.

3. Through a wise and strategic extension of the gospel, the New Testament sows the seed for the unmasking of slavery for the sin that it is and for its eventual destruction.

4. Scripture never advocates bloodshed or rebellion in confronting and overturning evil structures of society and culture.Rather, it attacks with the beauty of the gospel, the grace of God, and the ethic of love.

5. Paul turned the tables on the institution of slavery, placing it in eternal perspective! From the perspective of eternity, the slave is master of his master for the Master! The earthly master who does not know Christ in a real sense finds his eternal destiny in the hands of his slave who actually is the free man. It is the slase who knows Christ, it is the slave who possesses the gospel trea sure that saves. From the gospel perspective it is the unbelieving master who is in the position of disadvantage.

Why does all that matter well going back to the text the sole purpose Paul includes this in the text is so that in everything they may adore the doctrine of God our Savior. Now friends slave or not that is mighty goal to save.

So these slaves were to be submissive to their masters in everything. They were to do as they were told, not because they liked the master, but because they loved their master. Jesus. Our goal no matter who we work for is to serve the Lord. Not only were they to be submissive they were to be well pleasing not argumentative. They were to have the right attitude as they served their master. Because again they are serving the Lord. This goes for us all of us go to work to often with the wrong attitude but at the end of the day who are you really serving Jesus Christ. Slaves were to have the right speech. Not talking back to the master, and this is a good principle for us as well to never talk back to our heavenly master Jesus Christ. Slaves were to not pilfer not steal from their master, and for us we don’t take what is not ours. A slave was to be faithful. God calls for all of us to be faithful. Now friends in order to do any of that we have to be self-controlled.

Now this idea of being self-controlled fits into all these things we talked about today. Self Control is something we all should have. It should come natural because its a fruit of the spirit. And self control comes from knowing what accords with sound doctrine. Paul is telling Titus in the text you want to be self controlled then be sober minded. Be dignified, be sound in faith, in love, in steadfastness, in our behavior, in our role, in your attitude.

Want to fulfill your role know the truth and live out the truth.

Final point is this.

Fulfilling our roles glorify our savior Jesus Christ.

In our natural flesh our desire is to not have sound doctrine to not be self controlled. To not live out the role God has called us to. But because Jesus took his role seriously we can as well. See how I understand the bible and about Jesus is this way. Jesus became a slave for us the least we could do is be a slave for him. x2

Not just for a little while either for all of our days. Jesus played his role perfectly to the point of death so should we. Remember Paul’s opening words. Titus 1:1-4

Titus 1:1–4 ESV

1 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, 2 in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began 3 and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior; 4 To Titus, my true child in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

Friends Paul served the role he was called to for the sake of you. Paul lived the life that he was supposed to for you believer. So that you would have this faith in Jesus Christ who served his role seriously. Who came to offer up eternal life so that you could have peace with God. And live out the life he calls you to until you go be with him. Church if we are going to make it we have to care about the people God has given us and the people who don’t know him, and serving our role will help edify the saints and bring those God will save into our lives. The role you have been given is so important don’t miss that. Christ came and changed your life so you could live our role. Friends everything you do in this life should be done so that they have adorn the Savior never forget that.

Listen to this… In commenting on this verse, Spurgeon writes,

The life of the Christian, even if he is a servant, is to be an ornament of Christianity. Christ does not look for the ornament of His religion to the riches or the talents of His followers, but to their holy lives, "that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things." ("Adorning the Gospel," in Metropolitan Tabernacle, 41:275) This is godliness that is worthy of the praise of our Savior.

I want to close with another story that impacted my life this week.

An elderly woman shut into her home by age and blindness. She lost her husband early in their marriage. With two daughters to raise, the menial jobs that she could get would not provide enough income. So she supplemented her small salary by baking wonderful, melt-in-your-mouth sourdough bread. When the daughters grew up and left home, the baking did not stop. The woman who had given herself so much for others was simply in the habit of putting others first. She kept baking bread and giving it away to friends.

Then something began to affect her sight. She progressed from weakened sight to total blindness very quickly. With so much against her, and so much pressure simply to survive, no one would have blamed her for calling it quits on everything except what was needed to take care of herself. But instead of submitting to the darkness, the elderly woman made an important decision.

Baking bread was what God had given her to do to express her love and care to others. She would not give it up simply because she could not see.

So she mixes the flour and water she does not see, finds the dials on the oven in the dark, bakes the bread by instincts long developed in the light, and gives the loaves to people whose faces she can only imagine. She cannot tell you entirely why she bakes blind-only that God has given her love to share with those whose future and present need the yeast of her selfless love in order to share the bread of life with others.

Whether we are attending church or a Bible study or offering fellowship to another family or are baking blind, we do not physically see the spiritual effects on others. But what we share with each other in these settings is spiritual life, nourishment, and protection more sustaining than earthly eyes can estimate. Still, Heaven sees and blesses through such selfless sharing that prepares us for the future, protects us in the present, and shapes hearts forever.

Church never discount the role that God has given you, in the place he has called you to, and the work of our savior role in your life. If you dont know the beautiful role that Jesus Christ played so you could have eternal life I would tell you you can by repenting of your sin and trusting in Christ alone for salvation, and when he saves you he calls you to a new life and new role. and if you don’t know what your role is and you want one lets talk about that as well. Friends we all have a role to fill whats yours and how can you use that for the advance of his kingdom.

Let us pray.