“Correcting the Bad” Titus 2: 1-10

Paul wrote this letter to Titus to direct him, to encourage him, to guide him on what Titus was to do in Crete. The Cretes or Cretans had a worldly influenced culture; a morally corrupt culture. This is what Paul writes to Titus in Titus 1:10-11;

“For there are rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of dishonest gain.”

These rebellious men were intentional in their teachings. They were not doing things by accident. They had an agenda. They were intentionally teaching bad things for the sake of dishonest gain at the expense of others. Some of these men were also Jews. The men of the faith, men of sound teaching. Not a good place to be.

So what does this have to do with me, with us, with our families today? Well it does not take too much imagination to find a parallel to what was happening in Crete back then and what is happening in our Country today. We have rebellious people, organizations that are empty talkers and deceivers especially in our institutions that were once suppose to provide us with sound teachings. These deceivers are upsetting families, communities and our nation, teaching things that should not be taught for the sake of dishonest gain… Now you might be thinking that this statement is a stretch, to tie Crete back then to us now. But let’s consider what is happening.

I am going to read you an article that was published in December 3, 2020 on a topic that has been upsetting families:

Harvard Health Publishing - Gender fluidity: What it means and why support matters

December 3, 2020

By Sabra L. Katz-Wise, PhD, Contributor

How can you support gender-fluid youth in your life?

I encourage you to think about gender fluidity as part of the diversity of human experience related to gender identity and expression. While acceptance is important in how we treat anyone, it’s especially important for children and teens.

• Listen to youth and validate their experience of their gender. Everyone is the expert of their own gender.

• Be patient, as a youth’s gender fluidity may be part of their gender identity development.

• Support gender-fluid youth in making informed decisions about gender-affirming care, such as hormone therapy and gender-affirming surgeries.

• Connect them to support and resources so they can talk to others with similar experiences. Gender Spectrum is a great resource for both gender-fluid youth and the adults in their lives.

This is just one example of the things that should not be taught. But there are more…

DEI which stands for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion that teaches that people should not be hired because they are the best person for the job but rather because of their race.

CRT or Critical Race Theory teaches that systemic racism is part of American society. Not back in the days of slavery or the days of segregation but now.

Pro Choice which is tied with Women Rights. It is a woman’s right to be able to terminate the life of an unborn child. And if you do not support Pro Choice, then you don’t support women rights.

Again, these are things that should not be taught. They are wrong and very divisive. Some of you maybe thinking that this got political very quick but I challenge you not to see this through the lens of politics but through the lens of teaching. These are things that are being taught today and are influencing people.

If we were to stop here, then the situation seems hopeless but remember Paul wrote to Titus to encourage and guide him. Part of the first chapter of Titus is aimed to make Titus aware of the situation. Not only to point out that it is a bad situation but to make him aware of the cause. The cause is rebellious men teaching bad doctrine for dishonest gain. It is hard to correct something if you are not aware of what the cause is. Take for example the medical industry before and after medical advancements such as microscopes or X-Rays or MRI’s. Before these advancements people were getting sick but they were not aware of the exact cause so the treatments were hit and miss. But after these medical advancements, they became aware of the cause and were able to pinpoint the treatments which resulted in better results. That is all Paul did in Chapter 1 of Titus and that was my intention in what I shared with you; to make us aware to the cause of the situation.

Chapter 2 is the treatment to correct these bad teachings… Read Titus 2:1-10

Titus 2:1–10 (CSB)

But you are to proclaim things consistent with sound teaching. Older men are to be self-controlled, worthy of respect, sensible, and sound in faith, love, and endurance. In the same way, older women are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not slaves to excessive drinking. They are to teach what is good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands and to love their children, to be self-controlled, pure, workers at home, kind, and in submission to their husbands, so that God’s word will not be slandered.

In the same way, encourage the young men to be self-controlled in everything. Make yourself an example of good works with integrity and dignity in your teaching. Your message is to be sound beyond reproach, so that any opponent will be ashamed, because he doesn’t have anything bad to say about us.

Slaves are to submit to their masters in everything, and to be well-pleasing, not talking back or stealing, but demonstrating utter faithfulness, so that they may adorn the teaching of God our Savior in everything.

Paul just laid out some good behaviors that should be exhibited by these 5 groups which encompass all the community but what Paul also did is pin point the areas where the Cretans were falling short. Let me read this to you again but in the negative. And as I read this, think about where we are today. Does this mirror what we are seeing in our country?

Let us start with vs 1. But you are to proclaim things consistent with sound teaching. Paul is telling Titus to be different, that he will not teach the things that these rebellious men are teaching, you will teach things consistent with sound doctrine. Paul wrote this letter to Titus but this applies to all of us. As Christians belonging to the body of Christ we are all representatives, heralds, ambassadors. We are all responsible for “speaking the things which are proper for sound doctrine.” Let us expand on that a bit. We all influence the people around us weather we want to or not. We all have what is called a sphere of influence. It starts at home with our families and spreads out towards our friends, co-workers and community. We need to be aware of this and we need to be intentional with how we represent Christ to the world. Now back to the text.

In his letter, Paul targets 5 groups of people, older men, older women, young women, young men and slaves.

The first group is older men. Paul does not give us a specific age of what an older man is but the age is not necessarily important, the role older men play is what is important. Older men are leaders in the family, they are the leaders of the community and are also the role models for younger men. Their responsibility and influence is high. Older men should be:

Self Controlled in all areas of their life. They should not let themselves be ruled over by their indulgences. Older men need to be disciplined.

Worthy of respect. They should not do things that discredit their reputation or integrity.

Sensible. Be rational, think and act with reason.

To be sound in Faith, Love and Endurance. To be sound is to be healthy. To be healthy in Faith, Love and Endurance. We stay physically healthy by exercising and eating right. We stay healthy in Faith, Love and Endurance by exercising our Faith and Love and Endurance and feeding on the right kind of Faith, the right kind of Love and the right kind Endurance.

In the same way or manner as the older men, older women should do the things that are consistent with sound doctrine, Older women should:

Be reverent in behavior, that is to be submissive, humble and respectful in your behavior.

Not be slanderers, gossipers. Slandering and gossiping is destructive. It tears down. This is not a beneficial behavior so do not engage in that.

Not be slaves to excessive drinking. It appears that Cretan women enjoyed the booze a bit too much! We might be tempted to say that this is not applicable however, 18% of all women use antidepressants and 24% of women 60 or older use antidepressants. This is from a study conducted by Women’s Healthcare in 2022.

Older women are to teach what is good so that they maybe an encouragement to young women to:

love their husbands and children. This is a sacrificial love, to put them first, to encourage and build up. To raise children in a manner that honors God. A woman is equipped by God to love love their husband and children.

to be self controlled in everything

pure or innocent

workers at home… and no this does not mean that women should not work outside of the home. Women can have jobs but it should not come at the expense of fulfilling their responsibilities as a wife or a mother.

be kind

and in submission to their husbands. To respect the God given authority of their husbands to be the leader of the family.

so that God’s word will not be slandered. Our actions speak for us. And as Christians if we are not acting as Christians then the God’s word will be slandered. We do not want to act in a manner that God’s word will be slandered. We don’t want to act in a way that keep’s people from following or coming to Christ.

Now to the young men. Titus is told by Paul to encourage young men to be self-controlled in everything. That sums it up real quick. Young men want to indulge in everything. They think they can do everything! Young men are a huge force and under the right instruction/leadership can achieve great things. Under the wrong instruction or lack of instruction, they will do terrible things. Young men have the strength, tenacity and attitude to get things done. Now the consequence thinking part of the brain is not fully developed yet but that is not necessarily a bad thing. Sure they will jump into things head first but they get things done. And again the key is to pair young men with the right instruction. Now if the older men heed the instruction that Paul is providing in the section above and become good Godly role models and mentors for these young men, then things will start turning around. The young men will be taught by the older men. The young men will become older men and teach the next generation of young men. A good cycle to have and that is the same for the young women.

Paul then transitions to providing some instruction on how Titus should behave as a leader. Make yourself an example of good works with integrity and dignity in your teaching. Lead by example Titus, make yourself the example. People are watching you, people are learning from not only what you say but how you live. Your message is to be sound beyond reproach, so that any opponent will be ashamed, because he doesn’t have anything bad to say about us. Don’t give the opponent an excuse to discredit your teachings, don’t give the opponent an excuse to discredit God. We have seen this happen time and time again. Leaders failing to practice what they preach or stay true to the Word of God and what it does to their reputation, the reputation of the Church and the reputation of God. A recent example of this is what happened with Ravi Sacharias and the sex scandals that he was involved in. Here we had a Christian Leader a very influential leader who was not modeling what he was teaching. This scandal destroyed his reputation, the reputation of the Church and the reputation of God. He gave the opponents reason to say bad things about us. John MacArthur, another prominent church leader, in an interview was asked what he was afraid of. This question was asked in the context of him being an older Christian man who has been in ministry for 50 plus years, who will soon be called to the kingdom of God, called home. His response was stunning, it was impactful. His fear is to be so close to finishing the race and fail to lead a life that is beyond reproach. To stain the reputation of the Church and God because of his actions. I think this is a healthy fear to have, a necessary fear to have. To be aware that we are only human and always be on guard from our weakness to be tempted by our flesh, the world and Satan.

In vs 9 and 10, Paul writes about the last group. The Slaves. Understand that slavery was common in across the Roman Empire when Paul was writing this to Titus. Many of the early Christians were slaves. To make this relatable to us, we will talk about employees rather than slaves and employers rather than slave masters. Employees are to be obedient to your Employers. Employees are not talk back to their employers; be respectful. Do not steal from your employer. Basically be a good employee. Be a grateful and productive employee. Model a Christian life in the workplace.

Paul wraps up vs 10 by telling us what this behavior that these 5 groups of people are to live by will do. These behaviors will adorn the teaching of God our Savior in everything. These behaviors will cause the teachings of God to stand out in a positive way. The Christian life will draw people to Christ because they want what we have. They want that relationship with God. Let us make ourselves an example to the world so that we can combat these bad teachings and be used to draw people to God. Let’s pray.