The Roles of Members in God’s Church

Introduction

In offices all around the country, we’re about 5 weeks away from the most wonderful challenge of the year: March Madness! The time where we all complete our brackets and make decisions based on all sorts of strange reasons and try to figure out who is going to win the national championship. 2 years ago there was an underdog story as Florida Atlantic made a surprising run to the Final Four, knocking off some great teams along the way. No player from Florida Atlantic went on to play in the NBA. They had no superstar. They didn’t have a hall of fame coach. They had 9 players who played well and who knew their position! Throughout the year there were times where a player would get hurt or go through a slump and they would be taken out of the starting lineup and another guy would take their place. Fast forward a few weeks and the person would come back and the starting position was theirs with no hurt feelings. The players on this team knew that it didn’t matter who started or finished, what mattered was every person doing their best to compete in whatever role they were asked to play. Though they had different roles, they were all of equal importance.

Teamwork is a big deal. Working together and knowing each person, their strengths, their gifting, and their roles, each of these things matter and will determine if the team will be successful. The same is true for a church. We work together. We have people with different backgrounds and different abilities and different passions… but we work together towards the same goal of exalting Jesus and sharing His Gospel message with our community! How do we do this? Each person has a role to play, just like a team… but sadly, there is a temptation to desire a different role than the one that we are given. To think that our “coach” doesn’t know what He’s doing and that we deserve a different role. To think that God is holding out on us or that He doesn’t know what is best. Our world teaches confusion when it comes to these God-Ordained roles. We’re not talking about confusion about what a basketball player is supposed to do, our society can’t even define what it means to be a man or what it means to be a woman. We live in confusing times! Times where the church is sadly being shaped more by secular culture more than sacred Scripture. In these times, we desperately need God’s Word to do God’s Work and help us see the beauty of God’s plan for each of us as believers and the beauty of God’s plan for South Gate Baptist Church.

This morning we’re going to dive into God’s plan for each of us and we’ll be reminded that God has a perfect plan for you, me, South Gate, and all of His children - He has a role for you, and people depend on YOU to do that role! Part of His plan is bringing you here today… and part of that plan is what we do with His message through His Word as we continue in our study through Titus, in Titus 2:1-10. This morning we’re going to see how the Gospel of Jesus Christ generates Godliness in the lives of God’s people as we grow in Discipleship. Let’s read together this incredibly timely passage

Titus 2:1–10 CSB

1 But you are to proclaim things consistent with sound teaching. 2 Older men are to be self-controlled, worthy of respect, sensible, and sound in faith, love, and endurance. 3 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, 4 so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands and to love their children, 5 to be self-controlled, pure, workers at home, kind, and in submission to their husbands, so that God’s word will not be slandered. 6 In the same way, encourage the young men to be self-controlled 7 in everything. Make yourself an example of good works with integrity and dignity in your teaching. 8 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. 9 Slaves are to submit to their masters in everything, and to be well-pleasing, not talking back 10 or stealing, but demonstrating utter faithfulness, so that they may adorn the teaching of God our Savior in everything.

It doesn’t matter who you are, where you’ve been, what you’ve done, or how you’ve been taught, this passage addresses you. We know that all of God’s Word is inspired and timely and authoritative, but this passage in particular is convicting and encouraging as we look at the task that God has given to each of us. Let’s pray this morning for the Lord to open our eyes, soften our hearts, and prepare us for the role that He has for us!

This morning, we see instructions to older men, older women, younger women, and younger men. To help us maybe visualize this better, we’re going to use two hypothetical couples. The first couple, Gary and Gladys, have been married for 40 years and they’ve weathered just about every storm you can imagine in their marriage and in their walk with Jesus. They are 70 years old, and filled with godly wisdom. The second couple, Mike and Mary, are 22, newlyweds, and Christians, trying to figure out and how to live a life that glorify Jesus as they go through a season filled with change. These are people with different backgrounds, and in different seasons, but God’s word has instructions for each of them. Let’s look at what’s instruction is for these people, and in doing so see what his instruction is for us.

God’s Instruction to Older Men (2) - Gary

The last 3 weeks in Titus 1, we’ve seen issues in these churches due to lack of leadership. The solution to this problem is given to Titus from Paul and inspired by God Himself, for there to be elders who lead these churches, who teach the Word, and who live out what the Word says. This is not descriptive, or just giving us a history lesson… this is prescriptive. This is God’s design for churches of all times and all places including today, to be led by Godly men who meet these godly qualifications. Regardless of where you’re at, I hope that we’ve gleaned from the first chapter of this book what God expects from the leaders of His Church, and possibly areas where the modern church has gone “left” where the Bible commands us to turn “right.” God takes leadership seriously and we all are leaders in some capacity. Maybe you have a leadership influence on your sports team. Maybe you have leadership influence in your job. Maybe for some it’s in the home. When it’s time to lead, where do you look for help in knowing how to lead? There are thousands of leadership workshops each year where people will pay hundreds if not thousands of dollars to learn how to become a better leader. There are likely tens of thousands of books on leadership that have been written to help you know how to be a better leader. Where do we turn to know how to lead? Titus 2 tells us that first we look to the Word as Titus is instructed to teach what is sound in contrast to the false teachers of chapter 1 who taught things that are not based in Scripture. Remember these false teachers on the island of Crete and throughout our world today, they distort and or disregard Scripture… whenever we distort or disregard Scripture, we get into trouble. God’s Word is so helpful for us if we listen to it and do what it says, as Jesus expects of us! This morning we’re going to see a list of issues that these Christians were facing, anger, immorality, immaturity, slander, idleness, family issues, disobedience, theft, dishonesty, and not standing on God’s Word in the church and in the home. Today, we face many of these same problems in our world: leadership problems, family problems, church problems, self control problems, anger problems, immorality problems, the list goes on. Where do we turn to find the answers? God’s Word. South Gate, we must realize that Scripture is Sufficient. This means that we don’t need to add to it. We must learn to adhere to it. One of the best ways that Scripture gives us to learn to be people of Scripture, is to be discipled by someone else.

Whenever I was in Leaders in Training, back in the day, I learned firsthand the importance of discipleship, or growing in my walk with Jesus. We have had several go through LIT here at South Gate and you know that this program has you read your Bible daily, do a daily quiet time, provide you with accountability along the way, and understand the importance of serving in the local church! As a 5th and 6th grader, you’re learning these things and applying these things, and you see great spiritual growth along the way, it’s incredible! But I had to discover, what happens after LIT? What happens whenever I’m in my youth group? What does discipleship look like then? See, we’ve been told that salvation is free, which it is, but that can make us think that there is no cost associated with following Jesus. This isn’t true! Billy Graham once shared, “Salvation is free but discipleship costs everything we have.” There is a cost to following Jesus. It will cost you your pride. It will cost you your previous way of living as a slave to sin. There is a great cost… but Jesus is worth it!

How can we know that Jesus is worth it? By learning from people who have been walking this road far longer than we have. This is the instruction that Paul is giving in Titus 2 to the church. There are older men, older women, younger men, and younger women in this church… guess what? There are older men, older women, younger men, and younger women in our church as well! Paul begins with instructions to older men and calls on them to be examples to the congregation. Ask yourself this question: If everyone in the church followed my example, would that be a good or bad thing? If everyone was at the same spiritual depth that I am at, would that be a good thing or a bad thing? These instructions first to older men include being self-controlled, worthy of respect, sensible, and sound in faith, love, and endurance. Why these things? Because there are temptations 2000 years ago for older men to not be self-controlled. To not be worthy of respect. To not be sensible. To not be sound in these areas. There is a temptation for older men to possibly grow cynical or argumentative. Possibly a temptation to not desire to serve or grow in the faith.

There is a temptation for all of us as humans to drift towards complacency… to say, “Look at what I’ve done! I’ve paid my dues.” If this is a temptation for you, let me challenge you and encourage you at the same time: There is no retirement in the Christian life! As long as you’re breathing, you’re here on mission… and older men, this means that our younger men need to see examples of these things from you! We’ve seen example after example of people resting on their laurels and achievements from decades ago, cashing in and checking out. What is the call for older men in God’s Word? To endure and to run your race well until the end. We are living in an era where masculinity, being the man that God created you to be, is seen as unnecessary by so many - older men, you have wisdom that us younger men desperately need. We need you to engage and encourage and exhibit these qualities, not enjoy the comfort of the sidelines while we watch families torn apart and do nothing about it… Look at the consequences of sitting on the sidelines in Judges 5

Judges 5:23 CSB

23 “Curse Meroz,” says the angel of the Lord, “Bitterly curse her inhabitants, for they did not come to help the Lord, to help the Lord with the warriors.”

They were cursed because they watched the fight from the sidelines and didn’t help. Older men, God calls on you to run your race well through the finish line. To lead in your home. To mentor young men. To serve in the church.

God’s Instruction to Older Women (3-4a) - Gladys

We see similar instructions to the older women in verses 3-4. To be reverent in behavior, to be respectful. To not be slanderers or slaves to excessive drinking, but instead to teach what is good for the purpose of helping the younger women. One of the greatest struggles that we face in life is seeing a problem and not exactly knowing how to solve the problem. In pre-marital counseling, I share that whenever it comes to addressing problems there are 2 main trains of thought: Sympathy or Solutions. Sometimes we see a problem and we sympathize alongside someone who is struggling… we listen and try to help the person know they are seen and heard. Other times, we see a problem and we offer a solution, we actively do something in order to fix what is going on. There is a third group, though, and that is slander… we see a problem, and instead of providing a solution or coming alongside someone and listening to what’s going on, we are tempted to start gossiping or slandering that person and sometimes it does like, “Well, this person isn’t the mother that I was… they don’t serve in the way that I think that they should… they’re bad at this because of this or that.” The word for slander in the Greek is “diabolos” which is where we get the English word “Devil.” This isn’t something we want to demonstrate in any way, shape, or form! This is a big deal. The Bible is telling us here that a mature woman in Christ is not devilish in her speech. She doesn’t gossip. She doesn’t slander. She uses words that build up and speak life. Friends, do you realize how counter cultural this is? We live in a world where seemingly everyone gossips and has a whole lot to say about a whole lot of things and people… yet, the Bible instructs believers to not give into these types of temptations. To be respectful, to not slander, to not give into excessive drinking, in other words to exercise self-control.

I pray that whenever you think of your mom or grandma, you have this example of someone who lived out this instruction and lived a life of self-control. A life of modesty. A life focused on serving others. In the fallen world in which we live, though, that’s not always the case. In fact, for many, this isn’t the case. Where is a young woman to learn how to live a life that honors Jesus? You will not find that by looking at contemporary society. You will not find that by looking to godless worldviews. Where can you find that? From an older woman who has been doing it for decades! The Bible instructs those who have this knowledge to pass it down, not hoard it up.

The goal of this, verse 4, is for these older women to teach the younger women how to love their husbands and their children. Seasoned saints, what message do you send to others with how you talk about and treat your spouse? A friend of mine and Lindsey’s shared on Facebook a few weeks ago her frustrations with how mainstreamed it is for dads to look like incompetent fools on TV shows and movies as they don’t remember anything and how women perpetuate this in real life which is a complete violation of passages like Titus 2 which teaches to be kind and loving towards your husband. Every person is being discipled… either by the world or by the Word. Again, the goal here is Godly discipleship! Coming alongside others and helping them grow in the faith. It’s ok to say that we don’t know everything and that we need someone to help us out. God’s instruction to older women is to teach the younger women - whenever we think about the teaching ministry of our church, this is what God’s instruction is. Women teaching women. Not women pastoring women and not women teaching men, the Bible is clear about spiritual authority in the church in places like 1 Timothy 1-3 as well as Titus 1-2, that the leaders of the church are those who meet these pastor/elder/overseer qualifications (see husband of one wife language, this office is for men). These older women are not the shepherds or pastors of these younger women because the people who pastor and shepherd are elders as Titus 1 told us that elders are the leaders of the church, but God’s plan includes having opportunities for younger women to be taught in the faith from older women who have Scripture and life wisdom to pull from - older ladies, our younger women need your spiritual insight! We need examples of Godly women who obey Scripture and don’t look for any way possible to get around Scripture. Older women, this is what God calls on you to model and pass on.

God’s Instruction to Younger Women (4b-5) - Mary

Does anyone see anything counter cultural in these verses? The whole thing is! Whenever people talk about in our world about how the Bible has things backward and it mysognistic, patriarchal, and outdated, this is one of the texts that is cited by the secular women’s empowerment movement. Regrettably, many think that passages like this, and there are multiple, teach that males are dictators and females are doormats… hear this clear as day: In God’s Kingdom there are no dictators and there are no doormats. To those who suggest that what follows about loving one’s husband and submitting to one’s husband is backward, that is an argument with the Lord because verse 3 says that these things are “good” things. In fact, Paul grounds these things in the Pastoral Letters in Creation, before sin even enters the world. So, what do we do with a text that can be difficult to understand? We prayerfully, humbly, and carefully submit ourselves to the authority of God’s Word and remember that’s inspired and for our good.

What is the instruction to young women? First, to love your husband. Now, that shouldn’t come as a surprise, should it? If you are married and you are a believer, you ought to love your spouse! Ephesians 5 calls on husbands to love their wives as Christ loves His Church! The first instruction to the young wife is to love her husband. This gets flipped in our world, but your spouse comes first in the home. Children learn how to love based on how their parents love one another. After loving the husband, this young woman is instructed to love her children. If you have children, they are to be loved and cared for. In Titus 1 there were false teachers teaching something that was ruining entire households, do you know what the Gospel does? The Gospel doesn’t ruin households, the Gospel restores entire households as the husband loves his wife as Jesus loves His Church, and as mom loves dad, and as parents love one another. This is a beautiful thing! A Gospel centered home stands out from a gospel deprived world.

The older women teach the younger women to be busy in the home, to work in the home. You want to ruffle feminist feathers? Simply read Titus 2:5. Y’all this is Scripture and it is our authority. What is the Bible saying? We can’t dismiss this as backward or outdated, we have to deal with it Biblically and humbly. Dustin Benge once shared that the problem is never Scripture, but our unwilling hearts to believe what Scripture actually says. Do we actually believe this is God’s Word? If so, then we have to believe what it says. Let’s dig in a bit: Context is Key!

In Paul’s day the idea of a career woman wasn’t a normal thing in his culture or society like it is today.

In Paul’s day you didn’t have $300,000 houses and 7% interest rates and in many cases, a need to be a two income household

Absolutely, the world has changed, but God’s Word remains the same.

Does it mean you can’t go out the house? Clearly not. Now, we can’t make it say more than it says, but we can’t have it say less than it says. What’s the obvious application here? The obvious application is that a young woman’s sphere of influence is primarily in the home. The sphere of influence exercised by a young woman is primarily in the home. And if she fails to exercise it there by going somewhere else to exercise it, then she leaves a phenomenal gap behind. Several years ago, Linda Hirschman appeared on Good Morning America and said that homemakers are living lesser lives, and many in the world agree. What’s happened is we’ve begun to base our identity in what we do for a job, our feelings, our education, our finances, we’ve allowed these things to define us. So naturally, our world looks at a homemaker and says her identity is nothing and that’s something of a bygone era. Working in the home is not the identity of a younger woman, but it is her God-given assignment. The husband is the head of the home, but the wife is the heart. You can’t live without a head and you can’t live without a heart. Both are of vital importance! The home is entrusted to her care. If she has children, they are entrusted to her care. These are vital assignments. But they are not her identity, because if you’re a Believer, your identity is in Christ. This is foundational to our lives as new creations. Our assignments will change. Maybe they change in regards to working outside of the home in one season and staying at home in another season - Is Paul saying don’t work outside the home? No. Is he saying the home takes priority? YES! This is the message that older women need to be teaching to younger women, because it’s a message they will not hear anywhere else, but it is of vital importance in God’s Word. The ordinary, mundane, often unseen work at home is BLESSED.

Not only is this part counter cultural, but the Bible then calls on wives to submit to their own husbands. Our world says that this means that women are second rate and not of equal importance and value if this is true… but this isn’t true.

There is no inferiority in submission - if we view submission through a lens of inferiority and superiority, then we’re reading it through a 21st century lens, not a Biblical one. Consider God for a minute. Father, Son, and Spirit. What did Jesus Christ, God the Son, do? He submitted Himself to the will of God the Father. Does this mean for a nanosecond that God the Son was inferior or lesser than God? Absolutely not. What does it mean? In the Garden of Gethsemane, He prayed “Not my will, but Yours be done.” Meaning that He voluntarily submitted to the Father’s will in order for God to be glorified and God’s plan to come to pass. There is submission within the members of the Trinity. God the Father, Son, and Spirit are co-equal and co-eternal. This isn’t a bad word. This is a beautiful word. The young woman, this young wife, is called by God to submit to her husband - not to another man who is not her husband, but her husband for the purpose of glorifying God. See, the wife submits to her husband because she submits to Christ. The husband submits to Christ by providing Biblical leadership and headship in the home.

Look at the end of verse 5, the purpose of prioritizing the home and submitting to one’s own husband is so that the Word will not be slandered. For those who believe that this is contextual and not relevant today, this shatters that argument. 1 Timothy 2 grounds these marriage and gender roles not in the sinful culture of the day but in Creation, before sin even entered the world. These are prescriptive for Christians today. These still apply! A husband who fails to lead and love his wife, and a wife who fails to submit to her husband or love her family would allow non-Christians to say that Christianity makes the home worse and the message of the Gospel doesn’t bring about life transformation and human flourishing. This is a BIG deal!

God’s Instruction to Younger Men (6-8) - Mike

Before being called to be a pastor, I really wanted to become a neurosurgeon because the human brain always fascinated me. How our bodies instinctively do the things that they do. How we have 86 billion neurons that fire information all around our brain and body, transmitting messages and actions to do things like write on a piece of paper, drink a cup of coffee, or talk to a friend. During this time, I studied a lot on my own time about the human brain and discovered something fascinating: The female brain fully develops around age 20… the male brain fully develops around age 27, but some research says it’s not until age 30. What does this mean? It means that sometimes it takes younger men a little longer to fully understand what’s going on. Whether this is the reason or not, it’s interesting that this group has one role that is given in verse 6 - to be self controlled in everything.

This is interesting, isn’t it? We see a lot of responsibilities and roles in this passage, but this is it for the young men. Why this one thing? If you were to look at the issues that young men face and boil down those issues to a root issue, it would likely be the fact that they are ruled by their passions and desires. Whether it be the desire to be famous, to be recognized, to experience pleasure, to indulge in these passions… to this, God says, you must be self-controlled. In other words, God’s expectation for young men is to say yes to His will, and in doing so, say no to the passions and desires of this world. Children, youth, and young adults, there is a temptation to think that we can grow in self control whenever we get older… “I’ll put that off and worry about it when I get older. I’ll care about this when it really matters.” What this does, though, is give us a pass for not growing in our walk with the Lord. I don’t need to read my Bible, I’m too busy. I don’t need to go to church, Sunday is my only day off. What does this passage remind us to do? To be self-controlled. To be disciplined.

How can young men learn where to start in this process? From older men and from peers who are further along spiritually. This is what Paul tells Titus to do, to be an example to those around him. Maybe you didn’t have a good father figure growing up to help you grow spiritually… pursue this in the church today! Find someone who models the things Titus 1-2 talk about and ask that person for help in this process.

Many people have an issue with what the Bible says about roles in the home and marriage… but many of those same people in our world look up to and admire Christian marriages. Young men do this by demonstrating self-control in everything!

God’s Instruction to Workers (9-10)

Much of this passage follows the household codes of Colossians 3:18-4:1 as Paul explained how Jesus changes every home. That passage concluded with exhortations to slaves and masters. Again, context matters here. The Roman world was marked by slavery as it was imbedded into the fabric of society. Paul is not perpetuating this or endorsing this. What the Bible does do is talk about how Jesus changes all people - including those who are slaves and those who are not. How Jesus can save anyone, at anytime, at any place regardless of their past or present situation! So, what is a slave to do whenever they are saved? What does God expect of them in this situation? This is what the Bible is addressing as the Gospel is advancing throughout the Roman world.

1 Corinthians 10:31 CSB

31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.

The point of these verses is made clear at the end as the purpose of being obedient and faithful is so that the Gospel is displayed… Christian workers stand out not by bickering or slacking off, but by working diligently, faithfully, and consistently for God’s glory in the workplace. God’s call is for workers to work for God’s glory and demonstrate a changed heart in all they do.

This stands out and this provides opportunities for these individuals to give testimony to the Gospel through their hard work. We can ask ourselves this question with our jobs: Do I just do the bare minimum, or do I take my work seriously? Do I care about who I represent? My employer, myself, but most importantly, my Savior! How crooked a witness does it leave if a Christian business or a Christian worker steals or cuts corners? What kind of testimony does that leave about Jesus Christ? This instruction is for all people, regardless of background or status, to remember that we represent Christ and even in the worst of situations, we have an opportunity to let our light shine and point people to our Father in Heaven!

Another Bonhoeffer quote, “Your life as a Christian should make non-believers question their disbelief in God.” People will always question the message, but we should live our lives in such a way that they don’t question the messenger based on how we live and how we speak.

God’s Glory and Our Good

Why these roles? We love why questions as humans. Lindsey and I have a niece who especially loves why questions - it’s time for this “why?” we have to go here “why?” Why, Why, Why? Why these roles? Our world looks at these things and says they’re backward. Outdated. Not important. In need of an update. Many might say that they don’t sound appealing. Young men and self control? Our world laughs. Old men and worthy of respect? Many don’t respect old people. Older women and modest with words, actions, and drinking? Many don’t see the importance. Young wives submitting to their husbands and young women prioritizing their home? Goodness! These things don’t make a whole lot of sense in our world.

But all of these things glorify God… and God’s glory is our good. Why do you and I exist? What is our purpose? Christians many centuries ago had what are called catechisms to remind themselves of answers to fundamental Christian questions. 400 years ago, Christians in England noted that the chief end or the purpose of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. How do we do this? Question 2: His Word. Do you see how all of this fits, friends? Why am I here? Why are you here? Young, old, men, women? We all exist to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever in this life and for all eternity! How can we glorify God? By opening up and standing on our Bibles.

JD Greear once shared this, “Heroic Christianity is not born on the mission field, but in the home.” Titus 1 focused on the church… Titus 2 is still about the church, but the focus is the home. And each member has an important role to play.

A Healthy Church is made up of Healthy Families. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Gary, Gladys, Mike, or Mary… God has a purpose for you! Older men, younger men need to see an example of what being a good Christian husband looks like. What being a leader looks like. What it means to die daily for your wife. Older women, younger women need to see an example of what it looks like to prioritize the home, because this is seen as second rate in our world! We need godly examples of this in the church because we don’t see this in our world. South Gate, Jesus offers something so much better than anything this world has to offer. He designed us. He defines us - not the world.

How Can We Fulfill our Created Purpose? (To glorify God and Enjoy Him forever)

Remember God’s Promise

We all, regardless of background, are equally made in God’s image. You will never meet someone God did not create and Jesus does not love. No such person exists! We must remember God’s promise if we are going to fulfill our created purpose. I am made in God’s image, for God’s glory. Gender is a gift given from our God who doesn’t make mistakes.

Rejoice in God’s Provision

Regardless of our past and who we are today, we can all rejoice in the good news of the Gospel that while we were sinners, God sent His Son to take our sins upon Himself and take our place on the cross! We can live a life that glorifies God because God provided us with salvation. We have an equal share in salvation, old, young, men, women. We can do our role with joy because of God’s incredible gift.

Reflect God’s Passion

God is passionate about His Word and His Creation. As God’s people, we must share His passion of knowing Him and making Him known to our neighbors and the nations!

We are on a team at South Gate Baptist Church. We all have different roles to play. Pastor led. Staff run. Deacon serve. Committee review. Congregation approve. We all have a role to play. Some are teachers. Some are ministers. Some serve behind the scenes. We need each role. We need each person. What is God’s calling for you this morning?

The Titus Ten: Foundations for Godly Manhood Passively Allowing Assault

Passivity is always easier. But