Set in Order
Notes
Transcript
Titus 1:1–5
From:
Paul, a slave of God and Apostle of Jesus Christ, to further the faith of God’s chosen ones and the knowledge of the truth that is in keeping with godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the ages began.
But now in his own time he has made his message evident through the preaching I was entrusted with according to the command of God our Savior.
To:
Titus, my genuine son in a common faith. Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior!
The reason I left you in Crete was to set in order the remaining matters ..and to appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.
Where are all the Good Men?
You have likely heard it said “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing," a quote which is often attributed to Edmund Burke.
There is a part of us that resonates with the idea that the inaction of even seemly GOOD men, is all that is required for evil to prevail.
And, as inspirational and challenging as this thought is, there is fatal flaw with this line of thinking.
For most of my adult life I have heard the laments of society expressed in popular songs and movies “Where have all the Good Men gone?”
Funny, how Society tears down masculinity and decries it as toxic and then laments the lack of leadership and loss of Good Men.
Here’s the unfiltered truth that I believe Jesus wants us to wrestle with tonight brothers;
there is such thing as GOOD men. (Repeat this!)
Did you feel that?
That almost instantaneous internal recoil at the statement?
There is a part of us… that doesn’t like this IDEA.
But if you bear with me for a moment, I will endeavor to show you that scripture supports this truth and if we are become the men that God desires and indeed commands us to be, we must embrace it.
Two Good Men
In all of human history only two Good men have ever lived.
Adam and Jesus of Nazareth.
The first was created GOOD …but abdicated his God-given goodness by falling prey to Sin and disobeying God.
The Second was the Eternal son,
who was with the Father before the beginning. Clothed himself in humanity, the Word that became Flesh and Bone.
He suffered like we suffer, was tempted in every way that a MAN can be tempted and endured it without committing sin.
He obeyed the Father completely / fulfilled all that God required and then willing gave himself a sacrifice to abolish the sin and the curse that came through the the sin of the First Good Man.
Paul in Romans 3:10-11 uses language from Psalm 14 to teach these Roman Believers this TRUTH.
There are no GOOD MEN.
As it is written: he says
“There is no one righteous, not even one;
there is no one who understands;
there is no one who seeks God.
All have turned away,
they have.. together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.”
Isaiah 53, the song of the suffering servant says
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
Even When Jesus was Called Good Master by the Rich young ruler, Jesus asks the man
Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone
Mk 10:18.
As a society we are lying to ourselves if we think for one minute that Good men exist and we are in trouble if we are waiting for these fabled GOOD Men to come to the rescue.
What our community needs is not Good Men.
What is needed are Resurrected Men!
Men, who are recreated in the image of Jesus.
Men who have been Crucified with Christ and now live in the Life of the one who loves us and gave himself for us.
Men who bring the life and power of Christ to bear upon the world around.
Men who are being transformed and Remade in likeness of Jesus…. who, like Jesus are about the Father’s business of Setting things in Order.
I pray tonight that Jesus would give us a vision for a community of faith where a great number of such men are present and engaged and that together we would pursue that vision like our lives and the lives of those we love depended on it…because …they do!
Before we can Set things in Order, we ourselves as Men must first be Set in Order.
As men we must first acknowledge that there is nothing good within us, that outside of Christ we are without hope and that apart from Christ we can do nothing Good
It is only when as Paul says in 2 Cor 5:17 “ we are enfolded into Christ and become New Creations; that Old things pass away and we, remade in the Image and race of Christ Jesus are restored to God the Father’s original Order.
Resurrected Men are Recreated in Christ for Good Works.
Among those GOOD works is the Call to Set things in Order, to co-operate in the dominion and authority that God gives to his Son Jesus and to those who are In Christ.
Order and Chaos
Order is a primary characteristic of Yahweh.
God speaks Order, Creates order, sets things in Order.
When you see Chaos, you are not seeing the work of God, but rather the affects of SIN upon the Order of creation.
Chaos is Disorder
“In the beginning God spoke and Creation was Set in Order.
Jesus is the Author and Sustainer of Order
It is Jesus who created all things and for whom all things were created
Jesus is the one who Setting things in Order and the ONE who holds all things together .
He alone has the power to Set Order, because he alone has dominion over all creation…things seen and thing unseen.
Resurrected Men are Men who are being Set in Order, whose Steps are Ordered.
Jesus and Only Jesus can Set Us In Order and Order our Steps because he and he alone has dominion and authority to do so.
Please notice:
Dominion must be in place before Order can be established.
Dominion… is a God-Ordained mandate for Mankind.
When we look at the Creation story we see that it has always been God’s intention to GIVE mankind Dominion,
to Share his dominion with his family,
to give humanity areas of life and creation where, in partnership and under the authority and dominion of God, they can bring order the World around them, Humanity can be Fruitful and Multiple
When
God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”
He also declared
And let them have dominion over all the earth.”
Gen (Chapter 2, vs 15)
The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
Work it and Keep it.
This is a primary purpose given by God to Men.
I have men tell me all the time, they are struggling to find PURPOSE.
If you
Well, here it is, To Work and Keep
God placed Adam, humanity into creation for a Purpose.
To Work in Creation and to Keep Creation, to Set things in Order and Keep things in Order.
To Cultivate and Protect the Creation that he was given Dominion over.
Where Adam, and all that came from Adam failed in this, Jesus succeeds
There a FOUR COMMON areas of Dominion that I believe the scriptures show THAT ALL MEN have.
Domain of your SELF
Domain of your Marriage / Relationships
Domain of your Family, Not just your Kids, but the family of God, the Church
Domain of your Public Life, Work and Community
Something the Lord has taught me is that these Domains themselves have an Order.
When we fail to attend to these in the proper order, all the domains fail to produce the life that Jesus intends for them.
Tonight, I want to share with you what the Lord Jesus is teaching me about this Domain of Self
Adam was to Work the Earth, develop it, cultivate it. Everything within this domain was to flourish and grow under the Working and Watchful eye of Adam.
As Adam operated in this mandate of Order, God blessed the work.
But, When Adam gave his dominion over to another, the Ground was Cursed.
It brought forth Thorns and Weeds
It didn’t yield it’s strength to Adam like it did before
Adam’s Work became more difficult.
It was as though creation was resisting him.
Have you every felt like everything around you was working against you?
Adam was also to Keep it, he was to protect the domain.
Eve and the Garden were under Adam’s protection.
Even in perfect Eden, there were threats present, which of course the story bears out.
Again, we see that Adam abdicated his dominion and gave it to another.
He failed to protect Eve and the Garden from the Serpent.
His actions affected ALL of Humanity.
If you are taking notes, Note this
When Men abdicate their roles as men, it’s society that pays the price.
The Plow and the Sword
When we look at this Story of the Garden, we see the principle of the Plow and the Sword.
I love this imagery!
The Plow and the Sword are woven into the fabric of a man’s heart.
Under the leadership of a Godly Man, his areas of dominion should, grow, thrive and be protected.
They should be ordered, rightly arranged and remain under guard.
In the Life of an Ordered man... the Plow is Fruitful and the Sword protects and ensures Peace.
In the life of a Disordered man…. the the Ground is Cursed and the Plow weakened.
The Sword becomes self-serving and destructive, taking life not protecting it.
Domain 1- Our Own Flesh
The Scriptures tell us that We are made from the dust of the earth.
When we are Set in Order in Christ Jesus, the first domain that we are given to Work and to Keep is the Soil of of our own hearts and minds
In Paul lists of the the fruits of the Spirit in Gal 5
“love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, it is self-control” that closes the list.
In 1 Cor 9:27 Paul speaks of subduing his flesh, bringing it “Under control”,
In Chapter 15 Paul says “I die daily”
Jesus says we are to Take up our Cross, essentially crucify self and follow him.
As Men set in order by Christ, we are not relieved of the responsibility to Work and Keep the soil of our own hearts.
We are instead commanded to do so and to understand that doing so will cost us everything.
Quick Check In—How did that land inside of you? An honest answer with yourself about that, can help you understand where your heart is right now.
But How?
How do we as men Work within ourselves and Keep ourselves?
How do we cultivate the soil of our hearts and minds?
How do we protect the domain of our hearts and minds?
Jesus tells his disciples that He is the Vine and that we are the branches…… and that as branches we MUST ABIDE in Him.
He is the the Word made Flesh, the Logos of God and what he has command us to do is ABIDE in Him, Abide in the WORD.
Branches do not produce fruit, they Display the Fruit.
Branches MUST be Ordered, Properly Placed in the Vine and it’s Life…. to Display Fruit.
Heart as Soil
When Jesus speaks the parable of the sower and the seed…He describes four soil conditions and the relationship that each have with the SEED.
The Seed, Jesus says is the Word of God and the Soil represents the condition of the hearts to which the Word of God is sown.
Hardened Soil is just a serving plate for the enemies of God to steal the Seed from.
Shallow Soil, that has not been cultivated and had the rocks removed…. starts to produce a little, but when the environment gets a little tough, life withers away.
Soil that is covered in the Thorns and Weeds of the cares of this life…. chokes out the new life of that seed.
But Good Soil, soil that has been cultivate accepts the seed and produces a great harvest.
One of my favorite men in the Bible is Joshua, Son of Nun.
When Joshua was about to lead God’s People into the Promised Land, Yahweh, the God of Israel, who is Jesus, commanded Joshua saying
“This Book of the Law , The Word of God shall not depart from your mouth.
You shall meditate in it day and night
so that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it.
For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”
Do you see the principle here?
It would be Joshua’s relationship with the WORD and his Obedience to the WORD that would produce life.
IF… his life was SET IN ORDER by the Word, IF he were to ABIDE in the WORD, the FRUIT that would bless the Entire nation, would come.
Jesus is plaining teaching US that we are to abide in Him, the living word …and so I feel it is safe to conclude that how we as men WORK the soil is by Intentionally engaging in the Word of God, by Meditating on it both Day and Night.
We are to be Men of the Word.
We are called to a true devotion to God’s word. Not a half-hearted 10 minute devotional time 3 days a week.
When our lives are devoted to the study of and obedience to the Word of God, THE PLOW is at WORK and the Ground is Blessed.
IT breaks up the HARD GROUND
IT uncovers the Stones buried just below the surface and urges us to remove them.
IT cuts back the thorns and kills the weeds, the desires of this present world, that are choking the life from us
IT creates GOOD soil that produces life and Order.
When we faithful Engage with the Word, we PUT our HANDS to the PLOW.
Might be worth mentioning here that Jesus said “no man who puts his hand to the plow and then looks back is fit for the Kingdom”
The original language of this passage basically states that a man who half-hearted takes hold of the PLOW, is not properly order and therefore not useful to the Kingdom.
The PLOW and the SWORD!
To Keep. - The Sword
There will be threats to this Domain of our Heart and so we must not only WORK the Soil of our Hearts, we Must KEEP it, We must Guard and Protect it.
Proverbs 4:23
Guard your heart with all vigilance,
for from it are the sources of life.
And how do we guard it?
What is the Weapon we are given to Protect this Domain?
Paul instructs his readers in Ephesus to “take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
The writer of Hebrews instructs us
For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword.
The Psalmist Tells us in Psalm 119
How can a young man maintain a pure life?
By guarding it according to your instructions!
With all my heart I seek you.
Do not allow me to stray from your commands!
In my heart I store up your words,
so I might not sin against you.
Ps 119:9–11.
Jesus, when he was enduring the harsh temptation of Satan and tempted to turn stones into bread to PROVE he was the Son of God, told our Enemy that Man shall not live by Bread Only, but by EVERY Word that Proceeds from the Mouth of God.
When counseling men, I will often tell them that their outside world is always a reflection of their inside world.
IF they do not like what they are seeing in their world, in their marriage, in their family, in their lives it is because they have failed to WORK and KEEP the first domain.
There are either NOT SET IN ORDER by Christ, or they have been SET IN ORDER and have then abdicated the domain of their heart to other forces.
They have failed intentionally engage with and obey the Word.
They don’t allow the Spirit to use the Word of God to Cultivate the Soil and Sow the Seeds of Life.
And, they have limited knowledge of the Word, don’t know the way of the Word as the Sword and have no Idea how to use it to Guard their Heart.
There is a narrative that plays in the MINDS of pretty much every man I have counseled.
“I am not Good ENOUGH” that’s the Message that plays on repeat in the Hearts and Minds of MEN.
I’ll let you in on what I have learned about this.
You’re RIGHT!, YOU AREN’T GOOD ENOUGH.
There are NO GOOD MEN!
Only Jesus can Recreate you as MAN and Resurrect you in HIS Image.. WHEN that HAPPENS..HE makes us GOOD and We are MORE THAN ENOUGH.
The “Not good enough” narrative is silenced in the TRUTH that Jesus Loves US and Gave himself for US. That we have died with Him and have be Resurrected with him a NEW MAN created for Good Works.
There may be some of your here tonight that have been playing Church but have never been SET IN ORDER
Tonight it is time to get set in order.
Maybe you were set in order, but you have failed to WORK and KEEP the domain of your Heart and you need to be Restored to ORDER
Maybe your Inside world is a hot mess and your outside world is reflection the disorder, chaos and destruction of a Disordered Heart.
IT IS TIME TO SE THINGS IN ORDER MEN.
I pray that Jesus, by His Holy Spirit gives you courage to take a stand tonight, seek the Lord and ask him to set you in order.
