Sermon Tone Analysis

Titus 2:1-10

What Shall the Pastor Teach?

 

/You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine.

Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance/.

/Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good.

Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God/.

/Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled.

In everything set them an example by doing what is good.

In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us/.

/Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Saviour attractive/.

For the past two weeks I have addressed what the saints of an earlier era would have assuredly recognised as an aberrant situation for the churches of our Lord.

Men of God have surrendered to doctrines first advanced by feminist theologians.

Strange theological practises have been embraced as the people of God endeavour first to demonstrate tolerance before social demands and at the last to succumb to society’s lead.

Churches do not suddenly fall into error; it is only gradually that the congregations of the Lord move from the foundation which was laid by the Apostles.

The process of accommodating, and ultimately of embracing, error can take years.

Gradually the concept of the priesthood of the believers is eroded until the congregations are segregated into clergy and laity.

Ministers have forgotten the apostolic warning.

/The time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine.

Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths/ [*2 Timothy 4:3,4*].

The root of contemporary theological problems no doubt lays close to what once must have seemed to be minute changes in church practise.

A minor adjustment in ecclesiastical practise here, a small change in church custom there, and with the passage of time the way things are is thought to be the way things have always been.

Churches in this day are ranked by their ability to entertain adherents.

Worship has become a spectator event instead of being participatory.

Our language betrays our addiction to this concept.

We *go to church* instead of stating that we *are the church*.

Pastors are *hired* instead of being *called*.

Credentials are far more important than is character.

Administrative ability is more important than is ability to preach the Word.

The concept of a prophet is absent from the pulpit today, though the need to be a CEO is considered paramount.

Though the megachurch has become a twentieth century phenomenon, it does not follow that the professed saints of God are firm in their faith today.

Tragically, the contemporary saint of God can attend services with regularity without being overly disturbed by the message from the pulpit.

The responsibility for this dismal state can be squarely laid at the feet of the minister of God, for we are responsible to teach the people.

We who occupy the sacred desk have received a charge, and we have not done well in the practical aspects of the Faith.

Consequently, the professed people of God are ignorant of how they should live to please God; they are susceptible to infatuation with every passing fad.

Consequently, the leaders have become the led, the sheep have become shepherds and the prophets of God have become mouthpieces paid to say what the people want to hear.

Few ministers appear to know the Word of God, much less the will of God; thus the old saying is proved true—*the hungry sheep look up and are not fed*.

Paul pointedly told the young minister Titus what to preach.

His reasons for providing such instruction were /so that no one will malign the word of God… so that those who oppose us may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us… so that in every way we will make the teaching about God our Saviour attractive/ [*vv.

5b, 8b, 10b*].

If the rude world dares treat the chaste Bride of Christ as though she was a common trollop, it may be because the church has failed to do what she was instructed to do.

Hear, then, the Word of God that you may know the will of God.

Determine to do what God says that you may please Him and so that His teaching will again be attractive to the dying world about us.

Though of necessity I will address the whole of the apostolic teaching, in keeping with the theme of this particular series of messages, I will emphasise the responsibility of women in the church.

I will speak of the responsibility of men and of labourers, but I will focus on the responsibility of women in the church of God.

The world usually judges religion not on its doctrines, but on the effect that religion has on its adherents.

Sound lives result from sound doctrine, for the connection between the first verse and those which follow is required.

It is not meddling to insist on godly lives and to spell out what characterises such godliness.

Thus, we will here encounter an iteration of the theme which has marked the previous messages—men should be men and women should be women.

Either must occupy the position which God has assigned that God may be glorified and that the Faith may be made attractive.

Instructions for Men and Labourers — /Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance…  //Encourage the young men to be self-controlled.

In everything set them an example by doing what is good…  Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Saviour attractive/.

The older men in view are those whose children are grown and themselves now married.

We would probably refer to men whom we think to be middle age as being the /older men/ Paul here addresses.

Younger men are those who we would classify as ranging from their teen years through age forty.

Perhaps this gives some idea of the view of the early church concerning age.

Men beyond their forties were thought to be older men.

Those in their fifties were elders in the common sense of the word.

As an aside of no small importance, we appear to consider the elderly to be a nuisance in this day.

If you question this, visit the nursing homes and notice how many of our parents are forgotten by their own families.

Notice the manner in which our world is demanding implementation of laws permitting euthanasia.

Our world is the poorer for such attitudes.

The Word of God insists that we honour both elderly men and women.

/Rise in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God.

I am the LORD/ [*Leviticus 19:32*].

/Grey hair is a crown of splendour; /

/it is attained by a righteous life/

[*Proverbs 16:31*].

/[The elderly] will still bear fruit in old age, /

/they will stay fresh and green, /

/proclaiming, “The LORD is upright; /

/He is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in Him”/

[*Psalm 92:14*].

Moses was eighty years of age when God called him to lead Israel out of Egyptian bondage.

Advanced age did not excuse him from the Lord’s work.

At age eighty-three, after having travelled some 250,0000 miles on horseback, preaching more than 40,000 sermons, and producing some two hundred books and pamphlets, John Wesley regretted that he was unable to read and write for more than fifteen hours a day without his eyes becoming too tired to work.

After his eighty-sixth birthday, he admitted to an increasing tendency to lie in bed until 5:30 in the morning!

Indeed, our old men should be those who /dream dreams/ [cf.

*Acts 2:17*] and we should honour them.

Older men are to be moderate in their manner of life.

Their lives should merit respect for their commitment to Christ, for their commitment to the Faith, for their commitment to their wives.

They should be known as men who refuse to surrender to their passions even as they reject the standards of this world for their lives.

Older men must be known for healthy faith, healthy love and healthy endurance.

Their lives should serve as models of trust, of love for God and for His people, and of perseverance.

The Word of God does not divorce doctrine from duty.

Doctrine is revealed in practise.

The Bible does not segregate truth and behaviour.

Truth shapes behaviour.

What I believe will be seen in my life.

If I have embraced error, that also will be evident in due time.

If, on the other hand, I have seized the truth and live by that truth, I honour God and my life will reflect that truth by which I have lived.

God forbid that I should ever be content to merely put in my time as a Christian.

I long to so live that younger saints seek to emulate my life.

I want to please the Master with a life of distinction marked by power with God and power with man.

I don’t want younger Christians to emulate me because of a quick wit or a sharp tongue, or because I was seen as powerful or manipulative.

I want younger saints to see me as one who knows the Lord and who relies on His Word.

I want younger saints to know that though I am firm in my stands that my firmness grows out of love for Christ and for His people.

I want younger saints to see me as one who does not quit the race when the going gets tough.

I want younger saints to think well of me, knowing that I hold firmly to the truth of Christ and fulfil the charge which Christ gave me over thirty years ago.

I confess that on the day I leave this life I want to be able to speak the very words which the Apostle wrote in his last letter.