Titus 2:15 Know what to teach

Church of Christ Dapto The Letter to Titus Lesson 6 -Know what to teach Titus 2:15 These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you.          What should you teach? Titus 2:2-14 Older men: be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance. Older women: be reverent in the way you live, do not be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Train the younger women. Younger women: love your husbands and children, be self-controlled and pure, be busy at home, be kind, be subject to your husband, so that no one will malign the word of God. Younger men: be self-controlled. Slaves (or employees): be subject to your masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, do not to steal from them. Show that you can be fully trusted, so that in every way you will make the teaching about God our Saviour attractive. Yourself: 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. The facts of life: The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.          How do you teach? The answer begins here and continues in Chapter 3 Titus 2:15 These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you. These things be constantly speaking and exhorting; and be rebuking with all authority. Let no one despise you.1 The teaching you are given is to be taught from the Scripture, as taught to you. The method of your teaching is to be based on two approaches: encouragement, and rebuke. Encouragement is the initial call to reach to the standard of life shown in the Word, the life of Christ. There is the acknowledgement that Christ’s people may not be perfect, but must be looking to perfection. Rebuke is for those who refuse to respond to the encouragement, or those who, in rejecting the encouragement continue to actively speak and live contrary to the commands of God shown in the Word. There is the understanding here that there will be one of two responses, which indicate the learners relationship with Christ and the direction of their lives. 1. Encourage “call near” comfort Repeat (the teachings) again and again, and urge them on their attention and consciences.2 Matthew 5:4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Matthew 14:36 and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed. Acts 2:40 With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” Acts 14:22 strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said. Romans 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Corinthians 5:20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. Comfort, beg, plead, encourage, urge, implore. How to encourage Titus 1:9 He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it. You are not encouraging if you ask another to do something you do not do. You are not encouraging if you ask another do follow something you do not believe. You are not encouraging if you call another to live a life you do not live. You are not encouraging if you encouragement is not based on Truth. You are not encouraging if you are aiming to make someone to be a copy of you. 2. Rebuke Expose personal fault, convict of sin, speak publicly against sin. Demonstrate the importance, utility, and necessity of them; and show them that God requires their obedience.3 Matthew 18:15 "If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. John 3:20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. John 16:8 When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgement: 1 Timothy 5:20 Those who sin are to be rebuked publicly, so that the others may take warning. How to rebuke Titus 1:13 … Rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith Rebuke is a strong response to refusal to listen to the Word. It is designed to be painful. The response is strong because the alternative is eternal damnation. If one who is encouraged refuses to change, then they must face rebuke. If they refuse to respond to rebuke, they are showing that the path they have chosen is heading in the opposite direction to the Way of the Gospel. If they continue on that path they will end their lives in sin, judgement and separation from Christ. It is worth the risk of personal embarrassment, or violent resistance to save a life from this inevitable destiny. The aim of rebuke is not destruction, but salvation. You must believe that Christ died for all men, and why He needed to, to understand the necessity of rebuke.          With all authority When you encourage or rebuke you must do so on the basis of authority from outside you, not from personal prejudice or opinion. God gives commands in Scripture, including this letter to Titus. It is by His authority that you are to teach. Titus 1:3 and at his appointed season he brought his word to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Saviour, How? Your encouragement or rebuke is to be only based on the authority of God’s Word. You must be led to encourage or rebuke on the basis of what you have been taught in Scripture by the Holy Spirit. Your encouragement or rebuke must have the aim of Salvation and the foundation of Truth, not the fulfilment of a personal agenda or need. Your words must have authority from outside yourself. Your authority to speak, encourage, or rebuke is from God. Mark 1:22 The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. Although Jesus spoke with the authority of God, many of his listeners still refused to hear His Words. Do not let anyone despise you “out-think you” or “think himself above you” or treat with contempt the words you speak Do not let anyone truthfully question the authority by which you speak because you make it plain that it is not your word but God’s that you speak. Refuse to accept the judgement of those who look down on you or ignore you. Do not be discouraged from teaching, encouraging and rebuking by those who treat your words, and the Words of God, with contempt. Why would anyone despise the Gospel? They have a different master Luke 16:13 “No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” They are spiritually corrupt 2 Peter 2:10 This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority. Bold and arrogant, these men are not afraid to slander celestial beings; But whatever the trigger, or the degree of despising, the underlying reason is always the same: ‘To listen to him is beneath me.’ It is pride. But pride is a spiritual killer because it is the devil’s character and God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.4 1 Timothy 3:6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgement as the devil. Proverbs 3:34 He mocks proud mockers but gives grace to the humble. What can you do to refuse to be despised? The type of authority in view here is the spiritual authority of a Christian teacher. His authority does not lie in himself, but in the fact that he has been called and gifted by God to teach the Word of the Lord. As Paul’s delegate Titus shared the apostle’s authority. Similarly, as the Christian teacher is called and gifted to teach the Scriptures, then as he is true to the Word of God, his ministry comes with the authority of the Word of God. His teaching is not a bundle of hints and suggestions he thinks might be helpful, but the word of the Lord to the people. This, then, is his authority. The attitude to be rejected is therefore that of despising the teacher of the Word.5 The most important thing to realise is that it works. The teaching of the biblical gospel does transform people’s lives, leading them away from sin and self-centredness to godliness.6 Speak the Truth in Love Ephesians 4:14-15 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. What are you to learn? Few portions of the New Testament excel this chapter. It may well form the creed, system of ethics, and text book of every Christian preacher.7 You are to teach the Truth. You have a responsibility for teaching others in the Church. You have a responsibility to encourage and, if necessary, rebuke, those who are heading on the downward path, but only if you do so with the authority of God’s Word. You have the responsibility to respond positively to encouragement and rebuke if you believe the Gospel. You must not be deterred from speaking the Truth because there are those who react viciously to your encouragement or rebuke. You must not be deterred from speaking the Truth because you have been commanded to proclaim the Gospel of Christ and your aim is to save those you are teaching, encouraging or rebuking. All these, teaching, encouraging, rebuking, are to be done with the love that has been shown you in Christ Jesus.          Next Lesson: Set the standard Titus 3:1-2 Focus verse: Titus 3:1         