Titus 2_1-10

Secular:

Everyone’s experience with body building….
Body Building takes time!
Stop polluting our bodies… junk food… etc… still expect to succeed
It is discipline (good technique) + exercise (repetition) over time = Success!

Biblical:

NIV Titus 2:1 You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine. 2 Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance. 3 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. 4 Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, 5 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. 6 Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. 7 In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness 8 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. 9 Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, 10 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.

Personal:

Sore muscles when we exercise… ouch… change… doing things differently…exercising new muscles
Billy Graham… Jack & Shirley… Mother Theresa…

Exercising faith over time… help build the body

Bridge:

What do our leaders look like… helping us to reflect our Leader / Master
What we as a body should be saying… expressing the truth… trustworthy with the message… & when to ZIP-IT!
AND to know with the foundation of reflecting God in our congregations and leadership and in our sound beliefs… we need to build up the body!
“We are called to be a strong …well exercised Body – “A Well Built Body of Christ!!”

Body:

1)

But as for you, (who have been trusted with the true message of Christ)…You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine.

If you want to grow a healthy garden… you water it… you fertilize it… you weed it * If you want to grow healthy children… you feed them… you teach them… you love them
If you want to grow a healthy body… you have a good diet… plan regular workouts… and set up supports
If you want to grow a healthy Body of Christ… you must have a good diet… (sound doctrine)… you plan regular workouts (prayer, worship and the Word) and you seek out support (loving caring and growing one-another).
It is time to commit to the task at hand… this is OUR MISSION POSSIBLE
To UPREACH, and To OUTREACH…. By building a strong and vital body of Christ through solid INREACH

2) On the Hand out… advanced…. First two point are for the spiritually and chronologically mature members of the body… this what we all are striving for!

v.2 Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance.

Temperate… chill-out

Calm in a storm
Confident in faith… relaxed
Secure

Worthy of Respect… garner respect

Earn the right to speak
Treat like a father –1 Timothy 5:1a Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father.

Self-controlled – disciplined… leaving rash and foolish behaviour to youth

American President must be 35 years old…

Sound in Faith, love and endurance – Be a Rock

Not into crushes, fads or infatuation

Stable…

Advanced training continues…

3)

3 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.

4a Then they can train the younger women

Reverent in the way they live… - demonstrate your faith in everyday life

Relationship between you and your God
Relationship between you and your spouse
Relationship between you and your kids
Relationship between you and the people God LOVES!

Don’t slander – Bite your tongue

Gossiping, rumouring, slandering… are all out
Busy-bodies do not fit God’s Advanced Training regime for Body building

Addicted to much wine – Twisting bottle caps and pulling corks is fruitless exercise

When you diminish your capacity to witness or to discern… you fail to recognize the ‘every moment of your life’ factor in salvation
We surrender all of ourselves to Christ and witness to him in every moment we live form conversion…
We surrender all of ourselves to Christ and must discern right from wrong, the ways of Satan and the ways of God, the ways of the world versus the ways of the Kingdom
Clear mind – clear witness
Confused, distorted, not as sharp – confused, distort, dulled witness

Teach what is good – share the success

Eager to share a good diet… a good recipe

Eager to share good news of Christ
Pssst PASS it ON!

4) Passing it on includes passing from the advanced… to the beginners…

From our seasoned and well exercised to our searching… striving seeking… beginners

4b train the younger women to love their husbands and children,

5 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.

Train the younger women to love their husbands and children – Love the family…

This isn’t all about you… (world tries to convince us moment by moment, commercial after commercial, in movie after movie…LIVE FOR YOURSELF)
We tend to be self-centred… self-focused…

Time to learn even in the family setting… it is not all about us
Build up a strong family… built up in love

Self-controlled – disciplined living

Money, time, activities
Resisting damaging impulsiveness

Pure – We are a temple of the Holy Spirit… not a dump

Examine what we watch… TV, movies, books and the internet are like pitchers of murky water that we fill the vessel made by God.

Steer clear pf Sexual Sins…
Steer clear of other sins…
Do not pollute the Temple of God

Be busy at home – Serve one another in love

Demonstrate faithfulness, love and self-sacrifice…

Subject to their husbands…

Submitting to headship in the home shows dedication to what the Bible teaches
Equally important is the husbands responsibility to love his wife as Christ loves the church. (die for, sacrifice for… well-being).

Live consistent with the message of God’s Word

It is not a take it or leave it kind of faith
Fully embraced or fully rejected…
You are witness to truth… or not

This kind of Body building… takes a commitment to the truth… the foundation of our belief… the revelation of our hope… The Word of God

5) Similarly, like wise… (this is not you do this and you do that… it cumulative)

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

7 In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness

8 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.

1 Tim 5:1b Treat younger men as brothers,
…doing what is good – living what you profess!

Do not be a hypocrite

Integrity / seriousness – Do not boast

Live beyond your means or abilities
Humility in Christ

Soundness of speech – founded on objective truth

Inarguable
Deeds that demonstrate the reality of a vital faith in Christ

So that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.

6) Those who serve others… employees… slaves… (reality not endorsement)

9 Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, 10 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.

Live a life of witness
Convert your captors
Demonstrate a faith beyond the world!!
so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Saviour attractive.
If we do not live as if we believe it…?

Mission Possible:

Acts 2:41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
Rodney Stark (secular book – The Rise of Christianity
40 AD – 1000 (3000)
218,000 by 200 AD 1/3 of 1%
33.9 M or 55.5% of World Population by 350 AD

Constantine didn’t make Christianity fashionable by choosing it
Christianity was like wild fire and Constantine was caught in the passion of its burn!!

Centre of Christian faith moving from West to East and from North to South

32,000 / day in China
20,000 / day in South America
72,000 / day in the World
3,000 per hour…

This is the greatest work of God in human history
We are not in a decline… we are in an explosion
It is just not happening in our backyard…

Why… we have decided that going and making disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything Christ has commanded us.

… is a mission impossible when the concluding sentence says it all… Christ promised - And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

Now is the time to accept the challenge, reorder our life, seize the possibilities and power in Christ…
Now is the time to Worship a Holy and Almighty God
Now is the Time to strengthen one another in the Word and in Love
Now is the Time to Reach out and touch lives with the Gospel of Jesus Christ
NOW IS THE TIME TO BUILD UP THE BODY OF CHRIST

Upreaching, Inreaching and Outreaching in the Glorious Power and presence of Christ!!
NOW IS THE TIME FOR MISSION POSSIBLE!!