The Book of Titus. Pt. 3
Good morning to all of our faithful Readers....
Today, heavy storms are supposed to develop. I often will sit on a chair under the shelter of our garage and enjoy God's power on display as a storm rolls through. Lightning flashes are amazing, even during the day. I like the soft rolling thunder sounds as opposed to the window shaking booming that means the lightning is close by.
I used to work in a building that had a 300 foot tall communications tower behind it. When storms came, you could sometimes hear a loud "zzzzzztttt" sound of a nearby lightning strike followed by an immediate loud clap of thunder.
Spiritual storms like false teaching, heresy or apostasy often strike the churches of Jesus Christ. Someone invents a new or novel interpretation that undermines the clear truth of Scripture and people seem to be quickly led astray.
Spiritual storms have devastating results as history records. Many denominations used to be strong in sound doctrine, evangelism and in seeking to help Christians live according to God's word. Sadly, many denominations have been led astray by false teaching or by intellectual elites who deny the truth and authority of the Bible.
This always generates a storm of controversy. Men seek answers to their questions from other men instead of going to the inspired, inerrant word of God. Believers often have no choice but to leave a church that has become infected with wrong thinking.
In 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 point thesis to the door at Wittenberg. He brought the truth & light of God's word back into the open and it caused a storm of controversy in the established church.
The religious leaders were doing things that were not supported by any scripture at all. Luther's bold act initiated a strong move back to the text of scripture that began the reformation period.
The next section in the book of Titus is Titus 2:1-6. We will look at this paragraph carefully because it is so full of truth that we need. I hope to unfold some of this glorious truth for all of us to see as we seek to be changed into His image.
Titus 2:1
Paul exhorts Titus to speak or preach the truth of God that builds up (literally, to tower up) sound doctrine. He wants the sound doctrine of God to have deep roots in the thinking of the Cretian Christians. The word "sound" means healthy, wholesome or well. Doctrine that is sound is healthy for our mind, soul and spirit.
"Doctrine" refers to Apostolic teaching and instruction that gives the believer in Christ theological truth. Receiving accurate theological truth of God is necessary for the Christian life and necessary for us to be able to become more like Christ. The word theology is a word that means God logic.
"Doctrine" is from a Greek word that is found in the English language in the word "didactic." Didactic teaching means that there is an instructor who is skilled and who also is an expert in the subject matter being taught.
The goal of the instructor is to accurately teach the immutable truths and the enduring principles to his students. The instructor clearly communicates the absolute authority of the subject matter and that there are distinct right or wrong answers to the students.
In thinking about didactic teaching with you this morning, I see that the Spirit guided Apostles are just like the didactic teachers. They have all the needed knowledge of the truth of theology imparted to them by the active working of the Spirit of God in the Apostolic ministry.
Our Lord Jesus spoke of how the Spirit would accomplish this to His disciples, who later became the apostles.
John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
The students correspond to the disciples of Christ, sitting and learning at the feet of Jesus. The word "disciples" is from a word that means a follower/learner or a pupil/student of Christ. Notice the invitation of Christ for us to come and sit and learn at His feet.
Mat_11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Born again believers are the students in this setting. Their function is to listen attentively, to take accurate notes, and to fully absorb the truth that is being communicated to them. This truth is to be meditated upon, mentally digested and carefully considered in their thought processes.
We see what it is like to be a disciple of Christ receiving God's truth in the text from Psalm 119 below. There is a hunger for God's truth because it feeds the soul. There is a deep longing for God's truth because it brings light and shows us the way that we should go. It dispels the darkness so that we may walk in the light.
The more that we learn from Christ, and the more that we take in His word and the more that we apply what we learn, we will find that we deeply, intensely long for more of His truth in our soul.
Psalm 119:129-131 Thy testimonies are wonderful: therefore doth my soul keep them.
The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.
I opened my mouth, and panted: for I longed for thy commandments.
This truth is given to us to be acted upon by the believer in Christ. It must move from the head into the heart. Or, as I have said before, it is not enough to know about Him. We must know Him intimately, relationally and experientially.
Knowing our wonderful God in this manner comes by being consistently immersed in His word. It comes from taking what we learn from His word and living it out in our lives. We hear it and obey it. We read it and heed it. We study it and apply it.
God uses this eternal truth to change and transform us . He uses this eternal truth to save the lost and comfort those who are in distress. This life changing truth from God will be used by the Spirit of God to renew our minds and to reshape how we think, act and speak.
Ok, that was a long introduction to this paragraph, but I hope it opens our understanding. After Paul exhorts Titus to preach sound doctrine, he turns and gives some specific examples of things that need to be addressed in Crete.
First, he speaks of the aged men. He tells Titus to teach the older men to engage in 6 different behaviors.
Titus 2:1-6 But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine:
That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.
The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;
That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,
To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.
Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded.
In the next section we will see Paul personally encouraging Titus in how he should conduct himself among the Cretians and then he will continue to give instruction about the practical working out of our faith in our thoughts, words and actions.
Points to Ponder.....
Today, heavy storms are supposed to develop. I often will sit on a chair under the shelter of our garage and enjoy God's power on display as a storm rolls through. Lightning flashes are amazing, even during the day. I like the soft rolling thunder sounds as opposed to the window shaking booming that means the lightning is close by.
I used to work in a building that had a 300 foot tall communications tower behind it. When storms came, you could sometimes hear a loud "zzzzzztttt" sound of a nearby lightning strike followed by an immediate loud clap of thunder.
Spiritual storms like false teaching, heresy or apostasy often strike the churches of Jesus Christ. Someone invents a new or novel interpretation that undermines the clear truth of Scripture and people seem to be quickly led astray.
Spiritual storms have devastating results as history records. Many denominations used to be strong in sound doctrine, evangelism and in seeking to help Christians live according to God's word. Sadly, many denominations have been led astray by false teaching or by intellectual elites who deny the truth and authority of the Bible.
This always generates a storm of controversy. Men seek answers to their questions from other men instead of going to the inspired, inerrant word of God. Believers often have no choice but to leave a church that has become infected with wrong thinking.
In 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 point thesis to the door at Wittenberg. He brought the truth & light of God's word back into the open and it caused a storm of controversy in the established church.
The religious leaders were doing things that were not supported by any scripture at all. Luther's bold act initiated a strong move back to the text of scripture that began the reformation period.
The next section in the book of Titus is Titus 2:1-6. We will look at this paragraph carefully because it is so full of truth that we need. I hope to unfold some of this glorious truth for all of us to see as we seek to be changed into His image.
Titus 2:1
Paul exhorts Titus to speak or preach the truth of God that builds up (literally, to tower up) sound doctrine. He wants the sound doctrine of God to have deep roots in the thinking of the Cretian Christians. The word "sound" means healthy, wholesome or well. Doctrine that is sound is healthy for our mind, soul and spirit.
"Doctrine" refers to Apostolic teaching and instruction that gives the believer in Christ theological truth. Receiving accurate theological truth of God is necessary for the Christian life and necessary for us to be able to become more like Christ. The word theology is a word that means God logic.
"Doctrine" is from a Greek word that is found in the English language in the word "didactic." Didactic teaching means that there is an instructor who is skilled and who also is an expert in the subject matter being taught.
The goal of the instructor is to accurately teach the immutable truths and the enduring principles to his students. The instructor clearly communicates the absolute authority of the subject matter and that there are distinct right or wrong answers to the students.
In thinking about didactic teaching with you this morning, I see that the Spirit guided Apostles are just like the didactic teachers. They have all the needed knowledge of the truth of theology imparted to them by the active working of the Spirit of God in the Apostolic ministry.
Our Lord Jesus spoke of how the Spirit would accomplish this to His disciples, who later became the apostles.
John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
The students correspond to the disciples of Christ, sitting and learning at the feet of Jesus. The word "disciples" is from a word that means a follower/learner or a pupil/student of Christ. Notice the invitation of Christ for us to come and sit and learn at His feet.
Mat_11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Born again believers are the students in this setting. Their function is to listen attentively, to take accurate notes, and to fully absorb the truth that is being communicated to them. This truth is to be meditated upon, mentally digested and carefully considered in their thought processes.
We see what it is like to be a disciple of Christ receiving God's truth in the text from Psalm 119 below. There is a hunger for God's truth because it feeds the soul. There is a deep longing for God's truth because it brings light and shows us the way that we should go. It dispels the darkness so that we may walk in the light.
The more that we learn from Christ, and the more that we take in His word and the more that we apply what we learn, we will find that we deeply, intensely long for more of His truth in our soul.
Psalm 119:129-131 Thy testimonies are wonderful: therefore doth my soul keep them.
The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.
I opened my mouth, and panted: for I longed for thy commandments.
This truth is given to us to be acted upon by the believer in Christ. It must move from the head into the heart. Or, as I have said before, it is not enough to know about Him. We must know Him intimately, relationally and experientially.
Knowing our wonderful God in this manner comes by being consistently immersed in His word. It comes from taking what we learn from His word and living it out in our lives. We hear it and obey it. We read it and heed it. We study it and apply it.
God uses this eternal truth to change and transform us . He uses this eternal truth to save the lost and comfort those who are in distress. This life changing truth from God will be used by the Spirit of God to renew our minds and to reshape how we think, act and speak.
Ok, that was a long introduction to this paragraph, but I hope it opens our understanding. After Paul exhorts Titus to preach sound doctrine, he turns and gives some specific examples of things that need to be addressed in Crete.
First, he speaks of the aged men. He tells Titus to teach the older men to engage in 6 different behaviors.
- He tells them to be sober. This word means to abstain from wine and Paul tells Titus about this so that the older men avoid drunkenness. Excessive wine consumption was everywhere as most pagans had temples for Bacchus / Dionysus, the god of wine and debauchery.
- He tells them to be grave in the sense of cultivating good character.
- He tells them to be temperate or to curb their impulses. Some Cretans were gluttons and Paul did not want the men of the church to be known for gluttony.
- He tells the older men to be sound in faith, maintaining a healthy relationship with the Father through Jesus Christ.
- He instructs them to show evidence of that unconditional love of God shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Spirit.
- Last, Paul instructs Titus to teach the older men to be patient and enduring as they seek to live for Christ.
Next, Paul speaks about the aged women. He wants Titus to instruct them in 13 different areas. Some of the areas are behavior related. Others involve the older women teaching some important things to the younger women.
I think each of these areas of teaching are designed to address some issues where they might be squeezed into the culture. God wants us to be conformed to Christ not conformed to the world.
- Titus is to teach the older women to pursue holiness.
- He must teach them not to be false accusers. Evidently, some of the older women were repeating things they had heard and some of it was not true. Perhaps some were actually filing a false complaint against someone they did not like.
- Titus must also teach the older women to avoid excessive consumption of wine, and thus, avoid drunkenness.
Now, Titus is going to show the older women some things that they must teach to the younger women. I think that this is noteworthy because these may have been some good behaviors that the older women were engaged in.
The older women were to be teachers of good things.
- They were to teach the younger women to be sober.
- They were to teach the younger women to love their husbands. and children.
- They were to teach the younger women to be discreet & chaste. This is the idea of exercising self control and being modest in appearance.
- They were to teach the younger women how to be keepers at home.
- They were to teach them how to be good or of a pleasant spirit.
- They were to teach the younger women how to be obedient to their husbands.
Paul ends this part of his instructions to Titus by asking him to teach the young men to be sober, again for the same reasons noted previously.
Titus 2:1-6 But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine:
That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.
The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;
That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,
To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.
Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded.
In the next section we will see Paul personally encouraging Titus in how he should conduct himself among the Cretians and then he will continue to give instruction about the practical working out of our faith in our thoughts, words and actions.
Points to Ponder.....
- Storms hit the church through false teachers spreading heresy, apostasy or wrong ideas about the things of God.
- The only shelter from the storms of heresy, apostasy, false teaching and liberal theology, is sound doctrine.
- We must dedicate ourselves to being consistent in reading and heeding the word of God.
- There are things to do for Christians of all ages.
- The older men must learn the need to avoid certain behaviors and be a good example for younger men.
- The older women not only must learn to avoid certain behaviors, but they must also learn to be good examples and teach the younger women how they ought to live for Christ.
God is so good to show us the importance of careful, accurate, doctrinally sound teaching from scripture. God is so good to have inspired and preserved His word for us, in spite of constant attacks from the devil. He is so good to show us how to live so that we can bring Him honor and glory with our lives.
If you attend a church and are blessed with a good pastor who seeks to carefully lead you to the word of God, take time to thank him for his prayers and labors for your soul.
Bob
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