A Daily Walk

Announcer: Next on A Daily Walk.

John Randall: The body of Christ is diverse, that's the beauty of the body. That's the beauty of the church when you have all different age groups, all different ethnic backgrounds. Every single generation has something to impart to the next generation through wisdom or insight or experience. There's some things that the younger generation can learn from the older generation. And older generation, there's some things that you could learn from the younger generation, like how to use your phone, things like this.

But anyhow, these are things that we can impart to one another. We need to understand that.

Announcer: Calvary South OC presents A Daily Walk. Our pastor and teacher is John Randall, and he'll pay a visit to Titus Chapter 2 today. Now don't let its size fool you. Titus may be short in volume, but it's long in practical application. As with most of Paul's writings, Titus is packed with insight that we can put into practice immediately in our own daily walk. In this chapter, the focus turns from the pastors to the congregation.

John Randall: The book of Titus Chapter 2 as we continue our study through this pastoral epistle. Titus Chapter 2 beginning in verse 1, if you'd follow along with me. "But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine: that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience; the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things—that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed."

Titus was a man whom the Apostle Paul said he was a fellow laborer and partner in the ministry. He also referred to Titus as a comfort in time of discouragement. Both Paul and Titus shared a like-minded concern and care for God's people. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that Paul left Titus on the island of Crete to help bring stability to the churches.

Now his first objective was to appoint elders within the congregations. Paul gave to Titus the qualifications of the elders so he would know what to look for and whom to raise up in the oversight of the ministry. Next, Titus would have to confront the false teachers that were spreading false doctrine within the church. Paul also gave a description of them. He said that they were insubordinate, that they were idle talkers, and they were deceivers.

Titus had to confront them. Paul said they must be stopped, their mouths must be muzzled, and they are to be rebuked sharply. The reason that they were to be rebuked so severely is they were undermining the work of the ministry and they were going into households of people and turning them away from the Lord Jesus. Oh, they professed to know God, but in their lives they denied Him. So they were not to be given a platform; they were not allowed to continue within the congregation.

Now as you come into Chapter 2, the focus now shifts from the pastors or the leaders in the congregation to the congregation itself. The Apostle had not only given unto Titus sound doctrine, but also practical application of that sound doctrine. We begin in verse 1 with a sharp contrast. He says, "But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine."

Titus was well aware of what the false teachers were saying. He could see firsthand the rotten fruit of their hypocrisy. That's why Paul said, "But as for you." In other words, you know what the false teachers are doing, but you cannot let it affect what you are doing, what you're called to do. Titus had a job to do, he had a mission to complete, and it would have been so easy for Titus to become easily weighed down in the problems surrounding him that he'd never be able to provide the solution.

Titus had to maintain his focus on the task at hand. Yes, he was aware of what was going on, but he could not be hindered by what was going on. It reminds me of that Old Testament character whose name is Nehemiah. Perhaps you've read his book; it's called Nehemiah. And there in that book of Nehemiah, he was given this task of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem that had been torn down by Israel's enemies years earlier.

As he began to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, he was opposed by enemies and they made fun of his work. They also sought to discourage him in the work. They sought to attack the work. But the amazing thing about Nehemiah is he was aware of the tactics, he knew what the intentions were, but he kept on building. At one point, when the level of threats were elevated, every worker on the wall was given a sword and a trowel so that in case they needed to battle, they had a sword ready.

Meanwhile, they would keep on building. They had both a sword and a trowel. They were ready for whatever they had to face. The point is Nehemiah kept on going regardless of the enemy's attempt to thwart the work. In the same way, Titus had to continually be presenting sound doctrine and healthy teaching from God's word to God's people regardless of the opposition.

Maybe today you've taken your eyes off of the Lord Jesus. Maybe you've been distracted; you've been looking at what somebody else is doing and you're not doing what you're supposed to be doing. It's time to get back to what you know the Lord has called you to do and to do it as unto Him, to set your eyes once again upon Jesus and keep moving forward.

The next thing you find in verses 2 through 6 are instructions for the congregation. Look at verse 2. "That the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience; and the older women likewise." Paul now gives a series of instructions for the groups of people that made up the congregation: older men, older women, younger men, and younger women.

The demographic of the church was broad. The church wasn't simply a church for older people, and it wasn't just a church for the younger people. It was a church for all people. And that's the way the church ought to be. Sometimes people want to target this particular audience and try to really make their church where everybody looks the same. They all have the same outfit, the same idea, the same tattoo, the same thing, and it's just this one group. Then you have other groups that this is what we do and they all look the same.

Listen, the body of Christ is diverse. That's the beauty of the body. That's the beauty of the church when you have all different age groups, all different ethnic backgrounds. Every single generation has something to impart to the next generation through wisdom or insight or experience. There's some things that the younger generation can learn from the older generation. And older generation, there's some things that you could learn from the younger generation, like how to use your phone, things like this.

But anyhow, these are things that we can impart to one another. We need to understand that. In fact, the Bible says in Psalm 145:4, "One generation shall praise your works to another and declare your mighty acts." We should be united in this way. So he begins with the older men and says that the older men are to be sober, reverent, temperate, and sound in faith, in love, and in patience.

First of all, they're to be sober. It means to be free from intoxicants. It means having a clarity of mind resulting in good judgment. It describes one who is watchful. Now this can be a danger for all men, not just older men, but perhaps an older man who's retired. He's got a lot of time on his hands. He can do what he wants, when he wants, can get up when he wants to get up, doesn't have to get up if he doesn't want to get up. He can just do whatever he wants to do.

He's got a lot of time on his hands where before when he was younger, he was punching the clock, he's working all this stuff, didn't have a lot of time. He was worn out. Now he's got all the time in the world. What's he going to do? He's supposed to be sober-minded. There's a sobriety within his spiritual life because the devil doesn't care when you fall, just so long as you fall. If he can't trip you up at 16, he'll wait until you're 60. He'll ruin you at 65, 75. He does not care; he just wants to wreck your life.

So there has to be this sobriety, this discipline in the mind of an older man just like in the mind and the life of a younger man. It's important to be sober-minded. I think it is such a blessing to have men of God who are older in the faith who are in the congregation and set a good example for us to follow. I'm so grateful for the men in my own life who have been an example to me and continue to be an example to me in this regard.

They're not only to be sober, but they are also to be reverent. The word reverent means honorable. It means a life that is marked by dignity. It refers to the character that evokes special respect. The older man ages with grace and with dignity. Now sometimes we're fearful of getting old. We don't want to get old. Rather than grow old with dignity, we try to keep the dream alive.

So you get a faster car that you didn't have when you were younger, and a bigger gold chain, and tighter pants. These things just don't work; that's not dignified. Just grow with grace, grow with dignity. Don't try to be something that we're not. Reverent. They're also to be temperate. To be temperate means to curb one's fleshly desires, exercising self-control. They have discernment, they have discretion. They're not impulsive in their decisions perhaps as they once were because they have matured.

Finally, the older men are to be sound in the faith, in love, and in patience. If anyone within a congregation of people should be sound in faith, it should be the older men who have walked with the Lord for a great length of time. Throughout their life, they have tested the promises of God and they have found them to be true. They could say with the Psalmist as he said in Psalm 37:25, "I've been young and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken nor his descendants begging bread."

There should be that history, that life experience of walking with Jesus that makes you a man who is sound in the faith, and you can impart that to others by example and through your words. They're also to be sound in love and in patience. This is two things that maybe you can struggle with a little bit the older you get. You're to be loving, which is referred to. This love is the highest form of love spoken of in the Scriptures and it's a love that is irrespective of rights or conditions.

The older we get in the Lord, the more loving we should be. The more mature you are in the Lord, the more loving you should be, not the more sour you should be or the more crotchety you should be. You should be more loving and patient. Again, this is a struggle for all of us. But you realize when you're younger, you're just impatient. When you're older, you should just say, "Take your time. It's fine. Don't worry. Just be patient."

Maybe you think, "I don't need to be patient. I've been patient my whole life. I deserve it. I don't have much time. I don't have time to be patient." But the Bible says as you get older, you should be loving and patient. I love what one commentator said concerning this. He said concerning the older man, "He should have overcome at this time of life all the fiery, impetuous, envious, wrathful passions of his early years, and his mind should be subdued into sweet benevolence to all mankind." Would to God that it were so. As we grow older in the Lord, that that describes us as older men in Christ.

He moves from the older men to the older women. "The older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things." When Paul uses the word "likewise," he means in the same way that the older men are to act, so the older women also need to adorn similar characteristics in their age. They need to, first of all, be reverent in behavior.

The word here for reverent, only used here in the New Testament, has the root meaning of being priest-like. It came to refer to that which was appropriate with holiness. It means to be a godly example of holiness. Older women are to exemplify a godly character. It reminds me of Anna. You remember Anna in Luke Chapter 2? She was there in the temple. She was a widow. She was 84 years old, the Bible tells us. She stayed there and she never left the temple. She served night and day with fasting and with prayer. She exemplified godly, reverent, holy behavior.

And so much so that you remember when Jesus was brought into the temple area, the Holy Spirit enabled her to immediately recognize the Son of God because of her godly life. What a blessing it is to have godly women, godly older women in the congregation. What a blessing that is to any group of believers. Not only are they to be reverent in behavior, but it says they're not to be slanderers. One translation is "malicious gossips." It's actually a word that translates "diabolos," which means "false accuser."

And listen, it's used 34 times in the New Testament in connection with Satan. So you don't want to be a slanderer because that's what the devil does. He's all about slandering. He's all about accusing the brethren. That's his full-time job. I mean, that's what he does all day long. That's why we need Jesus Christ, the advocate, the defense attorney against the one who's constantly accusing us. So an older godly woman isn't going to go around repeating damaging stories about others or spreading rumors or half-truths that damage someone's reputation.

You know, you're not going to go to the beauty parlor and, "Oh girl, you should have heard this, she said," and you're going to get all caught up into that. And then you're going to go to your little tea party or your coffee meeting or your book reading time and, "Oh you know what," you're just going to carry on that way. It just shouldn't be like that. You shouldn't be a slanderer. Shut that down, godly women. Don't give into that.

Also, they're not to be given to much wine. That means they're not to be given to much wine. That's basically what it says. It means to bring into bondage or to become a slave. If an older woman gave place to alcohol in their life in this way, they could easily become in bondage to it. And it's not simply talking about an occasional drink here or an occasional drink there, but a permanent part of their life that made them drunkards.

There's nothing beautiful about an intoxicated woman. I just want you to know that. There's nothing beautiful about that. It's actually scary, it's frightening, it's dangerous. Sincerely. A younger woman intoxicated, it's not good. An older woman intoxicated is never good. It's never healthy, and it certainly isn't godly. As you grow older, it could be easy to begin to have to drink in order to block the aches and pains, to somehow drown out the loneliness or depression, or to help you fall asleep at night.

Then you become enslaved to it without knowing it. Pretty soon, you're constantly intoxicated, you're given to much wine. It ought not to be so for the godly elderly woman. Rather than being engaged in destructive gossip or given to the bondage of alcohol, Paul says instead, let them be teachers of good things, admonishing the younger women. Although women were forbidden to teach or have authority over men according to 1 Timothy Chapter 2, verse 12, within the church, they did have this responsibility and wonderful opportunity to teach younger women and to teach children.

What a vital ministry this is within the body of Christ, to have older experienced godly women in a fellowship to reach out to the younger single women who are not yet married, waiting for Mr. Right to come along. Help them to know what to look for. Girl, do not go after that guy. If I read something this week, if a man isn't strong enough to pick up his Bible, I don't care how much weight he picks up. If he's not strong enough to pick up his Bible, stay away from him.

He's got to love Jesus. You've got to encourage these girls to look for the right person, and you have that experience to help them navigate. Or let's say it's a younger woman who is just having children, brand new. You know what it's like to try to go to Costco with three children; one's on your hip, one's in the thing, and one you've got. It's difficult. You can come alongside and you can help and you can assist through your experiences of raising your own children.

You actually can encourage them, and the word encourage here means to make sensible. Younger women need someone to come alongside. They feel overwhelmed by the difficulties of rearing children or keeping a house. This is so important within the church. We have a lot of women here in this congregation that do seek to impart things to the younger women in the church, and it is a blessing. But I'll tell you something: I'd love to see even more of it taking place.

Ladies, let me ask you something. When was the last time you took a younger girl aside and said, "Hey, would you like to meet for coffee during the week sometime?" "Well, I have all my children." "Let's meet at the park." Just be able to impart something to them in that way. A real blessing. Older sisters reaching out to the younger sisters in Christ and helping them. If you're older here in this congregation and you've decided what that is, I'm not going to even try to go there. But let me tell you this: if you think that God's done with you, I just want to help you understand something. He's not.

Moses was 80 when his ministry began. 80. He went down and delivered the nation of Israel out of bondage at 80. How about John Wesley? You remember John Wesley? He was a guy that lived many years ago. At the age of 83, after traveling 250,000 miles on horseback, preached more than 40,000 sermons, and produced 200 books and pamphlets, he regretted that he was unable to read and write more than 15 hours a day without his eyes becoming too tired to work. That was at 83.

When he was 86, on his 86th birthday, he admitted to an increasing tendency to lie in bed until 5:30 in the morning. Shame. At 86, it bothered him. Paul then gives instructions now to the younger women in the congregation. How are they supposed to act? How are they supposed to live? He tells us: "The young woman is to love her husband, love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed."

First of all, they are to love their husbands. Ladies, when was the last time you told your husband, "I love you"? Maybe it was this morning; maybe it was a long time ago. It's important to love your husband. The word here for love, it's a word that implies companionship. Your husband is to be your best friend. Gentlemen, your wife is to be your best friend. That's the kind of companionship that you're supposed to have and that you're supposed to cultivate within that relationship.

Many times in this culture, marriages were pre-arranged. So you didn't really necessarily have a say in the matter. But now you're married to this guy and you need to love him. And so they're encouraged to love, to build that companionship. Also, to love their children. The ministry of a mother with her children is so important. Such a blessing. What an opportunity that is. Someone said that it's the hand that rocks the cradle that rules the world.

You have this influence that no one else has. In our own family, my children, there are certain things they just want to talk to their mom about. And I get it because they have that kind of relationship with their mother. Then there's other things they want to talk to me about. But this loving of your children by the way you care for them, by the way you provide for them.

Also, it says they are to be discreet. To be discreet means to be in control of one's impulses, to have self-control. Perhaps this could relate, for one example, to the financial side of the home. You're in charge of the house, keeping the house, making sure things are right. You have self-control in those areas. You don't just spend all the money your husband's working hard for, making sure you have clothes and everything, and then you're at the mall every day. That's not being discreet; that's not having self-control. You have to have that self-control, being discreet.