Sermon Tone Analysis

In all the years I took groups of students mountain climbing in Colorado, there were a handful of features that were always true.

And so, every year I would highlight the necessity to focus on these certain aspects of what it takes for a group to spend five days backpacking in the wilderness to a high mountain peak.

One of the things that students had to figure out how to work through was working together so that everyone would make it to the top of the mountain.

You see, this is the kind of trip where no one could be left behind.

You couldn’t take someone out of the game to sit the bench.

Being miles away from nowhere in the mountain wilderness did not leave us with the option of just telling someone who was struggling to just sit off the trail and wait for us to come back and pick you up in three days.

We all had to stay together.

And that meant we all made it up to the top of the mountain, or nobody made it to the top.

That always seemed to work itself out a little differently every year I hiked it with a group.

Sometimes it was the strongest most muscular teens who felt the effects of altitude sickness and had to be pulled along.

Sometimes there were students who dealt with sore feet and blisters from their hiking boots and struggled to keep waling the trail while carrying a 35-pound backpack.

It was always an adventure each year seeing kids who thought this trip would be an impossible challenge rise to the top, while kids who thought this hike would be a piece of cake struggle to even keep up.

Those things would change the dynamics of how we all needed to chip in and help one another by taking a little extra from one person’s pack and loading it into another to carry; to all figure out together who was going to filter stream water for drinking, who was going to set up and cook dinner, who was going to wash up dishes.

Everyone had a part to play.

And no one could be left out because no one could be left behind.

That was the only way for a group to make it up to the top of a mountain.

The real lessons came in those moments when everyone was tired, everyone was sore, everyone was hungry, everyone was dirty and stinky; and tempers would start to be a little short because frustration came easily.

But always I left students to figure it out and work it out and solve their own tensions by simply reminding them we all make it, or none of us make it.

That simple reminder of the reason and the purpose is all it would take.

so that

Sometimes we all need that.

We all need an occasional reminder of the reason and the purpose for why we are doing what we are called to do.

That’s the turn we take today in our reading of Titus.

Chapter two lands us right in the middle of the letter.

This is the spot where Paul takes a moment to remind his friend Titus of the reason and the purpose for his instructions.

We have been tracking this letter of Titus as a way of seeing what it means to live our Christian faith in a way that matters and makes a difference right now in the place where we live.

Our Christian faith is more than a someday eternity in paradise.

It is also a faith that matters and makes a difference right now for the world in which we live.

This is what Paul is trying to teach for Titus and the community of Christians on the island of Crete.

It is the instructions for godly living right now in the present.

Today we catch a glimpse of the purpose—the reason why our faith matters and makes a difference in this world right now today.

You notice that once again this week it seems as though Paul is just shoveling along lists of virtues and behavioral instructions for the church.

Yup, right, I get it; be good people.

But there is more going on here.

Take a closer look at these instructions and see what these words have to do with us in the church here two thousand years later.

Perhaps at first look it seems as though Paul is subdividing godly living into categories of age and gender.

There are instructions for older men, older women, younger women, and younger men.

Bible application here maybe seems simple enough; look up the category which applies to me where I am at right now, follow those instructions and I’m good.

Wrap it up preacher; we’re done; time to go home.

Sorry it doesn’t work that cleanly; this is not the Bible lesson to take away from Titus 2.

Notice that each section of instructions here is followed by a purpose.

Every category Paul works through closes with a statement of result; a reason why.

The Greek word is hina, but is comes over into English in your Bibles as the phrase “so that.”

It can also be translated as “in order that” or “resulting in” or “for the purpose of.”

You get the idea.

It is an explanation; it gives a reason why.

The first one comes in verse five.

Why do we live godly lives in the present age?

So that no one will malign the Word of God.

A word about what it means to malign the Word of God.

Malign comes from the Greek word blasphēmetai.

It is where we get our word blasphemy.

It means to misuse or abuse.

Apparently, there were those in Titus’ community who referred to themselves as Christians, but would misuse and abuse the message of scripture for their own ends, for their own means of control and power over others.

You don’t have to look too hard throughout church history to see examples of this all over the place in the last two thousand years; for those who have used the words of scripture not as a gospel message of God’s grace and love, but rather as a sledge hammer to grab hold of power and control over others.

The Roman Catholic church in Europe during the middle ages misused scripture as a means of power over kings and nobility.

Some among the early protestants in Europe misused scripture as a justification for burning and killing those they branded as heretics.

In our own time, look at the example of the Westboro Baptist church in Kansas who uses scripture as a means to project hate towards minority segments of our population and towards American military veterans.

Or think of the handful of prominent American evangelical leaders who have become extremely outspoken in the divide of partisan politics as a way to grab influence and control of power by dragging the Word of God into a bitter and ugly political struggle.

The message for Titus and for us today is to live in such a way that no one may accuse us of abusing the Word of God as a weapon for our own agendas, for our own power, for our own control.

Live in such a way that the Word of God lifts other up to the message of God’s grace and love, not in a way that stomps others under our feet away from the grace of God.

The second so that comes in verse seven.

Why do we live godly lives in the present age?

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

In the memories I have of my grandma VanderPloeg while she was alive, I never remember her ever complaining or grumbling about anyone.

Oh, certainly she might every now and then express lament or frustration over circumstances or events beyond her control; but I do not ever remember those frustrations being pointed towards another person.

In fact, it seemed to me that when it came to other people, grandma had a kind word to say about everybody.

That’s not to say my grandma agreed with everybody she ever met.

But even those with whom she disagreed, she had the ability to see through the issue of disagreement and recognize whatever it might be that still gives that person value as another human being.

But grandma wouldn’t stop there by only recognizing the value in every other person.

She would also state it; she would say it out loud.

She had a kind word about anyone she ever knew.

I don’t think my grandma had any enemies.

After all, how could she?

How could you be enemies with someone who only ever said kind things about you.

She lived her life in such a way that no one else was able to say anything bad about her because she never used words to tear apart anyone else.

Paul tells Titus to live in such a way that those who oppose you will be ashamed.

Let me give some clarity.

The Greek word entrepo which translates as ashamed literally means to turn around in recognition.

It is not shame as we might think about it as being a bad thing.

In a softer way, entrepo is a recognition of being wrong about something and changing one’s mind to turn and think a different way.

Titus and his community of believers are being instructed to live in a way that those who may be opposed to them will see the goodness of God expressed in the lives of Christians, and turn to recognize that goodness from God in their own lives too.

The third so that comes in verse ten.

Why do we live godly lives in the present age?

So that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.

One of the major critiques that Jesus leveled over and over again against the Pharisees is that they had made so many legalistic rules about following God that no one could ever do it.

Jesus came to declare that, through the Grace of God, a relationship with God was no longer impossible.

In fact, a restored relationship with God is now an invitation that is given to absolutely everyone.

And all people have been given the grace to be able to respond to that invitation.

There are no hindrances; there are no barriers; Jesus has removed all obstacles that might keep anyone away from coming to God.

The message for Titus and for all of us in the church is to live in such a way that absolutely anyone and everyone sees and hears that invitation in the way we live.

Not many of you here know this, but I have started leading a community Bible study at a nearby apartment complex here in Grandville.

Every two weeks I gather with a roomful of individuals from our neighborhood here in Grandville who all live in the apartments and we study God’s Word together.

There is something similar in many of their stories.

They are longing to learn more about God; they are longing for Christian community; and many of them, at this point in their life, will not step through the door of a church.

Because they’ve been burned by past experience with other Christians in a church.

That’s sad.

It is sad that there are people right here in Grandville hungry for the Word of God and looking for a relationship with Jesus, and they see this place as a barrier keeping them away instead of family attracting them inside.

I see that in the stories of people right here in Grandville and it leaves me with a prayer of confession for all of us here in our churches; that we are failing to see the way our lives push other people away instead of inviting them in.

Paul reminds Titus and us; it takes more than a token gesture; it takes more than a few words; it takes more than a postcard or a flyer.