Household Duties
Notes
Transcript
In Titus 2, our passage this morning, Paul gives Titus instruction aimed at 5 different groups of people. As always, God’s Word is practical and applicable to our lives. Titus 2 addresses each of us by age and gender.
Raise your hand when you hear your group: Older men, older women, younger men, younger women, slaves.
It’s interesting to watch who put themselves in the “younger” category. I mean, I guess you’re probably technically younger than some. Everyone’s younger than John Hough, so if you look at it that way, you’re in the “younger” group. At some point though, I’m sorry to say, you slip into the “older” category.
Everyone fits into these categories, making this immensely helpful and practical.
27 So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
God created us, male and female, assigned us our gender as He knit us together in our mothers’ wombs (and God makes no mistakes).
God designed the home (and the church) to operate in a specific way with responsibilities/ duties for older men and women and younger men and women.
When we live according to God’s design and intention, we’re living the abundant life He promises to give; we’re living the good life that pleases and glorifies Him.
This ought to be our primary concern: to glorify God. Our secondary concern is to love our neighbor. This, too, happens best when we live as God’s designed.
So Paul, as he’s writing to Titus, helping Titus with the task of ministering to the people in his care, breaks it down into 5 categories: older men, older women, younger men, younger women, and slaves.
Remember, at some point at least 10 years prior to writing this letter to Titus, Paul had ministered there on the island of Crete alongside Titus.
So Paul knows some of, if not most of, the people in the Cretan churches. As he writes in these categories—older men, older women, younger men, younger women, slaves—he’s picturing the faces of certain people.
If writing today to the church in Rich Hill, Paul would be thinking about John Hough and Roy and Don, about JoAnn and Martha, about Landon and Jeff and Matt, about T.J. and Karen and Meghann and all the other people he loves and had ministered to.
Paul knows a number of the people in Crete personally. And he cares about them. He wants the church to flourish and grow. As such, he’s urged Titus to appoint elders who will encourage sound doctrine and refute/rebuke those who stand opposed. He’s warned against false teachers and their false gospel.
In contrast to false teachers—those whose deeds disprove their claim to know God—Paul turns to Titus’ responsibilities as a true teacher of the true gospel.
In the NIV, Titus 2 begins with the words, “You, however”. Some other versions use the phrase “but as for you”. That phrase, those words, occur five times in the Pastoral Epistles:
1 You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
11 But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.
10 You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance,
14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it,
5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
These words from Paul to his students, his mentees, hi sons in the faith—Timothy and Titus—express the familiar call to the people of God to be different, to stand out from the prevailing culture.
There has to be a difference between Titus and the false teachers. Titus has to work with the members of the Cretan churches to make sure they understand their role in the home and in the church, that their lives reflect the gospel rather than the world.
If you have your Bible (and I hope you do), please turn with me to Titus 2. If you are able and willing, please stand for the reading of God’s Holy Word. This is what Paul writes to Titus:
1 You, however, must teach what is appropriate to 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 urge 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 Savior attractive.
May God add His blessing to the reading of God’s Holy Word!
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Paul rightly assumes (and has been led by the Holy Spirit to believe) that different ages and different genders face different challenges and temptations.
Turns out, it’s true. Turns out, God Word speaks accurately on this and every other issue it addresses.
Older Men (v. 2)
Older Men (v. 2)
Titus is to teach the older men to be:
temperate
worthy of respect
self-controlled
sound in faith, in love, and in endurance
Think about the stereotypical older man: sitting on his porch, yelling at the neighborhood kids— “Get off my lawn!” —, bemoaning the loss of the good ol’ days when kids were seen and not heard, when the wife wore a dress, pearl necklace, and high heels and had dinner on the table when he came in the door. The stereotypical older man is grumpy and starts sentences with the words: “In my day...”
Titus is to TEACH the older men to be temperate, that is restrained and self-controlled. This is something that can be taught.
You don’t have to say everything that comes into your mind. When the kids next door venture onto your lawn, you don’t have to yell...anything! Your anger doesn’t have to win the day.
Worthy of respect. A good way to be respected...be worthy of it. Older men need to live in such a way that younger guys look at them and think: “I want to be like them.” This is especially true in the Christian family and within the church. Young men need to see older men following Jesus wholeheartedly. And then they’ll be able to follow that older man as he follows Christ.
Self-controlled—listed in addition to temperate. It’s important, so important it’s listed twice. This is a different word than the word used for temperance, but the idea is similar. This is a measured restraint in all things, the opposite of foolish or “Cretan”. This is made possible by and through Christ.
Paul instructs Titus to teach the older men sound[ness] in faith, in love, and in endurance.
To be sound means to be healthy or fit.
It’s used in the Gospels often of someone who had been healed and are now whole—their body functioning normally, as it was intended.
The woman who suffered with bleeding, the invalid at the pool, the lame man outside the temple, the demon-possessed man on the other side of the lake.
Older men should be healthy, fit, sound, mature—especially in these Christian virtues: in faith (trusting God), in love (serving others), and in endurance (waiting patiently for the fulfillment of their Christian hope, the coming of Christ).
Older Women (v. 3)
Older Women (v. 3)
(On these verses I learned a great deal from a workbook entitled “Blueprint: The Creator’s Design for Women” written by Cheryl Adams, Wylene Altenburg, Linda Castro, Emily Mensendiek).
Titus is to teach the older women in three areas of Christian conduct:
They are to be reverent in the way they live. This word occurs only here in the NT. This is life “befitting a holy person or thing”. The authors of Blueprint say this: “Holiness should stand out in the life of an aged women. Her focus will be on God and His Word. A godly woman’s behavior is the result of a lifetime of choosing to walk God’s way.”
Older women are to strenuously avoid two moral failures: they are not to be slanderers (back-biters, gossips, women who lie about others) or addicted to much wine (again from Blueprint: “anything a woman allows to have control over her can keep her from being sober).
Instead of using their mouths for slander, they are to use them to teach what is good—they are to be teachers of righteousness. God has given to them the responsibility of training other women in the ways of righteousness.
Younger Women (vv. 4-5)
Younger Women (vv. 4-5)
The younger women are to be trained by the older women:
To love their husbands and to love their children. There’s a Greek word for each of these: “philandrous” (loving one’s husband) and “philoteknous” (loving one’s children).
Love of husband is concerned with sacrifice and service. Husbands and wives serve one another, sacrifice for one another. That’s marriage.
Paul tells Titus the young women are to be trained in this, taught this. I’d say they’d see this modeled best from godly older women who have been married for decades—that is, decades of love and service and sacrifice.
2. To be self-controlled and pure. Self-control or discretion “can be described as evidence of the Holy Spirit a work in a woman’s life as she yields her words, attitudes, and actions to His control.” Pure is to be holy, separated from sin and consecrated to God.
3. To be busy at home. This is a sticky-wicket. Tell a women her place is in the home and you’ll probably hear about it. We can’t, from this phrase, base a stay-at-home stereotype for all women or prohibit women from having a career.
The KJV’s keeper is probably a mistake in translation. Working at home conveys a better sense. Homemaker is not a four-letter word (it’s a 9-letter word). There’s no shame in being “busy at home.”
4. To be kind. Kind in this context might be hospitable; it may also just mean goodness, reflecting the character and goodness of God.
5. And to be subject to their husbands. Whenever the idea of wives being subject to their husbands is brought up, everyone tenses up a bit. This doesn’t mean wives are inferior to their husbands, but rather a recognition that God has established a created order in which the husband—loving, sacrificial, submitted to God—is the head of the family. He is tasked with responsibility and loving care for his wife and children.
Young Men (v. 6)
Young Men (v. 6)
Paul tells Titus to instruct the young men with only one word of exhortation:
Encourage the young men to be self-controlled. At first blush, it seems like young men don’t have as much to work on as the rest. We know this isn’t true.
Tim Chester comments that this one encouragement—self-control—“covers all the temptations young men face: lust, ambition, impatience. [And all of these] require a response of self-control.”
But this isn’t exactly the only note for younger men. Paul has a word for Titus himself:
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.
The “them” in verse 7 refers back to the younger men in verse 6. Titus, remember, is a young man. As a young man, Titus is to set an example for the other young men to follow. Beyond that, the younger men are going to be older men before long, and they will hopefully learn from older men now how to behave, how to live, how to lead.
Young men must learn integrity, seriousness, and soundness.
Young men need to grow up, start taking life seriously. Even more, take their faith in Jesus seriously (the most important thing), and learn to be responsible.
Young men, listen: you’re not young men for very long. Stop living for yourself and live for Christ. “There is no room in the church for living for yourself for two or more decades before beginning to live out the biblical picture of a man.”
It may have struck you to see Paul’s words to Titus about teaching slaves to be subject to their masters.
This is not Paul’s approval of slavery during the time of the Roman Empire. Nor is this implying that God was okay with slavery and the forced subjection of a group of people to another.
This is merely an acknowledgement that slavery existed. There members of Christ’s Church who were slaves. As such, Paul has instructions for them, to be passed on to them by Titus:
Titus 2:9–10 (NIV)
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...
Slaves (vv. 9-10)
Slaves (vv. 9-10)
These men and women were to be subject to their masters, and even go above and beyond, and try to please their masters. They were to be polite and respectful, honest and trustworthy.
>It’s quite a list. Each group has been given a number of things to work on. Whatever category we fit into has something for us. We need, each of us, to sit down and determine how we’re doing on these instructions. This is God’s Word for us, today.
But I think we can get caught up in the “what” and miss the “why”.
Even as I was studying this passage and preparing for this sermon, I was thinking about what this word meant and what that word implied (and that’s important), but what’s even more significant, I believe, is the reason why we are to behave in this way.
Three times in the course of these verses (vv. 5, 8, 10), Paul communicates the reason why Christ’s people should listen to what he and Titus are teaching/encouraging them to do.
Beyond the explicitly stated reasons, there’s an implied reason why we’d take heed of these verses and live in line with these instructions:
To Show Ourselves Different
To Show Ourselves Different
We are aliens here. Our citizenship is not the good ol’ U.S. of A; rather, our citizenship in heaven. We are called to be different, set-apart, a little weird even. We certainly don’t do or believe or behave like everyone else.
We are to live in a way that’s honoring to God. While all the older men are grumpily yelling at the TV and the older women are gossiping, the younger women more focused on their career than their family, and the younger men are too busy playing video games to do anything else, we should show ourselves to be different.
We aren’t going to go along with the ways of the world. We have a higher calling, a more noble pursuit. God made us men and women (that’s it). We are the age we are. There is something He has in mind for us. Living the good life is living the life God intends for us.
Why do we choose to follow God and live this way?
To Honor the Word of God
To Honor the Word of God
The last thing we want is for the word of God to be maligned or discredited because of us. When our lives match up with the Word of God, no one can criticize us for failing to walk the talk. When our lives match up with the Word of God, we show the the Word of God is authoritative. We joyfully submit to what it has to say.
A lot of this that we read here is a challenge to our culture today. Some will say it’s outdated. Some will get angry at the thought that they can’t do whatever they want or identify as whatever they want.
I’ve had people get angry with me based on something I’ve preached.
“Who are you to tell me how to live?”
“Well, I’m no one. But God, the Creator and Sovereign of the Universe, certainly gets to tell you how to live.”
We want to honor the Word of God. And we want others to have no opportunity to dismiss or dishonor the Word of God because our lives are out of line with it.
Why do we choose to follow God and live this way?
To Reflect God’s Goodness
To Reflect God’s Goodness
What Paul writes to Titus about his setting an example, living a life of integrity, seriousness, and soundness of speech—Paul says for Titus to do these things so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.
By Titus’ exemplary life and speech, Titus can shame his opposers. They’ll have no opportunity to give a bad report about him.
Titus’ reputation, our reputation, will go a long way in silencing the opposition, rendering the false teachers speechless.
We want a good reputation, not for ourselves, but for the sake of our Savior. We don’t want to reflect negatively upon Him. We want to reflect His goodness and grace.
Why do we choose to follow God and live this way?
To Magnify the Gospel
To Magnify the Gospel
As he’s instructing slaves in how to act, he concludes with this phrase (v. 10): so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.
What a thought! These slaves, doing their menial, possibly back-breaking tasks, could, as they’re doing more than is expected with an unexpected attitude and exceptional manners, magnify the gospel.
In the way they live, they get to adorn the gospel. In the way they live, people (even their owners) might look at them and think, “Why in the world are they so hardworking and honest? Why are they trying to please me? Why are they so kind?”
And, in that way, they’d possibly be given the opportunity to say, “Well, it’s because I’m loved by Jesus and His love compels me to love you, regardless of how you treat me.”
The word attractive refers to the arrangement of jewels in such a manner as to set off their full beauty.
In their conduct, the Christian (even the Christian slave) has the power to enhance the teaching about the Savior.
We want our lives, our teaching, our behavior, our interaction with those around us to make God and the truth about Him appear as beautiful as it is.
We have the power to enhance or detract from the glorious gospel, the Good News about Jesus, the Crucified and Risen Christ.
In our lives, when people ask why we choose to live the way we do, that’s a open door to share what Jesus has done for us and what Jesus has done for all who will believe.
It’s the best news in the wide world. We have the opportunity to turn the spotlight on it and make it that much more appealing.
Old men, old women, young men, young women: let us listen to and obey God’s Word. Let’s show ourselves different, honor the Word of God, reflect God’s goodness, and magnify the gospel!