[0:00] We're going to continue the book of Titus, and I've been looking forward to it all afternoon. And this morning, some of the kids were in children's church, and they have been in the whole book of Titus.
[0:10] So we've been five sermons in the book of Titus for five Sundays, but some in here haven't been in the book of Titus because they've been in children's church. And I thought about having you come forward and me telling the story like we do on Christmas morning, but I think what I'll just do is I want to give you a copy of this letter.
[0:26] So if you're in children's church, you come up here with Selah and get in line. I have something I want to give you so that during the service you can underline a few things because tonight it's really important.
[0:37] If you're in children's church, come ahead and get in line, or if you just like free gifts and you want to get in line, no judgment, all right? I'm just going to just line up here behind Selah here, and I'm going to give these out. This is a copy of the book of Titus.
[0:49] It is a letter written from Paul to Titus, and Titus is on an island which is underneath the country of Greece. Okay, that's good. We've been working on this together, all right?
[1:01] So here you go, and I want you to follow along. I'm going to give you a few words to underline, okay? And take this back here with you. And tonight's study is very important that you understand what certain words mean.
[1:15] Winter turned five today. Happy birthday, winter. All right, here you go. And Miss Whitney, she had a birthday this week today. And then Miss Val, where's Val out?
[1:26] She had a birthday in here. And Eleanor, did you get one? There you go. And so we're all getting older. Some people are having birthdays this weekend.
[1:38] But this morning, to those that are in children's church, this passage of Scripture talks about different age groups. And inside of the church, there should be every age group possible. When you weren't in here, we talked about the older people.
[1:52] They called them the aged men and the aged women. That's not a way we usually speak of something about cheese, right? Aged cheese. But older men and women. And then tonight, we're going to talk about younger ones.
[2:04] And then the younger men and women have a responsibility to raise their children. Some years ago, we've lived in this area, Stephanie and I, for almost 20 years.
[2:15] And I won't mention the church. I don't even really know which church it was. But a church was doing a campaign that said, This is not your grandmother's church. And it was billboards.
[2:26] And they had signs outside of the church that say, We do church differently. We are not your grandmother's church. And I really hated that very much, all right? And I would pray that this church would never be in a position where we would want to put out a sign that says, We are not your grandmother's church.
[2:42] This is certainly your grandmother's church, as it should be your church as well. The church doesn't belong to any age group. It doesn't belong to any nationality. It belongs to Jesus Christ.
[2:53] He is the Lord. And the Bible speaks to every age group. It speaks to older, and it speaks to younger, and it speaks to children. Children, how many of you that just came up here, children, say, You can't wait to be older.
[3:03] You can't wait to be an adult. How many of your kids are like that? All right, we've got one that wants to grow up. Most of you are enjoying Luther. You don't want to grow up, okay? Anybody else like Peter Pan in here? Carson, you want to grow up?
[3:15] How are you feeling about it? Feeling pretty good where you're at right now? It's a good place to be. Every season of life has its blessings. And I could ask some adults in here, How many of you would like to go back to being a kid tomorrow?
[3:26] All right? The hands went up a lot quicker. Some say definitely not. I guess it depends if you're the cool kid or not in school. All right? I don't want to go back. Definitely don't want to go back to being a teenager. All right?
[3:36] That's hard, teenagers. That was a hard course of life. But everyone, every season of life has blessings and curses. You love fall, but maybe you don't like some of the cold weather. You like winter.
[3:47] You don't like, well, we don't shovel snow here, do we? But every season of life has its blessings to it. It also has its challenges. Same with our ages. Every age has its blessings and its challenges.
[3:59] So here in this book of Titus, and those that have been attending on Sunday morning, I've reviewed it many times, but just to let you know, Paul, he identifies himself as a servant of God. Before he says anything else about himself, he doesn't just say, he doesn't start off with saying that he's an apostle, which would be a really big way to start a letter.
[4:15] And he had the right to do so. That way he was one of the first original disciples of Christ. He saw Jesus after the resurrection. He was appointed by God to be an apostle. But he refers to himself as a servant, and he's writing a letter to a friend named Titus, who is on an island, and the island is not friendly or favorable to the things of God.
[4:38] They're worshiping false gods, primarily the god Zeus. And Zeus was known for lying. He was known for not being faithful to his wife, and he was known for many things that were displeasing to God.
[4:50] And who you worship will influence the way you behave. Or another way that it's said is, what you behold will determine who you become. And so the god that you focus on, and as these people were beholding a false god, it says at the end of chapter number one, that they were professing that they know God, but in their works they deny him, being abominable and disobedient, and that every good work reprobate.
[5:14] So they were saying that they knew the true God, but they weren't. They didn't know the true God, and it was being shown in the way that they lived their lives. And so what was Paul's prescription?
[5:25] What was Paul's plan for these people on the island? The island had a lot of little churches all throughout it. I don't know where the people met. Maybe they met at houses. Maybe they met under trees. Maybe they met on a harbor.
[5:37] Maybe they met in buildings they rented. I don't know. But there was groups of them scattered throughout the place. Titus' job to help establish pastors among those churches that would help lead the churches into a rightful way of living.
[5:52] And so the qualifications were given for the elders and the way that they should lead and live their lives. And they should hold fast, verse 9, to the word of God. Then it takes a break in chapter number 1 of outlining the role of the elder, and it gives us a big description of the influences in the people whose mouths needed to be stopped.
[6:12] There was people who were teaching wrong things, and they needed to stop doing it. And the way that they told them to get the people to stop their mouth was to live a life that would silence your critics, which is to do the right thing.
[6:26] And that gets us to chapter number 2. Chapter number 2, let me read the verse before it. It says, They profess that they know God, but in their works they deny Him, being abominable and disobedient, unto every good work reprobate.
[6:40] And here's the response. But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine, that the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, and in patience, and aged women likewise, that you be in behavior as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given 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.
[7:10] Young men likewise exhort to be sober-minded, in all things showing thyself a pattern of good works, and doctrines showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that he that is of the contrary part, those that oppose it may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you.
[7:29] Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things, not answering again, not purloining, but showing off good fidelity, that they might adorn the doctrine of God, and our Savior, in all things.
[7:41] For the grace of God, that brings salvation, has appeared unto all men, teaching us that in eyeing ungodliness, and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world, looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing, of the great God, and our Savior, Jesus Christ.
[7:57] How to live in this present world. So those that I just gave a piece of paper to, and those that maybe I didn't give a piece of paper to, there's a lot of words in here, that we need to define, if they're given to us, how to live.
[8:09] As a kid you say, I just, I wish I was an adult, so nobody would tell me what to do, right? That's something you might have said as a kid. As an adult you're always saying, I wish somebody would tell me what I'm supposed to do, all right?
[8:20] You would like to have it. You would like somebody else to take the responsibility. The Bible is not burdensome. Following Jesus is not a heavy yoke, it's not a heavy burden. He gives us commandments, because He is our Creator.
[8:33] He knows how we should live. And so when the God of Heaven, gives us His eternal words, in His book, and He tells young women, how they should live, you should receive it as a gift from Him, and not as a burden.
[8:45] And young men, when the God of Heaven tells us how we should live, we should say thank you, and we should submit ourselves to it, and not see it as something that we want to put off in our lives. And so we thank God for it.
[8:56] I'm going to thank God for our passage, thank God for you being here tonight, and then we're going to look at this portion of Titus together. Heavenly Father, Father, we do thank you for the words of eternal life.
[9:08] These words have more weight and value than all the words that we could ever put together. All the weights of any person in this world, Lord, we are so blessed and thankful that we get to hold in our hands the eternal, inerrant, infallible, effectual, Word of God.
[9:25] And we want to say thank you. Father, as the song was sung, where else could we go? Tonight we come, we bend our knee, we submit to your Word, and we want our lives to reflect the Gospel.
[9:38] Father, as believers, we have great compassion on this world that does not know you. We relate with these people in Crete. We live in a society that does not know your Son. They do not know the Gospel.
[9:50] They're trying to find hope in things that will never provide hope for them. We want our lives to make a difference. We want our lives to demonstrate the Gospel. And you have given us a way that we can live in such a way that would reflect your grace.
[10:03] Lord, that's what we desire to do. We want to hear your Word and obey it. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. As we look at Titus, I want to help you see that this whole conversation about how you should live and young people that I gave a handout to, I'm going to give you some of these words like discreet and sober, and I want you to underline them in the handout.
[10:22] And I'm going to give you definitions for each one of them because these are things that should be applying to your life. As this morning, we heard about the older generation and those of us that aren't in that category. We got to say, when I get to that point, I want to be living that way.
[10:35] And that doesn't start when you get there. It starts now. And so those of you that are children, you're still in your parents' home and you're being raised. Someday you will be a young man. You'll be a young woman.
[10:46] You'll have families of your own, Lord willing. And you need to know what the Bible says about how you should live that. So you need to know what these words mean. The book of Philippians, we are told as believers that we should live blameless and harmless as the sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation among whom you shine as lights in the world.
[11:07] All throughout the New Testament, the Bible speaks about the contrast between the way that the world would live and it uses this present generation or this present time. In the book of Titus, here in Philippians, it talks about a crooked and perverse nation.
[11:20] That is always the backdrop for God's people. It's always been the case regardless of the time, regardless of the country. And what we should do is we should shine as diamonds against black velvet in that.
[11:32] And so we have a God-given task of sharing the gospel, demonstrating the gospel. And it all starts with the kind of people we are and not some type of technique. Our lives ought to be distinct.
[11:43] They should be different. In the godliness of amidst this crooked, perverse people, it gives us a platform in which we should hold fast the word of God. It doesn't mean we just hold on to it tightly. It means that our lives are living shaped by it.
[11:57] And so in Titus, it says it like this in 1.16, but that in their works, they deny them, deny him, that's God, but us, we speak things that show that we really know the truth.
[12:09] And the point of the passage is it's evangelistic. So that the young women and the way that they live their lives, it shows that the word of God is powerful and it shall not be blasphemed.
[12:20] I don't know what I think about church. I don't know what I think about the God of heaven, but I cannot deny that your life is different and that it's been changed. I cannot deny that you have been kind and been patient with me when I did not deserve it.
[12:34] That kind of language and thinking ought to be common among us. Our life gives testimony. Sound speech, Titus 2.8, young men, when everybody speaks poorly about young men today and men in general and they say negative things about us, it should not be so among God's people having no evil thing to say of you and that the doctrines of God are Savior in all things.
[12:57] Four times in these chapters here in Titus, we have our Savior always pointing back that Jesus Christ is our Savior, the one that has saved us. It's possible as a believer to know the truth and to not live it.
[13:11] In a one-of kids program on Thursday night, there's a big emphasis on learning Scripture. If I think going through Awana would have been, if I had a choice between going to Bible college and being raised in Awana, I'd hate to tell the Bible college, I think I might have chose Awana.
[13:27] All right? Hope they don't watch this. All right? But it's just at that young age. But it's not just enough to memorize the Scriptures, right? Who else knows the Scriptures? Even the devil knows the Scriptures.
[13:39] So in Awana, it's not about just memorizing Scriptures, it's about living our lives and being changed by it. The Bible tells us in James 1.22, which is on the sign when you leave our church, that you can be doers of the Word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
[13:55] If you're a hearer of the Word and not a doer, you're like a man beholding his natural face in a glass, for he beholdeth himself and goeth his way and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. So we look to God's Word and as we see it, we allow it to change our lives.
[14:11] And that demonstrates to this world the power of the Gospel. That Jesus, when we truly know and we truly believe that Jesus Christ died for us and that we were sinners, he rose again and he is our only means of salvation, it will change the way that you live.
[14:26] When? At any age. If you're young or if you're old. Or another category, if you're an employee, the way in which you would work. And so in the Bible, we see the proclamation and we see personal involvement in the lives of others.
[14:41] If you go through Matthew, the Revelation, and you look for how the Gospel goes forward, I think you see, I'll say primarily, but I think exclusively, you're going to see two different things. You're going to see Gospel proclamation like at the days of Pentecost where Peter stands up and he preaches the people, unbelieving people, he preaches the Gospel.
[15:02] And that's wonderful. I love it. When I was in college, I would preach on a street corner some. I don't do that anymore, but I respect that people do. And I think at different times and different circumstances, it could be quite effective.
[15:15] But it's a standing and preaching the Word of God. You see that in the book of Acts. You see that in the New Testament. The other thing that you see is that you capture the attention of individuals, that God has holy people.
[15:29] That's his primary New Testament evangelistic strategy. The proclamation of the Gospel and then the personal attention by God's people.
[15:40] 1 Peter 2.12 We need to have lives that are honest. Having your conversation, that's your lifestyle, honest among Gentiles, unbelieving people. So living a clean life before unbelieving, that you speak against, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, that they may by your good works, which you shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation, that they would testify that you have lived a holy and sincere life in front of them.
[16:09] I know many of your testimonies in here. I would think this would be true among this church and even higher quite possibly. Nine out of ten times people come to Christ is because somebody gave them a personal invitation.
[16:23] A personal invitation to have a conversation, a personal invitation to a Bible study, a personal invitation to some place where the Gospel was being proclaimed. We don't see in the New Testament anything outside of Gospel proclamation and then personal involvement.
[16:40] And even anything that we would do really boils down to that. As a church, we can gather for the edification of one another, to encourage, to study the Bible, or we can gather people here so the Gospel is proclaimed, or we gather people here so that you can have a personal ministry to those people and you can share the Gospel with them.
[16:59] And so Paul will break down here the different groups. And I've said old men, older men, old women, young men, younger, young, women, children, and then employees.
[17:11] If you weren't here in the morning service, we defined who are the old people. Why don't you point at them right now? Just kidding. All right, don't do that. And so we're talking about how do we decide? There isn't a number in the Bible, but what it appears to be, it's those that are at an age where they've already raised their children and their children are out of their home.
[17:28] And what I know from some of you is that you never finish raising your children even though they're out of your home. But we're thinking about a time where your children are out of your home. And I was talking to somebody after church and I just say, why is it that nobody wants to be in that category?
[17:41] And the reason is culture really honors young people and they don't honor older people. And it shouldn't be that way. You should not hesitate if you're in that category to be proud to be part of that.
[17:52] It is an honorable place to be. And so we see regarding the varying age groups that the gospel should be demonstrated in every different group. And so now we get to the group of young women and to young men which would be those that are in the middle section of their lives have children or maybe have children maybe not but their children are not yet grown.
[18:14] And this is a big portion of our church. And so we're going to let God's word speak and we are not going to change it. We are going to look into the mirror of his word and we're going to let it change us.
[18:26] Not God's people said? Amen. All right. I don't ask for a lot of amens to the sermons occasionally. All right. And so that one right there is we're going to look at these words and those that have the piece of paper you should underline them.
[18:37] First thing I want you to see and underline in verse number four is that you may teach the young women to be sober to love husbands to love their children. So if this is a command for the older women to teach the younger women then it is a command for younger women to be taught by the older generation.
[18:53] It has to go both ways. There's a command for one to teach there's another command for the other one to listen. So this moves the discussion from just being from edification and inside of our church buildings inside of a church service and it takes it into a living room.
[19:07] It takes it into a picnic. It takes it into the everyday part of our lives where there's private training and discipleship that should happen and should learn. The responsibility of teaching younger women is accomplished by the older women.
[19:21] That was his plan. That was God's plan for Titus. How are you going to get this truth to be lived out among all of your church? He would say, Titus, you need to encourage the older women to be involved in the work of discipleship to the younger ones.
[19:35] And here's a tendency that younger people have. We assume that we know everything. How many of you already knew I was going to say that, didn't you, right? You assume that we know everything. And this generation has got to be, this is the only one I've lived in, I haven't been at other ones, all right, but this generation has to be the worst about it because here's why.
[19:54] Because I remember asking my parents or my grandparents' questions and then they would tell me the answer and I had to assume that they were correct because there was no Google. We didn't have a library in my house.
[20:05] I just had to assume if they gave me the answer, that was the highest point of authority that I could go to and get an answer for it. But not anymore. You can just ask Google. You know, why do you need to ask your parents?
[20:16] Why do you need to ask anybody? You can just say, Siri, how many ounces are in a gallon, all right? Whatever the question is, you're not having to look to somebody else to learn.
[20:27] And so there's a natural breakdown in the time in which we live where there's not already conversations where children are looking to their parents as a form of teacher and that they are needed for help.
[20:39] They can do it on their own. And so when it comes to discipleship, it requires that we have to be teachable. There's an old African proverb that says, The youth can walk faster, but the elder knows the road.
[20:53] The youth can walk faster, but the elder knows the road. That's proverb and not Bible because I've walked with some older people and I cannot keep up with them, all right? Speed walking experts, all right?
[21:04] But the idea that we might be faster, but the older ones know the road. Verse 4, Advice now, what should be the kind of things that the older should teach the younger one? To teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, love their children, be discreet, chase keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.
[21:22] To the young women in our church, this is the first one that you can underline here, is the word sober. The age women are to be trained and by discipline, the young women are to think soundly and they are to think clearly.
[21:35] They should learn how to think about the things of this world. How do they process what's going on? How do they consider what's going on in the news? How do they consider what they're going to do? There's all kinds of influences.
[21:46] I remember when Stephanie and I were first married, some of the advice that she told me that she was given by the other ladies at the daycare and just how contrary that they were to the things that she had always been taught in the church.
[22:00] It's that you need people in your life that are helping you to think clearly. And that means that the ladies in this church, they need to know the Bible. Not just me, not just people that teach the book of Revelation for seven years in their life group, alright?
[22:15] Not just those that teach in the VBI, but everybody. And women need to know the Bible. I might even go as far to say especially women need to know the Bible because there's such a great need for Bible teaching.
[22:29] Continue studying. There's opportunities in our church like on Tuesday night. There's courses that you can take online. There's probably no generation that's ever had access to more free online courses and you can find good books and good people and you yourself can have in-depth Bible studies.
[22:45] Bible studies do not have to always be facing the community to say we're open to bring people in. They can be among mature believers in here where you say you want to know what the Word of God has to say. You can study things about counseling and how to help people.
[22:58] But you should be lifelong students of God's Word. Brother John and I went to Kenya many years ago and there's two things that three factors that I saw. Brother Steerwald got to stay there long enough that God blessed with hundreds of churches and there's about three pivotal moments in his life and two of them seem to have to do with his wife.
[23:14] One of them was he was about to leave the field and he came home and he was encouraged by a friend and he went back for another term. Another one was his wife was teaching children's ministry for about 10 or 15 years and all those kids began to grow up and as they grew they began to fill the churches and they became solid Bible teaching churches.
[23:33] But then the third one was Miss Phyllis started going to her husband and said give me those Bible studies that you're teaching to the men because the women in our church are just getting thrown to and fro by the false teaching that is available and she began teaching the ladies the word of God and it changed homes which changed churches which changed a country.
[23:53] It really did. It changed part of a city there in Elder Rip is incredible. So the first one is to be sober to think clearly about the things of this world by being able to see the teaching of God's word clearly.
[24:04] It means you have to have a firm grasp on the word of God. To love your husbands and all husbands said amen. All right? To love your husbands. Some of us are more lovable than others. Ain't that right Matt?
[24:14] Some of us are more lovable than others. Saw Greg up here being all cheesy talking about how much he loves his wife you know up here flirting with his wife from the pulpit how he loves his in-laws all right? Greg's real lovable but sometimes I'm going to bring I'm going to admit we're not always lovable and I'm glad there's no asterisk beside this verse right here all right?
[24:34] But it's a command to love your husbands and so ladies need to be taught how to affectionately love their husbands a woman's human priority is her husband and she must be taught how to love him properly marriage does not automatically make a person less selfish or have the right priorities these are things that have to be learned Bible says that there's things that we take off and we put on these are things that we must take off and we must put on selfishness is one of those areas here and so to love your husbands and that's something that can be taught and should be taught the next one here is to love their children loving one's husbands and one's children is a priority of a young wife's life her desires activities and schedule should reflect such noble priorities her life should never characterize neglectfulness for either of these it is an honorable thing to be a wife and to be a mother one of the most challenging verses in the scripture and I think why did I put it in my notes
[25:34] I could have just not went there right I'm going to give you one of the most challenging passages in this regard it's 1st Timothy chapter number 2 verse 14 and 15 I'm going to give a second for it to be on the screen because I want you to follow along I'm going to give you four possible understandings of it and tell you why I believe which one that it is and so and Adam was not deceived but the woman being deceived was in the transgression alright and so they were one flesh there's both a responsibility but Eve was first to eat of the fruit that's what we're referring to there in the garden is that Eve saw the fruit she saw that it was good to eat her temptation for the fruit her feeling for the fruit was not outweighed by the word of God that's where sin always starts will my feelings be greater than the truth of God's word that's why doubting the God's word will allow your emotions to become more powerful in your life so that was a question then verse 15 it says notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith and in charity and holiness with sobriety that's the verse that's the problem here alright not for you for me
[26:40] I'm the one up here right now alright and so verse number 15 says notwithstanding shall be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety some of you are taking a double take at this verse and saying I did not know that was there now what is he going to say alright first of all here's one option preserved could be physically meaning that even though childbearing will be difficult and dangerous process of childbirth it doesn't fit that is one explanation that she will not she will be saved through her childbirth God will preserve her even though that is one of the effects of the fall of man is pain and childbearing and I shared with you how when Stephanie was having Thatcher and she was in so much pain I told her it was wonderful because it's just God's word being true and this is what God's word said would happen it did not help her or help me to say that alright but this doesn't fit here because it says that you must continue in faith and charity and holiness and people have children that don't continue in those things unbelieving people have children have healthy deliveries and so that doesn't work preserved from the loss of meaningful role in the family that she had lost in position and being deceived and now she's lost her meaningful role in the family thirdly saved through the ultimate childbirth of Jesus Christ the Savior an indirect reference to Genesis 3.15 which is to say that even though
[28:05] Eve had sinned she would be the mother of all living and that from her would come Jesus Christ some 4,000 years later and so salvation would come from her fourth they would be kept from corruption of society by being at home raising children that one preaches I don't know that it's correct but they would be saved from all the distractions of life because they would be focusing on their role of childbearing and raising children so this is what I would say that the passage says is that a woman will find her greatest satisfaction and meaning in life not in seeking the position or the role of a male but in fulfilling God's design for her as a wife and mother with all faith love and holiness which is proper and so it's a wonderful thing that God has given it is an honorable thing that God has given women here to live out their lives with faith charity and holiness it brings incredible meaning to their lives they have an important role a significant role in our society and among our families and so to love their children that is what the older women are to teach the younger ones the next one here you can underline is discreet that means self-controlled in one's thinking and passions self-controlled social media makes that so much more challenging social media is like a building with a bunch of rooms in it where everybody's having any kind of conversation they want and you can walk in at any time scream whatever you want to say and then walk to another room alright there's just nothing like it in history there's nothing like it and it has caused a breakdown in being discreet it's caused a breakdown in finding when is the appropriate time to talk about this when should I share how should I process what I'm thinking
[29:49] I should do that with vulnerability before the Lord I should do that among other believers I should not be processing my thoughts online chaste purity is an essential character for all Christians including young women this is an inner quality James says in James 3 17 but the wisdom that is from above is first pure peaceable gentle and easy to be entreated full of mercy and good fruits without partiality without hypocrisy and then it goes on to say in 1 Peter 3 2 while they behold your chaste conversations coupled with fear and so this purity starts as something in the innermost part of you that inner man or that inner woman and so we must recognize this truth to think on things that are pure so that it will come out in our way of living you know whatever is in your heart is going to come out in your mouth whatever is in your heart is going to come out in your way of living 1 John 3 3 and every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure and so it starts with on the inner quality of purity and then it demonstrates himself it doesn't start outward and work its way in it starts on the inside and it works its way out
[31:02] I'd like to give you two definitions for a word that isn't used very often these days but is very appropriate for this type of conversation is the word modesty here's a good definition I have a slide for you you can follow along back there but the word modesty here it's an inner attitude of the heart motivated by a love for God that seeks his glory through purity and humility it often reveals itself in words actions expressions and clothing it's an inner attitude of the heart motivated by love that seeks God's glory through purity and humility find 1 Timothy it said that the older women were those that weren't so caught up in drawing attention to them to themselves but they were people that were humble and that were involved in service to others and so just in contrast here a definition of immodesty it's an attitude of the heart that expresses itself with inappropriate words actions expressions and of clothes that are flirtatious manipulative revealing or suggestive or sensuality or pride and so we want to be people that have characteristics that are pleasing unto the Lord the next one here keepers at home one who guards their home one translation says a mama bear no it doesn't say that alright that would be a pretty whack translation alright keepers of home and so they guard their home and so by implication the young Christian wife is one that is inclined toward these things making home a priority provides an effective means by which to avoid unwise time wasting gossiping busy body 1 Timothy 5 13 and with all they learned to be idle wandering about from house to house this is what you're not supposed to be doing ladies being idle wandering from house to house not only idle but taddlers also and busy bodies speaking things they ought not so I don't think that would be true of the ladies in here but I think every woman in here could admit that they know a group of people that are like that there's always been people no matter what age you are and that's what they give themselves to just always being involved in somebody else's business because they have not taken ownership and made priority the things in which
[33:14] God has given them and then it says good general term connoting what is beneficial what is Christ honoring life it's a life that's beneficial not only to the Lord but to one others and to ourselves obedient to their husbands joyfully young women need to be taught to recognize and to operate within the biblical structure of the home this is what older women are given to help teach younger women husbands bear the governmental rule of their home and so much bear a greater responsibility James 3 1 my brethren be not many masters known that we shall receive the greater condemnation we have a responsibility to lead in a way that is honoring to God I am quite aware that this portion of scripture is quite counter cultural it's not oppressive it is not demeaning and if it's received that way it's either presented wrong by me or received wrong by you because the word of God would never do that the word of God has great honor for the role of women in our church and society but it does provide a distinction and it does give a responsibility to men to lead it does give a responsibility and a priority of the life of women to provide for their children and to care for their husbands now to the young men alright not much time here we'll see what we have here be sober minded showing yourself a pattern good work showing incorruptness verse number six and eight sober minded we've talked about before keep in mind that Titus himself is young a pattern which means literally something that is stamped it's an impression like a dye that is made the same word is used when we think about putting a print into something here and so the application here is that we should live lives that could be followed that set an example that people could follow us as we follow
[35:03] Christ and Paul insisted Timothy need to be an example even though as a young man in areas of conversation his word charity spirit and faith and so in all things it says it simply do not have the luxury just to pick and choose your time of influence but it says in all things at the beginning of verse seven and so we must assume that we're constantly being watched of course we're always being watched because we're always underneath God watching us but we ought to be considering that we're always being watched by others and remember that we're people that more are likely to embrace what we do than what we say we're teaching by our example so in all things we show a pattern of good works showing that self a pattern of good works is a mentor's life on display that should showcase the life of biblical priorities nobody should wonder what we are about nobody should wonder what we are really about when somebody says what is your dad what is your husband what is he about man there should be no doubt what we are about we should be fully given to wanting to honor
[36:05] God our behavior should not betray us not just merely knowing it not just teaching it but living it out and so Jesus died for us that we become a peculiar people zealous of good works and so the Bible tells us being zealous of good works we are created in Christ Jesus unto good works in 1st Timothy women should be known for their good works rather than their outward apparel widows in the church in 1st Timothy 5 says that a church should support but they should be noted for the good works that they do pastors be noted for their good works some of them you know this side of heaven and some on the other 1st Timothy 5 24 those that are rich in the world would understand that true wealth involves not dollar signs but good works 1st Timothy 6 17 through 19 we ought to be people young old men and women that are marked by good works and living a life that is pleasing to the Lord so important is this topic good works that Paul not only he mentions it here but he ends in chapter 3 verse number 8 he ends his books here with challenging those that he was with he would say this is a faithful saying these things that
[37:10] I should affirm constantly that which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works these things are good and profitable unto men that's what they were doing when Paul comes into the church at Antioch he says there should be many godly friendships between multiple generations that are provoking us to live lives that demonstrate his goodness and so conclusion here before we pray Lord willing we will look at how the grace of God should be lived out in the last category the fifth one by those that are employed how it should be in the workplace we'll leave that out for another time but there's plenty for us to reflect on tonight so let's make a couple decisions tonight before we leave ask the Holy Spirit to show you in your life where the gospel is not being shown as we said as a kid we can't wait until nobody can tell us what to do as a
[38:11] Christian adult you're saying I want somebody to tell me what to do if the word of God will outline how I should live to submit myself to it tonight there's been a list of areas in our lives where we can ask ourselves am I living in joyful submission to God's word allow time to evaluate consider how you can help provoke others to good works and we have a program for entry level believers and for advanced level believers but many of us live our lives in what I would call the messy middle you've been saved for many years conversations that take place by being around people that want to talk about God's word not just the ministry of the word in the pulpit not just the ministry that you'd have yourself every day in God's word but there ought to be a relationship with you and other people inside of this church where you're admonishing each other and encouraging each other to live in a way that is honoring to the Lord and so
[39:12] I encourage you from this morning to now to make those type of decisions those that would be marked as old men or old women based on what the Bible said could I ask you to consider if you would find a way to give some more of your time throughout the week could you set some time to say I want to be intentional and mentoring and investing Pastor Callan and his wife today I went to lunch with them and I said will you drive me I hopped in the car they went from being friends to being like parents like real quick in my life because I prayed and I asked God I shared with the deacons that I wanted older couples in my life I want to have those type of relationships I desire those if you're older in here and you don't think that that's what the younger generation want I want to tell you that's not the case if you would make time for us we would gladly take it to the younger generation in here would you consider that you need more conversations than just being influenced by what's on television or radio or just from your peers you need some people that have walked with
[40:22] God longer than you who are the people most qualified to teach us about God those that have walked with him the longest you should be intentional about making friendships with older people in your life and it is a challenge it's a challenge that we have that's why this morning young people in here the kids that came up earlier I want to let you know what happened in the morning service many of us came forward and many of us in our seat we prayed and said God would you allow us to have more people of the older generation in our church because we value them and we treasure them in our lives some of you have that and you should be grateful for it you should take time this week and you should express your gratitude culture is trying to push older generation out of the way to put them aside and not think about them but that's not true of God's people and let's be people that provoke one another to good works Heavenly Father thank you for your word I thank you for how it's clear Lord I thank you for how when I lay my life down beside this word you work in my heart and you show me my great need
[41:25] I want the gospel to be known among the young people in this church and those that I come in the contact with in this community and that will not be done Lord just by me sharing the gospel in some persuasive manner if I do not have a life Lord of integrity that demonstrates who you are so Father I pray the night for my brothers and sisters in here that we pray amen