Marks of a Healthy Congregation

Titus • Sermon • Submitted 5 years ago • Presented 5 years ago • 39:32

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Healthy Bible teaching produces fruit in the lives of Christians. A true church is comprised of people who are born again, who are believers and submit to Jesus Christ at their Lord and Savior. We saw last week that a healthy Biblical community requires healthy leadership who will hold fast to the faith and teach correctly the word of truth. Today we are going to see that healthy teaching produces healthy living.

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Marks of a Healthy Congregation

As we are turning to Titus 2 I want to remind you of this truth.

Healthy Bible teaching produces the fruit of godly living in the lives of Christians. A true church is comprised of people who are born again, who are believers and submit to Jesus Christ at their Lord and Savior. We saw last week that a healthy Biblical community requires healthy leadership who will hold fast to the faith and teach correctly the word of truth. Today we are going to see that healthy teaching produces healthy living.

Every aspect of your life must reflect the truth of the gospel. All our lives as believers are to represent a life commited to the truth that we believe. (explain more)

What I love about this passage is how practical it is. Godly living is explained for people of every stage of life. Older men, older women, younger woman, younger men, pastors and employees are all addressed here.

Let us read Titus 2:1-10

English Standard Version Chapter 2

2:1 But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine.

2 Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness.

3 Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good,

4 and so train the young women to love their husbands and children,

5 to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.

6 Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled.

7 Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity,

8 and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us.

9 Bondservants are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative,

10 not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.

(Prayer)

Read vs 1 again, this is a transition statement, Paul just finished his instructions to Titus about the dangers of legalists and false teachers attacking the flock of God and he told Titus to silence them, now he tell Titus that he must teach, that is keep speaking about the things that reflect sound or healthy doctrine. The english word accords with or pertains to seems to emphasize the result of sound teaching. Healthy teaching results in godly living. Titus is instructed to teach each group of people to live lives that honor their confession of faith in Jesus. I imagine that the churches in Crete were suffering from the false teaching that had been taught previously and so once healthy leaders/elders were established the next step is to see life change in the congregation.

Have you ever struggled to understand the Bible? You read things in Scripture and say man thats great but what do I do with this? This passage front loads practical application for every common member of a congregation.

I want to front load a bit of application here, each of these groups are necessary in a healthy community, a biblical community has older men, women, and younger generations, it is multigenerational, in order for members of the body of Christ to fulfill their God given design there has to be multiple generations in a congregation. Now there are circumstances where this is not possible, but the church is robbed of some of its dignity if members are not able to full-fill some of the functions listed in here. Such as older women teaching younger women, men teaching other men. Much of what is described here is relational and so we only grow in the context of community, both in and out of Church. If we believe that the Church is God’s vehicle to effect change in this world then our behavior is a reflection of His Bride the church. If we act contrary to God’s desired plan what does this say to the world?

With this fixed in our mind let us jump into exploring this text.

Let’s explore the specifics given to each group of people.

A Word to Older Men

Read (vs 2)

Older men are addressed here and in the context of the text the emphasis is on the age and maturity not the office of elder. Yet even if this were talking about the office of elder, this behavior is not restricted to only him and is beneficial to all men.

First notice older men are to be taught, this can be difficult as we age the older we get the tendency is to dismiss the teaching of someone younger. But for an older man to learn the teacher is not as important as the substance, what is being taught is sound doctrine, an older man should be willing to learn SOUND Doctrine from a younger man so long as it is sound doctrine.

There are three descriptors given to an older man, he must be

Sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled. Under self-controlled are three descriptors of what it means. Let’s take each one in turn.

-Sober-minded: Other versions will translate this word as temperate(NASB), Self-controlled(CSB)often this term us used to mean moderate or free from excess passions or rashness, restrained in conduct. What does this look like practically?

-Dignified: Another version uses the term worthy of respect, or perhaps we could say respectable in behavior. The teaching of the Gospel drives us to live lives that are worthy of respect.

-Self-controlled: This is a different word from Sober-minded even though similar connotations it is also used for younger women and younger men. This is likely why Paul adds three examples as to what Self-controlled looks like. To be sound in faith, love and endurance requires men to believe in the right way, to love in the right way and to endure in the right way. There is plenty for us to chew on here. A self-controlled older man is to be self-controlled in his faith, he should desire healthy teaching, pure teaching, the right teaching, which should lead to his emotions embracing the truth that he believes, loving what is good and rejecting the bad. Causing him to choose to endure struggles and pain for the sake of his belief and love, not taking the easy wrong over the hard right.

An older man who is in a healthy biblical community should display these characteristics.

(Transition) After older men Paul turns to Older Women, an integral member in every church is its older women, truly a gift to the church, lets see what Titus is supposed to teach older women.

A Word to Older Women

(Read vs 3)

The word likewise here is helpful because it is to remind us that all the aspects of older men are also required of women. Older women just like older men are to be godly examples and then Paul lists the very specific examples.

-Reverent in behavior: In the same way that older men are to live lives reflective of the truth that is taught, so also are older women to live “holy lives.” Older women are to be priestly in their behavior, Older women are to treat others as a priest would while performing their most holy tasks. Paul then lists two common sins that are not reflective of this holy living. Slandering and addiction to wine.

-Not slanderers: A slander is someone who tries to verbally assassinate someones character. The malevolent attempt to hurt others with their words. This is obviously something that is not in keeping with a holy lifestyle. In fact this term for slander is one of the names used to describe the Devil, diabolos. Satan is the ultimate slanderer, he showed his true colors in the garden of Eden when he slandered God’s intentions with the forbidden fruit. Slandering is the devils game and anyone who plays it will get burnt, it is not something befitting holy women.

-not slaves to wine, is the second aspect of what isn't befitting an older woman. It must be likely that in Paul’s day an older woman who works at home must have had an extraordinary temptation and access to wine and so must have been an issue for women of that time. The imagery here is very vivid, a slave to wine, what too much wine and drink can do to a person is it chains them to the bottle. It truly is a form of slavery, addiction in its various forms ultimately enslaves us to do its own bidding. But God’s grace is offered to us and there is a freedom from slavery in Jesus Christ.

While older women are to be these exemplary examples because of the Gospel they also have a vital role in the church,

-they are to teach what is good, which trains younger women. The church needs women of the Bible, we need women who are consumate students of God’s Word.

A Word to Younger Women

(read vs 4 and 5)

Younger women are to seek out older women to teach them what is good. The typical family situation of that day is that most younger women would be married there was very little singleness for young women and so Paul is directing this to the majority of younger women, this does not mean he doesn’t have anything to say to single women because the example of older women as well as being employees applies to us all, but Paul has in mind the young woman who is married because he says that Older women are to teach younger woman

To love their husbands and children, that is to be husband-lovers and children-lovers the way this is done is by being self-controlled and pure or prudent. That is the example of older holy women is to be followed in the younger women so that they can love their kids and husbands well.

This was a particularly interesting section of Scripture to study, maybe this is because it seems at odds with our culture today, the two that stand out to me are Working in the home and Submissive to their own husband, I want to slow down here and do a little closer look at what is the mind of God in this passage.

-working in the home: The word here can be translated as busy at home, or (homemaking adj. — characterized by applying oneself diligently to caring for one’s house and household; especially understood as if a trade or vocation.) Does this mean that wives are to only be homemakers? That would fly in the face of the noble woman characterized in Proverbs 31. The noble wife in Prov 31 considers a field and buys it, she helps in the providing of income. What this is implying is that a wife should be concerned with the caring for and keeping of the household, she cares for the home, either as her sole occupation or in addition to her other efforts in getting income. I can tell you on a personal level our home suffers without my wife being in town. All the small details that I easily overlook and fail to consider she had always managed. A younger woman is to be characterized by her love for her family through her efforts in the home.

-kindness I think is self explanatory, the teachings of the gospel should drive us to be kind to one-another.

-Now let us look at the other countercultural term used her “submissive to their OWN husbands” Submission has become a dirty word in our society, also translated “subject to.” What are we being taught here?

First, a wife is to be subject to her OWN husband, that is she is not submissive to all men, but only her husband, one man.

Second, Paul did not say, “Men subject your wives to yourself” or “compel your wife to submit” In the Christian home, Submission is given by the wife, not taken by the man.” Paul could have easily written it as men compel your wives to submit to you, because that was the typical culture of the time. But he didn't.

So what does it mean? It means that there is a certain authority for the home that God has placed on the man, the man is to lead his home and a women is given the opportunity to submit to this leadership as a picture of healthy Gospel teaching. Ephesians 5 really fleshes this out for us and is a place that we should really explore in more depth. But for today we need to remember that Submission is the wife’s to give not for the husband to take. If your wife is not following your leadership in the home you need to see what you are doing to cause her to not want to follow you.

Now we move to the next group, younger men.

A Word to Younger Men

(Read vs 6)

I love how Paul does not waste words. All the previous stuff teach that to young men, but in addition to that encourage them, urge them, help them to be self controlled. Honestly, this may be one of the most needed areas of training and teaching for young men. Young men are prone to excess, youth tends to be driven by enthusiasm and many restraints are thrown off. Healthy teaching of the Gospel should harness that youthful exuberance and focus it to the mission of the Church. The method used is not like that of a boss or disciplinarian, but that of a coach, a coach who takes a bunch of wild boys and focuses them into a powerful football team, a coach that places his hand on the back of an athlete and says get in there I know you can do this. The role of an encourager in the life of young men is not to be discounted.

A Word to Leaders

(Read vs 7-8)

Here is Paul’s specific guidance to Titus which really is applicable to all of us in leadership. The short of this section is basically “practice what you preach.” Paul tells Titus that he is to be a model of good works in his teaching by three primary areas or ways. Integrity, dignity, and sound speech.

-Integrity: carries a meaning of pure teaching, a leader has to teach the fullness of God’s Word with integrity, not adding to or taking away or mixing any error into it.

-Dignity: Along with teaching with Integrity, Titus is to teach with dignity or the latin word Gravitas, there needs to be a seriousness, a weight to the pure teaching of God’s word. We as leaders need to model the right handling of God’s Word. James 3:1 is a warning that keeps me up at night and forces me to a greater carefullness in my study of God’s Word. “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.” James 3:1.

-The third area to be a model of good works is “sound in speech.” Titus must speak healthy words, his teaching must be uncorrupted and correct. The words that come out of our mouth whether in teaching, preaching, or counseling must be sound and healthy not careless and bad.

A Word to Bond-Servants

(read vs 9-10)

In our context we do not have bondservants like they did during New Testament times. Bond Servants or slaves in the New Testament could cover anything from men and women captured in battle by the Romans, or it could be people that were in severe debt that would sell themselves to a family in order to pay off their obligations. Still others would place themselves as a slave in a prominite family in hopes of building up their own name as a skilled teacher or some other task, once they serve a period of time they would buy their freedom keeping their new found position or popularity. So the bond-servant or slave had many things in common for us as employees today. In the past I have likened it to Military service.

Illustration: Poor kid who sees a soldier home on leave.

What does the Apostle Paul tell us how to live as Christians under the employment of someone else. He arranges this commands in a chiastic device. Giving the positive and the counter negative.

-Submissive: This is the same word as mentioned for younger women, that is submit to the authority of your boss.

-Well-pleasing-not argumentative: A christian employee should seek to be pleasant in his work, not seeking not cause arguments or stir conflict.

-Not pilfering-showing all good faith: Not stealing from your place of work but being completely trustworthy.

Christian witness depends on Christian conduct in their workplace.

This concludes the instructions to each type of member in a church for this passage. If you were paying attention we skipped a few parts, I call it the “So that” sections, or probably better the why sections.

The Bride of Christ (the result)

We are going to go in reverse order starting at vs 10 and heading back up the passage to understand the impact that these marks of a healthy congregation has on others.

(Vs 10) So that they may adorn the doctrine of God our savior.

(Illustration) Think back to your wedding day for those of you that are married, or consider the most beautiful marriage you have been to for those of you who are not married.

Now consider this picture in Revelation Bride of Christ turn to Rev 21:2, her adornments do not add value to her only enhance her beauty, nothing intrinsically outside the object of beauty.

Our conduct as Christians should flow from our relationship to Jesus and the right teaching of His word. We don’t make ourselves worthy of right standing before God. But the way we act reflects on Christ. The way you behave at work reflects on the bride of Christ. The church. When Christians live as we ought we show how valuable the Word of God is to the world.

(vs 8) So that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say

The way Christian leaders teach and speak is being watched by the world. In an age of social media and smartphones anything we say can be captured and published for the world to see. If we model Christ’s teachings any opponent that seeks to say something evil about us will be put to shame, maybe not in this life but when we stand before Christ in judgment. However if we speak and teach without integrity, dignity or sound speech the world is justified in their condemnation of us.

(vs 5) So that the word of God may not be reviled/blasphemed

When we fail to live out our God given roles in marriage and at home, the word of God is likely to be considered less than right, the word is blasphemed considered nothing but mere suggestions. This indicates that if we take the teaching of God as mere suggestions rather than the very Word of God we allow it to be blasphemed by those on the outside looking in.

Conclusion

The Church is the bride of Christ and is on mission to be a light in this broken and fractured world. As a small beacon in a city we are to be a light to those around us. I would like you to pray with me about how we can impact this neighborhood for Jesus Christ. How can we be the example of good deeds that Chapter 3 will talk about. Your assignment has been to identify one person to pray for, to share the gospel with and to try to disciple. I know what I am asking is uncomfortable and challenging. But if we are to live our lives as a testimony to what Jesus has done then we have to get uncomfortable.

So if you haven’t prayed for someone start today! If you haven’t invited someone to church, or to your home or to coffee start this week! If you need resources or help let me know, an easy way to start is to invite someone to read the book of Titus, and just as I have been going through it systematically with you, do the same thing one on one.

Next week we will see how the gospel causes us to live godly lives. Let us pray.