Welcome to On the Way where we walk through Scripture in episodes that are short enough that you can listen to them on the way to your destination and deep enough to help you on the way to becoming who God created you to be. We are being sanctified. We have not yet reached perfection. We are not yet in Heaven, but we are "on the way."

 

Today we're continuing a journey through the book of Titus in Titus 2:1-10. In chapter one, Titus was instructed to find new leaders for the church in Crete.

 

Then in chapter two Titus is taught how to teach people to live Godly lives, but instead of giving general instructions for the whole church, Paul gave specific instructions to five groups of people: older men, older women, young women, young men, and slaves. It's an effective form of teaching because it allows people to focus on the teaching that is most applicable to them. Have you ever noticed that when you're listening to convicting teaching you're tempted to focus on the stuff you're good at and ignore teaching about the things you're not good at. It's a defense mechanism, and this is where wisdom kicks in. Wisdom teaches us to embrace correction, to seek advice, and even to love discipline. Proverbs 12:1 says, "To learn, you must love discipline; it is stupid to hate correction."

 

That's a primary benefit of the sanctification process. As we grow in relationship with God, the conviction and direction of the Holy Spirit create sanctifying pathways and growth opportunities. When the Holy Spirit is sanctifying us, it's not so much about trying harder as it is about allowing Him to form us. In this passage, Paul is cooperating with the Holy Spirit to delivered catered instruction to the people who need to hear it. We call this partnership of Paul and the Holy Spirit dual authorship, and that is how our Bible, our library of inspired books was written. It was a cooperation of God and man.

 

Ok, let's stop for a minute to talk about sanctification. What is it? I Thessalonians 5:23 says, "May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." John Wesley said that salvation includes two gifts of grace: justification and sanctification. Let me say that again. Salvation includes two gifts of grace: justification and sanctification. When we call ourselves Christians but don't only actually become disciples of Jesus Christ, we accept the first gift of grace, justification, and reject the second gift of grace, sanctification. We accept the justification that comes when our sins are forgiven, but we rejected the sanctification that would make us the people God created us to be. And when we reject sanctification, we become impotent Christians, but when we allow the Holy Spirit to sanctify us, we become people who are more obedient to Him AND more useful to Him. Don't accept justification and reject the Holy Spirit's sanctification.

 

Ok, let's look at the these individual groups that Paul gave instructions to. He started with older men. Speaking of the Holy Spirit, we see that Paul's instructions to older men are largely focused on the fruit of the spirit. Guys, have you ever noticed that naturally, as we get older, we get angry. It’s true that as we get older we can become more wise, but that is not the default. Age can also make us more cynical as we are disappointed by more and more people. Age can make us more pessimistic as we see failure time and time again. Age can remove our curiosity, as we begin to think we know more than we do. Age can remove our imagination as we think we have seen everything there is to see. Age can make us angry, as we are repeatedly hurt. Age can make us skeptics, as we I lied to again and again. This is why Christ command us to be childlike, not childish, but childlike. We often talk about childlike faith, but did you know the Bible never talks about childlike faith? We added that. Jesus actually said: “I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.” (‭‭Luke‬ ‭18:17‬) When we use the phrase “childlike faith” we are dumbing down what Jesus said, and the list of attributes that Paul gave to older men was actually a list of attributes you rarely see in children. He told them to have self-control, to earn respect, to be loving, to learn sound doctrine, to be patient, and to be wise. So here's the point. Wisdom can reverse the natural temptations of age. Age can make you wise, or it can make you an angry, cynical old man. The Holy Spirit's sanctifying work produces the first.

 

Then Paul wrote to older women. He pointed out their temptations to gossip, to isolate, and to drink too much wine. I hope that doesn't describes any older women you know, but I'm guessing it does. Again, it's tailored instructions for specific groups of people. Then he gives the older women some instructions concerning young women. He tells them to pass their wisdom on to the next generation. This is a discipleship command. We've talked about the importance of being a disciple, but this is about having disciples. The older women are told to teach the younger women to be Proverbs 31 women. It's about sacrificing for and working hard for your family. It's about purity and respect, wisdom and modeling goodness.

 

Then Paul started talking about the young men, but all he told Titus to tell them was to live wisely. Instead of giving them a list of instructions, Paul told Titus to set an example for the young men. Apparently, Paul thought the best way to teach young men is to set an example. Young men must not be good listeners.

 

I love verse 8. It says, "Teach the truth so that your teaching can’t be criticized. Then those who oppose us will be ashamed and have nothing bad to say about us." We live in a generation of Googlers, and teachers who give false information will be quickly found out. We are constantly being fact checked. I'm going to say something that sounds judgmental, but it seems so obviously true to me that I feel the need to say it. Baby boomers and older generations have a tendency to talk confidently about topics that they actually know very little about. That's largely because in the past it was incredibly difficult to know everything there isn't to know about a topic. They had to operate with minimal information because the information was not available or difficult to access. That's not true any more. As Millennials started fact checking their parents, they stopped trusting them, and that has caused an incredible distrust of institutions. To us, it seems like we're always being lied to and taken advantage of. It's a major reason why the church is having such a hard time reaching Millennials and Generation Z. All the clergy scandals, sex scandals and coverups, and pastors with terrible theology have pushed them away. They don't trust institutions, especially dishonest institutions. How would you feel if you were told you should spend tens of thousands of dollars on a college degree that wouldn't actually get you a job. So what can the church do to gain the trust of Millennials and Generation Z? It's going to start with accurately representing Biblical truth. We have no reason to guess, to lie, or to add to Scripture. We have been given a letter from God Himself that actually contains absolute truth. The postmodern idea that there is not true has been debunked, and the search for truth is on. For Christians, the search is done. It is now our responsibility to accurately convey that truth, AND live according to its teachings. When we fully embrace Biblical truth by teaching it accurately and obey it, we remove the most common accusations of Christians, that we are judgmental and hypocritical.

 

Then in verse 9, Paul talked to slaves. This one is hard for us because we are so disconnected from the culture that they lived in, but when you look at the advice that Paul gave to the slaves, you see that he wasn't condoning slavery but helping slaves live better lives while they were slaves. When he quoted Epimenides in chapter one, he wasn't condoning Epimenides' worship of Zeus, but he was appealing to Epimenides as an authority on the Cretans. Here's what he said to the slaves: "9 Slaves must always obey their masters and do their best to please them. They must not talk back 10 or steal, but must show themselves to be entirely trustworthy and good. Then they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive in every way." First, not all slaves in this time were forced to be slaves. Some people chose that life because it was better than the starving lifestyle they would have without it. Second, a slave who obeys their master and does their best to please them is probably going to have less trouble than a rebel slave. I'm sure it would be very tempting to steal from and lie to a slave master, but that's not going to solve any problems. Third, when Paul teaches slaves how to make the teaching of God attractive, he's pointing out that Christians slaves are in a unique position to demonstrate servant leadership. Like Joseph in Potiphar's house and in prison, freedom is not a requirement for missional success. God can use anyone, including people in very low places.

 

And that's the first part of the second chapter of the book of Titus.

 

If you're getting together with a group to discuss this episode, we've include some discussion questions in the show notes, and if you have time, spend a few moments in prayer before your gathering. Ask God to use these passage to form you into the person He created you to be.

 

Thank you for joining me for this episode of On The Way. Next week we’re going to go through Titus 2:11-15. We get to talk about grace. Here are the discussion question for this episode: