"But as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine."
There are plenty of men in the pulpits today, who are teaching error and therefore, plague the church with weakness and disease. The pestilence of sin is the result of their useless verbiage. They are of no benefit to the church, in fact, they bring harm upon the people of God. They are adokimos is the word, meaning they are not standing the test, they are not approved, they are tested and found to be useless. I believe that every pastor, every church leader who is responsible for the task of preaching the Word of God, needs to be useful and valuable to the church by speaking the truth and sound doctrine. They must always be speaking the things which are properly associated with sound doctrine.
In other words, you cannot just fill people's head with theology! You must be useful in teaching the behavior that is associated with sound doctrine. That's the point. You cannot simply preach theology without, at least to some degree, enforce the behaviors that is consistent, that go along with teaching sound doctrine. You have to instruct people on the application associated with the Word of God. We cannot afford to become intimidated, we cannot slow down, we cannot deviate from God's Word. We continue to teach sound doctrine, regardless of the resistance that we might face.
As the Apostle Paul told Timothy in II Timothy chapter 4:2-5, "preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." That's the responsibility, that's the calling!
Let us bow our heads in prayer.
Heavenly Father,
Father, Thank You for this much needed Word for us today. We pray that as we study the imperative section of Your Word, that we would take hold on the heart of
this chapter and therefore, we would be ready to submit to its teaching. It is to that end, we pray in every life,
Lord, in order that we might adorn the teaching about Your saving power,
in order that we might silence the mouths of every critic of true Christianity, Lord, let us never bring reproach upon Your Word. There is so much is at stake in the church, for eternal souls.
Father, I pray that You would help us to live holy lives.
That we would always have the boldness and courage to speak healthy doctrine, that by Your Holy Spirit, that we may continue to live healthy Christian lives,
and that You would be glorified in and through us, so
that our testimony can be the motivation for others to embrace the Living Savior, Your Son, Jesus Christ.
Father, it is in His name. we pray
Amen
Today's Message: The Art of Aging Well
Today, as we open God's Word, we are continuing in our study of the Book of Titus, we are now in chapter 2. Here, we see that the Apostle Paul turns his teaching from pastors to people, from elders to everyone, and from leadership to laity. And, even more specifically, we discover Paul’s passion is for people to live out the transforming
power of the gospel and not to look like the same old bunch of
believers.
In verse 1, Paul continues in his instruction concerning what must be done, to ensure a healthy community of Christian believers. He tells Titus "But as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine." He says that in contrast to what the false teachers were promulgating, Titus was to teach truth. In the Greek, it literally reads, "But you however..." Here, Paul is showing the contrast between what the false teachers were doing and what Titus was to do.
I find it interesting, that Paul does not use the word preach, or even the traditional
word for teach in this verse. Rather, he tells Titus to "talk" about
truth in natural conversations. I'd like you to notice its in the present which means he is to keep on talking about things that really matter.
As a footnote, it is the same word was used in Matthew 9:33 to describe what happened after a man who couldn’t talk was healed by Jesus: "...the mute man spoke." I believe this is a valuable lesson for each of us. Teaching does not have to be in a
formal setting; in fact, the best kind of learning takes place in every
day life, when we simply speak spiritual truth. This is the way God
actually intends for instruction to be passed from one generation to
another, as we see in Deuteronomy 6:6-7 "These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You
shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when
you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down
and when you rise up. "
This is actually the Hebrew way of teaching, when God’s principles are
allowed to permeate all of life, and are shared in the context of
relationship. This is the mentoring model of the Master Teacher, as
Jesus talked truth when He walked through the day. The Greek method is
more of a lecture-format. However, Titus 1:9 focused on
the teaching of sound doctrine and the refutation of error, the focus
of 2:1 is more on the practical application of sound doctrine.
The Apostle Paul always married sound doctrine along with the practical Christian living that flows
out of it. I believe that to have doctrine without practical side that accompanies it, is just dead orthodoxy. And, to have
the practical side without the solid foundation of sound doctrine, well, I believe, that is just human
moralism. Knowing who God is and who we are, and knowing God’s way of
salvation as taught in the Bible, provide the proper basis for holy
living. For example, if the truth of God’s omnipresence and omniscience
grips your life, it will affect how you relate to your family in
private, because you know that God sees everything. Sound doctrine is
very practical.
Allow me to tell you something that I believe is just some basic knowledge, mentoring is not reserved just for ministers; we’re all called to
communicate "what is in accord with sound doctrine" in the course of
everyday conversation. Notice that we’re not just to go over rote
doctrine but are to share what is in that which is "fitting
for" sound doctrine. I know that many of us, tend to spend too much time on theological
theories and not enough time on living for the Lord.
More specifically, this is referring to character qualities that are built upon the
bedrock of belief. The phrase "sound" is used five times in the the book of Titus, and forms the basis of the word hygiene and was used to describe
making sick people well. If we want to be spiritually healthy people, and
desire others to be as well, we must talk truth about
doctrine in very practical ways that can be fleshed out in daily life. I believe that sound doctrine is the foundation for sound
character and sound character is proof of sound doctrine.
In Closing...
I do not believe that it does me any good to commend something to you that isn't show up in my life. Therefore, if I am going to adorn the doctrine, the teaching about God as a Savior,
then I must be able to demonstrate that I have been saved. The question then becomes, saved from what? Sin, sin, I have been saved from sin. I believe that we make salvation attractive when we can demonstrate deliverance from sin, the power over sin and temptation.
Lives characterized by purity,
power, joy, blessing. By the way, that word "adorn"
is great. In fact, there is actually s a hairspray with that name and that really does speak about what that word means.
It's from a Greek word kosme,
from which we get the English word, cosmetic.
It means "o make something beautiful."
Today, wive in a culture that has become completely obsessed with beauty. You cannot stand in
line at the grocery store without being bombarded with beautiful images on the covers of various magazines. And, furthermore, if
your body isn’t so beautiful, there are literally tons of magazines ads which promise a plethora of sure-fire ways
to either lose weight, get you into shape or camouflage with cosmetics or surgeries, for the things
you are unable to change yourself.
Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with taking reasonable measures to make yourself
attractive, however, I believe that what all of us need to keep in mind that outward physical beauty quickly fades. Eventually, our bodies inevitably lose their youthful appearances as we grow older,
however, there is another kind of beauty that grows better with age. And, the good
news is that this kind of beauty is available to every person, not just
to those who have been endowed with the genes. I am
talking about the beauty a person develops when he pursues godliness in his life. God intends for each of us to develop Christlike character and
conduct ourselves in a way, that displays His beauty to this lost and misguided world.
While our physical bodies will inevitably grow more wrinkled as time goes on, our spiritual life should grow less wrinkled as we grow older.
May it be so..
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
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