Titus 2:1-15 Teach and Encourage

 

When I look at Titus and the place and church he’s been sent to in order to “straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town,” my heart goes out to him. Paul has not given him an easy task. Titus is on Crete, a place most people looked down on; a people with terrible reputations whom no-one respects, not even their own prophets. Listen to how Paul describes the situation in chapter 1:10–14, “For there are many rebellious people, full of meaningless talk and deception, especially those of the circumcision group. They must be silenced, because they are disrupting whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain. One of Crete’s own prophets has said it: “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.” This saying is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the merely human commands of those who reject the truth.”

It seems the church on Crete is filled with quite a group of characters who may have accepted the good news of Jesus, but haven’t yet begun to allow the gospel to shape their lives in any way. Their lives are making a mockery of the gospel, and yet, while this is a tough crowd, they also have great potential to reveal the power of Jesus to transform lives and communities. This is why Paul tells Titus to focus on teaching the gospel; to give the people healthy instruction for living life as Jesus followers. The goal is to help them, and us today, “to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.” Faith is not just about believing the right things, it’s about the transformation of our heart and lives in response to Jesus.

Paul identifies different groups of people in the church and how the gospel should shape them. Paul tells Titus to teach the older men what a gospel good news centered life looks like for them, “be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, love and in endurance.” Older men are to show self-discipline and dignity, be in control of themselves, quick to listen and slow to speak, showing wisdom. Paul wants the older men to be sound, or healthy in their faith, a faith shaped by the command of Jesus to love God with everything they have and are and to love others as themselves. Older men also need to show how they stay grounded in the faith and with an attitude of love through good and hard times. People look up to the older men as examples on how to live; they are models and mentors, whether they accept that or not, and people look to how they live more than at what they say. Our values and beliefs are revealed more through how we walk through life than in the words we say. ‘Do as I say, not as I do’ is not an acceptable way for older men to act, their role in the community is too big for that kind of a life, according to Paul.

Paul then moves to the role that older women need to hold in the church; “be reverent in the way they live, not to slander others or be a slave to wine, but to teach what is good.” Reverent has to do with being holy, with living in a right way according to God’s wishes. Paul emphasizes a few things especially: don’t slander others, be gracious in how you talk about others, speak well of people and build them up instead of tearing others down and gossiping. They’re not to be slaves to wine. It seems that some of the older women especially were becoming addicted to wine, this may be why they also had issues with slander as drinking too much loosens your tongue and you often end up saying things you later regret, you say things that you may feel, but in cruel mean ways. Instead the older women were to use their words for good, to teach what is good and help them become better people.

The older women are then called to urge, or encourage the younger women, acting as mentors and models to these younger women. These older women can show these younger women how to love their husbands and children; love in the 1 Corinthians 13 way of patience, kindness, humility, with trust, hope and perseverance. Being a wife and mother isn’t always easy and it’s not even always appreciated, even though it’s hard and extremely important work. Mothers are the ones who do the main raising of the children. Most of us learned our main values and morals from mom, most of us learned the stories of the Bible from mom first, we learned love and commitment from mom first. Dads are just as important in a child’s life, but the majority of the day to day raising of children rests with the mom. That’s true even today where the roles of mom and dad have shifted a bit, but moms still carry the major share of child raising.

This means that the foundation of our society begins with mothers. I know some women cringe when they hear the call to be subject to their husbands. The Greek word is submit, we need to hear this through Paul’s call in Ephesians 5 for mutual submission and then for wives to respect their husbands. Husbands need their wives’ respect in order to be strong healthy husbands and fathers who take their responsibilities seriously. Paul knew what psychologists today are rediscovering; that women and men need different things from each other: women desire love and men desire respect. This is why older women investing their time, energy, and love into the younger women in church is so important, they have learned that husbands experience love through respect, and this makes them stronger husbands and fathers.

When people outside the church see how younger men and women have mentors and models who really care and invest in them; building strong adults and families, they find it difficult to blaspheme the word of God because of how the gospel creates strong healthy communities of flourishing families. Our families are an important witness to the power of the gospel in our lives. When we let the gospel shape our relationships within the family, we build solid foundations for our children, a place where they can grow safely, surrounded by an extended family that values investing in each other and helping them to find their hope and security and strength in Jesus.

Paul now turns his attention to the young men, urging Titus to teach them to be self-controlled by being an example himself in doing good, mentoring them. Part of mentoring is that in his teaching, Titus is encouraged to show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech. Titus’ own life and teaching is also part of his witness to the working out of the gospel news in our lives. It’s one thing to read about how God wants us to live as a witness for him, it’s another to watch someone live out Jesus’ way in actual real messy life.

There’s something inspiring about watching the life of someone who is living out their faith in beautiful generous ways; watching how they practice self-control, Christian character, joy, love and more in all their relationships in their families, workplaces, school, and community. It inspires others and gives us the courage and strength to live the same way, which then increases our witness to the gospel and Jesus. Our children, our youth and our community are watching us, seeing if what we say we believe is being practiced. This is why Paul even mentions how a slave can be a witness in how he or she does their master’s bidding, all so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Saviour attractive. Have you ever thought that you are a witness to your boss about Jesus? This is why Paul in another letter reminds us to do everything as if we’re doing it for the Lord. It gets noticed!

Following Jesus, teaching and encouraging each other in who Jesus is calling us to be as individuals and as a church, shapes how we live together within our families, church and community so that our teaching about Jesus is attractive, drawing people to Jesus. Through God’s grace, we say “no” to ungodliness as we wait for Jesus’ return and do the good God has prepared for us to do to create healthy communities that reflect Jesus’ teaching and life, a place where everyone is able to flourish in the gifts God has given us.