How do I show my faith in Jesus?
Bible Passage:
Titus 2:1-10
Pastor:
Pastor Glen
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Sermon Date:
2010-01-23
Have you ever heard someone share a story like this? ”I was on my way to church this morning and a lady with a Ford van had a flat tire and I stopped to help her change the tire. I guess I did my good deed for the day.” Today we wish to evaluate that statement and a number of questions about good deeds. What is a good deed? How many good should we plan to do a day? Do we stop after our one good deed? What enables us to do good deeds? The motivation for my life in Christ is the good doctrine or sound doctrine or correct teaching I learn from the Scriptures. The good doctrine tells me about my sin and spiritual lifelessness by birth. The good doctrine or teaching of the Scripture reveals God’s plan in Christ Jesus through faith in his life for me.
The lives of the various groups on the island of Crete had been changed by the message of the gospel about Jesus Christ. The motivating influence is mentioned in the verse after our text in Titus 2:11 : “the grace of God that brings salvation” that “has appeared to all men”. The words of Paul to Titus dealt with five different groups of people. As we look at all five groups we can learn things that apply to all of us in our daily lives but we can also learn about our current demographic and how we might show our faith in Christ. In the bulletin answer the question as we go through these verses. So how can I show my faith in Jesus? I am a __________________________. I can show my faith by_____________________.
All our good deeds or Christian life flows from an understanding of God’s will for our life and what God has done for us and that is verse one. “You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine. God’s Word is the source of our teaching. God’s Word directs our lives instead of being directed by what we think in our heads or feel in our hearts which can be directed by sinful thoughts and misguided actions. Notice now the five groups Paul mentions in the congregations. We begin with older men in verse 2. 2 Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance. The “older men” whom Titus is to teach are not the same as the elders or pastors who were mentioned in chapter 1. The older men of the congregation because of their age and maturity were looked to for leadership and exemplary Christian behavior.
The older men are to learn to be “temperate”—literally “sober, abstaining from wine” but also referring to mental soundness. They are to be “worthy of respect,” displaying the dignity that should come with maturity. Older men ought to be “self-controlled,” sensible, of sound mind The old men ought to be the steadying influence of every group of believers. They must learn to be “sound,” that is, healthy, “in faith, in love and in endurance.” Spiritual health is found where there is a faith that trusts in God and his revealed truth, where love reaches out with the selflessness that responds to and is inspired by God’s love for a sinful world, and where patience is joined to love that endures all things, knowing that a loving God lets all things work for our good.
The second group of people, the elderly women, was also important to the congregation of believers. They would also be teachers of the younger women. 3 Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Paul understood the weaknesses and strengths of men and women. He pointed the elderly women to use their maturity and confident faith to strengthen the younger women. Good doctrine would be the stabilizing force midst the temptation to speak wrongfully of others with words of slander. Rather they were to practice the good deeds of teaching a Christ centered life to the younger women as they learned from the older women how to grow in their love for their husband. The ongoing Christian life live by the older women would silence all those who wanted to malign the Word of God.
The older women would train the younger women a life of good deeds. 4 Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God. In some ways the life style for younger women is the largest list. They have a great responsibility to their husband and children. The family life was an important part of teaching the next generation about the good doctrine of God’s plan of salvation. Their life and witness was critical to building the family relationship around serving the Lord. As we apply these words there is no template that anyone has to be married or that being married is a better way to please the Lord. The apostle Paul expressed himself quite boldly about the value of being single. What we do learn is that the teaching of Christianity comes from the Scripture and the pastor may lead us in the study of that Scripture it is also true that members of the congregation are learning from one another.
Before we consider the fourth group I would like to consider the fifth group in Paul’s list. 9 Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, 10 and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive. Every ancient society of which we know anything used some form of free labor, whether slavery, serfdom, debt-bondage or whatever. So some people, usually a majority, were forced to work to provide a living and leisure for owners or masters, the 'free' population. Legally speaking, Romans' slaves were, like Athenians', the property of their masters, in the same way as their furniture or their livestock, and masters were absolutely free to do what they liked with their slaves—even to the point of having the power of life & death over them. There were three main sources of slaves: (a) prisoners captured in war; (b) persons captured by pirates or brigands & sold into slavery; (c) vernae, i.e. 'home-grown' slaves brought up in the slave quarters of private houses. Yet in spite of their circumstances they could show their faith in Christ by their attitude toward their master. Pagan masters, noting this difference in their Christian slaves, would see the wholesome effect that Christian teaching had in their slave’s attitude and conduct. Thus “in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.” The slaves’ position in Roman society might be a lowly one, but what a gloriously honored position it was to make the gospel attractive to their heathen masters, possibly to be instrumental in leading them to the only Savior-God.
We can certainly draw applications for our own attitude in the work place and how we treat our employer. These words of Paul surely have much broader application than only to those who literally are slaves. Also in a society that rejects slavery, there are those who serve in positions that require one to follow a superior’s orders. Willing service, complete honesty, and trustworthiness will characterize the Christian in the workplace.
The Apostle Paul addresses the younger men “Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. 7 In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness 8 and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us. All age groups are admonished to be self-controlled. Young men were to be aware that when youthful passions often drive them in their judgment, self-control is most necessary. Young men should be encouraged to act reasonably rather than following their youthful impulses.
As we look carefully at ourselves we may see our weaknesses quite clearly. But do not underestimate the power of the Holy Spirit to bring to us the motivating power that changes our attitudes from lives of rebellion and lust to desiring the will of God. The source of motivation is the undeserved love of God in Christ Jesus. The love of God changed the Apostle Paul, the chief of sinners. The love of God changes us and compels us to love as Christ first loved us. So how can I show my faith in Jesus? I am a __________________________. I can show my faith by_____________________. Paul gives instruction for good deeds but also points to the power source for such living. Good deeds according to the Scriptures are the Christian life that a Christian leads. There is no number of deeds we are shooting for each day but the goal of one per day is not Scriptural rather a life of words and actions glorifying the Lord. The Word of the Lord is true. Amen.
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