On Being a Christian Man #2

Men, if there was any one thing that I could impress upon your heart to take away from this message is that you've got to repent of going through the motions of godliness without a heartfelt love for Christ.

Welcome to The Truth Pulpit with Don Green, founding pastor of Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. Hello, I'm Bill Wright, and today Don continues our series in the book of Titus, titled God's Glorious Plan of Grace. He'll be concluding a message called On Being a Christian Man. Last time Don revealed the first important quality of an older Christian man, dignity in life.

And he reminded us that older doesn't necessarily mean gray-haired. Rather, it is a man who has put away childish things and embraces his God-given responsibilities. Today, Don will look at the role maturity plays. So have your Bible open to Titus chapter 2 as we join our teacher now in The Truth Pulpit. You're to be marked by dignity in life. Secondly, you're to be marked by maturity in faith. Men, your life calling is to manifest Christian virtue. No matter what your vocation is, no matter what your life calling is, vocationally, your real calling is to manifest Christian virtue. Look at verse 2 with me.

Paul isn't speaking in suggestions here. He's commanding what our character is to be like. It's really breathtaking when you think about the authority of scripture. When you think about the fact that the Word of God is commanding what your inner man is to be like, what is this magnificent Word of God that is commanding us what to be like inside? That gives you a sense of the greatness of the authority of Jesus Christ. He says all authority is being given to me. His authority is so vast that he's not just commanding what you do in life. He's commanding what you are to be in life. As the Word of God commands us against external sins like adultery and theft and lying, it equally commands positive character traits inside that no one sees.

We have to humble ourselves under this Word. We have to realize the seriousness of purpose with which God saved us. Look at Titus 2.14.

I just want to remind you of this again. This is all tied into the purposes of Christ. Titus 2.14. Christ Jesus gave himself for us to redeem us, to buy us out of every lawless deed and to purify for himself a people for his own possession zealous for good deeds. To purify us, to change us from the inside out so that there would be a zeal in our hearts to be what he wants us to be and to do what he wants us to do. The Word of God commands our inner man. And we see that in Titus 2, verse 2.

Look at it with me now. Older men are to be temperate, dignified, sensible and now here comes the last part. Here's the maturity in faith where he says, sound in faith, in love, in perseverance. Sound in faith.

The Word has the idea of being healthy. You're to be sound in three ways. Sound in faith, sound in love, sound in perseverance.

And here's the deal, man. This gets to the point of evaluating how much you know God. This gives you a sense what we're about to talk about is going to expose to your understanding how well you actually know God. How intimately acquainted you are with the excellencies of his attributes. Because he says you're sound in faith, sound in love, sound in perseverance.

Listen to me, man. You should have such an unwavering confidence in the goodness of God that you affirm it from your heart in every circumstance. Not just with an outward verbal assent. It says, oh yeah, God's sovereign here, while inside you're agitated and worked up. To be sound in faith means that you affirm the goodness of God in every circumstance, even in the midst of adversity, you affirm that, listen, with a peaceful demeanor that is so confident in his goodness that it's a reality of your heart, not just an expression of your lips.

Only you know, men, only you can look in your heart and say whether that's true of your inner man or not. But listen, listen, the living God, the savior who bled for your sins is worthy of that kind of implicit confidence no matter what assails you externally. Look, men, ladies, this applies to you too, but passage is addressed to men primarily. Look, we have no right, we have no room to look at bleeding Emmanuel at Calvary and cast questions against his goodness. We have no right to look at Christ dying for our sins with thorns crushed into his brow, hanging practically naked in front of all of the world, the creator, son of God, bleeding for you. And to have any question about the ultimate intentions of his life if you're a Christian, that is a betrayal of the highest, of the highest treason. To question the goodness of Christ because some earthly external adversity has come to you. You must so esteem Christ, you must so love him for his sacrifice on the cross that it is utterly unthinkable in your mind to question his goodness. And so you affirm that in every circumstance with a peaceful demeanor that flows out of the way that you live.

We don't question the goodness of Christ because we're healthy, we're sound in faith, sound in the way that we trust him. Paul says you need to be sound in love. Men, you should be able to step out of your own realm of existence long enough to have a warm affection toward others and you're conscious and intentional of building up young, weaker believers.

Sound in love. You realize you've been through some of the trials, you've failed in some of them. You know what it's like to struggle in Christian growth. Well now, older men, you men with responsibility, you say oh, not only do I need to have this confident demeanor and the goodness of Christ in my own heart, I need to actively encourage and edify and build up those around me even if I don't ever teach the word of God myself. I can step into the gap, I can step alongside a struggling believer and say look, I love you and let me help you. Men, that's what you're supposed to do.

You're supposed to be sound in love and it's not enough, as grateful as I am for how faithful you guys are to come, you just have to understand that it's not enough to just be here on Sunday. This is a whole pattern of life. This is a controlling character that Paul's talking about and so it bleeds out of your life Monday at 4, Tuesday at 3 a.m. and every point in between. This is character that we're talking about. Sound healthy in love.

And look at what he says. We're going to illustrate all of this with Paul one more time. Sound in faith, sound in love, sound in perseverance.

Sound, healthy, reliable, dependable, to keep walking in faithfulness to Christ even when adversity is blowing all around. You persevere. You endure.

You continue on. Now, so I want you to see these things in Paul's life again. Again from 2 Timothy.

This was just a kind of an arbitrary way to illustrate it. Remember Paul is about to die. He's conscious of that. He's at the end of his life. And he had told Titus a couple of years earlier, maybe three years earlier, he said older men are to be sound in faith. You want to see how Paul lived that out? Look at 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 7. Sound in faith, sound in his personal trust in God's intentions for him. He says in verse 7, I have fought the good fight.

I have finished the course. I have kept the faith. Time of my departures come. And what's going on in Paul's mind in light of all of these things?

Listen to this. And see men in this. See where your heart should be, must be, is commanded to be as you contemplate the end of your earthly days. Paul says verse 8, in the future there's laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge will award to me on that day. Not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing.

He's about to die. And he's utterly, completely confident that what lies ahead is reward and blessing from the one whom he had served since the day of his conversion. That's personal faith. That's personal trust. And I want that to sink in. See it's not enough for us to just acknowledge these things mentally and then go on living with anxiety filled lives.

It's not enough. We're to be sound in faith. Sound in that personal trust. Listen.

Think about it this way. That speaks about the future blessing of God. The eternal blessing of God on our lives. The certainty that he'll welcome us. The certainty that he'll bless us. The certainty that he'll receive us. That we talk about that as though it were a present existing fact because it is so certain to occur. There's not an element of guessing.

Not an element of I hope so. There's such a personal confidence in this that marks your character, your personal faith in the purposes of God in your life that you talk about it in the indicative as that which is an established fact. Men, is that so conscious and present in your mind that you would just naturally speak out, well of course God is going to bless me when I die. Of course he's going to receive me.

Of course there's going to be. He's been good to me in this life. It can only get greater in the life to come. Do you speak, do you think about Christ blessing you with that level of confidence because that's what Scripture is calling you to if you're a Christian man. You see, 1 Samuel 16 says the Lord looks on our heart, not on the outward appearance as man sees, but the Lord looks on the heart. And men, in your inner man, you should know Christ so well and be so confident of his goodness that you say the only outcome can be good.

And the certainty of that starts to flavor the way that you speak about life, death and the life to come. Now, Paul said in Timothy, be sound in faith, be sound in love. Paul, what does sound in love look like in relationship to others? As an older man, as you're approaching the end of life, you know what, we see that in 2 Timothy also. It's actually in 2 Timothy 1. 2 Timothy 1, writing to a struggling minister of the gospel, look at the soundness of Paul's love as he addresses his disciple Timothy. 2 Timothy 1, verse 3.

Actually, look at verse 2. Paul, to Timothy, my beloved son, grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. Can you imagine an apostle calling you his beloved son?

What the strength and the assurance and the confidence that that would impart. Paul's just getting started with those words. Verse 3, I thank God whom I serve with a clear conscience the way my forefathers did as I constantly remember you and my prayers night and day. Timothy, I'm praying for you. I'm constantly remembering you and my prayers. Verse 4, longing to see you even as I recall your tears so that I may be filled with joy. Timothy, I'm praying for you.

You're my beloved son. I long to see you. I want to be with you, Timothy. Remember, Paul is about to die. And look at the love that's pouring out of his heart for this young disciple.

I long to see you, verse 4, even as I recall your tears so that I may be filled with joy. For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you. Timothy, I know it's in there. I know it's in you. I'm sure of it. It first dwelt in your grandmother, Lois, and your mother, Eunice.

And I'm sure that it's in you as well. And for this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. Paul, rather than being consumed with his own plight, writes to Timothy and bestows upon him his personal blessing, his personal confidence and says, Timothy, I love you. Timothy, I long to see you. Timothy, live up to your charge. He pours out his heart for the sake of the man that he was trying to strengthen. That's sound and love.

Men, that's what it looks like. Looking for the opportunity to come alongside the younger, weaker believer and give him strength. Your gray hairs give you a level of authority, a level of dignity to communicate that message. So use your position to the benefit of those who need it. What about being sound in endurance?

Last one here. 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 12. Paul said in Titus 2 that older men are to be sound in perseverance. And look at 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 12. Paul says, actually go up to verse 8 because you need to see the context.

Paul says to Timothy, don't be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me, his prisoner. He's in prison as he writes this. He says, join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God. So he's suffering.

He's in prison. What's his state of endurance? What's his state of mind? Has this deterred him? Has this made him less confident? Has this discouraged him? Has this made him weak and ready to fall? Verse 12.

Why do I do this to us? Just go to verse 9 and we'll walk all the way through it. And see how sound doctrine impacts a sound perseverance. He says in verse 9, join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity. But now has been revealed by the appearing of our savior Christ Jesus who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher.

Here it is. Here's what all of that truth, all of that doctrine, here's what it produces in the midst of his suffering. It produces perseverance. Verse 12, for this reason I also suffer these things, but I'm not ashamed for I know whom I have believed and I'm convinced that he's able to guard what I've entrusted to him until that day. Perseverance.

Endurance. I'm suffering but I'm undeterred Timothy. I'm not ashamed.

I know who I believe. I'm convinced that he's able to guard what I've entrusted to him and so I'm just going to keep walking, keep walking, keep walking and then the gates of heaven are going to open and he's going to receive me. Perseverance.

Man. Dignity in life. Maturity in faith. Whether we fully realize it or not, the word of God has just sifted everything about us. It's sifted our inner man. It's sifted the way that we view Christ. It has sifted how much we love him. It has sifted and has pointed out whether we trust him enough to persevere and to persevere without bitterness.

To persevere with an eye of still serving in the midst of suffering those who are around us who would benefit from our strength. That's what a Christian man looks like. That's what a Christian man should be. Most of us are feeling convicted right now.

That's as it should be. Men, if there was any one thing that I could impress upon your heart to take away from this message. Just one thing that I'd want you, that I think is the most serious threat to American Christian men in a church like this, is that you've got to repent of going through the motions of godliness without a heartfelt love for Christ.

That's it. You have to repent of going through the motions of spiritual life, of going through and saying, oh, I read my Bible today. Oh, I had my quiet time today and now let me get on with the rest of my life. You've got to repent of going through the motions because Christ is worthy of so much more. He's worthy of the deepest affections and longings of your heart, the spontaneous praise of your lips throughout the day. Oh, Christ, I'm so grateful that you saved me. After all these years, Lord, I haven't lost the wonder of the fact that you reached into my sinful life and redeemed me when you had every right to condemn me. Oh, Christ, oh, Christ, before the foundations of eternity were laid, before you laid the foundations of the earth, you set your eternal redemptive love on me. You came to earth, you came to earth and you thought of me by name as one for whom you were willing to die.

Oh, Christ, you actually poured out your blood. Oh, Christ, you sent your spirit to indwell me. Oh, Christ, oh, Christ, you're going to receive me into your heavenly kingdom one day. Oh, Christ, I'm going to see your resurrected facing glory. Oh, Christ, oh, Christ, oh, Christ, words fail.

My ability to express my gratitude for your redeeming love on my life. Oh, Christ, Jesus, thank you. Blood is washed away my sin. Amen.

That's a slight echo of what your life should be like. The greatness of salvation should so captivate your affections that you realize that words can't fully express it. If you've gotten tired of being a Christian, if the Word of God has become something burdensome and irksome to you, praying seems like an irksome duty to you. Men, you've got to repent because Christ is worthy of so much more. And so, Christian men, we have our marching orders, as we've learned from Titus chapter 2. Next time on The Truth Pulpit, Pastor Don Green turns our attention to the gals, as he presents a new message titled, On Being a Mature Christian Woman. Don, what might we expect? Well, my Christian sister, I'm delighted to be able to share these things with you here today on The Truth Pulpit, because I understand that the world calls you to unattainable perfections in external beauty. And the wonderfully liberating thing about scripture is it calls you to something which in one sense is very attainable, an inner beauty that reflects the walk of a woman who is devoted to Christ.

We're going to see how scripture lays that out, and it's very practical. Thanks, Don. And friend, if you'd like information on obtaining free CDs of the messages you hear on our broadcast, just visit us online. Our web address is thetruthpulpit.com. That's thetruthpulpit.com. Thanks for joining us today. We'll see you next time on The Truth Pulpit, with Don Green.