On Being a Young Christian Man #2

Even as a young man, even as a young teenager, take the opportunity and embrace the fact and say, my life, no matter what anyone else does, my life is going to be marked by faithfulness to Christ. I'm going to set my mind to study the Word of God, to teach it and to obey it. We're glad you've joined us for the Truth Pulpit with Don Green, founding pastor of Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Hello, I'm Bill Wright. We're continuing our series, Titus, God's Glorious Plan of Grace. Today, Don presents part two of a message titled, On Being a Young Christian Man. Last time, Don focused mainly on the passage in Titus chapter 2, admonishing the young Christian male to live sensibly in all things.

That means doing things like exercising self-control over thoughts and actions, avoiding the dark corners of the world and its lusts, and saying no to various temptations. Today, Don will complete the lesson with more wisdom from scripture. So have your Bible handy as we join our teacher now in the Truth Pulpit. Well, what we see as we come to verses six through eight in the book of Titus is, first of all, Paul gives the exhortation to young men. The exhortation to young men, that's the first point if you're taking notes here this morning. He says, Urge the young men to be sensible in all things. Be sensible in all things. Now, secondly, Paul gives an example to the young men.

We can put it this way. Just mark your second point, the example to young men. He's given the exhortation to the young men.

Now he gives the example to young men. And in this verse that's about to come, really brings all of us back into it even more. Look at verse seven with me. Paul is speaking to Titus as the spiritual leader in that region. And what Paul tells him is that, Titus, you have to devote yourself to being personally an example of the things that I'm calling these young men to. Look at what he says in verse seven. He says, show yourself. And it's emphatic in the original language. He says, show yourself.

It's singular. He's talking directly to Titus now. Show yourself to be an example of good deeds with purity and doctrine, dignified sound in speech, which is beyond reproach. Paul says, Titus, it is time for you to continue on, embrace, and further the fact that you as the spiritual leader are an example of the very things that I'm calling these young men to exemplify. Charles Spurgeon, speaking on the importance of example, said this. He said, we have all heard the story of the man who preached so well and lived so badly that when he was in the pulpit, everybody said he ought never to come out again. And when he was out of it, they all declared he ought never to enter it again. Continuing the quote, he says, we do not trust those persons who have two faces, nor will men believe in those whose verbal and practical testimonies are contradictory, and ill life will effectually drown the voice of the most eloquent ministry.

End quote. And ill life will effectually drown out the voice of the most eloquent ministry. Paul is saying that to Titus, the spiritual leader. I personally feel the weight of this passage as I stand before you this morning. And those men of you that aspire after leadership, those men of you that are leading your families, take heed in this. We realize that we fall short. I realize with understanding sympathy by sad personal experience that your life does not always measure up to the testimony that you want to maintain before your family and in leadership in the church.

I get that because I feel the pain of falling short myself. But what you must understand, what you must embrace is the fact that you can't accept that as the dominating, defining manner of your life. Men, Christ calls on you to give an example. He calls on me to give an example that is consistent with the fact that we proclaim that God is holy and He requires holiness of His people. Be holy it says in 1 Peter 1 verses 15 and 16. Be holy for I myself am holy. Look at verse 7. This is Paul saying the same thing in just a different way. In all things, show yourself to be an example of good deeds. Let your life be an adequate reflection of the purity of the gospel that you say that you've embraced and that you proclaim.

Now, Paul addresses the personal example of Titus there in verse 7. And watch what he does in verse 7. And what you're about to see in verses 7 and 8 here gives you a big window of understanding and insight into why we do things the way that we do at Truth Community Fellowship, soon to be Truth Community Church. Why is it that we teach like we do? Why is it that this isn't a clown show on Sunday morning?

Why is it that we teach for an extended period of time? Look at what Paul says in verse 7. Beloved, every one of you, men and women, boy and girl, every one of you need to understand this. Because this goes to something so profound, it goes to the way that the people of God handle the Word of God. And that embraces all of us who know Christ. Look at what Paul says to Titus, calling on him to be an example. Good deeds and the way that he lives, he says, with purity and doctrine, dignified and sound in speech. What Paul is doing here is he's talking to Titus about the way that he teaches and the spirit in which he handles the Word of God.

This is so important! This is the engine that drives everything in terms of how we respond to the Word of God, how we think about the Word of God, how we handle the Word of God. And so, as he's talking about his purity and doctrine, I want you to see something here. This has been the emphasis to Titus all along, and it's going to be the emphasis later on.

And it's not a crucial issue of interpretation. Some people say that Paul is only addressing Titus in his private speech here, in terms of being sound and pure in your speech and private conversation. Well, that's important and that should be done, but I don't think that that's the emphasis that Paul has here. He's addressing the teaching ministry of Titus. Look at chapter 2, verse 1. He says, as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine. He's addressing the way that Titus handles doctrine. In verse 7, he says, purity and doctrine, dignified sound and speech. And then look at chapter 2, verse 15. He says, these things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority.

Let no one disregard you. He's talking beyond just Titus' private conversations to the way that he handles the Word of God, the way that he teaches doctrine, and that's what I believe this whole verse is addressing, is the way that he conducts his teaching ministry in the church. Now, secondly, look at the end of verse 7 here. He goes on and says, dignified, dignified. It's a word that, if I'm not mistaken, I didn't put this in my notes, if I'm not mistaken, the King James translates it with a sense of gravity.

It's a word that communicates a sense of sobriety, seriousness, gravity to what is said. Let's just step back for just a second together and realize, as some of the music prepared us to think along these lines, that what the gospel is addressing, what the gospel addresses to individuals is the fact that we're all moving toward a day of judgment before holy God. We're going to give an account. God is not going to tolerate lightly the violation of his holiness by our sin. Neither our sins are washed away by the blood of Christ and his righteousness has been credited to our account, or God is going to give us a chance to say, your sin requires eternal judgment and sends you away to the place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth forever.

I know I don't need to tell you this, so let's just remember collectively together that that's serious. And in a gospel that addresses that kind of deep eternal need is sacred. It's sacred.

It's set apart and holy. The gospel is the most important thing in the world. And so the fact that it is so sacred and so precious affects the way that we teach it. God intends for the teaching of his word to be done in a dignified way, in a way that communicates the seriousness of the subject matter and the holiness of the God who sent Christ into the world to save sinners, and the one who calls his people to holiness.

There should be a sense of sacred sobriety about what we do. And so this means what Paul is saying to Titus here, what he's saying to the church through the ages, what you and I understand is dissipating so badly all around us. It says, Titus, this word of God should be taught with high moral authority. He says, Titus, this gospel should be taught with a serious demeanor so that you demonstrate its importance by the very way that you say it. A man who is known for his comedy act is not a man who should be handling the truth of the gospel. Because his lack of seriousness, people don't disconnect it and say, oh, he was joking then, but now he's really serious when he's talking about the gospel.

It doesn't work that way. God calls the man in the pulpit and he calls Christians and he calls a congregation to be known by the continuity with which they approach life and approach the gospel. The Puritan pastor, Richard Baxter, said this, speaking to pastors, he said, whatever you do, let the people see that you are earnest. Don't break men's hearts by jesting with them. Don't get up before people whose hearts are broken and who are trying to find the way to heaven and be a comedian.

That's not appropriate. Now, Paul goes on to say, and just kind of in overlapping terms, look at verse seven with me again. He says, purity and doctrine, dignified sound and speech should be healthy, simply saying that your teaching should agree with what the apostles said. Your teaching should be biblical. Take what the apostles wrote and serve it faithfully for the spiritual consumption of your audience.

That's what we do. So, Paul has spoken urgently to young men, be sensible in all things. He's spoken to Titus about his example and about his teaching. Why?

Why? Point number three this morning, the explanation for the young men. The explanation for the young men. Why is it that this is so important? Look at the middle of verse eight with me. Paul said, be sound in speech, which is beyond reproach, so that, here we go, here's the explanation. This is the reason why Paul has been saying everything, not only to the young men, but in this whole passage to older men, older women, and younger women. And just as a principle of reading the Bible, whenever you see the words so that or because, pay extra close attention, because what's happening there is the biblical writer is explaining why he said the things that he just said. And if you can get to the why, then you really get into the transforming power of the passage, to understand not just the exhortation, but the reason for the expectation. God was very faithful throughout Scripture to make these things plain to us. So that is always going to be an important phrase in a biblical text. Always, without exception. And so, he's urged the young men to be sensible in all things.

He's called Titus to purity in his life and in his doctrine. So that, here's the goal. Look at verse eight. This explains why things have to be done this way. Why our hearts must be aimed in this direction. So that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us. You know, and I know, that there are an abundant of critics just waiting to pounce on the next misstep by Christians. Critics are all around, and it's always been there. And I know critics are all around, and it's always been that way.

It was that way in the first century, it's that way in the 21st century. There are people just waiting to mock the Gospel, to mock the name of Christ, and to mock us for pursuing this life that separates ourselves from the world. They mock it, they're hostile to it, they attack you in it.

And so there are critics everywhere. What Paul is saying is that obedience to this instruction that I've given to you here will work to silence that kind of criticism over time. Your exemplary life, young men, your pure motives with the way you approach ministry, your dignified demeanor works to silence those who would otherwise have occasion to voice their venom against the victory of the Gospel. Paul says, the Bible says, what God is telling us here, and I trust and I pray that this will give you an elevated sense of the nobility of pursuing faithfulness in those little details that we were talking about earlier.

There's an elevated nobility about what Paul is saying here. What Paul is saying here is that your faithfulness to this kind of lifestyle will shame them into silence. Your faithfulness to loving truth, to gracious holy living, your faithfulness to a body of believers over time has a deadening effect on the critics of the Gospel because they see your life.

And while they may still spout it verbally, it's a shameful thing for them to do because there's obviously no valid basis for their accusations against you. It's not that Gospel teaching will be forever unchallenged. That's not what Paul was saying because his teaching was repeatedly challenged.

He bore in his body the marks of his faithfulness to Christ. But what he's saying here is that the goal of all of this instruction that he's been giving to us is that the Gospel would not be challenged legitimately. That our lifestyles would be such that critics would be shamed because their criticism of us and the criticism of the Gospel is so obviously groundless.

They would criticize the Gospel and are waiting for the opportunity to jump on your first misstep. Okay, they shouldn't be like that. That's pretty wicked. That's unkind, unfair, and ungodly. I get that.

You don't have to worry about that. You simply look at that and say, okay, this is what Paul was talking about in Titus 2.8, and so this simply motivates me to be a little extra careful, a little bit more committed, a little bit more serious about living, because one of the things that will come from that is it'll help silence that opposition over time. And so rather than taking personal offense because you see the hostility of the individual, view it differently and say, oh, God has these people here in my life in a way that motivates me toward greater holiness. And their opposition and their hatred and their hostility simply becomes yet another reason to live faithfully for Christ. And you say, okay, I've got a million motives to live for Christ, and this hostile person just gave me one million and one.

Great! I'm going to be all the more committed. I'm going to let the gold of my life be tested by the fire of this opposition, and I trust God that He'll make it even the gold of my testimony even more pure as He purifies it by fire of people that resent me.

And you can embrace even the opposition when you're committed to living sensibly in all things. Final word here as we close. And I'm not going to do this. I'm very, very tempted again. Not tempted in a bad way. I'm very inclined to have you just kind of look around at the people around you.

In fact, let's do that. Just look around. Just for a moment, just glance at the people side by side to you.

That's all I'm saying. So that you have faces to put on what Paul is about to say here. This isn't just about you individually.

This is about us together. Look at what he says, so that the opponent will be put to shame having nothing bad to say about us. He's not saying, so he doesn't say, Titus, do this so that the opponent will have nothing bad to say about you. He says, do this so that they won't have anything bad to say about us. There's a corporate, there's a recognition that you're a part of a bigger body. That when you live your individual life of faithfulness, you make it harder for others to be critical of those that you share life in the body of Christ with together. As we do that individually, as we individually pursue this kind of serious holiness, we provide a protective bubble in which the rest of us enjoy the benefit.

When you're faithful in your marriage, you make it harder for someone else to come along inside and criticize someone else in the body. When you're living faithfully, when your words are true and your words are edifying, you make it harder for someone else to impugn the integrity of the leadership of your church. What Paul is recognizing here is that our individual lives have a spillover effect on the Christians that are around us. When you and I live a godly life, we contribute to protection that our fellow believers have against criticism. That's why you can't separate what you do at home, you can't separate what you do at work from a sense of understanding that everything that I do somehow contributes to the testimony of Christ.

We're unified in the body of Christ and therefore what the foot does affects the hand. And so we view that not with a sense of constraint or resentment, it just becomes another glad opportunity to pursue holiness. You're motivated in the privacy of your room to pursue holiness because you say there's more than me that's involved here.

If one prominent person from Truth Community goes out and engages in some real scandalous thing that hits the newspapers, it affects us all. And so that's a negative way of looking at it, but that's the way we need to think. My life affects the people that are sitting around me on Sunday morning and I love them and therefore I'm just going to be a little more inclined to holiness and a little bit more resolute in resisting temptation today because I love Dane Logan, I love Jim Hatton, I love Buddy Stark, I love Glenn Griswold and I want my life to have a spillover benefit to them. That's the way all of us should be thinking about life in the body. We pursue holiness so that, verse 8, look at it with me again, that the opponent would have nothing bad to say about us. We share in this together and when we're serious and pursuing the gospel together, being together is a blessed, blessed thing.

It's a privilege to be a part of a body like that and I thank God that we've made so much progress in this direction in such a short period of time. Pray with us as we continue to grow in that, an individual holiness that has an imprint of testimony that spills over into the lives of others and protects us from people saying wicked, untrue things about us. Your holiness helps participate in that. The message you've heard today really applies to Christians of all ages, both men and women.

Live sensibly and be beyond reproach so that you leave those opposed to God without grounds to attack. Pastor Don Green will have more practical teaching from scripture on our next broadcast so make plans now to be with us then. But right now Don's here in studio with a special invitation for you. Please visit us sometime at Truth Community Church. I realize some of you are too far away and if so join us on our live stream which you can find on our website. But if you're in the Cincinnati area come and see us. Please come and introduce yourself to me. I would love to greet you and make you feel at home at our church.

We have a Sunday morning service or Tuesday evening Bible study. We're easy to find on our website. Bill's here to tell you how to find us. And our web address is thetruthpulpit.com. There you can also find free downloads of the messages you hear on these broadcasts. That's thetruthpulpit.com. Now for Don Green, I'm Bill Wright and we'll see you next time for more from The Truth Pulpit.