The Treasure of Old Men

You remember the Cretans didn't even want to work. They wanted to be paid. They wanted a life of luxury. They didn't want to accept responsibility or a work ethic that went beyond their own comfort level. In a word, they wanted to remain adolescent.

Feed me now. So the implication here in verse 2, then, is that it's possible for an old man to act like a little boy. Paul is saying to the Christian, show your culture what it means to act your age. There's a big difference between growing old in the faith and growing up in the faith.

It's possible to advance in years but continue to live like an adolescent. One thing that young men desperately need is mentors. They need older and wiser men to teach them and show them how to act like men. We live in a day when many young people are far from their family but the church can provide the mentors that young people need. Older men need to step up and invest in those coming behind them.

Today on Wisdom for the Heart, Stephen Davey will explore this in a message called The Treasure of Old Men. No one likes the increasing effects of aging, of growing older. In fact, if you've walked into a room looking for your glasses only to realize looking in the mirror later that you already had them on, you know what I mean.

That ever happen to you? Me neither. We are in denial, aren't we? Truth is we're surrounded by a culture that is in desperate denial and they're paying a fortune to keep up the appearances of youth. You gotta look young, you gotta stay young, you gotta sound young and act young. So the anti-aging industry, not the health industry but the anti-aging industry is now in America a $100 billion a year industry.

And one health expert wrote and admitted it's really all about peace of mind. We still wanna get older. According to the Bible, old age is viewed as a fruitful time. A time when you can return to the generation behind you.

The knowledge and the wisdom and the discernment and the balance that you glean from truth, from life, from faith. David writes of bearing fruit in old age, Psalm 92, 14. Growing old enough to turn around and say, I've been young and now I'm old and I've never seen God ever forsake the righteous. You gotta be old enough to say that with meaning, Psalm 37, 25. And for a culture that is terrified of getting older, it's really time for us to think as a church of the opportunities of that and the obligations and the responsibilities. The Bible doesn't ask us to avoid old age or even resist it. It actually welcomes you to it.

And then it turns around and it commands you to take advantage of it. Like I find it fascinating that Paul's solution to false teaching and false teachers on the island of Crete was not only sending Titus into a point elders, shepherds who would teach faithfully, but to put the rest of the church family on special assignment, so to speak. And their special assignment is going to be effectively in this letter related to their age.

If you know enough about the New Testament epistles, these are letters from the apostles, most of them written by the apostle Paul. Paul often talks to groups of people. He'll talk to husbands and then he'll talk to wives. He'll talk to men, then he'll talk to women, talk to older people and then to children and so on.

Employers, employees. These are family talks, so to speak. Well, he's about to command Titus to carry on his own family talk as he teaches the congregations on the island of Crete.

And you're going to discover that Titus is going to first and foremost speak to older men. Turn with me to the letter of Paul to Titus in chapter two. Now, when Paul wrote this letter, if you hold in your lap, I hope you did bring a copy along to mark up, to look at, hold me accountable.

If you don't have one, lean over, somebody might share with you. When he originally wrote this letter, there were no chapter divisions or verse numbering. That was all added about 400 years ago to help Bible students find their way to the text more easily.

Sometimes it interrupts the flow and this is one of those times. So let's go back to chapter one, verse 16 and get a running start to get the idea of what he's saying. They, that is the false teachers, profess to know God, but by their deeds, they deny him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed. But as for you, you see, the word you is emphatic, Titus. In other words, this is what the false teachers are teaching.

This is how the false teachers are living. But you, Titus, we've got something different in mind. In fact, if you look at verse one, but you speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine. There's that word hugaino again, hygiene, sound doctrine. In other words, Titus delivered them things related to spiritually healthy teaching, wholesome, uncontaminated doctrine.

And do it, the tense of this imperative, do it continuously. In other words, the congregation is to receive from their shepherds regular and pastoral instruction about practical Christian living attitudes and actions that should result from sound doctrine. Now what's surprising here is that you might think that Paul will immediately launch into what sound doctrine is. But you'll find in chapter two, not a review of sound doctrine.

He doesn't cover any major doctrine. In fact, notice the command in verse one a little more carefully. Titus, as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine. In other words, call a family meeting, spell out for everybody the kind of lifestyle that is fitting from prepo, that which matches sound doctrine.

It's appropriate to sound clean teaching. The kind of lifestyle and attitude that matches it, that goes hand in glove. You say you believe it, let me see it. So Titus chapter two really has nothing to do with our belief system.

It has to do with our behavioral system. Titus is not going to give them a pop quiz on the content of their beliefs. He is commanded to teach them about the character of the believer. Paul has already exposed the character of the false teacher, the lifestyle of the Cretans, those who live on the island of Crete.

And as you know, if you were with us, Paul essentially cleaned their clocks, didn't he? Now he moves on to describe the lifestyle of the Christian. And he's going to be just as blunt, just as in our face, and just as revolutionary. He's going to talk to every age in this family talk. And by the way, he's going to address issues like anger and immorality, immaturity, gossip, substance abuse, laziness, priorities, dishonesty, disobedience, backtalk, innuendo, and even stealing. He's just going to lay it all out.

If you want to be perceived by the Cretans as authentic Christians, these are the kinds of attitudes and actions that match up with the genuine item of uncontaminated, true, clean, pure doctrine. And he begins his family talk by addressing old men. Now maybe you're wondering who's considered in here an old man so that I can just let Stephen preach to them while I relax.

Well I'll tell you in a minute. But let me tell you first of all that Paul is going to deliver six different characteristics of what it means to be a godly old man. Notice the first one. Older men are to be temperate. Older men are to be. Don't miss the implication of that first phrase. In other words, it's possible for an older Christian man to not be these things. He's commanding them to be temperate, which implies they may not be. An older Christian, by the way, isn't automatically a godly Christian. Old age doesn't make a Christian man more faithful, more satisfied, more godly, more contented, more effective in service to God. You'd think Paul wouldn't have to tell old men anything. I mean, who wants to to begin with?

Right? They're already this way. This is who they are. No, not necessarily. The fact that they are included in this family talk but referenced first implies the critical nature that of every age group, this one, we've got to get this one down.

And I'm going to explain why as we go through our study today. The first characteristic is temperate. Originally, the word meant unmixed with wine. You could translate it woodenly, wine less. It came to refer to people, and I think this is Paul's thinking here, people who were sober in their mind. That is, they are in control of their passions, their words and actions. The word would be used to refer to a man who resisted being overindulgent, excessive, given to passions and emotions that flare up and just as quickly die down. One Greek scholar added that this word also came to describe a man who is free from excesses, free from what we would call today addictions, to destructive things like pornography or illegal drugs, both of which were rampant in first century Rome. See, Paul has already described Cretans as effectively dirty old men.

You remember in chapter one? Their mind and their consciences are defiled. They're dirty.

They're sullied. Now, let's do something about it. And remember, he's talking to men who are Cretans.

I mean, you used to be that way. Now, let's show our culture what it means to be healthy and wholesome and clean and uncontaminated men. It fits with the doctrine that we say we believe. Let's show them what it looks like to be a godly old man. OK, who qualifies to be an old man?

You've waited long enough. Who is Paul addressing as this family talk begins? Well, we know from Greek literature, we have to go there for help, that during the days of Paul and Titus, the word used here in verse two for older men was used for men who had reached the age of 50. Oh, some of you go.

And others go, oh, great. This is for the old guy sitting next to me. I'm off the hook.

Well, if you've reached 50 or you're borderline or maybe you crossed the border years ago, this is for you. You're an old man. I didn't call you that.

Paul did. You're an old man. There's no need denying it anyway. You already know you're getting old anyway, right? I read one guy who wrote, you know, you're getting old. You know, you're old when you recognize the music on the elevator and can sing along. You know, you're getting old when you've owned clothes for so long, they've come back in style twice. Well, in the mind of Paul, who wrote this letter to Titus long before the invention of elevators in his thinking, if you're 50, you qualify.

Notice what he has next to the list. Older men are to be temperate. Here's an interesting word, dignified.

The word is semnas. It means to be worthy of respect. See, the Cretan men, we've seen them described in chapter one, they were adolescents. What's adolescent activity?

What's adolescent thinking? Somebody who lives for himself and his own desires, somebody who views people as pawns, I want this now, I, me, and my. You remember the Cretans didn't even want to work. They wanted to be paid. They wanted a life of luxury. They didn't want to accept responsibility or self-sacrifice or a work ethic that went beyond their own comfort level. In a word, they wanted to remain adolescent.

Feed me now. So the implication here in verse two then is that it's possible for an old man to act like a little boy. Paul is saying to the Christian, show your culture what it means to act your age.

What's the opposite of it? Well, the cultural adolescent is all about his own shallow reflection. In other words, respect me because of what I have. Paul says, no, no, no. Dignified means you are respected because of who you are.

The solution is not going to be sudden. In fact, Paul knew the solution would be first to challenge the older men to begin to pursue these characteristics and to develop this and to continually teach this, to pursue these characteristics and then turn around and mentor and disciple the younger men who never had a father, who'd grown up. They had a father who was an adolescent. I can tell you after spending recent days and time with some of our leaders, we're going to be taking new and aggressive initiatives as a church family to train men in this regard, encouraging older and more spiritually mature men to mentor younger women. You saw a fascinating ministry moment a little while ago about how the women are doing this wonderful ministry. We need to be doing this as men. Pastor Wiley told me his Wednesday morning quest is going to begin exploring ways for older men in the faith to mentor younger men in the faith.

Next month, the men's ministries is bringing a businessman, Dan Cathy, the CEO of Chick-fil-A, to come and share his testimony and what it means to be a distinctive Christian man in the community. And those of you who are men, you need to be here for that. Listen, the church has to be the place.

It has to be the place where we have within our family circle older men who aren't ashamed of that, who are willing to live like that, who are willing to pursue the temperance and the dignity of old age, who can have fun and enjoy life, who will mentor younger men, who will become more than likely the first genuinely mature father figure younger men in the church have ever had. Older men must be worthy of respect, not because of what they own, because of who they are. See, that has to change. And he tells the older men to be that way.

Let me give you another word. He adds to the list the older men must be sensible. This is one of Paul's favorite descriptions for the entire family, by the way. It's the only term he uses not only for older men, but young women and young men. And then later on in verse 12 of chapter 2, he's going to tell the whole church to be sensible.

He loves this word. It refers to soundness of thinking, of mind. It then flows into self-discipline. In other words, you are maturing as an older man because you are doing the right thing, not just because someone is telling you to or someone is reminding you to, but because you want to. It's part of your daily passion. So you get up in the morning and you effectively pray, Lord, today I want to think right. I need wisdom to judge issues, to determine what's good and what's better and what's best in my life. And old men are great for this.

Why? Because old men have lived long enough to see just about everything. Older men have lived long enough to know by then that sin promises a whole lot more than it will ever produce. Older men have handled enough money to know that it can't bring happiness and it can take wing and fly away. Older men have owned enough stuff to know how quickly it gets shoved in the attic. Older men have seen enough sickness and suffering to know that life is fragile and unpredictable. And so older men can teach younger men how to relish the moment. See, they've grown in discernment, in balanced thinking, which is the characteristic of this word sensible.

They've grown tall enough for their feet to touch the ground. Finally, Paul adds at the end of verse 2, they're to be sound in their faith, love and perseverance. There's that word sound again. They're to be healthy and whole. They're to be uncontaminated in their faith, in their love, in their perseverance.

What does he mean? Sound in faith describes their relationship with Jesus Christ. It's healthy. It's growing.

It's ongoing. It's unfettered. It's uncontaminated.

It's kept clean. And that's daily business, right? Sound in love describes relationships with other people. An ongoing choice to exercise agape, which is Paul's word used here. That's the selfless love of commitment.

It is affection for others based on volition. Sound in perseverance simply means you're committed to doing the above. You're going to persevere at it.

You're going to keep at it no matter what. Now, what Christian man wouldn't sign up? I'd love a healthy relationship with God, and I'd love for my relationships with people to be sound, but how many will sign on for the perseverance demanded of them to pursue soundness and purity and wholeness in faith and in love, no matter what?

How many men have justified going out the back door? I choose not to persevere in that manner. Well, I thought the Spirit of God, I mean, when I signed up to have a good relationship with him and a good relationship with people, I thought the Spirit of God would kind of smooth everything out as soon as I signed up. Listen, the greatest demonstration of the power of the Spirit of God was in God the Son, Christ Jesus, not escaping the cross, but enduring the cross. He persevered. He, fully God, yet fully man, in his perseverance and soundness and health in all of his relationships, has become for us the perfect model of an older man, even though he never reached 50. He was that mature. What the family and the church family needs, according to Titus chapter 2, first and foremost then, and this is all we're going to get to today, but we're going to deal with the older men. They must be in pursuit of him pursuing these characteristics, while all others pursue everything else, older men lock in on these things.

Pursue what really matters. In one of his books, writer Robert Fulghum tells the story of when his daughter was six or seven years old, she gave him a paper bag to take with him to work. When he asked her what was in the bag, she said, well, get some stuff, take it with you. Well, he got to work, sat down, eventually got at his lunch and there was the paper bag. He poured out his contents, two ribbons, three stones, a plastic dinosaur, a pencil stub, a tiny seashell, used lipstick, two chocolate kisses and 13 pennies. He looked at him while he ate, finished his lunch, kind of swept off everything into the wastebasket and went back to work. When he arrived at home, his daughter ran right up to him and said, where's my bag?

I left it at work. Why? Well, she said, you know, those things in that sack, daddy, those are things I really like.

I thought you might like to play with them, too. But now I want them back. When she saw her dad hesitate, tears welled up in her eyes and she said, you didn't lose the bag, did you, daddy? He said he didn't.

And after she went to bed, he raced back to the office. Fulghum writes, and I'll quote him, Molly had given me her treasures, all that a little girl held dear and I missed it. I missed it.

And I didn't just miss it. I'd thrown it away. I went back to my office. I dumped all the wastebaskets out onto my desk. The janitor came in and said, did you lose something? I said, yeah, my mind is probably in here somewhere.

Help me find it. I found the bag and crumpled it, filled it again with my daughter's items, two ribbons, three stones, a plastic dinosaur, a pencil stub, a tiny seashell, a lipstick, two chocolate kisses and 13 pennies. And I brought them home. I went up and I sat down on the edge of the bed with Molly and I had her tell me all over again the story behind every treasure in her bag. Then he writes, to my surprise, several days later, Molly gave me the bag once again. Same old bag, same stuff inside, but I felt forgiven. For several months, the bag was given to me from time to time to take with me to the office.

I was never clear why I got it or why I didn't get it on a particular day. I began to think of it as a daddy prize and I tried to behave the night before so she'd let me have it. In time, Molly turned her attention to other things. She grew up.

She gave me the bag one morning and never asked for it back. It sits in my office today, left over when my little girl said, this is my treasure and it's yours. He writes, I missed it the first time, but not now. Dear friends, I think that in the opening lines of this family talk, Paul is telling the church and through Titus, the church will be taught what we need first and foremost are older men who have learned what to keep. Whatever church you attend, the truth of God's word rings true. Your church needs older men who have discovered the nature of true treasure and who are committed to pursuing what truly matters. Brothers, if that's you, I hope this challenge from God's word will stir your heart and give you a renewed sense of purpose.

And if you're a younger man, be on the lookout for an older man that you admire and ask to spend time with him. This is wisdom for the heart. Today's message from the preaching ministry of Stephen Davey is called the treasure of old men. Is there a man in your life who would benefit from hearing this message again? You can send them the link to today's message and they can listen online wisdomonline.org. Today's lesson was part one in a series from Titus two called family talk. As Stephen continues through this passage, there will be challenges for men and women of all ages. And I hope you'll be with us for all of it.

But between now and then we'd love to hear from you. You can send Stephen a note if you address your card or letter to wisdom for the heart. P.O. Box 37297, Raleigh, North Carolina 27627. Here's that address once again in case you're trying to write it down. It's wisdom for the heart. P.O. Box 37297, Raleigh, North Carolina 27627. Thanks for listening. Join us next time for more wisdom for the heart.