Transcript

As we set sail today into the second chapter of Titus, we are going to hear Paul deliver instructions that are about as politically incorrect and culturally out of step as you can imagine. That is why Paul begins here in verse 1 by telling Titus to “teach what accords [agrees] with sound doctrine.” In other words, you are not to teach what agrees with culture. Culture is not the standard; sound doctrine is.

Christianity does not try to conform to culture; Christianity creates a new culture. After all, what is most often politically and culturally correct is biblically corrupt. Nowhere is this divide between culture and Christianity clearer than here in Titus 2.

Now Paul is going to speak to each member of the family, and he begins with older men, writing in verse 2, “Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness.” The word he uses for “dignified” effectively means to act your age. Show your culture what it means to grow up—in maturity and dignity.

We know from Greek literature that one was considered an old man when he reached the age of fifty. No offense to all you fifty-year-olds, but you would fit this category of older men. And I am right there with you.

By the age of fifty, then, Paul says that a man ought to be demonstrating personal depth and mature thinking. The adolescent male often focuses on trivial things: “Look at my clothes, look at my muscles, my money, my car.” An immature man says, “Respect me for what I have.” Paul wants older men who can say, “Respect me for who I am.”

We need older men in the church today to step up and model maturity. They have lived long enough to know that sin promises more than it produces. They have seen that money cannot buy happiness. They have owned enough things to know how quickly they get thrown away, and they have seen enough sickness to know that health is unpredictable. It is time for older men to model what Paul describes here as steadfastness in doing what is good and right.

Paul then moves on to speak to older women in verse 3. Older women are to be “reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine.” His warnings here against slander and alcohol are appropriate for everyone. But apparently in Titus’s day, ungodly speech and unhealthy addictions especially afflicted older women, who had time on their hands now that their children were grown and gone.

Paul wants the older women to occupy their time fulfilling a special role in the church, something they are uniquely qualified to do.

[Older women are to] train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. (verses 4-5)

Older women are to invest in younger women, training them, Paul writes, to be “working at home.” Some translations render this phrase “keepers at home.”

Some would say that if a young wife and mother is to be the keeper at home, then she must be kept at home. Paul did not mean that at all. A wife in Paul’s day might be helping out by working in the field at times alongside other women or working with others to serve the needs of the community as well as the church. If you take a closer look at the woman in Proverbs 31, she is hiring her own staff, going out to help the poor, bartering in the market with tradesmen, negotiating real-estate deals, and more.

Paul is not telling women the home is the only place where they can work. He is telling them that it is their priority when it comes to investing their energy and time. Here is the biblical model: a woman’s family is not her only focus, but it is her primary focus.

Paul is actually commending and exalting the roles of a mother and a wife and a homemaker. This is not a second-class role in life. Frankly, it has the greatest influence in life. A mother impacts virtually every level of society by teaching her children godly virtues, respect for authority, relational skills, work ethic, honesty, self-discipline, sacrificial love, and above all, the application of biblical truth to life.

Paul essentially says, “Teach these young mothers and wives that this is their high and holy calling—to make their homes havens for their husbands and children and to influence their families for the glory of God.”

Next, Paul addresses younger men in verse 6. Only one attribute is mentioned here; they need to be “self-controlled.” This word refers to self-restraint in the face of temptation. Self-control means making godly choices where there are competing options.

With that, Paul focuses on the life of Titus, emphasizing that he is to be an example to the church (verses 7-8). Paul makes special mention of Titus’s demeanor as a pastor. Even his vocabulary while he is teaching should be exemplary. The apostle writes here, “In your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech.”

The word for “sound” is the Greek word for healthy—we get the word hygiene from it. Paul is saying, “Titus, make sure your speech is wholesome; your vocabulary is clean.” We need that today, as pastors now use vulgar language—even profanity—in the pulpit. We need pastors like Titus who will model dignity and wholesome speech, especially when they stand to teach and preach the Word of God.

Finally, as he has done several times elsewhere, Paul reminds Titus that Christian slaves are to be submissive and obedient to their masters. In so doing, he says, they will “adorn the doctrine of God” (verse 10). They will clothe themselves with actions and attitudes that highlight the beauty of the gospel of Christ.

Beloved, if all the members of the family of God committed to playing their roles described here in Titus 2, Christians would look like the description in verse 12: they would “renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and . . . live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age.” Why? So we can boast about how godly we are? No, so we can stay focused on what truly matters.

Paul goes on to provide a wonderful motivation for godly living in verse 13: we are “waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.” Why do we live the way we do? Because Jesus is coming for us at any moment. When we are looking for His appearance, we will be motivated to hear His applause.  

This expression here—“the appearing of . . . our great God and Savior Jesus Christ”—is a very strong statement of Jesus Christ’s deity. You could translate it, “Our great God who is our Savior, Jesus Christ.” Jesus Christ is God.

Paul continues, describing the atoning work of God the Son, our Lord Jesus: He “gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works” (verse 14). What Jesus did for us motivates us to say “Thank You!” And how do we say “Thank You?” By honoring Him by the way we live.

Paul concludes chapter 2 by reminding Titus to teach godly living that honors God. The apostle tells him, “Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you” (verse 15).

It is as if he is saying, “This chapter might be unpopular. It might be politically incorrect and culturally out of style, but do not let anybody tell you anything different—on the island of Crete or in whatever country you are living in today. This is for your good. It is for the good of the family and the good of the church, and certainly, this is for the glory of God.”