THE PATHWAY TO NOBILITY

Titus 2:1-2
Bob Bonner
February 8, 2009

In his or her youth, a man’s or woman's vitality, good looks, strength, and youthful energy often cover up deep inner defects such as bitterness, envy, hatred, or immorality. However, when a person ages and the defects remain, they become highly visible. An elderly "babe in Christ" is a sorry sight and is not regarded as honorable, noble, or dignified.

Old age tends to strip the body of its glamour and physical strength in order to emphasize the beauty of the soul. The greatest beauty can be seen in old age; it is the beauty which is more than skin deep. When I think of our church family and those who have found the pathway to nobility in their older years, two people come to mind.  These two have discovered the path to nobility, honor, and a dignified life. I think of Carroll and Neva True. At this time in their lives they are so physically weak and hard of hearing that they cannot make it to services anymore. They have faced tremendous heartaches in their lives, and yet, rather than becoming bitter, they have become sweeter with age. They are gracious, sensitive, and focused on what issues are most important. Filled with such wisdom, they have a parade of middle-aged adults seeking them out for counsel and encouragement. Their effective ministry has not diminished. They have more than they can handle. They are two people who are vital in spirit. How did they get that way? How can we become like them? What is the pathway to nobility and honor? What is necessary for the youth of today to still be found beautiful and spiritually sound when old age strips them of their outer beauty and physical strength? That’s one lesson we will learn as we return to our study of Paul’s letter to Titus.

In chapter 1 of Titus, the apostle Paul directed Titus as to what to do in the organization of churches in the various cities of Crete. He first told him to appoint elders in the one hundred or so cities on Crete and to give direction and guidance to immature followers of Christ. Then Paul put Titus on alert that in getting these elders in place, he must be aware of the false teachers who were opponents to his work and note their evil character, which stood in contrast to the godly elders.

In chapter 2, verses 1-15, Paul gives Titus various instructions about where to begin in his teaching of the believers. He explains what kinds of truths and instructions he should plant first in the hearts of the various classes of his hearers. He begins, in verses 1-10, with the core unit of society, the household. In these verses, he explains how people are to behave at home. Then in verses 11-15 he explains why their behavior is so important to the gospel of Christ. You see, the context of this teaching is not just marriage and family and the working conditions in the world at the time. Its immediate context is that of the Christian living life in the midst of the godless Cretan world, and living in such a way that his life supports the truth of the Gospel, rather than deters from it. In verses 1-10, Paul speaks directly to five groups of people living in a typical household of the time. He addresses older men in verse 2, older women in verse 3, younger women in verses 4-5, younger men in verses 6-8, and in verses 9-10 the slaves who were a part of and served in these households.

At this point, I think it would be wise to put a disclaimer out to you parents who might be concerned about the graphic nature of the discussion in next week’s passage of study concerning why Paul felt it necessary to write what he does to the Christian women in verses 3-5. If you plan to have children present who are junior high or older, the matters to which Paul is writing have probably already been witnessed or understood by them. Therefore, they need to know that God’s Word does not dodge the hard issues of life. God does not care what a culture thinks is “politically correct” or morally or legally permissible in our society. Both you and your children need to hear what God’s Word says to such behavior and what God’s design for women is. But if your children are younger than junior high, you may not want them present as we look intently at this portion of God’s Word and the culture of Crete that made it necessary for Paul to instruct the older women as he does. Remember, Paul’s letter was written to an adult, Titus, who was not shocked by such lifestyles but had to deal with them. And so must we.

Verse 1 introduces this next major section and gives a summary command that hangs over the whole passage. This command is ultimately aimed at each of the five groups of people mentioned in the section. The bottom line is that Paul stresses that his following exhortations are based upon behavior that is in line with “sound or healthy doctrine.”  In other words, “sound doctrine” is the kind of Biblical teaching that insures a healthy and productive spiritual life, instead of a teaching that disrupts or brings personal harm and stifles spiritual growth. 

An example of unhealthy, disruptive teaching that brings more harm than good is the unbiblical teaching that all God desires for us and plans for us is to bring about our immediate happiness. This was the philosophy on Crete during the first century, just as it is today. This philosophy stresses, “If I’m not happy with my job, my spouse, my role as a man or woman, or my unmet expectations of family life, I can jettison it. I can leave the job, the spouse, and the kids and go find happiness elsewhere, because God wants me to be happy.” That kind of crazy teaching disrupts, destroys, and brings ultimate heartache to all involved.

But sound or healthy teaching, an expression that Paul refers to several times in this letter, leads to spiritual growth and emotional stability. Sound Biblical teaching leads one down the pathway to nobility in aging. Understanding Biblically sound doctrine with the purpose of applying it to one’s life provides the proper basis for spiritual growth and holy living. 

For example, if the truth of God’s omnipresence and omniscience grips your life, it will affect how you relate to your family in private, how you drive in public, and what you do with God’s money over which He made you a steward. Because you know that God is with you everywhere you go and sees everything you do, you don’t live any differently on vacation than you do at home. True understanding of sound Biblical doctrine proves to be very practical.

Upon stressing the importance of sound Biblical teaching, Paul then moves to how it should affect five groups of people. Let’s begin our study of this next major section by reading and looking closely at the first two verses of this chapter. Paul writes in Titus 2:1-2, “But as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine. Older men are to be temperate, dignified, sensible, sound in faith, in love, in perseverance.”

Paul’s very first word in verse 1, “but,” introduces a sharp contrast with what was written in the previous chapter. The conclusion of chapter 1, verses 10-16, was a description of false teachers and heretics and the troubles they were causing in the local church.  Paul described them as men who were rebellious, empty talkers, and deceivers who were upsetting whole families for the sake of sordid gain. They were teaching Jewish myths and the commandments of men rather than the truth of God’s Word. Furthermore, Paul adds that such unbiblical teaching does not lead to godliness and good deeds. Nor does it encourage others to consider the claims of Jesus Christ. 

Therefore, in contrast to these false teachers, and somewhat emphatically, Paul tells Titus to speak, or more literally, to teach the things that are fitting (meaning behaviorally proper), because they are based in sound or healthy doctrine, the Word of God, as compared to the teachings based on the wisdom of man. This word for “speak” points to the kind of speaking or teaching that was not something done only in a formal setting as in a sermon or classroom, but also in everyday conversation or at spontaneous teachable moments. Hence, Paul’s overriding command in these verses is to “teach sound doctrine.”

Chapters 2 and 3 contain some very direct applications regarding Christian behavior. Hence, sound doctrine or healthy teaching should lead to a holy lifestyle. But just because sound Biblical truth is taught or understood, this does not necessarily and automatically produce godly living. If this were true, Paul would not have spent the bulk of the letter spelling out what should accompany sound doctrine—what that life style should be.

This term “sound” or “healthy” is repeated three times in this chapter (verses 1, 7, 9). And in verses 5, 8, and 10, Paul specifically states the purpose of sound Biblical teaching. Verse 5 says, “So that the word of God will not be dishonored.” Verse 8 states, “So that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us.” And in verse 10 the reason is that one’s behavior “adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect.” It’s all about our behavior not discounting the gospel and the Word before others who have yet to meet Christ or who are the enemies of Christ.

The bottom line is that the way we live our lives speaks louder than what we say we believe. Belief and behavior go together! All godly living must be built on the sound doctrine of God’s Word, which reproves, corrects, and trains us in righteousness, equipping us for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17). 

Allow me just a moment to specifically apply the importance of teaching sound doctrine to Biblical expository preaching. Biblical expository preaching is more than just teaching through a book of the Bible. It is teaching the Word in such a way that the listener understands the historical, cultural, and literary context of a passage of scripture. In other words, it is teaching a passage so that we first understand what the author intended his original audience to understand. Once that is explained, then we apply the scriptures to our lives. This is different than teaching topically, which more often than not picks a verse here and then bounces to another verse over there to support a personal belief or to say what the world says is okay or to make someone feel good.  I personally believe that topical preaching has many inherent and dangerous pitfalls. 

Mind you, not all topical preaching is bad. You can actually preach topically and expositionally at the same time. But most topical preachers don’t teach expositionally. Hence, allow me to list for you three benefits that Biblical exposition has both for the preacher and the congregation.

Biblical exposition lifts a great burden from the teacher. God's Word is the source of all comments and applications, not the teacher's personal opinion. Exposition reduces the temptation to “play to the crowd,” to tickle “itching ears,” or to engage in personality dynamics. As well, it eliminates the "Pied Piper" effect in which the teacher becomes the charismatic leader of the flock on some great quest, rather than the Word of God and Jesus being the authority of one’s life.

You see, if the preacher/teacher can stay with the text, he is much more likely to succeed in presenting God's point of view rather than his own. Furthermore, that which endures in any believer's life is that portion of the Word of God which actually gets applied to his life. Different than much of the topical preaching being done today which plays to one’s emotional needs, the truths of God’s Word, revealed through Biblical exposition, will still be there when all emotional responses are gone.

Now we have come to verse 2, which gives instructions to “older men.” In this verse we are told Paul’s goal of instruction toward older men. Although used elsewhere to refer to the church office of an elder, that is not the use or meaning of “older men” here. According to Hippocrates, there were seven periods of a man’s life. He uses this term “older man” to refer to that period of 50-56 years of age in a man’s life. Philo, another Greek historian, used it to refer to a man over sixty. Hence this expression, “older men,” points to men close to what we call retirement age, men of a sufficient age to have raised a family and to have seen their children begin families of their own. 

Why would Paul have to charge older men with what he does in this verse?  For those who understand men and the aging process, the answer is simple. Just because some of us are older doesn’t mean that we no longer need instruction. For many men, maybe even most men, “old age” is not always an ideal time of life. In the last chapter of Ecclesiastes, Solomon describes what the future holds for us as we get older. He tells us in 12:1, “Remember your Creator in the days of your youth.” That word “remember” means to reflect and act accordingly. And note this, young person: Now is the time to think about these things and plan ahead. It will do you no good to wait until you are older to start following Solomon’s instruction. In fact, Solomon had to learn what he is about to warn you of the hard way, because even though he knew God in his youth, in his adult life he turned away from God. “Before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, I find no pleasure in them.” This is a depressing statement from one who is old. That word for “pleasure” refers to physical pleasures such as eating any foods you wish, being able to taste what you eat, playing sports, sexual activity, or the pleasure that comes from hard physical labor. In old age, those pleasures tend to cease.  Verse 2 says, “Before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars grow dark, and the clouds return after the rain.” Poetically, “light” in Hebrew poetry is a symbol for well-being and vitality, whereas darkness symbolizes death. A cloudy day (Joel 2:2) pictures a day of misfortune. Those “returning clouds” represent the recurring rainstorms of physical ailments common to old age. The word “return” probably pictures those later years of adult life, when physical storms come and cause set backs. Just about the time you get well, boom, another storm or physical ailment hits, sidelines you, and puts you out of the game. In verse 3 we see, “When the keepers of the house tremble, [a reference to one’s arms and hands getting weaker with age] and the strong men stoop, when the grinders [teeth] cease because they are few, and those looking through the windows [eyes] grow dim.” It continues on from there, but you get the idea. Old age is not the ideal time of life.

The bottom line is that increased age typically brings decreased energy, diminished vision and hearing, more aches and pains, and often more opportunities for depression, hopelessness, and cynicism. As we grow older, change can become harder to accept. Life can become less fulfilling, less satisfying, and more disillusioning. As a result, even older men need to be admonished from time to time to keep their priorities straight and exemplify certain basic virtues. If we aren’t already, then we tend to become increasingly self-centered in our later years. 

Because of aches and pains, some men start feeling tired due to having put in their time, and they believe that they have nothing to offer. This leads them to the faulty belief that somehow they now have the right to retire. What’s interesting about such men who think this way is that they tend to become more cranky and disgruntled the older they get and the less they are involved in serving others. This is not how God designed men to finish the race of life. This is not the way one has to experience old age.

Older men typically have much to offer by way of experience and wisdom. God knows that they must not quit; they must not become self-absorbed with their own retirement if they want to still feel vital and know that life is worth living. But the world’s view teaches that whether you are speaking about a job or ministry in a church, you have the right to declare, “I’ve put in my time. Now it’s time for the younger men to take over. It’s my time to play.”

Instead of that false teaching, Paul in verse 2 lists six different areas in a man’s life that should be different from the self-centered unbelievers that live around him. These six areas are sign posts on the pathway to enjoying nobility and honor in old age.

First, Paul instructs that older men are to be “temperate” or clear minded, sober in judgment. In 1 Thessalonians 5, Paul gives us a better understanding of what he means by temperate. There he was speaking of the coming days of God’s judgment on earth—days that he called the “Day of the Lord.”  To be temperate during those harsh times is to be in control of one’s mental, emotional, and spiritual faculties. Hence, a temperate person is one who has a proper Christian perspective on life and the direction in which history is heading. As a result, the temperate man is stable and steadfast, reflecting a clear mind no matter what happens around him. He is able to discern more clearly which things are of the greatest importance and value. He doesn’t go to excess. He is not a slave to his appetites.  He uses his time, his money, and his energy more carefully and selectively than when he was younger and less mature. His priorities are in the right order, and he is satisfied with fewer and simpler things.

The second characteristic of a godly older man is that he is to be “dignified” or worthy of respect.  This word “dignified” does not carry the idea of haughtiness or high class. A dignified person is not frivolous, trivial, or superficial. His focus is on that which is noble, good, and of moral worth, rather than that which is cheap and sleazy.

Paul is not saying that it is inappropriate for older men to have fun. But he does mean that older men are not to play the fool. There is to be a seriousness about them that reflects the seriousness of life and the seriousness of the things of God. 

Thirdly, an older man is to be “sensible.”  This term is important and used four times in sixteen verses between chapters one and two. Probably a better translation of this term would be “self control.” It zeros in more on the fact that our fleshly appetites are not to be in bondage to physical desires, impulses, and passions. In Titus’ present circumstances, it depicts a measure of restraint in all things, which is the opposite of behavior that might be regarded as foolish or “Cretan.” 

The next three characteristics of a godly older man share the same adjective, “sound” or “healthy” or that which encourages growth. To be “sound in faith” has two possible meanings. To be honest, I’m not sure which is to be preferred, but both could apply and are equally important. One points to someone who has a growing personal relationship with God that is evidenced in the change in the way he lives. In 1 Thessalonians 1:9, Paul speaks of knowing that the Thessalonians were true believers because their faith was evidenced by changes taking place in their lives.

A second way “sound in faith” can be understood is that it points to a specific character trait such as loving and enduring. “Sound in faith” possibly points to one’s personal trustworthiness, one’s loyalty to their pledged word. I lean to this latter meaning of the expression because of what I have learned about the Cretans. This characteristic stands in contrast to what these Cretans were infamous for, lying and deception. After this we see the character trait, “sound in love and endurance.”

“Sound in Love” describes one’s healthy relationships with others. It is the character trait of being so secure that one can sacrificially love and serve others. By this time in their lives, older men are not to be so insecure and wrapped up in themselves that they can’t build into others’ lives or maintain quality relationships.

Lastly, older men are to be “sound in endurance.” This envisions the ongoing struggle to live as believers in rough Cretan social conditions. They have learned to graciously live with such difficulties as physical weakness, loneliness, and being misunderstood and unappreciated. They do not lose heart when things do not turn out the way they had hoped and expected, but have the perfect confidence “that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose,” Romans 8:28. Tough times can lead to a bitter, cynical loss of heart in older people, or it can effect a sweet, gracious, and grateful confidence in what Christ has done for you. 

Andrew Bonar was a nineteenth century Scottish preacher. At the beginning of his ministry something was said to him that every Christian man should ponder: “Remember that very few men and very few ministers keep up to the end the edge that was on their spirit at the first.” In other words, very few Christian men continue to grow, develop, and mature in their faith up to the close of their lives. Of many of them it can be said with sad truthfulness that, like Abraham’s son Isaac, they spiritually are not the men they were in their younger days.

The secret to older men finishing well, the key to manifesting these inner qualities in your life, is a commitment to the gospel of Christ and His living in and through you, transforming your life. It is the ongoing submission of your life to the Lord’s purposes as He has laid them out in His Word. The beautiful, vital, gracious “older person” Paul has in mind here is one who shares Paul’s goal in life as stated in 2 Timothy 4:7: to fight the good fight, to finish the race, to keep the faith until the end.

The Word of God makes old age the crowning glory of a person's lifetime. Old age can have promise, productivity, vitality, confidence, and a great deal of happiness, providing that spiritual preparation has taken place during the younger years. What kind of spiritual preparation is necessary for one to age with grace, productivity, vitality, and confidence? When should this preparation begin? When does this preparation end?

Why do you think it is, as Bonar’s friend put it, that “very few men and very few ministers keep up to the end the edge that was on their spirit at the first?” What practical steps can older men take to prevent this from happening to them?

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