Greetings, church. As we gather this evening, I would encourage you to open your Bibles to Titus 2. We continue our series titled, The Gospel Ordered Life and Ministry. And this evening, we will be looking at verses 9 and 10. In the previous time together, we looked at verses 2 through 8 as we were looking at the subject of discipleship. And as we were discussing the importance of Titus, who was there, left by Paul on the island of Crete, so that he could set in order the things that would remain. So that he could set in order the life and the functionality of the church. And one of the foundational aspects of the life of the church is that of discipleship. The older training the younger. And that was, of course, spelled out with specificity by Paul here in this text. But now we're going to turn our attention really to the external aspect of the church, that regarding evangelism. And so we're going to look at verses 9 and 10, and we're going to consider the evangelistic aspect of or the example of an individual who is working for the glory of God. Someone who is laboring for the glory of God. And so our text is verses 9 and 10 of Titus chapter 2. Follow along with me as I read aloud. Paul writes to Titus these words. Bondservants are to be submissive to their own masters in everything. They are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior. And this evening I'm preaching on the subject of being a faithful example, which is an integral part of evangelism and let us pray together. Father, we do ask this evening as we engage in Titus chapter number two and as we continue this study that is quite rich and yet practical to us, we pray that you would encourage us in the faith, strengthen us to be faithful examples so that our lips and our lifestyle would match so that we would not be an individual that's considered a hypocrite. So that this church would not be considered some sort of church that says one thing or that professes faith, but yet doesn't live it out in all of the different spheres of life. So we want to avoid that idea of hypocrisy. So would you strengthen us? Would you clothe us in such a way with the gospel that we would adorn the doctrine of our God publicly. And again, we ask all of this in Christ's name. Amen. A number of years ago, I was on a missions trip and I was there in Ecuador and I was having a conversation with a specific man who was very honest with me. He said, he said, if I'm honest, he said, I'm struggling with this idea that I'm sharing the gospel for a number of hours every single day in a foreign land, thousands of miles away from my hometown. And yet at the same time, as I think about my actions and what I'm enjoying here on this trip, He said, if I'm really honest, I'm convicted about the lack of evangelism that I'm demonstrating in my own circles of influence, in my own hometown, in my own neighborhood. So we had some honest dialogue about what that looks like. And we talked honestly about the need to be evangelizing in our neighborhoods, within our circles of influence. within the sphere that God places us. And as we think about that, one of the greatest places that we could be sharing the gospel is with the people that we spend the most time with. Transcending beyond soccer moms and sitting on the sidelines with Little League Baseball, and transcending beyond just backyard barbecues with casual friendships in a neighborhood, would be the relationships that we have within the context of our workplace. Now this evening, as we look at this passage of Scripture, we see that Paul is writing to Titus, and he speaks to Titus about speaking to bond slaves, or to bond servants, specifically that of a slave. So obviously we understand that the slave and the slave owner, the slave and the master relationship is not something that is common in our culture at all in this particular day. But what we will see is that how this translates over to the relationship between an employee and an employer. And so how we behave in the context of the workplace says much about how we are genuine or lack thereof as far as the sincerity of our faith and how that looks. So are we a hypocrite? Do we merely profess faith in Jesus on the Lord's day, and then live contrary to the gospel in the workplace? How we talk about our boss, how we speak to fellow employees, how we work in the presence of our boss, and then when he's not looking, says much about the genuineness of our faith. And so as we look at this text of Scripture, only a couple of verses this evening, We consider how Paul is speaking about the family of faith. He's talking about the older men and then the older women, and the younger men and the younger women. And he's talking about that in the context of training the younger. This was discipleship 101, if you will. And that's what we looked at last time. But now as we see this idea of the work relationship, we can think in terms of external and that of being an example, which we see at the end of verse number 10 there. That idea of adorning oneself with the doctrine of God has this idea that if we have a changed heart, then we will have a changed life. that if God has changed our heart through the gospel, then the way that we live our lives outside of the context of the local church matters. And so what that means is that as we go to work, as we serve, that we should do everything for the glory of God. And so let us consider this text together this evening. First, I want to begin with merely a background, if I can, of slavery in the Roman Empire, because that's what he says here. The very first word that we see in verse number 9 is that of a reference to a slave. One of the greatest errors that we could do as we interpret Scripture is when we see the word slave in the Bible, is to read that word through the context of the 18th and 19th century and the slave trade industry that impacted America. that is certainly not synonymous with one another. And so any true student of history knows that what we see as the American slave trade, and really the African slave trade from years ago, is not the same thing as the slaves that we see in the Roman Empire. Now, what we need to see, and to be honest about, is that even within the Roman Empire, and even predating what we see as the Roman Empire that would have been that in the context of this very letter, is that the slaves that we find throughout history in this particular region, and even predating the Roman Empire, and predating the early church period, was that sometimes slavery could be harsh. Sometimes slavery could be cruel. According to Aristotle, quote, a slave is a kind of possession with a soul." He would go on and say the following, quote, A slave is a living tool, just as a tool is an inanimate slave. End quote. It was Gaius who went on to say this, quote, A slave is a thing to be owned and bought and sold and not a legal person. End quote. One individual gave some instructions to a farm owner as he took over a farm in how he was to operate and how he was to treat slaves. He writes the following, quote, Old slaves must be thrown out on the scrap heap to starve. When a slave is ill, it's sheer extravagance to issue him normal rations. The old and sick slave is only a broken and insufficient tool. Just pitch him out." End quote. One story exists of a slave owner that killed his slave simply because he killed a pet quail. One master threw a slave into a savage group of eels in a fish pond because he broke a crystal goblet. During the years of 140-70 BC, there was a slave rebellion that took place. And as we look through history, you're going to see different movements within what we know as the slave industry. And many criticize the Bible by suggesting that the Bible doesn't speak harshly against slavery. But what we need to understand is that while we don't see verses that say, thou shalt not own a slave, we must understand the context from which we find both the Old Testament and the New Testament as it pertains to slavery, which was far different than the 18th and 19th slave trade that we see impacting American history. For instance, what we do find is that the Bible regulates how a slave was to be treated. And always to be treated as an image bearer, always to be treated with respect and dignity. For instance, in Exodus chapter number 21 verse 16 it says, whoever steals a man, and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him shall be put to death." In other words, the law of God was very clear about regulating the idea of mistreating Slaves. In fact, every seven years, the year of Jubilee, you would release slaves as free people, as free individuals. Sometimes there would be an occasion where a slave would be released as a free man, but yet he would choose and he would desire to stay back and to serve freely. And there was a specific custom that would be performed in order to demonstrate that this individual, by his own free will, has desire to stay back as a slave. And we find that in Exodus chapter number 21. In verses 2 through 6, you hear these words. When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years. And in the seventh, he shall go out free for nothing. If he comes in single, he shall go out single. If he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master gives him a wife, and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her masters, and he shall go out alone. But, if the slave plainly says, I love my master, my wife and my children, and I will not go out free, then his master shall bring him to God. and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost, and his master shall bore his ear through with an awe, and he shall be his slave forever." In other words, the custom was that if this slave desired to stay back with his master, then he would go to a doorpost, or a piece of wood there, He would take a tool that was used for stitching leather and puncturing holes, and he would take the ear of the slave, and he would puncture a hole through the ear of the slave, and there would be a ring that would be placed there, and it would symbolize this idea that he has remained a slave on his own free will and volition. And so, this was the custom. The law of God established this in order to protect the abuse of slaves. The slaves in the culture of the early church, by the existence of the early church, slavery had drastically changed. And so God's word was very plain that slaves were to be protected and there was a specific way that slaves were to be treated, and yet there was also a specific way that believing slaves were to be functioning within the life of the early church. But we see these words To Timothy, as Paul writes in 1 Timothy chapter 6, he says the following, he says, Let all who are under a yoke as bondservants regard their own masters as worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and the teaching may not be reviled. In other words, Let a slave treat his master appropriately so that God's gospel, so that God's word would not be spoken evil against. Verse 2, he says, Those who have believing masters must not be disrespectful on the ground that they are brothers. Rather, they must serve all the better, since those who benefit by their good service are believers and beloved." So in other words, as Paul writes to Timothy, he was regulating and he was speaking about how the relationship between both a believing master and a believing slave should function within the context of the church. By the early church, slaves could own property. They could live independently. They would be oftentimes given a parcel of land whereby they would build a home or they would live independently from their own masters. They could serve in many ways to manage farms, manage homes for masters, or even in some cases, manage businesses. They could learn and pursue higher education. They could be, in many times, in many cases, higher as far as the education level. They could possess a higher education level than even their masters. Slaves often mirrored the social status of their masters in appearance in the community. And so it was a reflection of the home from which they lived and they served. Often slaves would enjoy the joyful aspects and the privileges of their master's family. During the context of the early church, it was possible to sell oneself off into slavery as a means of obtaining Roman citizenship. which was a gateway into their society. Most slaves would be released into society as free people by the time that they reached 30 years of age. Very few slaves reached old age as slaves. So many slaves were released into the society. Such a vast number of them were released into the society as free people that Caesar had to introduce legal restrictions to regulate their patterns. So the point is simply this, as we see the slave relationships there in both the Old Testament and the New Testament, what we see is we see that the Bible is regulating those relationships and speaking directly into those relationships so that God would be magnified. Again, at the time of Titus in the letter that we find in the New Testament that we know is Ephesians, At the time of the writing of those letters, there were some 60 million slaves in the Roman Empire. Some 60 million slaves. And so there would have been many slaves that would have been members of these local churches, like in Ephesus and the surrounding cities. And here on the island of Crete as well. So the relationship between a slave and a master had to be regulated in such a way to prevent division, disunity, fractured relationships, and all sorts of problems within the life of the church. And so, as we now turn to verses 9 and 10, we need to make application not to the slave and the master relationship, because that's not anything that we know in our present culture. But what we do see is this is directly applicable, if you will, to the relationship between an employee and an employer. And how we serve says much about the profession of our faith. Is it genuine? Is it hypocritical? Is it shallow? Or is there depth and genuineness to it? And so let's look at this text together. We're gonna see really five principles and then one end goal, if you will, in verses nine through 10. First we see that The slave was called to be submissive. Notice verse number 9. Bond servants are to be submissive to their own masters in everything. And so the calling to submissiveness. Slaves could be, sometimes in many cases, they could be more educated, sometimes they could have higher class, even their own masters. And so as a result of that, it could cause friction. As we saw in the letter to Timothy, as Paul writes there, he's regulating that relationship in the life of the church because Oftentimes what can happen is because of that relationship as brothers, there would not be a true submissiveness that needed to take place within the context of that employment sort of relationship. So if the slave was to be given direction, sometimes he would respond with a more casual attitude than he ought to, instead of showing genuine submissiveness and respect. Sometimes there would be just an outright disrespect that could develop in this relationship. And so, from the very beginning, what we see is that Paul is saying to Titus, you need to speak to the slaves that they should be submissive to their own masters, notice this, in everything. The word submission here is a Greek term that literally means to be subject to or to be subordinate. It's a military term that was often times used for those people, so a soldier within the context of a specific order of troops that he would put himself up underneath the authority of and arrange himself under the authority of a higher ranking official. And so the idea here, as it's used in this context, is that a slave should understand his own position. And he should put himself up underneath the authority of his master. There's a good principle when it comes to obedience, and it goes something like this. That we should do what we're told, when we're told to do it, with the right attitude. And we're to do that in the context of obeying in every aspect that we're called to. Unless we're ever called to disobey God, and then in those specific circumstances we're called to obey God rather than man, and so we know that. And so, when we think about the relationship between an employee and an employer, we need to be mindful of the fact that we should put ourselves up underneath the higher rank of our employer. We should do this for the glory of God. And so, in Ephesians 6, verses 5 and 6, we find these words, bond servants. Obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart. as you would Christ. Not by way of eye service, as people pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ. So, in that letter to the church in the city of Ephesus, which was a circular letter that would have been circulating in various churches in various cities, He goes further than he does here with Titus. He talks about this idea of submitting and obeying with fear and trembling. And so now we need to consider this idea of the work relationship. First of all, is work a bad thing? Is it a bad thing? Often times we hear people in our own culture that demean the necessity of work. Or they might look at work as merely a product of the fall, when it's not. Even prior to the fall in the Garden of Eden, what we find is that God placed Adam there as a worker. Work is not a bad thing. Matthew Henry once said it this way, quote, The devil visits idle men with his temptations. God visits industrious men with his favors. In America, in our specific culture today, we have this idea that's been infiltrated into our culture that work is a bad thing, this anti-work sort of mindset. It's a very troubling thing to behold when you consider this idea of slothfulness, We have men who are still living in their mother's basements, who are playing video games, and not going out and working an honest day's work for an honest day's wage. It was Spurgeon that once said it this way, quote, work is always healthier for us than idleness. It is always better to wear out shoes than sheets, end quote. And yet, we find that in recent years, it was Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, who spoke at Harvard's 2017 graduation ceremony, where he advocated this idea of a base salary as a basic human right for all of American citizens. So in other words, just because you're an American citizen, you should actually receive a base salary even before you work the first hour during that year. That's a troubling idea when you think about the consequences of it. Because you see, what the Bible teaches is something quite different. The Bible teaches something that's vastly different than that idea that Zuckerberg and others, or even this idea of slothfulness that has permeated our culture. In Paul's words to the church in the city of Thessalonica, in 2 Thessalonians 3, verse 10, he writes this, If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. So consider that, that's stiff language. If anyone's not willing to work, then... Don't even let him eat. He goes on further, and he speaks in 2 Thessalonians 3, verses 14 and 15, about as he charged the church to confront the people in the church who were unwilling to work. They had become a liability to the church. They were not faithful men who could be entrusted with the souls of children and their own wives. And so they must, they must be confronted. Such an attitude is utter rebellion to an employer, or in this case, a slave and a master. So this idea of submission and obedience is foundational. If we will put on display the gospel in our workplace, it must be through faithful work ethic and through faithful obedience. Second of all in this text, we see this idea of working with excellence. There's the calling to excellence. Bondservants are to be submissive to their own masters in everything. They are to be well-pleasing. This is the calling to excellence. This is the Greek word, well-pleasing, which means to be pleasing or acceptable, or that idea of satisfaction. In other words, the idea that we see in this text, in this context, is that the slave would work in such a way that it was pleasing to the master. And so, when we think about the idea of an employee, working a job, we need to see that that individual as a Christian is working for the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10.31 says it this way. I remember working for Ron Mooney. And I remember serving there and working in that specific environment. And I can remember walking through the bindery where the specific sheets that would come off of the printing press would be cut, and they would be folded, and they would be boxed. And those cardboard boxes always had this verse. on the outside. 1 Corinthians 10.31, so whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. The Christian should serve in a workplace environment for the glory of God. This is the calling of excellence. So why is it in our day that we have 70% of American workers who claim that they simply don't like their job? 90% of workers say that they do not feel like getting up in the morning to go to work. This breeds the attitude that says, or the mindset that says, I owe, I owe, so off to work I go. This breeds the idea of an employee driving up to work with this big, fancy license plate on the front of his truck so that everyone in the break room can see it through the window. I'd rather be fishing I don't like my job. I have a rotten attitude. I don't enjoy working. I don't enjoy serving. I talk bad about my boss behind his back at the lunch break table. I speak that way with a loose tongue in front of the employees. I am not a good example for Jesus. What a shame that is. We can't behave that way. If we're going to be faithful in evangelism, we need to be faithful instead of getting on an airplane and traveling thousands of miles away from our homeland, we need to start in that place where we spend the majority of our time and be an example to fellow employees and be an example to perhaps even unbelieving bosses or employers. We see also a third principle and a calling We see this idea that the slave was called to avoid an argumentative attitude, an argumentative attitude. The word here for argumentative is, he says, don't be or be not argumentative. It literally means to speak against or to contradict someone or something, to talk back. And sometimes in our own culture, we might say it like this. We might say, don't back talk me. But really, if you study this word, you will find that it has a range of translations. Interestingly enough, in Romans 10, verse 21, we find it translated this way. But of Israel, he says, all day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people. The very word is translated argumentative here in Titus 2, and Romans 10 is translated contrary. In Hebrews 12, 3, we find it translated this way, Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or faint-hearted. Again, talking about the example of Jesus, but he says this, who endured from sinners such hostility." The word that's translated in Titus chapter 2 verse 9, that's translated argumentative, is translated in Hebrews 12, hostility. Hostility. In Jude 11, this word is translated rebellion. And so the point is simply this. that the slave was not to have a rebellious speech or disposition towards his master. And the same thing could be said of us as an employee. We should not have an argumentative speech or an argumentative disposition, a rebellious speech or a rebellious disposition to our employer. We simply shouldn't do it. I can remember years ago as a young man complaining about my boss to my dad. And my dad listened patiently, and then at the conclusion, he said, always remember that the man that you're complaining about signs the bottom of your check. And that just resonated with me. It made me think differently. It made me think about things in a different fashion. But if we press on in this text, we'll find at the very beginning of verse number 10, he speaks about a different calling. Notice what he says. The calling to avoid pilfering or stealing. One thing was certain that in this specific text here, we can think in terms of the idea that those who are the closest to us can do the most damage to us. And those who are entrusted with much could also do much damage to us. In this text, with a slave and master relationship, as a master would give responsibility to the slave to care for his own affairs, to care for his own business, to care for his own home, that slave could steal possessions or could steal money. And so sometimes an ungodly slave might actually think, well, I've been disrespected, or I've been mistreated, or I haven't been appreciated the way that I should have this past year. So when the master turns his back, he may put aside some things, whether it be material possessions, or whether it be some sort of money, and set that aside in such a way that he could take it and hold it back for himself. This is nothing less than stealing. A.T. Robertson, the Greek scholar, translated this word to embezzle. To embezzle. Interestingly enough, we find it translated a different way in Acts chapter 5. Remember the classic story of Ananias and Sapphira. When Ananias and Sapphira sold a piece of property in Acts 5, 1-3, they had promised to give the proceeds to God through the local church. And what happened? Well, it says in verse number two, it says, beginning in verse one, it says, but a man named Ananias and his wife Sapphira sold a piece of property, and with his wife's knowledge, he held back. That's the very same word translated to pilfer here in Titus chapter two. So it's this idea of holding something back with this idea of deception, this idea of deception. But with his wife's knowledge, he held back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only part of it and laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to, here it is, hold back? So the slave was not to hold back, was not to pilfer material possessions or finances in such a way that he would be stealing from his master. In the employee and the employer relationship, it's a very common thing for an employee to steal from an employer. Over 90% of all employees admit to stealing something from work. Is that not shocking? 90% of those surveyed. Now you've got to just remember in that stat you're going to find both professing Christians and non-professing Christians. Those who are claiming to have their faith alone in Christ alone for the remission of their sins are claiming that, well, occasionally they might just take something that belongs to the company. They might take something that belongs to their boss. What a tragedy. What a tragedy. You might not steal a computer, you might not take your boss's car, but you might take vacation days. You might call in sick when you're really healthy. That's stealing. You can't steal. Unfaithful employees are a mark of hypocrisy within the life of the church. I was talking to a man some years ago and he was working for a local bank and he said, interestingly enough, that they have a specific policy that at this bank, your drawer could come up five to six hundred dollars short every single year without one word being spoken to you or being questioned or accused of stealing. So in other words, it was almost an unwritten code within the context and in the culture of that bank. that an employee that worked there, a teller, could actually give himself a $500 or $600 bonus every year by just taking it straight out of the cash in the drawer without even having a word spoken to him. What a tragedy. What a tragedy it is that a bank would actually build into their own business model a certain amount of theft from employees every single year. That was not to be the mark of a Christian. And Paul writes to Titus to drive that point home. And then we see another mark, we see in verse number 10, notice what it says, not pilfering, but what? Showing all good faith. This is the idea of loyalty. Loyalty, the word here in the Greek to show, showing here, is to direct the attention to or to cause something to become known. To demonstrate is the idea. The slave was to be loyal to his own master. There was to be this idea of trustworthiness. There was to be no ambiguity about his own loyalty to his master. So when we think about the employee and the employer relationship, why is it today that you have so many businesses that say, well, we have a massive turnover rate? No one's loyal anymore. The idea that a man goes to work for a company and retires from that same company is a lost art today. I can remember growing up and watching professional baseball, and I remember this idea of a franchise player. Today we talk about franchise players. It's this idea of a person who is brought onto the team in the very beginning as a rookie, and he retires from that same team. We see this with individuals like Ken Griffey Jr. years ago. who played for one team, and you can go to Seattle today and drive down the road right in front of the stadium, and there's a statue out in front of that stadium that memorializes this athlete that we know as Ken Griffey Jr. But in present-day baseball, it's a common thing for a player to play five, six, seven teams in his career. And so it is even in the workplace. A guy gets a job for one company, and then he works for a different company, and then a different company, and then a different company. He doesn't try to move up and become a loyal employee. Now, I'm not saying that if you ever leave your job for any reason, or even for a better opportunity, that that's sinful. What I am suggesting is that the boss should never question your loyalty. You should be a transparent employee. Your employer should trust you. John MacArthur observes this, quote, the Christian employee is not to leave his loyalty in doubt, but is to give ample evidence of it, end quote. What is the end goal in all of this, you say? Well, we saw, first of all, the slave industry or the context of slavery in the Roman Empire. And then, second of all, we see the Christian's calling to be a faithful employee so that he could present the gospel of Jesus Christ. Notice, if you will, at the end of verse number 10, here's the end goal. To adorn the doctrine of God. Not to pilfer. Not pilfering, but showing all good faith. So that. Here's the clause. Here's the purpose clause. So that. So that. So that in everything. They may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior. The idea of in everything is this idea of obeying your master in everything. Obeying your employer in everything. So that in all of the different areas, all of the different spheres, all of the different responsibility that you have as an employee, You should be marked, and that area of service should be marked with the aroma of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So that you would adorn yourself with the doctrine of God. Consider the word adorn here. It's a specific Greek term that means to make neat or tidy. It means to decorate. And it's from this very Greek term that we derive our English word cosmetics from. Cosmetics. And so the idea here is that the Christian is to adorn himself. The Christian is to adorn herself. with the gospel. The way that Paul is using this word here is that a person is to be clothed inside and outside with the gospel. In other words, if you have a changed heart, 2 Corinthians 5.21, if we have this idea of a changed heart, then what we need to understand is that Because we have a changed heart, we should have a changed life. We should have a changed vocabulary. We should have a changed loyalty. We should have a changed work ethic. In 1 Timothy 2.9, we find the very same word used in this context. It says, likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel. with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire. Paul's word to Timothy was that was that the women there in Ephesus, that they were to present themselves in a certain way. The context was that they were to present themselves unlike the world with the gold and the braided hair and the costly pearls and the costly attire. They were to adorn themselves, to cover themselves, literally to decorate themselves with respectable apparel. In other words, we are to cover ourselves with the gospel. Our speech should be accented with the gospel. Our service should be demonstrating that there's a changed heart and a changed life. We are to allow Christianity to be put on display in our place of employment. The place where we spend the most time. The place where we have the closest of relationships. We're not to have a flattering tongue, a hypocritical attitude. We're not to be men-pleasers, but God-pleasers. And so, in such doing, employees that work with us and our bosses will see that we love Jesus. And because Jesus loves us, there is a massive difference between us and the common worker who comes in off of the streets, who's a pagan, who doesn't love Christ, and who has never been changed by the gospel of King Jesus. In so doing, when we behave this way, when we live this way, when we act this way, it puts on display what Galatians 3.28 says. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free. There is no male or female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. The ground is level at the foot of the cross. So as Christians live out Our lives in this present evil age where we have all sorts of compromise and theft and a lack of loyalty, horrible attitudes, horrible speech, and all sorts of distrust between an employer and an employee. One of the greatest means of evangelism for us is to use our place of employment as a mission field and to put on display the gospel of Jesus Christ with our lifestyle so that When people hear that we profess faith in Jesus, they won't think that we're just a hypocrite that's a Christian on Sunday, but it's not Monday through Saturday. They will see us as being consistent, faithful, and true for the glory of God. The mission statement of our church reads as follows. We exist to believe and to spread the gospel of God, to see and savor the sovereignty of God, and to passionately reflect the glory of God to all people groups for their joy in Christ Jesus. And I want to urge our church. that before we think of getting on a plane and flying to Ecuador or to Kenya or to Madagascar or to any other place that we might be called to go, such as Haiti or any place else that we've served or have connections to, let our life preach and demonstrate and point people to and be a reflection of the gospel in our workplace. Now, it's impossible to preach the gospel just by how we live. That's the only part of it. We must actually open our mouths and actually use our words and tell people the good news of Jesus. But if we do that at the break room table at 12 o'clock on a Tuesday afternoon, and yet then we go back out and we work in such a way that's dishonoring to Christ, there's going to be a massive disconnect. People will see it. Your boss will see it. Your fellow employees will see it. We need to be a consistent Christian in everything for the glory of God. So maybe you're listening to this sermon this evening and you know that you have much work to do in this area. I want to encourage you to repent. Do people think of you immediately as a faithful, loyal Christian, or do they consider you someone who's a hypocrite? Are you engaging in evangelism on a regular basis or are you neglecting evangelism? Start here. Start at your place of employment and be faithful. But when you open your mouth, let your life and your lips match one another for the glory of God. Maybe you're listening to this sermon this evening and you know that you're not a Christian at all. Your life is nothing but hypocrisy. I want to urge you this evening, if God has revealed that to you, that you would turn from your sins, that you would repent, that you would trust Jesus Christ as your Savior, that as Jesus changes your heart, that your life would demonstrate that changed heart by how you adorn yourself with the doctrine of God. Let us pray together.