So, we've been doing this Sunday School series on the topic of the church as the body of Christ, jumping around in the book of Ephesians, how Paul develops that topic. We looked, the past couple Sundays, at Paul's letter to the Corinthians, where he develops that idea of the church as the body of Christ and the various gifts. that the Holy Spirit has bestowed upon each and every member, and of course receiving a gift of the Holy Spirit, what are you supposed to do with that? Use it. Very good. Use it, right? So if Christ has gifted you with something by His Spirit, it means you're supposed to use it. And we talked about last week about how it is that we can identify those gifts. And seeing a lot of people come to me, they're like, well, Pastor, I just don't know what my spiritual gift is. Well, first of all, if you say spiritual gift singular, it means that you're probably misinformed. And we know you can be misinformed about spiritual gifts. Each and every one of you is a unique combination of spiritual gifts. which you are called to use, not for yourself, actually, but for the building up of others. And the only way in which your gifts will be recognized and used and fanned into flame, as Paul tells Timothy to do with his gifts, is in the context of the community of faith, is as it is being used in the context of the body of Christ. And so kind of picking up on that metaphor that Paul uses in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, where he talks about how the body, though one, has many members, right? We all have one body, except we have hands and feet and eyes and ears and heads and legs, and we have different members, right? What use does a severed hand have? And it's kind of a grisly idea, but you get the point. If you're in the desert and you come across a severed hand, how useful is that hand? Not very useful, right? It's only when your hand is attached to the body that you can realize all the things you can do with your hand, right? And so that's how it is that our gifts are recognized as we come to church, as we participate in the community of the saints, get to know one another and get to know their needs and pray for them and ask how we could serve, that those gifts are recognized and then put to use. And also where maybe you volunteer for something, you're like, I'd like to volunteer for this. And then you realize somebody comes to you and says, you know what, brother, sister, this isn't your gift. Let's find you something else to do, right? That also is a good opportunity, because then you realize, well, I'm not going to waste my time on something I'm not gifted at. I wanted to sort of conclude our time together in considering the church as the body of Christ by looking at a passage that we read on a somewhat regular basis during our reading of the law as we're reminded of God's will for our life, and that is Titus chapter 2. In Titus chapter 2, I'm not aware of, at least in this letter to Paul, the letter that Paul wrote to Titus, probably one of his young proteges, who was a pastor, who he left on the island of Crete, to put in order things by installing elders in all the churches. We read this in 1.5, he says, this is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order and appoint elders in every town as I directed you, right? Titus is doing sort of cleanup of Paul's work on the island and he's there to do things that Paul is not able to do because he's not there in person. But Paul's entrusting this to Titus. As far as I'm aware, nowhere in this letter does he talk about or at least mention explicitly the idea that the church is the body of Christ. But what he describes in chapter two I think assumes it. And we see that, for example, when he says, well, let me just read the whole chapter for you, it's not that long, we'll read it and then we will highlight these things. So, Titus chapter two, verse one, says, but as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine. Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Older women, likewise, are to be reverent in behavior. not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good. So 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. Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching, show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. Bond servants 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. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope in the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who 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. Declare these things, exhort and rebuke with all authority, let no one disregard you. The one thing I wanted to highlight for you, and perhaps I haven't noticed this in all the times I've read Titus 2 until my preparation for this, Showing that Paul is assuming this concept of the church as the body of Christ and how it is that we are all united together into one body. In verse 8, when he's exhorting Timothy that he should be, you know, he should show himself in all respects as a model of good works and sound speech that cannot be condemned. So that an opponent may be put to shame having nothing evil to say about Us. You would expect Paul to say, having nothing evil to say about you, right? You, Timothy, singular. And that would have been true, right? I mean, Timothy, singular, as he's left in Crete and entrusted with all these things. He needs to be careful about how outsiders perceive him. He could even, Paul could even say, if he was from the South, he could say, having nothing evil to say about y'all. right, speaking to all the believers on the island of Crete, right? But what does Paul do? He includes himself in the number of those who would be maligned, right, or, you know, thought of, you know, having evil things spoken about him. Based upon the way Titus was conducting himself, he includes himself in that number. How can he do that? Well, I think in the same way that Jesus, when he confronted the Apostle Paul, or before he was the Apostle Paul, of course, Saul of Tarsus, on the road to Damascus, and he says, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting my followers? Is that what Jesus said? He says, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And that really stuck with the Apostle Paul, right? He realized that when he persecutes Christ's people, he's persecuting Christ because the people are his body. He takes it personally. And so here, Paul is investing himself in not only Titus' life, but also all the believers here living on the island of Crete. And notice how he addresses them. He addresses them as different parts of the body. And here, he's not thinking so much of particular giftedness, as if one person is particularly gifted in this area, another person is particularly gifted in another area. No, here, as he tends to do in his other letters, is he addresses different segments of the congregations based upon age, sex, and status as far as either free or slave. So we see this in Ephesians where he addresses wives, husbands, wives, children, fathers, slaves, masters, right? So here it's older men, older women, young women, young men, and then slaves. But who does he start with? As is always the case for Paul, whenever he's thinking about how it is that the body of Christ can exercise and use the gifts that they have for the building up of the body of Christ, right? He starts with the ministry of what? The Word. Ephesians 4, Christ is gifted the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers. That's the ministry of the Word. Ephesians chapter 12, Christ is instituted first apostles, then prophets, third teachers, then the rest of the gifts. Ministry of the Word comes first because in the order of operation you have to have the Word. in order to be properly equipped, in order to then use those gifts for the good of others. So that's why he starts off by addressing Titus first, and he says, teach what accords with sound doctrine. This phrase, this term sound doctrine, healthy doctrine, what we might refer to as orthodoxy, right, is a high priority for Paul in the pastoral epistles, the two letters he wrote to Timothy and the one letter he writes to Titus, writing to pastors. And he talks about how he has entrusted to them a particular message that he describes as sound, as healthy, as orthodox, and he says, watch it, keep watch on it, because there's gonna be false teachers wanting to pervert that and twist it, but we need to focus upon that. And so he starts with Timothy, and really he ends with Timothy. Look at verse 15. Declare these things, exhort, rebuke with all authority, let no one disregard you. And then in the middle, He exhorts, sorry, I keep saying Timothy and Titus. In the middle, he addresses Titus when he says, show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works. So not just be orthodox, so we talk about orthodoxy, which literally means straight glory. If you go to the orthodontist, what does the orthodontist do? straightens out your teeth, right? Orthodontist literally means straight teeth. Orthodoxy means straight or correct praise, praise referring to how we ascribe praise to God. But in addition to orthodoxy, not only does he say, Titus, you got to have your theological ducks in a row, but he also talks about orthoproxy, right practice. not just words, but conduct. So that's why he says, show yourself as a model, literally a type, something that people can come and copy and paste what you do with their lives. So Titus is supposed to do these things. And that's, so you see coming out of, how is it that Jesus can purify for himself, for his own possession, the people who are zealous for good works? What does this look like? How does a church manifest itself as a new creation of Christ, as a people who are zealous for good works? First and foremost, it starts with sound doctrine, preaching of the word, the ministry of the word exhibited not only in word but also in conduct. This is the sermon I need to be preaching to myself. I suppose for application on your part is listen to that, listen to it, and pray for your pastor, please, so that I could do this, because it doesn't come automatically. But then, As we see, Paul then addresses the different segments of the congregation. It's amazing how, as a control freak, I am a control freak, I'm amazed by the Apostle Paul about how hands-off he is with so many things in his letters. You know, he talks, I forgot the two ladies he mentions in the, is it the book of Philippians? Where, you know, they're not getting along, and I don't remember their names, so I won't embarrass them. But their names are included in Holy Scripture. And he says, I'm writing to you and you that you get along in the Lord. Right? Because apparently they weren't getting along with each other. And he tells them to just get along in the Lord, but he doesn't tell them how. Right? You think the Apostle Paul could say, okay, I'm going to settle this issue. I'm going to tell you who's right and who's wrong. Can you say that? No. He just says, get along. So same here with Titus. He's like, I left you there to put things in order. And how do you do that? Well, you ordain and install elders and ministers of the word in the congregations. That's how it happens. Now, he gives general advice, but again, nothing really specific. These are very general things that he prescribes. But notice, he doesn't just talk to the whole congregation, but to the different age groups. And I think that will clue us in about how Paul could feel so confident that these Christians will learn how it is that they can be this people for Christ's own possession, zealous for good works, adorn the doctrine of God their Savior to outsiders without micromanaging their lives. So he says, older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. These are, of course, character traits. These character traits are not unique to old men, as he repeats some of the very same character traits for older women and for young men and young women. But of course, that looks different depending on your status or depending on where you are in life. He starts with older men, but then moves on to older women. And this is where I want to kind of highlight, because this is where he develops it the most. He says, older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers. The Greek word there for slanderer is diabolos. which is typically translated what? Devils. Diabolos literally means accuser. Satan's called the accuser of the brethren, right? Satan, Satan means opponent. So he's telling the older women, don't be devils. Don't point the fingers, right? No, don't be slanders, don't be accusers, don't be slaves to much wine. Apparently alcoholism was an issue on the island of Crete, just like it is in 21st century America. He says, slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good. I have room here. The term, teach what is good, what is it? Teach what is good. Four words in English, one word in Greek. Kalo didoskalos literally means good teachers. This word appears only here in all of ancient Greek literature. In all of the other ancient Greek literature that we've dug up, and we got a lot, okay? This word occurs nowhere else amongst Christian or secular writers, which gives us pretty safe ground to assume that Paul is coining this term. Just like we saw in our passage today where Peter talks about don't be meddlers, don't be busybodies in other people's affairs, and we think pretty much Peter probably coined that term because no other secular writer uses it, and only later Christian writers in the 3rd and 4th century use that, no doubt, quoting from Peter. This word, kallodidaskalos, is only used here by the Apostle Paul, and he probably coined this term, and that's important to keep in mind because when we read this passage that older women are to teach younger women, and they are to teach what is good, we immediately assume, oh, okay, here the Apostle Paul saying that it's okay for a woman to teach in church as long as she's only teaching other women. Now that may or may not be the case, but that's not what Paul's getting at here. He's not talking about women teaching Bible studies or teaching in a formal church context where the Word of God is opened and things are applied. Clearly, in one sense, all of us as believers are to speak the truth in love to one another, addressing one another in hymns and spiritual songs, teaching and admonishing one another. All of us are called to do that as a general office of believer. But that's not what Paul's getting at here. Paul actually goes on to tell us exactly what he means when he says that older women are to be kalo didaskalos, good teachers, in the very next verse, verse four, when he says that they are to train young women to love their husbands and their children, literally to be lovers of husbands and lovers of their kids. to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands. So how do you, as a young mother, as a young, as a wife, as a younger woman in the church, how do you learn how to be a person for Christ's own possession, zealous for good works in your own particular calling in life? How do you learn how to do this well? Well, obviously you have the Word of God in general, you have the preaching ministry of the Word, but what about practical details? Notice how the Apostle Paul doesn't address the young women directly and say, young women, you need to be submissive to your husbands, you need to love your children, you need to do X, Y, and Z. No, what does he do? He addresses the older women to teach the younger women how to do that. Why does he do that? Probably because Paul has no idea what it's like to be a young married woman on the island of Crete. He has no idea what it's like to love your husband who's probably 10 to 20 years older than you, who you didn't choose to marry, but was, you know, it's an arranged marriage. He has no idea what it's like to be a woman who he, Peter calls the weaker vessel, who, you know, are plagued with illness throughout their life due to malnutrition in the first century world. He doesn't know what it's like to change diapers, but older women do. Why? Let me ask you, older women, how do you know that? Because you've done it, right? You've done it. And that's the beauty of the community of faith, is we're not divided according to age group where you have a traditional service for the old people. where we sing hymns and the young service for the hip young kids, right? And separate the congregations where they will never meet each other like ships in the night. No, they're all together so that Paul can address them all separately, but recognizing this part that we are all part of the body of Christ. We all have unique gifts, but also in another sense, we all have a same lived experience. Some of us are further along than that. So this is something that I, you know, when I meet with young couples who are hoping to get married and we talk about what God's word has to say about marriage and the responsibilities that they will have as husbands and wives, and I always emphasize the community of faith and the church and how you don't do this on your own. You don't do it on your own apart from your pastor in session, but you certainly don't do it on your own apart from other believers who have gone on before you. So, you know, you young parents who are like, man, my kid, I just don't know how to discipline my kid. Well, who should you turn to? Older people who have disciplined their kids. And maybe, and here's the thing, I can tell you, because I have a 22-year-old and 17-year-old, and it's not always we know what to do because we've always done it right. More often than not, we know what to do because of the mistakes we've made in the past. Let me tell you what not to do. Let me tell you how not to handle this situation, because I tried it this way and it blew up in my face. So this is exactly, this is the idea, and even though Paul doesn't come right out and say it, this is what older men are supposed to do for younger men. This is what Titus as a pastor is supposed to do for the whole congregation, modeling good behavior so that others can follow in footsteps. I'm going to pause. I've been doing a lot of talking. I'm going to pause and see if there's any questions, comments. OK. One other thing, maybe because I'm looking at the crowd, I'm seeing them. a bit of an older crowd, not to insult anybody. Not a lot of young moms here, because I think they're chasing their kids right now. But for you older women, you get home from church, and you're like, man, so-and-so couldn't control their kid today. They've got to get a handle on that. Maybe instead of coming home and complaining about that situation, you could pray, number one. Maybe approach other people your age and say, hey, do you recognize this as an issue? And then maybe, in accordance with general principle Matthew 18, going to that person and saying, hey, can we help you with your child? Can we help you? Do you need help? No one likes unsolicited advice. So I'm not saying do this. Just go right up to the person. But this is from God's word. Older women are supposed to be good teachers. And this is exactly what Paul is talking about here. Let's see here. I want to make sure I'm not missing anything else. Yeah, so this is the process that God has established here. So look at verse 11, Titus chapter 2, 11. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us. So notice that term training, right? This is a process. This isn't like Jesus zaps us with lightning and then all of a sudden we're automatically sanctified. No, this is a process. This is training, but we don't do this on our own. So, It was Hank Hanegraaff, the Bible Answer Man, always said, there's no such thing as a Lone Ranger Christian. There's no such thing as a Lone Ranger Christian. If you see yourself as a rugged individual, Lone Ranger, I'm just gonna do this on my own, pull myself by my own bootstraps, pursue my Christian sanctification as an individual in isolation from the community of faith, you're like that severed hand out in the desert. useless for yourself as well as for others. So this is where I wanted to conclude with a picture of a severed hand in your mind in the desert. Don't be like that severed hand, but the idea that we're part of the body of Christ, right? We're individually gifted, we have lived experience, not for you, but for others around you. Any questions, comments? All right, let's conclude our time with prayer. Through the Lord Jesus Christ, we do thank you that you so loved us and gave yourself up for us so that we might be your own possession, that you train us to renounce ungodliness and to follow after you so that we might be your people who are zealous for good works, who adorn the doctrine of God our Savior. We pray, Lord. that you would continue to build us up as your body, that you would continue to gift us, that each and every one of us would desire and seek to recognize and put to good use the gifts that you have bestowed upon us, not for our own good, but for the building up of the body of Christ. And we ask all of this in your name. Amen.