How should a church run in a place like Crete? Paul here gives instruction to Titus about how to help these intergenerational congregations scattered across the island live for Christ. He hits on men and women, both older and younger, and eventually goes into other life situations as well. Regardless of our situation, how does the gospel shape our lives?
For Titus, as a teacher, he has the responsibility to teach healthy doctrine, countering the false teaching that was upsetting households. The fruit of that healthy gospel doctrine is the behavior that Paul goes on to encourage Titus to commend his congregation to.
For men, there are instructions regardless of their age. Older men are to live up to many of the same things as the more formally installed elders. They are to be sober-minded – and quite literally temperate in matters of alcohol. They are to be dignified – not a stuffed shirt with no sense of humor, but someone who behaves in a way that encourages others to treat them with honor. And they are to be self-controlled. All this, as implied in the later verses about women, is in part to set proper examples for the younger men of the Church.
The young men, then, are to be self controlled. This word references the same term applied to both older men and younger women, and has the implications of both guarding & safekeeping, and of wisdom.
And circling back to Titus, as one of those young men, he is to show integrity and dignity, living to both show the gospel to outsiders and to defend the overall honor of the church.
This understanding of honor and shame is important in understanding the context of the New Testament. The culture in that time and place was very focused on honor and shame, and there were times when Christians were called to gain honor in the culture – but also times when victory was won in shame, following the model of the cross. This is one of the reasons the gospel itself was (and is!) so scandalous.
So, the older men are to be examples to the younger, and everyone is to be an example for the world around. No one is irrelevant in God’s kingdom, and everyone has a role in the community of faith, ultimately to bring glory to God.
Next week, we’ll continue to dig into these instructions, looking into the instructions directed at women.
– Sermon Notes, Mahlon Friesen, Seed Church, Lynnwood, WA, November 3, 2019