adorning the gospel together
Titus 2:1-10
Main Idea: We adorn the beauty of the gospel by living with ordinary faithfulness in every season together.
I. The Priorities of Ministry (2:1, 7-8)
In his role as pastor/elder, Titus must be a ‘model’ (prototype) of sound doctrine and good works, so that the church is built up (Eph. 4:11-12) and opponents are silenced (2:8).
Apart from Christian theology, we don’t know what the Christian life should look like. If we believe the Christian life should be characterized by hospitality, forgiveness, love, mercy, and faith, we need Christian doctrine to fill those words with Christian meaning. Without doctrine, we’re left with mere sentiment.
~ Trevin Wax, The Thrill of Orthodoxy
II. The Household of Faith (2:2-6, 9-10)
A. Older Men (2:2)
Ecclesiastes 7:10: Say not, “Why were the former days better than these?” For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.
B. Older Women (2:3)
C. Younger Women (2:4-5)
It would not be legitimate to base on this word either a stay-at-home stereotype for all women, or a prohibition of wives being also professional women. What is rather affirmed is that if a woman accepts the vocation of marriage, and has a husband and children, she will love and not neglect them… What he is opposing is not a wife’s pursuit of a profession, but ‘the habit of being idle and going about from house to house. (1 Tim. 5:13)
~ John Stott, The Message of 1 Timothy & Titus
D. Younger Men (2:6)
E. Bondservants (2:9-10)
While we cannot defend the indolence or cowardice of two further Christian centuries which saw this social evil but failed to eradicate it, we can at the same time rejoice that the gospel immediately began even in the first century to undermine the institution; it lit a fuse which at long last led to the explosion which destroyed it.
~ John Stott, The Message of Ephesians
Colossians 3:23–24: Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.
Conclusion: Adorning the Beauty of the Gospel (2:10b)
