God's Ideal Church

Have you ever heard a story that goes something like this? A young man once said to his pastor, I like Jesus, but I hate the church. The church is full of hypocrites, full of self righteous bigots, and people who care only about how they are perceived. Yes. The pastor said the church is full of sinners.

The church is full of flawed and broken people. So you'll fit right in. Have you ever spoken with someone that has that sort of opinion? Anyone that have said something along the lines of, yeah, church is fine and I'd be more involved with church if there weren't all those Christians in it. Or I'm a Christian, but I don't see the need to be part of a church.

Have you perhaps wrestled with that? Do you have friends or family members who have that sort of mentality? Well, this morning we're going to be looking at God's ideal for the church. We're going to be looking at how God desires the church to be. How the community of God does church by living out God's love and grace towards one another.

And I believe if we apply these words that we're going to read this morning, we're going to be so radically changed that these walls won't be able to hold the amount of people. If we are able to apply these words, then nothing can prevent us from being the most dynamic and vibrant church on the Gold Coast. If you have your bibles with you, let's open to Titus, chapter two. Titus chapter two, verses one to ten this morning. Paul writes to Titus.

He says, you must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine. Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self controlled, and sound in faith, in love, and in endurance. Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live. Not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good.

Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands so that no one will malign the word of God. Similarly, encourage the young men to be self controlled. In everything, set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching, show integrity, seriousness, and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us. Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted so that in every way, they will make the teaching about God, our saviour, attractive.

In the previous chapter that we dealt with two weeks ago, Paul dealt with leaders who were corrupting the church. Paul encouraged Timothy to be a great leader, to encourage and to build up elders, leaders in the churches, men who are worthy of being leaders of the church. Paul deals with a group of people who were Jews who said that Christians must believe in Jesus and have faith in His salvation, but also they must be circumcised. They must not eat certain types of food. They must go through pure ritual purification, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

So it was a gospel plus message that these men were teaching. And Paul says, but you, in verse one of chapter two, you must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine. This morning, we're going to be looking at a huge practical list of what the community of God looks like when it has been radically transformed, metamorphosed by grace. What people look like as Christians who have been saved through Jesus. And what we're going to be doing this morning is we're going to be working through these demographics of people that Paul is talking about.

Paul mentions five categories: older men, older women, younger women, younger men, and slaves. And so we're going to be looking at these and what the bible, what God has to tell us this morning. And we're going to be starting with older men. Paul says to Titus, these older men, teach them to be temperate. In other words, to be sober minded, clear minded, worthy of respect, self controlled.

In other words, to curb their desires and their impulses, to be sound in faith, love, and endurance. What does the life of a mature man of God look like when it's been radically gripped by grace? Well, these men should be temperate. Meaning that they should be able to see through the fogginess of life. See through the grey.

You know, a little bit of sinfulness on the side here is okay, that everyone has their vices. Paul says that these men who are naturally the leaders of the church must be so attuned, must be so clear that they can see through the dim, that they can see through the fog and keep their eyes on Christ. They can see through the fog and know who they are in Jesus Christ and what they are meant to be to the church, to never take their eyes off the ball. They are to be worthy of respect, Paul says. Men who lived once outside of grace, who once believed in their own gods, who indulged in the excesses of power, of status, of wealth, of women, these men were not self controlled.

These men were ruled by things that were not worthy of respect, that caused them to be not worthy of respect. And these men once, I think, you could safely say, like many men today who live away from God, grabbed at respect. They weren't men who lived a lifestyle that naturally drew respect out of people. But if you see some men, they grasp at it desperately. Respect is a big thing.

And in trying to manipulate people to respect them, they return to excesses. They turn to status. They turn to power. They turn to wealth in order to garner this sort of respect. But a man that is gripped by God's grace, Paul says, is clear minded, is focused.

His life brings him respect. His self control, his attitude of faith, of love, and of endurance that Paul writes about here earns him respect. He is worthy of respect. A clear mind, a clear mind. A life that is self controlled doesn't let the James Bond stereotype warp their views of what a real man is. Paul says faith, love, and endurance.

Faith, love, and endurance are the keys to achieving a biblical God honouring lifestyle. I've not seen a James Bond movie where I thought, wow, that is a faith, love, and endurance type of man. If we look at it a little bit deeper and we sort of break these things up, love and faith and endurance. Well, faith talks about relationship with God. It's cultivating a nature of love and affection for God.

Love, on the other hand, speaks about relationship. Good men have good relationships, show love in their relationships to their friends, to their wives, to their kids. And then endurance describes faithfulness and consistency in these relationships. Not fluctuating, not having good days and bad days. Consistency.

So in the light of these three terms, mature Christian men, Paul says, are defined as being committed to the maintenance of both their vertical relationship with God but also their horizontal relationship with their fellow man, with their wives, with their kids. Through promoting faith, love, and endurance, these men ensured that grace ripples through their community. It saturates their life so that it saturates their church. Paul then moves on and he addresses mature women. He says that they are to have a reverent lifestyle, not to be slanderers or addicted to wine, to teach what is good, and to train younger women.

So again, the question is, what does it look like to be a mature woman that is being gripped by grace? Paul says that they are to have reverent lifestyles. This word in Greek was actually used of priests and priestesses who had a holy life. It refers to being chaste, being pure. Mature women should demonstrate the holiness of a heart that is near to God.

And so Paul tells Titus, older women should not be addicted to two things. The first is gossip and the second one is wine. And we might think it's funny that alcohol is mentioned here, but in truth these two things that he mentions, gossip and wine, stem from the same symptom. Malicious gossip stems from a lack of self control of the tongue. Drunkenness stems from a lack of control of one's appetite.

In the grotesquely self gratifying times of the Greco-Roman world, it wasn't uncommon for this to happen. You just have to read stories of Romans who would have these amazing feasts and just eat themselves to the point where they couldn't eat any more. They would go outside and induce themselves to vomit, to go back into the banquet so that they could eat some more. That is the lifestyle. That is the self gratification of these people.

But what Paul is saying here is women who have been changed by grace look different. They don't behave like the people in their culture behave. Women who have been gripped by grace don't indulge in gossip. So in the same way today, we are to avoid the cheap and the negative thrills of gossip. Whatever form it takes, whether that be a glossy magazine.

I can't believe people read those things. It's so ridiculous, but people do. TV shows or just kitchen talk, table talk. You know, the great thing is that women are good communicators. They are great communicators and God has created them to be that.

They can articulate emotions far better than guys can, but sin has the nature of hijacking good things. It hijacks it. And so I think Paul is mentioning it here because it's as real then as it is now. And the same goes for addiction to wine. But not so much as I think wine, but appetite in general.

People in Crete were eating and drinking themselves to death. And nothing is new. It's very much the same today. Sin hijacks a good thing that is food. Sin hijacks a good thing that is alcohol or wine. Sin hijacks our taste buds and gluttony comes in and it destroys God's creation.

We need to be self controlled about what we eat, about what we drink. And there's plenty of information out there. You know, it's great. I think for many, many years we haven't struggled with this sort of thing. But in the last fifty odd years, it's really come back and we're struggling with it.

But there are many, many good things out there for us to learn how to deal with it. And I think as Christians, we should be engaging with that sort of stuff. We should be thinking about healthy eating, about healthy choices, and that sort of thing. And I want to encourage you, the Towards Wholeness seminar that's going to be held here on the 3rd June, talks about that sort of stuff. It's fantastic.

I think every Christian should know how to deal with that sort of stuff. You know, the church unfortunately has been known for some reason to be gossipers. But imagine what a statement we'd make if we were known for our positive talk behind people's backs. Paul goes on and he starts dealing with younger women. He says that older women are to train these younger women.

It's a great way of showing how connected this community is meant to be. Paul says that young women are to love their husbands, love their children, be self controlled, pure, be useful at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands. Now the bible speaks to young women and to women who were of marrying age, women who were newly weds. And again, regarding the grace that they've received in Jesus Christ and how this is lived out in the community and particularly in their sphere of influence, which was the family. And as controversial and perhaps as unpopular as this discussion is, God has some significant things to say about young women in the life of the family.

To live out God's radical grace in the context of family and to show the counter cultural power of grace, God says to young women, love your husbands, love your kids, be self controlled and be pure. Now in the days of formal arranged marriages, this was counter cultural. To genuinely love your husband, to genuinely love the kids that came out of that relationship, was profound. It was profound. And so Paul says, it is a powerful proclamation of the life changing power of the gospel if a woman loves her husband and her children.

Paul makes a commitment of the family the highest priority for a young wife. A few verses ago, Paul spoke of false teachers that ruined entire households, not churches, households. And now Paul says we're going to combat these false teachings, these people that are ruining our households by having great mums, great wives. He says that the sphere of influence that these women have will change, will breed grace. Now Paul says that they should be busy at home.

They should be useful at home. But we should be careful not to read home and start saying that scripture necessarily dictates women to not be working, to have a career or something like that. I think the emphasis is the sphere, which is the home, the family unit. It does warn us that any woman, however, that makes career or status or financial advantage a higher priority than their family, than the welfare of their husband, their kids. That does transgress scripture.

So it's not saying that, you know, it's locating women in the home, but it says that they have to be leaders in that place. Paul mentions the importance of kindness in young women as being the attitude by which they live out grace in their family. Paul then lastly says that these young mums should submit themselves to their husbands. Paul deals with this sort of teaching elsewhere in the New Testament, five times actually.

In particular, I want us to have a look at Ephesians 5, which is more detailed teaching about the relationship between a husband and a wife in these sort of spheres of influence. Ephesians 5 makes it clear that God detests a husband who has a me dictator, you doormat sort of mentality. In fact, Ephesians 5 says that husbands are to love their wives sacrificially, like Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her. That is how husbands are meant to love their wives and love their kids. This sacrificial love is then complemented by the love of wives who submit themselves to their husbands.

Submission in the Greek doesn't mean doormat. Rather, it talks about respect. The Greek word doesn't mean that a wife suppresses her intellect or her gifts or her talents in the family. Instead it says that she lives out and expresses these fully in the family environment. Submission is about respect.

Very interestingly, psychologically, sociologically, this is one of the most important things that men need to feel in a relationship that they are respected. In turn, men are to love their wives. They are to love their wives with everything they have, sacrificing themselves for their wives' good. And again, this love and this concern is one of the most important factors that women want in a relationship. And for me, it's just so great how God has created and has spoken about this wonderful sort of self giving relationship between husband and wife.

Men and women are wired differently. Well, that's not rocket science. But God in His wisdom informs us how we can best compliment one another in the family unit. So women are to love their family, love their husbands, love their children, be self controlled again and to respect their husbands. Then Paul moves on to young men.

And he says only this: be self controlled. Be self controlled. And then Paul talks a little bit about what Titus should be. Titus, he says, you should set an example to these young men in doing what is good. Show them integrity.

Show seriousness. Show soundness of speech that cannot be condemned. So that those who want to say bad things about us can't. To the young blokes like Titus, Paul says that they must be self controlled. Full stop.

Being self controlled, and this Titus says sorry. Then Paul sets a list of things that Titus should show these young men: self control, doing what is good, and being of speaking correctly. The world desperately, desperately needs self controlled young men.

Control over their bodies, control over their bodies with women, control over their minds. Paul says do what is good. Not what feels good, but what is good. What has been determined by God to be good. Act and speak with integrity, with seriousness, with soundness of speech.

And again, here the context is the gospel. Defending the gospel. Showing that the power of God's forgiveness transforms the lives of sinners into beautifully redeemed human beings. Act with integrity, Paul says. In fact, if we don't act with integrity, if we act inconsistently, we're saying that, well, you know, I'm a Christian on the one hand, but on the other hand, something feels good, something feels right, I'll do that.

But Paul tells young men, you are the message bearers of Jesus Christ. You are the ones who represent Him in your surroundings. Your actions are just as important as your words. Control your urges. Rise above the ridiculous actions of young men today who seem like they've had a lobotomy done to them.

They act and walk around like zombies. They don't think. We were not created to be beasts. To act like we're zombies. Now I cringe at someone like Bismarck Beau Tau if you're a South African supporter.

He's a rugby player. On one hand, he can kneel on the pitch on the rugby field and pray very, very reverently. But five minutes into the game, he's gouging eyes and he's throwing punches. Punches. How hypocritical, I think.

How inconsistent is that? Paul says, have self control. Be consistent in your speech and in your actions. The power of grace is so powerfully displayed in men who behave with restraint, with dignity, with self control. That's how you get respect.

Paul finally moves on to the slaves. And he says that they are to subject themselves to their masters, try to please them, not to talk back, not to steal from them, to show that they are fully worthy of trust so that in every way they will make the gospel of Jesus Christ attractive. Now, obviously, for us, the system of slavery doesn't exist. You know? So is this really relevant?

I think there are some things that we can get out of this in regards to our work life. And we know that slavery in the Greco-Roman time even wasn't particularly just slaves, but were also apprentices, people who were sort of hired hands and so on. So slavery was broader than what we think of it. But I think there are certainly principles that we can glean from this. The motivator again for how these slaves were to treat their bosses is motivated by respect, motivated by the gospel.

Imagine how radical our life's witness would be if we treated our bosses well. Imagine if we didn't indulge in whinging behind their backs, in spitefulness when they give us a bad job or whatever. How is it possible to have a great witness if on the one hand they see we're Christians but we're the biggest whinger on the worksite? Treat your bosses well. Treat your masters well.

Show that you have been radically changed by grace. So we have this huge slab of instructions for how the Christian community is meant to look, how it will be able to sow witness to the world that people would just be drawn to it. People will be attracted to it. It'll be radically counter cultural in everything. In all relationships.

In every business dealing. How can we be men of respect, women of pure holiness? How can we be young men who are self controlled, young ladies who are self giving? Well, truth is in our brokenness, in our imperfection, we can't. We cannot do it.

Doesn't matter how hard we try, we're not going to be able to live like this. We can't do it. So how can Paul write these things to human beings? How can he write this? Well, the answer in short is grace.

Verses 11 to 12 is one of the most powerful words in scripture. Paul writes, for the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. This grace teaches us to say no to ungodliness, no to worldly passions, and to live self controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age. Friends, grace changes everything. Grace changes everything.

How can we live out this love in our church community? How can we relate to one another in this sort of way? We can do it because grace not only saves us from hell. Grace not only forgives our sins, but grace changes us. It makes us new.

Grace teaches us to say no to those things, to despise it, to just not find it entertaining any more, but to say yes to God, to be self controlled. Through the Holy Spirit working in every Christian, grace becomes the motivator for a completely counter cultural approach to every aspect in life. Grace changes our hearts. It changes our motives. We can be self controlled because God's grace exemplified in Jesus Christ says that I don't need status.

I don't need power. I'm the richest person because I once was dead in my sins, but now I'm alive in Christ. The motives that make us feel like we need to gossip because of our insecurity perhaps or our jealousy is completely replaced by soft hearted grace. Grace tells us that, no, you are perfect in the eyes of Jesus. You are perfect in God's eyes.

The message of grace breaks any self righteousness that we may have in our hearts towards our boss who's mistreating us, absolutely disrespecting us. It breaks that. And it says, well, I'm a sinner as well. I'm absolutely no different, no better than this man, this woman. And that completely changes things.

If I had another five minutes, I'd tell you it's testimony of something like that that happened this week. It just shakes you and it takes that pain, it takes that frustration away instantly. Grace changes everything. Let's be that community. Let's be that community.

A community marked by grace, marked by love, marked by self control, by faith, by love, by endurance. Let's be that to one another. Let's be that to those on the outside.