Covenanter Witness Vol. 55 - Rparchives.org

order."patience."Counsel for the Church(A Teaching Program)Titus 2Rev. Bruce C. StewartRetiring Moderator's Sermon Midwest Presbytery Clarinda, Iowa, 10-U-55(Requested by the Presbytery for publication in the Covenanter Witness)In the first chapter of his Epistle to Titus, theApostle Paul urged the young pastor to "set God'shouse in The immoralities of the Cretans, thetraditions of the Jews, and the commandments ofmen were turning the church from the truth. Therefore one of the first steps in setting God's house inorder was the orientation of elders in each congregation that true teachers might silence the false teachers.Occasionally we will run into folks that do notfeel that any church organization is necessary ; theyfeel that a personal relationship with Christ is sufficient ; but that is not the teaching of the Scriptures.Christ said, "I will establish my church, and thegates of hell shall not prevail against it." Paul wentthroughout Europe and Asia Minor establishingchurches, preparing leaders, and helping with thework of organization as well as of evangelism. If werealize the authority of Scripture in organizing theChurch, in giving it authority and power, in committing the growth of the Kingdom to the Church,then there will be less confusion in understandingthose actions in which we engage not only as individual Christians, but as a Church.In the remainder of the first chapter Paul goeson to give the personal qualifications for elders. Hestresses the importance of a wholesome family life.He shows the need for personal committment toGod's will. He reveals the necessity of fellowship andfriendliness with God's people. And he emphasizesthe constant duty of studying and teaching the Scriptures.Then in the second chapter, Paul gives additional counsel to the Church. He sets up a teaching program which Pastor Titus and the new elders can putinto practice. "But speak thou," he says, "the thingswhich become sound doctrine."I wouldn't be surprised if that Cretan Churchwas the first one to have graded lessons in the Sabbath School because Paul has special instructions todifferent age groups. He said, "I want you to put theold ladies in one class, and the aged men in another ;I want you to have one class for the young women,and one for the young men ; I want the slaves to havea special class, too."And what were they to teach? "The thingsdoctrine!"which become soundOr to put it a littlemore clearly, "The things which naturally go alongdoctrine."with soundApparently, the problem inCretejust as it is today was not so much an ignorance of the truth as a lack of consecration. Theyknew the truth, but they listened to Jewish fablesand the commandments of men as well ; they knewthe truth', but were not willing to live the life. Sothese Sabbath School classes were not only to teachdoctrine, but to apply doctrine to daily living to340seek to bring the conduct of the church up to theprinciples of the church.That is a problem which we face in every age.Are we going to bring the principles of the churchdown to be consistent with the conduct of the members, or are we going to bring conduct of the members up to be consistent with the principles of thechurch. The current trend is to relax the principlesof the church, but the teaching of the Scriptures isto bring the life of the members up.Paul's first word of counsel is to the aged men.We usually think of the children first in SabbathSchool, but Paul starts out with the elderly. I don'tthink we should ever feel that we are too old to goto Sabbath School ; we are never too old to learn, andthe aged men are instructed to "be sober, grave, temBeperate, sound in faith, in charity, incause of the influence of their example, I believe theApostle starts with the aged men. People had moreveneration for their elders in those days than we dotoday; therefore the conduct of the older men wasextremely important.There are perhaps two words which would sumup the characteristics of Christian old age. One is"self-control"; the other is "maturity." The firstthree words here in the second versetemperate""Sober, grave,would fall under the category of selfcontrol.The Greek word which is translated "sober"here means to control your emotions and desires;that is what our faith should lead us to do not tofollow the desire of the moment, not to seek the lustof the flesh, not to give in to every impulse thatcomes along, but to evaluate each situation accordingto God's Word, and to act accordingly. The words,"grave" "temperate" and also fit naturally into thissame pattern. Self-control is a fruit and evidence ofsubmission to Christ. The second three words orphrases here "sound in faith, in charity, in patience"would fall under the category of maturity;the Greek word for "Sound" means healthy. Healthiness in old age would suggest maturity: not beingled astray by every new doctrine or cult, but beingable to discern between truth and error mature infaith; not giving up those friendships and relationships, but loving one's neighbor as one's self maturein love ; not giving up easily orbecoming discouragedin the good, but persevering therein to the end mature in patience. Paul's suggested curriculum for theaged men therefore revolved around the main courses in self-control and maturity.2.Now to the aged women. Even though Paulnever married, he seems to have known quite a bitCOVENANTER WITNESS